Tuesday, April 3, 2018

LARC On Station At The 2018 Kathleen Historical Society Event


LARC has supported the Kathleen Historical Society event several years running. It is a wonderful family event featuring arts and crafts of all sorts. Amateur radio fits in nicely.
After arriving at dawn to set up, Rich relaxes before the the crowds come through the exhibit.



 One of the many interesting demonstrations was flint lock technology.

A master gunsmith demonstrates how flintlocks work to the Holzer family.
Another was the wildlife exhibit.



Monday, March 19, 2018

Picnic!!! March 24th 2018

The only thing missing is you (and the food). See you there!
LARC will be having a picnic!
     March 24th from sunrise to around 2:00PM
             Lake Parker Park, last pavilion when you enter the boat dock entrance.
                   Bring a dish to pass and something to drink, the club will provide the rest.

Saturday, March 10, 2018

Kathleen Historical Society 2018



Consider dropping by the Kathleen Area Historical Society Heritage Day, Saturday March 17, 2018.
Every year the club supports this event by setting up a radio station and answering any questions attendees have about ham radio. This is a fun afternoon if you like talking to people about radio. All club members are encouraged to drop by. No admission, and plenty to see and eat.
Congratulations Joe, KN4KIB On Passing The Tech License

New Technician Joseph Hansel Kn4KIB holding his Certificate.
Ever since EME the sky is no longer the limit for radio communication. Someday MEM will be the thing to try, but not until Hams populate the moon. :-)

A New Approach To Field Day
Fred reviewed the plans for this year's field day.
Things will be a little different this year at field day. A committee, headed by Fred,  has been formed to manage the various aspects of this three day event. This includes help with scheduling operators, food preparation, antenna and radio selection, as well as the all important, though much less exciting set up, cleanup, and tear down. In addition to Fred, other team members include Bob Doherty and Jim Stewart on scheduling, Patrick on food, Bill Johnson on setup, cleanup, and tear down. Each team member will be looking for volunteers to assist them.

We are especially encouraging new members to get involved. And, leading the way by example...

Members of the Holzer family, Leon, Aiden with the vacuum, and Liam.
Mom helped too, but the photographer was on the other end of the table
she was helping to move. Our club needs more of this kind of involvement.

Sun and Fun Special Event Station

Tom Ruhlmann, W9IPR discusses plans for this year's Special Event at Sun and Fun.
Tom reviewed the details for this year's Sun and Fun Special Event Station. If you like radio and airplanes, this is your chance for a big win win Participants get a free pass to the show, along with some special parking. For details, please contact Patrick. He is a veteran of this event, and can fill you in. Sun and fun will start April 10th this year. Be sure to check with Patrick well in advance



The Citrus Tour May 5th and 6th 2018
The main speaker for this evening was Mike Breese, W2YS. Mike made a request for help with this event. Several positions need to be filled. Radio operators are required at each rest station. Operators with vehicles capable of transporting bike and biker are also needed. Finally, operators are needed at command center. Dinner will be held for participants. More information is available at http://www.citrustour.org. 

Our club contacts for this event are Bob Doherty, or for the skinny from the man who has done this the last ten years running, Larry Walker, KI4DNO. You an contact Larry at  KI4DNO@aol.com.

Darrell Davis KT4WX recently appointed Mike Bresse W2YS as an Assistant Section Manager for the Special Project of the Bike MS Citrus Tour.  Bresse is the new amateur radio coordinator for the Bike MS Citrus Tour starting this year and had previously been the SAG vehicle coordinator for a number of years.


For those who missed Techcon, once again, Darrell did an outstanding job of lining up speakers to meet just about everyone's interest.

Attendees


CALL NAME_FIRST NAME_LAST LICENSE_CLASS ARRL ARES SKYWARN
AA4HT Robert Van Winkle Amateur Extra YES NO
K1DU Frederick Delaney Amateur Extra YES NO
K2OU Gary Perkins Amateur Extra NO NO
K4JZ William Aten Amateur Extra LIFE NO POL-933
KA2BVC Alwin Pogue Amateur Extra YES NO
KG4PWF James Scott General NO NO POL-173A
KI4CDY Patrick O'Neil Amateur Extra YES YES POL-219A
KI4DNO Larry Walker General YES YES POL-218A
KI4EFL Donald Jeerings General NO NO
KI4NBE George Gafford Amateur Extra NO NO POL-316A
KI4WRX David Zdanowicz Amateur Extra YES YES
KI4ZMV William Johnson Amateur Extra YES NO POL-840
KJ4AFB Patricia Morris General YES YES
KK4VCN Eleanor Marshall Technician NO NO
KM4BAO Robert Doherty General YES NO POL-829
KM4STS Liam Holzer General NO NO
KM4STT Aimee Holzer General NO NO
KM4STU Leon Holzer General NO NO
KN4CHP James Edmonson General YES NO
KN4FBD John McCullough Technician YES NO
KT2T Michael Oliver Amateur Extra LIFE YES POL-322A
N4KWR Kevin Rought General YES YES POL-868
N4PEG Margaret Lang Amateur Extra YES NO HIL-1000
N6MRS Michael Shreve General YES NO
N7CUC Samuel Shaver Amateur Extra NO NO
NJ4Y Matthew Stevens Amateur Extra YES YES POL-680A
W4EMT Eric Clark Amateur Extra NO NO
W4JGC J. Culler Amateur Extra YES NO POL-560A
W4ZSC Albert Sheppard Amateur Extra YES NO POL-843
W7STR Springer Rush Amateur Extra YES NO
W8DUK Richard Grubb Amateur Extra YES NO POL-782
WX4AMS Andrew Stevens General YES YES POL-838
WZ1P Daniel Gagnon Amateur Extra NO NO







