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October 2024 - Maple Grove Radio Club
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If you are having trouble reading this newsletter in your email client try turning off "Dark Mode." Also, you can always read it online from the newsletter archives.
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MGRC Mission Statement
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Maple Grove Radio Club provides education to current and future amateur radio operators, with the goal of serving the public. We are a reliable communications resource for events and emergencies in Maple Grove and surrounding communities.
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Osseo Lions Roar Parade
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President's Message
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October is here! Our club meeting presentation this month is on Youth in Amateur Radio. Our presenters will be presenting virtually via zoom.
I want to thank everyone who has signed up for Twin Cities Marathon and thanks to Stephen Cullen for organizing net control. As you’ve hopefully seen in recent emails we are still in need of volunteers so please sign up if you can for October 6th.
Again we have our Extra class starting this week and will begin the day after our club meeting on October 2nd. Thanks to all of the teachers for this year’s class and I hope we have as much success as we’ve had in years past.
Another big reminder is the Northstar ARRL Convention on October 5th. We will have a club table present at the convention and you are welcome to attend all of the presentations. Please visit https://northstarradio.org to sign up and find out more.
Finally we have board elections coming up in October. We will have a brief presentation on Election Runner and how this will all take place at our upcoming meeting. If you’d like to join the board or know someone who does please nominate them at the next meeting or send me an email of your interest.
73
Zach Whitney
K0ZTW
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Connect with Elmers/Mentors
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All club members are invited to join our groups.io forum. Please go to https://groups.io/g/MGRC/join to join. It should take less than a day for a moderator to approve. This form is a great way to get any technical questions answered.
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In-Person meetings are on the first Tuesday each month.
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The meeting starts at 1900 hrs (7:00pm CDT) at the Chester Bird American Legion Post 523 located at 200 Lilac Drive N Golden Valley, MN 55422. Here is a link for directions.
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Youth in Amateur Radio presented by multiple Youth Amateur Radio Operators.
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You can also attend by zoom if you are unable to meet in person:
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Next Board Meeting
Members are welcome to attend MGRC Board Meetings (only board members can vote), which are typically the 3rd Thursday of each month.
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Board meetings are always by zoom. Please contact president@k0ltc.org or any board member or officer if you would like the Zoom meeting link to attend.
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MGRC Weekly Net
Our weekly Net is on Wednesdays at 20:00 UTC (8pm), on 147.000, positive offset, tone 114.8. We use directed Net protocol and will have a new question for discussion every week. Please call in if you can reach the K0LTC repeater. We need additional NET Operators! If you'd like to receive Net operator training please contact net@k0ltc.org.
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Lab Class
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This months lab class will be on WinLink. This lab class will get your hands dirty by configuring and testing sending and receiving emails through the WinLink system.
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I highly recommend going to the lab classes they are a lot of fun.
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TALARC The American Legion Amateur Radio Club
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Chair: Tim Arimond - N0BYH.
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Shack is operational with VHF/UHF stations (HF antenna temporarily down).
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Contact Stephen Cullen if interested in shack access: KF0AED9@gmail.com.
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Just need to be an MGRC member in good standing to be eligible for honorary membership.
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Zoom meetings 4th Thursday of each month at 7pm.
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Public Service Events / Volunteering
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The Twin Cites Marathon is on October 6th. You will provide access to mobile medical teams and ambulance services to injured, or ill runners. Providing this medical communication is very important to the safety of the race. We will be using UHF repeater and you only need a HT (handheld). Please Sign up for the Twin Cities Marathon Net 1 from Start to mile marker 19.
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Club Calendar of Events
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Interesting Media
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I wasn't aware of Smith Charts until I took the Amateur Radio License Exams. I've been trying to deepen my understanding of them. This video series gives a good overview and has examples of how to apply Smith Charts to design shorted stubs for impedance matching. Click the above picture to learn more.
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The Smoking Ape gets into what is the difference between TinySA and TinyVNA. These devices are relatively inexpensive test equipment that has been a game changer. Click the above picture to learn.
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I am a relatively new HF operator. I found this video interesting and informative as far as what kind of dashboards could be useful for a ham radio operator. Learn how KM4ACK runs his shack by clicking the image above.
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ARRL NEWS
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Amateur Radio Now Working Two Dangerous Hurricanes
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As of Thursday afternoon September 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene has been upgraded to a Category 3 storm by the National Hurricane Center. It is expected to strengthen and bring catastrophic winds and storm surge to the northeastern Gulf coast. Late Thursday afternoon Helene was located 145 miles from Tampa, Florida with winds of 120 miles per hour (mph).
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The storm is moving toward the north-northeast at 16 mph. This general motion is expected to continue with a significant increase in forward speed during the next 24 hours. On the forecast track, Helene will move across the eastern Gulf of Mexico Thursday and cross the Florida Big Bend coast Thursday evening or early Friday morning, possibly as a category 3 or 4 storm. After landfall, Helene is expected to turn northwestward and slow down over the Tennessee Valley on Friday and Saturday. Weakening is expected after landfall, but Helene's fast forward speed will allow strong, damaging winds, especially in gusts, to penetrate well inland across the southeastern United States, including over the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians.
