SCHH ARC “This & That” — November 11, 2025

The Weekly E-Newsletter of the Sun City Hilton Head Amateur Radio Club

Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW – Editor

Veterans Day – Forever Grateful to Veterans For Your Service to Our Nation!

Phil Gladstone, N1DQ Kicks Off November Membership Meeting With PSK Reporter Presentation

If you were looking to learn about PSK Reporter, you came to the right place if you were at the SCHH ARC’s November 6th Membership Meeting!

The ham who came up with the idea for PSK Reporter joined us for an hour presentation on the software, its development, and it uses. Phil Gladstone, N1DQ joined us via Zoom from Massachusetts.

PSK Reporter is an amateur radio signal reporting and spotting network that was started by Phil in 2014. It allows operators to see where there signals are being received and to spot what stations they can “hear”. It is a very useful tool. If you use FT4 and FT8 for example, you can quickly see what stations can be heard at your location and what stations around the world are hearing you…and how well you are hearing stations and how well you are being heard as it includes signal reports!

Thanks to Ed Stratton, W1ZZ for coordinating the program and for introducing Phil to our club prior to his presentation.

The SCHH ARC thanks Phil Gladstone, N1DQ for his work on PSK Reporter and for providing us with a great program!

Election of 2026-27 Officers Highlights November General Membership Meeting

The SCHH ARC conducted its election of officers at the November 6th General Membership Meeting, which followed the PSK Reporter presentation by Phil Gladstone, N1DQ.

The chairperson of our ARC’s Nominating Committee, Bob Officer (WA6WAY) announced the slate of officers to the members in attendance: Bob McCormick, KD8IH – President; Chip Miller, KQ4JJKI – Vice President; Lon Seward, WB4KSG – Treasurer; and Bill Albro, K3WPA – Secretary. There were no additional nominations from the floor. All in attendance voted unanimously to elect the slate of officers that was presented. Note that Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW will continue his service on the Executive Board as the club’s Immediate Past President.

All officers elected at last Thursday’s meeting will serve two-year terms. We thank them for stepping up to provide our organization with their wisdom and effective leadership in the years ahead.

Members who participated in Thursday’s meeting included Chip Miller (KQ4JKI), Jack Frisch (K2ITZ), Rick Garan (WA8NLX), Bob Kennedy (N0DQD), Bob Officer (WA6WAY), Bob Snyder (KF8DCB), Ron Kramer (W2RJK), Frank Pollino (K2OS), Ken Finke (KN8F), Charlie Bess (AD5EN), Bob Kehoe (WB3H), Phil Flaxman (AB2LT), Bob McCormick (KD8IH), Lon Seward (WB4KSG), Ed Stratton (W1ZZ), Ron Frick (AI4HH) and Harve Hnatiuk (KB3FW).

Preliminary Plans for 2026 Announced at Membership Meeting

2026 will be another active year for the SCHH ARC!

Club President Bob McCormick, KD8IH succinctly expressed what many members have come to realize: “I have said several times that the SCHH ARC is the most fun that I have had with a club here in Sun City. This club, to me, outshines the others.”

Here’s what we have coming up in 2026 in addition to our monthly membership meetings with great programs/presentations from January through June and September through November…not to mention a holiday dinner in December.

— Winter Field Day: Saturday, January 24th. We will attempt to reserve Lake Somerset for the afternoon and set up a few stations and have some fun. Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW will be organizing WFD. Hopefully, Mother Nature will cooperate!

— Spring Hidden Transmitter Hunt: Date to be determined…likely to be conducted in April. Always challenging and a lot of fun. It will most likely be followed by a lunch at a local establishment. Lon Seward, WB4KSG will most likely be the “fox” in this hunt.

— ARRL Field Day: Saturday, June 27th. When we reserve Lake Somerset for Winter Field Day, we will also look to reserve it for ARRL Field Day. Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW will most likely organize the club’s participation.

— POTA Activation: October 2026 or thereabouts. The ARC is looking to activate a POTA park that is within about an hour’s drive of SCHH. Jack Frisch, K2ITZ, who will be organizing this outing, has his eye on Skidaway Island in Georgia.

— Fall Hidden Transmitter Hunt: November 2026 or thereabouts. Stay tuned.

Our ARC has a WEEKLY newsletter that includes fresh content.

We have less than 70 members and yet we do a lot of things and do them well.

But, we are coming to a crossroads it seems. Again, from President Bob McCormick: “So, where are we? We are at a relatively good place as a club but unless we fill open positions (e.g., leaders for Public Service, Social Activities, Mentoring…Public Information Officer and Web Site Coordinator), activities that we have enjoyed so much in the past will become more difficult to stage. I am asking you to consider helping with one of our areas of need.”

