SCHH ARC “This & That” — June 17, 2025

The Weekly Newsletter of the Sun City Hilton Head Amateur Radio Club (SCHH ARC)

Editor – Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW

Closing In on ARRL Field Day!

ARRL Field Day is less than two weeks away. The ARC has plans to operate SSB stations on two bands (15m and 20m) with another HF station on CW and a fourth station on 6m/10m FM. In addition, a satellite station will also be set up!

The club operate as KE4HAM on Saturday June 28th from 2 PM until around 5 PM. Set-up will begin between 10 and 10:30 AM that day.

The set-up crew will have lunch provided by the club around 12:30 PM. Bottled water will also be provided. Members can bring snacks and other non-alcohol beverages to enjoy and certainly can bring enough to share with others.

There are opportunities for all members to operate KE4HAM during Field Day.

Can you help?

If you have an interest in operating on SSB, CW, or FM, please let Harve KB3FW know (hnat463@gmail.com). So far, we have Jack Frisch (K2ITZ) being our 20m SSB captain and have Chip Miller (KQ4JKI) and Rick Garan (WA8NLX) indicating interest to head up 15m SSB. Ed Stratton (W1ZZ) also plans to operate. Harve Hnatiuk (KB3FW) will be captain for the CW station. Frank Pollino (K2OS) will lead our satellite effort and may help on CW. Bob Officer is captaining the 6m/10m FM operations.

You may not be comfortable operating but you can be a BIG HELP to the club by being a part of ARRL Field Day. Greeters to show people around the Field Day site are an important part of ARRL Field Day. Showing interested SCHH residents our site is a great service to the club.

In addition, coordinating publicity for the event is a very important role. Contacting media outlets such as Sun City TV and the Bluffton Sun and then working with them when they come to our site is a HUGE ROLE.

If you can help with being a greeter or coordinating publicity, please contact Harve via email (hnat463@gmail.com) or text Bob Officer (864-884-3244). It would be a GREAT HELP to your SCHH ARC.

Please plan to be a part of one of the highlights of our SCHH ARC year by helping on ARRL Field Day.

There will be a final Field Day Planning Zoom Meeting on Wednesday June 25th at 11 AM. All members will receive information about the Zoom and are welcome to participate in the meeting.

Emergency Preparedness Update

Nine ARC members participated in a Zoom Meeting yesterday during which the club’s Task Force on Emergency Preparedness and Operations for SCHH reviewed its work to date and plans for the coming months. Thank you to all who have participated in the work of the Task Force and to members of the club who participated in Monday’s Zoom Meeting.

The Task Force is finalizing a document that describes what amateur radio operators can do during emergencies, how amateur radio emergency communications are organized in Beaufort and Jasper Counties as well as the state of South Carolina, and how SCHH hams can participate in emergency communications. The level of engagement for our SCHH hams can certainly include interacting with other hams in the Low Country.

The possible ways in which we may be able to help residents of SCHH are also discussed in the report. That level of interaction within our community needs to be explored further after the report is reviewed by our Community Association (CA) and perhaps the SCHH Board.

The next goal of the Task Force is to get the finalized report to the SCHH CA by July 1st. The report will be made available to club members at that time.

Have You Gotten Yours Yet?

Checked with DX Engineering and Ham Radio Outlet and they are sold out!

Thanks to Bob Kennedy, N0DQD for sharing news on this product.

Lewis & Clark Trail Special Event Ends

This special event was a long one, spanning from May 31st until June 15th. It offered a lot of fun for hams chasing club stations from the east coast to the west coast. It was quite a challenge during some up and down HF conditions.

Not nearly as challenging as what Meriwether Lewis and William Clark faced in the early 1800s on their expedition. Not even close, of course.

The rules were simple: Contact one club in each of the 16 states on the historic Lewis and Clark Trail to earn an “Expedition Partner” certificate.

At least one SCHH ARC member was able to qualify.

If you also qualified, please send a PDF of your certificate to Harve, KB3FW know (hnat463@gmail.com).

Thirteen Colonies Kicks off on July 1st!

Will You Go For a Clean Sweep This Year?

Another history lesson as we move back in time from Lewis & Clark to the American Revolution!

Another countdown as well! The annual week of Thirteen Colonies begins in less than two weeks.

A few SCHH ARC members were able to get a sweep by working stations in all states that were once colonies of England before our nation gained its independence years after the first shots of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord.

