American Radio Relay League Notes From the Section Manager’s Desk… Indiana Section In the last few months I have fielded some questions from clubs January 2017 Newsletter around the section about how to improve the local radio club. The concerns normally involve recruiting new members to the club and getting the existing members active. The first thing the elected officers of any club should do is listen to their members Table of Contents and give them a voice. You may need to solicit the input of the Notes From the Section Manager’s Desk… ....................................... 1 members but be sure to listen to their concerns or suggestions. Remembering Friends We’ll Miss … ................................................. 2 Next, be open to change. If the suggestions are moving the night of the meeting, then be open to that. News from around the Indiana Section ........................................... 2 Upcoming Hamfests ........................................................................ 3 The most important thing about growing or invigorating a club is Public Information Outreach ........................................................... 4 to have FUN. If the members of the club don’t find the activities or meetings to be enjoyable then your club will almost certainly Affiliated Club Coordination ............................................................ 6 struggle. The most discouraging practice that I have seen in many Technical Specialists – Helping Hams ............................................... 8 clubs is a prolonged “business” portion of the meeting. I would Official Observers – We’re Here to Help ........................................ 15 encourage all club officers to listen to their members and focus on the fun. National Traffic System – Net Gains .............................................. 16 Amateur Radio Emergency Service – In Action ............................... 17 Fun, frequencies, fellowship and food. These are the four F words that will help any Amateur Radio club grow and prosper. Some “To promote and advance the art, science, and enjoyment of amateur argue that food shouldn’t be part of it but I beg to differ. Food can radio” bring almost anyone together. Find us on the web at INARRL.ORG www.facebook.com/inarrl Good luck in 2017 and I wish everyone a Happy New Year. www.twitter.com/in_arrl ARES® and Amateur Radio Emergency Service® are registered 73, trademarks of the ARRL Brent Walls, N9BA ARRL Indiana Section Manager [email protected] 1 Remembering Friends We’ll Miss … News from around the Indiana Section WVARA sponsors HamCamp All silent key obituary notices should be sent directly to Brent Walls at [email protected] for inclusion in this monthly The Wabash Valley Amateur Radio Association (WVARA) Ham column. Radio New Operator Camp (HamCamp) is a one-day workshop that provides the newly-licensed operator For inclusion in QST, please follow the instructions at http://www.arrl.org/silent-key-submission-guidelines practical instruction in basic electronic measurements, setting up an amateur radio station, building & erecting antennas, making contacts, and other aspects of Field Organization Appointment Updates amateur radio. Each student will make at least one VHF contact and at least one HF Appointment Resignations / Cancellations: contact during the workshop. • Jacob Plas KC9PRR Emergency Coordinator • Oral Henderson WB9HLA Emergency Coordinator HamCamp is limited to a total of 15 participants and pre-registration is New Appointments required. The workshop fee is $10 and includes lunch. Additional • Scott Nelson W9DBA Emergency Coordinator information and registration information can be found on the WVARA website at www.w9uuu.org/classes/hamcamp.php . The ARRL appreciates the time and effort every volunteer gives in HDXCC Bicentennial Awards – Get them soon! serving the Indiana Section and promoting amateur radio. Many people talk about what should be done, but it takes committed In 2016 Indiana celebrated 200 years of statehood and the Hoosier DX volunteers to get it done. Thank You! Contest Club is sponsoring two awards to help commemorate the event. The first award is the Indiana Bicentennial County Award which includes two opportunities to earn the award. The second award is the Indiana Bicentennial County Activation Award. The official rules and more information about the awards can be found on the HDXCC website at www.hdxcc.org/bicentennial/index.html. 2 Upcoming Hamfests 6th ANNUAL Hendricks County Amateur Radio Society Brownsburg Hamfest HAM RADIO, www.HCARS.org COMPUTERS, MAKERS