Local Hams in August CQ-VHF

Check out the August issue of CQ-VHF magazine.

The article contains photos and discussion about the HSMM activities that took place during the Plano Balloon Festival of 2007.

Kipton Moravec KE5NGX/AE5IB provided photos and the article  was written by John Champa.

Kip feels he may have been misquoted, but I hear it's a genuine article.

The link to the magazine can be found at:  http://www.cq-vhf.com/

Klub Repeater Move Progresses

Roger comments:

The move of the PARK repeater has progressed (albeit in fits and starts)due almost single-handedly to the untiring efforts of John Beadles (N5OOM). Although the rest of us have tirelessly tried to impede his progress, John has prevailed. In addition, John must take the blame for denying the Klub the opportunity to pay an outside contractor for pulling our cables up to the tower roof: he has allowed the local School District to foot the bill in exchange for installing their antennas on the roof and helping them with their equipment installation on the ground floor. This act alone will prevent the Klub from spending some $3,000!!

I, for one, offer John my heartfelt thanks and a Navy "Well Done!".

Roger Ady
AA5RD

Special Event Station Follow-Up

This past weekend the Plano Amateur Radio Klub-PARK, held it’s 35^th anniversary special event station at the Interurban Railway Museum (http://tinyurl.com/Plano-Interurban-Railroad) in Downtown Plano, and Wow, what a weekend!  The turnout was great, the company was wonderful, the bands were in TERRIBLE shape, and we all had a great time!

 (KD5UMO Photo)

The planning for this special event began early this year and our main goal was to get some of our members on the air in a non-contest format, announce to the world that our Klub had just celebrated thirty five years as an organization, and have a lot of fun.  We accomplished all of that and much more…

During the planning stages we figured that we would have a good turnout, especially since we had air conditioning, but we didn’t figure that at times it would be standing room only inside of the museum.  At one point we counted 24 people inside, and around, the operating area.  A casual observer would have been able to browse through the crowd and overhear topics ranging from; an experienced amateur operator explaining to a new General, how to best construct their first antenna for high frequency, or possibly 2 founding members discussing just how far this Klub has come!  There were a couple of times the station operators and/or the logger had to ask the crowd to keep it down a bit and then playfully accused them of creating QRM!  But, this weekend wasn’t just about visiting and mentorship, we were on the air and greeting the world as well.

 (KD5UMO Photo)

We started out Saturday at 7:30 AM with a safety briefing then began setup of the trailer mounted antenna mast and assembly of the tri-band beam.  Once the coax was run into the museum, we double checked the SWR and began calling CQ at just after 9:45 AM.  Within seconds of our call we had our first entry into the logbook, another Special Event Station located in Tennessee!  The fun kept going as we had a couple of our operators get to experience their first pile up, and if I may say so, they did a great job managing the traffic coming their way.

PARK Elections/Nominating Committee

Elections will be held in October for the positions of:

Vice-President

Secretary

Communications Director

PARK is currently seeking individuals to take position within the nominating committee.  This is an important element of the club.

Responsibilities include having to seek out and speak with persons whom they or any member feels would be a outstanding candidate to fill the vacating positions.

If you would like to be on the committee and/or feel as though you would be a good candidate for one of the open positions, please contact President Charlie Taylor-K5USS at president@k5prk.org .

Thank you.

PARK BOARD

Plano Balloon Festival Sign-Up Begins

Calling all Hams!

We are once again supporting the Plano Balloon Festival on September 19th, 20th and 21st.  The event festival is held at Oak Point Park and information regarding the festival can be found:  http://www.planoballoonfest.org/

Plano Amateur Radio Klub and other amateurs from the area have been supporting this event for over 20  years.  The primary reason is to provide communication and logistical support for the balloonists and organizers of the event.

View from the field (KD5UMO Photo)

With the event spanning three days, it requires a rather significant effort to coordinate and administer.   Operators are required in two general categories.   Field and Recovery Operations. 

We also provide weather monitoring support and act as liaisons to many of the Public Safety agencies supporting the event.  In the past we have also used this event to deploy new technology and techniques to validate their operational capabilities.

For more information and to SIGN-UP, please visit:

http://www.w5adc.com/PBF/PBF.html

To get an idea of what to expect and operational procedures for the recovery portion of the event: 

http://tinyurl.com/PBF-Recovery-Training

We look forward to seeing you this year!

Photo from recovery (KD5UMO Photo)