Category Archives: Events

Foxhunt

Greetings!

  With a stretch of nice weather in the forecast, it’s time to dust off the transmitter hunting gear! This Thursday (8/29/19), the Bloomington Amateur Radio Association will be hosting a transmitter hunt, beginning at 6:30 PM at Bloomington Civic Plaza from the parking lot on the west side of the building (near the southwest entrance).

The field of play will be the City of Bloomington, bounded on the west by US HWY 169, to the north by I-494, and to the south and east by the Minnesota River.

Format: Two hidden transmitters; one 500 mW to 1 W, the other 10-20 mW and in the general vicinity of the stronger transmitter. The transmitters will be on alternate 1-minute transmit windows.

Accessibility: A vehicle will be required for finding the transmitters, but at-home operators (in Bloomington and possibly surrounding municipalities) with omnidirectional or directional antennas can still contribute with coordinated hunting (see Resources below for tips from WB4APR). On-foot hunting is expected to take up to a mile of walking on sidewalks, dirt/grass paths, or over cut grass.

Difficulty: This is intended to be a beginner-friendly event, and those without directional antennas are encouraged to take part in a coordinated hunt (see Resources below). With sunset at 7:56 PM, the event will be complete around 8:00–8:15 PM.

Frequencies:
Two hidden transmitters: 146.565 MHz FM
Safety and administrative: 147.090 MHz, +600 kHz, no tone, analog FM (KD0CL VHF repeater)
Coordinated hunting: 444.375 MHz, +5 MHz, DCS 047 (TX and RX), analog FM (KD0CL UHF repeater; repeater is Yaesu C4FM capable, but please use analog for this event)

Resources:
Homing In, and specifically this page on first-time hunting techniques and equipment.
Bob Bruninga’s (WB4APR) Direction Finding Tips for those with Omnidirectional Antennas.Further updates will be appended to the event posting on the Bloomington Amateur Radio Association website, https://mnhamradio.com/hidden-transmitter-hunt-thursday-8-29/
I have tried to copy Twin Cities area radio club leadership on this email; please pass this along to any people or clubs that may be interested (and please make sure your information on the ARRL Affiliated Club site is current!).

Regards,  Bill Mitchell
AE0EE

4-8-19 Updates

To All,

Richfield Historical Society is having their spring clean-up on April 27th

They need help cleaning the grounds and redo their boardwalk. Please call 612.798.6140 or email richfieldhistory@gmail.com. If you can help. We use their facilities for all “Get On The Air Events!” Please remember this goes a long way to helping future club events.
Event starts at 9am- 4pm **Free Pizza** afterwards for workers.
Location:
6901 Lyndale Ave S.
Richfield, MN

Next meeting is….
       APRS & Final voting on ByLaws.
          Meeting will be on April 17th
             AT: 7pm- 9pm 
                7000 Nicollet Ave. 


Calendar..
        Club events are located here in realtime & are downloadable….  http://richfieldradio.com/events/

If you have other Ham related events to add to the calendar please email us regardless of affiliation. please give us… Dates, Times, Location, Attachments, & Descriptions. 

Remember…
 Our club is always kid friendly and inviting to the newest ham.
    All members should attempt monitor or use our repeaters weekly.

