Current
Club News
Awards Banquet
Another Success
With this years attendance at nearly sixty, the MARC on Saturday
evening January 18th celebrated another successful year with our
annual Awards Banquet. Held again at the Perry Grange, the evening
began with a terrific family style dinner followed by the
presentation of our annual service awards. If you missed this
years dinner you missed out on another great club event, filled
with lots of fun and great company. Click
Here to go to a special page setup to cover this gala event.
Hamfest
2002 Again Successful
We did it again !
Hamfest 2002 was another success. How did we do it ? Like any
other well planned club event, it was a balance of perspiration
and a little bit of inspiration. Lots of hard work by a small core
of very dedicated members has paid off again. While our attendance
was a bit lower than last year, we were able to cut a few expenses
that really paid off. Congratulations to this years Grand
Prize winners. Click
Here to see our winners list on our Hamfest Page.
Watch for a complete wrap up as soon as all the
details are completed. Until then thanks to MARC staff
photographer Ed Clinger - WA8DRT, click on the link below to
relive some of the best Kodak moments from this years great event.
MARC
Celebrates 75th Anniversary
(September
Update) The club officially celebrated our Silver Anniversary
by holding a pizza party in conjunction with our October club
meeting. Travel schedules did not permit any ARRL visitors but
Section Manager Joe Phillips - K8QOE expressed his personal
congratulations at this great achievement. A special 75th
Anniversary Certificate was shown to the membership that will be
on display at the Hamfest before being permanently displayed at
the club hamshack. Pizza was provided by South Erie Pizza
and included at lease seven different varieties. The Special Event
station was also in full swing during the meeting and we will have
a full wrap up report at the November meeting. Special Event
Certificates are currently being designed by member Perry - W8AU
and should be ready by meeting night.
Some
Memories of our 75th Party
The crowd gathers for Pizza !
Birthday Boy Terry - N8ATZ (L)
with Steve - WD8MIJ and Terry's xyl Lynnette
Big Ed - WA8DRT (C) with Big
John - K8LBZ (R) and xyl Janet
Club President Gene - W8KXR
and xyl Marylin
Founding member Thomas Berbari
- W8GBJ (L) - with Ed - W8PUC and Don - W8DEF
MARC
Sponsors First Official Fox Hunt
The Massillon Amateur
Radio Club held its first official FOX Hunt in many years on
Friday night, September 20 with FOX Mister Dan Anastis - N8DZM
coordinating the event. At 7:00 PM the elusive Fox was activated
by Dan on 145.62 Mhz and the hunt was on. Participating in this
first hunt was Terry - N8ATZ and Don - W8DEF & XYL Linda -
K8MOO along with her trusty K9 companion Sommer. All participants
started out from the Senior Center parking lot and headed out one
a signal bearing was received from the Fox.
Dan kept track of us via the MARC 147.18 repeater
during the event providing us with a few clues along with moral
support. Don & Linda set out using both their mobile rig and a
small direction finding loop antenna Don constructed. Terry also
used his mobile rig and a hand held 5 element UHF beam (hey it was
handy!). No time limit was set but it was agreed to finish before
nightfall. The hunt found us heading east out of town and within
45 minutes Don's DF'ing techniques paid off by finding the Fox
near the parking lot of Washington High School. After a few
misques, Terry rolled in to the school just as darkness
fell.
Although this first hunt was pretty easy it still
provided some great training and fun in the art of direction
finding. Future hunts are being planned, hopefully with greater
participation. A weekend afternoon may prove a better time for
this type of event to allow for more hunt time and maybe a short
get together afterwards to compare notes.
MARC
Newsletter Announcement
EXTRA ! EXTRA !
Beginning
with the September issue of the club newsletter, it will be
necessary for club members to download a their copy as individual
copies will no longer be mailed out as had been done in the past.
The only exception will be those members who do not have computer
capability.
Why this drastic
action ? Partly due to the fact that we have lost our sponsor who
assisted with the printing costs. Another fact of tough economics.
While we will look for another sponsor, in the mean time we will
be generating an email message to all club members with internet
access informing them that the monthly newsletter is posted on the
club's website and ready for download. If you have not yet given
us your email address, please send it to newsletter editor Gary
Kline - WC8W at [email protected].