What’s Coming Up

December 8, 2025 – SCHH ARC Annual Holiday Dinner, Dutch Treat at the Okatie Creek Clubhouse. 7 PM. Members and guests invited. Limited to 25 people. Get on the list early if you want to be there! Email Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW (hnat463@gmail.com) to RSVP.

January 8, 2026 — SCHH ARC Membership Meeting. Lakehouse, Bayside Room, 7 PM. Presentation by Bob Brehm, AK6R from Palomar Engineers on RFI.

January 24, 2026 — Winter Field Day. More details in upcoming issues of This & That.

Programs for 2026 Membership Meetings

The plan to date for 2026 is shown below. As can be seen, we have some openings for programs.

All members of our ARC can provide ideas for programs. Your help and input is truly needed!!

As we have discussed, our best programs seem to come from our own members providing insights on the areas of amateur radio in which they excel. Our club is blessed to have some great hams on its roster with a huge knowledge base.

And, many members of our ARC know hams outside of SCHH who could do a great program.

Our club’s Program Committee presently includes Ed Stratton (W1ZZ), Ken Finke (KN8F), Dennis Hopkins (AC4DH), and Harve Hnatiuk (KB3FW). Ken will be moving from SCHH to Ohio in the coming months.

There is room on the Program Committee for one or two more volunteers so that we can seek out program presenters from within our club and from the overall ham radio community. No pressure really for committee members…just a matter of putting the thinking cap on, coming up with some ideas, and following up on them as needed.

January 8th Meeting: (To be confirmed) Bob Brehm, AK6R presentation on RFI coming to us from the west coast on Zoom.

February 5th Meeting: Mike Aimone, WA8AHZ presentation about the future of ham radio. Mike is the 2024 recipient of the ARRL Roanoke Division Service Award. He plans to join us via Zoom.

March 5th Meeting: Open.

April 2nd Meeting: Open.

May 7th Meeting: Open.

June 4th Meeting: ARRL Field Day Planning Session.

More Fun With Phonetics

Bob Kennedy, N0DQD reports that he was known as “No Dimes Quarters or Dollars”.

SCHH ARC Nets

Please check-in to our nets and let others know how you are doing and what you are doing in ham radio and in other areas of your life.

Repeater Issues

The Okatie Repeater has been quite scratchy with some “drop outs” over the past weeks.

This issue is being investigated.

Jack Frisch, K2ITZ suggested that we move the Sunday night net to Simplex until the repeater issues have been resolved. The net leadership, which consists of net control stations as well as our EchoLink coordinator, will consider that suggestion.

Please continue to use the information in “This &That” to establish the dates, times, and frequencies/modes for our SCHH ARC nets.

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, December 2nd @ 8 PM on 28.450 MHz SSB. Frank Pollino, K2OS will be net control.

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 operations.

Thanks to Ron Frick, AI4HH, for working diligently to keep EchoLink up and running for our nets and for being the trustee for our club station, KE4HAM and the Okatie Repeater.

Net Control Schedule:

— Wednesday, November 12th @ 8 PM: Rick Garan, WA8NLX (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, November 16th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Wednesday, November 19th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, November 23rd @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (Simplex).

— Wednesday, November 26th @ 8 PM: Rick Garan, WA8NLX (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, November 30th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (Simplex)

— Tuesday, December 2nd @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (28.450 MHz, Upper Sideband).

SCHH ARC Net Reports:

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

Last week’s check-ins and traffic:

— Tuesday, November 4th 10m SSB Net: KE4HAM/K2OS, K2ITZ, N0DQD, W1ZZ, KN8F, WA8NLX, KB3FW, AI4HH, KQ4JJKI, WAS6WAY. QNI=10. QTC=0.

— Wednesday, November 5th 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/K2OS, AI4HH, WB1DXN, KJK4BSM, K2ITZ, WA6WAY, KB3FW, WA8NLX, AD5EN. QNI=9 , QTC=0.

— Sunday, November 9th 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/K2OS, AI4HH, KJ4BSM, KD8IH, K2ITZ, WB4KSG, KB3FW, WA6WAY, WB1DXN, W1ZZ, AA4KK. QNI=11, QTC=0.

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

News From Our Nets’ Check-ins

Ken Finke, KN8F is preparing to move from SCHH back to the Cincinnati area in Ohio. The club will miss Ken, who has been an active member for many years.

Jack Frisch, K2ITZ recalls a ham friend of his whose call sign was W2MHM (“Many Happy Moments”).

There is much interest in Skywarn. The club will look to get a program on Skywarn in 2026.

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”!