For Children, Young and Old

Located in beautiful downtown Dade City

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or Click here to go to the East Pasco County Amateur Radio Club web site

Thursday Net December 18, 2014

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Plant City Hamfest December 2014

Click Here For Images Of The Hamfest

Click Here For Even More Images Of the Hamfest

Christmas Message From Rich N4ESS

I would like to thank everyone for their support of the hamfest in Plant City this past weekend. We had several club members stop by our table to sign in. A few of the members stopped by to show off their great deals from the tail gate area while others were on their way to forums. Peggy, N4PEG, and Bill, KI4ZMV, spoke with several of the visitors at the table as well as other members that stopped by. Other area clubs stopped by our table and took away some good ideas for their club tables and club meetings. I was surprised to find that several other clubs in the central Florida area know all about us. They know because they told me that they read our blog regularly. 

The East Pasco Amateur Radio Society, EPARS, located in Dade City extended an invitation to visit with Santa Claus, K4EX, during the Christmas Church Street walk in Dade City, Dec. 21-23, 7-9 pm. EPARS always sets up a VHF station that allows people to talk to Santa on 2 meters. Hundreds of people turn out for this gala light show each year. It started out years ago as a Christmas card lane with the locals taking part in placing giant, 4’ X 8’, Christmas cards along Church St. It has grown into what it is today. I have been going to this for most of my life as I am from Dade City. Church Street in Dade City is blocked off from about 11^th street to 14^th street each year and the streets are full of people looking at the lights that adorn the private homes and churches. People from all over the area show up to see this event. Parking can be found on block South of Church St. near the middle school but there will be people parking on all of the nearby streets. http://eparsonline.org/

 

Another attraction to remember is the Citrus Tower in Clermont. Each year at Christmas time the Citrus Tower is lit up for the Christmas light show. All 226 feet of the tower is lit with 75,000 LED lights which can easily be seen from 4 miles away. The music that plays is coordinated with the lights to provide a beautiful show. It is free. You sit outside and listen to the music and watch the lights from 6pm to 10pm. If you would like to ride to the top of the tower there is a $6.00 charge but the trip is worth it. For more information go to the Citrus Tower website at http://www.citrustower.com/clermont/light-show/ . Remember to take a handheld with you. On the top level you are almost 500 feet above sea level and over 200 feet above the ground. I have checked into the Thursday night net from up there and Andrew, WX4AMS, spoke to me last week from the tower through the LARC repeater. 

Thanks to all and a very Merry Christmas to all,

Rich - N4ESS

Thank You LARC

Thursday Net December 11, 2014

Christmas Party 2014

For those who missed the performance, recordings will be available soon.

Ansel performing "A Hunk of Burning Ham."

It Is That Time Of Year Again

Christmas Party 2014 is only days away!

This year, the party will be held December first. Festivities will start at six. Contact Rich if you wish to attend. You can pay at the door, but contact him first so that he can plan with Jimbo's. As in years past, we would like all those with a sweet tooth to bring a desert to share.

And don't forget, there will be a food collection for VISTE. Your donations will be most appreciated, especially at this time of year.

FGCARC Hamfest Just Around The Corner

Click here for more directions and site that tells it all, or click on the image below for a more readable copy.

Thursday Net 11,27, 2014

Happy Anniversary Terrie and Lee

Thursday Net For November 20, 2014

Thursday Net November 6, 2014

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New And Improved Hams

Ernie and Geoff congratulate Corry McBride KM4EAX on passing his General. Geoff told us he owned a plane, but I for one had no idea how impressive it was. :-)

From left to right Glen, Daniel Keath KM4FOT, Joseph Torrence KM4FOU, Peggy, Ron, John Shufflebarger KM4FOS. and Jim.

The Guest Speaker
For The November 2014 Meeting Was Paul Womble

We had a record turnout for Paul Womble's presentation. By most counts there were seventy-five in attendance. Paul K4FB is the Program Manager for Polk County Emergency Management. His presentation covered both his responsibilities and that of his agency. Amateur radio operators have a special role in times of emergency. Paul suggested, among other things, first and foremost, to be prepared yourself, have a plan, and keep sharp on your radio communication skills. Know your equipment, and make sure you can manage simplex, should the repeater systems go down.

You can get more information at this website Click here

Here are some helpful frequencies to know. See how many you can reach, and in what mode.

