The Static |
February SAARC Meeting
The next SAARC meeting will be on Tuesday February 21. The meeting will be held in room 106 at Petoskey High School. The meeting starts at 7:30 pm. This month we will be making QSL cards. We will have all the computers set up for you to design your own card. If you have a favorite picture or image that you would like to put on the card you can bring it along or look on the internet and find one that you want to use. If you are feeling to computer savvy, I have some pre-made cards will a nice copy of the SAARC logo on them. All we have to do is fill in your call and address. I will be saving all the cards on disk and will have them printed and cut to size. They will be available at the March meeting for you to pick up at the incredible price of zero dollars and zero cents. Here are a couple examples of cards I have made for myself.
|
SAARC Meetings 2006
January 17 February 21 March 21 April 18 |
May 16 June 20 July 18 August 15 - Picnic |
September 19 October 17 November 21 December 19 |
SAARC VEC Exam Dates
Jack KC8VXI is currently holding a class for people interested in obtaining their Technician Class Amateur Radio license. He has five students in the class who will hopefully be taking their test in March. If you know of anyone that would like to get their license or anyone who would like to upgrade to a higher license, let us know and we will see if we can generate enough interest to start another class. In the meantime, hit the books and come out to one of our upcoming test sessions:
March 4 - April 1 - June 3 - July 8* -October 7 - December 2
All sessions are located at the Red Cross Building and scheduled times are 10:00AM.
*SAARC Swap session at 1:00 pm
Remember to bring a photo ID, a copy of your license and, if applicable, a copy of your "Certificate of Successful Completion of Element" you received at your last session. You will also need $14, a pen and pencil, and a calculator if you think you'll need it.
Straits Area Scanner Frequencies
W8MI (ex W8UR) has compiled a list of frequencies that you may be interested in, especially if you have a scanner. It is available on the website (www.qsl.net/kg8jk) or directly at http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/straits.htm
Upcoming Hamfests
2/19/2006 Livonia ARC - Farmington Hills, MI
2/25/2006 LaPorte ARC - LaPorte, IN
3/18/2006 SMARS - Marshall, MI
4/8/2006 Milford ARC - Milford, MI
5/6/2006 Wexaukee ARC - Cadillac, MI
5/19-21/2006 Dayton ARA - Dayton, MI
W8GQN Repeater
You may have noticed that the W8GQN repeater was sounding a little under the weather for the first couple of weeks of February. Chuck N8DNX temporarily disconnected the main antenna and reconnected the repeater to the antenna on the remote base. Being substantially lower, it wasn't performing to the standards that we are used to but at least it was back on the air. This past Sunday, February 12, Chuck and Jerry KC8FAR, made the long trek on foot from the main road just off of Stutsmanville, out to the repeater site. They disassembled the repeater and went through it with a directional wattmeter to try and locate the problem. Everything seemed to be working they way it should so they hooked it back up to the main antenna, realigned everything, and powered it up. The result, the repeater now sounds like its old self again. Chuck's best guess is that there was some icing on the antenna that was causing the problem. He did suggest that the club may want to consider upgrading the repeater to something that would not need to be aligned as often and improve the performance of the '68 even more. We are definitely spoiled by having such a wide coverage repeater and having guys in the club who are willing and able to keep it in tiptop shape. Be sure to thank them when you see them at the club meeting.
SAARC Area Nets
MONDAY 08:00 pm EST The Bill DeMay Memorial Two Meter Social Net
146.680 MHZ - Net Control - Rotating
TUESDAY 09:00 pm EST The Michigan Link-Up Net
146.680 MHZ - Local Net Control - N8DNX
WEDNESDAY 08:00 pm EST The Chain - O - Lakes Net
147.280 MHZ w/Pl 103.5 - Net Control - Rotating
THURSDAY 01:00 GMT The Ares Net
146.680 MHZ - Net Control - Rotating
SATURDAY 08:30 pm EST The Dip Net
146.680 MHZ - Net Control - Cliff Rosebohm KC8NVI
The SAARC Officers
PRESIDENT: |
DeWayne Holmes - KC8LJX |
[email protected] |
73 KG8JK