Danny Hampton, K4ITL Repeater Builder, Mentor, SERA Leader & FCC Liaison, SK February 28, 2024

OCRA like many other ham clubs, repeater builders and users owe a great debt of graditude to Danny, K4ITL for his very gracious and generous help to anyone with a genuine willingness to learn and build repeater systems to his level of excellence.

Below is the lifetime membership presented by OCRA to Danny at the April 2009 RARS Hamfest in appreciation for his technical assistance, mentoring and advice over the years that has greatly helped in keeping the tall tower OCRA 442.150 repeater on the air.

His talent and generosity was widely recognized.

https://hamvention.org/2009-hamvention-award-winners/

https://www.wral.com/story/engineering-contractor-danny-hampton-has-died/21308694/

http://pcrn.net/

https://sera.org/home/

© 2024 photo by KR4UB, OCRA Inc

The plaque gold section above contains the award text in Braille

© 2024 photo by KR4UB, OCRA Inc

A perspective from two long time repeater builders……

Charlie Durst NC4CD, principle DFMA Repeater Builder

https://www.dfma.org/

It was with great sadness that I heard on Wednesday evening that Danny Hampton, K4ITL, of Raleigh, had died.

I first met Danny in the early 70’s at his home in Raleigh. One of the original members of DFMA, Wayland “Doc” McKenzie, K4CHS, took me to meet Danny one evening at his home. He said, “let me turn on some lights for you”. Danny was blind since birth and his wife, Sandy, was also blind. Together they raised their two children, both sighted. After Sandy’s death, he married a childhood friend, Rose, who survives him. Danny grew up in Kannapolis and attended the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh. He had become quite skilled in electronics and worked for the Johnson radio dealer and later with Nextel. After Nextel, he worked with my CSI business partner, Elmo Yancey, in their company, Direct Call. Direct Call provided community repeater and telephone interconnect radio systems before cell phones were available. CSI built the towers for Direct Call.

Danny was a master at designing and building repeaters and linked repeater systems. In the 1970’s he built the PCRN analog linked repeater system that covered North Carolina from coast to coast and into Virginia and South Carolina. As digital radio technology emerged, he designed and built the PRN system which now has over 60 repeaters in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia linked via the internet using DMR technology originally pioneered for the commercial market by Motorola.

Danny developed an amazing skill at tuning receivers, transmitters, and duplexers to make a highly functioning repeater. He had a service monitor and other test equipment that ‘talked’ to him. Relying on a keen sense of hearing, he could probably hear a tenth of a dB change in a noise level in a receiver he was tuning.

Many repeaters in the Carolinas and Virginia transmit the call sign K4ITL. Many of these repeaters are on tall TV towers in Raleigh, Greensboro, Wilmington and had the equipment located near the antennas at heights of over 1500 feet. On several occasions, a repeater would develop a technical problem that required his personal attention. He would put on his safety belt and ride the elevator up the tower to the repeater. Someone asked him if he was afraid of those heights. His response was, “No, I don’t look down !!”

On many occasions Danny’s days and nights would get mixed up and he would send me an email at midnight asking if I was still up for a phone call. Being a night-owl, I would email back and we would talk on the phone until 1 or 2 am about some technical subject. I knew he was ok with email because his computer talked to him.

Danny was recognized for his skills and contributions to the repeater community at the Dayton Hamvention in 2009 when he received the “Ham of the Year” award. Danny was instrumental in the Southeast Repeater Association (SERA) since its beginning in the early 70’s as the Carolinas Virginia Repeater Association. For many years he was the Director for the North Carolina Division and was currently serving as President of SERA.

The ‘shoes that will have to be filled’ by his absence are tremendous. The loss of Danny leaves a void in our hearts as he was a dear friend of many. His expert technical abilities will be difficult to be replaced. The funeral service will be at the McCullers Community Baptist Church in Raleigh with visitation at noon and the funeral at 1 pm on Wednesday, March 6th.

Rest in peace, good friend. Enjoy the tallest antenna site and the beautiful view that you can see from there.

73 Charlie NC4CD

Dan KR4UB, principle OCRA Repeater Builder

We both grew up in Kannapolis, NC where our paths crossed two different ways. In looking through my amateur radio station log, my first QSO with Danny was on June 14, 1964 on 3.830 with Danny back for the summer at his childhood home, a whole 2 miles away. Things seemed a lot more distant as a kid back then.

I eventually met Danny face to face through a conversation his father and my father had.  Our respective fathers worked at two businesses just a block or two apart, and both were customers of each other’s business. That’s the way things were in a small town.  One day Danny’s father stopped by my Dad’s workplace and as typical, Dad’s talked about what their kids were up to.

When Danny’s father Wade Hampton Sr., was told of my desire to go the NC State to get an engineering degree, he strongly urged I have a face to face conversation with Danny.

Danny spent much of his early childhood as student in Raleigh at the NC School for the Blind and knew about NC State’s reputation of being a very tough engineering school. He  had a piece of advice to give me. His words were, “if you’re planning to go to NC State, you better be prepared to work your ass off”.  How true that turned out to be.  He was not one to mince words and spoke plainly and directly.

Our paths did not cross again until 30 years later, when John Welton, N4SJW and I took on responsibility for the OCRA 442.150 and the other club repeaters.  Danny was very gracious and generous to anyone who demonstrated a genuine willingness to learn and build repeater systems to his level of excellence.  You can’t venture very far in the ham community without crossing paths with many others that Danny has similarly helped and turned into long term working relationships.

He was gifted in his ability in building relationships with so many hams and institutions who in turn, helped him build the repeater systems he dreamed of.

Maybe it was growing up in a small town where most everybody seemed to know everybody and if you needed help and was one willing to give help, life long relationships were built.

73  Dan, KR4UB

Tri-County Repeater Coverage Maps available on OCRA-DFMA groups.io

The repeater reach-ability testing during several recent OCRA Auxcomm nets on the 442.150 repeater and the demo presentation at the April 10 OCRA meeting (see Youtube video) illustrates many examples of how the topography from your location to a repeater site greatly affects the ability to communicate. 

Without quantitative tools to analyze the issue, it can be a difficult decision on how to fix the problem. What is the problem? What will be the most effective fix?

Repeater topographic coverage maps can help answer questions specific to your location.

To take advantage of these maps you will need to do 2 things:

  1. Download and install the Google Maps application from this URL: https://www.google.com/earth/versions/#earth-pro  
  2. Download the Tri-County Repeater Coverage maps  located on the OCRA -DFMA groups.io file storage area.

The URL link below contains repeater coverage topographic mapping for the 442.150, 145.450, 147.225 and 145.230 repeaters. More repeaters will be added in the future.

Three maps are available for each repeater to show coverage that can be expected with the typical HT, Mobile or Fixed base (home) installations.

Downloading the Repeater Coverage Maps:

You need to use your OCRA-DFMA groups.io login ID and password to access the files area shown below.

Click on this URL https://groups.io/g/OCRA-DFMA/files/Repeater%20Coverage  to go to the file storage area. 

When you click on the “Tri-County Repeater Coverage_V3C.kmz” file link as shown below, the file will download onto your computer, per your browser’s download settings.

Using the Google Earth Pro Application:

Click on the Tri-County Repeater Coverage_V3C.kmz file to open it with the Google Earth Pro application.

Several Google Earth features need to be active so you can select the coverage maps available for the repeater of interest.

The sidebar on the left will be needed to navigate the maps. If not visible, click on the command line “View, Toolbar” to turn it on.

Click the caret symbol to expand the settings and the sub-directories within the .kmz file.

You will want to turn on certain overlays by placing check marks for the applicable blocks as indicated below.

for the “Color Legend” (indicating signal strength into the repeater; more on this later.

“Key Locations” and “Other Locations” will show the repeaters and QTH locations for over 100 hams in the area.

Place a check mark next to the repeater map and station type of interest. In this example, the check mark is for the  442.150 repeater being used by a portable/home station.

Only 1 repeater map/station type should be turned on at a time.

