Happy July 4th! from W4VLD
W4VLD would like to wish all Americans a fun and safe July 4th!
W4VLD would like to wish all Americans a fun and safe July 4th!
The Georgia ARES statewide meeting is coming up on Saturday January 24th. This yearly event will be located at the following address:
Please have a wonderful and safe thanksgiving with your friends and family this year. Don’t forget to wish your amateur radio friends who keep amateur radio going in your area a happy thanksgiving. Most of all let us remember those who can’t be home for the holidays because they serving our country both domestically and aboard. God Bless those who serve others…
The VARC provided communications support to the Honey Bee Bike Ride in Hahira – Thanks to our members for their continued support of this event.
Be sure to listen out for K2BSA this week as they are operating from West Virginia for the 2013 National Boy Scout Jamboree. We will keep our D-Star repeater, W4VLD B, connected to D-Star reflector 33A during the duration of the Jamboree.
[ribbon toplink=”true”]K2BSA On Air Frequencies[/ribbon]
SSB in MHz: 28.390, 24.960, 21.360, 18.140, 14.290, 7.190, 3.940
PSK-31 in MHz: 28.120, 24.920, 21.080, 18.100, 14.070, 10.142, 7.080, 3.580
EchoLink: K2BSA-R Demonstration Station (node 4566), WV8BSA-R VHF Repeater (node 6544), W6BSA-R UHF Repeater (node 9877), Conference *JOTA-365* (node 480809)
D-Star: WV8BSA and Reflector 033A
CW: There will be limited operation on CW as time permits
Members of the VARC just finished up field day for this year. What a wonderful experience for members, visitors and perspective amateurs alike. Ham radio shouldn’t be hard but rather fun and enjoyable which is what this event was.
It was great to see the following amateurs: Bobby, Michael, Greg, Payne, Sheila, Barry, Tim, John, Bob, Mike, and several others who came to socialize. There where several non-hams attending which were mostly member’s family or invited friends. The pot luck Saturday evening was delicious and just plain enjoyable! Again Mike’s grilling expertise was top notch! The grilled sausage was very tasty…
The VARC operated with three stations again this year using emergency power provided by solar panels. One station operated 6 meters and the two others operated in the HF bands. The 6 Meters station antennas was a 3 element cushcraft beam up 70 feet on a tower. One of the HF stations used a 520′ loop antenna and the last station used a tri-bander beam up on the tower at 66 feet. There was also a 40/75 inverted V but it failed during the event.
The HF bands were really good this year. In fact very good! Most contacts where made on 20,15,10, and 6 meters. Around 100 on 6 meters alone. The HF bands were just plain HOT! Especially 6 Meters Sunday afternoon just before the event was over.
The goal this year was 500 points but after just the first hour the VARC scored already 300 points. The overall contact score was 1160 contacts using only SSB. When the score for using emergency power is factored in the final score is 2300 points! Bobby KF4GTA (the contest machine) scored the most contacts for the event. Thank Bobby for raising the bar for next year!
The greatest quote heard from many of those who visited field day was… “I didn’t realize that ham radio was this high tech.”
Make plans to attend next year… Field Day 2014…. CQ Field Day… This is W4VLD… 3E…. GA….
Make plans now to enjoy this year’s W4VLD Field Day. We’ll be operating at 5202 Phillips Road (Coordinates: 30.7432,-83.3949) in Valdosta. Don’t forget the potluck meal Saturday evening at 6:00pm. Even if you can’t stay for the whole event, at least make plans to come share some time with your fellow hams over a meal. If you have any questions, please click the “Help Me” on the above menu and then click “Contact W4VLD”.
Last Saturday morning VARC members gathered to support the Azalea City Festival 5K run. Because of the help from the VARC the event went off with out any major issues and everyone running made it through the course safely. And the weather was just perfect for both the run and the festival. This will be the last run or ride event until the Honeybee festival this fall. Hope you will come and help out then. A big thanks to Ed, Matt, and Micheal for their support with the 5K!
This last Saturday club members and non club members took off their “I am No. 1” jerseys and put on the club colors to support the Century Bike Ride. These giving members braved the early cold morning in order to setup communication and GPS tracking for the bike ride. The ride organizers were again very happy with the ham support because of the special support we provide to them. Thanks team!
Every February, the Magnet Lab invites the public to spend the day at its world-class research laboratory, and every February, they come by the thousands.
Open House typically attracts around 5,000 guests. The 2013 Open House will be held on Saturday, February 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This free event features something for visitors of every age: hands-on demonstrations, self-guided tours, activities from our Community Classroom Consortium partners, food, and the chance to meet and chat with our scientists and other MagLab staff. It’s also a chance to do good for the community: The canned goods we collect as the unofficial price of admission go to America’s Second Harvest Food Bank of the Big Bend.
Open House offers an up-close look at our record-breaking 45-tesla hybrid magnet, our 900-megahertz superconducting magnet and other powerful research instruments. A special Exploration Station features hands-on science fun designed especially for families with young children.
Hams from the Valdosta and Thomasville areas enjoyed a great day touring the labs. It was an awesome day learning about science and seeing the biggest magnet in the U.S.A. See you there next year!