Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville

President’s Corner December 2009

2009-12-17T22:17:00.000-05:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,

Merry Christmas to all from my wife Robbie and myself. I want to take a moment from everyone’s busy Holiday schedule to tell what is going on with our projects. The Christmas banquet was a very tasty event. I want to thank all that attended and supported the dinner and especially Puleo’s Grill for allowing us to have it there with no cost or commitment from the Club. The gifts for children was a huge success and WMBC will see that the gifts find a good home. I look forward to more “get togethers” when we can grill something and the weather is at least slightly warmer

The remote HF rig is in our possession, an antenna, and a 36x PTZ camera will be installed at the first opportunity. The weather plays a big part in this happening and also because we all have employment responsibilities, it must take place on weekends. It will be our best effort to install it before the first of the year. I hope everyone understands this and will be patient with us while the new equipment is installed. Our repeater site host is also looking forward to using our camera for the public interest. With high speed internet at the site, our opportunities open. Bring your thoughts for what we can do, and we will discuss them.

With all the “new stuff’ on the mountain, we will be having some training sessions at our meetings in the future. This will be both fun and informative for our members to be able to use the remote radios and cameras correctly and with as few problems as possible. Plan to attend so we can “play” as soon as possible.

That is all for this year. Again, I wish all a Merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing every one of you at our first meeting in January.

Keep our Military troops in your thoughts and prayers.

Jim, N4CFB
President

November 09 President's Message

2009-11-09T23:16:00.002-05:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,
I am hoping that these words find all that read it in great health. With all the viral bugs in our world, I would encourage all to get their flu shot and practice washing your hands frequently. Maybe we can stay healthy during the cool months that are fast approaching.

Our Christmas Banquet is going to be at Puleo’s Grill on Cedar Lane.
It will be held at 7:00pm and there will be no reservations. We will be ordering off the menu. I do have a sign up sheet so we will be able to give the restaurant management a number to prepare for. If you choose to participate, you can donate a wrapped child’s gift to be distributed by Wallace Memorial Baptist Church to a less fortunate child. We thank you in advance for your participation.

Our remote HF project is in full swing. The repeater site now has high speed internet service. This will enable us to do many fun things from the convenience of our own computers. We hope to have one of our TS-480 SAT at our next meeting to play show and tell. With a new weather station, remote camera and HF station, this is just some possibilities of things that we can do with our station on the mountain. I look forward to operating through the internet or from a handheld while camping in the Smokies.

The repeater system is operating great. I want to thank our Trustee, David Waters, AC4JF, for all the work and contributions he makes to keep these five repeaters up and running. Thanks, David.

We have a great opportunity to have fun and promote our hobby. I want to encourage all to play an active part in our club and take part in our projects.

Keep our Military personnel in your prayers,
See you at the meeting,

Jim, N4CFB
President

August President's Corner

2009-08-13T23:26:00.000-04:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,
There are exciting things on the horizon for RACK. At the Board meeting last month, there were discussions about new projects the club is going to have to undertake in the near future. Some are voluntary, some are mandatory. There will be more info on this at a later date.
At our meeting last month, Bill McKeehan, KI4HDU, gave a very good presentation on APRS. His knowledge and passion for this mode of our hobby was evident and we appreciate him taking time to share it with us.
When we went to the AM transmitter site a few months ago, we were at full capacity on attendance, and it was so well liked that we have been invited to visit another transmitter site. This road trip will be at the Citadel Communications back up site for WIVK-FM. This tour will be hosted by Mr. Tim Berry, WB4GBI, and will be a treat for us to all of us who attend. This site serves in various other capacities for them. And, as for Tim, it is home to the 147.075 auto-patch repeater. The site is located at 3010 Millard Beets Road. We will have talk-in on our repeater system. I look forward to seeing you at this meeting.
I want to encourage all of our club members to be active in our hobby and also in the club. If you would like to write an article to be published on our website or blog, please let me know. If you want to share a project at a meeting with us, whether it be by video, pictures or on a table at the meeting, please let me know and we will make sure to put you on the schedule. Others and I want to know what is going on and how to do it. So, please get involved.
You can find out more on our nets on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at 9:00 pm on the RACK repeater system.
Keep our Military soldiers in your prayers. See you at the meeting!

