Hello Fellow Amateurs,
With all the snow we have had lately, I hope everybody’s antenna farm has held up under the stress. I checked my tower guys just to make sure they were secure and used binoculars to check things up on the tower.
If you were at the last meeting, you know we had an excellent discussion about antennas for our repeater site project. The discussion involved vertical, horizontal in different configurations. This was participated by all and I learned a lot by listening to other Hams giving their opinions. We have an abundance of knowledge among us, and we should share this with others to help each other with our own projects.
As I write this, we have a tentative date to go on the mountain and install our new “stuff” on the 13th of March. Snow has kept us off the site to get this project completed. I hope the weather will cooperate with us to get this completed very soon. I know the members will like to see it on the air also. Then we can have some training sessions on how to remotely operate the rig over the internet.
Our March meeting will be a road trip. We have been invited by Kevin DuPlantis, W4KEV, to be his guest at the studios of South Central Communications. The studios are located on Sharps Ridge.
As you start up to the top of the park, the first station on the right with the REALLY steep drive is where we are going. The address is 1100 Sharps Ridge Memorial Park Drive, 37917. Studios and transmitter are located at this site. We may be in for a treat, with the recent problems they had on the ridge. We will have to show up to see what that treat may be. Kevin also owns several repeaters in our area that have very good coverage for East Tennessee.
Just a reminder, our annual dues are payable now. Our treasurer is doing a fantastic job of keeping up with all the new members and regular payments that we have. Thanks Ron.
At our last meeting, we elected a new secretary. The new office holder is Angela Hickman, KG4GUN. Our former secretary, Katie Helms, resigned due to personal obligations. Welcome aboard Angela.
Lou Dreinhoefer, WB3JKQ, is working hard on our Hamfest. He has dealers lined up and is looking for volunteers to work the event to make it work smoothly. See Lou to sign up to help.
David Waters, AC4JF, the club trustee, is working very hard to get our new project on the air and keeping our existing repeaters operating. This is a time consuming job that we really appreciate him doing for us. Thanks David.
That’s all for this month. I hope the next time I write an article, we will be talking about the new remotely operated site.
Keep our Military troops in your prayers,
See you at the meeting,
Jim Norman, N4CFB
President
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
February Meeting
Hello To All,
Just a quick update on our remote HF rig and camera. As of this writing, we haven't had a chance to get to the Mtn. to have a work day. As soon as weather permits, we will get the rig installed. It is a very tough trip to get to the site, so please bear with us.
I would like to have a talk with the Club and discuss future direction for RACK. We have had these in the past and were very productive and good to get all points of view. As was announced in our meetings, we are in need of a Hamfest Chairman for the future. He will be in charge of the 2011 Hamfest. A potential person has the opportunity of working with our present Chairman and learn how it is organized, the people involved with putting it on, etc. These discussions and others will be brought up at our February meeting.
I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting. Keep our Military troops in your prayers.
Jim Norman, N4CFB
President, RACK
Just a quick update on our remote HF rig and camera. As of this writing, we haven't had a chance to get to the Mtn. to have a work day. As soon as weather permits, we will get the rig installed. It is a very tough trip to get to the site, so please bear with us.
I would like to have a talk with the Club and discuss future direction for RACK. We have had these in the past and were very productive and good to get all points of view. As was announced in our meetings, we are in need of a Hamfest Chairman for the future. He will be in charge of the 2011 Hamfest. A potential person has the opportunity of working with our present Chairman and learn how it is organized, the people involved with putting it on, etc. These discussions and others will be brought up at our February meeting.
I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting. Keep our Military troops in your prayers.
Jim Norman, N4CFB
President, RACK
President’s Message for 2010
Hello Fellow Amateurs,
The New Year is upon us and I hope that this writing finds you off to a good
start. The purpose of this letter is to review recent projects and inform every
one of the future projects in which we are involved.
This past year has seen many upgrades to our repeater system. The 6m split
site was consolidated to one site. One of the main reasons for this was the
logistics of maintaining two sites. With our limited resources, the split site
just wasn’t working. We installed a new Sinclair folded dipole antenna,
linked the 6m band into our existing linked system and now we have (4)
bands covered by our repeaters. The four repeaters can be linked or run as
independent repeaters as best needed.
Now, let's review our latest project. We have acquired high speed internet
service to our site, which will open a whole new world for us. We have
installed a Davis weather station at our site. The data collection portion is
located at approximately 60ft. up on our tower. It collects, temperature,
outside humidity, solar radiation, and a rain gage. The anemometer and wind
direction is located at approximately 85ft on our tower. The link to the
weather station is www.weatherlink.com/user/rack. There is also a link on
our website. This is a very helpful and entertaining tool for our members and
also our site host, the Forestry Service of Tennessee.
We have plans of installing a pan, tilt, and zoom camera at the highest
available point on the tower. This will have a 360 degree view and let me
assure you, the view is beautiful. Downtown Knoxville, Seymour, Maryville,
Clinch Mountains, SmokyMountains,Wears Valley are just a few points
that can be seen. This will also be available to the club and our site host.
The club voted to acquire a Kenwood TS-480 SAT for use at our site as a
remote HF station. As of this writing, it is in testing stage and not on the air
at out site. Testing should be complete soon and members will be able to
access for our use.
If these new avenues work out, the possibilities are endless as to what we
can do. Use your imagination and let’s get some new ideas circulating for
projects to do. The Board of RACK is open to all suggestions and we
welcome them. Some members have voiced negative concerns of where the
club is headed. Having said that, I want you to ask yourself the question; if
every club member were just like me, what kind of club would our club be?