Election Results For 2015

Directors
President Rich Kennedy, N4ESS
Vice President Matthew Stevens, KK4FEM
Secretary Bill Johnson, KI4ZMV
Treasurer Bob Foxworth, K2EUH

Board members
Chet Carruth, AB4XK
Stephanie Hildreth, KK4RAH
Mike Oliver, KT2T
Geoff Schuck, WA4MMO
Al Sheppard, W4ZSC
Bob Siegel, WA4YFN
James Stewart, W4XDS
David Zdanowicz, KI4WRX

Congratulations to the two newcomers Chet and Stephanie. Also, a big thank you is due to three past board members for their untiring service last year, Randy Wildman, Tom Evans and Fred Delaney.

The board looks forward to serving the club in 2015.

LARC Net Thursday October 30

Upcoming Christmas Party

Thursday Net October 23, 2014

For the last seven weeks we have been collecting and publishing names of those who checked into the net. I thought it would be a good time to summarize our stats to date. Dan and I both encourage you to join the net each Thursday, and if you get the urge, consider hosting once in a while to give Dan a break. Give him a call. He would appreciate it.

October 18th Picnic 2014

The following pictures were taken at the October picnic at Lake Parker Park. Thirty one attended. Picnics are always a great time to socialize, and eat. This one was also good for radio. Andrew in particular got the chance to cut his teeth on HF, making several DX contacts on 10-meters.

Click here for images

Ham Radio Is Simpler Than Ever

On the same day as the picnic, the Lakeland Police Department held its annual open house. As in years past, LARC made sure its presence in the community was recognized. The first of two photos is of the LARC booth. The second is of the CERTS booth, notable because it was manned by one of our most charming members, Roger.

There is no limit to the extent we will go to raise interest in the hobby. Jim is having so much fun he has even decided to run for the board. That kind of enthusiasm really rocks!

Roger Manning the CERT's Booth

 

Animal Magnetism

LARC NET October 16, 2014

Thursday Net October 9, 2014

Three Dudes Become Hams

From left to right, Bill WW1WDF, Richard W8DUK, Vincent KM4EAW, Brian W4VAR,
and Peggy N4PEG

From left to right Richard W8DUK, Glen W4JGC,Christopher KM4EVO, and Ernie KG4YNI

Coming Soon!

Don Jeerings has tickets. Save a dollar, buy yours before the event.

Click here for pdf file.

LARC Net 10/2/2014

Sad News

We are sadden to hear that Kay Carruth, Chet’s wife, passed away today, Friday 9/26/2014. There will

be a Memorial Service for his wife at his house at 11:00AM, Saturday Oct 18th.

Chet’s address is:
415 S Terrace Drive

Eagle Lake Florida, 33839

chetcarruth@msn.com

Bill

Weatherman Dan's Fearless Forecast

Click here for Weatherman Dan's Data

LARC Net for 9/25/2014

LARC Testing To Date

LARC Net 9/18/2014

We Got It!!!!

To the LARC membership at large,

Prior to me being elected to the position of president of LARC, past presidents and board members were hammering out the design for our club obtaining a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS. LARC has received IRS approval of our application and LARC is now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This opens up new avenues for us as a club to receive donations that can now be used as a tax deduction for the person donating to our organization. I will be giving more information on this at the October meeting.

I would personally like to thank those that came before me in this office and the board members who worked hard to make this happen.

Thanks to all and congratulations as we enter a new chapter in our organizations growth,


Rich Kennedy - N4ESS
President, LARC, 2014

Decisions, decisions, decisions ...

The say when it rains, it pours. This October 18 is no exception. Clearly there is something for everyone on this day. First, there is the club picnic. Again, it will be held at Lake Parker Park, from sun up to mid afternoon. The club will provide the meat, you are asked to bring a side to pass, and something to drink. Activities will include HF radio, and another opportunity to test out your volt meters. Rich will make his standard sources available for this purpose. This will be both a fun and educational day.

Each year we have supported the LPD's Open house. The club is looking for members to support this activity again this year. This is a fun event, and a side benefit is that you will be able to see, touch, and even use the ham radio facilities housed at LPD. Those interested should contact Rich.

And last, but not least, you can volunteer to help out at the Rattlesnake and Run event. They are looking for operators with HT's to provide communication during this event. See the blog entry for September 5 for more details. Click here to go there. . .

October QST- Page Seven

Local celebs caught on camera at the ARRL 100 Year Celebration.

Thursday Night Net 9/11/14

Al's Experience With The Segate Wireless Router.

As hams we make purchases from time to time. What better place to share our experiences than in the club's blog. I invite everyone who has recently purchased a new, or new to them rig to share their experience with the group. Al was nice enough to give us an example to model our reporting after. Essentially I am looking for one or two images and a paragraph or two.

