Sunday, June 1, 2025

Field Day 2025 - June 28-29

 

Field Day is ham radio's open house. Every June, more than 31,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio's science, skill and service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933, and remains the most popular event in ham radio.




The object of Field Day is to work as many stations as possible on the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 Meter HF bands, as well as all bands 50 MHz and above, and in doing so to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions. A premium is placed on developing skills to meet the challenges of emergency preparedness as well as to acquaint the general public with the capabilities of Amateur Radio

Field Day locator map: https://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator

Is your club or group doing something special? Let us know, so we can share it here.

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Cortland Hamfest - Sat. 6/14/25

 The 43nd annual Cortland Hamfest and Technology Fair will take place on Saturday June 14th at the Cortland County Fairgrounds , 4301 Fairgrounds Dr. in Cortland. 7am-1pm

Admission: $6.00 per person, under 12 free. Outdoor Flea market is free with admission. There are 25 indoor flea market spaces with electricity available for $10.00 per 10' length, first come first served. BYO Table.

VE tests will be available off site beginning at 9 AM. Directions will be provided.

Breakfast will be provided by the Cortland County 4-H

Travel Directions: I-81 to exit 54; follow signs to Ithaca and Route 281. Turn left on to Route 281 South. In 8/10 mile, turn left on to Fisher Ave, then right on to Fairgrounds Drive.

From Ithaca: Route 13 North to Route 281 North. Drive past all the car dealers and fast food places etc. Turn right onto Fisher Ave, then right on to Fairgrounds Drive.

For your GPS: 4301 Fairgrounds Dr. Cortland, NY 13045

 We hope to see you there!
-- 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Andrew Slaugh KB2LUV
Secretary, Skyline Amateur Radio Club
Owner of the 145.490 PL 71.9 Repeater in Cortland, NY

More info: https://www.arrl.org/hamfests/hamfest-technology-fair

Monday, May 5, 2025

Another interesting Amateur Radio publication

We stumbled upon another intersting monthly club publication this week.

Check out the Logger's Bark, the newsletter & magazine of W7DK, The Radio Club of Tacoma! You can read about the club at www.W7DK.org and if you're ever in Tacoma, WA on a Saturday, the club holds open house almost every Saturday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and all are welcome. Full details at the link here: https://www.w7dk.org/images/rct_bark/bark_2025_05.pdf

In this month's May 2025 issue of The Logger's Bark magazine:


- Lamptenna 3: CQ WPX 2025 using SSB with nothing but a FLOOR LAMP for an antenna!

- Numbers Stations: All about them and "are they still a thing"?

- The Japanese WOODEN CubeSat satellite - first wooden satellite ever built!

- Hands-on review of the RTL-SDR V4 receiver dongle

- History of DPRK DXpeditions

- Kits Corner: Great beginner's kit - the Elenco AM-780A build and review

- Review: Wouxun KG-935H tri-band HT that includes the 1.25m band

- How FT8 Works: Love it or hate it, FT8 is here to stay. Here's how it works

- Look Back at the Knight Kit T-60 CW & AM Transmitter

- 2025 W7DK Field Day Plans coming together - see the site layout plan

And a whole bunch more - photos, tips, tricks, blurbs, puzzles, all about amateur radio and NEVER any ads!

Check out the clubs web site at: https://www.w7dk.org/



Friday, May 2, 2025

Interesting Amateur Radio publication

We recently stumbled upon this interesting Amateur Radio publication. The Communicator is published by Surrey Amateur Radio Communications group. The group seems to be very active. The Communicator is over 100 pages and has interesting articles, along with regular columnists.

Now read in over 165 countries, the May-June issue brings you 120+ pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and around the globe. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.