Note:

  • A portable station is one that could be set up for emergency communications and is equivalent to a home station using a 30-50 watt mobile radio,  and a small tower or building mounted fixed base antenna up 20 feet off the ground.
  • The 147.250 file name below is a typo. It is the 147.225 DFMA repeater.

The maps for our region, created with Radio Mobile – RF propagation simulation software , shows the significant role terrain blocking plays in repeater coverage in our in our area. The color indicated at the selected station’s location indicates the expected signal strength back into the repeater. 

  • Red (-77dBm strength back to the repeater)  is solid copy, no noise or fading communications)
  • Yellow (-87dBm), Green (-97dBm) Good communications, may have some occasional noise down in the green areas
  • Turquiose (-107dBm), Blue (-117dBm) Will be unpredictable. May work at times reasonably OK with noise & dropouts or not at all.
  • White (on the color legend) (-117dBm)  No communications. These areas will simply the Google Earth imaging without any coloring.

Common radio setups used for repeater communications are the basis for the 3 topographic map runs made for each repeater.

  • 5 watt HT with the standard rubber duck antenna
  • Vehicle with a mobile radio with 30 UHF, 50 watts UHF output and vehicle antenna
  • Fixed based installation using a mobile radio and a base station antenna higher off the ground.

Additional Information:

Knowing the Effective Radiated Power (ERP) that your radio setup is providing back into the repeater can provide a more tangible perspective. 

  • The ERP Calculator  results below reveals a little better the actual radiated power levels than just considering the antenna gain expressed in decibels. 
  • HT 5 Watts with standard rubber duck antenna loss (VHF -6dBi, UHF -3dBi)

    •  VHF 5W ERP 0.766 watts
    •  UHF 5W ERP 1.53 watts 
  • Vehicle radio and external mounted antenna (e.g. Comet SBB14 VHF 3.5dBi UHF 6.0dBi gain)

    • VHF 5W   ERP 6.83 watts
    • UHF 5W   ERP 12.14 watts
    • VHF 50W ERP 68.25 watts
    • UHF 30W ERP 72.82 watts
  • Fixed based installation again using a mobile radio and fixed base antenna (e.g. Comet GP-9N VHF 8.5dbi UHF 11.9dBi gain)

    • VHF 5W   ERP 21.58 watts
    • UHF 5W   ERP 47.22 watts
    • VHF 50W ERP 215.84watts,
    • UHF 30W ERP 283.32 watts 

Coax loss with also have to be considered for the vehicle and fixed based antennas.

I wish to express my thanks and gratitude to Steve, W3AHL for sharing his valuable knowledge and experience with the Radio Mobile RF propagation application.

Dan, KR4UB

Nicholas “Nick” Paul Szydlek – Silent Key February 5, 2022

NICHOLAS PAUL SZYDLEK
Born in Detroit, Michigan on September 16, 1944, Nicholas Paul Szydlek lived all of his 77 years with faith, humor, love, and friendship. He enlisted and served in the United States Navy as a radar technician/electrician’s mechanic from 1963 – 1967, stationed in the Mediterranean (“tracking the Russians” he used to say) on the “tin cans” as he put it The USS Mole and the USS Basilone. He also served as part of the United States Naval Reserve and the United States Coast Guard Reserve. He was decorated with the National Service Defense Medal.
Nick married his wife, Rosemary, in 1969 and their son, Nick, Jr. was born in 1970. After the Navy, Nick worked as an electrician’s mechanic and engineer, living in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
In the late 1990’s Nick and Rosemary moved to his hometown area in Michigan where he continued working as an engineer. He retired in 2012, joining his son and daughter-in-law in Pittsboro, North Carolina where he began to hone is orneriness. He took fashion cues from no one – his signature every day look was all his own: sensible trousers, comfortable button-up shirt, suspenders, and comfortable shoes.
He established his own small machining/prototyping business, Foxtek, Inc. where he was his own boss and worked at his own pace. He hung out in his workshop with his grand-dog, Artie, a large black lab who really loved his grandpa. At night, with grand-dog Ireland at his side, he enjoyed struggling with the TV remote and disagreeing with Rosemary on what to watch. He hated most technology, got frustrated with cell phones, and hated all the noises from his iPad, but was secretly excited every time his son gave him all the new gadgets.
Nick was especially passionate about ham radio with an amateur extra ticket and was a Founding member of Chatham AUXCOMM; a proud member of Orange County Radio Amateurs (OCRA); and Durham FM Association (DFMA). He loved to share his knowledge and get others excited about ham radio.
As a member of St. Thomas More Catholic Church he attended mass every Sunday until Covid-19 and his illness made that difficult for him. He volunteered on many occasions and served on committees including the Church Council and was head of the Friends in Faith Senior Group.
Nick is survived by his loving wife of more than 52 years, Rosemary; his son, Nicholas, Jr. (Melissa); brother, Eddie (Cynthia) Szydlek; sisters, Carol (Fred) Zirotti and Cherilyn (Don) Smith; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and peers who love and respect him.
He was preceded in death by his parents Barbara J. Eshelman Szydlek-Lawless; Edwin Joseph Rivers and stepmother Frances Rivers; and brothers Lawrence S. Szydlek and Phillip P. Szydlek.
In lieu of flowers please donate to your favorite cancer organization or St. Jude’s in Nick’s name.

A Funeral Mass was held 10:30AM, Friday, February 18, 2022 at St. Thomas More Catholic Church – 940 Carmichael Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Rite of Committal will be scheduled at a later date.

To send sympathy gifts to the family or plant a tree in memory of Nicholas Paul Szydlek, please visit our tribute store.

This writeup heavily based on the obiturary published by the Donaldson Funeral Home & Crematory. For the complete, excellent obituary see https://www.donaldsonfunerals.com/obituary/Nicholas-Szydlek

OCRA Board Meeting Minutes – October 20, 2021

ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS

Executive Board Meeting – October 20, 2021 – 7:30 pm

Platforms Utilized: Zoom.

MEETING CONVENED AT 7:30 PM

OFFICERS PRESENT: W4SAR David, (President); KR4UB Dan, (Treasurer); N8BR Bill, (Secretary); KD4YJZ Karen, (Board Member); N1LN Bruce, (Board Member); W4ORD Ladd, (Vice President); KU4GC Dee, (Board Member); W4BOH Wilson (Board Member).

W4SAR (Dave): President’s Report- Welcome. Call to order.

W4ORD (Lad): Vice President’s Report- There will be a state-wide AUXCOMM meeting at 10:30 this Saturday. It will be presented on WebEx. Unfortunately he is unable to use WebEx on his current computer.. He will try to get a copy for the club.

KR4UB (Dan): Treasurer’s Report– In the recent past Dan tallied our fixed expenses which are in fact indicators of how the club is doing financially. Fortunately our income is staying ahead of our expenses so in general, we are doing okay but not by much. At present all of our income is derived from dues. There have been no hamfests or donated equipment sales. We are down about $600 from repeater expenses in Chatham County. So, in sum we have to be careful with spending.

  1. A key purpose of the club treasury balance is to have sufficient funds available to cover the costs of keeping OCRA repeaters on the air. Although the treasury balance is sufficient to buffer expenses, the present dues income level would not be enough to rebuild the balance as repair costs could be significant.
  2. This opened a discussion about the current $12.00 per member, maximum $25.00 per family membership dues rate which have not been increased since the club’s inception in 1991. $12.00 in 1991 dollars would now be $24.17 in 2021 dollars per an inflation rate calculator.

That said, the big question facing us now is whether or not we should consider raising dues.

N1LN (Bruce) suggested that the issue of dues be discussed at the next club meeting. W4BOH (Wilson) suggested that dues be raised to $20.00.

N1LN (Bruce): Net Operations in OCRA. The club desperately needs to expand the number of people who are involved in managing its nets. For many folks these nets have become time proven essential components of our community’s emergency preparedness strategies. It was further recommended that we identify a reasonable number of folks who are willing and interested in doing the job and then develop an educational program to train them. Perhaps it would be useful for potential net leaders to visit the homes of experienced net operators in order to learn the ropes. Bruce hopes we can develop an action plan at the next meeting. Wilson recommended that we contact potential net operations people via email. Bruce will draft an email for that purpose.

