Tag: Earth Day

May 4, 2015 – Earth Day Success!

3rd Annual Earth Day Special Event  a SUCCESS!     While for technical reasons this year’s event fell a bit short of expectations in the QSO count,we all had great fun setting up antennas, John Wendling, KD8QMU’s solar system, and our two stations.  A mysterious source of RFI made it difficult to receive the weaker … Continue reading “May 4, 2015 – Earth Day Success!”

3rd Annual Earth Day Special Event

 a SUCCESS!

 

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While for technical reasons this year’s event fell a bit short of expectations in the QSO count,we all had great fun setting up antennas, John Wendling, KD8QMU’s solar system, and our two stations.  A mysterious source of RFI made it difficult to receive the weaker 40 meter stations and reception on 20 was worse, but that didn’t prevent Larry Shimerka, KC8VZZ from making a solid contact with the Dominican Republic. QSL cards have already begun to pour  in — four so far, and it’s still early.

As we know, tracking RFI is always a challenge and a great learning experience.The good news is that this week I was able to conduct a proper search for the RFI tha resulted in a very interesting discovery. Following up on my efforts,

Tom Pechnik, AC8EH took the mission further and we now have some real possibilities to check out. More on this RFI saga at our May 4th meeting, including audio and video clips.

Thanks to Ken Osicki, K8OAE for assisting in whipping up a tremendous pancake and sausage breakfast that powered us through the morning.

We promoted our event widely, using QST magazine as well as Amateur Radio Newsline and various bulletins and newsletters and the effort seems to have inspired several other clubs to operate similar Earth Day special event stations. That’s a good feeling.

Thanks to Ken Osicki, K8OAE, Larry Shimerka, KC8VZZ for their photos that you can see in our the album on this site.  Or you can go directly by this link.  https://www.parmaradioclub.com/albums/gallery2/

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At the May 4th meeting we’ll discuss simple dipole designs and I’ll show the easy-to-make 20 meter antenna and common mode balun that I made for Earth Day.  Here at my QTH it got me excellent reports from the Czech Republic, Puerto Rico and Oregon before bagging it up for the event.

You’ll see some neat gadgetry that makes it easy to hang a dipole from your favorite tree or structure. And I’ll show you how you can create super sleuth antennas from inexpensive, readily available materials.

If you have a related tool or other antenna gadget, bring it for show and tell. We’re all about learning.

 

 

Hal Rogers, K8CMD

President, Communications Director


World Amateur Radio Day

​World Amateur Radio Day   Every April 18, radio amateurs worldwide take to the airwaves in celebration of World Amateur Radio Day. It was on that day in 1925 that the International Amateur Radio Union was formed in Paris. Amateur Radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short wave spectrum — far from … Continue reading “World Amateur Radio Day”

​World Amateur Radio Day

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Every April 18, radio amateurs worldwide take to the airwaves in celebration of World Amateur Radio Day. It was on that day in 1925 that the International Amateur Radio Union was formed in Paris.

Amateur Radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short wave spectrum — far from being a wasteland — could support worldwide propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, Amateur Radio was “in grave danger of being pushed aside,” the IARU’s history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created the International Amateur Radio Union to support Amateur Radio worldwide. For more information, see the website.
 
 

ScreenShot016At the past meeting Stephan Kinford, N8WB gave a very informative program on amateur satellites.  We enjoyed several videos that demonstrated the relatively simple process of communicating through satellites, which act essentially as a cross band repeater.  This would be a fun way to add some extra points to our Field Day!
 
It was a pleasure for me to meet Stephan in person after having introduced him many times on Amateur Radio Newsline, the widely syndicated weekly amateur radio news program.
 
 

 

PRC Celebrates 3rd Annual Earth Day

with Special Event Station

The Parma Radio Club in Parma, Ohio will celebrate Earth Day with special event station, W8PRC on Saturday, April 25th.  W8PRC will be at the lower end of the general portions of 40 and 20 meters SSB and powered only by sun. The club will operating from historic Stearns farm, in the center of Parma. This event is our way of reminding everyone of the awesome beauty of our planet and the fragility of  our resources.  Our stations will be at the historic Stearns Homestead, on Ridge Road adjacent from Wendy’s.

Earth Day is celebrated around the world by more than 192 countries, 10s of thousands of organizations, and more than 500 million people. Parma Radio Club encourages hams worldwide to join us in the celebration with their own special event. 

At our meeting on April 20th we’ll finalize our plans for this fun event.  It’s sort of a mini-Field Day. There are lots of things to do to make it a success.  We’ll need help in the set up of equipment and antennas as well operating and logging. And of course, we’ll need assistance in feeding the hungry crew.

Please let us know by email or at the meeting if you will be participating.

Hal Rogers, K8CMD

President, Communications Director