SCHH ARC “This & That” — August 26, 2025

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

Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW / Editor

SCHH ARC September 4th Membership Meeting

The ARC will resume monthly membership meetings on Thursday, September 4th.

The meetings will be conducted in the Bayside Room at the Lakehouse and begin at 7 PM with a program preceding the membership meeting. The central area of the Lakehouse is being renovated. Access to the meeting rooms may only be available from the door that faces the tennis courts/pickleball area…so keep that in mind at least for the next few weeks!

September 4th’s meeting will feature a presentation by Frank Pollino, K2OS who is one of the few hams who has achieved Worked All States on 432 MHz. Find out how he did it at our upcoming meeting!

September is National Preparedness Month

By ARC President Bob McCormick, KD8IH

Recent notes from Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) and the ARRL Letter remind us that September is Nation Preparedness Month.  This is especially timely given the hurricane and tropical storm threat to our region.

The 14 August ARRL Letter reported that the “National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted in June there would be 13 to 18 named storms, 5 to 9 hurricanes, and 2 to 5 major hurricanes (Category 3 or greater) for the 2025 season.” This is expected to be a very active season.

Tropical Storm Chantal and Hurricane Erin have already impacted the Carolinas with either rainfall and/or dangerous conditions off-shore.  The season has just begun!

Now is the time to check your own preparations for being able to operate in poor weather conditions and to keep your family safe.

Some on-line resources include:

VoIP Hurricane Prep Net: This net operates weekly on Saturdays at 8 PM EDT / 0000 UTC.  It provides a forum for situational updates, net control recruitment, and emergency coordination.

Hurricane Watch Net: This net is activated on 14.325 MHz (USB) by day and 7.268 MHz (LSB) by night when tropical storms or hurricanes are active.

ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®): The ARES website provides Information on how you can be active in your local area (www.arrl.org/ares).

Hurricane Awareness Page and a Hurricane Education Video Series: These Sun City Hilton Head also has on-line resources.

So, please be prepared and stay safe as hurricane season progresses.

Have You Heard About FreeDV?

FreeDV is a digital voice mode used by ham radio operators to transmit voice over HF (High Frequency) bands using low bandwidth. It replaces analog SSB (Single Side Band) with a compressed digital signal, improving clarity and reducing noise.

Find out more about it here.

Thanks to Charlie Bess, AD5EN for sharing this information.

Ham Radio Alive and Well in Halifax!

Thanks to Rick Garan, WA8NLX for sharing this item from his trip to Nova Scotia.

Looks like a nice set up at the museum.

Need to Create Some Additional Ambience in Your Shack?

This makes a great holiday gift too! Thanks to Lon Seward, WB4KSG for the suggestion.

Storage Area Open House Set for September 13th!

Come one, come all, to the SCHH ARC Storage Room Open House to be held from 10 AM to noon on Saturday September 13^th.  For those who may not know, the club maintains a storage room for the equipment that we use at events such as Field Day or POTA activations.  This is an opportunity for all our members to see what we have and where we store it.

Many members may not know where the storage room is. The address is 26 Okatie Maintenance Yard RD, Bluffton SC 29909.

If you go out the gate near Lake Somerset, turn right onto Route 170 and then look for a sign that includes “Okatie Maintenance”. Turn right after you see that sign and then go straight. You’ll see a sign on your left for the SCHH RV and boat storage area…keep going straight. You’ll see a large water storage tank and a water tower ahead of you and then to your right you will see a small white building. Our storage room is in that building.

Over time, we have collected donated equipment from members and other local hams. Some equipment is useful to the club on Field Days or POTA outings, for example. Other equipment may not be in perfect working order or is not useful to the club.  In the past, we have turned over excess equipment that is operable to the Okatie Repeater Association so that it could be sold at the Savannah Hamfest.  We have posted an inventory list at the club web site.  Soon, we’ll update that list to identify what is excess and establish a suggested price again with the intention that proceeds would go to the Okatie Repeater Association.

More info to come in future editions of This & That.

KB3FW Gets Lewis & Clark Trail Certificate

Contacts Made in All 16 States Along the Historical Trail

Next up: Route 66 on the Air in September!

Perhaps A Way To Get That QSO Count Up!

After all, it is all relative, right?

What’s Coming Up

Thursday, September 4, 2025 — September Membership Meeting, Lakehouse, 7 PM. Our program will be provided by Frank Pollino, K2OS who will tell us how he was able to earn “Worked All States” on 432 MHz! Frank’s presentation is entitled “Quest For 432 MHz WAS”.

Saturday, September 13, 2025 — Open House at the ARC’s Storage Unit. More details above!

Thursday, October 2, 2025 — October Membership Meeting, Lakehouse, 7 PM. Program will be provided by Ron Frick, AI4HH who will give us the “ins and outs” about WinLink, which is a very valuable communications platform, especially during emergencies.

Thursday, November 6, 2025 – November Membership Meeting, Lakehouse, 7 PM.

SCHH ARC Nets

Net News

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.

What is a “check-in”? A check-in to our nets requires a station either using a radio or EchoLink to make a transmission to the net after being recognized by the Net Control Station.

In instances where there are EchoLink issues or other unforeseen issues with weather, etc., the “making of a transmission” requirement may be waived.

The club is attempting to get the 147.06 repeater back into legal operation. We have reached out to Jasper County Emergency Management to see if we can help with this situation. We are awaiting a response.

What would appear to be a fairly straightforward path to success has been slowed up for multiple reasons.

We do however anticipate that we will be able to resolve all issues and get this valuable, important piece of ham radio infrastructure back on the air LEGALLY.

For now, the .060 machine should be considered “off limits” for anything other than monitoring.

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, September 2nd @ 8 PM 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, August 27th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, August 31st @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (Simplex).

— Tuesday, September 2nd @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (28.450 MHz SSB).

— Wednesday, September 3rd @ 8 PM: Rick Garan, WA8NLX (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, September 7th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Wednesday, September 10th @ 8 PM: Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

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, August 20th 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, K2ITZ, AA4KK, KJ4BSM, K2OS. QNI=6, QTC=0.

— Sunday, August 24th 2m Simplex Net: KE4HAM/K2OS, AI4HH, KD8IH, K2ITZ, AA4KK, WB1DXN, KB3FW, W1ZZ, AD5EN. 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”!