Jim, N4CFB
President, RACK

LATE BREAKING INFORMATION:
We will be meeting at Shields Electronics parking lot for a short drive to the repeater site. You may carpool or drive per instructions from Tim. We will be monitoring RACK repeater system and 147.075 repeater for talk-in if needed.
Jim

President's Corner for July 2009

2009-07-14T12:23:00.001-04:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,

First I want to apologize for not writing this article as often as I should. Many things have been going in my personal life and it has affected the amount of time that I have had to devote to our hobby. Some of those things have since gone away and it is my desire to do more for our club in the future.

The month of June is behind us. As always, it is a whirlwind of activity that keeps the club hopping. I hope you had a chance to participate in some form from our club election, the hamfest and field day.

Let me start with elections. In the month of May;09, the club elected an Honorary Member. His name is Ron Russell, K4TJY. Ron served as Hamfest chairman and worked on numerous events in the past. The club has now honored him with this membership and I appreciate Ron for what he has done and what he will do for our hobby in the future.

The June, 09 meeting was mainly our elections of the Board of Directors. All nominations were taken from the floor. These members were elected to the Board at the following offices:

(* Denotes agreeing to serve without having to be voted on)
* Trustee: David Waters, AC4JF(10 year term running with the Club License)
*Secretary: Katie Helms, WD8CSK
* Public Information Officer: David Bower, K4PZT
*Education Officer: Willard Sitton, W4HZD
* Hamfest Chairman, Lou Dreinhoeffer, WB3JKQ
Treasurer: Ron Haynes, Sr, KJ4IAU
3rd Vice President: Jack Creed, K4EPC
2nd Vice President: Randy Sartin, KG4SZW
1st Vice President: Joe Meighan, KB4REC
President: Jim Norman, N4CFB

We will recognize the new board at the July meeting. I want to thank the club for voting these members onto the board. I feel we will be able to work together and better the club in the next year. As always, feel free to contact any board member about club business and our board meetings are open to the public.

The July guest speaker will be Mr. William McKeehan, KI4HDU, and Ron Russell, K4TJY. The subject will be APRS. This digital mode had been gaining popularity recently I know that all of our questions will be answered.

Thanks for taking time to read this article. I look forward to seeing you at the meeting, 7pm, Wallace Memorial Baptist Church, Merchant Drive Talk in our the club repeater system,147.300,224.500,444.575 & 53.77. All tones are 100.0 mhz.

Keep our military troops in your prayers,

Jim Norman, N4CFB
President

Field Day Results

2009-06-28T16:10:00.004-04:00

The 2009 Field Day has come and gone, and once again we were all very happy with the results. Good friends, good food, and some excellent radio operators made for a great event! Very preliminary results indicate a 49% increase in the number of contacts over last year (from 432 to 610). Thanks to everyone for all of the help and I'll post more info and pictures here in a few days...Great Job demonstrating Ham Radio in Knoxville!

Knoxvillle Ham Radio

2009-06-27T19:13:00.005-04:00

And here is the tool we used to launch the wire antennas with :)

Field Day Video from Knoxville, TN RACK Club

2009-06-27T15:53:00.005-04:00

If you're watching this, you're missing Field Day in Knoxville at Fort Dickerson! Field Day is an annual event held throughout the US where Ham Radio Operators demonstrate emergency radio communications.

Dave Foulk at the Knoxville RACK Club

2009-02-19T22:20:00.003-05:00

Dave Foulk from http://www.wnoxnewstalk.com/ was our guest speaker tonight and it was an absolute pleasure having him! He is one of the most respected radio newscasters in the country and is an excellent speaker, he could probably start a second career as a comedian. Many Thanks to Dave for coming over tonight!

