Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville W4BBB

RACK Christmas Party

2011-12-03T07:39:00.001-05:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,
Just a quick reminder, RACK Christmas gathering is Saturday 12/3/11 at Puleo's Grill on Cedar Lane. 3:00pm and order from the menu. Everybody is invited.
If you choose to participate, bring a wrapped gift for a child and it will be donated to WMBC, our host for our meeting site, to be donated to some child that is in need.
Hope to see you there,
Jim, N4CFB

October 20th Meeting Info

2011-10-16T18:56:00.003-04:00

Field Trip to K3OMI Radio Museum, 213B Fox Road, Knoxville TN 37922

Just a few blocks south off of Kingston Pike on the right Gary’s silver car with
K3OMI tags will be parked near the street. Museum is in a white building with green metal roof behind a small house on Fox Road. There is lots of parking near the building in a grass field.

Gary Wagner (K3OMI) will provide a tour of around 300 restored pieces of ham radio equipment. Snacks and drinks will be available. You do not need to be a member to attend.

Talk-in on the RACK repeater system, (53.77, 147.3, 224.5, 444.575)

Hope to see you there,

Joe Meighan
KB4REC

Club Picnic

2011-10-01T07:49:00.003-04:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,

It's picnic time! This coming Sunday, October 2nd at Concord Park,eat about 1:00pm. Club will supply things off the grill. Please bring a covered dish or dessert if you plan to attend. Some tailgating may occur at this event. Talk-in on The RACK repeater system. 147.300, 224.500,444.575 &53.77(T100hz). I'm looking forward to seeing you there!

Jim, N4CFB

September 2011 Meeting

2011-09-11T10:49:00.003-04:00

Greetings,

As a reminder, this months RACK meeting will be this Thursday, September 15th at 7:00PM at Wallace Memorial Baptist Church. The activity for this month will be a video presentation of the K5D DXpedition from Desecheo Island in 2009 narrated by Bob Allphin, K4UUE. For those of us that got the opportunity to make contact with K5D will be able to get a behind the scenes look at what it took to give us a rare contact from the comfort of our hamshacks. I think everyone will enjoy this presentation, regardless whether you are a newbie or seasoned ham. I look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

73,

Joe Meighan, KB4REC
RACK President

RACK Field Day 6262011

2011-07-19T18:54:00.010-04:00

ARRL Field Day

2011-06-18T08:01:00.001-04:00

The 2011 RACK Field Day will be June 25th and 26th at Fort Dickerson Park in South Knoxville. See map on the right side of this page for directions. This event is open to anyone interested in amateur radio, whether your a RACK member or not. Station set up and antenna installation will start around 10:00 am on Saturday. The contest event officially starts at 2pm and will run around the clock until sometime Sunday afternoon.

Novice/Technician class hams that do not have operating privileges in the HF bands will be able to operate, since we will be operating under the Club W4BBB callsign. We will also have a special station set up for anyone that has never had the opportunity to operate a ham radio, whether you have a ham license or not. All new and prospective hams are also encouraged to participate. Food and beverages will be provided to everyone that attends. This event is a lot of fun, please drop by at any time during this event and check us out. If you need additional information about this event, please visit http://www.arrl.org/field-day The 2011 RACK Field day organizer is David Hickman, KF4EQR and he can be reached at 865-207-8352 or davidjhickman@hotmail.com . Hope to see everyone there.

73

Joe Meighan, KB4REC
RACK President

June Meeting Reminder

2011-06-14T21:00:00.001-04:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs

The RACK June meeting will be this Thursday, 6/16/2011. We will be meeting in the Atrium of Wallace Memorial Baptist Church, not up stairs. We will be having refreshments, lots of show and tell about the Hamfest and great conversation with your fellow hams. The annual election of officers will be held, so please attend and support the club.

ARRL Field Day will be observed by RACK. We will be having this event on June 25&26 at Ft. Dickerson Park off Chapman Hwy. Everyone is invited. Come join us then and have some outdoor fun! Talk-in on 147.300 & the RACK repeater system.