I want every member and new member to find an area in the club that is
your expertise or interest and share it with the rest of us. I encourage you to
be our guest speaker at a meeting. We would love to hear your knowledge
and experience, so share it with your fellow amateurs.
The Club’s Hamfest in June is on schedule for yet another great event. Lou,
WB3JKQ, is organizing with vendors, large and small to assure another
successful and profitable undertaking RACK. We will be needing volunteers
for many positions to work and make it fun for all.
Just a reminder, annual dues are being accepted at this time. Our treasurer,
Ron, KJ4IAU, will be writing receipts for those who want to pay dues at our
meeting. You can always mail them to our PO Box if you choose. Our
membership is down from years past, so please bring a friend or fellow Ham
and join in the fun of being a RACK member.
I look forward to seeing you at a future meeting.
Keep our Military troops in your prayers,
Jim Norman, N4CFB
President, Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville
The New Year is upon us and I hope that this writing finds you off to a good
start. The purpose of this letter is to review recent projects and inform every
one of the future projects in which we are involved.
This past year has seen many upgrades to our repeater system. The 6m split
site was consolidated to one site. One of the main reasons for this was the
logistics of maintaining two sites. With our limited resources, the split site
just wasn’t working. We installed a new Sinclair folded dipole antenna,
linked the 6m band into our existing linked system and now we have (4)
bands covered by our repeaters. The four repeaters can be linked or run as
independent repeaters as best needed.
Now, let's review our latest project. We have acquired high speed internet
service to our site, which will open a whole new world for us. We have
installed a Davis weather station at our site. The data collection portion is
located at approximately 60ft. up on our tower. It collects, temperature,
outside humidity, solar radiation, and a rain gage. The anemometer and wind
direction is located at approximately 85ft on our tower. The link to the
weather station is www.weatherlink.com/user/rack. There is also a link on
our website. This is a very helpful and entertaining tool for our members and
also our site host, the Forestry Service of Tennessee.
We have plans of installing a pan, tilt, and zoom camera at the highest
available point on the tower. This will have a 360 degree view and let me
assure you, the view is beautiful. Downtown Knoxville, Seymour, Maryville,
Clinch Mountains, SmokyMountains,Wears Valley are just a few points
that can be seen. This will also be available to the club and our site host.
The club voted to acquire a Kenwood TS-480 SAT for use at our site as a
remote HF station. As of this writing, it is in testing stage and not on the air
at out site. Testing should be complete soon and members will be able to
access for our use.
If these new avenues work out, the possibilities are endless as to what we
can do. Use your imagination and let’s get some new ideas circulating for
projects to do. The Board of RACK is open to all suggestions and we
welcome them. Some members have voiced negative concerns of where the
club is headed. Having said that, I want you to ask yourself the question; if
every club member were just like me, what kind of club would our club be?
I want every member and new member to find an area in the club that is
your expertise or interest and share it with the rest of us. I encourage you to
be our guest speaker at a meeting. We would love to hear your knowledge
and experience, so share it with your fellow amateurs.
The Club’s Hamfest in June is on schedule for yet another great event. Lou,
WB3JKQ, is organizing with vendors, large and small to assure another
successful and profitable undertaking RACK. We will be needing volunteers
for many positions to work and make it fun for all.
Just a reminder, annual dues are being accepted at this time. Our treasurer,
Ron, KJ4IAU, will be writing receipts for those who want to pay dues at our
meeting. You can always mail them to our PO Box if you choose. Our
membership is down from years past, so please bring a friend or fellow Ham
and join in the fun of being a RACK member.
I look forward to seeing you at a future meeting.
Keep our Military troops in your prayers,
Jim Norman, N4CFB
President, Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Skywarn Training Class - February 27, 2010
Everything has been set for our 3rd Skywarn Class presented by the National Weather Service, the 470 Amateur Radio Group, Sevier County Emergency Radio Service, and the Sevier County Rescue Squad. Febuary 27th 2010, Saturday at 10:00 am at the Sevier County Rescue Squad, 1171 Dolly Parton Parkway, Sevierville TN, 37876, Contact Rick Sawaya - N4JTQ at n4jtq@live.com or by phone at 865-429-2422. We do need to know if you will be attending for our class so that we have enough classroom material from the NWS. This is a free class, takes about 3 hours, and you will earn your Spotters Certificate and number. You may also contact Bill Hicks W1RFA on the 47 repeater to sign up or myself. You do not have to be a Ham Operater to take this class, it is open to all, emergency personal and general public. Also there will be a ARES sign up for those wanting to become a part of ARES for Sevier County. Any question please feel free to contact me or Bill. You can be from any county or state to take this class.
Richard Sawaya Sr Amateur Extra Class
President Sevier County Emergency Radio Service Emergency Coordinator
Sevier County & TN ARES Co Founder Of The 470 ARG Net, District 6
Skywarn Spotter ARRL VE Manager, ARRL ARECC Instructor & Examiner
CoCoRahs Weather Station TN-SV-5
Richard Sawaya Sr Amateur Extra Class
President Sevier County Emergency Radio Service Emergency Coordinator
Sevier County & TN ARES Co Founder Of The 470 ARG Net, District 6
Skywarn Spotter ARRL VE Manager, ARRL ARECC Instructor & Examiner
CoCoRahs Weather Station TN-SV-5
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