RARA Winterfest - Rochester 2/15/20

Lockport Winter Hamfest - Sat. 1/25/20

link: http://www.lockportara.us/lara-home/yearly-lara-events/hamfest-2019

RARA meeting location change Wednesday 1/15/20

LARC Extra Class starts March 17th, 2020

To sign up for this class – please contact Peter Sochocki at k2vgn@w2cm.com

Winter Field Day 2020 - January 25th & 26th

As winter weather starts to arrive in Upstate NY, its time to start thinking about Winter Field Day!

 more info at: https://www.winterfieldday.com/

Happy New Year! Marathon Hamfest is coming up soon!

The Marathon NY hamfest will be held on Saturday January 11th from 7 AM until Noon at the Marathon NY Civic Center, 16 Brink St. in Marathon NY.

Talk in will be provided on the 147.180 repeater in Cortland, NY

Admission is $5.00 each. Free coffee is available, donuts and soda for a small fee.

VE testing will be available (off site). Testing begins at 9 AM sharp.

Please e-mail with questions at k2iwr@arrl.net.

We hope to see you there!!

Travel Directions: signs will be posted.

From the North: I-81 to Marathon Exit 9. Turn Left on to route 11 south. Turn right at the light on to route 221 west. Turn left on to Peck St immediately before the steel deck bridge.

From the South: I-81 to Marathon Exit 9. Turn Left on to route 221 west. Go straight through the traffic light. Turn left on to Peck St immediately before the steel deck bridge.

From Ithaca: Take Route 13 south to Dryden. Turn right on to route 38 south. Follow Route 38 to Harford. Turn left on to route 221 east. Turn right on to Peck St immediately following the steel deck bridge.

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Andrew C. Slaugh KB2LUV

Secretary, Skyline Amateur Radio Club of Cortland, NY

145.490 Repeater PL 71.9 Cortland, NY

SAQ Alexanderson transmitter on XMAS eve

SAQ, the call sign of the 1920s vintage Alexanderson transmitter in Grimeton, Sweden, is set to be on the air for its annual Christmas Eve transmission December 24th at 0800 UTC.

SAQ transmits CW with up to 200 kW on 17.2 kHz. Tune-up is scheduled to begin at around 0730 UTC, with the holiday message transmitted on December 24 at 0800 UTC.

The transmitter set consists in all essentials of three parts, the driving motor, a gear drive and the high frequency generator, commonly called the alternator. They are assembled on a solid base of steel. The weight of the complete transmitter set is about 50 tons.

Learn more about this interesting transmitter:
https://alexander.n.se/scheduled-transmission-from-grimeton-radio-saq-on-christmas-eve-december-24-2018-2/?lang=en

Santa Claus Nets - 2019

Tune in on 3.916 mhz, and give the kids or grand-kids a chance to talk to Santa Claus at the North Pole!   It is indeed a magical experience to experience kids talking with Santa through the magic of Amateur Radio!


The 3916 Santa Net is on the air every night, November 29th through December 24th at 7:15 PM Central. To participate in The Santa Net, just have your kids prepared to tell Santa their top 2-3 gift wishes.

The Santa Nets are presented annually by The 3916 Nets. The Weather Bunch, The Rag Chew Crew, The Tailgaters, The Freewheelers and The 3916 Late Late Show are all amateur radio nets that meet on 3.916 MHz.

For more information on The 3916 Santa Net, go to CQ Santa Nets, which  can be found at: https://www.cqsanta.com/about

For more information on The 3916 Nets, go to www.3916nets.com 

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ONTARS is pleased to announce: 
The Santa Claus Net  for 2019
       Once again this year, Santa  Claus will be join us on the amateur bands to chat with children of all ages.

80 Meters....ONTARS Net frequency  3.755 mhz LSB 
December 19th (Thursday), December 20th (Friday) 
Net start time  4:30pm till ? 
link: http://www.ontars.com/Special%20Events/santa_net_2019/index.html

First 2020 Hamfest - Marathon NY - January 11, 2020

Marathon Winter Hamfest

The Skyline Amateur Radio Club will be holding their annual Winterfest on January 11th 2020 at the Marathon Civic Center, Marathon NY.

Time: 7am – Noon
Admission: $5
Tables: $5 each.

Talk-In: The K2IWR Repeater – 147.180(+) PL 71.9

Location: Marathon Civic Center – Corner of Brink & Peck Streets Marathon NY. See Map below

FREE COFFEE! and Green Hills Bakery Donuts for Sale for a $1

Come enjoy amateur radio fellowship and spend some of your Christmas money there or sell your stuff!

