SCHH ARC “This & That” — September 30, 2025

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

Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW – Editor

Membership Meeting Thursday Evening! Lakehouse 7 PM

Winlink Presentation by Ron Frick, AI4HH Will Precede the General Meeting

The SCHH ARC’s October Membership Meeting will be held in the Bayside Room at the Lakehouse on Thursday October 2nd. A presentation of Winlink will be provided by Ron Frick, AI4HH beginning at 7 PM.

Winlink is a network of amateur radio and authorized government stations that provide worldwide radio email using radio pathways when the Internet is not present. The system is built, operated and administered by licensed amateur radio volunteers. It supports email with attachments, position reporting, weather, and information bulletins.

Come to the meeting to learn more about this important “tool” that can be very important for interoperable emergency and disaster relief communications.

The general membership meeting will follow Ron’s presentation. The nomination and election of our ARC’s officers for 2026/2027 will be discussed as other areas of the club’s activities will be reviewed and updated.

Have Your Letters Been Sent?

The ARRL has ramped up efforts to reduce restrictions to ham radio antennas in HOA communities.

Have you participated in this grassroots effort?

You can easily have your voice included in the chorus even if you are not an ARRL member? Click here to make that happen.

10 Meter Single Sideband Net Tonight!

Fire up the HF rig this evening and get into the SCHH ARC’s monthly 10 Meter Net.

The net will be called by Frank Pollino, K2OS at 8 PM local time on 28.450 MHz SSB.

Chartered Club Fair Is This Saturday

Sun City Hilton Head will conduct its annual Chartered Club Fair on Saturday, October 4th from 10 AM to 1 PM.

Our ARC will occupy our usual spot outside the courtyard-side doors of Pinckney Hall, where members of the club will be on hand to introduce interested SCHH residents to our great hobby.

Plans are to operate a modest HF station on CW and to have 2 meter FM handhelds there to demonstrate two of the many facets of ham radio.

Members can stop by to renew their club memberships for 2026. Dues are an outrageous $5 (for the entire year). Renewal forms will be at the table. You can bring a check payable to the SCHH ARC, cash, or provide your CAM card number.

Members are encourage to “hang out” and talk “ham radio” to fellow residents of our community.

Hope to see you at the Fair!

New Fox Will Be Unleashed for October 11th Hidden Transmitter Hunt

Lon Seward, WB4KSG Will Hide Transmitter. Dutch Treat Lunch at Okatie Creek Clubhouse to Follow!

Our Fall Hidden Transmitter Hunt (aka the Fox Hunt) will kick off from the parking lot of Pinckney Hall at 9:30 AM on Saturday October 11th.

One can only imagine where someone as crafty as Lon Seward (WB4KSG) will choose to hide the 2 meter FM transmitter. Lon and fellow member Judy Seward have been successful fox hunters in the past. If they collaborate on hiding a transmitter, we all may be out there for a while on October 11th…so, bring extra sunscreen and water that day!

The transmitter will be stashed somewhere in SCHH in a public area. Complete “ground rules” for the hunt will be discussed with all participants who gather at Pinckney prior to the hunt.

All members and guests are invited to a Dutch Treat lunch at the Okatie Creek Clubhouse at Noon on October 11th at the conclusion of the hunt. RSVPs for the lunch must be sent in as our reservation is only for 14 people. So, get on board early! Contact Harve, KB3FW via email (hnat463@gmail. com) to get on the list.

Can You Help to Fill the Glass?

For more info, please contact Bob McCormick, KD8IH (kd8ih@earthlink.net).

Not Just a Breeze!

Chip Miller , KQ4JKI sent a link to a NASA presentation about solar wind.

You can find it here.

Was This Their Last Date?

Thanks to Chip Miller, KQ4JKI for sending this one in!

More on Morse

What’s Coming Up

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. See meeting info above.

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

Saturday, October 11st: Hidden Transmitter Hunt with Dutch Treat lunch at Okatie Creek Clubhouse. More details above.

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.

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. 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: TONIGHT!
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. 

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:

— Tuesday, September 30th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (10m SSB).

— Wednesday, October 1st @ 8 PM: Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Sunday, October 5th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

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

— Sunday, October 12th @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater).

— Wednesday, October 15th @ 8 PM: Rick Garan, WA8NLX (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, September 24th 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/K2OS, AI4HH, KJ4BSM, WA6WAY, WB1DXN, K2ITZ, AA4KK, KB3FW. QNI=8, QTC=0.

— Sunday, September 28th 2m Simplex Net: KE4HAM/K2OS, AI4HH, K3WPA, AA4KK, WA6WAY, KJ4BSM, KQ4KOO, WB1DXN, K2ITZ, KD8IH, KB3FW . 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”!