President's Corner for 2009

2009-02-01T20:55:00.005-05:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,

First I would like to encourage all Amateur Radio operators to get involved in an activity of a club. If not RACK, there are many clubs within our area that have great activities and programs to interest of us. Our clubs promote our hobby and cover all aspects of being a Ham. RACK has monthly meetings, guest speakers of various topics and we always have great fellowship with tales to be shared with all. If you don’t have a specific club in mind, I invite you and your friends and family to attend a RACK meeting to “kick our tires” and if so moved, become a member.

Our guest for the February meeting will be Mr. Dave Foulk, KI4ZPO. Dave is the news director for WNOX-FM in Knoxville. Having grown up in Knox County and a UT grad, he is very familiar with our ways of life and also knowledge of our hobby. He worked in Atlanta out of college and moved back to K-town to start up Newstalk Radio. He and his wife Dena have three children and are also proud grandparents. David’s presentation will be both entertaining and knowledgeable for our family atmosphere.

We have a field trip planned for April, a trip to WNOX-AM site. It will be hosted by Frank Folsom, W4TEG, and we may have an early start time for the meeting so we can go out in the field to see the tower sites and then back inside to the transmitter site. This is one you don’t want to miss.

We have some business to attend to. Our annual dues are payable now and we will be taking them at our meeting. The amount is $20/individual and $30/family membership. These monies help keep our (5) repeaters on the air and other expenses we have as a Club. Please plan to pay your dues at the next meeting. Also, if you are inclined to do so, you can make a donation to the club that may help out on your IRS taxes since we are 501(3) c organization.

The Hamfest is fast approaching and Lou, WB3JKQ, as usual, is doing a fantastic job of lining up venders and getting the event ready for us. It will be at the Kerbella Temple where it has been held the last few years.
We will have a picnic probably in April, Hamfest and Field Day in June and other events along the line. If you have any ideas for an event or guest speaker, please contact me to get it on our busy calendar.

Our meeting this month will be on the 19th, 7:00pm at Wallace Memorial Baptist Church on Merchants Drive. Our talk-in frequency is on our repeaters, 147.300, 224.500 & 444.575. Call W4BBB if you need assistance.
Keep our Military Troops and leaders of our country in your prayers.

See you at the meeting,
Jim, N4CFB

Radio Gear for Sale

2009-01-19T18:59:00.003-05:00

Jim Norman has ran across this deal and wanted to share it with everyone, so here it is!

Hello Jim, as I mentioned my step dad collected a lot of old stuff for radios. There are also some older mics, old cb’s base and mobile, a antenna tower ( maybe 6 or 8 ten foot sections, I think there is some cable, and some odds and end stuff that users need. I will get you some pictures in a couple of days and email them to you. Please call if you have any questions.

Thanks for you help,

Dan Clevenger
865-256-0273
dan927(at)knology.net

Ham Radio Equipment Billy Conley’s Estate KB4QNE

Precision Regulated BU-512
DC 40 amp power supply $75.00

Kenwood TM-3530A
220 mhz fm transceiver $150.00

Standard radio C288A
220 mhz transceiver hand held
4 units in box never used $75. 00 to $100.00

Base station microphone
Model BTM-4

Icom 144 mhz SSBcwfm
Transceiver IC-271A

Icom power supply IC-PS15
Output 13.8v 20amp

Icom HF all band transceiver IC-720A
General coverage receiver
IC-720A

Icom IC-38A
220 mhz fm transceiver
3 units in box

Icom IC-290A
all mode tranceiver
no box

Astrons RS-12a

Icom BC-35
AC battery charger

Icom IC-2at
Handheld
2 each

Icom IC-BP8
Battery pack
3 each

Alliance dual speed control left/right movement

Courier cb transceiver
Carlville II

Teaberry model T
Base station

Mirage 144-148 10 in-80 out
B108

CDE Control box
Transmit / receiver direct control
W / brake release

Mirage B3016
144-220 30 in 80 out

MFJ vhf MF-812B
144 – 220 mhz
SWR watt meter

Icon
IC-27H
45w transceiver in box

Icom
For IC-25H
IC-BU1 memory back up

Communications Power Inc.
CP2000 Base

Communications Power Inc.
Base Console BC2000

Emersonic
Auto cb’s
2 each

one other auto cb

Hammarlund HQ-129-X crystal base cb

ROYBN T123B

SONAR FS-3023 new in box with manual

Plus other stuff like cables and mikes.

