Category: Club News

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EARC’s Winter Field Day 2021

Winter Field Day 2021 has come and gone. Once again, the EARC gang came together and had an outstanding event with good food, good friends, and good times.
In total, 5 field stations were on the air. Some where fully off grid, some were running amplifiers off a genset. HF SSB and PSK31 were modes of choice. Despite the number of wire antennas scattered around, few mishaps happened. A bright moon along with a conservative approach to ambient lighting kept everybody dark adapted and able to enjoy a beautiful view of the moonlit coastline. The weather couldn’t be better. A constant 70F 10-15mph breeze flowed all night. Bugs were non existent. This did pose a challenge to the tents though as they all had to be staked down. Every tent on the site looked like a balloon! It was a small price to pay though for excellent sleeping weather once it came time to shut off the filaments. Food wise it couldn’t be better. Dinner was churrasco, salad, pork loin, and arroz con gandules (Puerto Rican rice and beans). Plenty of beverages to choose from. If you went to bed hungry, it’s because you wanted to.


A big thanks to Steve Taylor for arranging things with the City of Homestead.

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ZOOM CLUB MEETING SCHEDULED

On Friday May 22nd. at 8pm we will be conducting a club meeting to discuss 202 Field Day and the new Homestead Cybrary club donation idea.

Here is the link and information to get into the meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/75379993974?pwd=ZEJ1emhVeXluWDZSd205MVMwZk9tQT09

Meeting ID: 753 7999 3974
Password: 0dcTTX

If your computer does not have a camera you can join via audio only or use your cell phone. Hope to see you there.

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Winter Field Day 2020 – Results

Winter Field Day 2020 has come and gone, but the long awaited results are in. Not that we are competitive in nature, but its good to know that we came IN THIRD IN THE STATE!!! Well, in South Florida's outdoor category, but either way that is very satisfying. We came in 45th overall in the country for outdoor and 8th in the whole state. I don't know if I can speak for the rest of the club, but I am super excited about WFD 2021. We have to sharpen our digital skills and try to get our CW operators out there.

With that said, I would like to send out a virtual high five and a special thanks to all who attended and made this year's WFD possible!

South Florida Entries
State Wide Entries

Courtesy of https://www.winterfieldday.com/

Stay radio ACTIVE!!

73 de

WB4DB

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Florida State Parks On The Air

CQ CQ CQ.. Calling all HAMS. This April 4-5th will be the 4th annual Florida State Parks On The Air event. A group of HAMS at the EARC has already secured a spot at the Bill Baggs Cape State Park and will be activating the park. Callsign W4SVI will be working 10 - 80 meters on SSB and digital. A beautiful location and RF quite environment, this year's activation is looking promising for making a decent amount of contacts as we spread the word on social media and POTA websites.

Space at Bill Baggs is pretty much filled up, but we encourage club and non club members alike to get outdoors and activate one of the many Florida State Parks. A list of parks and park locator utilities along with all the information on the event can be found on the FLSPOTA website.

There are plenty of parks to choose from. So get out there and get on the air! The event will be starting Saturday 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM and starts up again Sunday 9:00 Am to 10:00 PM. But there is no requirement to make it an overnight stay or even a long event. It's a great opportunity to get out with the family visit a state park and throw in some ham radio while at the same time testing your gear in a portable situation.

If you plan on activating a park please drop us a line so we can try to work each other. And remember, it's all about having fun with our hobby, spreading the word and awareness of Ham Radio.

Have Fun, stay safe and STAY RADIO ACTIVE!!

73

de

WB4DB

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Msg From the EARC President: W1HQL

//WL2K R/ EARC Meeting Recap.

Good Evening,

I am about ready to shut down the shack and call it a night...but wanted to take a couple of minutes to do my weekly email as emergency comms practice and sending it out to you via HF...

W4NTR just left a short time ago after assisting me with my final stages of training for MARS operations. WHEW! Intense.

Thank You Ryan!

Fridays meeting went well and we elected a new Vice President.!!! Robert Cruz W4THM.

Luis KI4VEY stepped in as interim to replace Frank AK4FU. Thanks Frank and Luis for all the work you did building up ARES...Luis will be the primary coordinator for our area ARES moving forward.

Pete WB4DB was elected as our Treasuer and Bill KG2CS will remain as our Secretary.

Congrats to them all and thank you to all the members for  asking me to remain as your president.

Speaking of Pete, he deliverd some really nice equipment that was donated to the club including a spectrum analyzer and  100mhz ocilliscope. Some of the other items we will decide later on selling to club members, free flea, or on ebay to help add some additioanl funds to the club coffers.

We had one civilian tested and now he is an official Amateur!

Winter Field Day was obviously a great success. Thanks to all that participated. It was you that made is such a great event. I will be heading over to the office Tuesday to secure the venue for next year.

Also April was selected to have another Free Flea. I will be meeting up with the Director of the Ag Center to secure a weekend and will keep you all posted. Robert our new VP will be the primary coordinator and any questions should be directed to him. Here is his email address: dcat4955 (at) gmail.com.

