Present (19): K1TA, W1PPL, AI1V, K1WYQ, N1ZD, W1GIG, K1RF, N1DPD, KC1AUH, KA1NGF, W1TEG, AA1XV, K1CYW, KB1FBX, KB1UOB, KC1FB, KC1GBZ, W1CAH, KA1WBN
Meeting opened 7:30 by K1TA
May minutes approved.
Department Reports:
Finance: Checking and savings both good. Expect to spend about $1K between Field Day and club picnic.
Communications: No communications of note.
Board: No board actions this month.
Technical Committee: No problems noted.
Still in discussion with City about putting up some low band horizontal antennas at the Comm Center.
Public Service:
- Fairfield Half Marathon on June 2nd went well. W1IP was net control. Event organizers and Fairfield PD/FD appreciate our work.
- Bloomin Metric also went well. 22 hams from GNARC, GFARA, and SARA. Got slammed this year with calls for assistance (30+) but with good dispatch control at NCS and excellent work by our people in the field we were able to get to each call within 20 minutes (truly excellent for most bike rides).
MS Ride coming up on Sunday June 23. Conflicts with Field Day but we have staff for this.
Education Committee: All four of our General class students have now passed their exam. We expect to conduct a Tech class in the fall. No walk-ins for VE session because it corresponded with the I-95 closing in Stamford.
Field Day: See below.
The meeting was closed at 7:40 pm.
Field Day Discussion
We discussed Field Day plans.
- WE NEED OPERATORS. Our station will be up for 24 hours starting 2pm local on Saturday. We will be in Veteran’s Park across the river from the Maritime Center.
- Instead of a multi-band long-wire GOTA, we will be using a multi-band vertical that Hugo is providing. Also, K1TA expects to bring his Go-Box for GOTA use (Icom 7300). Other than that, the equipment is expected to be the same as last year.
- The situation with the tower is unclear. The trailer had a temporary license last year but has not been inspected. That raises issues about the legality of the trailer and about insurance coverage, especially if there is an accident or if someone is injured putting up/taking down the tower. Further discussion required.
- We prefer to not use the light tower/generator that Norwalk FD typically lends us because it usually fails at some point. PPL and IP are trying to get a similar unit from Wilton but don’t yet have approval. We will have two small Honda generators at the FD site to be put into use in case the big generator fails (regardless of which big generator we wind up with). Hugo is questioning whether two of the Honda’s are enough but everyone agrees that two should be more than enough.
- Hugo (AA1XV) and others have taken an inventory of all the equipment to make sure that we have everything we need.
- We again went through the checklist of Field Day extra points for our FD class to make sure that someone is assigned for each item to make sure we get the points.
- All members are encouraged to come and get on the air. If you are newly licensed or a technician class or haven’t been on the air in a year or more, we will provide an experienced operator to help you on Field Day.
- Please try to bring as many of your non-Ham friends, family, colleagues as you can to get them on the air – we get special points for that.
- We will provide lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast and lunch on Sunday.
- WE NEED OPERATORS!!!
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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