This page and the calendar page are used for notifying members of scheduled Club activities or changes in those activities. It will also notify members of any upcoming item considered of interest to Club members (such as ARRL or FCC fee or regulation changes with links to those items). The page will change frequently as notifications become outdated and are removed. If you have an item you feel should be posted here for our members send me an email.
Mystery Member
I thought it might be fun and interesting to profile one of our members each month and see if you know who they are. Their identity will be revealed at the next Club meeting, as well as, here when the next one is posted.
Last month’s member was:
This month’s member:
Roughly 60 years ago, when I was eleven or twelve, my uncle Willard gave me a tour of his ham shack. Willard was a ham for 40 years. His call sign was XXXXX. Interesting as radio was to me back then, I didn’t pursue it as a hobby because Morse code fluency was required to get a license and I didn’t practice.
The possibility of amateur radio as a hobby was re-kindled when I visited Field Day 2023 in Priest River, Idaho. After touring the site I decided to get my own operator’s license. I have been a ham since August 12, 2023. I upgraded from Technician to General on October 14, 2023 and from General to Extra on March 9, 2024.
Like many, I started out with a couple of the Baofeng HTs and added a Signal Stuff whip antenna to each. The first coax-fed antenna I built was a 2-meter/70-cm ground plane that I mounted to the end of a 15 foot length of PVC pipe. It worked well but I bought a J-pole from Michael Martens/KB9VBR. It allows me to hit the local repeaters with ease.
In November, 2023 I joined the Bonner County Amateur Radio Club (BCARC).
Presently, I am running an IC-7300 tethered to a Xiegu VG4 4-band vertical antenna. For portable work I take a 20-watt Xiegu G90 transceiver and a Xiegu DH-100 portable power station. I recently assembled the ARRL end-fed half-wave antenna kit, with its 49:1 UNUN. I plan to use it and a JPC-12 antenna for my POTA activations.
I’m sticking with SSB for the time being but I am also practicing Morse code using CW Morse hardware: a straight key, a swiper, and a practice oscillator. I built the Spark Gap Labs MCT-73 code trainer from a kit and I’ve joined the Long Island CW Club.
It has been a year since my Field Day 2023 walk-through. This year at Field Day 2024 I worked the bands for six hours including the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. shift.
Uncle Willard passed away in 2002 at the age of 84. In December of 2023 I applied for and was granted his call sign. Now, I am honored to be XXXXX. Willard’s middle name was Elmer. Maybe, in a spiritual way, he can be an Elmer for me.
Who am I? Attend next month’s meeting to find out.
9 September 2024 – Scatter Shooting
Our next meeting will be on 11th Sept. at the VFW Hall, 1325 Pine St, corner of Pine and Division. At our monthly meetings the Officers meet @ 5:00 PM, between 6:00 and 6:30PM you can find answers to your questions or just enjoy the fellowship of our members, the meeting starts promptly at 6:30PM.
Join us at our next breakfast on September 28, 2024, 9-10:30am, at Connie’s.
Meeting and breakfast dates for the rest of the year (as I now have them):
Meeting Breakfast
- Sept 11th Sep-28th
- Oct 9th Oct-26th
- Nov 13th Nov-23rd
- Dec 11th Dec-21st
Club News:
- If you weren’t able to attend this month’s meeting, the Club was awarded a plaque for 50 years of affiliation with ARRL.
- The presentation slides of past meetings are now available in PDF format on the “Monthly Publications” page.
- This month I began profiling a mystery member for each month. Before placing them on the site I will gain their permission and send them a preview copy to make any changes they may want before publishing the profile. Their identity will be made known at the next meeting and here when the next one is posted.
- I have finished the first draft of the Club’s history. And, I will be meeting with Jeff Yetter for additional insight into the Club’s history.
Website:
- All Monthly Publications, in PowerPoint format, and the current, as well as 1 year of past copies of the COAX, in PDF format, can be downloaded from this area. The September issue of the COAX can be viewed here.
- If you are not a member of groups.io , it is highly recommended that you join the group. BCARC members will have to subscribe to groups.io in order to receive direct communications from the Club. Non members will need to access the Facebook page or this website for links to the monthly presentations (PowerPoint format) and the COAX Newsletter. In addition, the Zoom code to attend meetings using Zoom will only be placed on the groups.io site. When requesting admission please give your name and call sign.
Remember that it is by your dues that we are able to maintain and update our repeaters. By completing a new form each year we are able to verify and maintain accurate records for our membership. Please be aware it may take up to a week for processing. A membership application is available here.
Bonner County ARES VE Testing – sponsored here as it is free to take the test
They test at 10:00 AM at the Sandpoint Library (Community Room A). The address is 1407 Cedar St, Sandpoint, ID 83864.
The good news is that there is no fee to take the exam and walk-ins are welcome.
You can see all details and all required material on their info page, here: https://bonnerares.org/wp/license-exams/ .
Future test sessions (second Saturday, ~bi-monthly):
Sep 14, 2024
Nov 9, 2024
Amateur Radio Technician Class Licensing course on Zoom
A free, weekly, live, Amateur Radio Technician Class Licensing course on Zoom will begin on Thursday, Sept 5, and will run through Thursday, October 17 (7 sessions). These are the classes that have been presented by the Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum for a number of years. The three-hour sessions will be held Thursdays starting at 6:30 PM Eastern Time.
Contact Rol Anders K3RA (roland.anders@comcast.net) for more information or to sign up.