Experimentation
W4FSV
Breadboard Radio – Ham Radio Kits that are easy to build and fun to use!
KM4ACK
Build-a-Pi will allow you to get up and running fast with a Raspberry Pi for ham radio.
Winlink for Emergency Communications: Beginners Workshop
Wait what? Last month’s Ham and Eggs attendees received a USB key packed with tools and software for Winlink, JS8Call, and VARAChat. Perfect timing, there is training posted at ARES-SC.org that will take you through Winlink A-Z. More details are below:
NOTE: This is will a late evening event, it is posted to be a 7 pm PST time, making it 10 pm for the east coast.
Walk MS: Columbia, SC April 22, 2023
Greetings all! Gary K4HGA and Mark KN4KRZ are looking for volunteers to assist with Walk MS course monitoring Saturday, April 22, 2023. Walk MS event is an easy short outing, making it a great way to enjoy the spring weather and test your HTs and portable VHF/UHF radios. Event details are below, again to join us please email Gary or Mark and let them know you are going to attend. Also, if you are planning to attend, make sure to join event calls scheduled in the club calendar.
Gary K4HGA – [email protected]
Mark KN4KRZ – [email protected]
Walk Details: https://mssociety.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cms.page&id=5372&eventID=1436
COLUMBIA SKYWARN STORM SPOTTERS TEAM
https://columbiaskywarn.website/
The Columbia SKYWARN Team assists the Columbia National Weather Service with Ground-Truth weather observations during severe or dangerous weather. The Columbia NWS forecast area covers a large portion of South Carolina and is divided into three areas: August/CSRA, Midlands, and Eastern Midlands.
The Columbia SKYWARM Team holds weekly and monthly NETS and Virtual Training/Meetings. More Information can be found at https://columbiaskywarn.website.
Important Links:
- How to Report Severe Weather to the NWS Office in Columbia: https://www.weather.gov/cae/severe_reports.html
- Storm Reporting to NWS: https://inws.ncep.noaa.gov/report/
- Storm Prediction Center: https://www.spc.noaa.gov/
- Richland County Emergency Preparedness: https://richlandcountysc.gov/Emergency-Preparedness
Founded in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN Spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite, and other data, has enabled the NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and flash floods. SKYWARN Storm Spotters form the nation’s first line of defense against severe weather minutes that can help save lives.
In most years, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and lightning cause hundreds of injuries and deaths, and billions in property and crop damages. To obtain critical weather information, the National Weather Service (NWS) established SKYWARN with partner organizations. SKYWARN is a volunteer program with between 350,000 and 400,000 trained severe weather Spotters. These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service. Although SKYWARN Spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the focus is reporting on severe local thunderstorms. In an average year, the United States experiences more than 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, and more than 1,000 tornadoes. (Information courtesy of the Columbia NWS)
Interested in learning more, have questions, or want to sign up for training-Newsletter-meetings?
Use the orange form at the bottom of the page to contact us, or visit the Columbia NWS at https://www.weather.gov/cae/skywarn.html
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/columbia-amateur-radio-club-swapfest/
CARC May Meeting Zoom
Greetings all! Pardon the delay in getting this posted. May Meeting will cover the following:
- Club Updates
- Walk MS
- Jimmy Doolittle Event
- Committee update
- RF Exposure Evaluation Requirement: FCC Exposure Rules Soon to Affect Every US Radio Amateur
- RF Exposure Calculator https://www.arrl.org/rf-exposure-calculator
- New Business
- Adjourned
Zoom Details
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83430604722?pwd=dkpCSWxlVm1zcVA2eGV5ZlpQVG4wUT09
Meeting ID: 834 3060 4722
Passcode: 516014
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,83430604722#,,,,*516014# US (Washington DC)
+13052241968,,83430604722#,,,,*516014# US
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 305 224 1968 US
+1 309 205 3325 US
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/carc-may-meeting-zoom/
CARC Spring Swapfest
On May 13th, the Columbia Amateur Radio Club will host its Spring Swapfest at the South Carolina Military Museum at 1 National Guard Rd, Columbia SC 29201. Gates open at 10 AM and Close at 4 PM. CARC Swapfest is free for those who want to buy, trade, and sell Ham Radio gear. For more information visit https://www.w4cae.com
This will be a bring your own table, tent or sell from your trunk, there will be lots of buying, selling, and trading, don’t miss this fantastic opportunity. For more information contact Jim W4JLP at [email protected]
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/carc-spring-swapfest/
81st Commemoration of The Doolittle Raid
If you are interested in WWII and South Carolina history you will probably enjoy this Sunday afternoon April 23, from 1 – 5 PM. Join us for a day of Radio to commemorate The Doolittle Raiders. The Columbia Big Band will be playing the music of the 40s. Lots of displays, even a HAM Radio operator passing messages to civilians around the country and the world, just like in 1942. At 4:00 PM, a special presentation on how South Carolina’s own helped the Raiders succeed, and later find the B-25 in Lake Murray. Admission is FREE.
