|
|
|
|||||||
|
FEBRUARY 2010 |
Volume 2010, Number 2 |
|||||||
|
Sunday Night Net 7:00PM 146.55 MHz FM
Simplex. All are invited! BCRC Meeting
Monday, February 8, 2010 Social hour at 7:30 PM,
Meeting at 8:00 PM Medford Leas Linden Room, Rt. 70, Refreshments by Lance, KC2MTO Program
To be determined – depends
on facilities (we’re still learning!) Words From The Prez
This
weekend I helped move our township amateur radio station from our police
station to the fire house on January
is the time club dues are due so your prompt attention will help make an easy
job for our treasurer, Hugh Poling KC2OGR.
Hugh has been getting very good response with early dues starting late
last year. The club appreciates your
prompt attention because it allows us to move our effort to club interests
like Field Day, working with the scouts, programs and other planning. One
big question the Trustees are grappling with is how and where we would like to
have Field Day this year. We have
enjoyed burning hot dry sun, torrential downpours, thunderstorms, high wind,
and last year's mud season. Some
wonder if Field Day might be more enjoyable at a public site. Others wonder if Field Day might be moved
indoors to air conditioning and summer comfort. The club has a long standing offer from our
honorary member Ed Rossel KA2PRF for the use of the odd shaped corner off his
field. We all enjoy Ed's company while
we prepare and operate there. Ed mows
the area each year in preparation for our weekend stay and some say he adds
ticks and mosquitoes to add to our pleasure.
Ed allows us to stay overnight to operate and watch over the
equipment. Field Day planning has
become very comfortable knowing there is a friendly place we are welcome. Planning
to try out another location begins to be challenging when you consider the
need to put up antennas for multiple bands even if you get past the
basics. Will we have space for
antennas? Can we leave the equipment
and possibly operate overnight? Can we
have free and easy access to the area or do we have to be let in/out by
someone in charge? Will the area be
available during Field Day weekend and could we arrive a day earlier to set
up? The planning begins to become complicated. We have a tentative offer for using
comfortable indoor facilities this year.
As we look into the possibility, everyone should think about what
their idea of Field Day is and how it affects their choice of possible
locations.
What’s Happening
January VHF Sweepstakes BCRC members
enjoyed operating in this year’s edition of the VHF SS and we will be
submitting our scores for a club entry.
If you operated and have not yet sent in your score please remember
they are due before FEB. 24, and be sure to list Burlington County Radio Club
(spelled out! – not BCRC) for aggregate club score. Need help?
Send your logs to Jack WA2RHJ and he will get them submitted to
ARRL. Propagation wise, it wasn’t very
good (not unusual for January), but the activity was there locally. One thought for future VHF contests – how
about setting up a club station for those members who have little or no VHF
capability? Any interest? Contact WA2RHJ or K2SQS. Upcoming BCRC
Events
NEW TO THE HAM RANKS? Beginning
with the regular January Club Meeting BCRC
began offering a new feature. Attendance
in January was good and the interest certainly was there. Continuing with the February meeting newer hams – only!
-are invited to gather each month at 7:00
PM in the room next to the meeting room (where the game tables are) for a
session designed to answer YOUR questions. Don AK2S will host the February session to
discuss topics of Matching Your First
/ Next Rig with your Interests.
Need help with your current handheld transceiver (HT)? Bring it in with the manual and we’ll try
to help you out (most manuals seem to be written in a foreign language these
days!). The regular meeting begins at
8:00PM so we moved the start time to 7:00PM to give us a few more minutes. HELP LIST At the January meeting we began to develop an “elmer” (mentor) list, which consists of ham radio related topics, a corresponding person(s) with expertise in the respective topics, and contact information for those volunteer “experts”. An Elmer list will be distributed at the February regular meeting. Have a question? Look at the list and contact the appropriate person. Those volunteering invite your call – it is not an imposition, so feel free to ask. Other News
Check out Joe, W2ORA on YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf7TmGcUtq0
Congratulations to Joe W2ORA for
receiving the first Old Radio Ambassador Award! This is the
newest of SJRA's awards, named for Joe himself and presented to recognize a
lifetime of goodwill, promoting amateur radio and SJRA around the world. Printer Anyone? As you may know, a well known merchandiser frequently runs a special deal. If you bring in a printer, they will give you a discount on purchasing a new printer that costs greater. Bruce, WA3RHW says he has two printers that you can have at no cost. One is a Panasonic dot matrix printer - it counts - and an HP DeskJet 712C ink jet printer. I also have an OfficeJet 600 - inkjet printer, fax, copier scanner (not flatbed) that probably should also work for the discount. Or, if you want, you can have them to use or to pass along. If there is no interest, they will be delivered to the recycling place.
