The Orange Park Amateur Radio Club monthly meeting was held on July 18, 2019 at the Orange Park High School, and was opened by Club President Don Ahlskog, K4EAE. Thirty-one people were in attendance.
NEW ATTENDEES – Four new attendees were in attendance, including one that learned of the meeting while visiting the recent Field Day activities.
SECRETARY’S REPORT – A motion was asked for to approve the minutes from the June 2019 meeting, as posted to the website, and the minutes were approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT – Treasurer Mark Fields, N4QLC, provided the Treasurer’s report as of June 30, 2019. A motion was made to approve the treasurer’s report and passed.
CLAY COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE (Clay ARES) – Clay County Emergency Coordinator Adrian Gray, K4AWG, announced a state-wide exercise will take place August 3 to test communications between Emergency Operations Coordinators, to establish amateur radio links on VHF and UHF, on a variety of frequencies, including on the Florida State Amateur Radio Network SARNET. In response to a question from Dan Weisenburger, KW4T, about what happens if there is actual hurricane activity during the exercise, Mr. Gray said “Reality takes over”, and hurricane monitoring and related activities would supersede the exercise.
Clay ARES meetings are held the first Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at Pinewood Christian Academy, Middleburg, unless otherwise announced.
The primary Clay ARES repeater, 146.925, used for the weekly Clay ARES Sunday night net, was continuing to have problems, which are being worked on, and reminded attendees that the back-up repeater is the OPARC repeater, 146.670.
HAM TESTING: There was no update about recent or upcoming ham testing. Information on JaxLaurel ham testing can be found at: www.JaxLaurel.com or by contacting Rajesh Verma, K4SK, directly at rv49er@gmail.com.
QRP & REPEATER ACTIVITIES – Vice President Ted Jahn, K4YLX, provided a brief overview of QRP activities at the June Field Day, Mr. Jahn reviewed the format for the twice-monthly (2nd and last Saturday of each month), noting it was an informal gathering with “no rules, no agenda, no dues” and generally included a show-and-tell or presentation or working on projects. Persons interested in being included on the QRP mailing list for meeting updates should contact Roy Ashkenaz, K2RMA.
Meetings are generally held at the Clay County Library in Fleming Island, starting at 1 p.m., and lasting approximately two hours, preceded by some participants having lunch at the Fleming Island Panera café, Due to the library having summer activities making the meeting facilities unavailable, the most recent meeting was held at the home workshop of Obe Reinhardt, KC4VZT, in Middleburg, with 17 people attending. Mr. Jahn provided an update of damage to Mr. Reinhard’s house and workshop during Hurricane Irma flooding, and QRP and OPARC members providing assistance.
Mr. Jahn said the two Orange Park repeaters, 146.700 and 444.500 were operating “nominally…”, and that “while there’s was not as much repeater activity as the club would like, traffic has increased due to the Clay ARES on-going repeater problems”. Mr. Jahn said the 444.500 repeater is operating on 100 watts.
In response to a comment about Wires-X, Mr. Weisenburger asked what Wires-X was, and was provided an overview. (WIRES (Wide-coverage Internet Repeater Enhancement System) is an Internet communication system which expands the range of amateur radio communication. For WIRES-X, an amateur node station connecting to the Internet is used as the access point and connects the wireless communication to the Internet. Further information on Wires-X can be found at: https://systemfusion.yaesu.com/wires-x/
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Jim Keeley W1JJK, announced that the 146.805 repeater, with a 400 foot antenna, located near U.S. Route 1 and Racetrack Road (the Durbin Creek area of Jacksonville), is back on the air after an absence of several years. The repeater has a PL tone of 127.3. All local amateur radio operators are encouraged to use the repeater. (Note: Baofeng radios programmed by Mr. Keeley and several other OPARC members should have this repeater already programmed on Channel 8 of their radios.)
Mr. Keeley noted that information for New Hams, including links for programming, local repeater frequencies, and club meetings, can be found on his QRZ.com page for downloading.
NEW BUSINESS – None
OLD BUSINESS
FIELD DAY – Field Day Chairman Chuck Helverson, KA3EHA, provided a brief overview of the June 2019 Field Day activities, noting that the Field Day scores had been submitted, and that scores ranked fifth of the 12 Field Day score results. Approximately 4,200 points were earned this year compared to approximately 1,100 in 2018.
Berta Anlage, KF400K, Field Day Food Chairman, said $277.45 of the $400 allocated for food and beverages was spent, and the remainder would be returned to the treasury.
UPCOMING EVENTS
OPARC MONTHLY BREAKFAST – The President announced the monthly breakfast is held on the first Saturday of the month at Grumpy’s restaurant, on Kingsley Road, in Orange Park.
OPARC AUCTION – The President noted the OPARC equipment auction will be held during the August 15 monthly meeting.
PRESENTATION – Mr. Jahn discussed antennas, SWR meters, and antenna analyzers, displaying several analyzers and tool cases he uses as his “tool kit”, and, and showed a video on Coaxial Directional Couplers. There was a question and answer period following the video presentation.
A motion was made and the meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. for socializing.
