The Frederick Amateur Radio Club activated both Washington Monument State Park and Catoctin Mountain Park under the Parks on the Air program. Even though it’s been the hottest week of summer, the combination of an early start, mountain breeze and high tree canopy made for a delightful morning. During the event, we were able to practice portable operations, make some new contacts – both on the air and in person. It was a good day! Many thanks to Justin AB3E for putting this all together.
The Frederick Amateur Radio Club will be hosting a Parks on the Air (POTA) club activation on Saturday July 29th, beginning at 0800. Please join us at one of these locations:
Each site will have at least one HF radio to share – so you do NOT need to bring any equipment! However, feel free to bring your own equipment to try. There is generally no AC power available, so if you bring equipment, bring a battery. Catoctin will have spare battery power, just in case.
Since we’ll be activating as a club, no POTA registration is required to participate (but you could register at www.pota.app, in which case you would also get the POTA points). We will be using the N3ITA/K3KMA/N3UHD 440 linked repeaters to communicate between sites and for talk-in. ALL are welcome to join us at one of the parks – no amateur license is required.
If you can’t join us (although the 5th Saturday of the month could be breakfast in the park instead of Golden Corral), please consider “hunting” (aka “chasing”) us – go to www.pota.app and look for our K3ERM spots – tune in and try to work us. Note that you do NOT need to register with pota to hunt a park activator – nor do you need to send a log to anyone. The park activator takes care of all logging. Also note that that POTA does not allow duplicate spots, so we’ll use K3ERM/R01 through /R09 for Washington Monument stations and K3ERM/R10 through /R19 for Catoctin stations. The /RXX identifiers are for spotting only – any logs should only show the call sign. Also listen on the linked repeaters for possible simplex VHF/UHF operation. Questions? Contact Justin AB3E via email found on qrz.com. We look forward to seeing you there!
Please join us on Monday July 17th at 7PM for our regular club meeting, held in the social hall of the Independent Hose Company, located at 310 Baughmans Lane in Frederick. Parking and social hall entrance are in rear of building – just look for vehicles with additional antennas. Map here: IHC Map
This month we will have a workshop presented by Brad KC3VAF regarding the use of NanoVNA test equipment. If you have your own NanoVNA, an antenna or transmission line for testing, or similar gear please bring it along.
For a workshop, it’s best to join us in person, but if that’s not possible, you may also join via Zoom here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85487265741?pwd=VFErODAzeUVVVVkwQytLN2NrbVJrZz09
We welcome all members of the community to join us – you do not need to be a club member or a licensed amateur radio operator. If you’re simply curious and want to know more, feel free to stop in. We hope to see you there.
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After a week of ominous forecasts, the Field Day 2023 weather could hardly have been more ideal. Even though we officially had three transceivers plus a Get On the Air station, we had as many as eight different radios going, as folks brought out their gear to test out in a portable environment. It was the ultimate show and tell event – better than a hamfest, as the equipment was all running! New this year – we ran 100% battery/solar – no generator or commercial power was used. While the club generator is quiet at 2am, batteries are more quiet.
Below are some photos from the weekend, in no particular order. If you have others to share, please email them to me. My address is current on qrz.com. 73! Mike K3MMM
