SCHH ARC “This & That” — May 27, 2025

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

Editor – Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW

ARRL Field Day Planning Kicks Off Tomorrow!

ARRL Field Day is on June 28-29. The SCHH ARC will operate on Saturday, June 28th at Lake Somerset.

An 11 AM Zoom Meeting will begin our ARRL Field Day planning on Wednesday, May 28th.

The club has a solid group of members who will be planning things. It is not too late to join in the planning. Please contact Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW (hnat463@gmail.com) for details on the planning meeting and process.

We will be discussing how many stations we will be setting up on Field Day, what equipment we’ll be using with what antennas, food and beverage, safety, publicity, and the overall schedule for Field Day Weekend.

Emergency Preparedness Update

The SCHH ARC’s emergency preparedness plan has been prepared for review by our Task Force. The plan will be discussed at the club’s June 6th Membership Meeting and then given to the SCHH Community Association for its review and comments.

The written plan discusses how amateur radio operators can provide communications assistance during emergencies and presents possible ways in which volunteers from our ARC can help SCHH residents during power and communications outages that are brought on by weather or disasters.

An internal SCHH communications plan is discussed as well as how volunteer hams in SCHH can communicate with other volunteers in Beaufort and Jasper counties.

The plan is an offer to help as needed when and if needed. It is not a demand to be involved internally here in SCHH. The extent of our assistance to SCHH residents will be finalized after the SCHH CA and perhaps the SCHH Board reviews what we could possibly do during emergencies.

Look-ahead goals for our ARC volunteers include getting more of us into FEMA training and into using WinLink as well as for having an operational simulated emergency test. A follow-up survey of our club members is also planned to make sure that we have everyone on-board who wants to be on-board, to confirm members’ current capabilities regarding radios and back-up power, and to better understand which members will be around during various levels of emergencies. As there is nothing constant but change, it is anticipated that this type of survey will be done annually prior to hurricane season.

Back from Dayton!

Bob Kennedy, N0DQD journeyed to the Dayton Hamfest earlier this month. It looks like he covered a lot of ground out there. Thank you, Bob, for sending in some photos.

As you can see from the photo of the Xenia Fairgrounds below, there were only a few others in attendance!

Bob covered a lot of ground out there and it appears that he made a few new friends as well!

Looks like some of the participants got an early start on setting up for Field Day!

This & That will look to put in a couple more photos from Bob in next week’s edition.

The Sound of Static

Remembering the old Simon & Garfunkel song, some clever ham came up with this!

Hello static my old friend

I’ve come to listen to you again.

Because a signal softly creeping

Left an echo of some code beeping

And the signal that had echoed in my brain

Still remains

Within the sound of static

In a darkened room I sat alone

With narrow filters on my ‘phones

By the warmth of my kW amp

Turned down the RF as the signal ramped

When my ears were stabbed by the crash of a lightning strike

That split the night

And touched the sound of static

And in the pileup there I saw

Two hundred people maybe more

People talking without speaking

People listening to the code beeping

People sending songs that voices never shared

And we all dared

Disturb the sound of static…

What’s Coming Up

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 — Field Day Planning Zoom Meeting, 11 AM.

Thursday, June 5, 2025 — June Membership Meeting and ARRL Field Day Planning Meeting at the Lakehouse.

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

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 months.

SCHH ARC Nets

Net News

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). It is indeed a lot of fun to “run” the net!

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, June 3rd @ 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 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, May 28, 2025 @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, June 1, 2025 @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Tuesday, June 3, 2025 @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (28.450 MHz, SSB).

— Wednesday, June 4, 2025 @ 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, May 21st 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, K2ITZ, N0DQD, WA6WAY, K2OS, WB1DXN. QNI=7, QTC=0.

— Sunday, May 25th 2m Simplex Net: KE4HAM/WA6WAY, AI4HH, KQ4KOO, WB1DXN, K2ITZ, W1ZZ, KB3FW, AA4KK, K3WPA. 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”!