Lastly…   
    We need club members to help with…. 
  • Nets controllers (May’s meeting will cover this more)
  • Transportation (Drivers & passengers)
  • Recruiting committee (getting new membership)
  • Freebies committee (find free incentives for events)
  • Tech committee (help streaming meetings to members that can’t make-it)
  • Rules & Regs (keep us informed of the latest news)
  • Antenna Committee (help members with antennas)
  • Press Core (taking photos during all events for the web)
  • Fortune tellers (help with future of our clubs needs)
  • Study Group (helping get people licensed or upgraded) 
  • Youth committee (Help make kid friendly ham events)
  • GOTA Committee (We will be doing more events)
  • Weekend Committee (Plan fun days)
  • Radio operations (teach proper radio etiquette)
  • Project Team (building ham projects may include soldering & GoBoxes) 
  • Food & beverage Committee (Help have needed snacks for club events)
  • Field Day Committee (coordinate needs and wants for FD)
  • Club Wearables (patches, & shirts) 
  • ECCOMM (finding events that need hams)
  • Radio Programmers (Help members with radio programming)
  • Emergency Preparedness Group (Prepping for **** event)
  • Digital committee (all non voice communication modes)
  • Contest Group
  • 4th of July committee (We will be having an operating float in Richfield’s Parade)
  • HF Committee (Help members with all HF needs & questions)
  • Social Media Group (FB, Twitter, & ETC.)
If you know of something I am missing please email us. We need members to put their best foot in the pot. As the President I can’t do it all. You can join multi-sub-groups. I will not leave you in the cold or overwhelm anyone. This is to help all members and we our a team. Again, this is needed by all to help.  

All Call Net March 14th

ALL Call Net Drill on the 14th

All members should try to check-in if possible. This is a test drill during our normal net time of 6:30pm this Thursday. The Net will be closed to our current members for the first part and then will be open to all, and finally open discussion. This can also be called a “Role Call!” Please follow the net controllers instructions carefully because it is a different then other nets and will be used in a major call out event in some form. Another note you must check yourself out on this type off nets if you have to leave.

Quick samples for this type of net responses are….

Simple check in “A0BC”, you have nothing to add to net but checking in “A0BC Clear”, You have something for the net “A0BC Traffic”, when assigned location and ready “A0BC inservice”, You have have to leave “Recheck A0BC” then wait to response “A0BC is going out of service, or A0BC is Checking out” finally wait for confirmation and any instructions, If you need to add new comment to the net “Comment A0BC”, Status of who in the net? “Status check A0BC”.

Please be more formal on this type of net and patient because of the volume people needed. We hope everyone has fun, but learn from this type of net.

We need Net or Roundtable controllers always!

A Open Nets (Is an over-the-air meeting.)

  1. Secure the frequency using your call and club call.
  2. Net Controller starts with rules of the net and how to check-in.
  3. Net Controller shares all club announcements and asks for any additional announcements.
  4. Net Controller starts taking checks-in with any short timers or limited access locations.
  5. Net Controller’s will repeat any announcements and/or relevant information.
  6. Net Controller will ID repeatly the club’s call and their call.
  7. Controller give thanks to City of Richfield public safety & RARC near the end.
  8. Controller gives out the club’s website for more information just before ending.
  9. Give 3 chances for final check-ins.
  10. The controller will announce the next net information and a summary of this net
  11. The end the Net Controller will clear with both the club’s call & their call then return the frequency to normal use.

A Closed Nets (This is very similar, but is restricted to a selected few and asked for required attendance.)

  1. Secure frequency or Frequencies with your call, name, and the club call.
  2. Give net rules & procedures to the closed net.
  3. Give any important announcements.
  4. Start taking check-ins by one of these possible methods. (Always answer any emergency check-ins)
    • Off a list of stations only.
    • Ask for check-ins with a reportable conditions. 
    • Ask for check-ins only related to the net.
    • Ask for check-ins related to the given event only.
    • Ask for check-ins at given location only.
  5. Break periodically to get people to respond.
  6. Repeatedly state the net rules & procedures and identify that you are doing a closed net and remind all others to standby until the net is complete please.
  7. Give updates and all relevant information as needed.
  8. Give your ID, name & the club’s ID often.
  9. Give thanks to RARC and the Richfield City Public Safety for the use of it’s repeaters.
  10. When done remind the people that the repeater is now open to regular amatuer use and clear using WØRRC call and your Call.

 

Subnotes: (Whenever anyone checks-in to a net they should always check-out with the net controller if they have to leave early.)

 

A Roundtables or Round Tables (A group of 3 or more operators talking about any topics.)

  1. Secure frequency using your call.
  2. Share a topic or topics to talk about.
  3. Invite others to join in.
  4. operators can come or go at anytime.
  5. operators should rotate with others giving everyone a chance to comment.
  6. We ask to share any club information.
  7. The roundtable ends when less then three operators remain.

