Welcome to the Frederick Amateur Radio Club!

Please join us at 7:00pm on Monday March 17^th for the March meeting of the Frederick Amateur Radio Club. We meet in the social room of the Independent Hose Company, located at 310 Baughmans Lane in Frederick. Parking and entrance are in rear of the building. ALL members of the local community are invited to join us.

The topic of discussion this month is antenna analyzers. During the meeting, several members will show how to analyze antenna properties using traditional and “new tech” (aka Nano VNA) equipment. If you have an analyzer, and need some help understanding how it works, bring it along.

Also, new this month from 6:20 to 6:55 we’ll have our first “Elmer Time”. Since many of us arrive around 6:00 to set up the room and chat, this is an opportune time for folks to get one-on-one assistance with any radio issue – so bring your questions and relevant equipment (if possible). Of course, if you want to just join in the chat, please do. Elmer Time will be a regular feature of future meetings.

*** Our normal Zoom session will NOT be available for the March meeting. ***

Upcoming Events:

• Saturday March 22^nd : FredFest25 – the great amateur radio yard sale from 8am until noon. See details here: FredFest25
• Saturday April 19^th: Red Cross Regional Radio Drill at 9am. Details soon.
• Sunday April 27^th: Pedal for the Promise Lymphoma research ride from 8am until 1pm. We’ll need radio operators for three rest stops, three support vehicles, plus net control.
• Saturday May 3^rd: Great Hagerstown Hamfest. Please support our neighbors, details here: GHHamfest
• Saturday May 10^th: local hidden transmitter foxhunt. Details closer to the event.
• Saturday June 7^th: Tour de Frederick from early until ~7pm. We’ll provide communication support for ten rest stops and a dozen support vehicles, plus net control.
• Saturday & Sunday June 28 & 29: Field Day! This is the biggest weekend in all of amateur radio. Details as the event draws closer.
• July: club Parks on the Air activation. Details as date draws closer.
• Saturday October 4^th: Half Hike Across Maryland. We’ll provide radio support for hikers as they travel the Appalachian Trail from the Mason-Dixon line to Washington Monument Park near Boonsboro. Details as the event draws closer.

By popular demand, the club Facebook page has been revitalized. So, if you’re a Facebook fan, please join the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/902554613191219  and join the conversation.

Hello everyone,

At any given Frederick Amateur Radio Club (FARC) meeting, we have centuries of combined radio experience in the room. For the February FARC meeting, our goal is to put that experience into action. We invite both club and greater community members to bring their questions or struggles, and we’ll try our best to help. It can be anything from understanding the various available radio services (Amateur, CB, MURS, FRS, GMRS) or programming a repeater to APRS to making digital data work with your computer, or choosing an antenna. Feel free to bring your radio for help. In order to make this easier, I’ll bring a couple of power supplies and antennas, minimizing what you may need to bring. If possible, bring along your radio manual.

We’ll meet at 7pm on Monday February 17th in the Social Hall of the Independent Hose Company, located at 310 Baughmans Lane in Frederick. Parking and entrance in rear of the building. Many of us arrive around 6pm to chat as we set up – feel free to join early. As always, joining in person is best, but not always possible. Second best is to join via Zoom using this link: FARC Zoom 2025 Please put your name or call sign into your Zoom profile, so we know that you’re not a bot.

Upcoming Events:

March 22: FredFest 2025! All of the details are here: FredFest 2025

April 27: Pedal for Lymphoma. This is a new cycling event that we’re supporting, but smaller in scale as compared to others that we’ve done. This event begins and ends at the Comus Inn, and the 50, 25 & 15 mile courses route through western Montgomery and southeastern Frederick Counties. We’ll need to staff three rest stops, three SAG vehicles and Net Control.

May: Combo Portable Two Meter Challenge + ARES drill.

June 7: Tour de Frederick. We’ll need to staff ~10 rest stops and 12 SAG vehicles, plus net control. This is a great event that benefits kids in Frederick County.

June 28 & 29: Field Day.

July: POTA Activation

August: Foxhunt

September 27 or October 4: Half HAM (half Hike Across Maryland). We support the Mountain Club of Maryland as folks hike the Appalachian Trail from PenMar Park in Cascade to Washington Monument near Boonsboro.

December 15: Club holiday party

Let me know if there are questions – my email is my call sign @arrl.net

73!
Mike K3MMM

CLARIFICATION:  While logging is not required, we’d appreciate it, as it tells us which stations can reach one another without repeaters – think ARES/RACES.  But if you just don’t want to log, please participate anyway.

CLARIFICATION: From 7:00 to 7:10, I’ll monitor 146.73 W3FDK AND 147.09 W3CWC for questions, if any.  If you don’t have questions, find a two meter frequency (see chart below for suggestions) and call CQ.

The Frederick Amateur Radio Club is sponsoring the FARC and Friends 2M Simplex QSO Challenge on Saturday, February 15th from 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM (but feel free to go later if you choose).  You do NOT (not!) need to be a club member to participate, and is open to anyone within range. The goal is to provide a fun February event without getting cold; an event for both new hams and those who maybe don’t get out like they once did.  So, at 7PM, find a frequency (see chart below) and call CQ.

While I’m a fan of digital, I’d like to keep this an all-voice event, using FM and SSB modes. The spirit of this event is to provide a very local QSO party, but with this additional twist:

How Low Can You Go Challenge (can be optional).  As you make a contact, each end should reduce power to determine the lowest output required to still communicate.  Most radios will only support High/Medium/Low.  For example, let’s say that K3MMM makes contact with N3LSB.  After initial exchange, K3MMM will say “I’m going low”, and then moves to medium power, then transmit something like “N3SLB, medium power, how copy”.  If good copy, K3MMM moves to low power and repeats “N3LSB, low power, how copy”.  If good copy, N3LSB would then start the step down in power process.  If at any point, contact is lost on lower power, move back to last good power level and complete the transaction.  Yes, this will take an extra minute or two, but it can be interesting to see how much or little power is really required.  If using an HT, same thing – your high/med/low will just be lower. Log the lowest power required to effectively communicate.  You may want to turn squelch down/off for this event.

Logs can be in any format, including hand-written.  If electronic, I’d prefer ADIF format, but can take .csv or most anything else.  Logs are due on or before March 11th – you can email to my call sign @arrl.net or mail to my address found on qrz.com.  I’m not going to cross-check logs, but rather count on your spirit and integrity.

I’ll be awarding the most-distant contact for both SSB and FM.  In addition to your log, PLEASE (please!) let me know your longest contact, including far end call sign and approximate distance from your location.

Those using SSB should the weak-signal frequency range of: 144.000 to 144.500, with specific “channels” of 144.100, 144.200, 144.300, 144.400 & 144.500.

In keeping with the T-MARC bandplan for our region (found here if you’re interested) and to save you from looking it up, the standard FM simplex frequencies are below. For FM, we’ll use the 146.415 to 146.595 block of channels, as they’re likely the most familiar with most folks, although any of the simplex frequencies are fine.  Specifics are:

Download a copy of the above chart in .pdf form here:  T-Marc simplex 2m frequencies

As always, let me know if there are questions.  My email is my call sign @arrl.net, or you can comment to this note.

73
Mike K3MMM