Alright...
So it's been ... 6 months since my last post.
I just haven't been so good at keeping it going. Not much to say, I guess.
I'll try to do a little better.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Field Day 2008
You may have been led to this blog by the ARRL Field Day Station Locator!
http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/fd/locator.php
As of this writing, there are about 100 days or so until FD2008.
We at the Mountaineer Amateur Radio Association are always looking forward to another fun time at Field Day.
We will operate 2A WV from the W8SP Repeater Site in Marion County, about 5 miles east of the I-79 "Downtown Fairmont" exit (Exit 137) on 310 (aka The East Grafton Rd) in the unincorporated community of Quiet Dell.
We will begin setting up the stations on Saturday morning. We will run one PHONE, and one CW station on all HF bands (we'll try again for 160m -- that hasn't worked out well in the past!)
We'll also take advantage of setting up a VHF/UHF station, as well as several Special Mode demonstrations. We may or may not run GOTA depending on availability of some of the club members. (Also, GOTA rules tend to change from year to year, and they may or may not make it practical for us!)
Of course, on Saturday night we'll have our usual dinner at 1800 local time. Some of the family come up to the site and join us for that event. It makes for a really nice time.
After dark, we're likely to have a nice fire going and sit around and chat, and we've even been known to "pick'n'grin" a bit.
FIELD DAY 2008 - JUNE 28-29 - W8SP Repeater Site
Hope to see you there!
73,
Bob WA8YCD MARA President
http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/fd/locator.php
As of this writing, there are about 100 days or so until FD2008.
We at the Mountaineer Amateur Radio Association are always looking forward to another fun time at Field Day.
We will operate 2A WV from the W8SP Repeater Site in Marion County, about 5 miles east of the I-79 "Downtown Fairmont" exit (Exit 137) on 310 (aka The East Grafton Rd) in the unincorporated community of Quiet Dell.
We will begin setting up the stations on Saturday morning. We will run one PHONE, and one CW station on all HF bands (we'll try again for 160m -- that hasn't worked out well in the past!)
We'll also take advantage of setting up a VHF/UHF station, as well as several Special Mode demonstrations. We may or may not run GOTA depending on availability of some of the club members. (Also, GOTA rules tend to change from year to year, and they may or may not make it practical for us!)
Of course, on Saturday night we'll have our usual dinner at 1800 local time. Some of the family come up to the site and join us for that event. It makes for a really nice time.
After dark, we're likely to have a nice fire going and sit around and chat, and we've even been known to "pick'n'grin" a bit.
FIELD DAY 2008 - JUNE 28-29 - W8SP Repeater Site
Hope to see you there!
73,
Bob WA8YCD MARA President
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Still goin'...
Well, I haven't been on the blog for a while, should have updated it regularly.
I keep forgetting to check into it from home. I'll try to do better.
We've just had our 5th class session and many of the folks are still hanging in there.
We have covered chapters 1, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, and 3-4. We'll cover 4-1 and 4-2 next time, and 4-3 after that.
Currently we're looking at April 3 for Jeff coming by and doing the Satellite and EME presentation.
We hope to do CQ-100, EchoLink, and IRLP coming up soon.
We may also have an HF & PSK-31 demo in the works.
Looking forward to some of the excitement coming up.
73
Bob WA8YCD
I keep forgetting to check into it from home. I'll try to do better.
We've just had our 5th class session and many of the folks are still hanging in there.
We have covered chapters 1, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, and 3-4. We'll cover 4-1 and 4-2 next time, and 4-3 after that.
Currently we're looking at April 3 for Jeff coming by and doing the Satellite and EME presentation.
We hope to do CQ-100, EchoLink, and IRLP coming up soon.
We may also have an HF & PSK-31 demo in the works.
Looking forward to some of the excitement coming up.
73
Bob WA8YCD
Thursday, February 14, 2008
New Monongalia Wireless Association web site!
