Author Archives: Orange County Radio Amateurs, INC

February 12th Meeting – The Program is You!

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Our next monthly meeting will be held 7:00pm Monday at the Efland Baha’i Center.

The program is…You! I believe our club is at a crossroads, times and situations have changed since the founding of the club over 25 years ago. At our recent board meeting, concerns were raised that the long-term core membership is aging out, some of us have worked hard over many years and want to avoid burn-out. The greatest concern perhaps, is assuring a succession of the club to newer generations of hams, and the passing on of the club’s knowledge base and technical ability to keep the repeaters running, and to keep a pool of trained communicators available for public service and emergencies in our area. We don’t want to see a malaise and decline set in, but want the club to be fun and vibrant.

So let’s have a serious discussion, we want to hear from you what can be done to revitalize the club. Are changes needed? What can we do to build a technical pool? What engaging, fun things can we get into?

We already have Field Day, probably the single biggest group project we engage in (with the DFMA).
Can we get teams for other contests as well?
What hands-on “clinics” would you like?
What presentations would you like best?

It is your club, tell us what you like about it, what is not working, what you would want to see done.

73,

Dave, W4SAR

Hams & Eggs at Virlie’s

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An octet of hungry hams conclaved at Virlie’s in Pittsboro for the last breakfast gathering of the year this past Saturday morning.

John, KX4P, brought in a broken main frequency dial digital encoder for the group’s examination. It was from a Collins KWM-380 from the 1979-83 era that he recently repaired.

Dave, W4INN, determined to get on the air one way or another, is toying with the idea of just running anantenna wire out the window. Dave likes bees because he likes honey. His daughter-in-law gave him a whole jug of the stuff for Christmas.

Terry, KK4JGT, agrees. He has four hives now and a gardener neighbor who gives him produce in appreciation for his quadrupled yields since Terry became a beekeeper. With perhaps the best eyes in the group, he made several good observations regarding the shapes and orientation of the slots in the rotating disk assembly of John’s encoder.

Nick, KA1HPM, described working back-in-the-day with, and the workings of, the coordinateograph, a beautiful machine which is basically a highly precise Etch-a-Sketch. He is still puzzling out his mysterious loss of power on FT8.

Roy, WA2JLW, commented on the Bouvet Island DXpedition as well as CW and digital operations. He is now getting out of his back yard on 160 with his improved antenna which sports a pair of 30 foot radials.

John, KK4VUR, reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX will attempt to put a car into heliocentric orbit on its next test launch. Maybe a Tesla? John confessed that he has been listening to HF on his SDR. (Ah, the HF siren beckons.)

Bill, N8BR, suggested that John try a vertical antenna for his HF SWLing. Bill is bracing for Bouvet.

Herb, N4HA, kept busy trying to remember what was being said so he could compose this. Thanks to KX4P for mnemonic assistance and the photo.

We hope you will join us in the new year for some stimulating conversation, friendship, and breakfast. We still meet around 8:30 AM.

Happy New Year to all.

and thanks to Herb, N4HA and John, KX4P for the always interesting reports and photo.


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
OCRA members and Club contribute to Bouvet DXpedition

			
						

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With the interest expressed by OCRA members to provide some level of contribution toward the upcoming Bouvet Island DXpedition, OCRA facilitated member donations and provided a matching contribution up to a $200 maximum.


Member donations came  to a total of $210 plus the club $200 matching donation for a total of $410 donated to Bouvet Island DXpedition. The individual donors are (from the largest to the smallest were:


    

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    • N8BR
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    • NC4CX
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    • KJ4UZU
      • 

    • W4BOH
      • 

    • KR4UB
      • 

    • KA1HPM
      • 

    • W4KIL
      • 

    • KA5JUJ
      • 

    

    • 



From Bob K4UEE Bouvet DXpedition:

We depart for Bouvet in under two weeks now, and the excitement level among the 20 team members is very high. Thank you for your financial help in making this historic DXpedition happen.

73, Bob-K4UEE


and…. OCRA’s logo is now on the Bouvet DXpedition website as a supporter


Further details regarding contributions, news and updates on the expedition can be found at https://www.bouvetdx.org/

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
OCRA member Tucker, W4FS and Sam, KI4TRG of Raleigh receive QCWA Scholarships

			
						

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In the December 2017 issue of the QCWA Journal, it was announced that Tucker McGuire, W4FS of Efland, and Sam Brewer, KI4TRG of Raleigh, received QCWA 2017 Scholarships.  Tucker W4FS is a junior at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro pursuing a career in information technology with a focus on data analytics.  Sam KI4TRG is a sophomore at the University of North Carolina – Asheville pursuing a degree in Mechatronics, a combination of mechanical and electrical engineering.