Good afternoon,
We are about to embark on August 2024; if it was as much ham fun as July then I can’t wait! We have had a successful VE session with new HAM added to our ranks, a great business meeting with quality learning about grounding our expensive equipment and stations. We have had a great challenge to utilize the repeaters in our county, then let others know our success stories. Friendly banter including new members in the club as well on the SIGNAL group, then we had a WONDERFUL QRP! Our committee outdid themselves as usual. Thanks to those who attended, those who helped us with flyers, equipment, and suggestions. John did a remarkable job pulling the FOX Hunt off with other committee members being on vacation or recovering from illness. Those who did attend Thanks You! Your enthusiasm, whether it be hunting, setting up HF stations, getting my throw bag down, cooking, or even eating the dogs and brats, made it all a success. It has been recently stated, by an anonymous official, that we are one of the most vibrant clubs in the WCF section of the ARRL, I could not agree more. What a great club!
John W4JFS has been doing a daily Repeater Challenge. Not who but what repeaters you have contacted today. I know that with a county with fourteen repeaters one can get lost in traffic. Multi modes are great tools but can spread active users thinly. If you exercise any of the repeaters and want to let us know the active ones here is what we a listing on SIGNAL.
PEM2, LWRA3, DMR VCO 1, DSTAR1 you get the idea. You do not need to let us know who, just which repeaters are active during your day.
The LWRA meeting next month will be a classroom presentation so stay tuned for more information.
A reminder the tropics are getting active so those last minute tasks are at hand.
A great tool for Hurricane preparation would be to have LWRA SIGNAL on your phone for questions and or updates. See Russ or John W4JFS for more information. Welcome to the several new folks who have joined us this week on SIGNAL.
*SHOULD LWFD HAVE TO ACTIVATE THEIR CITY EOC (WHICH IS OUR MEETING ROOM) A MEETING CANCELATION WILL BE SENT OUT. PLEASE CHECK EMAILS THE DAY OF THE MEETINGS UNTIL THE HURRICANE SEASON IS ENDED.
NET INFORMATION this will soon be on the webpage for easy pull-down access. Thanks to KT4WX
Don’t forget the nets:
Monday: We have the Hardee County ARES Net, KT4WX will be NC on the WC4PEM repeater network at 7PM https://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. I NEED one MORE NET CONTROL OPERATOR; it is fun and a great way to practice. This week it is Allen from North Lakeland as NET Controller.
LWRA TACO TUESDAY NET Hey it is that 5th Tuesday net with our NC.
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.
We have GREAT NETS with LWRA, if you are a SNOWBIRD on the way or already back up there; don’t forget we have SIGNAL. This is for you to let us know you ‘would if you could’ be a part of the net. Check in on SIGNAL just to let us know you are OK.
(of course, you can ‘would if you could’ check in even if you are here.)
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.
NET OFF FOR SUMMER VACATION WILL RETURN EARLY SEPTEMBER
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
Wednesday Continued
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. www.wcfarrl.org . www.ni4ce.org for more information. We have several Tech Specialist from our area on the net frequently.
And of course, daily 365 days a year at 830 PM we have the Eagle Net the WCF ARRL Traffic Net on the NI4CE radio network. www.ni4ce.org for more information.
THIS TIME OF THE YEAR, IF SEVERE WEATHER OCCURS A SKYWARN NET MAY BE ACTIVATED. WC4PEM OR NI4CE FOR INFORMATION OR REPORTING IF NEEDED.
One last thing.
Check out the WINLINK Monday with Gary today, you can find more information on the
www.polkares.org/WINLINK
73 and I hope to ‘see ya on the air.’
Mike
KB4FHP