RADIO DAYS
Radio Days was a program conducted by members of CMARC for 4th and 5th grade students at the Liberty-Valley Elementary School in Danville on May 3rd and 4th. Doreen, N3POB, who is a teacher at the school, organized the program, and those taking part in the program included: Dan, KB3FGQ; Mike, N3IRN; Jack, N3EUM; Fred, N3PJS; Dave, WC3A and Bob, K3QIA.
Doreen writes the following:
"I would like to thank all the members who helped make our Radio Days at Liberty-Valley a huge success. The children were so captivated by the hands-on and visual experiences that they still were talking about them many days later. The evening program allowed the parents to observe the same program their children had seen during the day; the parents then understood why their children chattered at dinner like little magpies. With my retirement so close, I believe that this may be the last Radio Days I organize. Thanks again to all who helped, called in or encouraged us in this wonderful project."
HAMFEST
Dave, WC3A, our hamfest chairman, reports excellent progress in
organizing our hamfest. Our hamfest will be held at the Bloomsburg
Fairgrounds on Saturday, June 9, and setup will begin at 2 p.m. on
Friday, June 8. The setup will continue late into the afternoon, and
possibly into the evening. We need people to help setup the hamfest and
to work at the hamfest! Come out, have some fun, see some hams you have
not seen for a while, and meet some new hams! Dave will be contacting
many members to see where they can help. Let's all give Dave a helping
hand in this great project! Dave reports requests for tables are coming
in well now, and the hamfest will be very successful with help from the
club. For further information, see our flyer:
http://www.qsl.net/cm-arc/flier2001.htm
4-H CLUB
Our club is considering sponsoring a 4-H club group for the purpose of
giving young people hands-on experience with amateur radio. We have a
number of members willing to do some of the instruction, but so far, no
one has volunteered to be our "Fearless Leader" (with apologies to Rocky
& Bullwinkle). Is anyone interested in the job? If so, please contact
a club officer!
REPEATER COMMITTEE
Vic, WA4THR, reports the repeater committee has studied our coverage
problems in our area. At present, we have our receiver on Catawissa
Mountain and the transmitter on Knob Mountain. With the present system,
there are a number of local areas that are not within line-of-sight of
both receiver and transmitter. This produces "shadows" in our
coverage! In order to improve coverage, the Repeater Committee is
working on changing the system to have two receivers, one on Catawissa
Mountain and the other on Jonestown Mountain. The receivers will be a
voting system. A voting system means whichever receiver picks up the
stronger signal will relay that signal to the transmitter. The
transmitter will be on Jonestown Mountain, and the coverage from that
location will be better than the present location. Best of all, the
county is expected to pay for the installation of the new repeater
system. Isn't this a great country!
ARES DISTRICT 4 NET
As most of you are aware, every Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. the District
4 ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) net meets using our club
repeater, 147.225+, tone 203.5. Participation has dropped off
considerably lately, and we need check-ins. It only takes a few minutes
to check into the net, so try to remember the Tuesday evening net! A
suggestion has been made to possibly move the net to a later time,
perhaps 9 p.m. on Tuesday evenings. This just might increase
participation; the issue will have to be considered by George, N3KYZ,
who coordinates the net.
GEORGE
Speaking of George, N3KYZ, our club president, he is recuperating
nicely. As you recall, George recently underwent successful back
surgery, and he is now recovering. George is home, and he is able to
receive calls and E-mail messages. If you would like to say "Get Well
Quick", George's E-mail address is: [email protected]
FIELD DAY
Mark your calendar now for Field Day, which will be held June 23-24; we
will begin setting up on Friday, June 22 around noon. Our Field Day
location will be the same as last year, the Kulp Church grove near
Bendertown. Here are two possible driving routes to the church:
Route 1:
Take route 42 through Catawissa. Just beyond the bridge over Catawissa
Creek (near Tom's Kitchen) take the LEFT fork (continue on Route 42) up
the mountain. Continue on Route 42 over the mountain, and down the other
side of the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, look for a large sign
on the left for Ideal Park, which is a trailer park. Turn left about 100
yards before you reach the sign. Drive about half a mile past the
trailer park called Ideal Park. Just past the park turn left onto Creek
Rd. The road forks after you drive a short distance; Take the right-hand
road. The road is narrow and has many sharp curves. Go about 2 miles
to the next intersection which will be Old Reading Rd. Turn right onto
Old Reading Rd. and Kulp Church will be about a mile on the left.
Route 2:
Take route 42 through Catawissa. Just beyond the bridge over Catawissa
Creek (near Tom's Kitchen) take the LEFT fork (continue on Route 42) up
the mountain. At the top of the mountain, turn LEFT on Kulp Road. Kulp
Road has a double orange line in the middle. There are a lot of side
roads, but if you just follow the double orange center lines, you are
going correctly. Eventually the double orange lines stop. Continue to
drive straight ahead. The church is located on a hill about a mile after
the double lines end. From the point you turn on Kulp Road to the church
is 5.4 miles.
I'll soon be contacting our members for special assignments for Field Day. We already have many commitments, but there are a few important things that have not been assigned. We would like to have as many people as possible participate in our Field Day. That includes our members and their families, other hams that wish to come out and visit with us, and anyone interested in ham radio. The public is also welcome. Very soon, within the next few days, I'll be sending out the information for HF Field Day operators. I believe we have our main VHF operator, our novice operator and our main Digital operator booked. That does not mean you cannot operate these stations; it just means that we have the main operators committed to bringing their rigs and operating.
KULP CHURCH SUPPER
The Ladies of the Kulp Church will have a church supper on June 2 from 4
to 7 p.m. The church supper will be held in the same building that we
will be holding Field Day. The menu for this supper includes ham and
egg sandwiches and strawberry shortcake. If you want to see our Field
Day location and have a good meal and support the Kulp Church, drive
over on June 2. See you there!
WEBSITES: Jerzy, N3FIP, tells us that his New Jersey friends have an interesting site at: http://hometown.aol.com/kc2aup/index.html This site has some interesting links.
My brother Dick, W5TA, E-mailed me these interesting radio propagation
sites:
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/today.html
http://www.dxlc.com/solar/index.html
http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/
EDITORIAL - HELP FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT
When you join a ham radio club, you should expect and receive help if
you need it. This includes help with ham radio information, putting up
antennas, suggestions, interfacing rigs to computers, etc. However,
club members are not mind readers! If you have a problem and you need
help in doing something, you have to let us know. You can tell me,
either by E-mail or phone (752-5332), and I'll put you in touch with
someone who can help you. You will find that most club members do have
active lives, but somehow will be able to schedule some time to give a
hand to those who need it.
Well, that is all for this month. If you want to put anything in our next newsletter, just let me know.
73, Bob, K3QIA Activities Director of the Columbia-Montour Amateur Radio Club
