President’s Notes for October 2019k8utt.org/Club_documents/Newsletters/FARL_BOLT_Oct_2019.pdfThe...

The Bolt The Official Publication of the Ford Amateur Radio League

FARL BOLT – October 2019 - of 11 [ https://web.vee.ford.com/FERA | www.K8UTT.org ]

President’s Notes for October 2019 Tour de Cure Post Event: The weather for the event this year was awesome

for the riders, with temperatures in the 60’s and no rain. We amateurs proved

ourselves again as responsive, agile, and adaptable to the situation. We found

that our original repeater did not work well on Belle Isle, but our backup did a

nice job overall. We managed to put our equipment and antennas on the SAG

wagons that were not our own. We worked with an organization who had not

had ham support before. We had a noisy base station environment with a

temporary power loss to boot. With all of these challenges, we helped out rest

stops, kept track of riders, drove a few of them back to home base, and helped

clean up the directional signs. Our served agency, the American Diabetes

Association, was very impressed and happy with our performance, and they

learned a lot about how to deploy us for best use. Roger Reini, KD8CSE, will

provide the club with a more complete presentation on the event, but he did get

word that we would be requested to help again next year! For my part, I learned

about taking my Yaesu DRM-400 on the road portable in some else’s vehicle and

preparing everything to work in a cigar lighter with a mag mount antenna. For

next year, I want a 12V battery backup for higher power and functionality when

the car is turned off, and a ½ wave antenna instead of the ¼ wave I was using.

There are actually a few more ideas and thoughts, which I may turn into a mini

presentation myself sometime soon.

Items for Sale: We have a few estate sales going on. Ralph Irish has a page

on some items he is selling on behalf of an old friend of his who

passed away. Proceeds go to the Dayton Youth Forum fund as

MFJ gift cards, so he and the L'Anse Creuse club have been

supporting the next generation of hams. See the list if anything

interests you. John Mathy, K8AZT, also has some items for sale

from the estate of Bruno Walzcak, WA8DHP. I have posted the information on

the For Sale page, http://www.k8utt.org/for_sale.htm, if you are interested in

putting some of this equipment to good use for yourself or for others.



Boy Scout Jamboree: FARL Vice President Chris Jenks, K8CKJ, is setting up

the FARL HF equipment as part of the Jamboree on the Air at the Wolcott Mill

Metropark Farm Center in Ray, Michigan on Saturday, October 19th. The JOTA

event runs from October 18th -20th. See elsewhere for more information,

including a training video if you wish to participate with him during the event.

October Presentation: The October presentation will be from Tye Winkel,

KC8YEJ. He will talk about using the program Chirp

(https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home) to program radios. I use

this program with my Btech radio, and it works very well for me.

Sunday Night Net: Set your smart device to remind you to join us on the Sunday

night net! We do get some new hams on the net, and we can develop their

experience as amateurs both technically and through community by participating

in the net. As always, it is also practice with our equipment, which is important

when we use it at an event! The net is at 8pm!

73,

David Treharne

N8HKU

FARL Club President

The Long Island CW Club - Kimball Williams, N8FNC The Long Island CW Club is

dedicated to helping hams learn

CW. https://longislandcwclub.org



- Chris Jenks, K8CKJ

Dates and time:

October 18-20 from between 6 pm and 7 pm on Friday through 9 -10 on Sunday.

Further information is at:

https://www.scouting.org/jota/

http://www.arrl.org/jamboree-on-the-air-jota

Location information:

https://www.metroparks.com/parks/wolcott-mill-metropark/

Wolcott Mill Metropark Farm Center

65775, Wolcott Road

Ray, MI – 48096

(586)752-5932

If you want to participate, you need to go through the BSA Youth Training Program. It's roughly

a 30-minute video training course online. The training can be found

through http://my.scouting.org. You'll need to create an account. Information is

at https://www.scouting.org/training/youth-protection/

They plan to have 2 sites set up doing HF/VHF/UHF. There will be a IC-706 with a buddy pole.

The plan is to also have a Raspberry Pi running HamVoip for connectivity to the JOTA Allstar,

and a Jumbospot for DMR to the JOTA Talkgroup.



Ford Amateur Radio League (AKA: The Tin Lizzy Club)

Club Meeting Minutes – September 12, 2019

Ford Amateur Radio League meeting minutes: September 12, 2019

Prepared by Roger Reini, KD8CSE, Secretary

Meeting called to order at 6:01 PM by president Dave Treharne, N8HKU

• Minutes from June meeting reviewed; motion to approve made by Chris, K8CKJ and

seconded by Roger, KD8CSE; minutes approved (they were subsequently corrected to

fix typos in the attendee list)

• Treasurer’s report from Mike Fluegemann, KE8AQW: no expenditures since June.

