CCARA Club News
July Club Meeting: NEW DATE & LOCATION
The July meeting was held at the new Sheriff's Office located at 500 N 3rd St. We met on JULY 8TH at 6 PM . The new location provides us with easier and safer access than our old meeting location. It was decided that we would accept the offer made by the Sheriff's dept, to use the new community room for future meetings of the CCARA. A new silent auction was announced for the month of July of radio equipment donated to the club by KD8JPP. You can find details of this auction on our Swap & Shop page. Details and results of our field day will be presented at our next meeting. The program was a video on the "myth" of SWR. The door prize of a "Hints & Kinks" book was won by AA8BN.
Field Day
The 2025 Field Day this year was on June 28 and 29. It was a great success in spite of the rain and fog which brought the temperatures down to managable levels for the most part. The turn out was good and we even had a visitation from the Section Emergency Coordinator and from the Sheriff of Coshocton County. Mike, NF8U was the lead coordinator for the event and Will, KC8PUW did another outstanding job as chief cook. Many thanks to all who participated and help make this a wonderful event for the club and for ARES.
G5RV antenna
Jamie KC8YXY
Jim KE8WIP on the digital station
Chad AB8SV and Troy KC8ZQT on CW
Mike NF8U at the CW station
Sunset on the Brown Farm
July Club Meeting: NEW DATE & LOCATION
The July meeting will be held at the new Sheriff's Office located at 500 N 3rd St. at 6PM. We will be meeting on JULY 8TH, (a week later than usual) so we can all get our wind back from field day. We will be reviewing our Field Day event and hopefully recooperating from the weekend activities. We look forward to seeing as many members that can attend.
Enter the lobby from the front doors at the end of 3rd St. The community room is straight ahead from the lobby. This room is much more accessible than our usual location and we hope to see you there!
Club Library Display
A nice job setting up club display at the Coshocton library by Wip KE8WIP.
Amateur Radio License Map
Here is an interesting site that I discovered while reading the Radio Waves, the Great Lakes Division Mid-Month Report. It is a website that will show amateur radio license holders on a map. Put your callsing in, and it will start by viewing your location. From there you can zoom or drag the map for other areas. The site is: Here. Have fun.
1ST in Ohio 10M for N8VV
IARU Certificate for N8VV
N8VV has been busy on HF Contesting as usual. Nice achievement, Dan
Winlink Certificate
KL7RF was surprised to learn he had been checking into this Winlink net for over 100 weekly sessions.
AB8SV New QRP Kit
Chad gave a program to the club on his new adventure with a QRP Kit. Chad has written up a short summary of his efforts and the great results here below:
(NOTE: Check out Chad's 2019 video on his first QRP Kit project available HERE.)
I recently completed a kit build of a QMX from qrp-labs.com QMX
The QMX is a high performance, 5 band, 5 watt, cw and digi-modes, embedded SDR with 24-bit USB sound card and CAT control, with synthesized VFO and TCXO transceiver.
This rig is tiny (about the size of a deck of playing cards) but is packed with modern high performance features including a VFO with A/B/Split operation, RIT, CW keyer, CW decoder, message memories, frequency memories, SWR bridge, audio ACG, IQ output for SDR software, and more.
The QMX comes in 3 choices of bands - low: 80,60,40,30,20 mid: 60,40,30,20,17,15 or high: 20,17,15,12,11,10. A QMX+ is also offered that is a 160-6m version in a larger physical footprint (which also makes it easier to build). I chose the low band QMX because I wanted the smaller size for portable operations and coverage of 40 and 20m bands with the option of experimenting with 80m. (After playing with this rig I've also come to appreciate the 30m band!)
Assembly of the radio took about a week, working on and off from a few minutes to a few hours at a time. The most difficulty came from eye strain while identifying parts and soldering tiny components while utilizing a jeweler's loupe due to the small size. The instructions are very detailed with each step well documented and plenty of pictures for reference.
Since completing this build about a month ago I've logged 43 contacts with my QMX, including a "clean sweep" of the 13 Colonies special event (http://www.13colonies.us/) and even worked the bonus station of TM13COL in france on 20m using a fan dipole mounted in the attic of my house!
I enjoy being a POTA (Parks on the Air) hunter and plan to take this rig portable and become a POTA activator! I tested my setup on the front porch recently with my QMX using an EFHW antenna that I previously built from a kit, and a collapsible fishing pole I use for a mast. For power I use a Talentcell rechargeable 12V 3000mAh lithium ion battery that I purchased from amazon for less than $25 here . Overall this setup is very portable and comparatively inexpensive.
It's very rewarding to operate gear you build yourself and a great way to save money too! 72, (the QRP version of 73 hi hi) AB8SV
CW Certificate for AB8SV
Congrats to Chad for his score in the World Wide WPX Contest on QRP!!
Practice Your CW Skills
Anyone wishing to practice their cw and learn a little bit about traffic handling, can check into the Ohio Slow Net, on weekdays at 2200Z on 3.3535.35MHz
(6PM local time). Check in to enjoy a no pressure traffic net experience. This is a training net. All are welcome and the net runs about 8wpm. I would
like to see you there.
Frank KA8BJA
Joining or renewing membership in the ARRL?
If you are joining or are renewing your membership in the ARRL please consider joining through our club. The club gets a small percentage of the renewal or joining fees. Please contact Wip (KE8WIP) to find out how to help yourself and the club.
Cyber Security
We might all want to make ourselves aware of potential disruption. During these stressing times we might want to be aware of possible problems online. The article refers to this link for information from the government's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. It is a good thing for hams to be aware of tech. vulnerabilities around us.
Icom Radio Repair
Check out the Links page if you are in need of an Icom repair. This repair facility is recommended by club member experience.
Solar/Terrestrial Weather and Propagation
Check out the website, Solarham.com for current propagation forcasts and solar activity as it relates to ham radio operations.
Meeting Minutes
Don't forget that the club meeting minutes are available on the Meetings page. Check them out before the next meeting to keep up with current information.
The 147.045MHz CCARA Club Repeater Antenna and Equipment
KL7RF photo KB8HEA photo
Ohio Single Sideband Net
The OSSBN is a great introduction to the ARRL's National Traffic System. It meets three times a day: 10:30AM, 4:15PM, and currently 6:00PM to handle traffic in, out, and througout the state of Ohio, and the rest of the country. Check them out, and listen in on 75 meters on 3.9725MHz. This is a very active net and represents some of the best of amateur radio operating, as well as continuing the fine tradiotion of providing emergency communications in existance since the inception of ham radio iteslf. This was the foundation of the formation of the Amateur Radio RELAY League. This is where the "Relay" came from in the name.
Check out the OSSBN website at: Ohio Single Sideband Net
Net on 440
The KB9JSC repeater will be linked to the 145.230MHz for the Monday ARES net at 8PM local, so you can check in to the net on either band. The frequency of the UHF repeater is 443.5375+MHz.
Right after the ARES net, the 440 link will be brought down, and there will be a new net run on the 440 repeater alone. The purpose of this net is for folks to set up and test their equipment on the 440 band and get used to operating there. If you have 440 capability, you are welcome to check in to the net. You don't have to be a member of any group to join in.