2019 Field Day, OCRA Membership Meeting – July 8, 2019

Quote

Posted on Jul.2019 by W1KES

Dave, W4SAR, club president opened the meeting with introductions, the topic for tonight’s meeting being Field Day results and call for officer reports. In attendance tonight were 8 license-seeking candidates, one of our largest membership meeting testing groups.

Dan, KR4UB, treasurer reported 73 members are current with their dues with 26 members needing renewal. Club treasury balance is in line with ongoing expenses.

Nick, KA1HPM, stated two towers near Lowes hardware in Chatham County exist with antenna and feed-line. Steve, W3HAL, and Dan, KR4UB, would assist in assessing the possibility of usage.

Field Day Results:

Dave, W3SAR, provided a Field Day point breakdown, and will post final results on this website soon. The unofficial count was 2997 QSO points, with 1727 QSO points awarded multipliers for a total of 14,985 points. We had less points this year, but propagation was poor, except for 40 Meter.

Steve, KZ1X, proposed running 100 Watts rather than 5 Watts next year. While QRP, or low power…5 Watts, gets you multipliers, 100 Watts would allow more stations to hear, which would be more fun. Additionally, if sun spot activity is nearing a null, then 100 Watts may a sound strategy for the next couple of years.

Wilson gave thanks to Steve, W3AHL, for doing a great job on the N1MM network. Steve, W3AHL, stated the 10 dedicated computers along with static IP addresses provided more resiliency and up time than last year. Wilson also appreciated John, KM4MDR, for doing a wonderful job managing the food preparation and service…at a’boys!

Additional Notes:

Dan, KR4UB, stated Phillips High School still has an antenna and transceiver used from an earlier ISS contact needing reclamation. If interested in assisting, please leave a reply!

Finally, Dan, KR4UB, will present FT8 at the next DFMA meeting!

OCRA Board Meeting – July 2019

Posted on Jul.2019 by W1KES

Attendance:

Steve W3AHL, Dave W4SAR, Karen KD4YJZ, Wilson W4BOH, Dan (KR4UB), Dee KU4GC, Keith W1KES, Lad W4ORD

Treasurer Report:

The checking and saving balances are in line with ongoing expenses. The pre-pay meal approach proved again very successful with 47 dinners and 34 breakfasts. The more accurate head count for purchasing and preparing meals left little food with a net income of $93.

Field Day:

A big thank you to Wilson W4BOH and his family for hosting, John KM4MDR for providing Friday lunch and facilitating meal preperation, and all the other OCRA/DFMA members who assisted with set up, operation, and tear down.

Notable events:

Weather was very extremely favorable throughout the event
Computer network was reliable, thanks to Steve W3HAL efforts
The digi stations has some difficulty operating from the garage. Will need to identify opportunities for another location next year.
Progation was very good with contacts made in Washington, California, and Hawaii
Satellite proved difficult as power overload from a few sites made contacts difficult for others
Consider using FT8 for kid contacts to avoid “mic fright”
Estimated contact points was 15,160, with bonus points was 17,310.
Further discussion need regarding Friday’s lunch as pre-pay

Please add your Field Day pictures and comments to the site. We would enjoy sharing in your special moments.

Steve purchased automated external defibrillator (AED) battery and pads, which should be good for the next couple of years.

Nick KA1HPM secured call sign KAM for a special event station to honor Hiram Percy Maxim 150 birthday, co-founder of the ARRL. The two day special event will take place September 2, from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Mark your calendars now!

OCRA Membership Meeting – May 13, 2019

Posted on May.2019 by W1KES

Treasurer Report:

Dan (KR4UB) Balance is still strong, current membership is 67 with 30 needing renewing. The cost for maintaining our repeater is increasing. The high cost of tower climbers is one reason OCRA maintains a heathy financial balance. You can easily assist in keeping our financial balance strong. For those who purchase from Amazon and want to add to OCRA’s coffers, Amazon Smile donates 0.5% to eligible charitable organizations. For more information, please visit the following site.

DurHam Fest:

The 45^th Annual Durham Fest occurs over Memorial Weekend. OCRA will provide a table to sell members items. We would ask for a small donation or percentage of sales to off-set the cost of the table. Admission is $5 and prizes may be won. For more information, please scroll down for more information.