W4ORD (Lad): Progress with Holiday Dinner – The Exchange Club we have used for this occasion in past years is closing down for renovation. There is no specific information on when they plan to reopen.

David will check on the availability of St. Matthews” Episcopal Church and the Baha’i Center. I am continuing to solicit responses from club members concerning their plans to attend. This will be discussed at our next meeting.

KR4UB (Dan): Announcements – Rosie from NASA has agreed to give her presentation. Dan has provided her with possible dates.

W4SAR (David):  Dave reported that Dick Boyton has passed away and his son Bob has donated a substantial amount of his equipment to the club for the purposes of either use or sale. I believe we should put as much as possible into our equipment loan program. We will provide final forms for that enterprise upon request as well as a final list of included items following a complete inventory. At this point the following items are included: Yaesu FT 450D HF and 6M transceiver, Yaesu 790 R-E UHF/VHF module, Yaesu 60-R VHF/UHF HT, 2 Samlex power supplies (7.5A and 5.5A), Realistic DX440 receiver, VHF/UHF mag mount antenna, Heil Pro-Set headphones, ARL morse code oscillator, Heathkit GR81 receiver, jumpers, insulators and various other hardware. Marketing these items was discussed. Dave will write a thank you letter to Bob.

W4SAR (David): Elections -Our election for club officers will be held in January. .

N1LN (Bruce): Bruce raised the question to Dan that since the combined Zoom/Radio Net/Meetings have become an integral part of OCRA social gatherings, what would it take for additional operators/stations to perform that task?

Dan replied that the combined radio net / zoom audio connection is being performed by equipment originally purchased for other use, much of it being commercial quality, including a Roland multiple sound input mixing/level control mini studio monitor and a W2IHY microphone/radio control & audio matching unit, external line impedance matching / level attenuators, audio isolation transformers worth over $800.00 to interface to the Zoom computer. He has searched the internet for more cost effective equipment to no avail. Bruce commented not to forget having a ham station with antennas sufficient to be able to hear and talk to all on UHF & HF is required.

“Plan B” would be to revert back to separate radio nets, followed by a separate Zoom social gathering conference if Dan is not available. More discussion with action items needs to occur at future meetings.

Further discussion followed with Dan adding that with club elections coming up, the alternate names on the club’s bank accounts, safety deposit and post office box key holders may need to be updated. G-Suite will be used to store this vital record information as well as names of alternate members who have administrative access to the club internet and website accounts.

Meeting adjourned at 9:12 PM

WLB/s

 

 

 

OCRA Club Meeting Minutes – October 11th, 2021

ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS

Monthly Membership Meeting – October 11. 2021 – 7:00 pm

Platform Utilized: OCRA 442.150 UHF Repeater supplemented with Zoom

NET CONTROL AND MEETING OFFICIATION: N1LN (Bruce) Opened the meeting by inviting member check-ins. The following stations responded either by repeater or Zoom.

ATTENDEES: N8BR, Bill; KA5ETS, Doug, KO4DHJ, Ken; KU4GC, Dee; W4BOH, Wilson;  KW4JY, Calvin; KF4PAB, Lenore; KM4MBG, Jack; N2XZF, Paul; KN4VXB, Aurora; KZ1X, Steve; N7RYN, Ryan; KR4UB, Dan; W4ORD, Lad; KR4AM, Mark; KB1WE, Wayne; KO4JAW, Mark; W4FK, Bob; N1LN, Bruce

OFFICER REPORTS

  1. N1LN (Bruce – representing W4SAR): Our agenda will consist of check-in via repeater and zoom, officer reports, fox hunt update, show and tell from members, open discussion and check-out. Bruce queried the group for additional agenda items. In response.N8BR asked that the Christmas party be added to the agenda so that the format of that event and its location could be finalized. Dan, KR4UB made an announcement about the Tarwheels Bikefest scheduled for October 23rd.
  2. KR4UB (Dan) -Treasurer’s Report: 94 members’ dues are current, 3 need to renew, and 4 memberships are expiring. In the past 12 months 26 new members have joined 13 of whom are newly licensed. In addition, 25 memberships have expired. The various methods for paying dues were discussed. All are designed to make the process easy.
  3. W4ORD (Lad)Vice President’s Report: Indicated that he wanted to get a consensus from the membership in order to decide on the location for the Christmas party and whether it would be catered or pot-luck. Please let him know 1. If we should have the event, 2. If it should be catered or potluck, and 3. where it should take place. He also needs to know if members will attend or not.
  4. KR4UB (Dan) – Repeater Report: Based upon comments received from many members of our club who use the 145.230 repeater at the Pittsboro Fire Tower site, the machine there appears to be functioning well. Based on this outcome we may not have to move it from this site as was previously planned.

5. KM4MBG (Jack) – DFMA Update. Our 6 meter repeater has been active from TV Hill in Durham for a number of weeks. The signal is so strong it has

actually interfered with another repeater in Virginia making it necessary to change our crystals so the machine frequency could be moved to 53.61 Mhz. All members are invited and welcome to join us there.

DFMA members are also pondering what the club activities will be like in November and December. Many discussions have focused on whether the club is ready to return to face-to-face meetings and activities. Further, the club is contemplating the use of gift cards and door prizes to attract new program participants. In sum, lots of little things are going on to attract new membership.

6. KM4VXB (Aurora) – Fox Hunt Update: There has been no Fox Hunt yet because of the weather. We will have to use the rain date which is October 30 at 10:00 am for the on-foot event and 12:30 pm for the vehicle format. Please email Aurora if you are planning to attend the event so she can arrange for adequate staffing.

7.. PROGRAM – Show and Tell Presentations on equipment and technology relevant to Fox Hunting: Rainbow Sniffer (KN4VXB), Small Loop Square (KR3AM), offset attenuator and mixer (W4BOH), Fox Hunting in MA and 8 switch attenuator (N1LN), and Hand Fox Fnder (KB1WE). Relevant links to the various topics are presented below.

https://arrowantennas.com/main/fhl.html

the offset attenuator:

https://arrowantennas.com/main/4ofha.html

A DIY offset attenuator:

http://www.homingin.com/joek0ov/offatten.html

Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 8:22 PM Aurora Toennisson <wayferny@gmail.com> wrote:

equested by Bruce, here’s links from our on the air discussion.

Here’s the rainbow kit I made: https://www.rainbowkits.com/product-page/sdf-1-kit

Here’s the Handi-finder: https://www.handi-finder.com/

https://www.qsl.net/ve2emm/index.html#index

https://www.geontech.com/download/white_papers/AOC_Challenge_GEON.pdf

http://www.dhawke.com/kq1lweb/documents/rdf.pdf

https://arrowantennas.com/main/fhl.html

The offset attenuator:

https://arrowantennas.com/main/4ofha.html

A DIY offset attenuator:

http://www.homingin.com/joek0ov/offatten.html

On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 8:22 PM Aurora Toennisson <wayferny@gmail.com> wrote:

As requested by Bruce, here’s links from our on the air discussion.

Here’s the rainbow kit I made: https://www.rainbowkits.com/product-page/sdf-1-kit

Here’s the Handi-finder: https://www.handi-finder.com/

On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 8:21 PM infomet2003 via groups.io <infomet=embarqmail.com@groups.io> wrote:

https://www.geontech.com/download/white_papers/AOC_Challenge_GEON.pdf

http://www.dhawke.com/kq1lweb/documents/rdf.pdf

8. VOICE POLL AND CHECK-OUT: Prior to exiting the Zoom Meeting attendees were asked to respond to a voice poll designed to collect data on members’ intentions to attend the annual Christmas Dinner, their preferred location for the event, desire for full- service vs, potluck, and whether Covid 19 vaccination should be required for member participation. Data from this instrument will be used in final planning for the event. Poll results: 10 yes, 5 maybe, 2 will not attend.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:46,

WLB/DE.s.

