Welcome to the web home of the Richfield Amateur Radio Club.

We proudly serve the City of Richfield, Minnesota along with the Richfield, Minnesota Community Emergency Response Team. Check out the links below for some additional information about us and what we do.

WØRRC REPEATERS

145.3900-, DCS 047 | 444.4750+, Tone 103.5 (Temp) Thursday Night Nets at 6:30 PM on 145.390

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OUR MISSION

The promotion and encouragement of amateur radio in the City of Richfield and surrounding communities. Especially the advancement of education of amateur radio and its use in public service via the development of a viable communications network.

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2023 CLUB OFFICERS

Club President: Matt (KBØTNG), Club Vice-President: Doug (AEØBO), Club Secretary: Paul (KEØQXV)

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iss

ISS RXed by KC0TJ early Sunday!

I was scanning on a big VHF band opening early Sunday and I jumped out of my half a sleep slumber when some strange tones came from my radio.  I realized this was SSTV signal (Wow!) I haven’t heard that on radio for a long time. I went to check the freq and it was 145.800? I had thought it might be from out of space? I also went to turn on my other radio to see if I could decode this message. When I was more alert I quickly turned on my MMSSTV program and the sound was set to the wrong radio. (Crap!) I changed that when I was getting nothing on my PC and half the picture was already done. (Crap!) I saw mode was pd140 and then picture stopped. I had no cw ID or other encrypted info. (Crap!) I then try screen copied the partial image in hopes to figure out what I had. Then it started again and I was ready for it all. I had to keep adjusting my squelch to RX.  I went to my cell phone app to find the ISS and it was already starting over Lake Superior. I also tried to Googled what frequencies they used and mode and everything was checked to what I had everything set to. I realized afterwards that I left my antenna aimed North East and it was an extra bonus to get the whole picture see below. This was also one of the ones used by them per the website link below, and I did log it on that website.

 

73 Don KC0TJ

 

http://spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php

 

Some Contest fun after FD

After Field Day fun!

I, KCoTJ had fun working many contests that was around the forth and all was easy to do. The one I really liked was 13 Colonies and can’t believe it has been going for 10 Years. I did the contest right after my dad passed away. It was my way to learn how to do HF without my Dad’s help and I was better than I thought back then. I worked every station easily I aimed the antenna and tuned up the stations. I was learning that even with a pile-up I was the strong one. I found my dad had a great tuned antennas and made me a quick study. http://www.13colonies.net   However this year I mixed it up a little. I decided that all my cantacts would be 5watts I was very good at that, but the bonus was Great Britain and he was doing a lot of non-phone or voice calls. So I struggled and tried to hear him there no success. He finally near the end went back on voice and I could hear him. I had a phone app that WEBSDR I scanned one that I could hear him and it work fine, but I was noticing that there was no delays from the stations I could hear on both. So my great idea was to see if I could hear myself nope, but he was able to hear me with a 59 report. I RXed him on my cell 57 to 59 and conform my info. Yep-pi a clean sweep, I no longer was qrp but I made all my Qs. So in my haste I found that he was on D-Star earlier, I sent a DXcluster that I was on D-Star REF063B which he was on 10 mins prior. Next thing there he was. I set my radio to 5watts and QRP status was back. Below is a clip of the next station working him. remember this contest is always during the week of 4th of July for 1 weeks time.

 

I wanted to give a shout out all that make this a fun contest….

K2A, K2B, K2C, K2D, K2E, K2F, K2G, K2H, K2I, K2J, K2K, K2L, K2M, & BONUSES WM3PEN, GB13COL.

13 Colonies Contest

Some of the other things  was…

Calgary Stampede, Battle of Gettysburg Anniversary special event, & THE WORLD BANK GROUP STAFF AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, WHISKEY REBELLION FESTIVAL.

I also tried a different modes that I haven’t done while trying to get GB13COL to my log.