See you at the meeting,

Jim, N4CFB

Reminder: RACK Hamfest June 11th

2011-06-06T19:25:00.004-04:00

The Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville

PROUDLY PRESENTS
45th Annual Hamfest & Electronics Exposition
Kerbela Temple, 315 Mimosa Ave, Knoxville
Saturday, June 11, 2011 from 8:30am—4pm

Forums, Exhibits, & Demonstrations

VE Radio License Exams, Free Parking
Indoor Dealers, and Outdoor Tailgating
Concessions and Several Door Prizes
Grand Prize is a Kenwood TS-480AT w/ps

for Updates, Forms & Directions visit www.w4bbb.org
or you can email Lou Dreinhoefer @ wb3jkq@arrl.net

May Meeting Reminder

2011-05-17T18:52:00.001-04:00

Reminder: RACK meeting Thursday,7:00pm @ Sharp's Ridge site of South Central Communications. Speakers include WB4GBI, Tim Berry and W4KEV, Kevin Duplantis. This is a road trip you don't want too miss!
Talk-in on the RACK repeater system.

See ya there,

Jim,
N4CFB

May RACK Meeting information

2011-05-17T18:50:00.000-04:00

May RACK meeting will be held at South Central Communications on Sharp's Ridge. Our host Kevin Duplantis,W4KEV, will be talking and touring a two of a kind EMP & HEMP proof building on the site. This is one of only a hand full going to be built in the USA. This is a chance to see something that I feel we have never seen, so come to the meeting and join in on the fun.

See you there,

Jim,
N4CFB

A Full Day of D-STAR Training and Information

2011-03-30T20:04:00.001-04:00

Presented by Georgia D-STAR and DSTARinfo.com

Saturday, April 23, 2011
8:45am - 5:00pm (check-in begins at 8:00am)

Georgia Gwinnett College
1000 University Center Lane
Lawrenceville, GA 30043 (25 miles NE of Atlanta)

This one-day workshop will provide information and training on all levels of D-STAR, the Digital Smart Technology for Amateur Radio. Classes will be organized to allow participants on all levels from new users to repeater system administrators gain knowledge about D-STAR’s digital voice and data technology. The program provides three class tracks for those new to D-STAR, more experienced users and system administrators for repeaters.

D-STAR InfoCon will be held at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Georgia, just 30 minutes northeast of downtown Atlanta. Participants can choose from informative, hands-on classes to get you started for the new D-STAR user to more advanced topics for experienced users. Classes for repeater system administrators will provide valuable information on topics from repeater basics to complete setup and ongoing administration.

Topics for New D-STAR Users
Topics for Intermediate and Experienced Users
Topics for Repeater System Administrators

· Basics of D-STAR
· D-STAR Registration
· Basic operation
· Radio programming
· Memory setup
· Callsign routing
· Linking functions
· Reflectors
· DV Dongle
· DV Access Point (DVAP)
· Hotspots
· D-STAR low speed data
· D-RATS
· 1.2 GHz high speed data
· Repeater basics
· Repeater setup and programming
· Gateway setup
· Trust Server registration
· User registration
· Repeater operation and maintenance
· Repeater administration
· Gateway utilities and add-ons

For more information see DSTARInfoCon at www.DSTARInfo.com http://www.dstarinfo.com/d-star-infocon-2011.aspx

Time to Renew your Membership

2010-12-30T10:25:00.002-05:00

Happy Holidays,

As a reminder, RACK Club memberships expire December 31, 2010. In order to make the renewal process easier you can now renew or join online. All you have to do is download the membership application and fill it out (see link to the right). At the bottom left side of the application is a button to submit via email. Once submitted you can make payment via the "Pay Now" button on right side of this webpage. Make sure you select the payment option and provide name/callsign in the boxes provided and then hit the "pay now" button. It's that simple. For those that prefer the traditional methods can print out the application and bring it to the next club meeting or you can mail it along with your check to:

Radio Amateurs Club of Knoxville
P.O. Box 50514
Knoxville, TN 37950-0514

I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting,

Joe Meighan, KB4REC
President
Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville

2010-09-18T18:33:00.006-04:00

President’s Message for September 2010

2010-09-07T20:16:00.006-04:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,