Guests





W2YS Mike Bresse Extra


KK4ASE Mike Gearhart Extra


N4WDH Duane Archibald Extra


KK4PFA Mike Lipsey General


W9IPR Thomas Ruhlmann Extra









New Members





KN4JNX Eric Grenier Technician


K1OPQ David Perrin Extra


Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Put Saturday's TECHCON On Your Calendar

This is something you don't want to miss.

4th Annual TECHCON

Formerly known as the
West Central Florida Section Technical Conference

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TECHCON FRIDAY EVENING SOCIAL

WHERE AND WHEN
DATE:  Friday February 23, 2018
TIME:   6:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.

PLACE:  Sonny’s BBQ Restaurant  – 4600 Recker Hwy, Winter Haven, FL 33880-1249.

This is simply a social dinner for anyone who wants to show up and talk technology.
Family and friends are also invited to come as well. 

TECHCON MAIN SESSION

WHERE AND WHEN

DATE:  Saturday February 24, 2018

TIME:  Welcome and Check In (Coffee and Doughnuts) – 8:00 A.M.,
Conference Opening – 8:45 A.M., and Presentations begin – 9:00 A.M.

PLACE: Polk County Emergency Operations Center.
The facility is being provided courtesy of Polk County Emergency Management
Coffee, doughnuts, and iced tea are being provided courtesy of the Polk County Emergency Management.



Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Polk County ARES Test

Date and times February 21st, at 2030 hours.

We are going to give it another try, this time a little more structured.  In the past we have talked about the size of Polk county, and that we have it divided up into 4 regions – north west, north east, south east and south west, and have assigned simplex frequencies to all 4 along with a common county wide frequency.  These are:

       •        County Wide:
               o        2m – 145.510
               o        70cm – 446.150

       •        North West:  North of SR 542/US92 and West of US 27
               o        2m - 147.465
               o        70cm – 446.050

       •        North East:  North of SR 540 and East of US 27
               o        2m - 147.405
               o        70cm – 446.025

       •        South East:  South of 540 and East of US 27
               o        2m - 147.585
               o        70cm – 446.075

       •        South West:   South of 542/US92 and West of US 27
               o        2m - 147.420
               o        70cm – 446.125

All the above are Simplex, no tone.

Steps for this Simplex test:
   1.   Meet on the WC4PEM repeaters

   2.   When the primary Net Controller gives the instruction to do so, go to the VHF Simplex frequency assigned to your region of the
        county.  For this test we are just using the VHF frequencies.

   3.   Check the frequency for use.
        a.      If not in use, give your callsign.  Once another station has come back to you, decide which of you will be the region
                Net Control.
        b.      If the frequency is in use and not by ARES, request from those using it if they can standby and allow the Simplex test
                – if they will not, do not push the issue and return to the WC4PEM repeaters and await instructions.
        c.      If another station that is participating in the test has assumed region Net Control, then proceed as a check-in and
                give them your call sign.

   4.   The region Net Controller will then ask for check-ins and request any relays of those that are attempting to check in but that
        the Controller can not receive.  As a guideline, use:
        a.      This is (your call sign), ARES Net Control for Region (your region) Polk County.  Please check in to the net, one at a
                time.  If you hear a station that is attempting to check in that I have not acknowledged, please relay that station’s
                call sign.
        b.      Give the region net check in process approximately 10 minutes.

   5.   At the end of the region net check in, the region Net Controller should go to the county wide VHF Simplex frequency and attempt
        to contact the County Net Controller.
        a.      If contact established, give the county Net Controller a count of the stations that you were able to contact along with the number that were relayed in, then go to the WC4PEM repeater
                and wait for the Net Control to return from the Simplex..
        b.      If unable to contact the County Simplex Net Control, go to the WC4PEM repeaters to await further instructions.

That is it.  Pretty simple and should not take us more than around 30 minutes.  Might want to print these out to make it a little easier.


Hope we can get a good turnout for this.

Thanks.

Jim
W4XDS
Polk ARES AEC of Operations

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Norma Jeerings Passed Away

I just received this email from Don informing me that Norma past away Saturday February 10, 2018.

"Around midnight, Norma went to be with the Lord. 
        She is no longer suffering and it was a blessing."
Don