Bill

I got the Seagate wireless to working this evening. It is very user friendly to set up. It already has folders and is formatted for a PC I was able to drag and drop photos from my main PC at a pretty good clip. I do not have USB 3.0 which would have made it even faster but still did 18 GB in about 15 minutes. I then deleted some of that, and it went much faster on the delete than the transfer. I downloaded the Seagate App to my iPad, and had the usual Apple App problems but after careful reading, I accessed the photos and Seagate sample of video and docs on the Apple with speed that is certainly satisfactory—faster than my Internet connection by far. My next task is to drag some photos to permanent storage on the iPad from the Seagate. Tomorrow, I hope. Once again, I do not consider the iPad to be very friendly in that there is no equivalent of Windows Explorer which I use a lot—we’ll see. So far it is a really useful and neat tool. They say it will hold 300 videos and accommodate three users (phones, tablets or laptops)simultaneously. The 2TB would do even more.

For more information click here 

Al

We Are Appreciated

This just in from our events coordinator Bill Paul:

From: Melissa Sanchez [mailto:msanchez@lakelandrealtors.org]
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2014 10:31 AM
To: 'Bill@WPaulRealtor.com'
Subject: Warrior Walk

Bill,

Just another note of THANKS to your groups for such a fantastic job at the 5th annual Warrior Walk in Lakeland. I received so many compliments about your group and the extraordinary help you all provided. Especially to me and my key contacts. As a matter of fact, I wish we would have connected years ago as I could have used your talent and services for years prior. It would have made this event MUCH easier!!

Thank you again for everything you provided and the services you offered. What a fantastic event and you were a big part of making it as smooth as possible.

Melissa Sanchez
Communications/ Events Coordinator
Lakeland Association of REALTORS®
863.687-6111 Ph. ** 863.688-8253 Fx.
Email: MSanchez@lakelandrealtors.org

New Bragging Rights-I'll Drink To That!

Pictured above:Patrick, Ernie, Cory KM4EAX, Vincent KM4EAW, Richard W8DUK, Ron, Colon KI4MNP, and Randy.

Results From Multi-meter Calibration

click on the image for a larger image.

 Tom Evans on Multimeters

Tom Evans did a through job explaining the finer points of picking a multimeter. Click on the link below to the full presentation.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/LakelandARC/files/General%20Meeting%20Presentations/

Rattlesnake Festival and Run

Ham Radio Volunteers needed.

What: 2014 Rattlesnake Run 

When: October 18 2014 7am to 10?

Where: San Antonio , Florida 

Why: Public Service event  

How: Via Amatuer Radio 

Ham Radio Operators are now part of the Rattlesnake Runs Communication Team. Operators offer accurate and reliable voice communication support between the Aid and Medical Stations along the course and the Event Command Center. We are seeking FCC-licensed amateur radio operators. Volunteers are not required to have prior experience, but if you do have experience with marathons, road races, adventure relays, or similar public service events let us know. Volunteers must be able to supply their own equipment.( a 2m handie-talkie)

If you wish to be part of the Ham Radio Volunteer Program at the 2014 Rattlesnake Run, please send an email to n2kbk@... or call/Text 727-484-8099

Ham Radio Volunteers will be using the E.P.A.R.S. VHF repeater (146.880 -.600) to support the event. Volunteers will work alongside the local service agencies and municipal city departments to ensure participant safety.

The registration deadline for all Ham Radio Volunteers is Saturday October 11th (1 week prior to event) Contact n2kbk@... to let him know that you can help.

Thank you for your support!

Chris Bloxsom , N2KBK

This year we will have a special event station set up at the rattlesnake festival. Promoting Amateur Radio to the public. Please come by and visit. We are also looking for people to operate and meet the public.

Action August

First the candidates. Congratulations to all!

Eleven years old! Luis Moreno Jr KC1CJL, with Peggy, N4PEG, and Richard, W8DUK

Luis and his proud parents and siblings.

The usual suspects, and a few new ones.
Randy Wildman, AD4RW; Louis Pacheco, KK4TSH, general (dark T-shirt); Austin Kline, KM4DNB, technician, (plaid shirt); Richard Grubb, W8DUK; Ringo Breton, KG4DUF

and also.
Pictured here are Lawrence McCoy, KM4DNC, new tech, and Richard W8DUK, one of our clubs new VEs

Our birthday couple. Norma on Monday, Don on Friday.

Some people will do anything for attention. :-)

Norma and Pat negotiating an age deal. They decided on an even split, 42 years each. :-)