Category: News

Special Event Stations to Look For; 18-19 August 2012

Special Event Stations to Look For; 18-19 August 2012

Posted by KF4LMT on August 17, 2012 · Leave a Comment

3-20 August, 2200Z-0400Z, W9ISF – Indiana State Fair: The Indiana State Fair Amateur Radio Club will be operating from the Indiana State Fair on or near 14.240 7.240. QSL via Ken Bandy, 7405 E County Rd 900 N, Brownsburg, IN 46112. They will also be QRV periodically on various bands.

9-19 August, 0800Z-1000Z, W0ISF – Iowa State Fair: The Madison County DX Club will be operating from the Iowa State Fair on or near 7.225 and 14.225. QSL via Mark Mease, 2989 Truro Rd, Truro, IA 50257.

10-18 August, R100WWS – 100 Years of the Russian Air Force: Members of the Armed Forces Amateur Radio Union will be on the air from various locations in Russia on all bands/modes celebrating 100 years of the Russian Air Force (founded on 12 August 1912). QSL via RV3YR.

13-19 August, 0001Z-2359Z, N8C – Corvette Reunion and Back to the Bricks: The Noobz Contest Club will help celebrate the 3rd Annual Corvette Reunion and 8th Annual Back to the Bricks event in Flint, MI by operating on or near 14.240, 14.070, 7.240, and 7.035. QSL via Noobz Contest Club, 4318 Greenbrook Ln, Flint, MI 48507. Website: www.noobzcontestclub.org

13-19 August, 2200z-2000Z, W9IMS – Indianapolis MotoGP: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Amateur Radio Club will be operating in conjunction with the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix MotoGP race. They’ll be operating on or near 21.350, 14.240, 7.240, and 3.840. Certificate & QSL via Indianapolis Motor Speedway Amateur Radio Club, PO Box 30954, Indianapolis, IN 46230

17-19 August, 1400Z-2000Z, W3GV – Bayfront Marine Center Small Boat Festival: The Radio Association of Erie will be operating on or near 28.410, 21.280, 14.280, and 7.280. QSL for certificate via Rich Eisenberg , 40 Holland St, East Canal Basin, Erie, PA 16501. Website: w3gv.org

17-19 August, W4T – Southeastern US Special Event Station W4T NVIS Test: The 2nd Brigade of the Tennessee State Guard will be operating Special Event Station W4T under emergency field conditions from 17-19 August 2012 from their training area just outside of Tullahoma TN. This operating time will be an addition to their operations on Military/MARS frequencies, and they are looking for signal reports from all Tennessee Counties as well as from hams in the Southeast US Region. They’ll be QRV on 80 and 40 meters SSB/CW/PSK31 along with some 2 meter FM Simplex work. After 19 August the test will continue from Dickson TN EM66 until 29 August 2012. All hams are invited to contact us and exchange signal reports during this time. QSL via W4ETT.

18 August, 1600Z-2200Z, W0A – ABC Reunion, Fox Lake Lake, MN, Portable Operation: The Aldrich Bryant Colfax Avenue (ABC) Group will be operating on or near 14.280. QSL via John Popple, 1 Spyglass Ct, Park City, UT 84060.

18 August, 1400Z-2000Z, W4K – Anniversary of the “Kelly Little Green Men” Kelly Kentucky: Christian County ARES will be operating on or near 21.300, 14.260, and 7.250. QSL for certificate via Jerry Holt, 7585 Hopkinsville-Mt Zoar Rd, Hopkinsville, KY 42240.

18 August, 1400Z-2100Z, W8LKY – Ohio Carnation Days Festival and Alliance Amateur Radio Club 25th Anniversary: The Alliance Amateur Radio Club will be operating on or near 14.045, 14.240, 7.045, and 7.240 from the Ohio Carnation Days Festival and in honor of their club’s 25th Anniversary. Certificate & QSL via Alliance Amateur Radio Club, W8LKY, PO Box 3344, Alliance, OH

18-19 August, 1300Z-0100Z, N7UW – Centennial Ridge, Queen Mine: The University Amateur Radio Club in Laramie, WY will be operating on or near 28.450, 21.350, and 14.250. QSL for certificate via William Wright, 1856 N 13th, Laramie, WY 82072.

