SCHH ARC “This & That” — September 16, 2025

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

Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW – Editor

ARC Holds Open House at Storage Room

by Bob McCormick, KD8IH

For the first time in several years, SCHH ARC hosted a Storage Room Open House organized by our equipment custodian, Bob Officer WA6WAY, on Saturday September 13^th from 10 AM to noon.   Several club members – including Ron Frick AI4HH, Chip Miller KQ4JKI, Chuck Nehonski W8NCA, Jack Frisch K2ITZ, Lon Seward WB4KSG. Harve Hnatiuk KB3FW and Bob McCormick KD8IH – participated.  The event was the first opportunity in some time for club members to see the club’s storage facility and the equipment it holds.

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.  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. 

All agreed that the open house not only offered a view of our equipment but was a great opportunity to travel down memory lane chatting about equipment and operating experiences we have had.  We look forward to next year’s Open House.

Thanks to Bob Officer, WA6WAY for helping me to organize this event and to all who stopped by!

SCHH ARC Want Ad of the Week: “Webmaster”

Our club is more successful when more and more members contribute their time and talents. Ask anyone who has done that for our ARC and you’ll most likely hear that the member’s club experience became richer by doing so.

Many of us remember President John F. Kennedy. To paraphrase him: “Ask not what your ARC can do for you, ask what you can do for your ARC”. He also is associated with the statement shown below.

Both the “ask” quotation and the “tide” quotation are related to service. The rising tide lifts everyone up when service is being done here in SCHH by volunteers.

Can you help to raise the tide for all members of our radio club and yes, for the entire SCHH community? Here is another way that you can help!

Webmaster

The web and our web site are critical to keeping our members and community informed about club activities and capabilities.  Take a look at www.ke4ham.org to see how important this site is to the day-to-day functioning of the club and as a tool to reach out to others (e.g., see the link on our web page to our Volunteer Examiner (VE) page). You would work with the current Web Master with the goal of taking on that role when you’re ready.

Please consider volunteering to help. Contact Bob McCormick, KD8IH, kd8ih@earthlink, to volunteer or to get answers to your questions about this opportunity.

“Route 66 On The Air” Throttles Down

This great special events ham radio week ended on Sunday at 8 PM local time.

Preliminary reports from Frank, K2OS indicates he worked all Route 66 stations except for the aeronautical mobile station that was flying around Arizona. Frank used SSB, CW, and digital modes.

Chip, KQ4JKI said he had 15 of the stations in his log, all on digital mode.

Harve, KB3FW had QSOs on CW or FT8 with 14 stations along the “Mother Road”.

Did you participate in it? If so, how did you do? Please email Harve, KB3FW at hnat463@gmail.com so your tally can be shared in next week’s This & That.

A CW Refresher from Samuel “Fine Business” Morse

Courtesy of Ed Stratton, W1ZZ.

Who added ..–.. ?? Or, –..– not to mention this period piece .-.-.- Done. Period/-..-. Or maybe not!

Food For Thought

What’s Coming Up for the ARC

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.

Saturday, October 4th — Chartered Club Fair in Town Square. The ARC table will most likely be in our traditional spot near the courtyard entrance of Pinckney Hall. More details to follow.

Saturday, October 11st — TENTATIVE: Hidden Transmitter Hunt with Dutch Treat lunch to follow. More details as they become available.

Saturday, October 18th — CARS Swapmeet near SAV Airport in Georgia. More info in This & That next month.

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

December – Holiday Dinner. Date, time, and location to be determined.

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.

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 still awaiting a response.

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. We have reached out to Jasper County Emergency Management but have had no response. Stay tuned!

If you look up KK4ONF on QRZ.com, you can confirm the current issue. For now, the .060 KK4ONF 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 30th @ 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. Can we add you to this list? Please contact Harve, KB3FW if you want to give it a try!

Thanks to Frank, K2OS for also being the net control station of our monthly 10m SSB net. If anyone wants to be another Net Control for the 10m net, please let Harve, KB3FW know. You can give it a try to see how you like it!

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, September 17th @ 8 PM: Rick Garan, WA8NLX (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, September 21st @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (Simplex).

— Wednesday, September 24th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, September 28th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (Simplex).

— Tuesday, September 30th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (10m 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, September 10th 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, K2ITZ, K2OS, W1ZZ, AA4KK, WA6WAY, KQ4JKI, WB1DXN, KG4UOY, WA8NLX. QNI=11, QTC=0.

— Sunday, September 14th 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/K2OS, AI4HH, AA4KK, KJ4BSM, WB1DXN, KD8IH, K3WPA, K2ITZ, KB3FW, W1ZZ, KQ4JKI. QNI=11, 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”!