FT-8, D-Star, *PSK31, & *CW

* Never done it before, but watched my Dad do it.

 

 

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!

 

Please Sign-up Today @ https://goo.gl/forms/JSo9IR5b5xsDkZNg1

Field Day 2018 Sign-up

2018 RARC’s & BARA’s Field Day

June 23 thru 24th

7000 Nicollet Ave S

Richfield Community Center (Lower level)

NO Tobacco or Alcohol onsite at anytime!

All members should participate on Field Day even if not with RARC or BARA

Field Day Sign-up!

______________________________________________________________________

 

What is Field Day?

It is…

An event which showcases the amateur radio hobby to the general public and local government

An opportunity to build ones radio skills and confidence on the air

An opportunity to try out different radios and modes of operation

A way to give all amateurs a chance to get on frequency bands they might not otherwise be able to

A time to meet club members’ families

An opportunity to talk to people from all over the United States and Canada

A way to share ideas, operating techniques and technical advice

A way of testing emergency preparedness skills

A way to honor our fellow hams that have gone silent key

A contest to see how many contacts can be made in a 24 hour period ***

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

We will be doing a program your VHF & UHF Mobiles & HTs radio “Ham Clinic” during Field Day 

  • (1:30pm – 2:15pm…) Kenwood
  • (2:45pm-3:45pm…) Yaesu & TYT’s TH9800
  • (4:30pm-5:15pm…) Icom
  • (7:00pm-7:45pm…) Baofeng, BTech, Pofung, (chi-coms)
  • (8:30pm-9:15pm…) PC programming (chirp)
  • (Sunday morning TBA…) Alinco or any makeups

Each session will cover 15 mins Radio Basics, 15 mins PowerPoint Demo, & 15+ mins hands on your radio.

Your Required to bring your own radio. We will even power for the mobiles.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

Food options

If you want to Reserve a Rib dinner or Pulled Pork sandwich dinner please pay Louis at PayPal or go to our June 20th meeting. Each dinner is $15/person and must be paid to Louis by the end of RARC’s June 20th meeting.

We will be having…

A food truck onsite the whole time Finer Meats & Eats

Free…

Ice cold city water

Five Watt Coffee  Donated

You may bring your own food & refreshments. (NO ALCOHOL ALLOWED)

(RARC & BARA are not responsible for any paid food services.)

 

__________________________________________________________________________

 

Sign-up

Please Sign-up below to help us get our numbers of people coming. All family & friends are welcome. Hams non-members of RARC or BARA are invited and can sign-up.

 

Field Day 2018 Sign Up

 

Personal Packing list

Please Email us at W0RRC.RARC@gmail.com for any questions.

May meeting minutes

I thank everyone who was able to come to this past month’s meeting.

Tom (president) KT0KTD

David KE0INK

Matt (advisor) N0TNL

Craig WB0WXN

Paul KE0QXB

Jeff (KG7ONF)

Hermon W0HJS

Mike (Vice President) KE0GZT

Don (adviser) KC0TJ

Brian KE0MCV

Justin AE0RF

Old Minutes/Old business-went over the minutes of the last meeting. Finer Meats Moblie canteen will be setting up in our parking lot for field day for food for guests. Mike (KD8JIR) will bring his ham radio in his RV for field day for a demonstration for how to use Ham Radio for people who like to travel. Bill from BARA is looking to set up a 3A setup for Field Day. Bill might have side gigs for field day such as moon bounce and CW (Morse code), and Jeff will bring his homemade tape measure yagi antenna to for field day. Coffee will be provided by 5 watt.

