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From the Shack – January 2013

Next Meeting January 4th
Silent Auction and Coax Presentation

Our first meeting of the New Year kicks off as a double header. We’ve two very interesting and exciting things for you. An expanded silent auction and an informative presentation about coax. There’s more about the silent auction elsewhere in the newsletter and on the website, here’s the lowdown about the presentation.

We all use coax around the shack, connecting our rigs to antennas, antenna switches and tuners. Some of us also use coax for interconnecting transceivers to amplifiers or other station accessories. There’s lots of types and sizes of coax available, have you wondered if you chose the correct/best one for the job? That’s exactly what Ed/KB1NWH is going to help us out with tonight.

Ed/KB1NWH will be sharing with us everything you need to know about coax; types available, costs and the best places to use each type in your radio shack. Ed served HCRA for many years as our technical director answering questions like this on an almost daily basis. He’s taken that knowledge, boiled it down and will give us the scoop on everything coax – from tiny RG-174 to hardline and everything in between. After the presentation Ed will take any questions you may have particular to your installation. This will be a good primer for upcoming spring antenna installations or repairs.

KX3 Raffle

There’s still time to purchase YOUR winning ticket for the KX3 transceiver, but time is running short. The last ticket sales will be at the upcoming MTARA Hamfest on March 2nd, with the drawing being held around noon at the hamfest. Tickets will be available at all club meetings and of course at the hamfest. Not sure you want the transceiver? Think about that a minute. You could own one of the most progressive HF transceivers, considered by many to be the equal of almost any transceiver made to date, for a $10 donation. Rated #2 on Sherwood’s receiver testing, all HF bands, built in PSK and more. Read more about the rig and the raffle by clicking here. Thanks as always for your support of HCRA and good luck!

The return of the silent Auction!

Here’s the latest list of donations for the auction, they may be more by time Friday rolls around. Need more details? Click here.

Radio Shack portable scanner
Radio Shack desk top scanner
Sony AM/FM/SW portable radio
Panasonic portable radio
CDE Ham II rotor
Mini Digital TV Stick
Circuit board set for an ARRL wattmeter
HP Netbook computer
Icom 207 Dual band mobile transceiver

This should be really fun – see you Friday night!

Amateur Radio License Classes scheduled for January!

HCRA’s chief instructor John/Kx1x has announced the latest round of classes. Starting January 15 with two evening sessions and ending with a full day class and test session Saturday January 26. Technician, General and Extra classes will be offered. The focus will be on Technician class to get new folks on board. The General and Extra sessions will be more of a ‘study group’ than a formal class. We had fantastic success with this format last year and are hoping for a repeat.

The classes will be based around the ARRL License Manuals, available from ARRL, Amazon and of course regular bookstores. Another helpful resource are the ‘No Nonsense Study Guides‘ written by Dan/KB6NU. These are well written guides designed to help you pass the test. Tech and General guides are free, the Extra guide is a mere $7.99. All are available for download on their website (linked above). I highly recommend using these guides along with the ARRL manuals. Couple that with some study time there’s no reason why we won’t have a 100% pass rate, right?

If you know of anyone looking to become an Amateur Radio Operator please point them to our classes. The classes are free, and if someone is willing to put in two evenings and a Saturday they too can join our fun hobby.

Spot from the cluster:

Gather up your ‘stuff’ and get it ready for the Silent Auction this month. Think of it like a flea market without prices. What a great way to raise some cash or get some bargains! Open to everyone, members and non-members alike. Read more about it here.

KX3 Raffle drawing changed to March 2nd. Drawing held around noon at the MTARA Hamfest. Good luck! Already have a ticket, double your chances and purchase a second!

10 Meter Contest results are posted on the website. I know there were other HCRA operators QRV, please email us your scores so we can add them to the list. Don’t forget the soapbox comments – they’re even more fun than the scores! Have you sent in your log yet? Cut off date for your entry is 0000Z January 9th. (7:00 PM local time)

ARRL Cabinet meeting is January 5th. HCRA will be represented at the meeting. Are there any issues/comments you would like us to put forward at the meeting? If so please email them to me, thanks!

Happy New Year – 73…
Jim/KK1W

 


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