All posts by lakewayarc_bf7h8x

amateur radio, Antennas, Radio, repeater

26th Annual “ Walk to Remember”

LARC will be participating in this event by providing communications assistance to event sponsors. More info to follow.

When: JULY 22:
What:
Alps  26th Annual “ Walk to Remember”

(Walk Registration)  

Build a team or walk as an individual. All money you raise stays in Morristown, providing affordable adult day care for Lakeway residents and caregiving support for their families.

amateur radio, Antennas, License, Radio

Tomato Festival

25th Anniversary
Grainger County Tomato Festival TN.
July 28, 29, & 30 2017
Hours: Friday 28 noon to 8pm
Saturday 29 9am to 6pm
Sunday 30 noon to 5pm​Grainger County Tomato Festival
​7480 Rutledge Pike
Rutledge Tn 37861

PicturePainting by Wendy Leedy

The Grainger County Tomato Festival was organized in 1992 to promote our world famous Grainger County Tomatoes. Our mission is to promote all Grainger County agricultural products, specifically the Grainger County Tomato, and to promote the many local artists, authors, talent, and craftsmen we have in our area. Over the years we have added a number of special events making the festival one of the largest free festivals in East Tennessee and has been named by Parade magazine as one of the top ten festivals in the USA.
The festival is always the last full weekend in July in Rutledge,Tennessee. Be sure to mark your calendars! You don’t want to miss it.
For more info check out their website at:
amateur radio, Antennas, Builders Group, License, Radio, Test Sessions

Amateur radio club to host field day in Jeff City

LARC was Featured in the local newspaper Field Day 2017, check it out!

http://www.citizentribune.com/news/local/amateur-radio-club-to-host-field-day-in-jeff-city/article_7ec4eed0-575d-11e7-baf7-3b731dc0a4e9.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share

amateur radio, Antennas, Builders Group, License, Radio, Test Sessions

Field Day 2017 has came to an end

So as Field Day 2017 has came to an end I have to post how proud I am of my LARC family. This year we were sort of thin due to members having family and other obligations,but I can not put into words how proud I am of our club. This year we added a few new twists to our FD activities which I believe was a hit! Our builders group had a session which was only slotted to be about 2 hours ended up lasting nearly 8! We had Testing which resulted in a new ticket and club member! We had over 50 visitors some of who literally saw our FB posts and came by, others heard our members talking on various repeaters swung by to join the fun!!!! Field Day is always special but this year it just felt more special than most. On top of that we operated one less station than last year and made over 100 more contacts. I just want everyone to know how proud an honored I am to be a part of this club. We are far from perfect, have different opinions, disagree about things but we work them out for the better of our hobby and group. We do not ban people, we don’t point out each other’s flaws publicly, we work them out like adults. This shows when we do events like last weekend! In closing, just a big thank you to those who helped, stopped in, brought food and especially smiles and laughter! Hyde WX4HYD

amateur radio, Antennas, Builders Group, Feed Line, Radio, Test Sessions

First Field Day Event for LARC Member

LACERA writes:

This last weekend was my first ever ARRL Field Day. A wonderful experience I recommend any ham to take part in. I worked about 18 contacts on 80 and 40 meters solo then 60 more or so teamed with Jim Sipprell on 40 and 15 meters. You can really fly thru the contacts if teamed up with someone. I also learned I like the Icom 706MK a lot and plan to add one to my station as soon as I can. Great little radio. Working with the wonderful members of the LARC, I realized how important the companionship of others who share your joy of amateur radios is to this hobby and your immersion into it is. I have pledged to myself to become more active in the club and on the airways. Thank you everyone for a great day!

amateur radio, Builders Group, License, Radio, Study Sessions, Test Sessions

Next Meeting July

Aside

Thursday, July 27nd. 2017
Testing @ 5:00 P.M. ,
Board Meeting @6:00 P.M.
Meeting/ Program @7:00 P.M.
Where: First Baptist Church Youth Center,
504 W Main St
Morristown, TN 37814.
Email for details or questions:
lakewayarcboard@gmail.com

