I hope you have had a great week culminating in a great weekend! Some worked the bike event in SW Florida, some used the time to get spring cleaning, some went to a ball game and others just played radio! Spring is a great time of the year!
It approaches the end of the month, and we always look forward to our club’s favorite event.
QRP weekend is here! Get your radio ready, if that is a QRP rig, or a radio you love to set up at QRP, a new antenna or bring you handheld radio to have fun with. If you are coming to see about QRP and hopefully meet new friends in that mode. Maybe even just bring your hat, sunscreen and a cold drink to just do what we do best…..TALK! Come on and see us. If you have never been to a QRP now is the perfect time to stop by. If you need an excuse (Home Depot is close by so you can stop by on the way to get that irrigation part, you need or that home repair item.)
I would like to congratulate The Minnich’s Glen and Sharron, they will celebrate 50, that’s FIFTY years of marriage this week! Sharron and Glen were SURPRISED when they had a surprise reception this past weekend. Some family members traveled across the country to be there. Glen, a US Navy veteran, and longtime HAM operator. He is one of the Net Controllers on SCARS (South Coast Amateur Radio Service) on 7.251Mhz everyday from 8AM-1PM. Read about Glen on QRZ KB4KW.
Sharron is a great person to meet, she often accompanies him to our events such as the QRP.
Congratulations!
As a reminder the EXTRA Pool will change June 30th, so the testing for the LWRA will change after June’s testing on the first Saturday as well as LARC on the First Monday. I am unaware of other testing sites. https://arrl.org/extra-question-pool .
We are getting closer to this month’s QRP. 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 TailGaTeTech 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. https://lwra.us/qrp
Don’t forget the nets:
Monday: We have the Hardee County ARES Net, KT4WX will be NC on the WC4PEM repeater network at 7PMhttps://polkares.org for frequencies and repeater locations.
WCF ARRL ARES NET with KN4WXX on the NI4CE repeater network www.ni4ce.org for frequencies and repeater locations.
Local ‘Polie Bottom” NXDN net with Jimmy KJ4KJG as host on the W4CLL NXDN South Lakeland repeater at 8PM on 442.025 RAN 45 NXDN ICOM Or Kenwood radio required.
Tuesday Net opportunities are:
GMRS Net 462.725 141.3 +5 CTCSS 7 PM KB4FHP (aka WRCP675) is the NC
A Fifth Tuesday Net for LWRA please join us
The LWRA Net will be at 730PM on the 442.425MHz repeater + 5MHz using CTCSS Tone squelch 127.3 The net controller will be KT4WX Darrell. He will announce the location of the informal that follows the regular net with a great topical question.
Wednesday net opportunities:
W4PSR Polk Schools Radio Society radio net. This is aa great chance to encourage youth. It is operated by youth under the supervision of Ham clubs in the schools. They operate on various modes to let students become aware of the types of systems available. We will announce the mode on our net on Tuesday as well as on Signal Chat for the LWRA. The net begins at 2:15PM each Wednesday during the regular school year.
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.
WCF TECH Net. Listen- Learn-Inquire and Inspire. The wealth of knowledge out there is usually only a question away. ON the NI4CE network is the TECH NET. This net allows questions to our WCF Technical Specialist on a variety of subjects and or problems. Join in at 9PM every Thursday evening. www.ni4ce.org /nets for more information and frequencies.
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.
Check out the WINLINK Monday with Gary today, you can find more information on the https:polkares.org/WINLINK
73 and I hope to ‘see ya on the air.’
Mike
KB4FHP