Good Crowd For Set Test

Steel City had a good turn out for the Fall 2022 SET TEST at the club house.   We all learn how to handle some National Traffic across both HF bands and VHF bands. I want to thank everyone that showed up for todays event.  Tom KB3NIX, Art WA3BKD,  Walt KA3YNO, Sue KA3JKS, John KA3SZO, K3YY Paul, Bill  KC3THE , Michael N3TDV, Karl, WA3VXJ, Kathy KA3VXM {Who brought all the goodies}

And my Public Service Chairperson: Mike WA3PYU

Germany bring back Novice Class License

Germany is bring back the Novice Class License but with a twist. They are introducing an entry-level amateur radio license, it will be limited to just 10w EIRP in the 144 and 430 MHz bands and will be allowed to build their own equipment.
“N” = Novice New!
“E” = approximate U.S. Tech class
“A” = approximate U.S. Extra class


A translation of the DARC post reads:

Today [June 7], the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport presented the draft of a new amateur radio regulation that will bring some innovations for all radio amateurs.

The chairman of the DARC e. V. and the Round Table Amateur Radio (RTA), Christian Entsfellner, DL3MBG was pleased: “The new regulation implements long-standing requirements of the DARC and the Round Table Amateur Radio. Remote operation will finally be allowed in the future. The Ministry has also implemented our demand for a beginner class, which has existed since 2008.

This makes it much easier to get started with amateur radio.” While the existing classes E and A are raised in level due to the introduction of new topics from digital technology, class N focuses on operational knowledge, regulations and basic knowledge of the technology.

Holders of the new Class N will be allowed to transmit on 2m and 70cm with a maximum power of 10W EIRP. “The new entry-level class should offer access to amateur radio in particular to young people and older people in accordance with international requirements,” explains board member Ronny Jerke, DG2RON. The legally stipulated self-build right is not restricted, so even beginners can develop, set up and put into operation radio devices or hotspots themselves.

The exam will follow a cumulative system. First of all, the exam for class N is taken, which already contains all questions from the areas of operational knowledge and regulations. The technical test for class E and then for class A can then be taken.

“The examination catalogs developed by the DARC for the three classes are structured in such a way that the content and questions are not repeated. Content that has already been examined in a lower class no longer plays a role in the examination for a higher class. So all future radio amateurs go through the exams of class N, through E to class A. It should be possible to take all the exams in one day.

Good Reads

“Solder Smoke” is the story of a secret, after-hours life in electronics. Bill Meara started out as a normal kid, from a normal American town. But around the age of 12 he got interested in electronics, and he has never been the same. To make matters worse, when he got older he became a diplomat. His work has taken him to Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, the Spanish Basque Country, the Dominican Republic, the Azores islands of Portugal, London, and, most recently, Rome. In almost all of these places his addiction to electronics caused him to seek out like-minded radio fiends, to stay up late into the night working on strange projects, and to build embarrassingly large antennas above innocent foreign neighborhoods.

Check it out on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/SolderSmoke-Global-Adventures-Wireless-Electronics/dp/0578053128

Boy Scout Merit Badge @ SCARC

On August 5-6, 2022 the Steel City ARC will be doing the Boy Scout of America Radio Merit Badge at the Steel City club house.  Steel City ARC will be needing operators to help the scouts make contact so that they can finish their education and earn the Radio Merit badge. Members are encourage to let there local troop know of this event and they can be invite. If additional troop wish to use the Steel City clubhouse for radio merit badge please contact Jeff N3EVN at n3evn {at} yahoo {dit} com.

WE ARE IN NEED OF OPERATORS TO STANDBY TO MAKE CONTACTS WITH THE SCOUTS

For Merit Badge Information: Radio Merit Badge PDF

 

Steel City ARC @ Community Days

Saturday July 23 TIMES   ~4:00 PM – Till The End Of The Fireworks.
Steel City ARC is planning to have a educational booth at this event.  This is a good public event to attend to educate to the public that Ham Radio is alive and well in 2022.  We are look for some people to help man the booth and would be will to talk with the public about ham Radio

Location:
Ohio Township Community Park | 325 Nicholson Road | Sewickley, PA 15143

Enjoy a fun-filled evening at the park!  The parade will kick off festivities at 5pm, and a dazzling firework display at dusk will close out the night.  There will also be plenty of activities and entertainment for all ages including demonstrations by the fire department, a Touch-A-Truck event, Food Trucks, kids activities, local vendors, live music, and more!

