SCHH ARC “This & That” — October 28, 2025

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

Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW – Editor

Happy Halloween!

SCHH ARC Weighs In on HOA Emergency Preparedness Bills

Bob McCormick, KD8IH — our ARC President — coordinated the preparation of letters of support for both the US Senate and US House of Representatives bills related to the reduction of restrictions for ham radio antennas in HOA communities such as SCHH.

There were two sets of letters sent. Each set of letters included one for US Senators Lindsay Graham and Tim Scott as well as Congressperson Nancy Mace.

One set of letters, using the format and wording provided by the ARRL, was sent to a central location so that ARRL could package them all up and send them en masse to Washington DC.

Another set of letters that included input from our SCHH ARC Executive Board was sent directly to Senators Scott and Graham and Representative Mace.

Here is a look at a draft of one of the letters. It may have been slightly changed but the gist of our letter was not changed from what you see below.

Thank you to Bob, KD8IH for spearheading this effort. Thank you to our ARC’s other officers — Bob Kennedy (N0DQD), Lon Seward (WB4KSG), Bill Albro (K3WPA), and Harve Hnatiuk (KB3FW) — for being “all in” on this process.

Our club’s engagement regarding this issue has been exceptional.

Let’s hope that this initiative gains a lot of momentum in the Halls of Congress in the months ahead!

Hurricane Melissa – An Emergency Preparedness Learning Opportunity

by Bob McCormick, KD8IH

The ARRL reported on Thursday October 23, 2025 that the “National Hurricane Center in Florida, the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN), and amateur radio operators have been tracking Tropical Storm Melissa.”  The concern is that the storm will make it to the Gulf according to ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV.  If so, anything goes.

The Thursday weather update forecasted heavy rains and flooding for portions of Hispaniola and Jamacia through the weekend and a tropical storm warning for Jamaica.  Heavy rains are also expected in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica through Sunday.

Thursday 23 October Wind Forecast (Source: ARRL Letter, 23 Oct 2025)

The storm may result in the activation of the Hurricane Weather Net (HWN), which is currently on standby mode. “When activated, amateur radio operators can monitor or join the net on 14.325 MHz (USB) during the day or 7.268 MHz (LSB) at night.”

For our community of hams, this will likely be an opportunity to observe and learn for those who haven’t had the opportunity to participate in such an event.  Nothing beats the real thing when seeking a better understanding of what emergency communications looks like and building an understanding of its DNA.

 Please monitor ARRL News for any further updates as the storm progresses.

Possible Phonetics for the Next SSB Contest?

This has been much discussed on the CWOps Listserv recently!

Any other fun ideas for phonetics?

There was a friend of Harve’s (KB3FW) in NJ whose call sign is WB2GFU…he used Green Flannel Underwear!

Here’s another one: “My buddy N5MP got dubbed 48 years ago – Mnemonic Pnuematic” (Courtesy of Mike / K5JR / Alpharetta GA).

Have you been creative with your call sign’s phonetics in the past? Have any other “good ones” to share?

Please send what you have seen or have via email to Harve (hnat463@gmail.com).

We Remember…Bob Heil, K9EID

Our ARC has been blessed with having many great presentations being made at our membership meetings. We have had many “in house” or “home brew” presentations by club members that have been very memorable and informative.

Also, we have had other hams joining us via Google Meet or Zoom. A few presenters have had “return engagements”, for which we are very grateful.

One such presenter was Bob Heil, K9EID. Bob became a Silent Key in February 2024 but not before giving the SCHH ARC the generous gift of his time and talents on more than one occasion.

Many ARC members use Heil headsets and microphones on a daily basis. They are rated among the best in ham radio.

The snippet below is from the back of Bob’s book, Heil Ham Radio Handbook (Second Edition). As with most things associated with Bob Heil, the book is excellent (and probably still “in print”).

What’s Coming Up

Thursday, November 6, 2025 – November Membership Meeting and Election of 2026 ARC Officers, Lakehouse, 7 PM. Program coming to us via Zoom thanks to Phil, N1DQ who will tell us about PSK Reporter.