 

Upcoming General Class October 28th

> Subject: Please publicize my upcoming General Class Oct 28

> Folks:
>
> I would appreciate your help getting the word out about my free weekly General Class licensing course on Zoom beginning Thursday, October 28 and running through Thursday, January 13 (9 sessions plus 3 weeks off for the holidays in November and December.) Sessions will start at 6:30 pm eastern time, and run 3 hours. These are the classes sponsored by the National Electronics Museum that we have been holding for years. Please publicize this with anyone you know that you think would be interested. Those wishing to sign up should email me at roland.anders@comcast.net.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rol, K3RA

OCRA Club Meeting Minutes – September 13th, 2021

ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS

Monthly Membership Meeting – September 13. 2021 – 7:00 pm

Platform Utilized: OCRA 442.150 UHF Repeater supplemented with Zoom

NET CONTROL AND MEETING OFFICIATION: W4SAR (Dave) Opened the meeting by inviting member check-ins. The following stations responded either by repeater or Zoom.

W4BOH (Wilson); N8BR (Bill); KO4DHJ (Ken); W4FK (Bob); KA5ETS (Doug); N4JQR (J.R.); W4ORD (Lad); N1QYW (Steve); KA1HPM (Nick); KN4JYP (Kathy); KM4MBG (Jack); N1LN (Bruce); KF4PAB Lenore; W4SAR, (Dave); KR3AM (Mark); KJ4VWG (Sam); K4SAR (Joe); KO4SZE (Bob); KU4GC (Dee); KR4UB (Dan); KD4YJZ (Karen) N1YXU (Laurie); KN4VXB, (Aurora).

W4SAR (President): called for Officer Reports.

  1. W4ORD (Vice President): No formal report, but emphasized that he is waiting for a directive from the executive board indicating whether members prefer a catered dinner or a member provided potluck at the club Christmas party. David, our president, responded with a promise that he would poll the executive board and forward a decision so that plans may be made well in advance of the event.
  2. KR4UB (Treasurer): 85 dues payments are needed to cover fixed expenses for the club (insurance, post office box, safety deposit box, website, Zoom and Sera, etc). As of this meeting, 93 members are current, 4 need to renew and 4 are expiring. In the last 12 months 22 new members’ dues will cover recruiting and member retention expenses (website and zoom). 26 new members have joined with 11 being newly licensed. 25 memberships have expired over the past 12 months.
  3. KR4UB (Repeater Manager Orange County): no report. KA1HPM (Repeater Manager Chatham County): Not much going on. We still need permits for towers in Siler City. Receiving on Tower Rd. is good and we have had some long distance check- ins.
  4. KM4MBG (Jack) and KF4PAB (Lenore) represented the DFMA. Lenore reported that the club’s repeater for 6 meters had been moved to a new location.
  5. W4SAR (David) reported that the club’s efforts to sponsor amateur licensing examinations had again become active after significant slow-down due to covid-related issues. He was pleased to report that Bob, KO4SZE had passed his Technician’ license test. David is hoping to begin regular examination sessions soon.

In addition, David announced that there was nothing else on the formal agenda for the current meeting and suggested that he will be calling a meeting of the club’s executive board members shortly.

General Discussion:

KN4VXB (Aurora) described the up-coming Fox Hunt and her presentation. Planning for this event is largely based on lessons learned from a former one that occurred last year. It is scheduled to take place on October 9th at 10:00 am. In case of rain it will be moved to the same time slot on October 23rd. There will be both an on-foot event as well as one requiring the use of vehicles to hunt the fox(es). All potential attendees for this event should plan to bring picnic lunches. In addition, those who are interested in constructing their own radio for the hunt should plan on participating in a “virtual build day” that will be held on September 25th.

W4ORD (Lad) is looking forward to “in person” meetings so food will be available.

K4SAR (Joe) is a new zoom attendee who reported that recent activity on the 12 and 10 meter bands has been picking up due to the increase in sun spots

W4SAR (David): Meeting Adjourned and repeater secured at 8:30

WLB/s

OCRA Club Meeting Minutes – August 9th, 2021

ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS

Monthly Membership Meeting – August 9. 2021 – 7:00 pm

Platform Utilized: OCRA 442.150 UHF Repeater & Zoom

NET CONTROL AND MEETING OFFICIATION: N1LN (Bruce) opened the meeting by inviting member check-ins.

RADIO & ZOOM ATTENDEES: N1LN (Bruce), N8BR (Bill), KO4DHJ (Ken), W4BOH (Wilson), KU4GC (Dee), KG4CFX (Chris), KW4JY (Calvin) KM4MBG (Jack), KI4MXP (Gerald), KX4P (John), W4ORD (Lad), W4OFZ (Bill), WB4OSU (Sherri), NA4VY (Dave), N1YXU (Laurie), KK4RRT (Michael), KJ4VWG (Sam), N8VNR (Kevin), KN4VXB (Aurora), N1QYW (Stephen), KR3AM (Mark), KR4UB (Dan), .N4JQR (J.R.), KO4BHX (Ben),KG4GRY (Eli), KS4DOW (Kadar), KE0KHD (Sam), KI4TRD (Allan), KW4JY (Charles), NC4CD (Charlie), KM4IWI (Wild Bill), K4SAR (Joe), KN4DRN (Michael)

ANNOUNCEMENTS: KR4UB (Dan) gave the treasurer’s report relating to club dues. Club dues are OCRA’s income to pay club expenses. 91 members dues are current, 6 need to renew, and 2 are expiring soon. Of the 25 new members this year 11 are newly licensed. Membership for 25 folks is expiring.

(1) N1LN (Bruce) Regarding membership dues, it is easy to pay. There is a PayPal link in Dan’s membership listing email and on the club website or you can send a check to the OCRA Post Office Box, or give cash to Dan.

(2). Dave (W4SAR) was not able to join the net tonight. Bruce mentioned the need for Volunteer Examiners to help in the upcoming August 28 VE session. Contact Dave if you can assist.

(3) Bruce also explained that Net controls are needed for the weekly Saturday morning AuxCom net. Mark (KR3AM) and Doug (KA5ETS) have been net controls most of the time. This is not a hard thing to do and would be excellent practice should we ever be needed to assist in public service activities or emergency situations. Check with Mark – I am sure he would be happy to provide assistance to new (want to be) Net Control members. Should you be interested in being a future net control, the script can be found on the OCRA website at this URL:

https://ncocra.org/WordPress_v1/orange-county-auxcomm-training-net-script/

or, on the NCOCRA website, click on REPEATERS, then click on AuxComm Training Net Script.

KN4VXB (Aurora): The next Fox Hunt will be held on Oct 9. There will be 2 events – (1) on foot (2) driving from your car. Be sure to sign up.

W4ORD (Lad) Announced that the Holiday party has been put on hold for now due to the ever changing Covid environment and potential recent increase in risks.

N1LN (Bruce) Many of us will now be moving to the NASA presentation to be held on Zoom. Dan (KR4UB) sent numerous emails with the login information, however, if anyone needs that info – I will pass it along here on the net.   The info was passed along.

The net closed around 19:25 with everyone checking out.

 

BM/DE/WB/s

 

 

Combined OCRA/DFMA Meeting with NASA Presentation – Monday August 9th

Given the latest CDC information regarding the spread of Covid-19, now containing the Delta variant, the OCRA Board of Directors has made the decision to postpone the return in August to our regular in-person meetings at the Efland Baha’i Center.

The upcoming club meeting on Monday August 9th will be a special meeting as a combined OCRA/DFMA Over-the-Air Club Net and Zoom Meeting with NASA guest presentations, Monday evening August 9th beginning at 7pm.

