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President's LetterJonathan Pearce WB2MNFMay 2026 |
Spring has finally arrived, and with it a burst of activity that introduces a busy season at GCARC. Projects that had been patiently waiting on warm weather are finally within reach, and outdoor activity is high.
Clubhouse Project Update
Frank Romeo N3PUU, Al Arrison KB2AYU, and Earl Moore KC2NCH have been putting in enormous numbers of hours finishing the grounding project and the VHF tower installation. They've filled in most of the trenches around the Clubhouse, welded the grounding cables to the ground rods, laid pipe for running coax, power, and rotator cables from the towers to the Clubhouse, and installed utility boxes at the tower bases to make the cable connections clean. It's been a massive effort, and the Club owes these guys a real debt of thanks. Frank will be doing a General Membership Meeting presentation later this year to let us all get a full grasp on the enormity and extraordinary workmanship of this project.
WSPR Activities
Several new technology projects are in motion. First, sign-ups for the WSPR Network project station is now closed, with 23 stations ordered from TAPR - giving us good coverage on 40 through 10 meters. The boards have already shipped, and we expect them well before the May 9, 2026 Tech Saturday Forum assembly date. That means some participants may have a chance to visit the Clubhouse earlier and get on the air ahead of schedule. We’ll let you know when things are ready. (Late note - everything has arrived and we’ll start assembly on Saturday, May 2, 2026)
The reporting infrastructure is already in place. The propagation summary lives on the GCARC Skunkworks (https://wp.w2mmd.org/wp/club-activities/wspr-weekly-20m-report) website with band summaries and per-station drilldowns on the WSPR project dashboard (https://wspr.wb2mnfai.org). Once our stations come online, we'll be able to compare antenna structures and efficiencies, characterize propagation across bands, and sharpen our planning for operating events like Field Day. And ANY WSPR station can join this Club effort - even your home QRP station running WSPR on your WSJT-X software - so get on board with whatever hardware you can configure for this project.
At the Clubhouse we're also testing the QRP Labs 4-band WSPR transmitter, a complex kit that Chris Prioli AD2CS assembled. When it's fully operational, this single unit will put spots on 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters from one antenna at the Clubhouse - a clean way to compare propagation across bands with almost every other variable held constant. (Late note - this is operational - results can be seen here : https://wp.w2mmd.org/wp/w2mmd-wspr-regional-analysis).
ISS DATV Reception
Warmer weather finally let us begin work on another long-anticipated project : receiving the DATV signals now being broadcast from the International Space Station. These aren't your grandparents' slow-scan SSTV - they're high-resolution digital transmissions on 2395 MHz, just 5 MHz below the Wi-Fi band, which makes reception more challenging than it might sound.
None of our existing antennas can see signals up there, but John Zaruba K2ZA had a 1-meter dish left over from an Oscar-40 installation decades ago that looked like a strong candidate. Al Arrison KB2AYU climbed the Skunkworks tower at the south end of the Clubhouse, installed our second Yaesu G-5400 rotator, and mounted the dish. We've already confirmed the setup works by pulling in a 2.4 GHz beacon out of North Jersey so we’re hopeful to copy the ISS as well.
Our next steps are configuring the rotator controller to track the ISS, getting DATV decoding software running, and - if Wi-Fi interference proves to be a problem - identifying and installing suitable filters. With any luck, we'll be pulling down live television from the space station within a month or two.
Discovery Dish Inmarsat Reception
Another project that had been waiting on good weather was swapping the Discovery Dish feed horn for one cut for the Inmarsat band. The Inmarsat satellites carry traffic such as ACARS aircraft messages and ship-to-shore data, and our goal is to bring those signals down at the Clubhouse - another interesting technical milestone to add to the Club's list.
STEM Kids Visit The Clubhouse
On Monday, April 20, 2026, twenty students and five parents from the Woodruff Middle School STEM Club visited the Clubhouse for a firsthand look at amateur radio. Helping out were Ron Block NR2B, John Zaruba K2ZA, Mike Resnick N2WOQ, and their teacher Angela Metzger KE2DRJ.