In addition to the special event stations above, there will be plenty of lighthouses and lightships on the air this weekend; it’s the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend. Over 450 lighthouses and lightships from 50 countries participate in the event, the purpose of which is to “promote public awareness of lighthouses and lightships and their need for preservation and restoration, and at the same time to promote amateur radio and to foster International goodwill.” For more information, including a full list of entrants, see the ILLW website.

18-19 August, 1300Z-2100Z, W8WML – Big Sable Point Lighthouse Activation-ILLW: The West Michigan Lights Amateur Radio Club will be operating SSB and CW on 80 through 6. QSL via WMLARC – W8WML, 15437 Wisteria Ln, Spring Lake, MI 49456.

18-19 August, 0001Z-2359Z, W6A – Pt. Fermin Lighthouse: TheUS Coast Guard Auxiliary will be operating from Pt Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro, CA for the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. They’ll be on or near 14.265 and 7.250. Certificate & QSL via Roy Lay, 219 Beal Ave, Placentia, CA 92870.

18-19 August, 1200z-1900Z, KC2YYL – Fort Niagara Lighthouse: The Niagara County Amateur Radio Events Services Station will be operating from the Fort Niagara Lighthouse for ILLW on 40 Meters. QSL via John Titta, 1460 Staley Rd, Grand Island, NY 14072. Website: kc2yyl.net

18-19 August, 0000-2359Z, W1S – Seguin Island Light: The Friends of Seguin Island will be operating from the Seguin Island Light in in Georgetown, ME for ILLW. They’ll be on SSB and CW on 40 through 10 meters. QSL via John Brewster, 8 Shenecossett Ln, Pinehurst, NC 28374.

18-19 August, 1500-1600Z, W2GSB/LH – Fire Island Lighthouse: The Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club will be operating from the Fire Island Lighthouse in West Babylon, NY for ILLW on or near 14.255, 14.070, 7.175, and 3.850. QSL via W2GSB/LH, PO Box 1356, West Babylon, NY 11704. Website: www.gsbarc.org

18-19 August, 1600Z-2359Z, N6P – Point Reyes Lighthouse Activation: The Valley of the Moon Radio Club will be operating from the Point Reyes Lighthouse in Pt Reyes, CA on or near 14.270, 14.070, 7.270, and 7.035. QSL via Ken McTaggart, 402 4th St E, Sonoma, CA 95476. Website: www.vomarc.org

The Radio Society of Great Britain and Ofcom have authorized radio amateurs to use special prefixes between 21 July and 9 September 2012 in celebration of the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games. Callsigns beginning with GB2012 will be available for 2012 London Olympics Special Event Stations. Additionally, four “flagship” stations using the prefix 2O12a (letter O not number zero) will be licensed during the 2012 Olympics.

For more information on special event stations over the weekend, check out Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK’s Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Each week he presents info on various special event stations that will be active over the coming weekend. There’s lots of good info in Jerry’s podcasts in addition to the special event station info, give them a listen!

ComFest 2012, September 30, 2012

We are now accepting applications for tables for ComFest 2012 September 30.  Several members put down their names last night which means were at about 25% sold.  If you want a table let Tom or myself know right away.  You don’t have to pay until August, but to ensure a table get your name down now.  Last year we oversold and it was our best ComFest so far.   With the renovations now completed at the venue I doubt we’ll be able to over sell like we did last year.

GET YOUR NAME IN NOW!