Note the following time and agenda changes for this special meeting:

  • The Over-the-Air Club Net check-in will begin at 7pm instead of the usual 7:30 on the 442.150 mHz repeater to get callsigns & names of the meeting attendees for the club meeting minutes and any brief club announcements.
  • The OCRA Zoom Video Conference will available starting at 6:45pm for any last minute video/audio testing by attendees, check-ins by attendees not having UHF radio capability, and for all to join in for the NASA guest speaker presentation starting at 7:30pm .
  • Our guest speaker will be Al Feinberg, the Strategic Content and Media Advisor for NASA Space Communications & NASA Television Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
  • The radio net will be secured at 7:30pm and then the Zoom video conference will continue with speaker introductions.
  • Questions any attendee would like to ask the presenters can be posted in the Zoom chat window.

Al’s presentation will be on “Space Communications in Support of NASA”.

The timing of these presentations could not be better as November 9, 2021 will be the 20th Anniversary of International Space Station contact from Barbara Pedersen’s science class room at Chapel Hill Phillips Junior High School. Club member Barbara, KE4JZM was instrumental in the planning, coordination with NASA and with additional club volunteers, the building of the amateur radio station in her science class room that was used for the successful contact.

The Zoom access link, Login ID & password has been distributed by email to all OCRA members and to the DFMA members via the DFMA Link Newsletter email list.

 

OCRA Club Meeting Minutes – July 12th, 2021

SEE LATER NOTICE regarding postponement of OCRA in-person meetings due to resurgence of COVID. The August OCRA club meeting will continue with the 442.150 Net & Zoom video conference format.

ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS

Monthly Membership Meeting – July 12, 2021 – 7:30 pm

Platforms Utilized: OCRA UHF Repeater

Minutes

MEETING CONVENED AT 7:30 PM.

MEMBER CHECK-IN: Attendees: N1QYW, Steven; N8BR, Bill; KR3AM, Mark; W4SAR, Dave; KD4YJV, Karen; W4ORD, Lad; KU4GC, Dee; N1LN, Bruce; KR4UB, Dan; N4JQR, J.R.; KN4VXB, Aurora; KO4DHJ, Ken; KA5ETS, Doug; NA4VY, Dave; KI4RAN, Bill; KZ1X, Steve; KM4MBG, Jack; WA2JLW, Roy; N1YXU, Laurie; KM4WXW, Jeff; WB4OSU, Sherri; KO4RQN, James.

OFFICERS’ REPORTS:

W4SAR (David-President): We will begin our meeting with reports from club officers.

W4ORD (Lad-Vice President): Nothing important to report except that we are still waiting for a decision on the Christmas party. We have also been clearing trees to replace antennas that fell during our last storm.

KR4UB (Dan-Treasurer): As of this month 95 members are current, 4 need to renew and 5 are expiring. In the last 12 months 27 new members have joined with 13 being newly licensed and 20 memberships have expired.

N8BR (Bill-Secretary): No report.

W4SAR (David-President):

(1) The Baha’i Center has analyzed the progression of the pandemic and decided that face-to-face meetings will again be permitted to take place at their facility. Therefore, at the August 9th general club meeting OCRA will re-assume its traditional face-to-face format for the first time in over 18 months. Also, as a special surprise we have been informed that the NASA group who recently cancelled last month’s presentation, will be available to deliver their program at the August meeting. Technology for their planned presentation will be managed by KR3AM (Mark). At this point in the planning process we anticipate that there will be both a live presentation as well as one on Zoom for folks who are unable to attend the meeting in person. Hopefully this plan will mark the end of our dependence on the repeater-based club meetings that prevailed during the pandemic.

(2) Volunteer Examiner (VE) Sessions will be re-established face-to-face on August 28th at 10 a.m. Club members with VE accreditation from the ARRL are encouraged to participate in this important club activity. Additional information will be forthcoming in August.

(3) Field Day Success Early reports suggest that club field day efforts from home stations were successful. Club participation was great with scores submitted by 37 operators representing many levels of experience using a variety of modes, equipment, antennas, and operating styles to collectively earn a preliminary total of 30,576 points.

Numerous comments from participating operators indicated that field day provided a myriad of learning experiences, a superb opportunity for development of operating skills and an enhanced appreciation and understanding of how communications technologies can be used in ways that bolster human safety and well-being.

(4) Meeting Adjourned – 8:40 p.m.

WLB/DE/s

.

 

 

2021 OCRA/DFMA Field Day Participants ARRL Score Tally


2021 OCRA/DFMA Field Day ARRL Score Totals

The following has been compiled from information provided by OCRA/DFMA Field Day Participants.

ARRL Score Calculation Formula
[CW-CNT x 2 = CW Pts] [SSB-CNT x 1 = SSB Pts] [Digi-CNT x 2 = Digi Pts] ARRL Score = [CW + SSB + Digi Pts Sum) x Pwr_Mult + Bonus Points]

CallsignFirstStationStation_Band_Mode Bonus_ActivityFDay ClassCW QSOCW MultDigi QSODigi MultSSB QSOSSB MultPwr MultQSO ScoreBonus ScoreARRL Total
N4GF Roger Port able 40M Education, Emerg Pwr, Public Loc, Youth Ops, Web Submit 1, A, B 4 2x 5x 40 370 410
WA2JLW Roy Home 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, CW Emerg Pwr, Web Submit 1, E 82 2x 5x 820 150 970
WB4OSU Sherri Home 40M, 20M, WSJT, PSK31 Emerg Pwr, W1AW Msg, Web Submit 1, E 79 2x 5x 790 250 1040
N2XZF Paul Home 20M, 10M, SSB Emerg Pwr, Web Submit 1, E 32 1x 2x 64 150 214
KX4P John Home 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, CW, SSB, WSJT Web Submit 1, D 239 2x 2x 956 50 1006
WA4PSC Howard Home 160M, 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, CW W1AW Msg, Web Submit 1, D 1369 2x 2x 5476 150 5626
N4JQR J R Home 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, 6M, SSB W1AW Msg 1, D 60 1x 2x 120 50 170
W1KES Keith Home 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, 6M, WSJT Web Submit 1, D 114 2x 2x 456 50 506
W4KIL Andy Home 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, 6M, WSJT W1AW Msg, Web Submit 1, D 213 2x 2x 852 150 1002
KR4UB Dan Home 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, WSJT W1AW Msg, Web Submit 1, D 426 2x 2x 1704 150 1854
N4KW Pete Home All, CW, SSB, not sure about 2023 Web Submit 1, D 356 2x 163 1x 2x 1750 50 1800
N8BR Bill Home 80M, 40M, 20M, CW W1AW Msg, Web Submit 1, D 641 2x 2x 2564 150 2714
KO4DHJ Ken Home 80M, 40M, 20M, SSB Web Submit 1, D 45 1x 2x 90 50 140
AJ2X Mark Home 40M, 20M, 15M, SSB W1AW Msg, Web Submit 1, D 207 1x 2x 414 150 564
KY4HU Charles Home 40M, 20M, SSB, WSJT W1AW Msg, Web Submit 1, D 123 2x 5 1x 2x 502 150 652
K1ZW Larry Home 20M, 15M, 10M, SSB Web Submit 1, D 14 1x 2x 28 50 78
KZ1X Steve Home All, CW, aka W4EZ Web Submit 1, D 123 2x 2x 492 50 542
KO4TXN Steve Home All, SSB W1AW Msg, Web Submit 1, D 160 1x 2x 320 150 470
KJ4VWG Sam Home All, SSB W1AW Msg, Web Submit 1, D 73 2x 81 2x 454 150 604
N1LN Bruce Grp_1 Captain, 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, CW, aka NC4KW W1AW Msg, Web Submit 1, D 1351 2x 486 1x 2x 6376 150 6526
N1YXU Laurie Grp_1 All, SSB, aka NC4KW 1, D 486 1x 2x 972
W4BOH Wilson Grp_2 Captain, All, CW Web Submit 2, D 623 2x 37 1x 2x 2566 50 2616
KN4VXB Aurora Grp_2 All, SSB, aka W4BOH 2, D 36 1x 2x 72
NA4VY David Grp_3 Captain, All, SSB, WSJT Web Submit 2, D 222 1x 2x 444 50 494
W4ORD William Grp_3 All, 20M, SSB 1, D
N4UBH David Grp_3 20M, SSB 1, D
KE4UVJ Don Grp_3 20M, SSB 1, D
Nan Grp_3 12 1x 12
K4SAR Joe Grp_4 Captain, 80M, 40M, 15M, 10M, SSB Emerg Pwr, W1AW Msg, Web Submit 1, E 491 1x 2x 982 250 1232
KI4RAN William Grp_4 All, SSB 1, D
KD4YJZ Karen Grp_5 All, SSB, PSK31 1, E 105
KU4GC Dee Grp_7 Captain, 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, SSB, WSJT W1AW Msg, Web Submit 2, D 309 2x 40 1x 2x 1316 150 1466
KF4PAB Lenore Grp_7 aka KU4GC 2, D
KM4MBG Jack Grp_7 aka KU4GC 2, D 2x