We split the group into four stations. Ron worked with his group in the HF room, pulling them into a 40-meter QSO that let several kids get on the mic. John K2ZA demonstrated CW in the main Clubhouse area, letting kids send their names on his keyer. Angela ran a "fox hunt without the fox" outside, with a couple of her 8th graders hiding with HTs as stand-ins for the fox-hunt transmitter (which had, unfortunately, stayed home). I took the fourth group on a tour - lightning protection, towers and antennas, and the VHF and satellite stations.
Beyond the obvious fun, the visit helped us identify students who might be a good fit for the summer STEM Camp session we're planning. The focus will be space communications, a topic rich in science content that we hope will stick with the students long after the camp itself.
Club Picnic
Finally, I hope to see many of you at the 2026 GCARC Family Picnic on Saturday, May 30, 2026 at Ella Harris Recreation Park in Mullica Hill. Please remember to register at : https://registration.w2mmd.org/wpregp/gcarc-picnic if you're planning to attend.
73, Jon WB2MNF
Clubhouse Project Update
Frank Romeo N3PUU, Al Arrison KB2AYU, and Earl Moore KC2NCH have been putting in enormous numbers of hours finishing the grounding project and the VHF tower installation. They've filled in most of the trenches around the Clubhouse, welded the grounding cables to the ground rods, laid pipe for running coax, power, and rotator cables from the towers to the Clubhouse, and installed utility boxes at the tower bases to make the cable connections clean. It's been a massive effort, and the Club owes these guys a real debt of thanks. Frank will be doing a General Membership Meeting presentation later this year to let us all get a full grasp on the enormity and extraordinary workmanship of this project.
WSPR Activities
Several new technology projects are in motion. First, sign-ups for the WSPR Network project station is now closed, with 23 stations ordered from TAPR - giving us good coverage on 40 through 10 meters. The boards have already shipped, and we expect them well before the May 9, 2026 Tech Saturday Forum assembly date. That means some participants may have a chance to visit the Clubhouse earlier and get on the air ahead of schedule. We’ll let you know when things are ready. (Late note - everything has arrived and we’ll start assembly on Saturday, May 2, 2026)
The reporting infrastructure is already in place. The propagation summary lives on the GCARC Skunkworks (https://wp.w2mmd.org/wp/club-activities/wspr-weekly-20m-report) website with band summaries and per-station drilldowns on the WSPR project dashboard (https://wspr.wb2mnfai.org). Once our stations come online, we'll be able to compare antenna structures and efficiencies, characterize propagation across bands, and sharpen our planning for operating events like Field Day. And ANY WSPR station can join this Club effort - even your home QRP station running WSPR on your WSJT-X software - so get on board with whatever hardware you can configure for this project.
At the Clubhouse we're also testing the QRP Labs 4-band WSPR transmitter, a complex kit that Chris Prioli AD2CS assembled. When it's fully operational, this single unit will put spots on 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters from one antenna at the Clubhouse - a clean way to compare propagation across bands with almost every other variable held constant. (Late note - this is operational - results can be seen here : https://wp.w2mmd.org/wp/w2mmd-wspr-regional-analysis).
ISS DATV Reception
Warmer weather finally let us begin work on another long-anticipated project : receiving the DATV signals now being broadcast from the International Space Station. These aren't your grandparents' slow-scan SSTV - they're high-resolution digital transmissions on 2395 MHz, just 5 MHz below the Wi-Fi band, which makes reception more challenging than it might sound.
None of our existing antennas can see signals up there, but John Zaruba K2ZA had a 1-meter dish left over from an Oscar-40 installation decades ago that looked like a strong candidate. Al Arrison KB2AYU climbed the Skunkworks tower at the south end of the Clubhouse, installed our second Yaesu G-5400 rotator, and mounted the dish. We've already confirmed the setup works by pulling in a 2.4 GHz beacon out of North Jersey so we’re hopeful to copy the ISS as well.