There is an
advantage to receiving the newsletter this way. It is presently
being produced in full color and is posted that way. Also you can
receive the newsletter about one week earlier. Because it is
posted in Adobe Acrobat format, there is virtually no loss of
quality. This means pictures will have the same quality as the
original photographs. Reading this type of document will require a
copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader be installed on your computer. You
probably have a copy of it already, especially if you have a newer
system. If not, a link is provided on our Newsletter Page to
download your free copy.
Please let us
know if you are having any difficultly downloading the newsletter
or installing Acrobat Reader, we will work with you to make sure
you can download and print the newsletter. The link above under
the Main Menu will take you to the newsletter page where all
current and past newsletters are available. A new link provided to
the left will bring up just the current months edition.
Gary Kline -
WC8W
MARC Newsletter Editor
Field
Day Another Success
Thanks to lots of hard work by several loyal club members Field
Day 2002 was another big success with everyone enjoying good
company, really nice weather, lots of contacts, some especially
great food and loads of FUN !.
From setup Saturday morning to teardown Sunday
afternoon, we enjoyed yet another great weekend communications
exercise. Even "Murphy" stayed away during the weekend
and gave us a trouble free event.
This year the CW station was relocated from the
main pavilion to our safety break tent that offered a great view
of the lake plus gave them a little more privacy. This also made
room for the GOTA Station, or "Get On The Air" station
which was a free extra station allowed this year to entice a more
operators to participate in Field Day. This also gave members a
chance to operate without holding up our "Big Guns". I
saw a number of people trying it out over the weekend.
Although attendance seemed a little less than
previous years, it didn't stop the pace of the weekend as all the
stations were active most of the time.
A few visitors dropped by to see what all the
commotion was about especially with the W8NP Blimp flying high
over the park announcing our location to the public. A new twist
to the blimp this year was our own "Blimp Cam", a small
ATV transmitter was attached to the bottom of the blimp catching
the beautiful summer scenery. A monitor was setup under the pavilion
so everyone got a birds eye view of the Field Day site.
Of course what would Field Day be without the
traditional Saturday night feast and thanks chef Dan - N8DZM
everyone enjoyed steak on the grill with all the trimmings. A
special taste of classic "Fair Food" was even provided
thanks to Don - W8DEF who whipped up some fresh home made potato
chips, fries and shoe string potato fries !
With full bellies everyone settled in for a great
evening of operating and fellowship which made for another great
club operating event.
Thanks belong to everyone who participated in this
years event even if you only stopped by for a short visit. It's
also the only time of year we get to see our good friend and Field
Day Secret Weapon "IGOR", aka Igor Nikishin - WB8KEO who
makes a special trip back to town each year to spend time with us
at Field Day and rack up a bunch of CW contacts. Really Igor,
you're welcome to come and visit anytime !!!!!
As always lots of great memories are generated
with each Field Day and many of which are captured in "Kodiak
Moments". A special thanks to Don - W8DEF, Perry - W8AU,
Charlie - KB8STV, Ralph - K8HSQ and Denny - N8UDL who supplied me
with lots of great pictures from this years event. I'm currently
putting them together and hope to have them posted on the website
soon on a special Field Days Memories Page together with a few
from Field Days past.
Gary - WC8W is currently working on the official
score to submit to the ARRL but I believe this years event rates a
perfect 10 !!!
2002 FIELD DAY SETS RECORD SCORE !!!!
The estimated score of
5,868 points is a new record for the MARC. This is due in large
part to the efforts of the CW station led by Perry - W8AU and Igor
- WB8KEO who had a fantastic year. The station using 10,15,20,40,
and 80 meters made a whopping 771 QSO's. The phone station made
666 QSO's. With the help of the 6 and 2 meters, and the GOTA
station this totaled 918 QSO's. The band breakdown is shown below.
PHONE
QSO TOTALS |
80 |
40 |
20 |
15 |
10 |
6 |
2 |
86 |
115 |
232 |
233 |
31 |
42 |
29 |
CW
QSO TOTALS |
80 |
40 |
20 |
15 |
10 |
285 |
308 |
92 |
83 |
7 |
The
GOTA Station logged 5 CW and 150 Phone Contacts.
Click on the box below to check out our Field
Day in Pictures Special Webpage.
Recent
Club Member News
The following anniversary
notice recently appeared in the Massillon Evening Independent.