SUPPLIES, ELECTRONICS FLEA MARKET. Buy, Sell, and Socialize. SATURDAY FEBRUARY 18, 2017 Hamfest opens to the public at 7:00 am til 2pm Admission $5.00 Free Parking AMERICAN LEGION POST #331 636 East Main St, Brownsburg, IN 46112 Talk-in 147.015 + Repeater Food is available for purchase on site provided by the American Legion. ________________ NOTICE TO VENDORS Available set up times: Friday 02/17/17 from 3:00 pm to 7:30 pm Saturday 02/18/17 6:00 am to 7:00 am Pricing Schedule for Tables: $15.00 per Table with Power ** $10.00 per Table No Power N9HC ** BriTngab yleo usar loews anv eaxitlaebnsleio nb octohr ddsa ayns.d H paomwfeers ts trips. contact E-Mail: [email protected] E - m a i l : h c a r s 4 6 1 2 2 @ g m a i l . c o m NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ACCIDENTS. 3 Public Information Outreach With the start of the new year, I would like to see everyone with a renewed energy and passion to spread the word about amateur radio. We have a great group of amateur's doing great work, either through their PIO efforts, or by reaching out and educating, the amateur's of tomorrow, and being that Public Information Ambassador teaching others they meet about this hobby of ours. I would like to applaud each and everyone who has gone that extra step, and enlightened even one person who knew little or nothing about what we are or what we do. To each and every one of you, Thank You. Clubs, Groups, or other collectives of amateur's, do you have someone that is your spokes person? Are you looking for a spokes person for your group? Please consider getting involved as your club or group's PIO, and consider becoming a PIO with the ARRL. Becoming a PIO is simple, and lets your local media know that you are their point of contact for any questions they may have regarding Ham Radio. Imagine who's life could you touch that leads them to be the next Astronaut, Scientist, or even the next Head of State. Yes, this wonderful hobby has breed all of those. Who could you help, by turning them on to Amateur Radio. Thank You for all you do for Amateur Radio, 73, Barry Palencer, KC9WMS ARRL Indiana Section – Public Information Coordinator 4 PIO Reports: our Christmas Party and delivered 3 holiday gift baskets. Donations came from both club members, and fund proceeds. Allen County PIO Jay Farlow, W9LW BARC donated items for students at Templeton Elementary School in In December, I continued updating my list of journalists and their Bloomington for 25 of their students that the school was collecting for email addresses. to brighten up their holiday. The BARC Helping Ham’s Fund purchased items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, gloves, combs, hair I also became aware of two media hits of interest, neither of which ties, shampoo, and fruit juice. were a result of my work: The BARC Helping Hams project Dec. 2, 2016: “Amateur radio operators enjoy global friendships,” by purchased and gave a handheld radio to a Tess Plazek, The Times Community Publications, longtime member of the club Chuck Kraus, http://infortwayne.com/2016/12/02/amateur-radio-operators-enjoy- N9ESO to keep him on the air until global-friendships/ members of the Helping Hams can check Dec. 7, 2016: “Preparing an emergency supply of food.” This story on out Mr. Kraus’s existing equipment for WANE TV, Fort Wayne’s CBS affiliate includes a sound bite from issues. former Indiana Section Manager Joseph Lawrence, K9RFZ. It makes The Bloomington Amateur Radio Club has a new monthly meeting no mention of ham radio, but I’m relaying it because a.) Joseph is in it location at the Bloomington City Government Center ( Shower’s and b.) it’s a good emergency preparedness story. Building ), located at 401 N Morton St in Bloomington. Meeting time http://wane.com/2016/12/07/preparing-an-emergency-supply-of-food/ is 700 PM the 1st Friday of each month. 73, The Bloomington Amateur Radio Club was highlighted on January 6, Jay Farlow, W9LW 2017 for its $100 donation to A.R.I.S.S. Fort Wayne, Ind. Amateur Radio newsline for January 6, 2017 (#2045) http://www.arnewsline.org/storage/audio/2017/Report2045.mp3. Monroe County PIO Jimmie Merry, KC9RPX The Bloomington Amateur Radio Club, voted to donate $100 at it It has been a very quiet month around Monroe County for all 3 December meeting to ARISS, and a club officer quickly matched that clubs. Especially with the students at Bloomington South High with his own check, as did 2 other club members. School, K9SOU and Indiana University, K9IU being on holiday break. The Bloomington Amateur Radio Club had a quiet month Whitley County PIO Roger