Ed Stratton (W1ZZ) and Harve Hnatiuk, (KB3FW) are on South Carolina’s K2L team. Scott Putnam (KG9V) is still looking for a few good operators willing to fill the many slots on the team’s schedule. If you are interested, please reach out to him (scott.kg9v@gmail.com). It is a LOAD of fun to be on the other end of a pile-up of stations calling you as a K2L station!

The event offers participation on all bands and modes…WARC bands included and even 2 meters FM is in the mix to nail down SC on your list for 13 Colonies!

What’s Coming Up

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 — Final Field Day Planning Zoom Meeting. Zoom info will be sent to all members.

Saturday, June 28, 2025 — ARRL Field Day at Lake Somerset. More info to follow in upcoming issues of This & That.

Tuesday, July 1 through July 7, 2025 — Annual 13 Colonies Special Event with K2L representing South Carolina.

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 –– Zoom Meeting to discuss plans for August 9th’s Parks on the Air Activation at Lake Warren State Park. Zoom info will be sent to all members.

Saturday, August 9, 2025 — KE4HAM Parks on the Air Activation at Lake Warren State Park. More info will be in This & That in the coming weeks.

SCHH ARC Nets

Net News

Our 10m SSB net on June 3rd was our BEST EVER. We had fourteen club members check in to the net! That is most likely a record number of club members to participate in a SCHH ARC net. Thanks to all who are listed below in the net reports who made that happen.

Wednesday nets are on the 147.135 Okatie Repeater until further notice.

Our nets continue to have a lot of support, which is much appreciated. All SCHH ARC members and licensed friends are invited to join the fun!

Can you help our nets be even greater? Volunteering to be a Net Control Station would be a big HELP. Please let Harve, KB3FW know if you want to give it a try (hnat463@gmail.com).

Weekly SCHH ARC Nets

Sunday’s Net (8 PM) operates on 147.550 MHz simplex on the last two Sundays of the calendar month. The Sunday net will be on the KE4HAM repeater (147.135 + with a tone of 91.5 on both the input and the output) on all other Sundays of the calendar month. Check-in can be done even if you don’t have a radio up and running via EchoLink by using the link KE4HAM-L when the net is on SIMPLEX and KE4HAM-R when the net is on the SCHH Okatie Repeater.

Wednesday‘s Net (8 PM) will operate until further notice on the KE4HAM Okatie Repeater (147.135 + with a tone of 91.5 on both input and output). The net can be accessed via EchoLink using the link KE4HAM-R.

Next 10m SSB Net: Tuesday, July 1st @ 8 PM Local Time on 28.450 MHz SSB.

Net Control Stations and EchoLink Coordinator

Thanks to our regular 2m Net Controls: Frank Pollino, K2OS; Rick Garan, WA8NLX; and Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW.

Thanks to Frank, K2OS for also being the net control station of our monthly 10m SSB net.

Thanks to Bob Officer, WA6WAY, for being an alternate Net Control Station and overseer of our KE4HAM repeater.

Thanks to Ron Frick, AI4HH, for working diligently to keep EchoLink up and running for our nets.

Net Control Schedule:

— Wednesday, June 18th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, June 22nd @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (Simplex).

— Wednesday, June 25th @ 8 PM: Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, June 29th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (Simplex).

— Tuesday, July 1st @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (10m SSB, 28.450 MHz).

SCHH ARC Net Reports:

Thanks to ALL who checked in to our SCHH ARC nets last week.

Last week’s check-ins and traffic:

— Wednesday, June 11th 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/WA8NLX, AI4HH, AA4KK, WB1DXN, KJ4BSM, K2ITZ, N0DQD, W1ZZ, WA6WAY, WB4KSG, KB3FW, K2OS. QNI=12, QTC=0.

— Sunday, June 15th 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/WA6WAY, AI4HH, KD8IH, AA4KK, K2ITZ, KB3FW, K3WPA, KQ4JKI, WB1DXN. QNI=9, QTC=0.

Note: QNI = Number of Check-ins to the net, including Net Control; QTC = Traffic handled (Radiograms).

Other Operating

Daily —  Monitor the KE4HAM Repeater: 147.135 MHz + with a tone of 91.5. You may get some good DX spots from time to time and other members may be there if you want to connect/chat. If you are listening to the repeater, feel free to announce your call and that you are “monitoring”!