HCARC Happenings
November 2014
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News for Amateur Radio Operators In and Around Hillsdale County
Gatherings The next club meeting will be Thursday, November 20 at 7pm at the First United Methodist Church, 45 N Manning in Hillsdale (map). Park in city lot F and use the east entrance off the alley to the Fellowship Hall in the basement. This is an important meeting because we will be electing officers for next year. We need to have a quorum (at least 1/3 of membership) present in order to hold the elections.
Eight members attended the club meeting on October 16. After the business meeting, we watched a video called PMRC's "Every Single Minute" about the Phil-Mont Mobile Radio Club and it’s response to the Delaware River flooding in 1955.
This month the Ham Breakfast will be held on Saturday, November 8 at 8am at the Sidekick Cafe, 4682 Hudson Road in Osseo (map). Everyone welcome!
Five members attended the October breakfast at the North Adams Coffee Shop.
One of the restaurants in our regular rotation, Tastes of Life in Hillsdale, has closed as of September 28.
The next Board Meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 12 at 6pm at the First United Methodist Church, 45 N Manning in Hillsdale (map). Normally held on the first Wednesday of the month, it is pushed back because the church is holding a special event that night. All members are welcome to attend the board meeting.
Membership Report Club membership stands at 19 as of October 31. There was no membership activity in the last month. Membership application is available here (print 2-sided).
Club Officer Elections Club officer elections for 2015 will be held on November 20. If you are interested in becoming a club officer, check the club constitution on our website for information about officer duties and election procedures. Feel free to contact any of the current club officers for more information.
Website Problems We’ve been having some problems with our website for the last few weeks. We’ve been unable to post updates since September 23. Be aware that some of the material, especially the calendar, is getting dated.
New Hams Congratulations to new county ham Erik Kiledal KD8ZQR. He was granted his General license on October 17.
Sam Shearer WB8NDZ (SK) Former club member Sam Shearer WB8NDZ passed away on Friday, October 24. Click here to view his obituary.
Election Day November 4 Tuesday, November 4 is Election Day in Michigan. Positions being voted on include governor, state and federal lawmakers, secretary of state, attorney general and county offices. There are also a couple of statewide proposals on the ballot. There may be additional items on the ballot in your precinct. Visit the Michigan Voter Information Center website to check if you are registered and find other election information, including a map to your polling place and a sample ballot.
ARRL Great Lakes Region Vice Director Candidate Dies Unexpectedly Steve Putman N8ZR, one of the candidates for the ARRL Great Lakes Division Vice Director position, died unexpectedly on October 5. Since balloting was already underway at the time of his death, the ARRL Ethics and Elections Committee determined that all votes cast will still be counted. If Putman receives the most votes, a vacancy will be declared and filled by appointment by ARRL President Kay Craigie N3KN. Voting is open through noon ET on November 21. (ARRL story)
PRB-1 Update No update on US House HR 4969 since last month. Click here to follow the progress of US House HR 4969.
Michigan Senate Bill 0493 was passed by the Senate on October 22 and has moved to the House. Please read the following message from ARRL Michigan Section State Government Liaison Ed Hude WA8QJE. Click here to follow the progress of the Michigan Senate Bill 0493.
Equipment For Sale County ham Bill Mullins KD8LOT has some more equipment for sale.
1-Yaesu FT-897 comes with Programming Cable and Programming cd ) $600.00) 2-Yaesu FT-2900 ($70.00 each) 6-Yaesu Hand Microphone new ($25.00 each) 1-Wires-2 Repeater never used ($70.00) 1-Yaesu Vertex 7000 Desktop Repeater ($600.00) 1-Vertex MD-12ABJ DeskTop Microphone ($45.00) 1-General Lee AM/FM Transceiver ($100.00) 1-Rig Blaster DUO ($100.00) 2-VX-8R for both of them, .comes with programming cable and cd ($350.00) 1-MFJ Intellituner Model mf-j-993b new ($140.00) 1-Dosy Test Center ($100.00) 1-Galaxy Saturn Base Station ($200.00)
Other miscellaneous radio items also available. If interested, email him at KD8LOT@gmail.com.
