The All Day Study and Test Session held last Sat Sept. 15th. was very successful, we had folks from all professions, from all over East Tn. with the further-est away being from Birmingham, Al.
8 out of 9 passed Element 2, one passed Element 3, and Larc Member upgraded to Extra.
Thanks to all that attended, to those that could not make, get ready for the next one.
02/28/2018ARRL has asked the FCC to expand HF privileges for Technician licensees to include limited phone privileges on 75, 40, and 15 meters, plus RTTY and digital mode privileges on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. The FCC has not yet invited public comment on the proposals, which stem from recommendations put forth by the ARRL Board of Directors’ Entry-Level License Committee, which explored various initiatives and gauged member opinions in 2016 and 2017.
“This action will enhance the available license operating privileges in what has become the principal entry-level license class in the Amateur Service,” ARRL said in its Petition. “It will attract more newcomers to Amateur Radio, it will result in increased retention of licensees who hold Technician Class licenses, and it will provide an improved incentive for entry-level licensees to increase technical self-training and pursue higher license class achievement and development of communications skills.”
Specifically, ARRL proposes to provide Technician licensees, present and future, with phone privileges at 3.900 to 4.000 MHz, 7.225 to 7.300 MHz, and 21.350 to 21.450 MHz, plus RTTY and digital privileges in current Technician allocations on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. The ARRL petition points out the explosion in popularity of various digital modes over the past 2 decades. Under the ARRL plan, the maximum HF power level for Technician operators would remain at 200 W PEP. The few remaining Novice licensees would gain no new privileges under the League’s proposal.
ARRL’s petition points to the need for compelling incentives not only to become a radio amateur in the first place, but then to upgrade and further develop skills. Demographic and technological changes call for a “periodic rebalancing” between those two objectives, the League maintains.
“There has not been such a rebalancing in many years,” ARRL said in its petition. “It is time to do that now.” The FCC has not assessed entry-level operating privileges since 2005.
The Entry-Level License Committee offered very specific, data- and survey-supported findings about growth in Amateur Radio and its place in the advanced technological demographic that includes individuals younger than 30. It received significant input from ARRL members via more than 8,000 survey responses.
“The Committee’s analysis noted that today, Amateur Radio exists among many more modes of communication than it did half a century ago, or even 20 years ago,” ARRL said in its petition.
Now numbering some 378,000, Technician licensees comprise more than half of the US Amateur Radio population. ARRL said that after 17 years of experience with the current Technician license as the gateway to Amateur Radio, it’s urgent to make it more attractive to newcomers, in part to improve upon science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education “that inescapably accompanies a healthy, growing Amateur Radio Service,” ARRL asserted.
ARRL said its proposal is critical to developing improved operating skills, increasing emergency communication participation, improving technical self-training, and boosting overall growth in the Amateur Service, which has remained nearly inert at about 1% per year.
The Entry-Level License Committee determined that the current Technician class question pool already covers far more material than necessary for an entry-level exam to validate expanded privileges. ARRL told the FCC that it would continue to refine examination preparation and training materials aimed at STEM topics, increase outreach and recruitment, work with Amateur Radio clubs, and encourage educational institutions to utilize Amateur Radio in STEM and other experiential learning programs.
“ARRL requests that the Commission become a partner in this effort to promote Amateur Radio as a public benefit by making the very nominal changes proposed herein in the Technician class license operating privileges,” the petition concluded.
Check it out here
http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-requests-expanded-hf-privileges-for-technician-licensees
Morristown Hamfest Builders Fest on Jan 6, 2018, also see MiscDotGeek’s Multiband BitX40, and WB5YYM’s Expandable boards in his All Homebrew 40m Station- BitX40, and maybe take one home (BitX40) for Best in Show, Bring your Homebrew, W8TEE talking about Homebrewing, and sitting down at the Roundtable…see you there.
There is something behind that STOP sign, and at 1pm today it will be removed. Get Ready
Lakeway Amateur Radio Club Builders Group
The purpose of this group is to foster and accommodate the art of DIY in Ham Radio. The group is available to new and experienced hams in the Lakeway Area in East Tennessee. Projects vary from simple antenna construction to projects using
microprocessors such as the PIC and Arduino.
