Serving the Longmont Colorado Community!
Our Hamlet Net is an educational net that’s geared for newbies to the hobby, and everyone else too! You are invited to join us on our repeaters at 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm every Tuesday evening to check in, listen to an educational presentation, give your comments and/or opinions, and ask any questions you may have. We hope to hear you on the air!
For our repeater information, go to https://w0eno.org/tuesday-hamlet-net/.
Did you participate in the recent LARC Yagi antenna building activity? If so, here’s your chance to try out that new antenna (and if not, you can still join on in the fun, even if you only have an HT and rubber duck antenna)!
Sebastian Wessels, NS0W, a former vice-president of LARC, is running a fox hunt this Saturday, March 26th. Here is his announcement of the event:
I decided to run a Fox Hunt this weekend as there seems to be renewed interest in the club. I did a test deployment today and I could copy the Fox with my mobile setup south of 17th, between Airport on the west and Lashley on the east. I did not check the south boundary but I am sure you should be able to hear it all the way to Pike.
I am planning to do this on Saturday, March 26 from 2PM sharp, till 4pm. The frequency is 147.495. It is an FM signal with beeps every second or so for 30 secs and then my call, NS0W in CW, and then it turns off for 30 sec and repeats the cycle.
The fox is an ammo can that will be at ground level. I will attach some kind of password to the top. It will be in an publicly accessible area, but will obviously be hidden behind a bush or something similar. This should be an easy hunt, but be ready for your receiver to be swamped when you get close. You will need some kind of attenuation.
Please record the time, location and “Password” and send it to radio@swessels.org. I will ask Chuck to share the results.
If you are new to fox hunting / radio direction finding, here are some resources you can check out:
http://www.homingin.com/equipment.html
http://www.arrl.org/direction-finding
Sebastian mentions attenuation. This is one of the few times in amateur radio where we actually want to decrease the power of the signal reaching our radio. If you have an HT with a rubber duck (i.e. non-directional) antenna, you can use the “body fade” technique, or when you get really close to the fox, you can disconnect your antenna altogether (just be careful not to transmit without the antenna!)
Chuck put on a great practical class on assembling a cheap Yagi-Uda antenna. Here’s a video I made of the day’s events!
73,
Raman, KV0N
My XYL and I took a few radios and searched for the fox using attenuation techniques including cross-polarization and 3rd harmonics. It was a bluebird Colorado day and the hunt made for a fun outdoor walk.
Here’s the video:
Raman, KV0N
I attended the Hamfest that was put on my Northern Colorado Amateur Radio Club. It was great seeing so many local hams in attendance as well as sitting in on some great classes.
Here’s a short YouTube video of the day.
Our Hamlet Net is an educational net that’s geared for newbies to the hobby, and everyone else too!
You are invited to join us on our repeaters at 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm every Tuesday evening to check in, listen to an educational presentation, give your comments and/or opinions, and ask questions. We hope to hear you on the air!
LARC is sponsoring a FREE VE Exam Session this coming Sunday, January 16th, at 9:00 am, at the Professional Building at 350 Terry Street, Longmont, 80501.
You may bring a laptop or tablet to take your test on. Paper exams are available as well if desired.
To register for this exam session, go to hamstudy.org/sessions/w0pct. If this session fills up, another will be added.
Masks are required in this building.
I volunteered with my ham radio club – the Longmont Amateur Radio Club – to provide support for the city of Longmont’s annual Turkey Trot.
Here’s a video of the event:
A call for volunteers went out soon after the conclusion of the Halloween parade a few weeks back. Of course, I volunteered.
This event was earlier in the day so my XYL made it clear that she wasn’t going to help lug the camera or gear!
Preparation started the day before. We were told that the club’s 2 meter repeater was iffy to raise depending on where you were on the course so that we should bring a better antenna with our HT’s.
Here’s a list of what I brought:
The weather forecast called for a cool 50ish degrees going up to maybe 65. I knew better so I dressed in layers and was prepared to stand for a few hours.
I left the house around 7:20 AM and arrived at the middle school around 7:40. A few fellow hams were there milling about and chatting. It was slightly warmer than the weather forecast which was nice. I signed in at the volunteer table, grabbed an even t-shirt and hung out and waited for everyone else to arrive. At about 8 AM we got together for a short briefing, followed by a group photo. Then we each drove to our assigned tactical stations.
I was station Delta again. Not being from Longmont, I had just a little trouble finding where I was supposed to be because the road names changed. But I got to my station well in advance and chatted with the other volunteers that were stationed at the same risky corner.
I swapped out my stock antenna for the Signal Stick and notified net control I was at my station. I was easily able to hit the repeater!
9 o’clock rolled around and we all checked in with Net Control and the race started. A few short minutes later the lead runners were already at my station which was probably 1-1.5 miles from the start on the 10k course.
Eventually the runners, including dogs, babies, and puppies went by and I was relieved of my station and was asked to move to another location. I got in my car and saw that the Longmont police already were at the corner and that there were too many cones and not a good place to stop and park without getting in the way unnecessarily so I notified net control and he told me to return to the start/finish. Ironically, I was in my car (i.e. my faraday cage) and the Signal Stick still got out to the repeater!
So I drove back to the start/finish and hung out with Net Control while we watched the runners go by. I also got a chance to observe the responsibilities of Net Control including notifying the Event people whom we were assisting, of the race progress.
Overall the race was uneventful from our perspective, although there was an injury but First Responders were already on location so we weren’t involved in calling for assistance.
This was a fun event to work and unique because this is the first one where I had to go out on course. Having my car nearby meant I didn’t have to lug around everything I might have needed while standing somewhere for hours. We already have some refinements for me to make for next year including using my motorcycle or scooter to be able to go on course where cars can’t or shouldn’t go.
So far this my 4th event that I’ve worked and each event my equipment and strategy gets better and better. Unfortunately, I will be on vacation for the Christmas Parade which I had hoped to be Net Control for but I’m sure there will be other events that I can cut my teeth on in order to help out with being Net Control when needed in the future.
73,
ae0rs
The Longmont Amateur Radio Club of Boulder Colorado was formed many years ago to provide public infor
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