More info at: http://www.skylineradioclub.org/sarc-winterfest-2020/

Public Contact: Pat Dunn , KC2BQZ
Rams Gulch Road Jamesville, NY 13078
Phone: 315-456-8955 Email: k2iwr@arrl.net

Skywarn recognition day 2019 - December 6-7

During SKYWARN™ recognition day,  Event operators will visit NWS offices and contact other radio operators across the world. In Upstate NY the Buffalo NWS office will be participating this year.


The event starts Friday night (12/6) at 7pm through 7pm Saturday(12/7).


SKYWARN™ Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League. It celebrates the contributions that SKYWARN™ volunteers make to the NWS mission, the protection of life and property. Amateur radio operators comprise a large percentage of the SKYWARN™ volunteers across the country. The Amateur radio operators also provide vital communication between the NWS and emergency management if normal communications become inoperative.

Complete details: http://www.arrl.org/skywarn-recognition-day

More info: https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition

AWA Hartley Transmitter video on Youtube

The Antique Wireless Association has a new video with Andy, K0SM, discussing the 1920s style Hartley transmitters that he built and uses on the air, most recently in the AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party.

I thought that this might be of interest to the local ham community.
Video: https://youtu.be/Lli4DI2XFMQ

73 de AE2EA,

Mark Erdle

Trustee, Antique Wireless Association

http://www.antiquewireless.org

more AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party info at:

http://www.antiquewireless.org/bruce-kelley-memorial-cw-qso-party.html

CNY Ham Radio Breakfast - Saturday on December 7th, 2019

Ham Radio Breakfast

The next breakfast is scheduled and the event is open to ALL local Hams. It will be Saturday, December 7th, 2019 at 8:00 am. This is a great chance to meet up with some of the folks you talk to on the air, but possibly have never met in person. Come on all you drive time radio jockeys, "6M QCWA Netters", CNY SWAP and Hobby Net check-ins - we hope to see you all there.

Location: The "Finally Ours Diner" is at 3788 West Seneca Turnpike, at the corner with Cedarville Rd. in the Onondaga Hill area of Syracuse (see directions here: http://finallyoursdiner.com/hours-contact ).

Thanks to K2WOP; Curt for his continuing efforts for this excellent get together.

Questions? contact Curt; K2WOP on the 146.67 repeater.

Finally Ours Diner link: http://finallyoursdiner.com 

Antenna change over!

Success! The new Channel 3 antenna in place!

What a beautiful day for a helicopter and climbers to change out the WSTM Channel 3 TV antenna at Sentinel Heights. 

Today was the day! The helicopter and climbing crews arrived early for a pre-work review and safety meeting. By noon the climbers were in place and the helicopter had arrived. By 1pm the old antenna was removed and set on the ground. It took another 4-1/2 hours to remove the old mounting brackets, install the new mounting hardware and finally set the new antenna in place.

Watch it on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFAnk75GS4c

Removing the old Batwing Antenna!

The old antenna that was installed in 2001 is being replaced as part of the FCC mandated television frequency repack  which is driving major changes to TV transmitters and antennas all over the country.

Read more about the project in our post from earlier this year : https://www.upstateham.com/2019/07/its-been-great-run.html

Winter SkyWarn Training

 Folks its that time again!

Winter SKYWARN Spotter Training Classes are coming!

Most upstate NY counties are conducting Winter SkyWarn Training in October and November.

The training will be held at various area locations and on-line. This class is for beginners or anybody that has a general interest in weather. These classes train volunteers how to accurately measure and report snowfall totals to the National Weather Service. The class is free and open to everyone; no age requirements, previous training, or equipment is required.

The SKYWARN program is a nationwide program that provides real-time severe weather reports to the National Weather Service. "Trained weather spotters provide valuable lifesaving information to the National Weather Service and we encourage those who have an interest in weather to participate in this critical program," said David Nicosia, Warning Coordination Meteorologist in Binghamton NY. "Despite all the technological advances, SKYWARN Spotter reports are still crucial to the National Weather Service in providing more accurate severe weather warnings," Nicosia continues.

See the full training schedules at:

Binghamton (Syracuse):  http://www.weather.gov/bgm/outreachSKYWARNtraining
Buffalo (Rochester): http://www.weather.gov/buf/Skywarn
Albany :https://www.weather.gov/aly/skywarn

Learn more about SKYWARN and Amateur Radio at: http://www.upstateham.com/p/skywarn.html



full Binghamton NWS training schedule and deatils at:
https://www.weather.gov/bgm/outreachskywarntraining

Tech Class - Syracuse November 16th & 17th

The Bear Bait Radio Club will be holding a Technician Licensing Class November 16th and 17th 2019 at the Clay Highway Department, Clay NY.

No charge of the class, VE exam will be held after the Sunday Class, and will have a $14 exam fee.

Complete details may be found at: http://www.arrl.org/courses/clay-ny-13041-25 or at wa2dtn@gmail.com

Registration link is https://forms.gle/D9TGZnBhdqw2yomRA

de Scott WA2DTN