First of all, I want to take a moment to thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as the President of the RACK club for the next twelve months. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank past President, Jim Norman for his hard work and dedication to the club over the last few years. I hope to be able to continue his legacy. As President, my number one goal is to work to increase our club membership. As you may, or may not know, the RACK Club has been around since 1954 and our membership has seen ups and downs. At one time, not too long ago, we had a membership base of approximately 300 members. Today, even though we have seen a small growth spurt, we are no where near where we once were. The question is; how do we increase our membership? It will require some interesting activities as well as member participation. Kevin McCready, K4MCK is working diligently to line up guest speakers for our upcoming meetings. For the September 16th meeting, Bill Renaud, WR4MS will have a presentation and live demonstration on PSK31 digital communications. If you want to learn about PSK you don’t want to miss this meeting.
On Saturday September 11th, the RACK club will participate in the annual Marine Corps Mud Run by providing communications support for the event. If you would like to participate, contact Jim Norman, N4CFB@tds.net , he is still looking for volunteers.
David Waters, AC4JF has done a great job implementing some new technology that is available to members to enhance the membership experience. The HAMCAM and RIBS (Remote Internet Base Station) have been a big hit with our members. David has also been working with Paypal to get the club set up to accept payment for membership applications as well as for tax deductible donations. This should be fully functional within the next few weeks. We hope to be able to add additional membership benefits in the near future.
Another change includes an updated web page. Joe Campbell, KG4UJC has done an excellent job with a major web site overhaul. Several new items have been added, one of which is a calendar of events. See http://w4bbb.org/calendar/rack10-11.pdf . Joe is also building a member projects page. He is asking members to send him photos and details about ham radio related projects. Please participate by sending him information to post on the projects page. If you have not seen our web site in a while, be sure to check it out @ www.w4bbb.org. You will want to check it often, because it is constantly updated.
I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting, be sure to bring a guest.

73’

Joe Meighan, KB4REC
RACK President

President’s Message for August ‘10

2010-07-25T10:20:00.001-04:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,

The annual Hamfest for 2010 is in the books and it was a great success in
more than one way. The weather was great, attendance was up and the
fellowship was even better. Lou, WB3JKQ, put on an outstanding event that
the club can be proud of. The plans for next year are already in the making
and will be here before we know it, so volunteer now for next year.
Our Field Day was one to remember. We had many bands and modes of
operation up and running for contesting and for display. A couple of key
happenings were the solar powered repeater that was on the air and the
inflatable 37ft. tower we had for display and use. DavidWaters, AC4JF, had
our Winnlink 2000 repeater on the air and a display on the use of it. With
the temperature in the high 90’s, the biggest challenge was to keep cool at Ft.
Dickerson Park.
The last couple of meetings have been filled with conversation and
discussion about happenings in the club.With the new remote base station
on the air, 35x camera, and Winnlink 2000 repeater, we have not been short
on discussion topics. The addition of internet at our repeater site has opened
a new world of high technology to us. I think the future guest speakers and
topics will be a result of some of these discussions and new equipment we
have on the mountain.
Another discussion we have had, is the nomination and election of our
Board of Directors. The nomination committee of Jim Snyder, AJ4NO,
Willard Sitton, W4HZD, and Jack Creed, K4EPC, worked tirelessly and
produced a full slate of nominees. There were no nominations from the floor,
and the nominees were elected for the next year. The board is as follows:
Joe Meighan, KB4REC, President
Kevin McCready, K4MCK, 1st Vice President
David Hickman, KF4EQR, 2nd Vice President
Jack Creed, K4EPC 3rd Vice President
Willard Sitton, W4HZD, Education Chairman
David Bower, K4PZT, Public Information Officer
Lou Dreinhofer, WB3JKQ, Hamfest Chairman
Treasurer, Ron Haynes Sr, KJ4IAU, Treasurer
Angela Hickman, KG4GUN, Secretary
David Waters, AC4JF, Trustee(previously elected till 2020)
These officers have a good feel for the future and I believe will direct the
club in a good and positive direction. I want to give a very special thanks to
David Waters,AC4JF, for putting many hours of work on the mountain and
at his home to keep our equipment up and running. Networks of computers,
banks of batteries, programming for hours, are just a short version of what
he does for us. Thanks David.
As I leave the office of President, I want to thank all of the members for
letting me have the priviledge of being “The Prez” for the past few years.
We have set out on a great direction of servicing the amateur community
with the best and I know we have the best board to continue the work.
Thanks again! Keep our military troops in your prayer, See you at the meetings,