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The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) was activated Thursday morning at 10:00 AM EDT on both 14.325 MHz and 7.268 MHz. Here are the current plans, from HWN:
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• 20 meters: 14.325 MHz (USB) at 10:00 AM EDT (1400 UTC) until we lose propagation at night.
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• 40 meters: 7.268 MHz (LSB) at 10:00 AM EDT (1400 UTC). We will remain active on this frequency throughout the day and overnight for as long as propagation allows. If propagation allows us to operate all night, we will suspend operations at 7:30 AM EDT Friday to allow the Waterway Net to conduct their daily net.
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• 20 meters: we will resume operations on 14.325 MHz at 7:00 AM EDT (1000 UTC).
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• 40 meters: we will resume operations on 7.268 MHz at 8:30 AM EDT (1230 UTC).
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Any change to the Hurricane Watch Net plans will be on their website, www.hwn.org, and social media page.
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The VoIP Hurricane Net was also activated at 10 AM EDT Thursday and will remain active for as long as necessary for Hurricane Helene and impacts to Florida and Georgia, through Friday morning. The net, on *WX_TALK* EchoLink conference node: 7203/IRLP 9219 system and other VoIP radio systems via the KC5FM-R node, is supporting WX4NHC, the amateur radio station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. WX4NHC will also be active beginning at 3 PM EDT Thursday through late Thursday evening.
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The ARRL West Central Florida Section will be activating both the State EOC at Tallahassee (KA4EOC) and an alternative communications point at the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center (W4UC.)
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Current planned ICS 205 activation:
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SARNET should be used as the primary communications point except for any sensitive traffic.
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Note that if the microwave link is lost along the way, it may impact communications if the transmission can’t reach the central routing point.
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If using Winlink, formal messaging traffic should be sent to either KA4EOC for ham or NNA4FL for SHARES. Winlink is monitored as well as configured to automatically forward to the State Watch Office:
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For HF, 7197 for daytime and 3940 for night primary (KA4EOC & W4UC will share responsibility for monitoring the frequencies)
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No time has been set to place SARNET in a restricted net or when the HF net will begin, but that information will be shared soon. Activation of the formal nets will not begin until storm impacts start being felt in the state.
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Tropical storm John has been upgraded again to Hurricane John and is producing catastrophic life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides over portions of southern Mexico. Winds are at 75 miles per hour (mph) and the storm is moving northwest at 6 mph. Through Friday, Hurricane John is expected to produce additional rainfall amounts of 10 to 20 inches across portions of the Mexican States of Guerrero and Michoacán. Additional rainfall of 2 to 4 inches with locally up to 6 inches is expected across the Mexican States of Colima and western Oaxaca.
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When Hurricane John initially made landfall it left 100,000 residents and businesses without power, uprooted trees and power poles while ripping off roofs. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 10 miles from the storm’s center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles.
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National Preparedness Month - Get Involved
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This underscores the need to be prepared. Even experienced hams and those who have been through many disasters have to continually work on their resilience plans.
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While we have discussed some very basic preparedness tips this month, ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, hopes you will put your skills, equipment, and other resources to use in a group that can make a difference in your community. “If you have the ability, get plugged into a local ARES group. Using your resources to assist local responder agencies, volunteer groups, public service events, and other areas of need are a prime use of amateur radio,” he said.
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ARES members will soon great way to practice those skills in controlled situations such as Simulated Emergency Tests or local communications exercises.
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On October 5 - 6, Sections will hold a SET, so get involved in your local drill and make a difference in your community through amateur radio.
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Upcoming State, Section, and Division Conventions
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September 28 | Red River Radio Amateurs Hamfest, sponsoring the ARRL Dakota Division Convention, West Fargo, North Dakota
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October 5 | Wichita Area Hamfest, sponsoring the ARRL Kansas State Convention, Wichita, Kansas
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October 5 | Northstar Radio Convention, sponsoring the ARRL Minnesota State Convention, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
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October 12 | Rock Hill Hamfest, sponsoring the ARRL South Carolina Section Convention, Rock Hill, South Carolina.
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October 13 | Nutmeg Hamfest, sponsoring the ARRL Connecticut State Convention, Meriden, Connecticut
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October 18 - 20 | Pacificon, sponsoring the ARRL Pacific Division Convention, San Ramon, California
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November 2 | Wisconsin ARES/RACES Conference 2024, sponsoring the ARRL Wisconsin State Convention, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
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November 2 -3 |Stone Mountain Hamfest, sponsoring the ARRL Georgia State Convention, Lawrenceville, Georgia
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• President: Zack Whitney – K0ZTW (2021)
• Vice President: Stephen Cullen – KF0AED (2023)
• Secretary: William Oliver – KF0ADU (2022)
• Treasurer: Barb Hanson – KD0HUV (2024)
• Trustee K0LTC: Jerry Dorf – N0FWG
• Member: Kelly Murphy – KB0LTY (2019)
• Member: Clay Bartholow – W0LED (2021)
• Member: David Englund – K0NOC (2022)
• Member: Gordon Patenaude – WA0WSR (2023)
• Member: Aaron David Lewis – W0ADL (2024)
• Member: Scott Henley – KF0FFE (2024)
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Love it, or hate it? Please send all correspondence to newsletter@k0ltc.org I would love to hear your thoughts or content submissions. KF0MHO
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