They Invented the Future

From the article: Xerox Parc’s Engineers on How They Invented the Future
Read the full article here: https://spectrum.ieee.org/xerox-parc

“I’ve always thought the fact that [David] Boggs was a ham radio operator was important…. [He] knew that you could communicate reliably through an unreliable medium. I’ve often wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t had that background.”
—Bert Sutherland

“I’ve always thought the fact that Boggs was a ham radio operator was important,” Sutherland said. “It had a great impact on the way the Ethernet was designed, because the Ethernet fundamentally doesn’t work reliably. It’s like citizens’ band radio, or any of the other kinds of radio communication, which are fundamentally not reliable in the way that we think of the telephone. Because you know it basically doesn’t work, you do all the defensive programming—the ‘say again, you were garbled’ protocols that were worked out for radio communication. And that makes the resulting network function extremely reliably.”

“Boggs was a ham and knew that you could communicate reliably through an unreliable medium. I’ve often wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t had that background,” Sutherland added.

Once the Ethernet was built, using it was fairly simple: a computer that wanted to send a message would wait and see whether the cable was clear. If it was, the machine would send the information in a packet prefaced with the address of its recipient. If two messages collided, the machines that sent them would each wait for a random interval before trying again.

One innovative use for the network had nothing to do with people sending messages to one another; it involved communication solely between machines. Because the dynamic memory chips were so unreliable in those days, the Alto also ran a memory check when it wasn’t doing anything else. Its response to finding a bad chip was remarkable: “It would send a message telling which Alto was bad, which slot had the bad board, and which row and column had the bad chips,” Thornburg said. “The reason I found out about this was that one day the repairman showed up and said, ‘Any time you’re ready to power down, I need to fix your Alto,’ and I didn’t even know anything was wrong.”

Hurricane Center Communications Test – May 28

National Hurricane Center Annual Communications Test to be Held on May 28

WX4NHC, the amateur radio station at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Florida, will hold its annual communications test on Saturday, May 28, 2022, from 9 AM to 5 PM EDT (1300 – 2100 UTC).

The event is designed to evaluate WX4NHC’s amateur radio equipment and antennas at the headquarters in Florida, and to give operators an opportunity to evaluate their home equipment prior to this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, which starts on June 1 and runs through November 30. This event allows ham radio operators worldwide to hone their amateur radio communications skills for times of severe weather.

Brief contacts will be available on many frequencies and modes, as well as the exchange of signal reports and basic weather data with any station in any location.

WX4NHC will be on the air on HF, VHF, UHF, 2- and 30-meter APRS, and Winlink at wx4nhc@winlink.org (subject must contain “//WL2K”).

The Hurricane Watch Net 14.325 MHz frequency will be active for most of the test, as will 7.268 MHz, depending on propagation. Depending on man-made noise, the net may move to different frequencies, and participants can locate the net using one of the DX spotting networks, such as the DX Summit website at www.dxsummit.fi.

Read more at:
http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2022-05-12#toc04

National Police Week Special Event – K3FBI

National Police Week Special Event – K3FBI – 0000z May 15 through 2359z May 21

National Police Week offers honor, remembrance, and peer support, while allowing law enforcement, survivors, and citizens to gather and pay homage to those who gave their lives in the line of duty.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week. Currently, tens of thousands of law enforcement officers from around the world converge on Washington, DC to participate in a number of planned events which honor those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice.  National Police Week 2022 in United States will begin on Sunday, May 15 and ends on Saturday, May 21

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial

K3FBI – The FBI AMATEUR RADIO ASSOC (FBIARA) was formed Circa. 1991 from a group of amateur radio operators who were FBI employees and would get together on the air. This became known as the “BuNet”.  K3FBI became the club call in the fall of 1998, just in time to be an official part of the FBI’s 90th anniversary.

Steel City Club House is honor for providing station K3FBI/3 This Year
Click on thumbnail below to see sample certificate 

Group Kit Project? Who’s Interested?

Sean, KC3SZH brought this to my attention this morning and I have to agree this would make a good club kit project.  The cost of the antenna is $69.95 I think the club could cover the shipping for a group buy.  This is an End Feed 10,15,20,40 meter band antenna good for POTA and SOTA work.  It can handle up to 250 watts so full size rigs are usable with this antenna. We would order the kit and then assemble them up at the club.  Drill out the holes, wining the coil, and a little bit of soldering.  So if this would be your first kit time kit you would have the support and supervision of some of the club mentors.

If you interested please email me at n3lrg{at}w3kwh{dit}com the kit will cost you $69.95

 

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Arrl Shops: http://www.arrl.org/shop/End-Fed-Half-Wave-Antenna


Manufacture:  https://www.hfkits.com


Assembly: http://www.arrl.org/end-fed-half-wave-antenna-kit