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
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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
Thursday, December 17, 2009
President’s Corner December 2009
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
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
Monday, November 9, 2009
November 09 President's Message
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
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
Thursday, August 13, 2009
August President's Corner
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
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
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