State Police Break Ground on New Emergency Operations Center Michigan State Police officials, along with Governor Rick Snyder, broke ground on a new $22 million emergency operations center that will be built to withstand tornados and earthquakes. The State Emergency Operations Center is a 28,000-square foot building expected to open in November 2015. Captain Chris Kelenske, commander of the state police’s emergency management and homeland security division, said the facility will be a massive upgrade over the current emergency operations center. (Mlive.com story)
ARRL Asks FCC to Elevate 2300-2305 MHz to Primary The ARRL has once again asked the FCC to elevate the Amateur Service allocation at 2300 to 2305 MHz from secondary to primary. It’s complicated…read the story. (Southgate Amateur Radio News story)
Indonesia’s New President, Vice President are Radio Amateurs Indonesia’s new national leaders are both Amateur Radio licensees. Inaugurated on October 20 were President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo YD2JKW and Vice President Jusuf Kalla YC8HYK. Indonesia is the world’s third-largest democracy, with a population of approximately 250 million. (ARRL story)
Ham Radio in Space The RACE and GOMX-2 CubeSats were among more than 2 dozen satellites lost after an unmanned Orbital Space Sciences Antares 130 vehicle exploded spectacularly shortly after launch on October 28, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Both satellite packages carried Amateur Radio payloads. (ARRL story)
Emergency Activities Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers on the Big Island of Hawaii are putting plans in place in case they need to activate in response to the Puna lava flow with 40 to 50 homes in its path. On October 28, the lava claimed its first structure, a shed in Pahoa. The lava originated from new “vents” in the Earth as a result of the Mt Kilauea volcano, which began erupting more than 30 years ago. After grinding to a halt nearly a month ago, the lava flow recently resumed its slow and devastating crawl toward populated areas. Residents in the path of the flow have been notified of a possible need to evacuate, and an evacuation advisory for down-slope residents remains in effect. (ARRL story)
FCC Amateur Radio License Database Activity in Hillsdale County 10/17/14 KD8DVP SOUTH CENTRAL MICHIGAN EMCOMM - HILLSDALE CHAPTER, Licensee / Applicant company name changed, Address updated from out of county
10/17/14 KD8DVQ SOUTH CENTRAL MICHIGAN EMCOMM - HILLSDALE CHAPTER, Licensee / Applicant company name changed, Address updated from out of county
10/17/14 KD8ZQR Erik Kiledal, new licensee General
QSM The ARRL has posted a Centennial QSO Party leader board that participants can use to determine how many points they have accumulated in the Centennial QSO Party and in the W1AW WAS (Worked All States) operations. Log in using your Logbook of The World (LoTW) user name and password, and your position will appear at the top of the leader boards. Results are updated daily, based on contacts entered into LoTW.
The ARRL Centennial QSO Party kicked off January 1 for a year-long operating event in which participants can accumulate points and win awards in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the ARRL. During 2014 W1AW will be on the air from every state (at least twice) and most US territories, and it will be easy to work all states solely by contacting W1AW portable operations. The event is open to all, although only ARRL members and appointees, elected officials, HQ staff and W1AW are worth points. (ARRL story) Lots of addition information about the centennial QSO party is available here.
ARRL membership certificates commemorating the League’s 100th anniversary in 2014 now are available. Members logged onto the League’s website can generate their own certificates or cards online for printing. (ARRL story)
Upcoming Events November 8 – Ham Breakfast November 12 – Board Meeting November 15 & 16 – Fort Wayne Hamfest November 20 – Club Meeting & Officer Elections December 6 - Fulton County Winter Hamfest December 13 – Ham Breakfast December 19? – Christmas Party |
Send us your comments and suggestions to K8HRC@arrl.net