Monday Message
Date April 1, 2024
Good evening, I am sure you are all at the tipping point with April fools’ jokes. The latest that caused me to go into elation, then depression was that Buckee’s was coming to 559 and I4. That is a cruel joke to a person who likes Buckee Nuggets. Just saying.
Anyway, great to be back home from my little vacation where the air was much cooler for sure.
The wonderful thing that I see in this club is excitement and the willingness for folks to get involved and make things happen. Or VE team, as my friend Grady would say ‘are simply the best’ Thanks for your commitment to grow HAM radio in the area. I would be remis if I did not recognize the LARC VE team who just as LWRA’s are simply the best as well (some are doing double duty).
As a reminder you have a couple of months left before the question pool changes for the EXTRA so study up and sharpen that pencil. The pool changes on June 30th, 2024. More information can be obtained by going to the https://arrl.org/extra-
Other areas that really have a super team involved is the QRP team! Boy, are they working for a special QRP this month. The flyer has been made and we are meeting at Lake Hartridge Park in Winter Haven this month. A great park, we have been there before. It should be accessible to all sections of the county. The tail gate tech theme will be GMRS, we have had such great success with the newly started net that is barely a month old. We are averaging over 30 check-ins each week. The reason to do this as a part of the TTT is to show comradery as well as education. We hopefully will see you there at the end of the month. We will definitely have more to share about this during the month. Do not fret we will have several hf stations set up and operating as well.
Other teams are working on their projects, and I certainly appreciate them as well.
There still may be time for WINLINK messages.
Don’t forget the nets:
Tuesday Net opportunities are:
GMRS Net 462.675 141.3 +5 CTCSS 7 PM
The LWRA Net will be at 730PM on the 442.425MHz repeater + 5MHz using CTCSS Tone squelch 127.3 The net controller will be W4JFS. He will announce the location of the informal that follows the regular net with a great topical question.
Wednesday net opportunities:
Polk County ARES net on the WC4PEM linked repeater systems. The net begins at 7PM with WX4NEX Norm. Always a great net. More information can be found at https://polkares.org
NI4CE NXDN net on the NI4CE NXDN radio network. This net requires a NXDN radio, and more information can be found on the www.ni4ce.org/nxdn. This net is hosted by NB9X Paul and starts at 730PM.
Thursday net opportunities:
LARC Fusion with Bob on the 146.685MHz -.6 Mhz C4FM. This requires a Fusion radio to participate.
LARC Traders net at 730PM on the LARC repeater 146.685Mhz -.6 Mhz 127.3 Tone Squelch.
And of course, daily 365 days a year at 830 PM we have the Eagles Net the WCF ARRL Traffic Net on the NI4CE radio network. www.ni4ce.org for more information.
One last thing,
All members of the LWRA are what I consider friends and family. Nothing could be truer than one of our newer members, a HAM for a little over a year or so. During that time, he has just jumped in and made himself a vibrant member of the club, always on the way ready to learn and explore. He was ever present at club events, nets, meetings, and you could just about bank on him answering when you called out to see if anyone was on the air. However, Jim Sipple has made the difficult choice to relocate to another part of the state. It is with much sadness that we say, not goodbye, because we know how to stay in touch better than anyone else. So, we will say ‘until we make contact again!’ 73 to KQ4KJV. Jim, the Lake Monroe Ham Radio Club will benefit from its relocation. Once he is settled, I’m sure we will cross on DMR, or other modes he has at his disposal. Jim, it has been a pleasure to get to know you, but more importantly to call you, my friend.
I look forward to seeing each of you next week at the meeting. More information about that next week.
73 and I hope to ‘see ya on the air.’
Mike
KB4FHP