Amateur Radio FAQ

And another this Saturday in St. Mary's County:

St. MARY'S ARA 4th ANNUAL TAILGATEFest
Saturday, October 22, 2015
Event Time: 8 AM - 12 Noon



Admission is 'FREE' and a very nice for outside Tailgating / Table fee
for $5.00 - Reserved Inside Table for $10. All proceeds to fund next
year's event.

PAST DUE - Reserved indoor table payment was due by September 24, 2016
[see website].
Please email Chuck Gantz at k3wjx@yahoo.com or call 240-925-1105

Visit our SMCARA website <http://www.k3hki.org/>

Location:
Hollywood VFD Bingo Hall
Behind the Volunteer Fire House
24801 Three Notch Rd (MD RT 235)
Hollywood, MD 20636

GPS: 38.348684 N, 76.576462 W
38°20'55.3" North
76°34'35.3" West

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The drop down menu for "tailgatefest" on their site appears to be busted.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

NRA 145th Birthday Special Event Station!

November 17th.

http://www.w7yrc.org/nrabirthday/

New (I believe this is the first time for this one) Hamfest:


Santa Fest
Date: Saturday, December 10, 2016
Location: American Legion Youth Camp, 9201 Surratts Road, Cheltenham, MD 20623
Sponsor: American Legion & Prince George's County Emergency Repeater Association
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Talk-In: 145.230 (PL 110.9)
Public Contact: Charles Hallock, AA3WS, 16203 Manning Road, West Accokeek, MD 20607
Email: <selbynet@hotmail.com>

I would be interested in hiring somebody knowledgeable to install (or to help me install) a longwire antenna at my house (Annapolis area) for a vintage am/sw radio. I am just not sufficiently clear on how/where to best mount it, how to bring it inside cleanly, and how to do proper lightning arresting. I don't want to set up a lightning rod for myself.

It looks like the basic materials are available as a kit on ebay for $50 or so, just not sure where to go from there. I am looking at a 50' or so wire. I am thinking maybe between my house and my shed. I don't have much in the way of mature trees to use. My house is all vinyl siding, so I am not sure how to best attach to the house without creating leaks, etc.

I considered just running it in my attic for simplicity sake, but I seem to get a lot of RFI inside the house, so outside seems like the better option.

Is this receiving only?

Just run the wire. No big deal.

I run all my antennas through an antennna switch, that grounds the antenna when turned to the Off position.

Pinecone said:

Is this receiving only?

Just run the wire. No big deal.

I run all my antennas through an antennna switch, that grounds the antenna when turned to the Off position.

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Yes. Receiving only. Is there a switch you recommend then? Don't i have to ground the switch somehow too? How do you bring the antenna feed into the structure.

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slybarman said:

How do you bring the antenna feed into the structure.

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Drill a hole just large enough to fit diameter of wire, feed wire through hole, run a bead of caulk around wire on outside of house. I did this last yr when I installed a propane range and had to run copper tubing through the wall to hook it up. No leaks so far.

newmuzzleloader said:

Drill a hole just large enough to fit diameter of wire, feed wire through hole, run a bead of caulk around wire on outside of house. I did this last yr when I installed a propane range and had to run copper tubing through the wall to hook it up. No leaks so far.

Click to expand...

I was with you until you said, "so far" - then my confidence wavered a bit.

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K31 said:

New (I believe this is the first time for this one) Hamfest:


Santa Fest
Date: Saturday, December 10, 2016
Location: American Legion Youth Camp, 9201 Surratts Road, Cheltenham, MD 20623
Sponsor: American Legion & Prince George's County Emergency Repeater Association
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Talk-In: 145.230 (PL 110.9)
Public Contact: Charles Hallock, AA3WS, 16203 Manning Road, West Accokeek, MD 20607
Email: <selbynet@hotmail.com>

Click to expand...

I have some specific equipment that I am looking for. I wonder what the turn out will be for this event? eBay and the Internet has killed most hamfests, but I'm still interested in checking it out.

TheWhiteBuffalo said:

I have some specific equipment that I am looking for. I wonder what the turn out will be for this event? eBay and the Internet has killed most hamfests, but I'm still interested in checking it out.

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I know at least one club is going to have a table there other than that, I'm not sure. True the Internet has killed some hamfests but others, I'm amazed at the turnout.

slybarman said:

Yes. Receiving only. Is there a switch you recommend then? Don't i have to ground the switch somehow too? How do you bring the antenna feed into the structure.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

I use Alpha Delta switches. Like this - https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/alf-delta-2b

Or you can just disconnect the antenna from the receiver and connect it to a ground.

K31 said:

I know at least one club is going to have a table there other than that, I'm not sure. True the Internet has killed some hamfests but others, I'm amazed at the turnout.

Click to expand...

"The RF Connection" http://therfc.com is scheduled to be at Santafest. This is the first Santafest with "The RF Connection" having 6 of the 28 tables sold for the event. Other tables are a variety of clubs, individuals, ARRL, etc.

Santafest flyer attached.

Some Thanksgiving HAM humor...

That was great!

Intarsiac said:

Some Thanksgiving HAM humor...

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That's awesome!

^ That whole show is awesome.

The Aero Amateur Radio Club is still pretty active in Baltimore County

Established in 1946 in cooperation with the Glen L. Martin Aircraft Plant in Middle River, Maryland, the Aero Amateur Radio Club has been serving the communities of Essex and Middle River for 69 years. Members of the club are active in the Baltimore County Civil Defense network to provide Shelter Area communications in the event of a disaster also we are active in the SKYWARN spotters program. Some of our members are involved in Boy Scouts and Civil Air Patrol.

The club is also associated with Kenwood High School in the Essex area which has the call sign AE3RO. Amateur Radio repeater systems are located at the school using the clubs call W3PGA. The club also provides VE testing for amateur radio operator licenses and upgrades.

In addition to providing a public service to the community, the club regularly participates in American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsored contests that simulate emergency conditions in the field. These events include Field Day and VHF contests using emergency power while operating in the field. Recently the club ventured to Hart Miller Island and placed it on the IOTA (Islands On The Air) list # MD015S. The AERO Amateur Radio Club has been ARRL affiliated since 1956.

The club participates in the Essex Sky Park Association events such as Wings and Wheels, Fly in Pancake Breakfast and Pumpkin Dunking events through out the year. Essex Sky Park is our meeting facility at the FBO and is our Field Day Site in the Community Hanger.

The club conducts nets on the the AIR the second and fourth/fifth Wednesdays of the month at 8:00 PM EST. The second Wednesday net meets on 28.445 MHz. using USB, the fourth Wednesday net meets on 147.240 MHz. FM Repeater, and the fifth Wednesday net (when applicable) meets on 449.575 MHz FM Repeater. All nets are open to licensed radio amateurs.

We have meetings regularly beginning at 7:30 PM on the first and third Wednesday of each month at the Essex Sky-park Association FBO Building at 1401 Diffendal Road Essex, MD 21221. The meetings are informal and open to prospective members.

http://w3pga.org/aero.html


https://www.facebook.com/Aero-Amateur-Radio-Club-719248141439348/?fref=ts

For those in the north eastern corner of the state, NEMARC will be holding 6 testing dates this year.

http://www.nemarc.org/vetesting.html

Dates

February 25, 2017

April 22, 2017

June 17, 2017

August 26, 2017

October 21, 2017

December 16, 2017


Times

Registration starts at 9:30 am

Testing starts at 10:00 am

Completion time by 12:30 pm

Location: Jarretsville, MD VFW


I'm planning on upgrading my license either in February or more likely April in the hopes I might be able to get an HF station on the air by year's end!