President's Corner

2008-10-12T18:46:00.003-04:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,
Just a quick note of our meeting on October 16th, 08. Our guest speaker will be Mr. Frank Folsom, W4TEG. Frank is a RF engineer and can answer any question we will have for him. He will share his vast knowledge of our hobby and will be an entertaining as well as informative speaker for our meeting.
Our Christmas banquet will be on December 18 at Louie's Restaurant on Old Broadway in Ftn. City. The cost is $20 per ticket and the menu will be a choice between (4) entrees, a side, salad and dessert. The cost is the total cost which includes tip.
I look forward to seeing you at the meeting,
Keep our Military Troops in your prayers,
Jim, N4CFB
President

2008 Marine Corp Mud Run

2008-09-18T15:41:00.004-04:00

Well if you missed the 2008 Marine Corp Mud Run, you missed two things.
1) Mud, and lots of it!
2) A really cool event and some really good use of Amateur Radio!

We had a total of 11 operators providing communications support at the Mud Run. The organizers have always had trouble with communications at this site and we were able to really come through for them.
With a total of over 1200 runners it was quite a large undertaking and I was told that the event will be moving to a mush larger site next year.

Thanks to Jim for getting this organized, Ron for being an excellent Net Control, and to everyone else who turned out to help!

RACK September 18th Meeting

2008-09-10T19:08:00.001-04:00

Don Riley (N4CZL) invites you to attend the Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville (RACK) September 18 meeting at Wallace Memorial Baptist Church on Merchant's Road. The meeting starts at 7:00 pm. The speaker will be Bill Renaud, WR4MS, with the subject, 'Emergency Communications and the Incident Command System.' Bill will have a video presentation using a laptop computer along with a video projector for his presentation.

Don Riley (N4CZL), RACK First Vice President, can be reached by e-mail at rileydon@charter.net for additional information.

Refreshments will be served during the break, and a free prize drawing will be conducted. Family and guests are always welcome.

September '08 President's Corner

2008-09-01T19:45:00.006-04:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs.

The guest speakers of the last few months have been outstanding. If you have missed them, the fellowship and knowledge they shared have been great for our hobby. W4TO Don Prater, last month's speaker, has a remote site that is second to none. A tremendous amount of engineering ideas were put into his station and I envy his ability to come up with such outstanding ideas. Don, thanks for sharing this information with the club.

We have some upcoming events that we need to put on our calendars. First, the September meeting is on the 18th this month. Our guest speaker will be Bill Reneud,WR4MS. His topic will be emergency communication and the incident command system. With the hurricane season in full blast, this is information that we all need to have in our thought processes. I look forward to Bill's presentation.

Another event will be Sept. 13. This will be providing communication for the Marine Corp League Mud Run at Melton Lake Park. This will involve a controlled net with information being relayed to the event staff on their needs around the course. If you want to participate in this event, e-mail me at my call sign @tds.net to be put on the list. I have to give it to the MCL a couple of days prior to the event.

Next is our Fall Picnic. The date has been changed to October 12, noon till 4:00pm at Adair Park in Ftn. City. The club will provide the usual burgers and dogs and drinks. If you could bring a side dish or dessert, we would appreciate it.

Outside of our regular meetings, the next event is going to be our Christmas Party. It will be held at Louis' Restaurant in Ftn. City. Tickets will be available later as will details such as price and menu.

Our website is back up and starting to pick up speed. Lou, WB3JKQ, has taken over the site and is putting a great amount of effort into keeping it current. Thanks, Lou.

We will also be attending to some left over business of the election that was delayed till the September meeting. If you would like to serve on the Board of Directors of the Club, contact Hal Moncier, AG4GF, who is leading the nomination committee.

I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming meetings and encourage you to bring a visitor.