Check out the article published to the ARRL website. This article is going viral across various Facebook groups and pages, its good to see our local radio club and builders group in a positive light to the radio community. Many many thanks goes to the vision of L.A.R.C member Craig Thibodeaux, KM4YEC. Craig has worked diligently with the help of other club members, especially Dan W4DOD, they have developed a consistent plan of advancement in the Bitx-40 project build, which puts a low cost 40 meter SSB radio in operation for qrp communications. The builders club is openingly sharing this process. Come join the builders group at the next build session on Nov. 18th. 2017, 2:00 P.M, at the Jefferson City Library, Jefferson City, TN. The group is known as the WE Can Hams Builders Group, website is www.wecanhams.com.
Thanks to the builders, and Radio Shack’s willingness to partner with LARC. Many joint projects are being planned out for the local community.
Club President, Dale Knight AB4DK
http://www.arrl.org/news/tennessee-radioshack-re-opens-partners-with-local-ham-radio-club
Painting by Wendy Leedy
I posted that question on Facebook to trigger some responses, and as I thought about it, if I were to answer that question…I could write a book, as to relay what it has meant to me.
Recognizing that just like the whole concept of Amateur Radio, it is an individual thing.
But, then like in some other things, what is the fun in being alone, when there are others doing the same thing or nearly the same thing.
I feel I must point out something. I never excelled in team sports where there is quarterback, or point guard, that drives the whole team, and expects absolute obedience, for while I consider myself a team player, I tend to ‘experiment’ with the boundaries, I crave to be ‘creative’, so, while understanding the need for those other kinds of Teams, I stay away from Teams that don’t allow questioning the next move. And I absolutely Run away from any Team with a Pistol Pete, as I prefer a Team that moves forward as Team, not one that puts anyone on a pedestal.
I love the story of the SS Robert E. Peary, a Liberty Ship built during WWII that was launched 4 days and 15 1/2 hours after the keel was laid. There was a Team that I could have been on. No one quarterback nor point guard could pull that off, that took a Team of Quarterbacks working with each other, not against each other, nor competing with each other, as each piece of that ship had to be ready to slide into place at exactly the right moment, or a really fast recovery had better be ready to put into place. My kind of competition….me against myself. Where failure isn’t failing, its a learning experience.
So, the question was Field Day? I penned a phrase, of which I am sure it ain’t original, some time back, actually it was on the obligatory trip to Disney World after someone wins the Superbowl, or gets a diagnosis that is about as rare. It went like this’ No Regrets, Bucket List Tour’ and it was stenciled on a sheet of coroplast stuck in the ground in front of my RV at Fort Wilderness. So, yes, Field Day, with No Regrets, and a few Check Offs on the List.
Only being licensed as an Amateur Radio Operator for the first time last October, I have been working hard on my List.
This was my first Field Day. I didn’t personally make one radio contact. But, I consider it a success for me. Working within my limitations, I made a few contributions to the team, but I gained so much more. I observed most of the radio operators and loggers doing their thing.
I was allowed to share some of my creative ideas in a side room, where the club has started a Builders Group ( also called WeCanHams.com ) and I saw more new ideas come back at me than I can work in year. I saw the twinkle in someone else’s eye….who after 5 hours of trying various ways to solder a thru hole component in a PCB, finally was satisfied with the result….
and I am sure that many projects will follow that soldering adventure….I figure that at least 120 years of soldering experience was shared in that effort…THAT IS MY KIND OF TEAM. At one point, it resulted in a run to the kitchen to cut a corner off a pot scrubber….not a Pistol Pete move….but a Team move.
I had been told to make the move from 2 meter HT’s to HF required many hundreds of dollars, and a thousand dollars was tossed out there very often as what I should expect to spend. So, before Field Day, I tested this theory, by building a BitX40 kit for $59, and putting it on the air with a jump start battery for power and some galvanized fence wire for an antenna.
On the second Day of Field Day I took my Tour on the Road, down one the spokes on the HUB, to an affiliated Field Day site at HHART, and I had the extreme pleasure of lighting up someone else’s eyes. When I overheard that someone was thinking about getting that kit….I asked, ‘wanna play with one?’ It was exciting to watch and be a part of the ‘Team’ making that QSO, even though I was sitting in a chair just watching. He was heard saying after that he was ordering two BitX40’s.
And we should never forget a two transistor Pixie…just for fun…and plenty of learning.
So, what did Field Day mean to me? Making a lot of up close and personal connections in a sport that is usually done at long range. And quite a few more Check Off’s on the List.
