Lousy conditions, good friend!

So, like many a weekend I (K5WW) went to the club shack to put some contest QSOs in the log this weekend. After all, it was the Volta RTTY contest, in which we had plenty of fun – and record breaking scores 😉 – in previous years!

But: before I was even granted access to the shack an “old”, familiar truck pulled into the parking lot. Could it be? Could it BE????

It COULD!! Jason KS5TX stopped by for a visit, and to show off his always-improving contesting skills!

Sorry for the blurry photo; he’s gotten so fast that it’s become extremely hard to take a good pic of him!!!

After everything was said and done he single-handedly pushed the score to over 1.3 million points!

Missed him? No worries! He’s still making plans to attend Field Day 2018. Y’all better be there! 🙂

Cya, bud!

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An old saying, proven wrong!

The one that goes “you can’t teach an old coyote any new tricks”. Wrong!

Some old hound, after getting bored with the ARI DX contest due to lousy propagation, decided to try something else today. He always wondered how our station would do on 60 meters; and if we’d be able to operate there at all.

Turns out we do! The 590 didn’t need to be modified at all; and that trusty old HF vertical provides a pretty good match on 60. But yeah: it still gets hot, even at the 25 W level…

Anyway: in less than one hour the old dog logged 9 QSOs, with 6 US states and 1 Canadian. Ah, Canadians: my best friends…

When you’re starvin’, trust Marvin.

So there you go, fellow CARCers. The 44 other states are waiting for YOU! 😉

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April 2018 meeting minutes

Attending: Jim AB5JK, James WW5XX and Erik K5WW.

The Secretary mailed out invitation letters to members we haven’t seen in a while, inviting them to come to the April meeting and/or renew their dues. Only two replies were received.

Some members renewed their dues today: WW5XX, N5YPJ (via proxy), KU5Z (also via proxy) and K5WW. The Treasurer misplaced his receipt book; receipts will be issued next month.

Field Day 2018 was discussed, briefly. Input regarding locations is welcome.

Also discussed: the ongoing case of electrical interference at the club shack. More work needed: the noise that seemingly disappeared after reporting it to AEP is back, though intermittent. But just as strong as ever.

James mentioned that he too is the victim of serious electrical noise nowadays. S9 and more, like at the club shack. Since James lives quite close to our shack the two problems could be related. So: we need to do some serious footwork again; and find out exactly what is lighting up the neighborhood!

No elections were held; we didn’t have a quorum to do so.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:26 PM, UMH time. If you weren’t there, then you missed it! 🙂

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April 2018 meeting

The CARC April meeting is Tuesday 24 at 7 PM. That’s barely two days from now; so get ready!

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What a difference one street light makes!

It appears AEP has repaired or replaced the faulty light already. The light was off this afternoon, as it should be.

More importantly: the noise level has gone down by at least 20 dB! And a quick check of the neighborhood confirms that the power lines in our front yard are no longer radiating like crazy.  Thank you, AEP!

Since you guys helped us out so quickly we’ll send you some more work later 🙂 Because we still have way too much noise, from other directions!

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Five Nine Nine Zero Five One!

In any CW or digital mode contest this would be a perfectly good radio report and exchange. But this post is not about a contest. Or maybe it is!

We’ve been experiencing a LOT of really strong radio interference at the shack for a good while now. Very much like the one we were experiencing around this time back in 2016. But due to lack of manpower so far our research to pinpoint the offending hardware was very limited.

But today our four-person team (K5WW, the Treasurer, Mrs. F. Eline and Mr. Wyle E.),  with the assistance of N5YPJ’s noise finder, was able to dig a lot deeper into the issue, deep enough to locate the hot spot. And it turns out that the initial conclusion was wrong. Only by a good 200 feet; but still: oops, sorry!

When we first starting investigating the problem we suspected the cancer center across the road. According to some well-informed sources they have some seriously high power equipment in there. But after 4 hours of footwork this afternoon we now know better.

Nope, the problem is much closer. You could say “in our front yard”. Or side yard, even. The hot spot is the area around the doctor’s offices West of Royal Lane and North of Garner Field Road:

REALLY hot spot!!

There are no less than 5 transformers on very old and overloaded poles on that block, all interconnected by cables and hardware that were built several decades ago. Just my way of saying: in b-a-d shape…

The exact location and piece of failing equipment has yet to be determined; but as you can see we narrowed it down to a small piece of turf. The reason for not being able to really spot the offending hardware is that all of the electricity lines on that block have turned into radiating antennas. So much so that we were able to track the noise on our own coaxes running up/down the tower. The noise is that strong. Yikes…

While we were doing all of that footwork we noticed that there was a streetlight on, in broad daylight. Not something we’d seen before. So Wyle E. reported that to AEP via their fabulous website. That streetlight is on top of pole 599051, in the lower left corner of the red rectangle. “599051”. Get it? Hah! 🙂

The Treasurer called in the RFI to AEP. It took a while; because they were dealing with quite a few power outages towards Corpus Christi. But a friendly young lady took the call anyway, gathered all the details, and sent everything to the right department. She said someone from the main office would call on Monday.

But: much to our amazement a lineman-on-duty showed up around 8 PM. Yes, on a Saturday! He came and had a look at the light; and K5WW explained the RFI case to him. The gent from AEP said he’d get a hold of the regional supervisor to look into it. And that super just happens to be to be the same gentleman we dealt with 2 years ago. Back then they handled our RFI claim very swiftly; so hopefully our miserable days will be over soon!

More to come later 🙂

Oh, by the way: you’re welcome AT&T. I see you fixed your equipment a few hours after I reported it. All in a good day of “reporting issues”. No reward needed! Just be happy nobody got electrocuted out there.  Mow grass only, folks, not ground cables! 😉

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March 27, 2018 meeting minutes

Attending: Jim AB5JK, Dave WA6YJW and Erik K5WW.

It’s been a small crowd lately! Some of our members have moved out of the area; others can’t make it due to illness or other reasons. The Secretary will send out a letter to all members we haven’t seen in a while, to remind them that we’re still alive and kicking. That letter will be mailed in time for the April 2018 meeting, at which time elections are scheduled; so that those members will at least get to vote for their money 🙂

The Treasurer reports no changes, still the same old $1,200 in that shoe box. That’ll change soon; as a number of members renew their memberships around March/April. There was some discussion about streamlining that dues payment process and have everyone renew at the same time to make things easier to track; but that was tabled.

The Secretary had to leave early due to a work assignment; so there’s no official “meeting adjourned” time…

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February 2018 meeting minutes

The meeting was called to order.

Attending: Jim AB5JK, Dave WA6YJW and Erik K5WW.

Main event of today: we conducted the annual inspection of the parking lot. It took almost 2 hours to complete; but we’re happy to report it’s still up to specs and ready for the next event. Our thanks to the hospital’s security department for making this even a big success!

The meeting was adjourned at 8:54 PM.

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January 2018 meeting minutes

Attending: Jim AB5JK.

Called in sick: Roger K0YY, Erik K5WW, Richard N5YPJ. And because of all the sick people Jimmy AC5EX (and a guest) and Mary KU5Z didn’t make it to the meeting either. What a great start of the new year…

Our beloved President had big plans to take everyone out to eat at the DQ in Uvalde; but, alas, he had to do it all by himself 🙁

Next meeting: February 27. Bring your meds, old geezers! 😉

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Happy New Year!

from all of us at the Coyote Amateur Radio Club!

All the best wishes to you and yours for 2018; may all of your amateur radio dreams come true 😉

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