Keep our troops in your prayers,

Jim Norman, N4CFB
The Prez

8-21-08 RACK Meeting, Don Prater, W4TO

2008-08-17T10:15:00.002-04:00

Don Prater will be telling us all about his Remote Control HF Station at Thursday's Meeting.

Two receivers are used. He can operate "fully" 160 through 6 meters. He can control the various operational controls on each transceiver, switch various antennas, rotate the antenna system, control the high power linear amplifier, turn the various components on and off; as well as other features.

Sounds Cool! Pictures are on the right, click on any picture to be taken to the full size album. See Ya!!!

August '08 President's Corner

2008-08-04T19:38:00.002-04:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,
The Fox Hunt was a blast. In case you missed it, we had it on July 26th, and Ron did an excellent job hiding and concealing the x-mitter. The team I participated in was literally going around the block like chasing our tails till we found it. But, we had a blast in the frustrating 1:57 minutes it took to find it. Good job Ron, and I look forward to doing this again in a very few weeks. I believe there were more hunters out there than came forward and let it be known they were participating. A good fellowship and debriefing followed the event.
This month's meeting will be another exciting one. Our guest speaker will Mr. Don Prater, W4TO. He will be talking on his remote operated Ham station. His humor and excitement for the hobby is evident in his presentation. The meeting this month is on the 23rd of August, 7:00pm at Wallace Memorial Baptist Church. We will have refreshments and a couple of door prizes for attendees. I am looking forward to seeing you at the meeting.
The Club has been asked to provide communication for the Marine Corp Mud Run at Melton Hill Park. It will be held on Sept. 13 with the run starting at 09:00 with the comm people needing to be in place by 07:00. This is a very fun event and providing commmunication for the event staff along with fun will be exciting. Their website is www.mclknox.org if you choose to look over the site and pic's from the past. I will have a sign up sheet at the August meeting or e-mail me at N4CFB at tds.net to sign up.
We have our Christmas Party on the calendar. It will be the 3rd Thursday of December at Louis on Old Broadway in Ftn. City. The cost and menu will be available by the September meeting.
Well that is all for now,
Keep our Troops in your prayers,
Jim, N4CFB

Field Day Results

2008-07-28T21:10:00.002-04:00

More Stuff from Randy

2008-07-20T09:51:00.003-04:00

OK I've been playing with the Blog today...added pics from the last meeting, resized some stuff, added a video slide show (on the bottom) from Field Day, added links for Foxhunting stuff, and most importantly I have changed the settings for adding comments. Anyone can now add comments to any posts, even without a Google ID. PLEASE do leave us your name when you comment. We may have problems with this, so if anyone sees a comment that needs to be edited or deleted please let myself, Jim, or Joe know about it and we can take care of it. Thanks and don't forget the Foxhunt on the 26th!!!

UTARC @ RACK Meeting

2008-07-16T20:26:00.002-04:00

Info from Don Riley on Thursday's meeting....

The RACK meeting on Thursday 17Jul08, 7 pm at the Wallace Memorial Baptist Church on Merchants Road will feature the story of the UT Amateur Radio Club's
(UTARC) balloon flights, how the flights were tracked with modern radio techniques and the work by the UT college students that went into the preparation of the design, procurement, construction, and planning for the appropriate atmospheric conditions for their successful balloon flights. One flight almost reached the British Isles.

No college course could exceed the mental knowledge gained and the understanding obtained by these students as they went through pursuing these balloon flights. Dan Bowen will tell us the inside story of all phases of their record setting and student involvement activities.

Dan's presentation will provide RACK members with an understanding of the technical depth incorporated in these flights and the resulting student development obtained through participation.

Calendar

2008-07-13T22:24:00.002-04:00

At the urgent request of The Club President, I have created a calendar for this blog. For right now it resides at the bottom of the page, as soon as I learn how to format it correctly I'll make it a little easier to view. If you need anything added to the calendar just leave a comment with the info and I'll get it on there (or you can just email me at kg4szw@arrl.net)

Foxhunt!

