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SCHH ARC “This & That” — June 10, 2025

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The Weekly Newsletter of the Sun City Hilton Head Amateur Radio Club (SCHH ARC)

Editor – Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW

Field Day Planning Highlights June Membership Meeting

Building on the May 28th Zoom Meeting, ARRL Field Day planning continued at the June 5th membership meeting last week.

The SCHH ARC will be at Lake Somerset to operate KE4HAM on June 28th.

The planning session followed a quick general membership meeting that was led by Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW, who filled in for club president Bob McCormick, KD8IH, who was away for the week. The meeting updated all present on our current financial position, membership, our volunteer examiner program, and the Okatie Repeater.

Participants were filled in on plans for our September/October/November membership meeting programs which will include a presentation by Frank Pollino, K2OS on how he was able to achieve Worked All States on 432 MHz as well as a presentation by Ron Frick, AI4HH on the basics of WinLink. The club is also hoping to confirm that Bob Brehm (AK6R) of Palomar Engineering will provide a presentation on RFI.

Field Day Planning included a presentation on antennas by Ken Finke, KN8F that enabled the club to make some good decisions about antenna locations and orientations.

Ken Finke, KN8F provided great input on Field Day site layout at the June 5th meeting and on Sunday at the Lake as well.

The club will operate on 15m and 20m SSB as well as on CW on 10, 15, 20 or 40m. In addition, we will be on FM on 6m and 10m.

Several members from the ARC met on Sunday June 8th at Lake Somerset to decide on how to install the 15 and 20m dipoles and how the CW station’s antenna could be positioned to minimize its impact on the SSB stations. The use of a vertical antenna for the CW station is also being considered.

Members who met up on Sunday morning at the Lake included KN8F, K2ITZ, AB2LT, KQ4JKI, KB3FW, W1ZZ, W8NCA, and WA8NLX. It was time well spent for sure.

ARRL Field Day operation of KE4HAM will take place on Saturday June 28th at Lake Somerset.

Additional details on ARRL Field Day will be provided in upcoming issues of “This & That”.

Thanks to all members who participated in the June 5th Field Day Planning session and membership meeting: WB4KSG, WA6WAY, AI4HH, AB2LT, K2ITZ, KQ4JKI, WA2PMY, W1ZZ, K2OS, K3WPA, KN8F, and KB3FW.

Amateur Radio – A 21st Century Hobby

When mentioning your ham radio hobby to others, maybe you have been asked “Is ham radio still popular?” or “Are people still doing that?”.

Well, the answers are yes and yes, of course.

Ham radio remains a fantastic hobby for multitudes of people around the world. We are not alone!

This great introduction to amateur radio might be something to send to folks who ask about the current state of the hobby.

A Bit of Humor

Maybe next week, the boys will be working on a flag pole!

What’s Coming Up

Monday, June 16, 2025 — Zoom Presentation on SCHH ARC Emergency Preparedness and Operations Plan. Zoom info has been emailed to all members.

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 — Final Field Day Planning Zoom Meeting. Zoom info will be sent to all members.

Saturday, June 28, 2025 — ARRL Field Day at Lake Somerset. More info to follow in upcoming issues of This & That.

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 –– Zoom Meeting to discuss plans for August 9th’s Parks on the Air Activation at Lake Warren State Park. Zoom info will be sent to all members.

Saturday, August 9, 2025 — KE4HAM Parks on the Air Activation at Lake Warren State Park. More info will be in This & That in the coming weeks.

SCHH ARC Nets

Net News

Our 10m SSB net on June 3rd was our BEST EVER. We had fourteen club members check in to the net! That is most likely a record number of club members to participate in a SCHH ARC net. Thanks to all who are listed below in the net reports who made that happen.

Wednesday nets are on the 147.135 Okatie Repeater until further notice.

Our nets continue to have a lot of support, which is much appreciated. All SCHH ARC members and licensed friends are invited to join the fun!

Can you help our nets be even greater? Volunteering to be a Net Control Station would be a big HELP. Please let Harve, KB3FW know if you want to give it a try (hnat463@gmail.com).

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, July 1st @ 8 PM Local Time 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, June 11th @ 8 PM: Rick Garan, WA8NLX (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, June 15th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Wednesday, June 18th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, June 22nd @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (Simplex).

— Wednesday, June 25th @ 8 PM: Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, June 29th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (Simplex).

— Tuesday, July 1st @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (10m SSB, 28.450 MHz).

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, June 3rd 10m SSB Net: KE4HAM/K2OS, K2ITZ, W4QNW, WA6WAY, N0DQD, KQ4JKI, KN4VWQ, KN8F, WA8NLX, W4YR, W1ZZ, KB3FW, AI4HH, KD8IH. QNI=14. QTC=0.

— Wednesday, June 4th 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, WB4KSG, WB1DXN, KJ4BSM, K2ITZ, W1ZZ, K2OS, WA6WAY, K3WPA, WA8NLX.. QNI=12, QTC=0.

— Sunday, June 8th 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/K2OS, AI4HH, KJ4BSM, WA6WAY, KB3FW, K2ITZ, WA8NLX, WB1DXN, W1ZZ . 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”!