New business-Luis will be taking money for ribs up until the meeting before field in Field Day in June. Anybody willing to help with anything for Field Day will be a big help, especially with making sure we have enough supplies for cleanup, setup and take down for field day. Don will be doing demonstrations for programming different radios throughout Field Day. VHF/UHF sprint contest on June 9/10. The model of our club is expanding. A club member who has moved to another state is asking for advice on how to get a club in his area started and model it after our club. Don has met with the President of the ARRL and the President was curious on how we have a growing membership in a hobby that isn’t as popular as it used to be. “Crazy ideas” such as games like Battle Ship on radio make it fun for people to get on the air and play. Check out This Week in Tech. (TWIT) they have a show called Ham Nation, an excellent show about Ham Radio. Celebrities such as Tim Allen have got their license and has made the hobby more popular. Project Intercept is taking youth and trying to give them skills to make them more employable. They want to help kids get their license and Tom has been approached to try and help make this possible. Matt (N0TNL) received the Robert Dunbar Award from the Civil Air Patrol for his work with the CAP in communications.

Our last meeting before Field Day is June 20th. I hope to see as many people as possible to go over any final details of field day. This is our chance to show everybody what our club is capable of doing and get more people involved in this exciting hobby.

Meeting minutes and upcoming meeting

Thank you for everyone who attended last month’s meeting.

Jeff KG7ONF

Paul KE0QXV

Tom KE0KTD

Herman W0HJS

Mike KE0GZT

Don KC0TJ

Luis no call sign yet.

We went over old minutes

Went over any old business

New business:

We need to get a count of how many radio’s we have for field day

Lewis is coming again for field day and here is the menu

Ribs (3 bones and 3 sides)

Pulled pork sandwiches

Beans, Mac and cheese, corn bread,

$15 per plate.

We need to monitor our repeater. Tom checked in on a impromptu net on Easter and whoever was running it cut it off as soon as he checked in.There is nothing wrong with other people wanting to do nets on our repeater but our leadership would like to know and it’s a bit odd when people stop the net when someone from our club checks in.

We finally went over the logging software for field day.

Our next meeting is May 16, at 7 pm. at the Richfield community center. We plan on having sign ups for field day for different things that we need for field day. I hope to see a lot of people there to help us plan for field day.

Meeting minutes

Thank you for everyone who attended our March meeting.

Tom KE0KTD

Vice President Mike KE0GZT

Secretary Jeff KG7ONF

Adviser Don KC0TJ

Adviser Matt N0TNL

Mike KD8JIR

Ruthann KA0EPZ

Mary (no call sign) Richfield Historical Society

Patrick

Herm W0HJS

Alan KE0TWZ

Paul W0HWY

Aaron WB9CFN

John KE0PMV

Unoffically by phone Brian KE0MCT

Minutes-

Planning for Field Day, Getting in touch with Bloomington Club, Equipment for Field Day,

Talking about upcoming events 4th of July, Penn Fest, marathons, etc.

Midwinter madness at the Buffalo civic center

Brainerd Hamfest on 7 April

Superior Hamfest

Old Business-None

New Business-

Richfield Historical Society was happy to receive a card from our club for the GOTA event and said we are allowed to use the building again for any upcoming events.

Lewis is planning on doing ribs again this year for Field Day, we are trying to get in contact with him to get the details sorted out.

Ruthann is going to try and get in touch with the local new media to cover the story

We are going coordinate with BARA about the radios and antennas that we want to bring to Field Day

Don went over the different Google Drive folders that he has been creating for the club and for Field Day

We talked about how Field Day works, how the points work, how we like to run Field Day to make it more enjoyable for everyone

After the meeting we had people go down and see the layout of the basement of the community center

It has been exciting to see that participation at our club meetings has been growing every month and we hope to continue to see that trend. We appreciate everyone that is able to come to the meetings and be a part of the planning of the upcoming activities . We are looking at an exciting year of activities that our club can participate in and we have a great opportunity to help make our club grow and be more involved in our city. We hope to see everyone who is able to attend our next meeting on April 18th.

 

 

Meeting this Wednesday

Just a reminder that we have our club meeting this Wednesday at the Richfield community center starting at 7 pm. We will be continuing to go over the details for field day and than have a game of  ham radio jeopardy. So come join us and have some fun.