Repeater:

The OCRA 442.150 MHz PL 131.8 repeater is programmed to notify the club of cancellation due to poor weather. We encourage all members to listen for announcements and check the groups.io email reflector if storms are present on meeting days.

Field Day – June 22-23:

Field day will again be hosted on Wilson’s (W4BOH) property over the weekend of June 22-23.

Bruce (N1LN) Station setup will occur on Friday, June 21. Band captains are responsible for procuring the necessary bill of material and station coverage throughout the event. Please register your station of interest and availability on the website under Events, OCRA/DFMA Field Day Signup Summary. Again, Elecraft radios are the standard for this year. Band captains that borrowed radios last year need to ensure their availability again this year.

Bruce will provide N1MM logging software instruction training in June.

Steve (W3AHL) mentioned wireless connectivity for multiple computers with N1MM is difficult to manage. However with the laptops donated for Field Day by Adam Caudill (WX4WNC) this will be much easier. Thanks to Adam! The computers will contain a standard configuration image, providing a more stable and consistent approach for management.

Bruce will provide N1MM software training in June. Elecraft radios are rig of choice, making interfacing and configuration easier.

John (KM4MDR) will be facilitating Potluck on Friday around 6:00 PM night. Saturday 5:00 dinner and Sunday breakfast. Attendees will need to prepay for meals. Please see payment options and meal details on the 2019 Field Day post.

Field Day Materials – Operators may want to have present the following as conditions are likely to be hot and humid.

Helmet – if assisting with tower construction and placement
Gloves
Safety kit
Water bottle
Bug spray
Sunscreen
Hat
Smile

OCRA Membership Meeting – March 11, 2019

Posted on Mar.2019 by W1KES

Introductions:

Treasurer Report:

Dan (KR4UB)

We have 68 paid membership current and 33 requiring renewal. You can renew membership easily and securely on the website under the heading of “Members.”

Chatham county continues moving forward with establishing new radio towers. Currently they are writing specifications to publicly bid the work. They plan to establish additional towers beyond current need for anticipated growth, with the understanding it is more cost-effective to erect the additional towers now than re-bid the work at a future date.

WordPress is the most common blog and website platform in use around the globe. OCRA uses WordPress as our primary club communication channel. WordPress has many additional features and functionality that we can leverage for multiple uses. One such use is capturing interest and availability for Field Day.

With just under four months to go, Field Day 2019 is quickly approaching. However, we can more easily start planning now. Dan has created an on-line sign-up form to capture availability to volunteer for food, station, and field site preparation, staffing, and dismantling.

You can easily complete the sign up form on your computer or even phone! The steps for expressing your interest and availability follow:

1. On the site, navigate to the “Member” tab and click “Receive Access Link”.

2. Enter your call sign, answer the math question, and click “Submit”. An email will be sent to your registered public email address.

3. You will receive a confirmation screen notifying you the link has been sent to your email.

4. Login to your registered email address and click the link. If you bookmark this link, it can be used to update your profile…be sure to bookmark!

5. Complete the Field Day sign-up sheet. Be sure to click the “Save” button located at the end of the form. If there are any data corrections, they will be highlighted in red. Band captains will reach out to you regarding the specifics. We look forward to seeing you during Field Day!

Program: Connectors

As many Hams know, it is important when making decisions about getting the right coax for your Ham Station to understand that there are trade-offs that have to be considered between transmitter power, antenna gain, coax loss, and your total Ham Station system performance. Your bank account may also enter into the equation like most Hams.

Cables and connectors are no exception to the above as they make up the lifeline of your entire station, allowing all of the components to work together. Steve (KZ1X) shared that oxygen is the enemy of every connector, as oxidation due to poor connections will limit the performance and life of the connector. Dan (KR4UB) and Steve (KZ1X) further explain the importance of having the right connectors, wires, and crimpers to produce a gas tight crimp. As Dan shared, in his experience most poor transmissions are the result of bad connectors. However, with quality material and practice you can build connectors that provide decades worth of radio fun and enjoyment.

Dan (KR4UB) explaining contact spring tension Steve (KZ1X) explaining Power pole connectors