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July General Membership Meeting

With 42 in attendance, our President, Don AI4ME kicked off the meeting right on time. He briefly outlined our successful Field Day event with VADXCC and then turned over the meeting to yours truly. I then had the pleasure of introducing Steve W4XQ and his presentation.

Steve gave VBARC members and guests a bird's eye view of the Pungo Strawberry Festival Special Event Station - W4S. This event was featured on our website and also published at eHam, but those articles just scraped the surface. Steve covered every facet, from inspiration, obtaining the Special Event Callsign, QRZ access to W4S and getting permission to set up a "booth", well after registration window had closed!

Aided by a PowerPoint of his own development, Steve talked about the fun that all loggers and ops had during the event. Additionally, he covered some of the nuances of Special Event Stations including whether or not one should use an amplifier during a Special Event. Most in attendance (myself included) agreed that the use of an amplifier was not an issue, but a few "purists" (for lack of a better term) had indicated to Steve that he was breaking some unwritten cardinal rule of Special Event Station etiquette... Can't find that anywhere in my Amateur Radio for Dummies book... Hi Hi!

Don AI4ME discussed with the membership the availability of VBARC stickers to sell at meetings/events. After a bit of discussion a motion was made and seconded to obtain 1,000 stickers. The motion was put to a vote and passed. Don also displayed some other club memorabilia he has had ordered from a national vendor and took orders for hats and shirts with the VBARC logo. If you are interested in obtaining some VBARC merchandise, please contact Don!

Lynn W9DJQ spent about five minutes petitioning the clubs support of the Virginia Beach Hamfest in September. Lynn has been the Hamfest President for 23 years! He warned members and guests, that with the much higher gas prices, it is more important than ever for local Hams to support our Hamfest! This year could be pivotal to vendors deciding that the trip to Hampton Roads is still worthwhile! Save your pennies for Hamfest and put off buying those new "toys" until mid-September...

Vernon W4THN spent a few minutes discussing the details of the upcoming Ham Radio Cruise 2008. This is the second such cruise coordinated by Vernon, the last was in 2006 and had almost 90 attendees! Vernon added that if you wanted to go unaccompanied, to contact him and he could help with finding another Ham to share the expenses/cabin. If you want details on the cruise you can email Vernon or visit the website he has set up.

The Virginia Beach Oceanfront will host the 2008 QCWA National Convention at the luxurious and famous Cavalier Hotel on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of October! Vic W4VIC detailed some of the events that will be in store for those that will be in attendance. Don't miss the opportunity to hob-nob with some of our elder statesmen of Amateur Radio! Vic also added that the convention is open to all, not just QCWA members. Please visit the QCWA Chapter 119 website for more details.

Al WA4TCJ reemphasized the need for all current and new Virginia ARES members to fill out the new online registration form. Additionally, Al reviewed the numerous upcoming community service events. Please review the calendar for event details!

The meeting ended (as always) with the drawing of the 50/50. As is customary, Stew K4STW selected one of our newest guests to pick the winning ticket. Jimi Apolile hand picked the night's winner of $31.

Some new faces in the crowd were Jimi Apolile (hope I spelled that right!) who was able to attend some of our recent Ham classes, but was not in the area to take the exam. He is waiting patiently now for our "end of July" testing session. Also in attendance were Jim & Gloria McCarty, who dropped in for their first VBARC meeting. Jim called me a day or two before the meeting and stated emphatically that he will be taking his Technician test in the near future! Also, Jason AD5IY has recently been reassigned to duties in Virginia Beach and is an active member of the US Navy, he was a great help with the GOTA during Field Day. If I am not mistaken, this is the first meeting we have gotten Geno KJ4EYX out to! Geno attended all the recent classes and got his Tech just last month. Welcome to the club! We all look forward to seeing you at the next meeting. If I missed anyone, please shoot me an email and accept my apology!

Don't forget that next months meeting is a dinner meeting at the Golden Corral on South Independence! Both of the back rooms are reserved for VBARC. We may arrive as early as 6 PM for dinner and to facilitate beginning the meeting at 7-7:30 PM. Look forward to seeing you all there!

Posted by WT4M on Saturday 05 July 2008 - 11:11:22 | Read/Post Comment: 0 |

Get Ready to Test in Late July!

With the recent assignment of new Technician Class Hams, and their subsequent eager participation in Field Day, it has become evident that we will need to have another test session prior to Hamfest in September.

The date, time and place have yet to be hammered out, but if you missed the opportunity to test in June or are in need of an upgrade, you may well be in luck! At least for now, it has been determined that we will hold the exam session during a weekday evening and that it will be no earlier than Monday, July 28th. So, sharpen your pencils, pick up a book and take practice exams online, more details will be presented here as they develop!

Update: If you are looking for the PERFECT testing program to study with, search no more! Shenandoah Software provides their excellent program AmateurRadioTest version 1.1.3 absolutely FREE! No need to be tied to the internet to take your practice exams. The program intelligently tracks what questions you answered wrong, provides a variety of methods to study and is extremely lightweight and unobtrusive. After speaking with Jim AG4XT this morning, he has tentatively set the date for our exam session as Thursday, July 31st @ 7 PM. Still working the details, so check back here often until we get it set in stone. In the meantime, download AmateurRadioTest!

Posted by WT4M on Thursday 03 July 2008 - 11:20:50 | Read/Post Comment: 0 |

Update your ARES Info Now!

Al WA4TCJ reports that it is imperative for all ARES operators (and prospective ops) to immediately update their information at the Virginia ARES website. Details concerning the purpose of this on-line requirement can also be found on the VA ARES website.

Joel KQ4ET pointed out that the link for changing your info is rather difficult to find on the ARES website main page, so here is the direct link if you don't want to bother with the "who, what, where and why's" and just want to re-register (or register for the first time).

Posted by WT4M on Thursday 03 July 2008 - 00:36:27 | Read/Post Comment: 2 |

Getting the Word Out

If you were listening to WNIS Newsradio 790 AM on the morning (about 7:35 AM) of Friday, June 27th, you would have been delighted to hear our own Steve W4XQ talking with radio personality Tony Macrini!

Steve gave the listening public a detailed run down of the ARRL Field Day event sponsored by VBARC at Great Neck Park.  Additionally he spoke about amateur radio in general and the different aspects of the hobby, the attraction it has to youngsters today and how to find a Field Day event in other areas (WNIS has a wide listening area).

But don't take my word for it, have a listen for yourself right here (click the "Steve W4XQ on WNIS 790" audio link)!

Audio and Tony Macrini's image courtesy of WNIS Newsradio

Posted by WT4M on Wednesday 02 July 2008 - 15:47:36 | Read/Post Comment: 0 |

Pictures from Field Day 2008

Pictures from Field Day are but a click away! Posted are images from both Saturday and Sunday!

Posted by WT4M on Sunday 29 June 2008 - 18:28:15 | Read/Post Comment: 0 |

Raising Antennas!

Not only was the weekend of 21 & 22 June a great time to become a licensed Ham, but apparently it was a great time to install some antennas! Ron W8RJL was kind enough to pass along the following from his antenna installing adventures this weekend:

Rich N2XQM, with the help of Ed KN4KL, Karl K1KO, Steve W4XQ, Ron W8RJL and one non-ham installed a 6 meter yagi and a 7 - 30 MHz M Squared log periodic antenna with 30 foot boom on a new 55 foot crank up tower Saturday, June 21st. It was warm and a little smokey due to the swamp fires but all went well with the aid of a hydraulic lift.

Steve W4XQ with help from Rich N2XQM and Ron W8RJL installed a Christmas tree of antennas on top of his aluminum crank-up tower Sunday, June 22nd. The antennas from top to bottom are 3 element 6 meter yagi, 3 element WARC Yagi, and a 3 element tri-bander with 40 meter dipole kit. Steve promptly worked a new country in the south Pacific and logged several six meter contacts.

73,
W8RJL

Have a peek at the rest of Ron's photos here...

All photos courtesy of Ron Young W8RJL

Posted by WT4M on Tuesday 24 June 2008 - 21:05:00 | Read/Post Comment: 0 |

NEW HAMS!

Every night Monday and Wednesday night (except Memorial Day) for five weeks, VBARC instructors and prospective Hams (and upgrades) got together to review the FCC question pools and talk about the requisite knowledge needed to be a proficient Amateur.

Not all of those whom originally signed up could make every class. But those that showed up for the test on Saturday the 21st of June knew their stuff! All of those that attended at least one of the classes managed to get the license class they were after! Certainly this speaks well of the instructors and the course material, but certainly the students committed much time and energy studying on their own. A hearty congratulations go out to all of the students whom attended the classes and gained their ticket/upgrade on Saturday: Zachary Butler took both the Tech & General and became a young General Class in one day and Tom KI4IRH & Steve KI4IRI Thomas upgraded to General. Chris Cupito, Carissa & William Ferguson, Bob Leavenworth, Geno Moore, Chris Patton & Chris Smith all obtained their Tech ticket after attending the classes.

Besides the 100% pass rate of the VBARC class, quite a few others came out to take an amateur exam or two. At the end of the day we garnered 20 new Techs/upgrades, with all but one examinee going home with something new.

Thanks to all of the VEs/Instructors that made the classes and testing possible: Jim AG4XT (VE Liaison/Instructor), George WA4GDB (VE/Instructor), John WT4M (VE/Instructor), Jeff KA1DBE (VE/Instructor), Steve W4XQ (Instructor/Photographer), Don AI4ME (VE), Ed KN4KL (VE), Bob K4NTO (Instructor), Rich W4NMH (VE), Stew K4STW (Instructor), and last but certainly not least, Bernadette KI4VCR (who keeps us all straight).

Below are some photos of all of the new Hams/upgrades, if you see them around, congratulate them on their recent achievement! Steve took some great pictures of test day! Additionally, some photos of the Ham classes are located here...

Photos courtesy of Steve Batton W4XQ & John Ficke WT4M

Posted by WT4M on Saturday 21 June 2008 - 12:56:23 | Read/Post Comment: 0 |

The next VBARC General Membership Meeting will be on Thursday, August 7th, as early as 6 PM (to facilitate a meeting time of 7-7:30 PM) at the Golden Corral on S. Independence. Be sure to check our calendar for more important events!