2023-7-18 Weekly This & That Newsletter

Two Foxes Found in Sun City Hilton Head!

The Fox Hunt on Saturday, July 15th ended with both clever foxes being found by multiple ham radio hunters.

The event kicked off at Town Square shortly after 9 AM. Ed Stratton, W1ZZ, had found a cagey spot to hide a transmitter near the same location that last year’s fox was found near the Okatie Creek clubhouse. Ron Frick, AI4HH, and Harve Hnatiuk found the transmitter around 10 AM with Michelle (KD5YNC) and Charlie (AD5EN) Bess arriving a minute or so afterward. The happy hunters are shown celebrating their success below.

Thankfully, everyone had charged their golf carts the night before the Hunt because the second fox was much farther away from Town Square. Ron, AI4HH, hid the second transmitter near the Nature Trail along Colonel T. Russ Treadwell (N1ZK), pictured below, was first to find the elusive fox with Charlie and Michell getting there a few minutes later. Harve rolled in a little after that.

Later, Luke McLaughlin (KB3VOD) found the fox while our for a walk without any equipment! Luke and Ron are pictured below near the second fox’s location.

Equipment failure hurt Dennis Hopkins (AC4DH) in his hunting efforts but he gave it a good try. Lon Seward, WB4KSG, arrived after others had begun the Hunt and gave it a go as well with his hand-held.

Thanks to Ron and Ed (below) for being the foxes for today’s hunt. They gave everyone a real test…there was a lot of skull-scratching going on out there trying to located the two foxes. The Hunt wrapped up around Noon after a fine SCHH morning with Mother Nature’s cooperation.

Coming to a Frequency Near You/Us?

Any time that there is a proposal to use frequencies in or around the ham bands, it merits our attention. Sending financial data via HF is the latest proposal.

13 Colonies Wrap Up

South Carolina’s K2L team led the pack for the second consecutive year, racking up 28,308 QSOs during the 13 Colonies special event. Pennsylvania, aided greatly by operating seven stations at a time at Tim Duffy’s K3LR megaplex during the kick off of the event, was runner-up with just over 24,000 QSOs.

In addition to the clean sweeps mentioned in last week’s newsletter, Ken Finke (KN8F) also achieved a clean 16-station sweep of the 13 Colonies stations. It was great to have lots of interest in the 13 Colonies event among our club members this year!

SC’s W1AW/4 Operations Begin on Wednesday

No rest for the weary! Fresh off of a great performance in early July’s 13 Colonies event, SC hams will participate in their second round of ARRL’s nationwide W1AW/x operations, part of 2023’s “Volunteers of the Air” program. Celebrating and recognizing the many volunteers in the ARRL, two states operate as W1AW with a slash (“/”) and call region designation each week. SC’s initial foray as W1AW/4 in early January was a huge success. The W1AW/4, led by Ed Kurcharski (K4DNE) of the Swamp Fox Contest Group, is ready to go to work on Wednesday, July 19th, at 0000 UTC (8 PM Tuesday evening). Stations from SC will be on 160m to 2m (but not on the WARC bands) for the ensuing week. Expect a visit from W1AW/4 on 2m FM on Wednesday night following our 2m Repeater Net and on Sunday night after the simplex net!

QSL Card of the Week

This one comes from the vast and ever-expanding collection of Ken, KN8F.

All members are encouraged to send a favorite QSL card (.jpeg file please) to Harve at hnat463@gmail.com.

Upcoming Club Events

August 19th – KE4HAM Operation on Hunting Island for International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW).

Coordinated by Jack Frisch, K2ITZ. More details to follow!

Next Membership Meeting

The Club’s next Membership Meeting will be on Thursday, September 7th, at the Lake House. Plans are to have an Elmer Presentation by Frank Pollino, K2OS, at 6:45 PM followed by the evening’s main program, which will be presented by Ken Finke, KN8F, and cover how to get an antenna installation approved here in Sun City. The business meeting will follow Ken’s presentation. More info will be sent as the date gets closer on the calendar.

Club Website

The URL is https://www.ke4ham.org.  If you notice any errors or have site-related questions, email: webmaster@ke4ham.org.

Nets:

Sunday NET (8 PM) operates on 147.550 MHz simplex and Echolink node: KE4HAM – L

Wednesday Nets (8 PM) operates from KK4ONF/Jasper repeater, 147.060+ and Echolink node: KE4HAM-R

Thanks to our regular Net Controls: Bob Officer, WA6WAY; Russ Treadwell, N1ZK; and Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW.

Thanks to Ron Frick, AI4HH, for keeping the nets on Echolink.

Please check into our nets when you can. The nets are informative and interesting and foster club camaraderie.

If you are interested in being a Net Control, please let Ron or Harve know.

Other Operating:

Daily —  DX spotting and open chat 24/7 on 147.550 MHz simplex and the Jasper Repeater, 147.060+ (no Echolink).

KB3FW – SCHH ARC President