Walk ins are welcome
If you are interested in attending a testing session to obtain your FCC License
Please email to let us know for confirmation.
lakewayarcboard@gmail.com

amateur radio, Antennas, Feed Line, Radio

Field Day Primer

LARC Field Day is our premier annual operating event. Field Day 2017 is open to the general public.  This live training session prepares amateur radio operators to be able to set up and operate a station during less than ideal conditions in an emergency. It is also a contest with points and awards for contacting other participants. The contest encourages all to participate, while the experience gained pays off when a real emergency occurs.

With the  new and prospective amateur radio operators, an introduction to general operating procedures and the N3FJP software that we use to log contacts is in order. Training in operating procedures and just plain old FUN is the plan for LARC Field Day this year 2017.

LARC Field Day site will have several operating positions, each with a radio, antenna, power source and a logging computer. Our Field Day Captain will coordinate each position to operate on a specific band and mode to avoid interference with each other.

LARC leadership wants to encourage the general public and all licensed amateurs to come and get on the air.
Technician class licensees can also operate HF as General & Extra Class control operators will be at our Field Day site.

Each position is manned by a team of two, one does the operating and the other logs contacts on the computer. The team members can exchange roles and will appreciate occasional relief by other operators. To learn good communicating skills, observe a smooth operating team, then offer to help logging and/or operating.

Field Day Rules:  Read the full Field Day rules.  We may contact other stations once on phone, once on CW (Morse code) and once on one digital mode on each band. We must log the other station’s correct exchange information for the contact to be valid.  This includes the station call sign, the number of transmitters at the site and class of operation, and the ARRL section.

Our exchange information will be our number of transmitters (to be determined when we start), our class is Alpha (A for portable station with 100% emergency power), and our ARRL section is Tango November (Tennessee). For example, if we have 4 transmitters, our exchange would be “Four Alpha Tango November” on voice or “4A TN” on CW and digital modes.

 

Here is an example of a typical Field Day phone exchange:

  • W2IQ: “CQ Field Day, Whiskey two India Quebec, Field Day”
  • W1AW: “Whiskey One Alpha Whiskey”
  • W2IQ: “W1AW, Copy my Four Alpha Tango November”
  • W1AW: “QSL. Copy my Five Alpha, Connecticut”
  • W2IQ: “QSL, Thanks. This is W2IQ. Field Day.”

 

Here is a typical Field Day CW or digital exchange:

  • W2IQ: “CQ FD DE W2IQ W2IQ”
  • W1AW: “W1AW”
  • W2IQ: “W1AW DE W2IQ 4A 4A TN TN”
  • W1AW: “QSL 5A 5A CT CT”
  • W2IQ: “QSL TU W2IQ FD”

 

Learn and use the ITU phonetic alphabet when needed for clarity, and only ask for repeats of (or provide) information that was not copied correctly the first time. We would log the above contact exchange as “W1AW 5A CT”

Our software, the N3FJP ARRL Field Day Contest Log, networks the computers at all our positions, lists all the Field Day section multipliers (color coding those that have been worked), flags duplicate entries (contacts with stations on the same band and mode) and summarizes the activity for log submission. The Genesis ARC has posted this video tutorial of this software’s features. You will see how easy logging is when you see it at our Field Day.

Joining a Field Day event is a great way to get into operating a HF station with no stress and there are plenty of experienced people willing to help the beginner. It is fun, you get lots of fresh air and good food—with priority given to the operators.

73 and see you at LARC Field Day!

June the 24th and 25th 2017 @ The Boys and Girls Club on Hwy 92, Jefferson City, TN.

Email LARC thru the contact for for more info!

amateur radio, Builders Group, Radio

What Do I Do Now?