Motion to approve report made by Tye, KC8YEJ, and seconded by Carl, KB4CWG;

report approved. Reminder that dues were due and payable in April.

• Board of Directors: no meeting in this period

• Committee Reports:

o Repeater: functioning, but there is a variable echo in analog mode on the 2m

repeater; suspect that receiver is picking up some of transmitter output; duplexer

may need adjustment; no change in status of building. Tom, W8TJB, wondered if

the repeater converted everything to digital internally, even when output was

analog; Dave thought not, as no digital artifacts were obvious in analog output.

Bill, N8OZV, asked if an updated version of the repeater controller was available;

Dave said yes, there was.

o Sunday night net: still going.

o Education/Training: There is a 1-day Technician class and testing session

Sept. 28 in Ann Arbor. Hazel Park club is starting 3 licensing classes this month;

details to be sent to club mailing list. Tye, KC8YEJ, would like a testing session

at Ford in November.

o Newsletter/Website: BOLT distributed before meeting; no major website

updates. Kimball, N8FNC, asked to be added to the club mailing list; Roger,

KD8CSE, said he would do so

o Historian: Storage containers for club archives have started cracking, though

they’re not that old and are stored in shadow

o Equipment Inventory: No changes, though updates are pending



o FERA: Roger, KD8CSE, attended General Council meeting Sept. 10 and

reported on the club’s support of the Tour de Cure; Entertainment books are

available for sale (see Bill, N8OZV); auto show tickets will still be sold, but in May

and June to reflect new event schedule

• Unfinished/Current Business:

o Field Day expenditures: Dave, N8HKU, submitted a receipt for breakfast

expenditures, amount $93.57; motion to approve made by Roger, KD8CSE,

seconded by Bill, N8OZV; expenditure approved. No requests for reimbursement

for gas for generators were submitted by anyone; they all considered them

donations to the club/event.

• New Business:

o List of recently licensed hams: Bill, N8OZV, is still trying to compile the list of

new hams minted in the last 3 years from testing conducted by the club in order

to increase involvement

o Maker Faire: Bill, N8OZV, reported on the club support of Maker Faire. The

group was on the front lawn this year as opposed to being in a courtyard, which

helped with visibility and antenna setup, along with overall setup and teardown

o Tour de Cure: 5 club members provided radio support at the Tour de Cure event

Sept. 8 (3 in SAG vehicles, 2 at net control), while hams from other groups

supported 4 rest areas and 1 SAG vehicle; 2 SAG vehicles had no radio support

due to insufficient operators. Bill, N8OZV, reported that the SAG driver he rode

with said that having the SAG wagons being able to communicate and coordinate

with each other made a big difference in route cleanup at the end of the event,

saving hours at the end of the event. This could have been improved on had the

other 2 SAG wagons had radio support (i.e., priority for radio support should

have gone to SAG wagons instead of rest stops). Roger, KD8CSE, is compiling a

list of things that went well and things that could be improved; he will send a

event-focused version of that list to the organizers.

o JOTA: Chris, K8CKJ, asked to borrow the club FT-991 radio to support a local

Boy Scout troop during Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) in October; there was no

objection. He may ask for additional help for the event; this would go to the club

mailing list.

o Preparations for supporting an event: Chris, K8CKJ, asked if there was a list

of recommended equipment and gear for supporting a public service event like

the Tour de Cure; Dave, N8HKU, said he would start such a list.



o Long Island CW Club: Kimball, N8FNC, said fall classes in Morse code and CW

operation would be starting soon.

• Presentation: Roger, Dave, N8HKU, gave a presentation on the Field Day 2019

results. Presentation was scheduled to be on the club website by the weekend after the

meeting.

• Adjourned at 7:34 PM

Attendance:

Roger Reini, KD8CSE

Carl Waldrop, KB4CWG

Tom Bray, W8TJB

M ac Lunn, KD8TPO

Kimball Williams, N8FNC

Tye Winkel, KC8YEJ

Bill Boyke, N8OZV

Rusty Eizen, N8RGI

Chris Jenks, K8CKJ

Michael Fluegemann, KE8AQW

WWV 100TH Anniversary – Special Event Station - Roger Reini, KD8CSE On October 1, 2019, radio station WWV will celebrate 100 years of

operation. In commemoration of this, the Northern Colorado ARC and

WWV ARC are teaming up to operate a special event station,

WW0WWV, near the WWV transmitter site in Fort Collins, CO.

