July 27, 2015 EMERALD COAST AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER Britton Hill (Almost) SOTA When you live in the State of Florida whose average height is 100 feet above sea level it s a little hard to qualify for Summits on the Air (SOTA). That s what the group found out when they decided to put on a radio outing as a SOTA station. But, not to be deterred, they decided to trek to Florida s highest point and have an (almost) SOTA. Britton Hill is located in Lakewood, Walton County, Florida in the panhandle and has the distinction of being the highest point in Florida located at 345 feet above sea level. There is a commemorative sign testifying to its height. The group, (standing from left) Ray (K1HG, Mark (K4MMP), Mike (K5EFY), and kneeling Dane (W4DSL), AND Josh (K7GTA) and Daisy (KT4KW), started out from Navarre Park in Navarre, FL on Sunday afternoon 8/10/13 to conquer the peak. After driving for an hour and a half they arrived and began to set up the antennas and radios. This was to be a mini field day with emergency power and a lot of ingenuity. The primary purpose was to utilize and test go-kits developed by Dane, Mike, and Josh. (Josh not pictured intentionally)
Dane and Mark utilized a go-kit developed by Dane. The equipment installed inside the box consisted of a Yaesu FT-897d, LDG AT-897 + auto tuner, Power Werx power supply and 12 volt deep cycle battery connected through a Super Pwrgate PG-40S PWRguard. Finally, all was connected to a Yamaha portable generator located in the back of Dane s pick-up truck. They used a Buddipole Deluxe set up for 20 meters. Ray used the portable set-up built by Mike. This include an iportable enclosure with a Yaesu FT-857D HF/VHF/UHF all mode transceiver, an LDG YT-100 auto tuner, and a PowerWerx 30 amp switching power supply. AC power came from a Honda EU2000i 2000 watt generator. Primary antenna here was a Buddipole Deluxe configured as a 20 Meter dipole and at the end of the operation as a 15 Meter dipole. Mike operated using his second portable set-up. The transceiver used here was a Yaesu FT-817ND QRP transceiver powered by a 12 volt 20 amp battery. The antennas used were an AlexLoop magnetic wire and a Yeasu ATAS-25 vertical. Josh utilized two radios for his set-up at different times. These were a Yaesu FT-817 QRP rig with an LDG Z-817 auto tuner and a Yaesu FT-857 HF/VHF/UHF all mode transceiver connected to an LDG AT-100 PRO auto tuner. He used a G5RV dipole in an inverted V configuration with the apex held up by a large tree limb found in the nearby woods. Power for Josh was provided by 18Ah battery packs with 25 watt solar panels for charging. Although Britton Hill did not qualify for Summits On The Air (SOTA) because it did not meet the minimum height for the contest rules, all the participants had a great time testing their equipment and enjoying the comradery of their fellow hams. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ECARA meets at 6 PM on the first Friday of each month at the Navarre Fire Station No. 61 located behind the Winn Dixie shopping center. Current Officers are: President: Ray Crepeau K1HG Vice President: Mike Wooley K5EFY Secretary-Treasurer: Len Frantz K4KBD This organization exists to promote ham radio by holding license classes, providing testing for new licensees and upgrading of existing licensees and using our licenses to provide help in emergency operations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What s coming up???? August 1st - Advanced CERT Training in Pensacola. This training will include two 2 hour sessions about Amateur Radio. The classes are from 1 to 3 and 3 to 5 on Saturday. If you don t already have plans come and support our president, Ray (K1HG) who is teaching these classes. Hey, you might learn something!!! August 7th 6 PM Club meeting August 15th - 8:00 Ham breakfast at Sail Inn on Hwy 98 August 15th & 16th - NAQP Contest also Huntsville hamfest August 22nd and 29th - Steve Van Denakker W4SJV and Ray Crepeau K1HG will be teaching the ARRL EC-001 course in Robertsdale, AL at the Baldwin County EOC. August 4,11,18,25 - Tuesday night ARES net at 8PM on 146.700 with a ragchew immediately following the net on the CERT repeater 444.200 PL100.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Have you gotten in your choice yet?!? This month the members were asked to voice their opinions concerning the Adopt A Highway program. This program would get the name of our club front and center when you arrive in Navarre (hopefully we can get the repeater frequency added also). This would be at no cost to us! FREE advertising to promote our club!! And what do we have to do????? Well, quarterly (that s 4 times a year) the membership would need to pick up trash on the roadway from the Okaloosa County line to about Walmart. The bags and vests would be provided by the state and we can pick what time we want to go out. Now if you have driven this section of the road as much as we have you will remember it has wide grassy areas where you won t need to get close to 98. Also, there is very little trash along this stretch. So make your voices heard - vote. We are hams, we are never silent. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Are you an ARRL member? ECARA is an ARRL affiliated club. That means that 51% of our club members MUST be members of ARRL in order to keep that affiliation. Just a reminder to update your ARRL membership information with our secretary by email. If you need to join or renew your membership please do so thru the club because the club gets back a portion of your membership fee when this is done thru the club. ARRL provides valuable help to our hobby and makes every effort to keep our frequencies for our use and enjoyment. In addition, you get a QST magazine every month. So if you haven t provided this information to Len, please do so. If you haven t renewed with ARRL, this month would be the perfect time. FYI the ARRL has announce a dues increase of $10 per year effective Dec 31 st, 2015. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SOUND OFF!!!!!!! Are you being heard? If you have a topic that you would like to have aired - let me know. Do you have a birthday coming up that you would like acknowledged? (No, you don t need to put in the year) Is there something you would like to do (hopefully involving amateur radio)? Is something on your mind? Have you accomplished something we would like to know about? Whatever your questions or comments might be I would be happy to know about them. Just email Daisy at kt4kw@arrl.net and I will get it aired. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
REPEATER STATUS Did anyone notice the KC4ERT repeater was off the air? Of course you would need to have actually turned on your radio to notice that. So for those of you who don t keep your radios turned to the 444.200 repeater, YES the repeater has been off the air. We are happy to report that the Yaesu Fusion repeater purchased by the club is once again transmitting. What happened: When we returned from our trip to NC we tried to transmit on the repeater and nothing happened. Len and Ray went to the repeater site and determined (after numerous tests) that the repeater was only putting out 2 watts on transmit instead of the 50 watts that it was programmed to put out. So, that repeater was removed and sent back to Yaesu for repair. In the meantime, the repeater purchased by Mike W8EHH that is currently residing at the Crepeau abode was put in its place. There were a few glitches syncing the repeater to the controller but finally on July 26th the club repeater was installed in its rightful place and all is working admirably. Now, GET ON YOUR RADIOS, and check it out. MORE PHOTOS FROM BRITTON HILL OUTING