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Orange County Radio Amateurs & Durham FM Association ARRL Submission Score to date : 35,560

CW QSO Total Count : 5,009, Digi QSO Total Count : 1,850, SSB QSO Total Count : 2,601, Bonus Activity Points : 3,520

34 Hams on 2021 Field Day N1LN Sign Up List, 15 Group Station Participants, 18, Home Stations, 1 Portable Station

ARRL Submission needed to move score to “Orange County Radio Amateurs & Durham FM Association” for an additional 0 points

CallsignFirstStationStation_Band_Mode FDay ClassScore ValueComment
WB4OSU Sherri Home 40M, 20M, WSJT, PSK31 1, E KN4VXB, KN4GUM Q's included
KX4P John Home 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, CW, SSB, WSJT 1, D
WA4PSC Howard Home 160M, 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, CW 1, D
N4JQR J R Home 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, 6M, SSB 1, D
W4KIL Andy Home 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, 6M, WSJT 1, D
KA5ETS Douglas Home 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, CW, WSJT 1, D
KR4UB Dan Home 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, WSJT 1, D
N4KW Pete Home All, CW, SSB, not sure about 2023 1, D
N8BR Bill Home 80M, 40M, 20M, CW 1, D
AJ2X Mark Home 40M, 20M, 15M, SSB 1, D
KY4HU Charles Home 40M, 20M, SSB, WSJT 1, D
K1ZW Larry Home 20M, 15M, 10M, SSB 1, D
KZ1X Steve Home All, CW, aka W4EZ 1, D
KJ4VWG Sam Home All, SSB 1, D
N1LN Bruce Grp_1 Captain, 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, CW, aka NC4KW 1, D N1YXU Q's included
N1YXU Laurie Grp_1 All, SSB, aka NC4KW 1, D
KN4VXB Aurora Grp_2 All, SSB, aka W4BOH 2, D KN4VXB Q's to be included in sites visited
NA4VY David Grp_3 Captain, All, SSB, WSJT 2, D W4ORD, N4UBH, KE4UVJ, KN4GUM, KN4VXB Q's included
W4ORD William Grp_3 All, 20M, SSB 1, D
N4UBH David Grp_3 20M, SSB 1, D
KE4UVJ Don Grp_3 20M, SSB 1, D
Nan Grp_3 KN4GUM Q's to be included in sites visited
K4SAR Joe Grp_4 Captain, 80M, 40M, 15M, 10M, SSB 1, E KI4RAN Q's included
KI4RAN William Grp_4 All, SSB 1, D
W4SAR Dave Grp_5 Captain, All, SSB, WSJT, PSK31 1, E KD4YJZ Q's included
KD4YJZ Karen Grp_5 All, SSB, PSK31 1, E
Butch Grp_6 At Elmer's Stn in Virginia
KU4GC Dee Grp_7 Captain, 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, SSB, WSJT 2, D KF4PAB, KM4MBG Q's included
KF4PAB Lenore Grp_7 aka KU4GC 2, D
KM4MBG Jack Grp_7 aka KU4GC 2, D
W3AHL Steve 80M__SSB Captain, 80M, SSB
WA4UJM Wally 80M__SSB 80M, SSB
K2RRT Mark 80M__SSB
Henry 10M_Barn
Chris Multiple_Stn 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, 6M, SSB, WSJT, PSK31
W4AEN Ed Multiple_Stn 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, SSB, WSJT
Bruce Multiple_Stn
KC1TWR Tim 80M, 40M, 20M, 10M, 6M, SSB 5
KM4MDR John PotLuck & Food Services
KN4JYP Kathy
KO4JAW Mark
Loren
KO4BHX Ben
KN4QCC Onda
KM4DNU Peter
KM4IWI William
AK4W Ed
KN4VXC Leo
KA5JUJ Martin
KD4UCZ Charles
W4CFO Jim
KK4BPH Mike
Tad
KM4NOU Joel
K4FD Dan
KN4ZHP Mike
KN4QBZ Fred
This is a test of the All Others listed below that I haven't heard from ... are submissions planned?
K4ITL Danny
N4KF Ken
KO4CSW Robert
W4OFZ Banks
KE4YRB Joline
KE4NBB Ted
KM4WHL Sarah
N1GMR Kimberley
KG4NEL Jim
John
KI4MXP Gerald
Elaina
AC4RD Ken
Mike
N4ZAK Robert
KO4GJO Boyd
KK4NNQ Mark
Robley
K4BMW Brian
N4SJW John
N4JHH Joseph
KK4VUR John
WB1AJJ Jonathan
Michael
KD4JWF Jose
KO4ICM Doug
Dan
Phyllis
KR3AM Mark
Peter
KO4RON Ron
KO4KNI Brian
KJ4TTU Steve
KO4KNJ Michael
KA2SBC Kathleen
KA1HPM Nick
KO4KPS Crystal
N7RYN Ryan
WA4AHR Dewey
K4OGP Chris
KA9UAG Jeffrey
KA2DEW Tadd
KK4RRT Michael
K5WNF Zachary
K2HJX Jeremy
KI4OKO Cynthia
KW4JY Calvin
N1QYW Steve
KG4PFB Lisa
KO4RQN James
K3VSA Woody
KG4JGJ Joseph
AI4MW Tommy
None-CP Cortney
W1ST Stephen
KO4SZE Bob
KO4TVC Diana
W4FK Bob
CS-10-21 Clint
JRW-01-93 Jason
. Brad
Dwayne
KN4EOO Rick
KO4UFU Eldon
Andy
Vance
W7GBP Michael D
KK4JGT Terry
Keith
KN4DRN Michael
Matthew
Kadar
KO4ERV Ed
WQ8U Mac
W4LMW David
KF4O Randy
KD8FQM Robert
N3LTV Doug
K4LIF Dan
KK4MEG Albert
KY4OU Christopher
KV7D Adriano
Cornelius
KQ4DCE John
KW4KZ Charles
KW4KZ/XYL Mary
K4KGM Kevin
K2IX Barry
Daryl
KE4MAC Kelly
Janet
KY4SX Domingo
KO4QLU Patrick
Mark
KN4BTI Mark
KM4WXW Jeffrey
KQ4GKB Nyi
K4AAI Jay
W4AG Stan
Sandy
KN4VDO Devin
Patricia
Bill
K6LZL Wyatt
KQ4IWB Mike
W4QL Bob
N0US Paul
KF4WBK Chip
WF4ZT John
WA1QCE Ron
KK4VOU Ted
K1KPD Kevin
Greg Isley Greg
KQ4BYL Jody
David
Ted
KF5CYN Derek
KQ4JDJ Jere
KB3ZD Glenn
KQ4PEC Mike
KW4EE Kevin
KQ4PES Kent
Kevin
NC4CD Charlie
Bob
Bob
Clint
KS4VX Roger
Eddie
KE4QOZ Joanna
Jean
Rosemary
Betsy
Janet
KB1WE Wayne
NE4U John
KG4QOF Dan
KE4HIH Rhett
Dee Ann
April, Emerson, Liam
FD Event Cost
FD Anonymous Extra Payment
Steven
Ken
Detlev
Greg
KE4DKM George
Anthony
KB4DKY Scott
Susan
Jack, Sr
James
Bob
KM4LCW Gretta
Jimmy
Charles
Rickey
Nick
CD Anonomous Extra Payment
CD Event Cost
CD Refund
CD Cancel
FD Refund
FD Cancel
Tom
Kevin
N2JET Shawn
WB2UJL Ernie
Ronald
KF4COP Jim

