The PRC Wishes You and Your Family

a Happy 2019

CW ops, don’t forget New Years Eve is ARRL “Straight Key Night” !!!

Have some CW fun by ringing out the old year and ushering in 2019 with a few CW contacts on the band of your choice. Then, submit your results, photos or interesting stories to QST.  I’ve never before told my story of a few years ago. After watching the ball drop and tipping bubbly with my wife I sent out a CQ SKN and struck up a contact immediately. There were stations on both sides but he was strong. We had a nice chat going and he was describing his station… and that’s the last I remember.  When I opened my eyes, twenty minutes later, the frequency was very, very quiet. My contact had apparently given up on me.     

JOIN US FOR GOOD FOOD AND FUN AT “ROLLOUT 2019”

What a great way to kick off the new year- good food and friends. Join us Saturday, January 19th at 7 PM when we roll out 2019 at the popular Das Schnitzle Haus Restaurant and Beer Garden.

We hope you’ll join us. This will be our only get-together for January.  Please be sure write us at parmaradioclub@gmail.com to confirm your attendance. Mention how many in your party will be attending. Das Schnitzle Haus is at 5728 Pearl Road in Parma.

The restaurant’s menu is quite extensive with something for everyone. We suggest you it out at www.dshparma.com.

BOARD MEETING

The PRC  Board will be meeting on January 7th. One of the key topics will be the new year’s Program Schedule. This will not be an open meeting, but if you’d like to join us and contribute ideas, please contact me.  We want to have your ideas for consideration, so please let us know very soon any topics you’d like covered.   Also, if you’d like to share your experience and  knowledge on a tech topic this year, by all means, we’d love to “book you.”

2019 DUES

Many thanks to all who have paid their 2019 dues. It’s a great help when dues come in early. Needless to say, club operating expenses keep coming.  In fact, our 2019 insurance bill arrived just today.  An updated Member Application form is on this site. We ask you to fill out a new one every year so that we can be sure our contact data is current but also to see if you have a particular amateur interest we can address in a program. We want your club to meet your needs.

And now we know.

It seems like for years every time I’ve seen a TV  story that involves flying aircraft the pilot is wearing a green headset like the one pictured here with a can’t miss logo.  My curiosity finally got the best of me and I decided to find out who this DC company is and why their headsets are so common.  So, here’s what I learned from the company:

In 1975, David Clark Company introduced the first noise-attenuating headset designed to provide hearing protection for pilots, while also providing clear reception and crisp transmission at normal voice levels in a noisy aircraft. Since then, the ‘green domes’ have consistently set the standards of comfort, quality and performance in aviation headset design and manufacture.

Today, the company’s broad line of passive noise attenuating and Electronic Noise Cancelling (ENC) aviation headsets for both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft is a top choice for general aviation and commercial pilots.

On a Hawaii vacation, my wife and I took a small plane tour around the main Island. The pilot handed us DC headsets so we could communicate with him during the tour.  Talk about high fidelity and noise cancelling!  Amazing.  So, if you see a pair at a garage sale or hamfest, grab it.  They can easily be converted to amateur use using an article that appeared in QST.  The headset pictured above, sells for $995. And the pricing soars from there.

And now we know.

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Hal Rogers, K8CMD    President, Communications Director

ELECTIONS ARE OVER

At the December 3rd meeting Elections Chairman Rich Nagel, W8KU announced the winning Board members for 2019:  President, Hal Rogers, K8CMD; Vice President, Mike Marganski, KE8HBK; Secretary, John Malloy, KA8VTV; Treasurer, Ken Osicki, K8OAE.

Congratulations to my fellow candidates as we look forward to another successful year.

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Tom Bedoc, K8DMM led our workshop at a recent meeting, helping to trouble shoot a problem radio, then presented an interesting program at the recent meeting on a favorite topic in amateur radio – standing waves. We enjoyed several informative videos, followed by a demo of various related SWR measuring equipment. 

 

 

You can revisit Tom’s SWR videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DovunOxlY1k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9m2w4DgeVk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1PgCOTDjvI

And a bonus program from the editor,  https://youtu.be/QWmx1_-V1-o

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LOOKING AHEAD

A reminder that the December 3rd meeting was our final meeting for 2018. Our next general meeting will be in February. However, we’ll kick the year off with a Board meeting in early January (date and time to be announced).

At that early in January meeting, we’ll be working on our program schedule and discussing ides for getting more programs to you and fewer business meetings. I can hear the cheers now. Or is that from Das Schnitzel Haus?

On Saturday, January 19th at 7 PM we’ll Roll Out 2019 dinner once again at the famous Das Schnitzle Haus. Complete details will be available soon.  Please send an email to let us know as soon as possible if you’ll be attending.