_..._ Want
to see a back issue of the BCRC Newsletter?
All 2008 and 2009 back issues are now in the Files section of the BCRC
Yahoo Group website. From the Editors
Another
month has flown by…Happy February to all!
I hope that everyone enjoyed the VHF Sweepstakes…We received a
telephone call from Doug K2QWQ. Bob K2QPN,
K2QWQ, and K2SQS had a nice long qso.
We haven’t heard that call for a while. Frank also played with the 160m contest. In
January, we took a trip to Forsythe NWR.
It was cold but not bitterly cold. We received an adaptor to attach
our camera to the birding scope for Christmas, and we wanted to play with the
new toy. We saw a good amount of
waterfowl, a couple of raptors and a couple of great blue herons. We also brought with us the other new toy, the ht
that Santa left. Frank climbed
the observation tower and when he observed hooded mergansers and mute swans he
gave me a call on the ht and I was able to hear the report in the car with
his anniversary gift, the mobile unit.
I scrambled up the tower – and the view of the freshwater lake with
the mergansers and swans was beautiful.
We had a great day combining ham radio and birding!! Hope that we see you at the next meeting. 73, Bonnie, WB2ALQ If
you’ve read this far I have a reward for you – a gentle reminder that Sunday
Feb. 14 is Valentine’s Day!! Only a
few days now until Super Bowl Sunday and no surprise I guess that the EAGLES
are not playing in it. Wonder how they
can schedule the Daytona 500 on Valentine’s Day, hmmmmm. Well, you can’t say I didn’t try to warn
you! I
don’t know about you, but I’m ready for warm weather. There’s at least one antenna project I’m
planning. Also, last Field Day we had
a broken connection in a 40 meter antenna and I just fixed that more
permanently but I still want to hang it before FD to be sure it holds up. I guess I just have a bad case of cabin
fever. It helped going to Forsythe NWR
and trying some digiscoping, but being that close to the ocean made me
realize I miss surf fishing. Let’s
hope the groundhog predicts a short winter – AND that he’s right! 73, Frank K2SQS BCRC Web Page
Visit our web page often!
www.k2td-bcrc.org BCRC – An
Autobiography
I’m
sure you are aware that the current club call sign is K2TD. But that was not always so. Originally BCRC’s club call was K2KED. Unfortunately I have no record of the
history of that call. I do remember
that when I first became interested in RACES back in the late 1950’s (does
that date me??) that K2KED was the call used for the The
transition from K2KED to K2TD occurred back in 1996 – August 1, 1996 to be
exact. Jack Imhof, N2VW was the club
station license trustee for K2KED at that time and thus became the first
trustee for K2TD. The only record I
have found of K2KED trustee(s) only goes back to February 15, 1994 when Jack
was trustee. Maybe Jack remembers when
he acquired trusteeship of K2KED and from whom?? Unfortunately, the change to K2TD came
about as a result of long time member Tom De Meis becoming a Silent Key, and
is thus a memorial call. Tom was W2ZHN
before he acquired the K2TD call in 1979.
He joined BCRC in 1974, coincidentally the same year that Maria Imhof
(now N2CIS – then WN2BXR), Jack’s XYL, became a member. N2VW remained the trustee until January 16,
2008 when he requested to be relieved and the trusteeship was transferred to
K2SQS. That’s
it for this month – I will continue to make this a regular feature in the
months ahead as long as I can find material, and would most certainly
appreciate any feedback, information on BCRC, or questions that I may try to
answer in future chapters. 73 for now, Frank K2SQS |
|||||||