Congratulations to "BIG" John and Janet Edel - K8LBZ on
this special wedding anniversary. Although not as active in recent
times, John is a long time club member and a charter member of the
"Snowbird" club, a group of local amateurs who spend the
cold weather months in a Florida retirement community.
They will be honored at an open house from 2-4
p.m. Saturday, July 27th at St. Jacob Lutheran Church in
Massillon.
Janet is retired from Massillon City Schools,
where she taught home economics. John retired from Plain Township
Local Schools, where he taught chemistry. He is a member of the
Quarter Century Wireless Association, the ARRL, and both the
Canton & Massillon Amateur Radio Club's.
MARC
Member Named Recipient of 2002 FAR Scholarship
Congratulations are in order for one of the MARC's younger club
members. Donald Guisinger - KC8RPE has been named one of the 2002 recipients
of the Foundation for Amateur Radio (FAR) Scholarship Awards.
These scholarships are open to
Amateur Radio licensees who meet the qualifications and residence
requirements of various sponsors.
Don's Scholarship Award was the
QCWA Named Memorial Scholarships sponsored by Donald & Phyllis
Doughty Family Scholarship.
The Foundation is a non-profit
organization representing more than 75 Amateur Radio clubs in
Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia. It is
devoted exclusively to the scientific, literary and educational
pursuits that advance the purposes of the Amateur Service.
Although a relatively new
member of the MARC, Don is an active club member participating in
numerous club sponsored events including Field Day and our annual
Hamfest.
Congratulations Don on this
great achievement !
MARC
Active In Memorial Day Parade
MARC in the Memorial Day
Parade !
Memorial
Day in the city of Massillon means family gatherings, cookouts and
the Annual Memorial Day parade. This year the MARC was honored to
participate in the activities by proudly displaying ECOMM 1
properly attired in Memorial Day colors. Adorned along the front
were flags representing the armed services with Old Glory flying
high in the center.
With Don Finley - W8DEF as driver, our own
veterans Perry Ballinger - W8AU, Jim Farriss - WA8GXM and Don Wade
- W8DEA shown above left to right rode proudly in the parade along
Erie Avenue to finish at Massillon Cemetary where a short service
ended the days event.
Thanks and a tip of the hat to our honored club
members who have served our country !
The
Sights From Dayton Hamvention 2002
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Again this year Kenwood
broadcast the Hamvention events via the Internet. |
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Ten-Tec's Scott Robbins
- W4PA with a prototype of the new Ten-Tec Orion
Transceiver. |
The Infamous DARA Van
Mercer Counties ARES Vehicle
Interior Communications Stations complete
with Yaesu Radios
Hamvention attendees sporting military style
HT's !
SUPER
CLUB MEETING WELL RECEIVED
The
joint area Multi-Club Meeting was held on Wednesday, March 27th.
with 85 area amateurs attending this first of a kind amateur
gathering. The meeting began with opening remarks from Canton ARC
President Mike Robinson - KI0DE, who thanked everyone for
attending the joint meeting. Gene Beckwith - W8KXR, President of
the MARC, pictured above, gave a fine account of the clubs
"active lifestyle", noting the many club activities we
are active in. Six amateur radio clubs or organizations were
represented over the evening, each giving a short report on
current club activities and other items of interest. David Beltz -
WD8AYE, Stark Co ARES Emergency Coordinator with Terry Russ -
N8ATZ, Assistant EC, reported on the renewed commitment of area
amateurs involved in community service and also took the
opportunity to register Stark County amateurs with ARES, a
function that hasn't been updated in nearly 15 years
Mike
Robinson then introduced the keynote speaker for the evening, Ohio
Section Manager Joe Philips - K8QOE. Joe's topic for the evening
was "The Future Of Amateur Radio". Joe stated
that Amateur Radio had experienced a period of "negative
growth" during the 1990's, for various reasons and that he
believes that since the Y2K concerns, our hobby has received a
much needed "jump start" as numerous public service
agencies began to investigate alternate means to maintain
communications. Then in September of last year, the hobby was once
again called upon to help establish order after the chaos of 911.
Joe believes that the development of "Homeland Security"
will once again bring our hobby back to the forefront of the
communications world. This will no doubt bring about the
resurgence we have been looking for, bringing many new hams to our
hobby. It's still a passion, and its back stronger than ever.
The meeting concluded about 9:00 PM with
several drawings and refreshments being served. Mr. Marvin Secrest
of M & K Engraving was also in attendance providing name
badges and accessories to those present.