Our next steps are configuring the rotator controller to track the ISS, getting DATV decoding software running, and - if Wi-Fi interference proves to be a problem - identifying and installing suitable filters. With any luck, we'll be pulling down live television from the space station within a month or two.
Discovery Dish Inmarsat Reception
Another project that had been waiting on good weather was swapping the Discovery Dish feed horn for one cut for the Inmarsat band. The Inmarsat satellites carry traffic such as ACARS aircraft messages and ship-to-shore data, and our goal is to bring those signals down at the Clubhouse - another interesting technical milestone to add to the Club's list.
STEM Kids Visit The Clubhouse
On Monday, April 20, 2026, twenty students and five parents from the Woodruff Middle School STEM Club visited the Clubhouse for a firsthand look at amateur radio. Helping out were Ron Block NR2B, John Zaruba K2ZA, Mike Resnick N2WOQ, and their teacher Angela Metzger KE2DRJ.
We split the group into four stations. Ron worked with his group in the HF room, pulling them into a 40-meter QSO that let several kids get on the mic. John K2ZA demonstrated CW in the main Clubhouse area, letting kids send their names on his keyer. Angela ran a "fox hunt without the fox" outside, with a couple of her 8th graders hiding with HTs as stand-ins for the fox-hunt transmitter (which had, unfortunately, stayed home). I took the fourth group on a tour - lightning protection, towers and antennas, and the VHF and satellite stations.
Beyond the obvious fun, the visit helped us identify students who might be a good fit for the summer STEM Camp session we're planning. The focus will be space communications, a topic rich in science content that we hope will stick with the students long after the camp itself.
Club Picnic
Finally, I hope to see many of you at the 2026 GCARC Family Picnic on Saturday, May 30, 2026 at Ella Harris Recreation Park in Mullica Hill. Please remember to register at : https://registration.w2mmd.org/wpregp/gcarc-picnic if you're planning to attend.
73, Jon WB2MNF
Saturday, May 2, 2026
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Monday, May 4, 2026
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Tuesday, May 5, 2026
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National Nurses Day : Wednesday, May 6, 2026
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National Teachers Day : Thursday, May 7, 2026
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Friday, May 8, 2026
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Sunday, May 10, 2026
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Hurricane Preparedness Week : May 3 - 9, 2026
May 10 - 16, 2026
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Friday, May 15, 2026
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Sunday, May 17, 2026
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Sunday, May 24, 2026
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Monday, May 25, 2026
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Full Flower Moon :
Tuesday, May 1, 2026 @ 1324 Hours May’s Flower Moon name should be no surprise; flowers spring forth across North America in abundance this month! “Flower Moon” has been attributed to Algonquin peoples, as confirmed by Christina Ruddy of The Algonquin Way Cultural Centre in Pikwakanagan, Ontario. May’s Moon was also referred to as the “Month of Flowers” by Jonathan Carver in his 1798 publication, Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America: 1766, 1767, 1768 (pp. 250-252), as a likely Dakota name. Carver stayed with the Naudowessie (Dakota) |
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over a period of time; his expedition covered the Great Lakes region, including Wisconsin and Minnesota areas. Henry David Thoreau sparked the Native American Moon names as well, referencing the Flower Moon and Carver when he wrote about Native Americans.
Blue Moon - Sunday, May 31, 2026 @ 0446 Hours
In May, a second full Moon, a Blue Moon, will make an appearance. The term Blue Moon is most commonly used when we have two full Moons in a single month.
Old Farmer’s Almanac - www.almanac.com
Blue Moon - Sunday, May 31, 2026 @ 0446 Hours
In May, a second full Moon, a Blue Moon, will make an appearance. The term Blue Moon is most commonly used when we have two full Moons in a single month.
Old Farmer’s Almanac - www.almanac.com