Check it out here: https://ve7sar.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-communicator-may-june-2025.html

SARC (Surrey Amateur Radio Communications – formerly “Club”), with 140+ members, is one of the largest and most active amateur radio organizations in Canada, offering a wide variety of ham-related activities, training opportunities and mentoring, all by volunteers dedicated to technical proficiency and service to the community. Learn more about SARC here:

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Special Event Station - VE Day 80th anniv. - Thurs. 5/8/25

  VE DAY 80TH ANNIVERSARY - ELDRED, PENNSYLVANIA 

  The McKean County Amateur Radio Club will be operating a special event station on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at the Eldred WWII Museum, operating as W3VV to commemorate and celebrate the VE 80th anniversary, while also showing our gratitude to the men, women and children who dedicated their lives to the war effort.

  The radio club will be providing a public demonstration at the Eldred World War II museum while making voice and morse code contacts over the air with other amateur radio operators in North America, Europe and world-wide!  The amateur radio community will also learn about the Eldred World War II museum in Pennsylvania, its collections and mission. There will be a certificate available to those that make a successful radio contact with the station.

McKean County Amateur Radio Club FB page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/W3VV.CLUB/

Friday, April 18, 2025

World Amateur Radio Day!

Happy World Amateur Radio Day! 100th anniversary!


World Amateur Radio Day, held on April 18 each year, is celebrated worldwide by radio amateurs and their national associations which are organized as member-societies of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). It was on this day in 1925 that the IARU was formed in Paris. American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Co-Founder Hiram Percy Maxim was its first president. A major theme for 2025 is celebrating 100 years of IARU.  


Monday, April 7, 2025

Meteor Scatter QSO Party 2025

 Did you ever experience a meteor scatter propogation? Its a pretty neat experience. Check out these events coming up later this month and beyond.


HamSCI – The Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation is preparing for a series of meteor scatter (MS) experiments later this year. The target storms are in August (Perseids) and December (Geminids). Preparation and testing are underway now. This is a combination 'special event' and a contest to generate contact data during meteor scatter events using 10 meters and 6 meters. Contest rules will be released shortly.

Currently, we need operators to be active (i.e., CQ-ing) on MSK144; or passive, if possible, reporting via PSK Reporter as 'monitors'. The best times are early morning hours prior to 10M opening to F2 propagation. Meteor scatter propagation occurs well below F2 and is supported in or near the E layer where the meteor ionization tracks occur. Saturday mornings are being used regularly to announce and coordinate 10M contacts using Ping Jockey Central. Announcements are also made on the Front Range Six Meter groups.io due to the substantial number of meteor scatter operators in that group.

To be successful, this effort needs operators, both active and passive. The upcoming April-Lyrids shower is an excellent time to set up your equipment and join with other operators preparing for the events later this year. If you do not have the time to be active, at least set up passive reporting. PSK Reporter currently has scarce 10M MSK144 monitors; so we need to increase those numbers during the early morning hours.
The best Lyrid times are around midnight and early morning hours, peaking April 21-22, but also for several days before and after the peak dates. We expect large numbers of 10M and 6M MSK144 operators to be both active and passive during the Lyrid events.


Friday, April 4, 2025

Radio and Electronics Auction - Clay NY - Wed. April 16, 2025

 

Bear Bait - Radio & Electronics Auction 

 Starting at 6:30pm on Wednesday, April 16th 2025

 Location:     4483 State Route 31, Clay NY

Radios, test equipment, accessories, etc. 

(ALL items must be tagged with callsign and minimum bid or reserve. Electronic and Radio items only! 10%of sales price goes to the club. )

Also, The club will be holding Tech license training class & testing coming up on April 26th & 27th!






Thursday, April 3, 2025

Save the date: Upstate New York POTA Meetup - Sept. 6&7, 2025

 Upstate New York POTA Meetup


Get ready for an action-packed weekend of POTA at Watkins Glen State Park the first weekend in September! Whe have the South Pavilion all day Sunday, September 7, and we hope you'll join us on Saturday, September 6, for exploring the park. There is also the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival on Friday, for those who want to come earlier. Many of us are camping all weekend, from Friday evening into Monday morning. The North Country Trail runs through the park, and behind the pavilion, making it a 3-fer! We can't wait to see you there!

More details and RSVP on the Upstate New York POTA Facebook group: 

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

AWA Spring Meet - May 3rd, 2025

         Antique Wireless Association 

                      Spring Meet 2025