Awaiting ARRL Submission Data from the following Stations

________________________________________________________________________________________________

ARRL Submissions for Operators Participating in the Group Stations listed below covered by the Station Captain Submission
Q’s by each Operator listed if data has been provided

Total Records Found: 15
CallsignFirstStationStation_Band_Mode FDay ClassCW QSOCW MultDigi QSODigi MultSSB QSOSSB MultPwr MultQSO ScoreComment
N1LN Bruce Grp_1 Captain, 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, CW, aka NC4KW 1, D 1351 2x 486 1x 2x 6376 N1YXU Q's included
N1YXU Laurie Grp_1 All, SSB, aka NC4KW 1, D 486 1x 2x 972
W4BOH Wilson Grp_2 Captain, All, CW 2, D 623 2x 37 1x 2x 2566 KN4VXB, KN4GUM Q's included
KN4VXB Aurora Grp_2 All, SSB, aka W4BOH 2, D 36 1x 2x 72 KN4VXB Q's to be included in sites visited
NA4VY David Grp_3 Captain, All, SSB, WSJT 2, D 222 1x 2x 444 W4ORD, N4UBH, KE4UVJ, KN4GUM, KN4VXB Q's included
W4ORD William Grp_3 All, 20M, SSB 1, D
N4UBH David Grp_3 20M, SSB 1, D
KE4UVJ Don Grp_3 20M, SSB 1, D
Nan Grp_3 12 1x 12 KN4GUM Q's to be included in sites visited
K4SAR Joe Grp_4 Captain, 80M, 40M, 15M, 10M, SSB 1, E 491 1x 2x 982 KI4RAN Q's included
KI4RAN William Grp_4 All, SSB 1, D
KD4YJZ Karen Grp_5 All, SSB, PSK31 1, E 105
KU4GC Dee Grp_7 Captain, 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, SSB, WSJT 2, D 309 2x 40 1x 2x 1316 KF4PAB, KM4MBG Q's included
KF4PAB Lenore Grp_7 aka KU4GC 2, D
KM4MBG Jack Grp_7 aka KU4GC 2, D 2x

________________________________________________________________________________________________

OCRA Club Meeting Minutes – June 14, 2021

ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS

Monthly Membership Meeting – June 14, 2021 – 7:30 pm

Platforms Utilized: OCRA 442.150 UHF Repeater and Zoom Video Conference

Minutes

MEETING CONVENED AT 7:30 PM.

MEMBER CHECK-IN: W4SAR (David), KU4GC (Dee),), KM4MBG (Jack), KF4PAB (Lenore), KZ1X (Steve), KO4DHJ (Ken), KA5ETS (Doug), KD4YJZ (Karen), KR4UB (Dan), KA1HPM (Nick), K4SAR (Joe), KN4BTI (Mark), KO4GJO (Boyd), N1YXU (Laurie), W4ORD (Lad), KX4P (John), KN4GUM (Nan), KN4VXB (Aurora), N4JQR (J.R.), KR3AM (Mark), WB4OSU (Sherri), NA4VY (Dave), N1LN (Bruce) and W4BOH, Wilson.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – W4SAR (David): There will be no formal president’s report tonight. However, we will give club officers an opportunity to make brief comments as necessary and we will then conclude our planning for field day. W4ORD (Lad) – Nothing important to report. We are just finishing preparations for field day and awaiting club consensus on the preferred format for our Christmas party. KR4UB (Dan) – 94 club members are current with their dues. Membership for 15 has expired, membership for another 7 is expiring soon, and 5 need renewal.During the past 12 months we have acquired 24 new members,12 of whom are newly licensed. There is no recent news about our repeaters. Noteworthy is the fact that the towers are going up in Chatham County and there will probably be opportunities for more new ones. Over all I believe there is a good outlook for the future.

FIELD DAY UPDATE:

1. N1LN (Bruce) – There will be another session dealing with N1MM software on June 19th at 10:30 am. This will be held on a new zoom account. We have tested the latest N1MM software and discovered glitches in the scoring tools. This was reported to the N1MM folks and elicited an immediate response. We will test the revision needed. Regarding logs, it is important to submit a document in Cabrillo format and to have proper instruction on that task prior to sending off logs. Be sure to bring your questions to the Saturday meeting.

2. KR4UB (Dan) – Commented on digital modes. Thanks to Bruce for building the spreadsheet on field day interests and intentions. 11 members attended the meeting on digital formats. Attendees will be using various digital modes. We are making good progress in getting educated for the event.

3. W4SAR (David) – Many folks will be using N3FJP software for station control and logging in field day. The program is very user friendly. We are available for answering questions as needed.

4. N1LN (Bruce) – Inquired about individual plans for hosting and emphasized the need to get the information out to prospective attendees.

5. W4ORD (Lad) – indicated that he had hosting opportunities for both ssb and digital operating and was waiting to hear from anyone interested.

GENERAL COMMENTS:

KR4UB (Dan) – The cancellation of our planned NASA presentation was due to a death in the family of one of the presenters and computer problems experienced by the other. We are working to reschedule this important event. Several options are being explored. Hopefully It will be possible to bring the speakers to our usual meeting spot at the Efland Baha’i Center. If this option eventuates, we will have to arrange for a wifi hotspot to be installed so the presentation can be distributed to those attending our meetings virtually.

For future planning purposes Dan requested the meeting attendees as they checked out of the net meeting to answer two questions:

How many would attend a rescheduled NASA presentation?

  • Of the 26 attendees at the meeting (several late arrivals missed the poll) 23 expressed that they would attend.
  • Given the late breaking (day of the event cancellation) two methods were used to notify attendees:
    • direct mailing of members
    •  posting on groups.io.

What is the preferred and most relied on method of notification?

  • 14 preferred exclusive direct mailing notification (in this case from the OCRA mass emailer of the NASA cancelation).
  • 9 stated they received the direct mailing and some also received a group.io email notification of the posted cancelation notice.
  • One concern expressed with groups.io was that a late breaking notificcation may not be received in a timely manner based on the various notifications options .i.e. the daily digest (of the previous day postings sent the morning of the next day), or no email notification.

W4ORD (Lad) – Will be presenting poetry readings at the Colonial Inn in Hillsboro on a regular basis and invites all club members to attend.

NA4VY (Dave) – Wants to discuss with club members various ways to interface digital ham gear with N3FJP software.

W4SAR )Dave) – The Efland Baha’i Center has announced the facility will re-open and be available for club meetings to resume. There are already events scheduled for July, precluding a meeting then and also might be too soon after Field Day, but it will be available in August. As a cost cutting measure, the internet access has been dropped, but WiFi hotspot access via cell phone can be used given the close proximity to a cell tower. In addition to use of a hotspot for presentations, the club still wants to maintain the Zoom capability at the club meetings for members unable to attend in person.

 

MEETING ADJOURNED at 8:35 P.M.

WLB/DE/s

 

OCRA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes – May 11th, 2021

ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS

Executive Board Meeting – May 11, 2021 – 7:30 pm

Platforms Utilized: Zoom

MEETING CONVENED AT 7:30 PM

OFFICERS PRESENT: W4SAR David, (President); KR4UB Dan, (Treasurer); N8BR Bill, (Secretary); KD4YJZ Karen, (Board Member); N1LN Bruce, (Board Member); W4ORD Ladd, (Vice President); KU4GC Dee, (Board Member); KA1HPM Nick (Board Member) and W4BOH Wilson (Board member)

W4SAR (Dave): Welcome. Call to order. The agenda for this meeting contains a continuation of field day planning, presentation of a report by our treasurer and a commentary on club officer training.

