Holland Amateur Radio Club K8DAA USA

Update: The last call net for Ike, K8EMU will be Monday night at 8 PM, following the 7:30 PM net. Charlie, N8QEM will be the host.

Ivan “Ike” DeWitt, age 83, of Holland, passed away Sunday, September 13, 2020 at the Stanford Lodge in Plainwell.

Ike, K8EMU, was a longtime member of the Holland Amateur Radio Club.  In 2010, the Club honored Ike as “Ham of the Year” for his role as co-chairman of the annual hamfest.

Ike could always be counted on to lend a hand and pitch in wherever needed, whether it was making coffee for club meetings or working at Tulip Time parades.  Each year, for every parade, Ike requested to be stationed near the grandstands, where he assisted attendees up and down the dangerous steps of the old bleachers.  Tulip Time gives out annual commemorative pins, and Ike had a large collection of them representing all his years of service.  It’s hard to imagine those activities without him.

Please keep Ike’s family in your thoughts and prayers.  He is survived by his wife, Leah, his children, and grandchildren.  A graveside committal service was held on Thursday, September 17, 2020 at Georgetown Cemetery in Hudsonville.   Rev. Eugene Los  officiated.  Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.  Arrangements were by Langeland-Sterenberg Funeral Home and condolences may be left online at www.langelandsterenberg.com.

The Holland Amateur Radio Club’s monthly general membership meeting will be held Tuesday night, October 13 one way or another.  Stay tuned to find out if we’ll have an in-person meeting (at Kollen Park band shell 6:30pm, masks, social distancing required) or if it will be held at the clubhouse (Chick-Owa Sportsmans’ Club, 9279 Ottogan St, Holland with masks, social distancing required) or on the air (147.06) starting at 7pm.  Either way, you don’t have to be a club member to attend.  All hams welcome to join in!

On Saturday, November 14, the Holland Amateur Radio Club will be holding licensing exams for anyone wishing to obtain or upgrade their amateur radio license.  The testing will be held at the Chick-Owa Sportsmans Club, 9279 Ottogan St., Holland.  The testing session will begin at 6:00 p.m.  There is no charge for any testing.  No Morse code is required for any grade license.  In addition, if your license is within 90 days of expiration, it can quickly be renewed at no charge between 6:00 and the end of testing.

What to bring with you:  If available, bring a legal photo ID such as a driver’s license or passport.  If no legal photo ID is available, bring 2 pieces of legal ID.  Anyone 16 years old or younger must have a parent or legal guardian present for the entire testing session.  IMPORTANT… If you currently hold a ham radio license, bring the license and a copy of the license to the test session.  (Copy will be sent in with the testing results.)   

Note:  This is a federal exam and the FCC requires you to have an FRN.    You can obtain your Federal Registration Number (FRN) before the test, by going to this website:   https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do   The FCC FRN process is simple, and quite fast. 

For further information on license testing, please email Bob Broene, K8RJB, at k8rjb[dot]ham[at]gmail.com. 

This activity will be held following the requirements for the safety of all involved, including wearing masks, limiting class size, and social distancing:

“Ham in a Day”  will be held at the Chick-Owa Sportsman’s Club located at 9279 E. Ottogan Street (just west of Winding Creek) in Holland.  This is an opportunity for anyone wishing to get their amateur radio technician license to study and take the exam all in one afternoon.  Directed study starts at 1:00 and continues till 6:00, when the test will be given.  

For registration and more information, go to:  http://tinyurl.com/holo-hiad-ve.  Cost for the Ham in a Day study session is $25 (which includes the book Ham Radio by Bob Heil), but there is no cost for testing. 

In addition to the Ham in a Day students, anyone can arrive at 6:00 and take the technician, general, or extra class exam at no cost.  Also, anyone whose license is within 90 days of expiring can renew their license between 6:00 and the end of testing at no charge.

If you haven’t already done so, please join the Holland Amateur Radio Club for another successful year by renewing your membership today.  This club is active and growing and we need your support to keep the ball rolling.  Where else can you have so much fun for so little cost?  And how easy can it be to pay those dues?  Just bring your $25 (single) or $35 (family) dues to the next meeting, OR mail it to Holland Amateur Radio Club, PO Box 2104, Holland, MI 49422-2104 OR you can use Paypal.  Even if you don’t have a Paypal account, you can still pay online using your credit card. Details are on the membership page:  http://www.hollandarc.org/?page_id=2458.

The Holland Amateur Radio Club values your membership and your support.  Thank you!

Support us when you shop on Amazon. Go to smile.amazon.com/ch/38-2136386 and Amazon will donate a percentage to Holland Amateur Radio Club.  This adds nothing to the cost of your purchase but benefits the club.  Thanks!

The Holland ARC can be found on the groups.io email list server.  If you would like to sign up, please go to:

https://k8daa.groups.io/g/k8daa

From there you will see “apply for membership” icon. Click on that and follow the instructions and we should be good to go.

The archives are available at any time to be read without logging in.  Todd, W8YHF ported over thousands of emails from the Yahoo Group.

The HARC has decided to split out “swap” messages into their own mailing list on groups.io.  A list has been set up so that anyone already subscribed to the main K8DAA group will be able to post by sending a message to buysell@k8daa.groups.io.  If you’d like to subscribe to the list to receive the messages by email, however, you’ll need to send an email to buysell+subscribe@k8daa.groups.io.

More details about the subgroup are available here:
https://k8daa.groups.io/g/buysell

If you are interested in DMR, the Holland ARC has put a DMR repeater in service, co-located with the 147.06 and the analog UHF repeater at the Holland Community Hospital.

Details: Rptr out 443.8875  Rptr in 448.8875

Color Code is 4   (Repeater is connected to the Brandmeister Network)

Static Talk Groups

Slot 1      3169 (Midwest),   31261 (Mi5-Statewide 1),   31608 (USA Area 8)

Slot 2     3126 (Michigan),    31262  (Mi5-Statewide 2),    31267 (West Michigan),

31268 (UP of Michigan),    31269 (West Michigan Technical group)

Other Brandmeister talkgroups are available using PTT.

This repeater is for experimenting and having fun. Quite a bit of activity on the West Michigan Talk Group, 31267.

The Holland ARC wishes to thank Sam, K8SN and Mike, KB8ZGL for their helping hands in this project.