January 2008
Past Club News:
2004 2005 2006 2007 CurrentJCARA Club Meeting
Tuesday Jan 15, 2008
President Cliff Smither (N4ZEU) called the meeting to order at 7 p.m., January 15, 2008. The meeting was held at the Courtyard Classroom of Northside Hospital in Johnson City. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, we went around the room and everyone introduced themselves to the group.
FEMA and JCARA
Jerome Christian (KE4FH), reported on Johnson City/Washington Emergency Management Agency news. Wendell Messimer (K4ZHK) has been appointed to serve as liaison between the EMA and local Radio Amateurs. Kelly Crosswhite (AI4AU) is serving as liaison between the EMA and the local healthcare community. Discussion continued regarding opportunities for Amateur Radio involvement, ARES involvement, new equipment, and training.
Also participating was our ARES District Emergency Coordinator (District 9): Mike Otis (K0TIS), ADEC Ken Hart (K4KN); and our Washington County Assistant Emergency Coordinators: Tom Cook (KB3HZA) and Mike Wechsler (N4OFA).
JCARA Public Relations
Cliff (N4ZEU) suggested that Public Service Announcements on local broadcasters would be a good thing to do. The ARRL was mentioned as a source of prepared PSAs and Charlie Stuchell (K4CWA) was mentioned as a good resource.
Radio Direction Finding
Jeff Pierce (WD4NMQ), in response to Cliff's query about fox hunting interest, related radio direction finding (RDF) and project plans that are in progress in the Kingsport club.
Club Activities
In a discussion of possible club activities, the following ideas were presented: Campouts, hot dog cookouts, a special event stations.
Treasurer Report
Our treasurer, Tom Cook (KB3HZA) reported that the club has $651.15 in the checking account and $108.00 cash on hand.
Web Page Server
Ken Hart (K4KN) announced that he is looking for a new server for for the club web site, jcara.org. If anyone has a potential server with capacity to offer, they should contact him.
Club Dues
Mike (N4OFA) reminded everyone that it is again time for JCARA club dues for 2008. They are payable to Tom Cook (KB3HZA).
In attendance:
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Submitted by:
Ed Ingraham - WX4S
Secretary- Johnson City Amateur Radio Association
Merit Badge University
Saturday January 19th, 2008
The Boy Scouts of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia descended on the East Tennessee State University (ETSU) campus again this year for the annual Merit Badge University. This gathering provides training for the scouts, by merit badge counselors, on various subjects of their choice in classrooms around campus.
Area Amateur Radio operators annually volunteer their time to assist in training the boys for the Scouting Radio Merit Badge and the Electronics Merit Badge. Sixteen scouts elected this merit badge training from among the many others offered on campus this day.
Activities included classroom lectures, given by instructors Peter Rice (K4PJR) and Ken Hart (K4KN), on radio and electronics using overhead slides. Scouts were introduced to current, voltage and resistance and the basic electronic components we use to control these. Ohms law allowed them to see the relationship between them.
Sprinkled in, between formal lessons, were hands-on activities including soldering of electronic components onto blank circuit boards and breadboard building of a working Morse code transmitter.
Lunch was provided, with the many hundreds of scouts and adult leaders converging in the school cafeteria and choosing from the variety of food served there. Pizza seemed to be one of the clear favorites.
After lunch, studies continued with new material and new projects.
The boys were given an opportunity to listen and participate in Amateur radio first-hand from the ETSU Amateur Radio Club's ham shack.
Scouts were introduced to WWV's time signal (National Institute of Standards and Technology) from Boulder, Colorado.
An active contesting session in progress permitted them to challenge their ability to copy call-signs off-the-air from various Ham stations participating. Some seemed to have a natural aptitude for it.
Every scout attending was able to make their battery-operated code transmitter work, over its few feet, into a tuned radio receiver. They were introduced to some basic code characters as part of their training and this allowed them to demonstrate, for the first time, their understanding of communicating in Morse code.
The session lasted all day, from 09:00 until 17:30, but by the end of the day the majority of the boys had qualified for two new merit badges.
Amateur operators volunteering for this year's event were:
Submitted by: Ken Hart - K4KN