Operators from across the country will be helping to run the station, including my uncle Bill, K9WA, and

myself.

The station will be in operation from 0000 UTC September 28 through 2359 UTC October 2 on 160, 80,

40, 30, 20, 17 and 15 meters using CW SSB, and digital modes. As of the time I’m writing this, I am

scheduled to operate on September 30 at 1400 UTC on 20m SSB (schedules are subject to change).

There was to be a public open house at the WWV transmitter site on the actual anniversary, October 1,

but this was cancelled by NIST. However, the special event operators will be able to tour the station.

For the latest news on the special event, check the official website at http://wwv100.com/index.php.



Tour De Cure Ride Support - Roger Reini, KD8CSE Several Tin Lizzy club members provided radio support for the

Tour de Cure run/walk/ride on September 8. Roger Reini,

KD8CSE, served as net control operator on Belle Isle, assisted by

Rusty Eizen, N8RGI. Riding with SAG wagon drivers were Bill

Boyke, N8OZV, Chris Jenks, K8CKHJ, and Dave Treharne,

N8HKU. Also volunteering were hams from other area clubs.

The team had to overcome adversities such a lack of sufficient

operators (not every SAG wagon had a radio operator),

unexpected power cutouts in SAG wagons and net control, and having to move to the backup

repeater, but the ride was fully supported.

Here are some of the riders beginning the 30-mile ride on Belle Isle.



Roger, KD8CSE, used this Buddipole configured as a 2-meter vertical.

Setup at net control: Yaesu FTM-400DR with external speaker, power supply and battery pack.



Club Repeater Information

The Ford Amateur Radio League operates 3 club repeaters under the club K8UTT license. All the

repeaters are located in the Dearborn, MI area near the Southfield Freeway. All repeaters are open for members

and guests to operate.

Repeater Output Freq Input Freq Tone

2 M Repeater 145.270 -600 KHz 100 Hz PL

1 1/4 M Repeater 224.520 -1.6 MHz 100 Hz PL

Club Net: 8pm on Sunday, 2 and 1-1/4 Meter Repeaters!

Classes and Exams

The following amateur radio clubs conduct license exams throughout the year. Many clubs allow walk-

ins but pre-registration will insure an exam is available for you when you attend.

Club Name Contact Person Phone Email

Ford Amateur Radio League TBD TBD TBD

South Lyon ARC Christian Anderson 248-437-3088 [email protected]

Motor City ARC Don Novak 734-281-7030 [email protected]

Hazel Park ARC Jerry Begel 248-543-2284 [email protected]

USECA ARC Joseph Kennedy 586-977-7222 [email protected]

ARROW Assn Roger Place 734-663-4625 [email protected]

Some of the above clubs also conduct license classes. Please contact them for additional information.



2018-2019 Club Officers

Please contact any of the officers for information regarding the Ford Amateur Radio League, or go to the club website at www.k8utt.org for current events and activities. President Dave Treharne N8HKU 734-476-1666

Vice President Chris Jenks K8CKJ Treasurer Michael Fluegemann KE8AQW 313-549-1950

Secretary Roger Reini KD8CSE 734-728-1509

Repeater Chair Murray Scott KE8UM 248-743-1704

K8UTT Trustee Dave Treharne N8HKU 734-476-1666

Activity Chair Bill Boyke N80ZV 313-805-8877

Bolt Editor Rajiv Paul KD8LHF 313-244-2515

Historian Tye Winkel KC8YEJ 313-805-8294

Club Meetings The Ford Amateur Radio Club meets on the second Thursday of each month, except for Christmas and the summer months July and August. The meetings are held at 6:00 PM at the Lobby Conference

Room of Ford Building #5. It’s at the intersection of Rotunda and Pelham, where there is a traffic light. Take the loop drive all the way around past buildings 3 and 4 until you reach the parking lot in front of Building 5. Go to the entrance at the loop drive and come in.

Next Club Meeting: October 10, 2019 at 6:00PM Topic: Chirp Radio Programming Software By Tye Winkel, KC8YEJ

The Ford Amateur Radio League PO Box 2711 Dearborn, MI 48123

President’s Notes for October 2019k8utt.org/Club_documents/Newsletters/FARL_BOLT_Oct_2019.pdfThe...

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