Saturday, November 15, 2025 – Hidden Transmitter Hunt! More details to follow.

December 23, 2025 – SCHH ARC Annual Holiday Dinner. River Bend Lodge, SCHH. Details will be provided as they become available.

Programs for 2026 Membership Meetings

The plan to date for 2026 is shown below. As can be seen, we have some openings for programs.

All members of our ARC can provide ideas for programs. Your help and input is truly needed!!

As we have discussed, our best programs seem to come from our own members providing insights on the areas of amateur radio in which they excel. Our club is blessed to have some great hams on its roster with a huge knowledge base.

And, many members of our ARC know hams outside of SCHH who could do a great program.

Our club’s Program Committee presently includes Ed Stratton (W1ZZ), Ken Finke (KN8F), Dennis Hopkins (AC4DH), and Harve Hnatiuk (KB3FW).

There is room on the Program Committee for one or two more volunteers so that we can seek out program presenters from within our club and from the overall ham radio community. No pressure really for committee members…just a matter of putting the thinking cap on, coming up with some ideas, and following up on them as needed.

January 8th Meeting: (To be confirmed) Bob Brehm, AK6R presentation on RFI coming to us from the west coast on Zoom.

February 5th Meeting: Mike Aimone, WA8AHZ presentation about the future of ham radio. Mike is the 2024 recipient of the ARRL Roanoke Division Service Award. He plans to join us via Zoom but has not ruled out coming down here from his VA QTH to join us in person!

March 5th Meeting: Open. We may look to Tim Duffy, K3LR to give us a presentation on the latest and greatest at DX Engineering. That being said, he is a busy man and may not be able to be with us on that date. Stay tuned!

April 2nd Meeting: Open.

May 7th Meeting: Open.

June 4th Meeting: ARRL Field Day Planning Session.

SCHH ARC Nets

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.

Check-ins to our nets last week dropped off a bit. Both the Wednesday repeater net and the Sunday simplex net managed 8 check-ins, which is a bit below our recent average.

As reported by Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW at our October Membership Meeting, the club continues its efforts to get the 147.06 repeater back into legal operation. It is unclear how long it will take to resolve this situation. Our ARC will remain proactive as we try to restore this important piece of ham radio infrastructure in the Low Country.

For now, the .060 KK4ONF machine remains “accessible” but it 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, November 4th @ 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 operations.

Thanks to Ron Frick, AI4HH, for working diligently to keep EchoLink up and running for our nets and for being the trustee for our club station, KE4HAM and the Okatie Repeater.

Net Control Schedule:

— Wednesday, October 29th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, November 2nd @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Tuesday, November 4th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (28.450 MHz SSB).

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, October 22nd 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, WB1DXN, WA6WAY, K2ITZ, K2OS, AA4KK, KJ4BSM. QNI=8 , QTC=0.

— Sunday, October 26th 2m Simplex: KE4HAM/K2OS, AI4HH, KJ4BSM, WB1DXN, K2ITZ, KB3FW, WA6WAY, WB4KSG. QNI=8, QTC=0.

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

News From Our Nets’ Check-ins

Ron Frick, AI4HH continues to offer assistance to any member who would wants to get up and running on Winlink. He reported that he went to last Saturday’s SCHH Car Show and enjoyed the displays.

Ron (AI4HH) also said that the Okatie Repeater Association has a donated Tri-band Beam Antenna that it will most likely sell. Please contact him or Bob Officer (WA6WAY) if you know of any likely buyers.

Daryl (WB1DXN) reports from NH that the PT on his knee is almost done!

Mary Treadwell (KA1DGG) will be moving from SCHH in the near future.

Frank (K2OS) is chasing DX, going after 6O3S (Mozambique) currently.

Jack (K2ITZ) continues to chase new parks to up his POTA Hunter count, which now stands around 4800. Harve (KB3FW) is closing in on 1600 unique parks worked.

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”!