FIELD DAY PLANNING: N1LN (Bruce): The following points were made during this presentation: (1.) We are currently into the 5th revision of the survey of planned Field Day activities submitted by club members during recent weeks. As was the case last year, twenty-seven members have indicated their intentions to come on-board to represent our club in Field Day this June. (2.) The next step in our planning is to agree on software training for our operators. Bruce has revised his presentation on N1MM software and to be available for individualized instruction to anyone needing help with that platform. (3) W4SAR (David) has agreed to provide instruction on N3FJP contesting software to whomever might be interested in using it, and (4). KR4UB (Dan) has graciously offered his services in helping set up and operating digital modes.

QUARTERLY TREASURER’S REPORT: KR4UB (Dan) provided the Quarterly Treasurer’s report. Data presented therein is managed and archived by Quicken. Since OCRA’s primary source of income is from membership dues, the presentation was tailored to provide a clear picture of the number of membership dues payments it takes to cover the club’s re-occurring fixed costs such as insurance, a permanent mailing address (post office box) needed to ensure timely receipt of IRS correspondence, insurance invoices, etc and the safe deposit box for storage of the club’s key documents. Significant fund expenditures for repeater maintenance and discretionary spending such as the RF filters purchased for Field Day were also highlighted.

This and future treasurer quarterly report formats will be a look back over a rolling past 12 month income/expense period for comparison to the club meeting monthly membership trend reports for easy comparison of the balance of income and expense.

Membership turn-over was also discussed. During the past year with Covid-19, and no face to face meetings possible, the number of new members joining the club has reached a record high and exceeded the number of memberships expiring.  Initial club contact by new applicants was largely through the club website. Very positive feedback has been received on the use of the Zoom video conferencing during nets, club meetings, special interest gatherings (HamPiE) to provide the opportunity for new members to get to know other members in the club and get their questions and assistance needs met.

ANNUAL BOARD MEMBER TRAINING: KR4UB (Dan) The following information URL links were sent to the board membership for the annual board education guidance in carrying out their respective duties and responsibilities.

MEETING ADJOURNMENT: 9:24 PM

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OCRA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes – April 13, 2021

ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS

Board of Directors Meeting – April 13, 2021 – 7:30 pm

Platforms Utilized: Zoom.

MEETING CONVENED AT 7:30 PM

OFFICERS PRESENT: W4SAR David, (President); KR4UB Dan, (Treasurer); N8BR Bill, (Secretary); KD4YJZ Karen, (Board Member); N1LN Bruce, (Board Member); W4ORD Ladd, (Vice President); KU4GC Dee, (Board Member); KA1HPM Nick (Board Member) and W4BOH Wilson (Board member)

W4SAR (Dave): Welcome. Call to order. The agenda for this meeting is to consider the most recent draft of our proposed revision of the club’s repeater code of conduct and to continue our discussion of field day plans.

KR4UB (Dan): Moved that the revised Code of Conduct for OCRA Repeaters be approved and adopted by The OCRA Board of Directors.

The motion was passed unanimously.

W4SAR (David) led a spirited discussion about this year’s field day operation. A statement to the club outlining the board’s recommendations will be forthcoming.

Meeting adjourned at 9:12 PM

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Club Membership Meeting Minutes- April 12, 2021

ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS

Monthly Membership Meeting – April 12, 2021

Platforms: OCRA UHF Repeater and Zoom.

Minutes

MEETING CONVENED AT 7:30 PM.

MEMBER CHECK-IN – W4SAR (David)

OCRA UHF REPEATER: W4SAR (Dave); KD4YJZ (Karen); KU4GC (Dee); KA5ETS (Doug); W4CFO (James); W4AEN (Ed); W3AHL (Steve); KA1HPM (Nick); W4ORD (Lad); N4JQR (James); N1LN (Bruce); KI4MXP (Gerald); KN4JYP (Kathy); N4KF (Kenneth); KM4MBG (Jack); WB4OSU (Sherri); WA4PSC (Howie); KK4RRT (Michael); N1YXU (Laurie); KI4RAN (Bill); KO4DHJ (Ken); KR4UB (Dan); KM4WXW (Jeffrey) KN4VXB (Aurora); N2XZF (Paul); KF4PAB (Lenore); KN4QBZ (Fred); KR3AM (Mark); KN4JYP (Kathy); W4CFO (Jim); KW4JY (Calvin); KZ1X (Steve); W4BOH (Wilson); KZ1X (Steve); K2HJX (Jeremy); ZOOM: N8BR (Bill); KR4UB (Dan)

OFFICERS’ REPORTS:

President – W4SAR (Dave): Introduction and General Remarks

Vice Present – W4ORD (Lad): No formal report. Noteworthy is the fact that he contacted Virginia, the director of Aux Comm, and informed her that if there are no candidates for the coordinator of Aux Comm in Durham County he would be happy to be considered for the position.

Repeater Committee Reports – KR4UB (Dan – Orange County) and KA1HPM (Nick – Chatham County): No new information to report.

Treasurer – KR4UB (Dan): Currently 99 members are current with dues paid for 2021, 6 members need to renew and 5 memberships are expiring. This past year 32 new members joined 15 of whom are newly licensed.

MEETING AGENDA

Revised Job Descriptions for Executive Committee Members – W4SAR (Dave) We will now vote on proposed changes in the club bylaws that govern the position descriptions for officers and executive board members. We will accomplish this task via the club repeater and Zoom. For several weeks documents containing both current position descriptions and those being proposed have been posted on the club website for perusal. In order to vote you must be a club member in good standing (paid-up dues for the current year). When your call sign is announced, please reply “yes” if you favor adoption of the proposal, “no” if you do not favor adoption, and “abstain” if you are not a member in good standing or you choose not to vote for some other reason. The foregoing procedure resulted in the club’s adoption of the revised bylaws with a final vote of yes=28, no=0, and abstain=1 (new member abstaining due to not yet being familiar with the club’s bylaws).

Our second issue for discussion is the proposed revision of the club’s repeater code of conduct.

KR4UB (Dan) A copy of the proposed revision of our Repeater Code of Conduct which has been prepared over a period of several months has been posted on our Club’s website since the last club general meeting. It has gone through at least 3 revisions. An adopted code of conduct better positions the club when action must be taken on violations on the club’s repeater systems as required by FCC regulations. Comments on the document are now needed. We hope that you will be in agreement with its message. It has been a long time in coming!

KM4MBG (Jack)-The Durham AuxCom group is also looking for a coordinator to re-establish relationships with the county.

Field Day 2021- W4SAR (Dave): We are starting to round the corner on our planning for this year’s field day. The pandemic is still alive and we need to make some important decisions rather quickly. The basic issue we need to resolve concerns the format of this year’s club effort. To establish perspective most of you will recall that before the Covid 19 pandemic began OCRA participated in field day as a large multi-station group operating together at the W4BOH home. Last year in 2020, because of restrictions in group activities stemming from the pandemic, individual club members operated field day at their respective home stations with each contributing to an aggregate score for the club. This format was actually encouraged by and facilitated through changes made in contest rules by the ARRL. Noteworthy is the fact that over the years both of these formats have yielded impressive scores placing our club efforts among the top 9 of several thousand Field Day entrants. So, will our operation this year be a large group activity, a number of isolated individual activities, or a hybrid effort that can include both? General Discussion: W4BOH (Wilson): Generously offered his home and facilities for a group effort. He further recommended that if we do this we could require vaccinations and masks. N1LN (Bruce):suggested that this year’s field day might be a good opportunity for small groups to develop and operate in very safe ways. KR4UB (Dan): If we work FD individually from home stations it might be valuable to maintain contact with each other using Zoom. This could be especially useful for sharing information about band conditions and activity levels or simply exchanging conversation between operators. Zoom contact with other stations was a great resource for Dan this past field day.

Additional respondents presented various positions on the question of which mode for field day is best for the club. Some were supportive of a large group setting while others liked the notion of single operators working in isolation from home stations. All were sympathetic with the need for protecting the health of all participants.

Field day activities will be further discussed at the next meeting of the Executive Board tomorrow evening.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

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