The Greater Norwalk Amateur Radio Club (www.gnarc.org) will be offering an amateur radio
licensing class that will get you your entry level technician amateur (“ham”)
radio license.
The classes will run for six weeks starting on Thursday September 26.
Class is 6:30 to 9:30 at GNARC’s communications center at 100 Fairfield Avenue
in Norwalk (convenient to I-95 and Route 7). There is no charge for the
class, although you will need to buy the Amateur Radio Relay League’s training
manual ($25). We suggest that you purchase an entry level radio so you can
begin to listen to things right away. They cost about $35 on Amazon. Details to
be provided.
At the end of the class, you will be able to take the FCC exam at GNARC and get
your license.
Getting a ham radio license requires learning some rules and regulations, the
basics of how radios and antennas work, and simple electronics.
Update: All three HF radios have been sold! Power supply sold!
Hygain CD45II Rotator system – New in Box – with control cable! – $300!
Please see the PDF attachment for the excellent presentation given by Steve, K1RF on end fed half wave antennas.
Today a group of GNARC members operated portable form Sherwood Island State Park in Westport. Attending were Paul WB2JVB, Joe KC1AUH, Jon AI1V, Paul W1PPL, Steve KB1YLQ and Curt W1FSM.
We had two antennas, an end fed multiband and a Buddipole set for 20m. The end fed was used on 40m.
Conditions were surprisingly good! We had no problems making contacts up and down the East coast, the mid West and into Canada on 40. When we switched to 20, we talked to several European stations (Germany was one) and out to Minnesota. Jon and Paul JVB did the operating.
This was a very fun day, perfect weather and good HF propagation. We plan to do this again, as Sherwood is now free to get in, and it is an official park, Z1715, so if you get spotted, you get lots of calls.
Here are a few pictures from the day.
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This past Saturday, local hams provided communications support for the 2018 Lighthouse to Lighthouse Race. Hams were in two support boats, on Sheffield Island, in the US Coast Guard Auxiliary tower and on the beach. We used the 146.475 repeater, and also coordinated comms on various marine channels. We assist in tracking progress of the race, helping stranded paddlers, and ensuring that all paddlers are accounted for at the end of the race. We were in communications with the USCG and support boats on marine channels as well as using our repeater.
Thanks to Marilyn KB1YYO (boat), Dimitri K1DCG (tower), Jon AI1V (boat), Paul W1PPL (Sheffield Island) for volunteering and doing a great job on the radios.
Thanks also to Greg KC1CRT and Bill WG1HM who were on coast guard duty and relayed info to Dimitri in the tower.
Michael N1PLH and Joe KC1AUH also showed up on race day to help me at race control. I would have had a much tougher day had they not appeared.
N1PLH also brought his drone, and you can see some of the photos attached.If you look at the race control tent, you can see my buddipole tripod setup with a J Pole configuration on top. This was for the marine channels. A small mag mount on a pie plate was used on top of the tent for 2 meters.
Also a link to his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YuY4Dd185o
The radio box (Yaesu FT-8800 and SeaRanger marine radio) was powered by one 15ah Bioenno battery.
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Photos from the recent outing the the lighthouse! Higher res photos are available on our Facebook page.
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Photos from the 2018 picnic have been added here (See Photos/Recent Events) and to the Facebook Page.
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