Randy N8OZY announced tonight at class that the MWA website
has been moved from www.qsl.net/w8mwa/ to
The new server is in Randy's office, and he has control of it.
Tech License Class 2008 - First Meeting
Tonight was the first session of the 2008 Tech License
Class. Things went pretty well.
Turnout was lighter than I expected, but maybe some
additional folks will be there next week.
Looks like we have 10 participating so far.
I forgot to check the projector for all the required cables.
Luckily, Randy N8OZY was able to go to his office and bring
one back. At the mid-break we switched from the fuzzy little
TV screen to the projector.
Looking forward to getting this class moving along toward the
Element 2 exam!
73
Bob WA8YCD
Class. Things went pretty well.
Turnout was lighter than I expected, but maybe some
additional folks will be there next week.
Looks like we have 10 participating so far.
I forgot to check the projector for all the required cables.
Luckily, Randy N8OZY was able to go to his office and bring
one back. At the mid-break we switched from the fuzzy little
TV screen to the projector.
Looking forward to getting this class moving along toward the
Element 2 exam!
73
Bob WA8YCD
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
West Virginia Hamfests
Good morning...
I got an email today with the flyer for the 29th Fayetteville Hamfest on Sunday, February 24, 2008. I wanted to have it in time to hand out to the folks coming to my Tech License Class (STARTS TOMORROW NIGHT!)
I also forwarded the flyer to officers of two other clubs: Monongalia Wireless Association c/o N8PDQ and Stonewall Jackson Amatuer Radio Association c/o K8TPH.
Don't know if anyone will be able to make it, especially since the weather may be dicey.
I went to Fayetteville a couple of years ago and it was a fun day.
The drive down was ... interesting ... I'd go through one cut in the hills and it'd be snowing so hard I couldn' t see my hood ornryment and then through the next cut, and it was bright and sun-shiny! It would alternate between blizzard and perfectly clear most of the way down US19. Truly strange.
It didn't take long to walk through the fleas. I stopped and talked to our ARRL SM Ann, KA8ZGY and with the WV Chapter 30 QCWA guys, Art W8PBO and Dave W8UI.
I particularly enjoyed the "CW Shootout"! We all assembled... no, that wouldn't be accurate... we all sort of milled around in the back room for a while. Clark AA8SH came in with his laptop and handed out pads and pencils. He explained to the crowd that they'd start out at low speed, sending about one minute of plain text, and then increase the speed in 5 WPM jumps. Contestants would copy each text burst and as long as they were still copying correctly, they were still in the competition. The last one to get solid copy would win a cash prize based on the speed.
They started off at 15 WPM. They sent a text line and everyone pretty much said -- yeah, OK, bring it on! They kicked it up to 20 WPM and almost all were still in ... some dropped out. At 25 WPM I was clueless, but I stayed around to watch the fun. At 30 WPM the herd was thinning. On and on... 35... 40... 45 WPM. More and more were dropping by the wayside. Finally, it was down to just a couple of contenders. They announced that 50 WPM would be the last level ... 'cuz, actually, their laptop just wouldn't go any faster than that.
When the dust cleared, one guy -- I wrote down his name and call at the time, but don't recall it right now -- was still standing like the last gunman in an old western. This hardy ham copied that 50 WPM burst. Perfectly. He even did it TWICE.
Frankly I was amazed. I've heard about folks who copy at phenomenal speeds, and I've always been in awe of them. There should be, like, an MVP award or Hall of Fame.
I was glad to see him walk away with the cash prize -- $50 for 50 WPM.
I've missed the Fayetteville Hamfest the last couple of years. I hope to make it down there this year.
I would ALSO like to see the Fayetteville gang come to the 50th WV State ARRL Convention & Hamfest and Roanoke Division Convention and maybe run the CW Shootout there.
I like the idea of preserving and promoting CW. Now that it's no longer required, we're in "use it or lose it" mode. Not that I think we'll lose CW privileges, but we'll lose "the knack" unless we get younger hams interested. Some say "so what?" -- that it's an obsolete and arcane skill. Maybe. But I think it's a skill we might appreciate some day when all the computers are down. Ham radio is all about "When All Else Fails"... right?