McEntarfer, N9QCL also. Although the Helping Ham’s Fund project did collect items at 5 I announced in the local newspapers: Columbia City Post & Mail, Affiliated Club Coordination Churubusco News and South Whitley The Tribune News, Local WJHS 91.5 FM (Whitley County Joint High School) radio station, Local Web Thanks to many of the clubs across Indiana that have based News: Columbia City Talk of the Town and Churubusco Busco responded to the request to bring their annual reports to a current state. Voice Several and HF Nets: Indiana Traffic Net, Interstate Side Band However, some clubs need to review the information within their Net and the Michigan Buzzard Roost Net and several of the local 2M annual report as information recently went out of date. and 70 CM nets around the northern Indiana area about the Whitley County Amateur Radio Club (WCARC) Dinner Meeting on December If any club should need assistance with the update process, 8, 2016, the Whitley County Amateur Radio Club General Meeting on please feel free to call or email me anytime. I should be able to assist January 12, 2017 and the Whitley County W5YI Test session on you. I realize that new club officers may not be able to access their January 28, 2017. clubs annual report, because they don’t have admin or editing access to do so on the ARRL.ORG website. The next Whitley County Amateur Radio Club General Meeting will be held on Thursday January 12, 2017 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM, In Clubs that still need to check their information on the ARRL Community Rooms A and B of the Peabody Library 1160 E. State Rd. website are as follows: White County ARS, Whitley County ARS, 205 - Columbia City, Indiana. Tri-State ARS, Indiana Masonic Home, Goshen ARC, Hoosier The program for the evening will be Whitley County Emergency Repeater Builders, Grant County, Tri County HF Society, Management Agency (EMA) Organization and the needs of the Whitewater Valley ARC, Porter County ARC, Purdue University, agency, presented by Whitley County EMA Director, Amy Biggs. Zion Lutheran. The next W5YI Test session will be held on Saturday January 28, 2017 from 9:00 to 11:00 AM, Some clubs had missing vital information that was missing such as meeting location or time, email, website, or phone contact. In Community Room A of the Peabody Library 1160 E. State Rd. 205 Most clubs should be receiving my emails. If not please send me a - Columbia City, Indiana. current e-mail contact. 73’s I would like to hear about news worthy items from clubs across Roger McEntarfer/ N9QCL Indiana. If your club has news that a fellow ham across the state ARRL Public Information Officer might find of interest, please send these items to me by the 5th of each month. This can be about you club, an event, or about something special that happened in amateur radio in your area. 6 Indiana Affiliated Club News The Brownsburg Hamfest sponsored by the Hendricks County Amateur Radio Society Club will be on February 18, 2017 at the Bloomington Amateur Radio Club (K9DIY) Brownsburg American Legion Post 331, located at 636 East Main St. The BARC Helping Hams fund accepted donations of non- In Brownsburg, Indiana. Setup will be on Friday February 17th from perishable food items at or Christmas party. We made 3 holiday 3pm to 7:30 pm and Saturday morning February 18th from 6am to baskets from the items that was donated by our club members. 7am. Admission is $5 at the door, which will enter you in the drawings The Helping Hams fund donated personal care items such as for door prizes and the Grand prize. Talk-in will be on the 147.015 shampoo, toothpaste, soap, toothbrushes, gloves, and fruit juice to N9HC Repeater. The ARRL Central Indiana Division Coordinator Templeton Elementary School in Bloomington, for a project to assist Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, and ARRL Indiana Section Emergency children at their school. We were able purchase items to assist an Coordinator Tony Stokes, KU9V, will have a booth at the hamfest. estimated 25 children. Contact the new Hamfest Coordinator, Bruce Jones, KD9AGH, On Christmas eve, the Helping Ham’s delivered a special gift [email protected] or check the hamfest link at to our friend Chuck Kraus, N9ESO. The Helping Ham’s purchased a www.hendricksares.org for more details. handheld radio to help Mr. Kraus get back on the air. When warm weather arrives, we will check his radio and antenna out and get his Congratulations to the re-elected officers of the Hendricks base station back in operation. County Amateur Radio Society: President -John Farmer, N9CQ, Vice President - Mike Rollins, WA9NCF, Treasurer- Wayne Fox, KE9P, Hendricks Co Amateur Radio Society (HCARS) and Secretary - Ron Burke, KB9DJA. HCARS held their annual Christmas dinner and officer’s elections on December 10th with 31 in attendance. The 2017 officers Mid – State (Franklin, IN) for HCARS will be: President John Farmer, N9CQ; Vice-President The Mid-State Amateur Radio Club in Franklin, Indiana has Mike Rollins, WA9NCF; Treasurer Wayne Fox, KE9P; Secretary Ron recently moved to their location for their monthly meetings. They will Burke, KB9DJA. be at the new Community and Conference Center at the Johnson HCARS will host their annual training classed for all three R.E.M.C. Headquarters located at 750 International Drive, in Franklin, levels of license, starting on March 3, 2017. The classes will be held Indiana, just north of Carter Lumberyard on US 31 South. The every Friday evening for 8 weeks, with a testing session on April 28th. monthly meetings will still be on the third Saturday of the month at The time for the classes and test will be at 7:00 PM at the Hendricks 8am, with VE testing starting about 9:30am. County Senior Service Center, located at 1201 Sycamore Lane in Danville, IN. 7 Wabash Valley Amateur Radio Association (Terre Haute, IN) topic this year, and probably a few naysayers will have comments as The Wabash Valley Amateur Radio Association will be well. Bill, NF9K has the latest on the Tera 7400 DMR HT and a host conducting its 2ND annual Ham Radio Operator Camp (Ham Camp) of other information from Raspbery Pi to P25. Mark, K9MQ provides on February 4, 2017. information on a few articles he has written and how he repaired his Nest thermostat, along with other useful information on amateur radio. This workshop is intended for the newly-licensed (or rusty) Many other reports are chock full of interesting news, tidbits, and darn amateur radio operator and covers such topics as basic electronic useful information! measurements, setting up a station, & making contacts. During the workshop, each student will make at least 1 VHF/UHF contact and 1 I’m still looking to add Technical Specialists in some underserved HF contact. areas especially in the East Central and South Eastern area of the state. If you live in the Richmond area and have a technical bent you may be The fee is $10 and includes lunch. Complete details are the person we need to fill a Technical Specialist position. If you’re available on the WVARA website at: interested or want to find out more send me an email. http://w9uuu.org/classes/hamcamp.php . Ham Camp is limited to 15 participants and students can register on-line at the WVARA website. 73, Mark Westermeier, N9OZ 73, Indiana Section Technical Coordinator Jimmy Merry, KC9RPX [email protected] INARRL Affiliated Club Coordinator [email protected] Technical Specialists Reporting for December 2016: N9QCL, NI9Y, N7BBW, WA9FGT, K3HTK, W9WEL, N9LYY, NF9K, W9BGJ, WB8WOR, AC9HP, K9MQ, KB9BVN, N9SFX, K0RL, Technical Specialists – Helping Hams AC9AZ, W9AMT, N9OZ December seems to have been a month of getting things ready for the new year, cleaning up, tuning, tweaking, and fixing radios, software, and testing new radios. TS December Reports: N9QCL From around the state Roger, N9QCL is using a drone to raise wire antennas into the highest trees, I’m sure we will have future updates on I spent much of my December time straightening up my ham shack this if not YouTube videos. I’m sure this could be the hottest hamfest and setting up a new NETGEAR AC1900 DST Router. I plan to 8 continue the shack cleanup in January along with getting a new K3HTK desktop set up to run all the digital modes replacing my current laptop. SDR - I have been experimenting with the SDR Play unit I picked up I purchased some new accessories for my DJI Phantom 3 Pro Drone a while back and found that Android drivers have been created for use that will assist me in raising wire antennas into the highest trees. Will with those devices such as tablets, Phones, IoT compute, etc. I hope to see how well this works out once the parts arrive and I get a nice day find some solutions for Amateur Radio to propose with my to try it out. experimentation. http://www.sdrplay.com/android.html As Vice President of the Whitley County Amateur Radio Club, I am Icom 7300 – I have been enjoying using the Icom 7300 and have responsible for the programs for each meeting, if anyone would like to found that this is one of the best receivers I have used yet and feature give a presentation or have any ideas for programs for one of our rich. I also have a KX3 that I would say although