SCHH ARC “This & That” — December 31, 2024

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a safe, happy, and healthy New Year!

Membership Meeting with GREAT Program Set for Thursday Night!

Bayside Room at the Lakehouse with a 7 PM Tee Time

Thursday evening at 7 PM, the SCHH ARC will be treated to a presentation on radio wave propagation by Francis Donovan, W3LPL. Francis will Zoom into our meeting from his QTH in Glenwood, MD, which is located between Baltimore and Frederick, MD. If you’ve ever wondered about the solar numbers that are shown on QRZ.com, Francis may be able to shed some sunlight on that.

Cycle 25 may or may not have peaked but it is still a great time to be on the HF bands. Learn more about how to maximize your DX over the coming months by coming to our meeting on Thursday.

The ARC will hold its first 2025 general membership meeting after W3LPL’s presentation. The club’s 2025 budget will be presented to the membership for approval during the meeting. Also, we will be discussing plans for Winter Field Day (WFD). Our club plans operate 3 or more stations at Lake Somerset on the afternoon of January 25th. We will begin to discuss specifics during the meeting on Thursday!

So, come on out and start the ARC New Year is good fashion! Hope to see you there!

SCHH ARC 2025 Executive Board

As of tomorrow, January 1st of 2025, members of our SCHH ARC’s new Executive Board include:

— President: Daryl Borgman, WB1DXN (wb1dxn2001@yahoo.com).

— Vice President: Bob McCormick, KD8IH (kd8ih@earthlink.net).

— Treasurer: Lon Seward, WB4KSG (lon2015rip@gmail.com).

— Secretary: Bill Albro, K3WPA (balbro@yahoo.com).

— Immediate Past President: Harve Hnatiuk KB3FW (hnat463@gmail.com).

Thank you all for stepping forward to lead our ARC!

10m Net Tonight!!

The SCHH ARC 10m Net will begin to ring in New Year’s Eve with our 10-meter net tonight, December 31st, at 8 PM.

The 10m net is held on 28.450 MHz using Upper Single Sideband.

Check-in if you can!

New Year’s Eve Is Straight Key Night!

Rumor has it that one or two members may be looking for some Straight Key CW QSOs after the SCHH ARC 10m Net.

If you are so inclined, get your straight key on line and see what happens as the clock ticks toward midnight!

Ham Radio Resolutions for the New Year? Here Are Some Ideas!!!

Hopefully, 2025 will include some ham radio activities for all members of our ARC!

There are so many ways to enjoy our hobby…DXing, contests, awards, POTA to name a few.

If you haven’t been on the air for awhile, perhaps a fun New Year’s resolution would be to give it a go in 2025!

Here are some other suggestions for ham radio operators found on a recent search on the Internet:

— Make my first DX QSO

— Do everything I can to be the best possible operator I can be

— Check into your local ARC’s net.

— Be a courteous and welcoming operator at all times, especially to those who are new to the ham radio community

— Expand my knowledge of amateur radio and share it with interested non-hams, particularly youngsters—the future of the world’s greatest hobby

— Try a new mode

— Participate in ARRL Field Day and Winter Field Day

— Get more involved in your local radio club.

— Serve my local community through amateur radio

— Try building my own equipment

— Upgrade my license class

— Learn Morse code or increase my speed

— Better organize my shack

— Not be afraid to ask questions (trust us, no ham knows it all)

Please know that whatever you want to do or try, it is likely that there are members of our club who can and will be able to help you move forward and make it happen!

Whatever you do, you are wished the best of everything in all areas of your life in 2025 and the years ahead!

Very 73 in 2025 and beyond!

QSL Card of the Week

Many members may remember the Amateur Radio postage stamp from years ago.

Sixty years ago, ham radio was recognized with a commemorative 5-cent stamp by the Post Office.

The Utah DX Association has a Special Events Station, K7S, that you can work between now and the end of January 2025. You can get the QSL card but you may not be able to get the postage stamp that was sent to me by Wes Wilkinson, W7WES, as the stamps were only made available to the first 200 stations that requested one.

First class postage for a letter was $0.05 then. A gallon of regular gasoline cost $0.31 back then…adjusted for inflation, that number is $2.80 or so, depending on how you calculate it.

Interestingly, a 21″ Zenith color TV cost $399 in 1965…adjusted for inflation, $3,600! TVs are more high-tech and bigger (screen-wise) than ever…and less expensive.

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Thursday, January 2, 2025 7 PM at the Lakehouse – Our first membership meeting of the New Year 2025! Program on propagation by W3WPL will precede our general membership meeting. See above.

Saturday, January 25, 2025 – Winter Field Day (WFD) at Lake Somerset. WFD will be discussed at our January 2nd meeting. Our KE4HAM efforts will be organized by Bob Officer, WA6WAY, and Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW.

SCHH ARC Nets

Please note that we WILL be having our 10m SSB net on New Years Eve and our 2m repeater net on New Year’s Day!

These are our nets. Please enjoy them. They are very special and give us the opportunity to connect with each other on a regular basis while testing our equipment’s connectivity capabilities.

Please keep our nets alive and well by checking in when you can.

Can you help our nets by being a Net Control Station? How about giving it a try in early 2025?

We have two regular net control stations…a third and fourth net control station would really help lighten the load. Please consider giving it a shot!!!

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) operates through the KK4ONF/Jasper repeater, 147.060+. The net can be accessed via EchoLink using the link KE4HAM-R.

Next 10m SSB Net: New Year’s Eve, December 31st, 8 PM on 28.450 Upper Sideband. Net Control will be K2OS, Frank Pollino.

Net Control Stations and EchoLink Coordinator

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

Thanks to Bob, WA6WAY, for being an alternate Net Control Station and 10m Net Coordinator..

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

Net Control Schedule:

— Tuesday, December 31 @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (10m USB, 28.450 MHz).

— Wednesday, January 1, 2025 @ 8 PM: Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW (KK4ONF Repeater).

— Sunday, January 5, 2025 @ 8 PM ET: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater)

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, December 25 : Our Wednesday net was not conducted on Christmas.

— Sunday, December 29: KE4HAM/K2OS, AI4HH, KJ4BSM, KD8IH, K2ITZ, KB3FW, WB1DXN, KQ4JKI . QNI=8 QTC=0.

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

Some Humor to Close Out the Christmas Season

Bob Kennedy, N0DQD, sent this in after receiving it from a ham in Germany!

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.