But more importantly, we need to keep as many clubs involved in the State Convention as possible. It is, after all, a STATE convention. Not just a few groups. I can't help but remember how it was... (Oh no! Waxing nostalgic! Must... quit... before... I get all sentimental...)
I got an email today with the flyer for the 29th Fayetteville Hamfest on Sunday, February 24, 2008. I wanted to have it in time to hand out to the folks coming to my Tech License Class (STARTS TOMORROW NIGHT!)
I also forwarded the flyer to officers of two other clubs: Monongalia Wireless Association c/o N8PDQ and Stonewall Jackson Amatuer Radio Association c/o K8TPH.
Don't know if anyone will be able to make it, especially since the weather may be dicey.
I went to Fayetteville a couple of years ago and it was a fun day.
The drive down was ... interesting ... I'd go through one cut in the hills and it'd be snowing so hard I couldn' t see my hood ornryment and then through the next cut, and it was bright and sun-shiny! It would alternate between blizzard and perfectly clear most of the way down US19. Truly strange.
It didn't take long to walk through the fleas. I stopped and talked to our ARRL SM Ann, KA8ZGY and with the WV Chapter 30 QCWA guys, Art W8PBO and Dave W8UI.
I particularly enjoyed the "CW Shootout"! We all assembled... no, that wouldn't be accurate... we all sort of milled around in the back room for a while. Clark AA8SH came in with his laptop and handed out pads and pencils. He explained to the crowd that they'd start out at low speed, sending about one minute of plain text, and then increase the speed in 5 WPM jumps. Contestants would copy each text burst and as long as they were still copying correctly, they were still in the competition. The last one to get solid copy would win a cash prize based on the speed.
They started off at 15 WPM. They sent a text line and everyone pretty much said -- yeah, OK, bring it on! They kicked it up to 20 WPM and almost all were still in ... some dropped out. At 25 WPM I was clueless, but I stayed around to watch the fun. At 30 WPM the herd was thinning. On and on... 35... 40... 45 WPM. More and more were dropping by the wayside. Finally, it was down to just a couple of contenders. They announced that 50 WPM would be the last level ... 'cuz, actually, their laptop just wouldn't go any faster than that.
When the dust cleared, one guy -- I wrote down his name and call at the time, but don't recall it right now -- was still standing like the last gunman in an old western. This hardy ham copied that 50 WPM burst. Perfectly. He even did it TWICE.
Frankly I was amazed. I've heard about folks who copy at phenomenal speeds, and I've always been in awe of them. There should be, like, an MVP award or Hall of Fame.
I was glad to see him walk away with the cash prize -- $50 for 50 WPM.
I've missed the Fayetteville Hamfest the last couple of years. I hope to make it down there this year.
I would ALSO like to see the Fayetteville gang come to the 50th WV State ARRL Convention & Hamfest and Roanoke Division Convention and maybe run the CW Shootout there.
I like the idea of preserving and promoting CW. Now that it's no longer required, we're in "use it or lose it" mode. Not that I think we'll lose CW privileges, but we'll lose "the knack" unless we get younger hams interested. Some say "so what?" -- that it's an obsolete and arcane skill. Maybe. But I think it's a skill we might appreciate some day when all the computers are down. Ham radio is all about "When All Else Fails"... right?
But more importantly, we need to keep as many clubs involved in the State Convention as possible. It is, after all, a STATE convention. Not just a few groups. I can't help but remember how it was... (Oh no! Waxing nostalgic! Must... quit... before... I get all sentimental...)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Field Day is getting closer!
Like Spring, FIELD DAY 2008 is coming!
ARRL has already posted the FIELD DAY
packet, and their graphic designer has
come up with this logo for FD08.
http://www.arrl.org/contests/forms/#FD
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