Jim Norman, N4CFB
President

President’s Corner for May 2010

2010-05-03T09:20:00.001-04:00

Greetings Fellow Amateurs,

Hello to all from the Lowlands of Halls. I just want to say that if you haven’t been to a RACK meeting lately, you have been missing out on lots of information and good times. We are fast approaching the month of June which is very busy for the club. We have our Hamfest on the 12th, regular meeting on the 17th and Field Day on the 4th weekend which is the 26th & 27th. If you participate in these events, you will be very busy. I encourage all Hams to join us and bring a friend to these events.
Lou, WB3JKQ, is working very hard to give us a successful event. He has venders, forums and “things” for us to enjoy. If you haven’t signed up to assist us, even for a short time or on Friday, I’m sure Lou would appreciate a call for you to volunteer. Kerbela Temple is where it will be held and we will have a talk-in on our repeater system, 147.300 on 2m.
Our Field Day event will be at Ft. Dickerson Park in south Knoxville, our site for many years. We will have many rigs going, many antennas to hang, and many meals to serve. So bring yourself on up and help out with our event. Work should start about 10:00AM
The May meeting will feature a talk and show&tell by Mr. Joe Meighan, KB4REC. Joe has had much experience in this area, being the owner of 6m, 70cm repeaters in the Knoxville area. All attendees will be treated to a wealth of knowledge and information on building a repeater. I encourage all Hams to attend and bring a friend.
Join us on our Nets on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday all beginning at 9:00pm. Information and knowledge is shared and everyone is welcome to join us. Sunday’s NC is Jack Creed, K4EPC, Monday’s is Jerry Whetsone, N4IJL, and Tuesdays is Jerry Fontaine, N4VQY. Bring a friend to these nets and enjoy the fellowship and information that is shared.
The Hamcam and remote internet station is on the air. Information is on our website to sign up for use. David Waters, AC4JF, is busy keeping our requests for us of our rig and camera. A big thanks goes out to David for doing this for the club.
That is all for now, Keep our Military troops in your prayers, See you at the meeting,

Jim Norman, N4CFB
President
Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville

President’s Corner for April 2010

2010-03-30T19:12:00.002-04:00

Hello Fellow Amateurs,
Spring has come upon us and now is the time to get all the tower and antenna projects underway. Speaking of antenna projects, I am pleased to announce we have our HF remote rig installed. With a few bugs to work out before turning it over to our membership, I look forward to hearing it on the air and seeing smiling faces from the users.
We also have our 35x PTZ camera up and running. It does come with some limitations. As soon as the user protocol has been worked out we will also turn it over to the membership. We have some snapshots posted on our blog at w4bbb.blogspot.com, so check them out to get an idea of the potential for viewing.
We had a great turnout for our March meeting, and I want to thank Kevin Duplantis, W4KEV, for hosting the event. He covered a lot of ground with his tour of the facilities. I don’t know any other place that has commercial and amateur repeaters, television and FM radio stations at one site. Thanks Kevin for a great presentation. And I know he had nothing to do with this, but WHAT A VIEW!
Over the next few months, we are going to have a blast at our meetings and events. Our annual Hamfest will be held on June 12, 2010 at Kerbela Temple. Field Day will be on June 26& 27 at Ft. Dickerson park in south Knoxville. Our May meeting will be on how to build a repeater which will be a show and tell event.
The April meeting will also be of interest to all of us. I have no doubt that any Ham that has internet access has used QRZ.com. The guest speaker will be Mr. Patrick Thrush, AE1PT, who is general manager for QRZ.com. He will bring some very interesting insights into amateur radio’s most used website. I have no doubt in my mind that everyone in attendance will have questions for Patrick to answer, so my suggestion will be to plan on attending our April meeting.
We will be taking nominations from the floor for the office of Trustee. David Waters, AC4JF, has agreed to take the position if he is elected to the position. He was nominated for trustee and we will vote on this at the April meeting.
I want to thank all our members for supporting the club. Bring a fellow Ham or family member or friend to our meetings. Everyone is welcome, 7:00pm, Wallace Memorial Baptist Church on Merchants Drive.
Keep our military troops in your prayers.
See you at our next meeting,
Jim Norman, N4CFB
President

NOTE: Our meeting room has permanently changed. It will be in the same room as the VE testing is held. Signs will be posted.

President's Corner for March 2010

2010-02-28T20:10:00.002-05:00

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

February Meeting

2010-02-09T20:25:00.002-05:00

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

President’s Message for 2010

2010-02-09T16:57:00.003-05:00

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

Skywarn Training Class - February 27, 2010

2010-02-07T08:51:00.002-05:00

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

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!