2008-07-12T07:03:00.005-04:00

Ron Russell is putting together another Foxhunt for us. If you've never tried this before, this will be a great one to get started on. More info from Ron....

"The area will be the oval area formed by I-40 & I-640. Fox will transmit for 30 seconds then off for 1 minute. All interested should meet @ 9:30ish Shoney's parking lot Western Ave to instruct newbies on how it all works.
Voice will be on 147.300. THE FOX WILL BE ON 146.565 MHz. Fox will start @ 10am. Fox will stop @ 12 noon. Then back to Shoney's on Western for Eatin' Meetin'.. Pass it on to all you know and all nets you check in to"

This is a great opportunity to get kids or other non hams interested, it's a blast!

How to Add Comments, etc.

2008-07-09T21:58:00.004-04:00

Hello All! We were hoping to see a little more activity here, but maybe the "sign-in" process is a little hazy, so I'll try to explain it a little. To add comments to any post, the easiest way to sign in is with a Google mail account. It's very quick and easy to sign up for, go to http://mail.google.com/ and go for it. After you have a Gmail username and password, you can sign in to the blog and leave comments. If anyone is interested in authoring a post every now and then, let me know and we'll add you as an author. If anyone has any questions please drop me a email at kg4szw@arrl.net
I have also added a site analyzer to this site so we can get an idea of how much traffic it's receiving, I'll keep us posted on the stats. Thanks!

July '08 Presidents Corner

2008-07-05T21:33:00.000-04:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,
Welcome to the Blog for RACK. Randy, KG4SZW, has been working on this and I believe it is a great idea. It works so simply that even I understand the basics of running it. So let's give this a try and see what becomes of it. Use the comments section and tell us what you think. Great work Randy!
To start a summary of June, we had a fantastic Hamfest. Lou, WB3JKQ, did such a great job that I can't compliment him enough. From the prizes, forums, vendors, tailgate area and the food, it was all great. It will be hard to beat. Lou and his crew deserve a "Thanks Lou" from all us members to show our appreciation.
The last event of the month was ARRL Field Day. As in years past, it was held at Ft. Dickerson Park. The attendance was very good. Attendees included curious hams, visitors to the park, city council member, vacationers, and members of the club. We had (6) stations on the air simultaniously at one point. The vacationers were from Indiana and Chicago. They picked our club out of all their options to come and enjoy field day. I understand we WAS which I believe is outstanding. Good work and thanks to all that participated.
At our last meeting, we held elections. The members voted to extend the current term till September of this year to give our nominating committee time to find new board members.
The new blog will be fun and I hope it to be successful. Give us your comments.
Keep our Military Troops in your prayers,
See you at the meeting, (7/17/08)
Jim, N4CFB

2008 Field Day

2008-07-03T22:20:00.001-04:00

We had a GREAT Field Day at Fort Dickerson! I can't thank everyone enough for all the help, I sure couldn't have done it without you. We ran as an 4 Alpha this year, plus we had Jack's VHF Station and a Satellite Station. We had someone running something for the entire 24 hours! I am still entering the contacts into the log, but we are close to 412 total contacts.
We had 3 operators that were vacationing in Sevierville who came by and operated and we also had City Councilman Joe Holquist on hand. Bad weather came along Saturday afternoon but we weathered the storm quite well. Jim once again did an OUTSTANDING job on the grill, we ate very well!
We also had quite a few younger hams on hand and all of them contributed to the contact count. I've posted some of the pictures I took online, they should be running as a slideshow on this blog. Just click on one of the pictures to go to the full gallery.
There has been some interest in doing some sort of camping/contest/field day type of activity again this year, so we're looking into that. Also I think we are getting another Foxhunt together, looks like July 26th will be the date. Details forthcoming...
Again, many thanks for all the great help at Field Day, I can't wait for next year!

First Post

2008-06-30T20:24:00.001-04:00

Hello All!,
My name is Randy Sartin and I am the 2nd Vice-President of the Radio Club of Knoxville (TN). We are going to be testing out this blog format for awhile, let us know what you think!