I'm writing this in early June, not because of my extraordinary diligence and preparedness but because I'll be away for the last two weeks of June and unfortunately will miss many of the months activities including Field Day. In my defense, I'll be attending an annual underwater photography workshop over whose schedule I have no control, and while I've been able to make it home for Field Day for the past two years that's not possible this year. If anyone is interested in some of the pictures that will hopefully result from this trip I'll post a link to them next month.
May Activities
So far, though, June has been exceptional for ham related activities at the Club. At the June General Membership Meeting, Spencer Webb N2SW, followed up on May's presentation with additional details on antenna design and management, ending with a description of how Smith charts are used in antenna analysis. This appeared to be a popular topic, so much so that we're planning a Tech Saturday session in August at which attendees can get hands on experience in using Nano VNA devices to visualize Smith charts on various antennas and make adjustments to improve their performance.
On the June 8th Tech Saturday Chris Prioli AD2CS once again put in a herculean effort to guide 10 participants through the construction of a collinear antenna for two meters and 70 centimeters. These antennas should significantly facilitate communication on these bands by the participants. Another session was scheduled for June 15th.
Balloon Project
The ham radio balloon project that we're working on in conjunction with the Woodruff Middle School is also moving forward, thanks in part to several significant donations to this effort. At this point it appears that a major supplier will be donating a large tank of helium gas along with associated apparatus that will be sufficient for all of the balloon launches envisioned by both the school and the Club. We also took delivery of a large quantity of military spec thin wire with Teflon coating that can be used for the antennas on the balloon, giving them excellent electrical conductivity as well as significant and physical strength.
Additional testing on these balloons will continue throughout the month and we're hoping for a launch on the first or second Saturday in July. The balloon project offers many opportunities for experimentation with different balloon types, modulation schemes, tracker hardware, and tracking software so experimenters are encouraged to follow along with this project and get involved in areas of interest. The Club plans to launch many of its own balloons in addition to those launched by the school, so there’s plenty of opportunity to play around with different ideas.
Rowan Rocket
The Rowan University rocket team came back to the Clubhouse on June 8th for some final radio assistance with their telemetry transmitter on 70 cm (this is the reason that a licensed ham needs to be part of that team). Their telemetry receiver was suggesting that the transmitter wasn’t functioning correctly but we checked out the dipole antenna that Chris Prioli AD2CS built for them and it was working as expected. We tested the range of the transmitter, which was able to reach across the 4H field from inside the Clubhouse and concluded that it was also working right, so we gave them the “all clear” to use that radio on the rocket.
They had also asked if we could come up with some way to send live video from the rocket so we located and purchased a set of 5 GHz video transmitters for a drone along with a receiver. Both of those units worked as expected so hopefully they can be installed in the rocket and will show live video of its flight.
The rocket contest was the week of June 16th so hopefully by the time you read this they’ll have had a successful launch. The rocket is adorned with a large GCARC logo sticker (albeit one that’s out of date) so we’re getting some recognition for our efforts.
VHF Station
Work is also continuing on the base of one of the VHF towers that needed some adjustments before the major installation project can begin. With luck we'll be able to begin excavation for those towers sometime in July. John O’Connell K2QA operated the new VHF station for a while during the VHF contest but found little activity using the current temporary antennas. With the planned antenna configuration for the VHF and UHF towers we should have a state-of-the-art VHF complex that should be a contender in any VHF contest.
Licensing
Licensing classes are continuing on schedule with license testing scheduled to occur on Monday night June 24th and Tuesday night June 25th. If all goes well, 18 new Technician Class hams will emerge from that process.
Following that session, scheduled for Monday, July 1st, will be another “Got My License, Now What?” session for newly licensed hams to explore the many aspects of Amateur Radio to which they may not have been exposed during the classes.
Field Day
And Field Day, of course, is the major group activity of the year with opportunities to operate, set up stations and help out in many different ways. It’s a great introduction to HF operation and contesting to new hams who may not have experience in those areas.
Be sure that you’re doing SOMETHING for Field Day - it will certainly be rewarding!
Pizza Night!
Remember - the July 3rd General Membership Meeting will be Pizza Night, and you have to be present to get pizza (there’s no Door Dash for Zoom participants). So come on out for that meeting, see some pictures of Field Day and enjoy delicious and nutritious food!
73 de Jon WB2MNF
![Full Moon](/uploads/1/1/5/5/11554662/monthly-full-moon_18.jpg)
Full Buck Moon : July 21, 2024 @ 0619 Hours. At this time, the antlers of bucks (male deer) are in full growth mode. This Native American name was noted by Captain Jonathan Carver during his travels in the 1760s. Other animal-related names include Feather Moulting Moon (Cree) and Salmon Moon, a Tlingit term indicating when fish returned to the area and were harvested. As far as the plant world, there was Berry Moon (Anishinaabe), Moon When the Chokecherries are Ripe (Dakota), Month of the Ripe Corn Moon (Cherokee), and Raspberry Moon (Algonquin, Ojibwe), among others. Thunder Moon (Western Abenaki) and Halfway Summer Moon (Anishinaabe) are other variants.
Old Farmer’s Almanac - www.almanac.com