The April meeting is scheduled for the 22nd. In Uvalde, at the Kettle restaurant, at 7 PM. Plus or minus a few minutes.
On the agenda: the club’s constitution, installation of the tower, Field Day, members’ needs.
President KF5EJX and rusty sidekick K5WW contacted several new countries in the CQ WW WPX SSB contest a few weeks ago. And the fruits of all that hard work are starting to roll in!
First of all: thanks to the power of the Logbook of The World soon after the contest we got several new countries confirmed:
CARC DXCC standings as of April 12, 2014
As you know we already had quite a few; but this latest contest added a whole lot of them in SSB. And 10 meters was in such fantastic shape that one single contest actually produced more countries on it than all other contests combined!
But we also received a few new paper QSL cards! One of those came straight from the (US) Virgin Islands.
Thanks Fred K9VV/NP2X for paying for the stamp 🙂
The second one came out of North Dakota, with a little bit of a detour through Houston:
Thanks Tom KC0W and mister Lowrent W0MM 🙂
And with that we have our 50th state confirmed on 20 meters!
CARC WAS total as of April 12, 2014
And look: now we even have all 50 states confirmed on 5 bands, and almost in SSB! So many awards, so little time 😉
Thanks to everyone for your help!
So… what have you done this past weekend? Sit around on your backside and did a bit of Echolink internet stuff? Tsk, tsk, tsk…
A few of the club members actually did the hard stuff. The stuff that doesn’t go over the internet. You know: radio waves only. In a contest called the CQ WPX SSB. It’s sponsored annually by a magazine called (I hope you’re sitting down!) CQ Magazine.
And despite the lack of time by all of those members we really had a ball! We got a few dozen new DXCC entities in the KN5S logbook, and a few new states on SSB too.
KF5EJX (r) and K5WW (l) at CQ WPX SSB 2014. Image copyright KU5Z!
And as always: for a few dudes with two 100 W radios and a wire dipole we didn’t score half bad either:
10 meters was amazing, as you can see! Where were all you Technicians? Don’t tell me you need a written invitation every time. Right?
And here is the list of all the countries (ie. DXCC entities) we made QSOs with, in that handful of hours:
Yeah, click it; it’ll get bigger.
54 DX Century Club entities in the log – wow!
How about that, huh? Surely you didn’t do any better than that, on your smartphone?
This is the current total number of DXCCs worked/confirmed, via the LoTW:
And here’s something similar, for the total number of states confirmed, via LoTW:
Obviously we still need some help on 80 meters! Oh, wait just a second there…
Close, so close, to DXCC and 5 Band WAS. Just a few more good contests, I’m sure!
Thanks to all of those interested enough in the club’s activities to show up!
Please welcome Mr. Yksi “Ik” Huhtikuu OH2YH to the club!
Ik is a Finnish national and amateur radio operator currently stationed at the Air Force base in Del Rio. He will be there for almost a year on a joint NATO combat training mission.
He fully intends to become an Extra class licensee before he heads back home to Finland; but besides that also loves traveling the Texas highways in this beautiful weather (as he puts it) on his motorcycle.
Yksi “Ik” Huhtikuu OH2YH
Welcome, Ik, and thank you!
Neither do I. Not much anyway. Except for club stuff. Too many stupid ads. Everybody and his dog tracking your every move, and trying to sell you even more crap you don’t want. And the invitations to join all of those games! Ugh…
So what’s the best way to get all of the latest club news? Come the monthly meetings! But that’s not always possible for everyone, every month. And every now and then there’s news that happens between meetings. Right after a meeting, or exactly in the middle. That’s news for ya: it just happens.
So how does a person living in the third millennium get all the latest club news? Right here, folks! Yep, that’s right: here on this website. Don’t just stroll by every 3 or 4 months. No: subscribe to the news instead! So easy a cave-person can do it 😉
Here’s how: as you scroll down to read the articles when you visit our website keep an eye on the right side of the screen. Sooner or later you will see something like this:
Subscribe, or else 🙂
Guess what? All you have to do is enter your email address in that box, and then click the Subscribe button. I am dead serious; it is that simple. Amazing new technology, isn’t it??
Of course, that is assuming that you have an email address. If you don’t then maybe you could join the club; and you will get one for free! Sweet deal, right???
No spam. No ads. No tracking. Just the news. Or are you too young to remember what “privacy” really means?
Enjoy!