Columbia Amateur Radio Club with be operating at the 81st Commemoration of The Doolittle Raid Sunday, April 23, 2023. We are looking for volunteers to help with setup, talking with visitors, handling QSOs, (Man the Radio), and logging. We will be arriving at 11:30 with plans to be on the air before 1:00 pm. All are welcome to stop by, we could use your help!
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/81st-commemoration-of-the-doolittle-raid/
When the Bands Conditions are right, WOW!
Greetings all! Today we finally got outside after all of the rains cleared. Tedd K4TLC and I decided to set up his Icom 705 and do a little testing with some new antennas; we tested the Buddipole (dipole) and a Wolfe River Coil. The band conditions were amazing. Using just 10 watts of power on 20 meters we made phone contact with Viense Italy and got a pretty good signal report of 5,5, not bad for the gear tested. Next, we added a Xiegu XPA125 100-watt amp to the mix, this little amp is truly amazing, it’s an amp and antenna tuner in one. Well, adjusting the 705 power so as not to overload the amp, we settled on about 50 watts of output power and tried our luck on 20 meters.
After a few minutes of searching the band, we heard a QSO between NY and Australia. We parked there listening to their rag chew about propagation. The Australian station was describing his setup and the direction of his antenna, his antenna was facing the long path to our area. The two continued to talk and were wondering about others who could hear them, so we gave it a try. We called out W4JLP, and wahla! The Australian station heard us, at first, we were weak but called out again to reaffirm the call sign, and like magic, the band opened up and we had a great QSO with VK3CWB and NE2O.
Truly a great time, we will be testing more gear and chasing POTA the rest of the week. Oh, I also did a little CW with the PrepComm MMX Tri-Band CW Transceiver/Decoder. Made several POTA contacts on 20 and 40 Meters using the Wolfe River Coil antenna.
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/when-the-bands-conditions-are-right-wow/
COLUMBIA SKYWARN STORM SPOTTERS TEAM
https://columbiaskywarn.website/
The Columbia SKYWARN Team assists the Columbia National Weather Service with Ground-Truth weather observations during severe or dangerous weather. The Columbia NWS forecast area covers a large portion of South Carolina and is divided into three areas: August/CSRA, Midlands, and Eastern Midlands.
The Columbia SKYWARM Team holds weekly and monthly NETS and Virtual Training/Meetings. More Information can be found at https://columbiaskywarn.website.
Important Links:
- How to Report Severe Weather to the NWS Office in Columbia: https://www.weather.gov/cae/severe_reports.html
- Storm Reporting to NWS: https://inws.ncep.noaa.gov/report/
- Storm Prediction Center: https://www.spc.noaa.gov/
- Richland County Emergency Preparedness: https://richlandcountysc.gov/Emergency-Preparedness
Founded in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN Spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite, and other data, has enabled the NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and flash floods. SKYWARN Storm Spotters form the nation’s first line of defense against severe weather minutes that can help save lives.
In most years, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and lightning cause hundreds of injuries and deaths, and billions in property and crop damages. To obtain critical weather information, the National Weather Service (NWS) established SKYWARN with partner organizations. SKYWARN is a volunteer program with between 350,000 and 400,000 trained severe weather Spotters. These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service. Although SKYWARN Spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the focus is reporting on severe local thunderstorms. In an average year, the United States experiences more than 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, and more than 1,000 tornadoes. (Information courtesy of the Columbia NWS)
Interested in learning more, have questions, or want to sign up for training-Newsletter-meetings?
Use the orange form at the bottom of the page to contact us, or visit the Columbia NWS at https://www.weather.gov/cae/skywarn.html
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/columbia-skywarn-storm-spotters-team/
Midlands SKYWARN Monthly virtual meeting
Severe weather season is here. Are you ready? Join us at 8 pm tomorrow for the Midlands SKYWARN Monthly virtual meeting, and let’s review. There will be a number of announcements for everyone, and hope you are able to join us at 8 pm.
Until tomorrow, best wishes for a great week!
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You are invited to a Virtual SKYWARN Meeting.
Midlands SKYWARN Meeting via Google Meet.
March 28, 2023, @ 8 pm.
Meeting link: https://meet.google.com/nzt-dnpz-iok
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/midlands-skywarn-monthly-virtual-meeting/
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