Our nets and Roundtables are open to all. They start at 6:30pm every Thursday on our UHF repeater 444.475 with a tone of 118.8

If special events are going on we will make additional changes as needed. 

Anyone can do roundtable at anytime because all it takes 3 or more people talking together. (aka a partyline over the radio.)

 

I double dog dare you! To make the biggest ham radio roundtable.

 Email us if you can help at: WØRRC.RARC@gmail.com

November 21st meeting

Our November meeting is coming quick. We will be talking about antennas and the basics. Please feel free to bring your antenna wows & questions. Herman & Don our club advisor will show different types of antennas with an explanation of what, where, & why.

Again, this will be interactive meeting from a rubber duck to a many element beam discussion forum.

Don’t be a dummy load and miss the gain of knowledge.

July

Hello from the Richfield Amateur Radio Club (RARC)

Please join us for our July monthly meeting

(3rd Wed. each month)

 

Wednesday, July 18, 2018  7-9 pm

Richfield Community Center

7000 Nicollet Ave So.

Richfield, MN

 

 

If you’re a current member, or just someone with an interest in amateur radio, join us for an hour or two. We’ll be discussing our recent Field Day event, held June 23-24, 2018 –identifying what went well, and how we can improve next year’s Field Day event.  Tell us what you think.
Do you have any special radio-related interests?
Do you have any ideas on how to make amateur radio more fun?  
Need help getting your radio programmed, getting your first FCC license, or getting your current license upgraded? We can help.
It’s what we do!  😉

 

~~~~~

FIELD DAY SCRIPT

RARC’s  Field Day Script

 

Responding to a Caller.

“Alpha nine Delta Foxtrot standing by!”

  1. We only say “Whisky Zero Romeo Romeo Charlie!”  until they acknowledge us.

IF they have a partial of our call then you say “Negative Negative” and repeat our call once or many times until they have it.

  1. When they confirmed our call they will give us their “Class and Section.” We will log that with their call.

Make sure that we have it correct or ask to “Repeat Repeat!”  or “Again Again!” until you have it right!

  1. Then give our class and section. “Please Copy… 3 Alpha… Mike November!” again confirm that they got it.

IF wrong repeat our Class and/or Section only as needed!

  1. If all is right then say “QSL” or “Good luck!”

 

Then move on to the next Caller.

 

Class…
  1. A number given for how many transmitters is running at one time

  2. A letter is given to indicate type of station and can only be… A, B, C, D, E, F.

 

Section…
  • Is location using 2 or 3 letters in the USA & Canada Examples…

LAX(Los Angeles), STX(South Texas), SNJ(South New Jersey), NFL(Northern Florida), MN(Minnesota), MI(Michigan), SD(South Dakota), BC(British Columbia), & NT(Northern Territories).

AGAIN… OUR INFORMATION IS… (CALL) WØRRC (CLASS) 3A (SECTION) MN

 

We Call for others…

 Always verify the frequency is clear before calling!

CQ CQ CQ, This is Whisky Zero Romeo Romeo Charlie, CQ CQ CQ This is Whisky Zero Romeo Romeo Charlie and standing by!

 

  1. Keep calling with with 1 to 2 second pauses

  2. If you hear someone Repeat their Call to confirm it

  3. If confirmed then give our Class & Section “Please Copy 3 Alpha Mike November QSL

  4. Confirm their Class & Section by “We Copy” & repeat their Class & Section

  5. If wrong.. Have them repeat it until right!

  6. If Signal fades out… Say their Call and “Please try us later!

  7. End by saying “QSL” or “Good luck!

 

Restarting…

  • QRZ this is Whiskey Zero Romeo Romeo Charlie and standing by!

OR

  • CQ CQ CQ, This is Whisky Zero Romeo Romeo Charlie, CQ CQ CQ This is Whisky Zero Romeo Romeo Charlie Calling and standing by!

 

Always let others know when you have cleared the frequency!

 

Finally always use proper phonetics with our information!

 

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