Holland Amateur Radio Club K8DAA USA

Our club meetings are back on Tuesdays now!  Join the fun at the Holland Amateur Radio Club’s monthly general membership meeting Tuesday night, April 9 at 7:00pm at the Chick-Owa Sportsman’s Club, 9279 E. Ottogan St., Holland.  Club business will be discussed, followed by a presentation.  You need not be a member or even a ham to attend.  All interested in amateur radio are welcome!

“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.  Also, anyone holding a current technician or general license may arrive at 6:00 and take the test to upgrade at no cost.  Anyone whose license is within 90 days of expiring can also renew their license between 6:00 and the end of testing at no charge.

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.

The next E.A.T. meeting (Education And Training) will be held on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 at 7 pm at the Chick-Owa Sportsman’s Club located at 9279 E. Ottogan Street (just west of Winding Creek Golf Club). 

We will have an instructional video, as well as answer any questions and especially help newcomers to the hobby get started.

HARC E.A.T. sessions are open to the public and you do not need to be a HARC member or have an amateur radio license to attend. If you have questions about amateur radio equipment, operating practices, licensing, test and measurement, or anything remotely related to amateur radio, this is the place to be.

Eric Lynema KE8GRY from Holland and Dave Cross N3WJF from Grand Haven both took their General exams last Saturday, March 9 at the HARC VE session and both passed with flying colors!  So whether you see them in person or hear them on the air, be sure to congratulate these two new Generals on their achievement!

If you know of anyone who has recently gotten their license or has upgraded, please let the webmaster know so we can pass along kudos to them as well.

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!

On Saturday, July 13, the Holland Amateur Radio Club will be holding licensing exams for anyone wishing to get 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. 

   Josh, KE8DXB with Big Red lighthouse in the background.  (Click on the photo to enlarge it.)

Winter Field Day (WFD) 2019 ran 24 hours, from 2pm on January 26 to 2pm on January 27.  Operators world-wide were challenged to practice and exercise their emergency communications skills during the winter months in the face of inclement weather or adverse conditions and Michigan delivered those conditions in spades!

The driving force behind this enterprise was a group comprised of Jared Luellen KE8BGF, Josh Barnes KE8DXB, David Chase K8RXB, and Dan Yonker KN8X.  Kim Lobert N8KAL was executive chef for the event, treating the team to breakfast and dinner.

This was the first time that the Holland Amateur Radio Club took part in WFD and this hardy group of guys did us proud!  They came up with the idea, reserved two cabins at Holland State Park, hauled in and set up the equipment, and made it happen.  They operated indoors, where they set up one cabin for the phone station and one for digital and CW.  They took turns operating as 2i (i for indoors), phone and digital/cw.  One highlight of the weekend was making contact with the “mother ship”, W1AW, the ARRL’s station.  The results of the weekend contest were:

CW:                                           43
Digital (PSK31):                   47
Phone:                               162
Total:                                  252

Points (minus bonus):      2,736
Points (including bonus): 6,972

Check out the Holland ARC Winter Field Day Facebook page for more pictures:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1895035050615406/.  

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!

There is a PDF uploaded that has pictures of the 2018 field day.

Holland ARC Field Day 2018

And Zach, KE8BSM has uploaded a great video to Youtube: