TROJAN
ARC HARMONIC
MAY 2004
MEETINGS 2nd
THURSDAYS 7PM K-N COMMUNICATIONS
HAM LUNCH NOON FRIDAYS MONITOR .82
WORK NIGHTS AS
SCHEDULED
WØWOB
REPEATERS
146.22/.82
444/449.65
156.7 PL
WØWOB IRLP
Node #3608
146.22/.82
Repeater
Website
http://www.carrollsweb.com/bfrahm/trojanarc.htm
KØFJ-2 APRS DIGI 144.39
KØFJ-1Ø APRS I-Gate
WØWOB APRS Weather
Node
KØMXU APRS Weather
Node
NEXT
MEETING MAY 13 K-N COMMUNICATIONS- 7:00 PM
Field Day planning is the
front burner item.
NO APRIL HARMONIC The editor had some irons in the fire and
no April Harmonic was produced. We did meet and discuss Field Day, the .82
antenna mount and other issues. We also had a work night to process N and
X QSL bureau cards. This included
handling the influx of SASEs that whittled down our ‘dead piles’, thanks to the
emailing efforts of Jeff ACØJ.
MAY CLUB MEETING –
FIELD DAY PLANS Our big outing for the year is approaching and
we should decide on operating venue, how big an operation to make of it
etc. Since KØFJ and KBØLGX will not be
attending we should address whether to run networked computers and get that
planned if so. Not networking means either segregating rigs to certain
band/modes, or running the risk of dupe contacts. Harvest is acting early, but
of course is much reduced in this area due to drought so won’t be a big
factor. Another discussion item is Field
Day merchandise – pins and t-shirts, and whether we want to make a group order.
ACØJ QSYING BACK TO GRAND ISLAND It’s not news to most of us by now, but
Jeff and family are headed back to Grand Island where D’Ette has
a big county extension job. Jeff has sold his Cushcraft HF yagi to NØQE and
most of his other gear to Darrell KCØRCX in Jennings. He still has
the mobile station in his pickup.
WX/ARES NET The noon CT ARES /
SkyWarn net being called on the .82 repeater by the WXØGLD station has been
reasonably popular and it’s nice to get the briefing info. We’re also getting
familiar with the voices and calls of the various licensed staff at NWS. The Thomas County WX spotting class in late
March was well attended, and a number of Trojans took part. Net Activity for last month was 29 sessions
with 257 check-ins
CLUB WEBSITE
REFURBISHED TARC webmaster KØBJ
has been putting site maintenance on hold since he had a problem with Microsoft
Front Page that required half-hour uploads just to do minor changes. Bruce
figured out a new menu setting that produces much faster updates. The Harmonic
online archive has been updated, and some other dated material was changed or
removed. Check out the page at and let him know if you see anything that needs
to be changed, or think of stuff that should be added. http://www.carrollsweb.com/bfrahm/trojanarc.htm
VHF TROPO ACTIVITY ‘Tis the season to duct body-length RF
along wx boundaries. The last few days the 2M band has been hopping with DX
signals, mainly from the south. Texas panhandle .82
machines have been coming in mornings. NØKQX and ACØE from the SHARC club in
Garden City have stopped by our machine to say Hi during the ductings.
GOODLAND 147.03
MACHINE The “new-old”
repeater on 147.03 in Goodland sounds good. Congrats guys on getting it going.
IRLP NODE NEWS KCØRCX and KØBJ are the main users of the IRLP
node of late. The Voice over Internet connection seems to be significantly better
out at the repeater site. This is a dandy way for hams without HF privileges or
equi[ment to have some long distance QSOs.
The new modem Mike installed there
had been trouble-free but just in the last few days is in need of a reset,
brought about by the ISP doing some work to Colby’s lines. We’ll monitor the
modem performance, and devise a remote reset device if such proves to be needed
very often..
KØBLU/K3RRY ANTENNA PROJECT This is STILL on hold, now due to some possibly defective
traps on Gil’s A3S yagi. Cushcraft is casing them out. Gil is appreciative of
their taking a look even though the antenna is out of warranty. Like the other
MFJ antenna analyzer owners in the area, Gil did NOT buy the grid-dip coil pack
with his – he figures that’d have helped in troubleshooting this trap problem.
BANDSCAN Nathan KCØGLA
is NOT going off to KSU and reports he will be around the area for the
foreseeable future. BT KØBJ has completed backfilling KM9D and KF4TUG’s various
DXpedition logs from their Caribbean and Pacific
operations of the last 4 years. More than 100,000 QSOs were uploaded to Logbook
of the World. And speaking of LoTW, it has just gone ‘live’ with the ability to
credit matched QSOs to ARRL operating awards. Since he was almost at the 1000
band/country point, KØBJ used LoTW credits to become the first online filer for
the DXCC Challenge plaque, and got some fleeting fame on the ARRL website. BT Armed
Forces Day is celebrated by hams a week earlier than the actual date to avoid Dayton weekend.
Activity was good this year, and the recent trend to have actual active
military radio ops rather than retired mil. Hams has only become more
widespread. This adds to the appeal of this annual event which is our one opportunity
as hams to communicate with another service and say thanks for watching out for
us. BT Speaking of Dayton, 5 SHARCers are making the trip and will be going in
style in KØBAJ’s big Expedition. None of the Colby gang are going this year,
but some of the Beloit contesting
group – WØNO KØWA and ABØS – are making the trip to ham Mecca. KØBJ is out
with Thai exchange student Namwan’s CHS graduation. During the tropo activity
the other day Jim ACØE had a short ragchew with Namwan and reminisced about his
radioman days at Udron, Utapao, Uban and other Thai locations. All these names
were familiar to Bruce, and his buddy Jack N1DX had put in time at them when he
was a civilian contracted for electronics maintenance. BT Delano Bates KCØSDO
from Hill City is our most
recent VE examinee. He’s been active on his ‘home’ .88 machine and stopped by
our machine a couple days ago when the band was open. His antenna is just at
roof height now but he’s working to enlist a city truck to get it up his 40’
pole tower. BT To borrow some 70s slang, this club has always had a few ‘pigs’
from the PD and Sheriff’s office. Now amongst us we have a Hawg…! Jim KØQP has joined the expanding ranks of
Trojans with Megaxxxx…. Ummm, MOTORcycles. He’s been having Harley
dreams and they’ve now come true. BT Karlyn,
harmonic of KØBJ, and Justin, harmonic of KCØHBR were among 2nd
graders visiting the Goodland airport. Part of their visit was to the NWS
office. BT
NEXT MEETING MAY 13 K-N COMMUNICATIONS- Field Day planning is the front burner item.
The Trojan Amateur Radio Club is a general interest
educational and public service ham club. We maintain 2M and 70cm FM repeaters, APRS packet digi and I-Gate and
IRLP link. Dues are $15/annually, payable to Mike Albers KØFJ 145 E. Cherry St., Colby KS 67701. Material from the Trojan Harmonic may be freely copied;
attribution is appreciated. News info to KØBJ, PO Box DX, Colby KS 67701 or bfrahm@colby.ixks.com. Subscription changes and requests to KØFJ k0fj@st-tel.net. Club
website at http://www.carrollsweb.com/bfrahm/trojanarc.htm