SCHH ARC “This & That” – April 2, 2024 Edition
April 4th Membership Meeting – Ken Finke “Elmer” and Bob Officer Presentation
The SCHH ARC will meet on Thursday, April 4th, in the Bayside Room at the Lakehouse, our usual meeting location.
Ken Finke (KN8F) will kick things off at 6:45 PM with an Elmer presentation about an Arduino project thAT he has built…and that you might want to build too!
Bob Officer (WA6WAY) will follow Ken with the evening’s main program, which will be a presentation on his golf cart portable power system that includes solar panels for battery charging and a DC/AC inverter . Bob’s golf cart is, we are fairly sure, unique…at least to Sun City!
The SCHH ARC has used Bob’s system for ARRL Field Day and Winter Field Day for our off-the-grid power. It has worked very well. Ed Stratton, W1ZZ, worked on the PowerPoint presentation with Bob.
Learn how to build one for your own use! It could help during a major electrical outage in our area and with the solar panels, it could get you through an extended outage.
Following Bob’s presentation, the club will hold its monthly membership meeting.
Note the early starting time for this meeting: 6:45 PM.
Disposal of Lithium Batteries
Thanks to Ed Stratton, W1ZZ, for sending along this information on Sun City Hilton Head’s Earth Day programs.
If you are like many of us here in SCHH, you have lithium batteries that have been used and are sitting around waiting to be recycled. They cannot be placed into the garbage because they are highly polluting.
Lowcountry Environmental Action and the Sun City Bird Club are sponsoring Earth Day on Saturday, April 20th from 11 to 2 at Pinckney Hall. They will have a box to collect your old lithium batteries and recycle them responsibly.
Can’t Travel to the April 8th Total Eclipse? Here’s Another Way to Enjoy the Day!
Not everyone is able to get to the area of totality but all hams can have some fun in a contest during the day of the astronomical event.
Here’s a blurb on how to do that!
The October event was very good and hopefully this month’s on the air activity will be a great time for all hams!
CARS Swap Meet/Hamfest Set for April 27th
Hope to see you down by the SAV airport for the annual CARS tailgate swap meet and hamfest. This event starts and ends early in the day. So, get there as soon as you can to find the biggest variety of gear and accessories to add to your shack.
The site is just off I-95’s Exit 104 (see aerial photo below)
The CARS raffle usually offers some great prizes. More info on the event can be found here.
Tickets for the raffle can be purchased on line by clicking here. Note that raffle tickets usually are available at the site but, be warned, they run out of tickets sometimes. As such, it is good to buy them on line early and often!
Humor
Thanks to Bob Kennedy, N0DQD, for this one!
Upcoming Meeting and Events
April 4th – Next Membership Meeting: See information above.
April 20th – Hidden Transmitter Hunt: Meet up at 8:45 AM in the Courtyard rear of Pinckney Hall. Hunt begins at 9 AM. Russ Treadwell, N1ZK, notes that there are three YouTube videos on typical fox hunting practices on the homepage of the Club website, KE4HAM.org. This will provide some ideas about how you might prepare for the hunt. And, the videos demonstrate some techniques for finding the fox. Knowledge is power, right?
April 20th – Lunch at Jameson’s: 12 Noon at Jameson’s at Hidden Cypress. All are invited to come to the lunch…not just participants in the Transmitter Hunt that morning! Spouses and guests are welcome too!
April 27th – CARS Swap Meet/Hamfest – See information above.
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.
Net Check-ins Continue to Be Impressive
Easter evening broke our “run” of nets during which we had 10 or more check-ins. While this is not surprising, the fact that we had 8 check-ins on Sunday night is very good!
Thanks to all who participate.
These are our nets. Enjoy them. They are very special and give us the opportunity to connect with each other while testing our equipment’s connectivity capabilities.
Please keep our nets alive and well by checking in when we can.
Weekly SCHH ARC Nets
Sunday’s Net (8 PM) operates on 147.550 MHz simplex and EchoLink node: KE4HAM – L except on the Sunday after our club’s membership meeting. On the Sunday after our club membership meeting, the Sunday Net will be on the KE4HAM repeater (147.135 + with a tone of 91.5 on both the input and the output). The KE4HAM Repeater Net can also be accessed via EchoLink at KE4HAM-R. NOTE: April 7th’s net will be on the KE4HAM repeater!
Wednesday‘ ‘s Net (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, April 3 @ 8 PM ET: Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW (JASPER COUNTY REPEATER)
— Sunday, April 7 @ 8 PM ET: Bob Officer, WA6WAY (KE4HAM REPEATER)
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. We have topped 10 check-ins for many of our recent nets, which is awesome!
If you have the time, please check into our club’s nets on a regular basis.
Last week’s check-ins and traffic:
— Wednesday, March 27 : KE4HAM/N1ZK, AI4HH, K2ITZ, KB3FW, WB4KSG, WB1DXN, KD8VL, KQ4JKI, WA6WAY, N0BQE. QNI=10, QTC=0.
— Sunday, March 31: KE4HAM/WA6WAY, AI4HH, K2ITZ, KB3FW, WA8NLX, KQ4JKI, WB1DXN, AD5EN. QNI=8, QTC=0.
Note: QNI = Number of Check-ins to the net, including Net Control; QTC = Traffic handled (Radiograms).
Other Operating:
Daily — Monitor the new 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.