DARS News Notes

For those not at the meeting last night we had an interesting discussion on HF remote control radio. Is it the future of HF for hams. Lots of interesting discussion of who and who wouldn’t use this way of HF. Thanks to everyone but especially Don and Dave you had interesting comments about use.
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Probably our furthest member, Eric VE3EI was in town and was able to attend. We found out what’s new in ICOM’s world for VHF/UHF/HF that we could be seeing or hearing about in the next few months.
Just a reminder for our out of town members that if you are visiting the Greater Vancouver area by all means stop by a meeting and say HI. Were always wondering what our members who can’t attend regularly are up to.
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I sent out a request for operators for the barn raising event in Ladner this Sunday. Although we have nothing firm in place, if you are planning on going, take a handheld with you and maybe you can help out. Officially DARS is not involved but some of our members will be there in other capacities and will have radios with them.
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September 1 & 2 is the Free Star DSTAR Contest. VA7DEP will be one of the message stations. We need a few operators to man the radio. If you can spare a few hours email and let me know. At next Thursday’s meeting Doug (VE7WLF) will spend a little time showing how to use the ARRL Radiogram. For those of our members who have been asking about being involved in the emergency side of things both Doug’s presentation and being involved in the message part of the contest will be good experience. Besides ourselves we have the Salvation Army, SEPAR & Toronto on board with stations.
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DARS Nets to Keep in mind

  • Tuesdays…. DSTAR net 6:45pm for early checkins and 7:00 start of net heard on VE7SUN UHF DSTAR and VE7RAG locally. If your travelling and in range of a DSTAR repeater you can try to bring up XRF 021C as this is the reflector we use for the net.
  • Thursdays at 20:30 (8:30pm) DARS checkins for all our out of town members (in town also if you can connect with us)

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Have a great safe week everyone.

News

From last nights meeting:
Tom has placed the order for the Yaesu HF radio, box and power supply.
Roberto YS1RS from El Salvador attended and it turned out to be one of the most interesting meetings we have had in a long time. We learned about amateur radio in his country, life in his country and his deployment to Haiti after the earthquake in 2010. Pictured below you’ll see the kit built radio he brought with him to operate. Interesting kit to look at and he took it apart so we could see the insides. Must thank him for the snacks he brought from his country.

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ComFest 2012 is coming right along. Still have plenty of tables for rent. This is a first call for volunteers to help out for all or part of the day. If you can help in any of the areas please email me.
* setup in the morning
* tear down in the afternoon
* running the sellers entrance at the back door.
* running the main entrance and selling admissions
*eye ball cafe staff

Remember if your planning on coming to ComFest Ken will NOT be attending this year due to a prior engagement. If you email him, he’ll send any QSL cards to ComFest that might be waiting for you and you can pick them up that day.

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Have a great weekend

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DARS News Notes

We have had some success with our DARS HF net on Thursday. We invite all members (especially those from out of the area) to check in at 8:30 PT on Thursday on 3.729
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A note from Bill at Fleetwood Digital
I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who ordered a Nifty! Manual, it was most appreciated.

Due to the overwhelming response I am going to keep the special DARS pricing going for one more week!

For those who may have missed the first email the deal is this. US list price, taxes in, no shipping.

It’s like saving 10% off the price, paying in CDN dollars, and that’s it.

I will be supporting all models that Nifty! sells, not just the Wouxun and TYT radios.

The full assortment can be found on the Nifty! website. http://www.niftyaccessories.com

Simply email me what you would like and you can pick-up from my house or a future club meeting when the order is in.

Visa/MC available for orders over $50.

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A note from Ken Clarke VA7BC regarding the incoming QSL Bureau

The following message is from Ken Clarke, VE7BC, manager of the VE7/VA7 Incoming QSL Bureau:

I am personally unable to attend ComFest 2012. I realize there are many folks who will be attending the event who I may have cards for. This year we would like to try a different system of distributing the cards. Your cards will be available for pick-up at ComFest if you contact me via email in advance. If you are planning to attend ComFest and would like me to check to see if you have any incoming cards in the bureau please send me a quick email to ve7bc. I will reply to let you know if there are cards for you. I will prepare and send your cards to ComFest and have them available there for pick-up. Please note the only cards that will be available for pick-up at ComFest this year will be for those who have contacted me in advance. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me at ve7bc.

