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Sandy Ridge Amateur Radio Association

Club station KF4SRA | Serving hams in the Piedmont of North Carolina since 1971
ARRL Affiliated Club | Home of the 147.255 repeater

[ News ] [ Field Day 1999 Report ] [ Meetings & Nets ] [ License Exams ] [ ARES ] [ Officers ]

News

24 Sep 99 -- Floyd. Thanks to the eleven SRARA members who spent all or part of last week working shelter and Red Cross nets down east after Hurricane Floyd. Most of our area got off with downed trees and a couple of days without power, but the flooding in the eastern counties is the worst anybody can remember, and when the phones went out, the radios didn't. Special thanks to KD4MVB, who ran net control for nineteen hours over two days on a car battery and a thermos. A full write-up will be in the October newsletter. If you'd like to help next time, see ARES below and get registered before the next one.

20 Sep 99 -- Field Day results. Our claimed score for Field Day 1999 is 5,724 points in class 3A, our best ever, with 1,651 QSOs. The full report, band breakdown and the story of the 3 a.m. generator incident are on the Field Day page.

10 Sep 99 -- Y2K. The county emergency management office has asked ARES to have operators at the EOC and at the hospital on New Year's Eve, just in case. Nobody really expects the lights to go out, but nobody wants to be the one who said so. Sign-up sheet at the October meeting.

Aug 99 -- Technician class. Our fall license class starts Tuesday, October 5, and runs eight weeks, 7 to 9 p.m. in the Red Cross chapter building. Technician needs no Morse code test. Books are about $20. Tell your friends, your kids, your neighbor with the CB antenna.

Meetings & Nets

Monthly meeting: second Thursday of the month, 7:30 p.m., in the meeting room of the county Red Cross chapter. Talk-in on the repeater. Visitors and unlicensed folks are always welcome. There's coffee, and usually doughnuts.

Date	Program
Thu 14 Oct	"Antennas for Small Lots," or how to hide a 40 meter dipole from the homeowners' association. N4XHG
Thu 11 Nov	Floyd after-action: what worked, what didn't, and what goes in your go-kit
Thu 9 Dec	Holiday dinner and the annual white elephant swap. Bring the junk from your shack.

Weekly net: Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. on the 147.255 MHz repeater (+600 kHz, 100.0 Hz tone). All licensed hams welcome, check in with or without traffic. New hams, this is a good place to get over mike fright.

Morning coffee net: weekdays 7:00 a.m. on the repeater, informal. Mostly retired guys and people stuck in traffic on I-40.

CW practice: Sunday evenings 8:00 p.m., 3.710 MHz, slow speed. Patient ops only.

License Exams

Our ARRL VEC volunteer examiner team holds exam sessions the third Saturday of odd-numbered months at 10:00 a.m. Next session: Saturday, November 20. Bring two forms of ID (one with a photo), the original and a copy of any license or CSCE you already have, a couple of pencils, a calculator with the memory cleared, and the exam fee. Walk-ins are fine, but an e-mail ahead of time helps us bring enough test booklets.

Current license classes and code requirements, for newcomers:

Technician: written exams only, no code. VHF and UHF privileges.
Novice / Technician Plus: add the 5 word-per-minute code test for some HF privileges.
General: 13 wpm code plus another written exam. Most of HF.
Advanced / Amateur Extra: more written exams, and 20 wpm for Extra.

Yes, we've heard the FCC is talking about restructuring the license classes and the code speeds. They've been talking about it for a year. Until it happens, study for the tests that exist.

ARES

Many SRARA members are also registered with the county Amateur Radio Emergency Service. ARES provides backup communications for the county EOC, the Red Cross and the hospitals when normal systems fail or get overloaded. If you're licensed and want to help, e-mail the Emergency Coordinator through the club address below and we'll get you on the roster and into the next training net. After last week, we could use you.

1999 Officers

President	Ray Honeycutt, N4XHG
Vice President	Sandra Lassiter, KF4BWT
Secretary	Phil Oakley, KE4PNR
Treasurer	Bob Strickland, W4ODY
Trustee, KF4SRA	Earl Pendergrass, K4EVP
ARES liaison	Jim Barbour, KD4MVB
Webmaster	Dave Hollowell, KD4QZT

Dues are $20 a year, $25 for a family, $10 for students. Newsletter, The Sandy Ridge Signal, comes monthly by mail.

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Comments, questions, exam RSVPs: [email protected]
Page maintained by Dave, KD4QZT. 73!

Last updated Friday, September 24, 1999
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