Category: News

Field Day 2020 report by Chris, N9MMR:

K9PC was well represented at Field Day 2020!

W9MDM and N9TAX set up a Class A club station site for Field Day 2020. A generator kept us independent of commercial power mains and provided all the electrons needed to keep K9PC radios “On Air”.

N9TAX set up a 33-foot-tall inflatable tower, a Carolina Windom off-center-fed dipole, and a 600 watt station running all HF bands, with focus on 20M, 40M, 80M. N9TAX was logging contacts every 15 minutes while assisting others in Field Day operations.
KD9NSC set up a 100 watt station running 6M SSB, 6M FT8, 10M SSB and 10M FT8. He was using the N9MMR special double bazooka coaxial dipole antennas hand built from scratch the morning of Field Day. With some help from N9TAX, N9IAA, and W9MDM we tuned up the 6M and 10M dipoles and worked stations all over the United States. KD9NSC secured our only international contact in St. Lucia using FT8 on 10M. N9IAA jumped on 6M SSB and made a few contacts with stations in North and West Texas during an amazing 6M band opening. KD9NSC also secured some contacts on DMR using the Indiana Statewide talk group.

We had many bands and many modes covered for Field Day 2020. It was great to see our K9PC station come together and make numerous contacts!

Many reminisced of old times with fun amateur radio stories late into the night. The vast wealth of radio knowledge was handed down from our Elmers to the younger generations. Plans have already begun for Field Day 2021 to make the K9PC 1A IN site even better!

Special thanks to all those that helped support Field Day 2020, and let us not forget all the Silent Keys helping guide our radio waves from above.

73s,
ChrisN9MMR

Good evening, all.

Field Day is coming up next weekend (not this weekend, but the 27th and 28th.)

In our last meeting, we had discussed taking up the LaPorte club on their invitation to work a full, serious FD event. And then COVID-19 happened.

However, from my understanding,  the LaPorte club is still intending on holding their event at Danny’s tower, although they are trying to ensure that it follows the CDC guidelines as much as possible.

The other change is that for this year only, the ARRL is allowing hams to work from home, using Class-D as their category, and can count contacts with other Class-D stations (usually, those don’t count.) Also, they are allowing the operate-from-home hams to aggregate their scores if submitted in the name of a club.

I will leave the choice up to you. As President, I still have to take into consideration the health and well-being of our older-at risk members and cannot recommend the public outing. But it’s your call.

So:

1) Meet the LaPorte club out at Danny’s tower and work as part of their effort;

2) Work from home and keep track of your QSO’s and I’ll figure out how we report together as PCARC;

3) Just work from home as an individual and have fun.

As to our next in-person meeting, it’s mostly up to the EMA as the pandemic is ongoing and the latest reports indicate the second wave is just starting. I have a feeling that we may not be meeting again until later in the year, but I will keep all of you in the loop.

One other thing – if you have not paid your dues for 2020 yet, they are due. Dues are $20 for adults, $10 for students or seniors, and $25 for a family. You can mail a check to:

Porter County Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 1061
Valparaiso, IN 46384

Thank you! Be safe, get on the air, and soon we can once again hang out on a Friday night.

73
Paul WD9GCO

We have been notified by the Porter County Library that they will still be closed through May, so our exam session, scheduled to be held on May 23rd, is cancelled.

As of now, the June session, scheduled for Saturday, June 6th, is still on the schedule.

We apologize for any inconvenience during these difficult times.

We just found out that the Porter County Library in Valparaiso is closed due to the COVID-19 restrictions until further notice, so we regret to inform you that the license exams scheduled for Saturday, April 18th have to be cancelled.

Our next exam session is scheduled for Saturday, May 23rd at 9AM. As of today, that hasn’t changed. But like everything related to the pandemic, that schedule is also subject to change.

Please stay home, stay safe, wash your hands, and take the time to study and take a few more practice exams. You should be ready to nail the exams in May!

— The PCARC VE team.

Greetings, fellow hams (and soon-to-be-hams.)

After careful consideration, taking into account the number of our members who are in the target demographic for a dangerous infection from COVID-19, plus the fact that PC-EMA is using the building as an EOC for response coordination, I am making the call to cancel the in-person meeting for April 3rd. Our Zoom presentation from Neil Rapp, WB9VPG will be rescheduled for later.

However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t still meet. Let’s all actually USE AMATEUR RADIO!! I know, a pretty crazy concept.

I propose that anyone who wants to get on the club’s repeater on 146.775 (131.8 tone) at 7PM (or any time – feel free to just start chatting.) I’ll start “the meeting” when I get on (I start working from home this Monday for an unspecified time — I may still be there on the 3rd.) If you aren’t a ham yet, but have the ability to listen, you’re welcome as well.

Think of questions and things to talk about. We have this repeater and we’re feeding it electrons – let’s let some of them fly out into the air.

As of now, our May meeting will still be held at the EMA building, with a planned presentation topic of “Ask the experts” with a panel of folks who have the experience and knowledge to answer your radio/electronics questions. It’ll be an Elmering session.

Thanks for understanding. These are weird times indeed – all of the restaurants and theatres are closed, concert tours being cancelled, my train ride in this morning was just me in the tail-end car until East Chicago when 5 other people got on. We’ll all get through this, and if we use common sense, we’ll all be safe.

Paul Braun WD9GCO
President, PCARC

We now have a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/PorterCountyAmateurRadioClub/

We now also have a Facebook group to discuss hobby and club related itemshttps://www.facebook.com/groups/PorterCountyARC

Please feel free to join both whether you are licensed or just interested in the hobby