Thanks, Ken Clarke, VE7BC

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Still have tables available for ComFest 2012. All the info is on www.deltaamateurradio.com
Early bird special applies till Aug 31 only.

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Basic Amateur Radio Course starts Nov. 6. Info on www.deltaamaterurradio.com. Let your friends know about the early bird special.

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Have a great week everyone, enjoy the long weekend.

ComFest QSL Cards

I am personally unable to attend ComFest 2012. I realize there are many folks who will be attending the event who I may have cards for. This year we would like to try a different system of distributing the cards. Your cards will be available for pick-up at ComFest if you contact me via email in advance. If you are planning to attend ComFest and would like me to check to see if you have any incoming cards in the bureau please send me a quick email tove7bc@shaw.ca. I will reply to let you know if there are cards for you. I will prepare and send your cards to ComFest and have them available there for pick-up. Please note the only cards that will be available for pick-up at ComFest this year will be for those who have contacted me in advance. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me at ve7bc@shaw.ca.

Thanks, Ken Clarke, VE7BC

Thursday July 26 meeting

Hi Everyone:
The meeting tonight is at North Delta. I’ll be picking up some QSL cards on my way to the meeting to give out. See you all there at 7 Gord

DARS News Notes

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Received an email from VE7KZ this past week. He’s considering buying a house in the North Delta area and was wondering about tower restrictions in the area. I can’t remember anyone having issues in Delta as nothing as been brought up at a meeting. For those of you who have put up towers in the last couple of years if you have had any issues or comments can you please send Steve an email and let him know what you went through. sdraper@gmail.com

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Bill is considering bringing in Nifty! Ham accessories. A lot of their products are devoted to mini manuals for various radios. Bill should be placing an order a week Friday, and is offering any DARS members a 10% discount off the prices you see on the website. http://niftyaccessories.com/index.html If interested Bill’s email address is: victorecho7@telus.net and let him know which radio and model you wish. They also have a stand for handhelds and a radio harness (something like a vest)

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For our DSTAR users don’t forget the net tomorrow at 7pm on VE7SUN UHF or VE7RAG repeaters. Early checkins start at 6:45. With summer upon us and people taking holidays we could use a few more operators to take on the net control job Tuesday nights. It requires less then an hour of your time and you can take one of the grab and go kits home with you and do the net from home if you so desire. If you can spare one night in August and/or September is all were asking and it’s a pretty simple job. Contact Jeanne at: jdwilson@dccnet.com if you can volunteer one Tuesday evening in August and/or September.

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ComFest 2012 is little over two month away. Tables are available. Please help spread the word and let’s get the tables sold out early this year. September 30 at South Delta Rec Center. All the details are on the website: www.deltaamateurradio.com

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For you HF and DX folks do you check the twitter feed on our website? When I see interesting DX stuff through DX coffee I retweet them and you can see them on the website and read the article that goes with it.

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Have a great week everyone.

VE7TUB Special Event Station July 18-22

VE7TUB SPECIAL EVENT STATION (18th-22nd) &  WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BATHTUB RACE – JULY 22nd 2012 11AM

NARA will again be assisting in the “race” communications as well as having our Special Event station VE7TUB on Saturday and Sunday.

The station will be set up at North end of Departure Bay Beach at 8:00AM Saturday and operate continuously until Sunday afternoon. This is a most enjoyable event and everyone is invited to spend some time on HF or VHF handing out contacts from the “Official Bathtub Station” We NEED Lots of Operators to Drop By and Operate when you have any spare time.

ALL Club members are encouraged to Start Operations from their Home QTH on the Wednesday Evening prior to the race day (July 18th 2012) starting at 5:00 PM (1700).

Special QSL cards and a Bathtub Certificate are available to each contact.

Please contact Loyd for VE7TUB operating info at loyds1938@gmail.com

Race communications this year will again be headed up by Walter VA7ANI. This is a very enjoyable event and anyone interested in helping should contact Walter VA7ANI.

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