February 20, 2024 Weekly This & That Newsletter
KE4HAM Repeater Is Operational
Our long-awaited and dreamed-about KE4HAM Repeater is now a reality!
It is located in a temporary location with hopes that it will find a permanent home in the newly expanded firehouse that is near the Okatie Ale House.
Please give it a try. Here is where you can find it on 2-meters: 147.135 MHz (+) with a 91.5 Hz tone.
If you have not tried it, please do and report any issues to Ron Frick, AI4HH and/or Bob Officer, WA6WAY.
Volunteer Examiner Report – Attention Technician Licensees
The following is from Dennis Hopkins, AC4DH:
“A VE session was held on Saturday, Feb 17 and in a first for our club’s VE program a
license upgrade was earned with no exams being given! Terry Wade, N8HZV, earned
an upgrade to General based on his successfully passing the exam for Technician 60
years ago!
Prior to 1987, the Technician and General licenses shared a common written exam, the
difference in licenses being the code requirement, General 13 wpm , Technician 5 wpm,
and the Technician exam being given by the original ‘volunteer examiners’ while the
General exam was given only at an FCC office.
The FCC has recognized that those Technicians who passed the common exam, that is
those licensed prior to 1987, have already passed the written exam for General and with
the elimination of all code requirements are qualified to be (except for paperwork and
other administrivia) Generals.
Terry took advantage of the FCC rules in his exam session on Saturday, completed the
necessary administrative details (paperwork and most importantly paying $15) and left
the session with General privileges.
The grandfathered credit for passing the General exam is available to all Technicians
licensed before 1987. There is no requirement that they be continually licensed,
however they must have a current Technician license, or must pass the current
Technician exam in order to earn the credit.
The club is encouraged to promote this exam credit to all of its long time Technician
license holders. Also, the promoting of the concept of the FCC grandfathered exam
credit to SCHH residents and beyond could be a great vehicle to entice ‘fallen away’
hams to come back to the hobby and especially to the club.”
Thanks, Dennis, and congratulations, Terry!
South Carolina QSO Party Is Saturday
It’s always great to be a ham radio operator in South Carolina…or anywhere for that matter!
But, this Saturday is probably the BEST DAY to be a ham in the Palmetto State. It is South Carolina QSO Party Day!!
Beginning at 10 AM local time on February 27th, you can get on the air and be a hunted station rather than a hunter of stations. It is a refreshing experience! How often have you had to sort out a calling station from a host of other stations who want to contact you? This Saturday offers that possibility!
The SCQP concludes at 8:59 PM on Saturday. It is a short QSO Party, only 11 hours. You can operate on all non-WARC HF bands (no 30m, 17m, or 12m operation) on CW, SSB, and digital modes. As a SC station, you can work ANYONE including other stations in SC.
Click HERE for more information. Don’t be afraid to reach out to Dave, WN4AFP, if you have questions (daveedmo@gmail.com)…he is the enthusiastic and highly capable organizer of the QSO Party.
Antennas in HOA Communities: The National Debate Kicks In
We might have a movement here that may, at the speed of government, provide some relief regarding restrictions on amateur radio antennas is HOA communities.
Here is some info that came to us via the ARRL.
The bi-partisan sponsored Senate bill is putting this issue on the national stage.
The legislation in SC also seems promising.
Stay tuned!
CARS Savannah Hamfest Swap Meet -April 27th
If you have been to the Swap Meet down by the Savannah airport, you most likely will want to go back every year if you can.
If you have never been to a CARS Hamfest, consider going to it this year. It is a rite of Spring!
This year’s CARS Hamfest is on Saturday, April 27th at the same location near SAV, right off Exit104 of I-95. It is the same exit that you would use to go to SAV or to go to the Pooler outlets.
For more info, click HERE. Be sure to check out getting raffle tickets as there a great “door prizes” (just ask Bob, WA6WAY, and Ron, AI4HH about that!).
SCHH ARC’s W1ZZ and KB3FW Pound the Brass in the ARRL DX CW Contest
Last weekend’s ARRL CW DX contest saw the airwaves alive around SCHH.
These results are quite impressive for stations in an HOA operating in a huge CW contest that is traditionally dominated by operators using a KW into large antenna arrays.
Ed, W1ZZ, worked on 10m CW only with extremely impressive results. Here is his summary:
Band QSOs Pts Cty Pt/Q
28 464 1392 95 3.0
Score: 132,240…nearly 500 contacts on one band (10m) and close to DXCC in terms of countries. Well done, Ed!
Harve, KB3FW, took the multi-band approach and ended with these numbers:
Band QSOs Pts Cty P t/Q
7 65 195 37 3.0
14 90 270 49 3.0
21 101 303 53 3.0
28 159 477 54 3.0
Total 415 1245 193 3.0 Score: 240, 285
Harve worked 4 different bands and piled up the multipliers that way to get a record score for his station.
Congrats to both CW operators for getting the Low Country of SC on the air in the ARRL CW DX Contest!
If anyone else participated in the ARRL DX CW contest or ANY contest please forward your results to Harve if you would like to have them included in “This & That” (hnat463@gmail.com).
When hams here in SCHH see that you are active and on the air, it will encourage them to get on the air more too!!
QSL Card of the Week
From Jack Frisch, K2ITZ, card for contact with special events station.
Humor
Upcoming Membership Meetings
Please mark your calendars and join other club members and participate in our upcoming membership meetings. Program Committee chair Ed Stratton (W!ZZ) has programs lined up until June and will be finalizing our Fall 2024 programs soon as well.
Here is what is coming up.
Note that Membership Meetings normally begin with a program at 7 PM on the first Thursday of the month in the Bayside Room at the Lakehouse. Our monthly Membership Meeting begins after the program concludes.
Club Website
Click here to get to the Club’s website: https://www.ke4ham.org.
If you notice any errors or have site-related questions, please email the webmaster; email: webmaster@ke4ham.org.
Please Participate in our Nets When You Can
Last Wednesday night (February 14, 2024) was by everyone’s recollection a record-breaker in terms of participation. We had 15 check-ins including net control. The net ran until well after 9 PM with only 2 go-arounds for most participants. Thanks to all who checked in! The bar has been raised…can we beat it in the coming weeks? Please check in to be a part of the next “record breaker”!
Weekly 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
Net Control Stations and EchoLink Coordinator
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.
Net Control Schedule:
— Wednesday, February 21@ 8 PM ET: Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW.
— Sunday, February 25, 8 PM ET: Bob Officer, WA6WAY.
If you are interested in being a Net Control, please let Ron or Harve know.
SCHH ARC Net Reports:
Thanks to ALL who checked in to our SCHH ARC nets last week.
If you have the time, please check into our club’s nets on a regular basis.
Last week’s check-ins and traffic:
— Wednesday, February 14 : KE4HAM/N1ZK, AI4HH, KJ4BSM, K2ITZ, N0DQD, AA4KK, KB3FW KQ4JKI, WA6WAY, AD5EN, WA2LWO, KQ4KOO, KQ4CLZ, WB1DXN, K4DNY. QNI=15, QTC=0.
— Sunday, February 18: KE4HAM/WA6WAY, AI4HH, WA2LWO, K2ITZ, KB3FW, AA4KK, KD8VL, WB1DXN, K2OS. QNI=9, QTC=0.
Note – QNI = Number of Check-ins to the net, including Net Control; QTC = Traffic handled (Radiograms).
Other Operating:
Daily — DX spotting and open chat 24/7 on 147.550 MHz simplex and the Jasper Repeater, 147.060+ (no Echolink).