1 Comment

I recently acquired a new toy donated to me by the presentation giver at our last club meeting. The presentation was on our new builders group that our club is putting together. Thanks to Craig Thibodeaux (KM4YEC) and the help of Dale Knight (AB4DK), our club is learning to build the equipment that we have come to use and love. So during the meeting we had a few giveaways that consist of different electronic devices. It just so happened that my number was drawn out of the hat so to speak. I won a small bag of parts and components that create what is called a Pixie CW Transmitter. After getting it home and searching through the bag of resistors and capacitors I realized there are no instructions. What do I do now?

So with limited resources and no access to internet, I realized I have no knowledge of resistors and how to read the value of each one. A day or so went by and I managed to come up with a basic schematic for my little pixie 4.3. still with no knowledge of how to read the values of the resistors and capacitors it dawned on me that I have a handful of old ARRL handbooks that I acquired through a good friend Ed Bradley (W4VGI). I sat down and looked through them and found exactly what I needed. With my not so steady hand and a little solder I began the assembly process of my first radio build. An hour or so later viola! I had in fact created a full functioning radio. Now all that is left is to test it out. I went and grabbed the dummy load and a power supply as I proceeded to hook it up. Still with the satisfaction of assembly on my face, I flipped on the power and it worked! Or so I thought. I hooked up the key and it transmits just fine however there is no oscillation. Now all that is left for me to do is troubleshoot. So I conclude with this. When left with what to do now, stop and think about who or what might help you through your problem. Thanks to Craig for the chance to build something really cool.

 

KM4JSP

Jeremy Livesay

L.A.R.C. Club Director

amateur radio, Antennas, Builders Group, Radio

63 years a Ham

1 Comment

We received this note from a fellow Ham, check it out.

I have been a 63 years a Ham, members of several clubs, been to many meetings & activities; so what stands out the best ?
When this old ‘buzzard’  learns something new !!

This April’s LARC meeting “Make it yourself”  tops the list. Craig & Dale’s presentation was packed full of the:  ‘What to build’, ‘How to build’ and all that’s left is : ‘When to build’.
Then the answer folks is a resounding ‘NOW’ !!

Craig & Dale’s rejuvenation of Ham Radio’s most important purpose i.e. “make something yourself” was remarkable.
We ‘Can Hams’  builders group puts us back in charge of what equipment is functioning in our own station (fixed or mobile) and that WE can make it  ourselves.

 Well Done LARC , Jim Sipprell  W4OBY

amateur radio

Strawberry Festival

CQ CQ CQ Strawberry Festival de W2IQ
Coming to the Lakeway Area on May 20th, 2017
Come have a fun day and operate on Amateur Radio, and eat strawberries as well.

The festival is a celebration to promote the community and feature the strawberry harvest. We cordially invite you to join us for the 13th Annual WCRK/WMTN Morristown Strawberry Festival, to be held May 20, 2017. This is a FREE,  family-oriented event during which non-profit groups and churches raise funds.  There are vendors selling arts, crafts plus businesses from Morristown and the surrounding area.  If you are interested in vendor space, you can contact Stephanie Hardy at stephanie@wcrk.com, or call 423-586-9101 option 0.  We look forward to seeing you at this year’s festival, where we promise you will have a BERRY good time!

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Saturday May 6:  Strawberry Festival Talk is Cheap, Too
Friday May 12:     Strawberry Swing: A Dance Party at Rose Center’s Prater Hall, 7 pm
Saturday May 13: ​  Inaugural Friends of Hospice Strawberry Stampede, Downtown Morristown, 9 am
Saturday May 13: ​ 2nd  Annual Strawberry Festival Canine Carnival, 11 am, Morristown Dog Park
​Saturday May 13:  Strawberry Jam at the Park, 5 – 9 pm, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Park
Saturday May 20: FESTIVAL DAY! 510 West Economy Rd  FREE ADMISSION
​Sunday May 21:  1st Annual Strawberry Ride, Motorcycle or car, 1 pm at Colboch Harley Davidson

More info:  http://www.morristownstrawberryfestival.com/