While browsing 10 meters in the WPX SSB contest tonight I just happened to hear (one side of) this exchange:
That guy is amazing! This was long after sundown here; but he just never quits trying, does he? Admirable, sir, very much so. I am talking about Jason, of course! 🙂
The person you hear exchanging the contest information is Atsu 5W1SA in Samoa. (not American Samoa, mind you.)
If you’re totally bored out of your mind on Sunday then please stop by the shack and we’ll give you something to do. I swear it’ll be fun!
Now that the repeater is up and running again our great conductor KF5EJX has announced that net operations will be resumed. It will be held weekly net on Tuesdays (except on meeting nights) at 7:30 PM. Jason will be the primary net control.
Repeater output: 147.240 MHz
Repeater input: 147.840 MHz
CTCSS: 77.0 Hz
Attending: Dave WA6YJW, Richard N5YPJ, Jason KF5EJX, Gary K5QOW and XYL, Jim AB5JK, James, Roger K0YY, Marylin KB0LJW, Mary KU5Z and Erik K5WW.
The meeting was called to order at 7:32 PM CDT, March 25, 2014.
The repeater is back in operation. Jason KF5EJX, David W5DUH, Jim AB5JK and Dave WA6YJW did some testing. Jason stated he was able to make a QSO with David going East and West on highway 90 until he was about 20 miles out of Uvalde, both sides. Dave WA6YJW reported that he was able to activate the repeater from Utopia with his handheld transceiver; but that it was a bit too noisy to hear much of the ID. Nevertheless, given the distance and terrain between Utopia and Uvalde, and the fairly low mounting height of the repeater’s antenna that is not bad. Jason said that he cannot access the repeater from his current QTH, most likely because of the mine. That will eventually be solved, once the repeater’s antenna is on top of the club’s tower. Apart from the internal controller the repeater also has an external controller; and it turns out that the latter is still sending out an old ID, every now and then. Jim AB5JK is going to take of that, real soon.
Jason KF5EJX mentioned that it is time to draw up by-laws for the club. That idea was discussed, voted on, and approved. We’ll get some ideas together, possibly based on other clubs’ by-laws; and work that out. Jim AB5JK mentioned that he may have some old by-laws from when the CARC was formed, under former management.
Thanks to our open door day on March 22 we have 4 new members so far: Dee KF5UDO, James WW5XX, Manuel KF4CCS and Dave WA6YJW. Welcome and thank you to all!
Since our treasurer Cici AA5EK was absent due to work Jim AB5JK read her treasurer report: we currently have $246 in dues collected, and $274 in the radio fund. That does not include the new members’ dues and some donations from the new members. An update in April will state the new, correct total.
Snowbirds Roger K0YY and Marylin KB0LJW will be leaving Texas next week and return to Colorado. But they’ll be back next year; because their dues have been paid! 🙂
After all of this small talk it was time for business; and the annual elections were held. The results of these elections are as follows:
The meeting was officially adjourned at 7:55 PM; but the big winner is this guy:
Say hello to Mr. David Blumenfeld WA6YJW of Utopia. He must be the most patient person in the world; because Dave had been a Technician class operator for more than 50 years!! But not anymore; because with little more than a few pen strokes Dave upgraded his license to General class. Congratulations, and welcome to the club!
The next meeting will be April 22.
After the February meeting we mailed almost 220 invitations for our open door event to radio amateurs in this area. A good 10 percent of those letters were returned undeliverable, most of which for licensees who once lived in Del Rio and still haven’t updated their address…
According to our mighty leader Jason KF5EJX our event was a big success. And while I only managed to attend it in the afternoon I must say that I agree.
Our visitors were given a tour of our club shack, got a demonstration of our equipment and capabilities, were treated to a video presentation of his Africa travels by Roger K0YY and got fed plenty. And the weather was perfect!
Visitors included:
After receiving our invitation letter Mr. Hollis Kincaid contacted us to inform us that his brother Mr. Joseph Kincaid W5EYH of Sabinal passed away in 2012. Hollis is the executor of the estate of Joseph, and said he wanted to try and sell some the equipment at our event. He did sell some, in fact all of it! Some of it was bought by our visitors from Brackettville, a few items by David W5DUH, the rest by Jason. Thanks to all of you; I’m sure Mr. Kincaid would be quite pleased.
Unfortunately nobody had the time to take any photographs. That has got to be a first!!
Thanks to our little get-together we already have two new members: James WW5XX and Manuel KF4CCA. Thanks and welcome to the club!
And don’t forget: the next meeting is March 25 at the Kettle. 🙂
On Tuesday March 25, same place, same time.
All members are asked to attend; because we’re having elections. See you there!