THANK YOU JOHN FOR THE AWESOME UPSIDE DOWN PINEAPPLE CAKE....WARM AND HOME MADE...

Feel free to respond to this email with a simple CONFIRMATION RX....

Thanks and 73 de W1QHL

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This message was sent from an amateur radio account. If you reply, be mindful that your reply will be subject to inspection by the public. If your reply contains prohibited content (profanity, personal or commercial business information, etc.) it may not reach its destination, and will endanger your correspondent's license. Ask your correspondent if you have any questions.

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EARC – 2020 Winter Field Day Video

For those braving attendance to February's EARC meeting this Friday on Valentines Day, I salute you. For if you are married or have a significant other, the wrath you can suffer for going to a "That damn Radio meeting thingy" meeting can be in my experience the likes of Biblical proportions. I have fortunately worked out a deal or better put a treaty with my wife and have been able to negotiate attendance to the meeting this Friday 14th.

For those souls that have not prepared for days like this, could not come up with the courage, or maybe even failed in negotiations, all is not lost. We have posted a video capturing the images, sounds and fun times had during our Winter Field Day activities last month in January.

Hope to see you at the meeting...

73

de

WB4DB

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Winter Field Day 2020

Winter Field Day is now history.....And this one will be remembered by all that attended as probably one of our best outings!.

I will not go into any details....Show up at the meeting to hear all the stories....and see al the pictures.

Speaking of pictures....Check out the Gallery that Pete posted on the site.

I will not be on the net for the next two weeks due to job commitments....Our back up net moderators will be filling the airwaves with their version of running a net....
Big thanks to thosae that voulenteered to take on that task.
If any of you want to participate in net moderating....Let me know and I will add you to the email list.

That is all for now....
73 de W1HQL
Steve

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Winter Field Day 2020 Update

I hope you are enjoying the last day of this long weekend.
Temps are dropping nicely and it will be a bit chilly in the morning.

Weather looks quite promising and ideal for out upcomming event this weekend.

I will be there at 06:00 to begin set up and issue passes.

Information pertinent for the event.

1. Restroom facilities are located on site.
2. There is a resturant on site also for those wishing to purchase meals.
3. There are park style BBQ grills scattered about.
4. Arrive prepared to support your own personal needs such as food/beverage/comfort.
5. Set up areas are first come first serve.
6. Talkin Frequency will be 444.800 (94.8)
7. On site intercom is 144.925 simplex
8. Band operations will be coordinated also on a first come first serve.
     Multiple operators on the same band will be scheduled in 1 hour rotating operations to avoid any interference.

Bottom line, lets work together to make this a fun event for all.....

See you Saturday
73 de W1HQL

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Updated Email List and General Message

Good Evening....
I just completed updating my the list of email addresses and added a few new names to the list.
Now there are more operators on the list that will be receiving my occasional test messages via the RMS Express Winlink.

Great participation at the meeting and it looks like we are going to have a great turnout for Winter Field Day.
Hopefully the weather cooperates.

As we get closer to the date I will provide additional updates if needed to aid in your preparations.

I will not be conducting the net this week. Bill KG2CS will be your net moderator for that evening. Give him a healthy turnout and check into the net. Bill is always quite entertaining and very informative.

I will attempt to send this out now. Hopefully condtions will be favorable.

Until the next time......
73 de W1HQL
QRT

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E.A.R.C. ANNUAL FIELD DAY IS HERE!

Oh Yea!

Our favorite time of the year when family and friends in our normal lives excuse and allow us 24 hours of uninterrupted focus and fun playing Ham Radio.....OOOPs.... No not playing.....excuse me....Practicing Emergency Communications.

Honey, we will be out there roughing it in the heat, fighting the bugs and sheltering from those possible dangerous thunder storms to test our emergency communications abilities.

Last minute preparations are on the menu. Generators, extension cords, lighting, wires ropes, tent, table, bug repellent, gasoline, fire extinguishers, tools...tools...and more tools....meters...coax....oh yeah, water....what am I going to eat....What a mission....See honey how intense this is!... Whew, I think she is taking me seriously....

WHEN........................JUNE 22, 2019

AT THE JOHN D. CAMPBELL AGRICULTURAL CENTER located in the Redlands 18710 SW 288 St. Homestead, FL 8am thru Sunday 2pm. Talk in: 444.700 pl 94.8

AN ADDED PLUS TO THE VENUE............ At 10am thru Noon on Saturday we will be having a SkyWarn Class taught by the National Weather Services Meteorologist Robert Molleda......Now she is really taking me seriously...or is very happy to get me out of her hair for 24 hours.

Be sure to register for the class. Send me an email at staylor@cityofhomestead.com.

Our regular club meeting is on Friday June 14th. (Flag Day) at 7 pm. Most of our meeting activity will be Field Day related. Hope to see you there!

Here is a link explaining what Field Day is:
http://www.arrl.org/field-day

73 de W1HQL