a different package, WCARC meetings next year’s please send me an email. very comparable to the Icom 7300 in performance. The Icom software is probably the biggest drawback that I have found so far for utilizing a The next Whitley County Amateur Radio Club General meeting will PC to radio setup. I think it would be nice to have more integrations be held on Thursday January 12, 2017 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, in with other SDR packages out there without adding more hardware to Community Rooms A and B of the Peabody Library 1160 E. State Rd. do the job. 205 - Columbia City, Indiana. The program for the evening will be Not much else to report for now… Stay tuned…. Whitley County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Happy New Year! Organization and the needs of the agency, presented by Whitley 73, County EMA Director, Amy Biggs. Ed K3HTK The next W5YI Test session will be held on Saturday January 28, W9WEL 2017 from 9:00 to 11:00 AM, in Community Room A of the Peabody Library 1160 E. State Rd. 205 - Columbia City, Indiana. I am attempting to help a ham in Wyoming with a transmitter problem. We are doing this via telephone and e-mail ----- not the best of 73’s conditions. I have done this before, and, so far, have been successful, Roger McEntarfer/ N9QCL but then, not all problems are the same so, we'll see. ARRL Technical Specialist Dave Van Doorn W9WEL 9 NF9K switcher on Amazon rated at 50A, so we'll see how it works out. So far, so good. I trust the holidays were kind and enjoyable to you and yours. Things were great here as I spend the last half of December on vacation, Worked with an IL ham an his openSPOT. He was very interested in which allowed me some time to get some projects completed. So with connecting in with our network and joining our weekly nets. In order that, here we go: to facilitate his request, I needed to follow up on some open Received an email comment via my website looking for assistance in connectivity items between Crossroads and BrandMeister. Luckily programming a 33cm Motorola MTX9250. After a primer on topics those guys remembered our discussions from ~6 months ago and we such as personalities, CPS modifications for ham band use, he was off discovered most of it was partially build. So a little tweaking and we to the races with his shiny new HT! were able to provide the connectivity requested. Finished building and testing a Raspberry Pi based EchoIRLP node for Another website comment from a mother of a new ham with a brand Steve Jones (W9SMJ). I'm still waiting to meet up with him to deliver new TYT MD380. They were having issues getting it programmed. I the final product, but he will be pleased. I know he's looking to get his guided her through the process and also suggested she join our FB node connected up to Randy Fisher's node that I built a couple of group where she was able to get multiple people on board to help her. months ago. Attended the Grant County ARC Christmas Party where I was Worked with Randy (K9MMQ) up in Ft. Wayne on a port-forwarding presented with a lifetime membership for my technical contributions to sitiuation through his Ubiquiti Edge Router. I will say, having been a their organization. Very unexpected, but very honored to have been firewall guy for 20+ years, the way the lay out their ACLs is very given something like that. misleading. But we were able to get things figured out and connect him up to various nodes and reflectors as a test. As Hanibal Smith would say, "I love it when a plan comes together!" Bought a Tera 7400 DMR HT. This is the unit that you see Powerworx advertising. So far, I'm pretty impressed. It's a Chinese Traded out internet devices at my primary DMR site in radio, of course, however, it's quite solid. I like the black screen with Indianapolis. The Verizon box that was over there keep losing the white letters and much like the hacked MD-380 firmware, you're connectivity. I've back on a USB device and a CradlePoint router, able to download the global DMR contact database and store it on the which proved to be rock solid. I'd taken the Verizon box over because radio instead of having to enter it into CPS or mess around with it had the ability for two analog lines to be added and I was kludgy import processes. Of the cheaper DMR radios I own (Connect considering dorking around with a digital auto patch. Also replaced Systems, TYT, Zastone, etc.) the Tera 7400 is my favorite. I believe it the cooked Astron PS on the amplified. I found a contiuous duty retails new with programming cable for around $275, so closer to the 10