Month: June 2017

Final prep for Field Day 2017

Our June 19th meeting will be our final opportunity to discuss Field Day plans.  We hope you’ll be able to participate this year with any or all of the event. Field Day is June 24th, 2 pm to 2 pm on the 25th at Top O’ Ledges in the Hinckley Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks. We’ll be setting up 10:00 am and can use all the help we can get.

This link will take you to a printable map to our Field Day site.

https://www.parmaradioclub.com/events/arrl-field-day/prc-field-day-map/

Thanks to Tom Bedoc, K8DMM for drafting some press release documents to promote Field Day to the public. I’ll have those at the meeting and we’ll need to have a volunteer to drop them off at various locations.

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Do you have a little project or new goodie you’d like to show to fellow members? Bring it to the next meeting and tell us all about it.  Remember, “Creativity is the brain having fun”.

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As thousands of hams roamed the recent Hamvention and admired some of the latest gear, I began to wonder when we’ll see ham equipment incorporate artificial intelligence, what the cool kids call AI.  Will we some day have transceivers that find the DX for us?  Artificial intelligence allows computers to “learn” thanks to something called algorithyms.  (If you really want to sound new age, in casual conversation you can drop “algorithyms” into the conversation.)  If you’re not familiar with the term, this clip explains the role of algorithyms in the development of driverless cars and other machines that can actually learn.     How Algorithms Are Driving Us Into the Future

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Hal Rogers, K8CMD

Communications Director

Are you (getting) ready for the big event of the year?

Although ARRL’s Field Day is the major ham radio event of the year, numerous U.S. hams have yet to enjoy it.

I would suggest to anyone who hasn’t yet played radio in the field or under the stars, enjoyed great food and chat with fellow hams and their families, make 2017 your year to do it.

At our June 5th meeting we’ll make decisions as the necessary details. Please be on hand to voice your suggestions for making the event a success.

Many of us were not able to attend Hamvention 2017. If you were one of the lucky ones, I’m hoping you’ll give the rest of us an overview of your experiences at the event’s very first appearance in Zenia.

Are the bands coming back?

Tell me they are!  After our 10 meter net this week (Thursday, 9 PM 28.460) I dropped down to 40 meters and found it to be wonderfully quiet in comparison to past weeks.  I answered a CQ from a station in New Jersey and we had a very enjoyable chat for about 20 minutes. We were both running 100 watts and signals started strong and stayed  “5-9” throughout the QSO.  Later, I received a “5-9” in Minot, ND. I was using my delta loop, not the best antenna when the band is long.

“Creativity is the Brain Having Fun”

I don’t know who to give credit to for that clever quote, but l love it and will probably use it again and again because I really believe in it.  Creativity can take many forms, of course.  You know you’ve had a creative idea when you realize that if it were not for you and your imagination a problem might not have been solved, an attractive or clever creation might not exist, a disease might not have been conquered… the possibilities are endless.

If you appreciate the child-like thrill of making things, you’ve likely watched the long running TV series called  Myth Busters. As the hosts seek to debunk a popular myth, a whole lot of creativity and making stuff goes on. Adam Savage is one of the hosts and has appeared  many times as a speaker at San Francisco’s Makerfaire, an annual event for creative makers and their creations. I thought you might enjoy Savages his recent appearance Adam Savage’s Sunday Sermon at Makerfaire. 

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Hal Rogers, K8CMD

President, Communications Director