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THE PRC NEEDS YOUR $UPPORT

It’s encouraging that many members have already renewed their dues for 2019.  If you’ve not yet done so, please take a minute and download the Member Application form on this site.  We need your support.  On the newly designed application we ask you to share your particular areas of interest, helpful information as we decide program topics for 2019.

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A SPECIAL TREAT

A few years ago I gave a demonstration at one of our meetings of a service that appeals to hams as well as non-hams who share our same interest. The service is called Hamsphere, and it’s most amazing. Technically, it’s a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) service. While it uses some of the same technology as Skype and Echolink Kelly Lindman, 5B4AIT / SM7NHC has taken his creation far beyond those other services.  Lindman’s Hamsphere looks and simulates amateur radio.  While the program is usable by non-hams, a surprising number of people have found it a fun place to meet other people. There are even nets, contests and award programs. Of course, it’s a great place for folks who are not able to erect antennas or just can’t struggle with our unpredictable propagation. Hamsphere is not free, but there are introductory subscriptions.

I enjoyed the introductory subscription followed by a year of paid subscription, then I went back to real radio. Of course, at the time propagation was good! All of this is to give you the “back story” on the “special treat” I mentioned in my title.  A few weeks ago, Kelly sent me a link to an e-book he compiled.  I was quite impressed. It’s really well done and I truly believe it’s a great service to amateur radio.  Give it a look. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Ham Radio      http://hamradio.se

Kelly Lindman
5B4AIT / SM7NHC
HamSphere

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Have a wonderful holiday season.

Hal Rogers, K8CMD President, Communications Director

 

 

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COMING SOON:   ELECTIONS  for 2019

Our next meeting will be our final meeting for 2018.  Nominations Chairman, Rich Nagel, W8KU will announce the results of the elections for the 2019 Board of Officers.  Other business will be discussed as we tie up loose ends and wrap up the year.

Our first get together for 2019 will be our January rollout dinner. VP, Mike Marganski, KE8HBK is heading up the event and will fill us in at the meeting.

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Our recent workshop

No one likes trouble but troubleshooting can be fun. And that’s what happened at the last meeting. Hams are all about helping each other and the recent meeting was a good example of that. Several members jumped in and did a troubleshooting session on a member’s ailing IC-718 station.  While the receiver was functioning well, the rig appeared to have low transmit power.  We’ll discuss the approach to the problem and the solution at the next meeting.

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WHAT IN THE WORLD IS “SWR”?

Hams talk a lot about “standing waves” and something called “SWR,” but what are these things, really? Have you ever seen standing waves? Can waves really stand? At our next meeting you’ll see that it’s actually possible to observe standing waves. At our December 3rd meeting we’ll have a couple short classic programs followed by a live demonstration that will give unique visualization and understanding of standing waves.

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2019 DUES

It’s that time again to ask for your support in the form of membership dues. A new Member Application form has been posted on this site. Some members change phone numbers, email or other info during the year, we ask you to submit a new application each year.  Many members have already renewed and that’s very comforting.  We appreciate your support and will continue to do our best.

Member Application

Some thoughts about nets

Many times I’ve asked myself, “why do people participate in what could be called “social amateur nets… like the PRC FM net and the our 10 meter net, where there’s no formal program such as traffic handling training.  Just social get togethers where people exchange chit chat. You can be sure that where ever in the world there are amateurs, there are social ham nets. I think it’s time well spent for net control operators and others to consider why people participate in these nets. There are certainly many more activities to choose from.

Now, keep in mind that these comments are mine not the result of professional research so I could be all wet. But after considerable thought: Hams are a lot like people and people generally enjoy being part of a group where they’re recognized, welcomed back, listened to and shown appreciation for their opinions and participation.  And while not everyone can be a regular attendee, people they like to know the others miss them when they’re not around. Being part of a group also gives you the opportunity to hear a sweet sound- your name. People love to hear their name. Hearing your name tells you the other person might like you and possibly think about you when you’re not around. People like sincere feedback and advice.  It tells them you care. So we shouldn’t hesitate to give sound technical advice that could help them fix their audio or signal strength.

People enjoy nets where they’re encouraged to contribute their personal experience, knowledge or opinion. And people like a venue where the general topic changes from net to net or within the net.

I’ve noticed that many of my favorite net control operators are sure to respond with a few words to  each participant so that he or she doesn’t feel their words fell on deaf ears. So while a busy net control often feels pressured to move along to the next check in, they’re sure to slip in responses  like, “some interesting things to think about, Tom.” “Or what a day you had, Marie. Let’s hope the rest of your week is all up.”

And many net control operators use computer logging that can recall a persons name… if it’s properly entered or isn’t a new call. A smooth net control avoids referencing the mechanics of the computer log. Mentioning the hardware breaks the illusion that they remembered your name.

A good net control operator enjoys the net as much as we do. That’s probably  because they listen closely and are trully interested in what participants have to say. The result can’t help but make for a fun net.

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Hal Rogers, K8CMD, President and Communications Director