Reminder! Tonight is the CARC Events planning call, if you are planning to attend CARC’s ARRL Field Day event please join so you will be in the know! Also, a reminder that Hams and Eggs is this Saturday, see calendar for details. We will be going to Sesquicentennial State Park right after Hams and Eggs for a POTA Experience and to test AREDN Mesh Networking! This is a great time to ask questions and learn more about POTA and AREDN Mesh Networking.

Safety and Antenna Placement – Gary Hester, W4GWH
I will be at Sesquicentennial State Park’s primitive area Saturday morning and can assist with your antenna placement and installation if needed. Since RF Exposure calculations have been required since early May, I would ask that you bring a copy either paper or digital. I will have flags and caution tape to mark off any restricted areas. Also, please be aware that there is a power line running across Site 4 to Site 1. There are a few dead or dying trees that I will have marked so watch out for falling branches when placing your antenna and/or tent if camping overnight. I will be available on the Club’s simplex frequency of 146.400 if you need to reach me.

Meal Planning and Preparations – Jean Covey and Charles McKinnis
At 6:00 PM on Saturday, June 24th, we will take a little break from Field Day Activities for dinner.  Charles McKinnis has graciously offered to grill our main course, grilled chicken.  We are asking those who attend to bring a side dish or dessert to share.  We will have limited ability to heat cold dishes, but, for those coming after 5 PM, we will be able to keep hot dishes warm until dinner.  We want to make a list of foods being brought, so if you would please email Jean Covey at [email protected] with what you will be bringing it would be very helpful.
Thank you.

GOTA – Get on the Air
We will have a GOTA station setup and need to have a few volunteers operate the station during the day. The GOTA station will be active starting at 2:00 pm until late evening. Please stop by the GOTA station if you can spare 30 minutes to an hour. Join the Planning call to learn more about GOTA!

Planning Call Information

• CARC General Planning Meeting
  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83798234736?pwd=emlIZWVqZ2VCYW4vR0EvaVg3L01BQT09CARC EVENT PLANNING CALLJoin Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83798234736?pwd=emlIZWVqZ2VCYW4vR0EvaVg3L01BQT09 <https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83798234736?pwd=emlIZWVqZ2VCYW4vR0EvaVg3L01BQT09>Meeting ID: 837 9823 4736Passcode: 180438One tap mobile+13017158592,,83798234736#,,,,*180438# US (Washington DC)+13052241968,,83798234736#,,,,*180438# USDial by your location+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)+1 305 224 1968 US+1 309 205 3325 US+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)+1 646 931 3860 US+1 929 436 2866 US (New York)+1 386 347 5053 US+1 507 473 4847 US+1 564 217 2000 US+1 669 444 9171 US+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)+1 689 278 1000 US+1 719 359 4580 US+1 253 205 0468 US+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)+1 360 209 5623 USMeeting ID: 837 9823 4736Passcode: 180438Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/keceoKbEQD <https://us02web.zoom.us/u/keceoKbEQD>

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
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Meeting ID: 834 3060 4722
Passcode: 516014
One tap mobile
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+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

On May 13^th, 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]

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.