The weather cleared nicely so we will be having our regular meeting tonight.
Pixie Nights Begin – Monday Feb 13 @ 7 PM
Just a reminder that our monthly meeting will be Monday February 13 at 7:00 PM at KVH Manufacturing: 75 Enterprise Drive, Middletown, RI
PLEASE check the website before you leave for the meeting — there is a small chance that we might get hammered with more snow Monday morning. We always post the meeting status in the news section of the website.
So what are Pixie Nights?
For the next three club meetings, in addition to a very short business meeting, we will be working on a Club Build project — A “Pixie”, which is a small, inexpensive, low power transceiver kit that can be used by anyone holding an Amateur Radio License.
For February’s meeting we will be holding a hands-on tutorial in soldering skills (and desoldering skills too). KVH has been nice enough to setup a large number of solder stations with tools for us to use. This is a unique opportunity, especially for those who have never done any electronic kit building. Mentors will be on hand to guide you through the process.
In addition, John, WA1ABI, will be giving an introduction to the Pixie hardware to give you a good understanding of how the circuitry works.
Subsequent meetings will cover assembly of the Pixie, as well as Debug and Test.
For $10, you can’t go wrong, and will be able to point to the tiny Pixie radio, knowing you built it with your own hands, and have a low power transceiver that members have been using to make contacts hundreds of miles away.
If you would like to purchase a Pixie kit and join the fun, we have them in stock. This is really a very fun assembly project, and we will be working with you hand-in-hand to teach you how to solder, how the kit goes together, and help get it on the air. To purchase your Pixie, please use the Paypal button on our website at this URL:
Rich Bredlinger – Silent Key
It is with regret that we report the passing of Rich Brendlinger, N3RWB. Rich, was a resident of Jamestown and is survived by his two sons and daughter, as well as his sister. Rich often helped at NCRC events, and last joined us for Thursday Breakfast just a few weeks ago. Rich lost his battle with Cancer early this morning, after battling the disease for several years.
In addition to his love of Amateur Radio and DX hunting, Rich had an exciting life as a sailor — having single-handed a sailboat around the world, and skippering several large sailboats. He was also a private pilot.
At Rich’s request there will be no services.
73 from your friends at NCRC. You will be missed.
Winter Field Day – Great Success!
Winter Field Day 2017 has come and gone. Members of the Portsmouth Emergency Management Agency and NCRC fielded two stations in Glen Park; a phone station that was on 24 hours, and a CW/Digital station that was on as activity permitted. Thanks to the large number of folks that showed up to help with set-up/take-down.
Although far less ambitious in terms of the antennas and number of stations than Field Day in June (it IS winter, after all), last year was the first effort, and the team turned in 15,624 points to take 2nd place nationally, for a multi-operator station outdoors. Early indications are that this year’s score will be substantially higher!
Besides the obvious benefit that such events have for emergency communication training (emergencies don’t just happen in the summer), it provides good publicity for our club. In fact we have a new member applicant as a result!
Lots of folks were involved. A partial list is: Paul N1PSX, Pete W1LAB, Willy W1LY, Dave KC1GPA, Dave W2DAN, John WA1ABI, Mike AA1XQ, Howie K1TZQ, Dave W1DEC, Paul K1YBE, Paul, KC1DJO, Chuck N1CKT, Steve KC1AQQ, James K1SD, Rob KB1ZZU, Bob WB4SON
Mast for CW/Digital Station antenna raised by Willy W1LY, Paul N1PSX, Mike AA1XQ, and Dave KC1GPA (left to right)
CW/Digital Antenna is a 135 foot dipole fed with ladder line, 25 feet in the air.
Howie K1TZQ, at the key of the CW tent
The Satellite Station operated from WB4SON’s truck. IC9100 with a Toughbook running SatPC32
The Satellite Antenna was a crossed 2m/70cm beam held by a photo tripod and set to the Az/El of mid-pass
New FM Satellite, BY70-1 is Operational
A new FM Transponder Satellite, BY70-1, is now operational. This is MUCH easier to work than AO-85, and a bit stronger than SO-50.
Details are:
Uplink: 145.920 MHz With 67.0 Hz Tone
Downlink: 436.200 MHz
Better work this one quick — its orbit will decay in just a couple of months!