ARES also registered 25 hams, well on our way
to re-registering a new corps of ARES registered volunteers. The
overall success of the multiclub meeting prompted organizers to
consider making this an annual event. A special thank you to the
following clubs for attending this years event, The Alliance ARC,
The Massillon ARC, QCWA Chapter 21, The Tusco ARC, The Canton ARC
and the Pioneer Amateur Radio Fellowship.
Larry
Rain - WD8IHP ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator Visits MARC
ARRL
Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC), Mr Larry Rain - WD8IHP was the special
guest of the MARC for our September program.
The SEC is appointed by the ARRL
Section Manager and oversees the Amateur Radio Emergency Service program here in
the Ohio Section. The SEC in turn appoints District Emergency Coordinators and
finally local county Emergency Coordinators throughout the state. Larry pointed
out that 80 out of Ohio's 88 counties have local EC's to oversee the local ARES
program within their counties. Ohio is very active in ARES communications to the
tune of spending over 12,000 ham hours per month in service to both our hobby
and our community.
Larry also briefly discussed the new
ARRL Emergency Communications on-line courses and how important continuous
training is to amateurs involved in ARES operations. Public Safety officials are
re-discovering the important role Amateur Radio operators can play in local
emergency situations. Continuous training is important to remain the
professional communicators that we have a been known for. He also noted that
many clubs are now investing time, money and effort in the construction and
outfitting of Communications Vans, Trailers, etc and how important a role these
could play during emergency situations. He was especially impressed by our EComm
1 trailer and the very hard work we have put into it having only seen it on our
website.
He was especially impressed to see our
involvement with Amateur Television (ATV) and how this mode could really pave
the way for our involvement in public safety situations. He noted that it has
already been used successfully in both the Columbus and Mansfield area during
several serious situations that occurred last year. He encouraged us to continue
to refine our ability to use this mode and to offer its use to our local county
Emergency Management Agency. This was a major topic of discussion at the recent
ARES State meeting held in Columbus which also included a very impressive
demonstration by the Columbus ATV Group.
Larry concluded his visit with a
question & answer session. We thoroughly enjoyed Larry's visit and invited
him back to a meeting again next year !
MARC
Spotlights Jim Farriss - WA8GXM
After an unfortunate spring thunderstorm blew over the
radio tower of club member Jim Farriss - WA8GXM for the second time, most people
would decide fate had spoken and just pay attention. Jim however is not your
average ham. You might think he would just settle for something a little lower -
wrong. When faced with tough odds Jim went looking for something a little
stronger. After a season of searching Jim came across something called an
Aeromotor Tower. Think of those modest tri-legged monsters that the utility
companies use to run high voltage wires over the country side. Now you get the
idea !
With a lot of
determination Jim has recently completed both the restoration of the old tower
and the installation of the new one. Here's the complete rundown: (you better
get a Kleenex ready for the drooling !)
The New North Tower raises nearly 100
feet into the morning sky and its solid, the legs at the base are about 18 feet
apart !. It's complement of antennas include a Mosley Classic 36 six element tri
- bander for HF work rotated by a very heavy duty ring rotator. In addition
there are 2 - 12 element M2 stacked two meter yagi's for SSB operation as well
as 4 - 21 element F9 Tonna UHF Yagi's also stacked for weak signal 432
operation. Not bad for starters.
The South Tower is now a modest 80 foot
tall that has been dedicated for mostly VHF/UHF antennas. At the top is an 88
element J - Beam designed especially for Amateur Television (ATV) work. Directly
below is a 6 element High Gain 6 meter beam antenna. Hanging from a side arm is
a dual band vertical for 2 & 440 FM work.
Jim also is a Amateur Satellite enthusiast
and has a modest 30 foot tower that sports KLM 2 & 432 beams mounted to dual
tracking rotators. A side arm also contains a 6 meter vertical.
All this is resting on a hill that
measures out at about 1180 feet elevation making for quite an antenna farm which
definitely make this Western Stark Counties "Towers of Power" !
Click on any of the pictures below to
see Jims very impressive array. The last picture is of Jim's radio shack. This
too is pretty impressive and we'll explore it next time ! PS: The little
spot on the bottom of the left picture is Jim, told you the tower was tall !
This page was last updated on - 02/22/03
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2002 MARC Productions
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