Holland Amateur Radio Club K8DAA USA

On March 28, we lost Ed Heyboer. He had been quietly fighting cancer for a period of time.

What can we say about Ed?  Not enough.  Always smiling.  Always “seeing” things more clearly than most of us.  His involvement with the Holland club included the education committee, the Monday night nets, and field day.  He was a mentor to many.  Ed is leaving a huge void in our lives.

This evening, April 17, at 7:30 p.m., Charlie, N8QEM will hold the Last Call
Net for Ed on the 2-meter and 450 repeaters.  April 17 would have been Ed’s 71st birthday.

The Holland club extends its sympathies to Mary and his family.

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 next E.A.T. meeting (Education And Training) will be April 23, 2018 at 7 pm at the VictoryPoint Ministries Youth Building.  The club has purchased a series of instructional electronics videos which are around 30 minutes long.  This will be followed by discussion and/or demonstration.  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.

Starting in May 2018, the Holland Amateur Radio Club will be meeting on a NEW DAY in a NEW LOCATION.  For the foreseeable future, the club will hold general meetings on the second Tuesday of the month and E.A.T. meetings will be held on fourth Tuesday of the month, both at 7pm.  Our new location will be the Chick-Owa Sportsman’s Club, located at 9279 E Ottogan Street (just west of Winding Creek).

The Chick-Owa club is graciously allowing us to utilize their building for our club activities.  These facilities give us room to grow, with tables and seating for 100+, as well as a full kitchen available for our use.  Both our monthly general meetings and our E.A.T. meetings will be held there, as well as “Ham in a Day” and VE sessions held after May.

The first activity in our new location will be a general business meeting on Tuesday, May 8 starting at 7pm.  Dave DeVos KF8QL will give a presentation describing his experience in converting his QTH to solar power.  This will be followed by a very brief business meeting.  This is not for members only.  Everyone with an interest in amateur radio is invited to attend and check out our new home.

To recap:

April:
E.A.T. meeting         Monday, Apr. 23         VictoryPoint

May & Beyond:
All General meetings   2nd Tuesday of month     Chick-Owa
All E.A.T. meetings      4th Tuesday of month      Chick-Owa
Ham in a Day                Various Saturdays             Chick-Owa

A “Tune-Up In the Park” Fox Hunting exercise will be held on Saturday, April 28, 2018 sponsored by the Lowell ARC, the Allegan ARC, the Holland ARC, and the Grand Rapids ARA.  Whether you are just beginning to be interested in Fox Hunting or you are a seasoned veteran, plan on being at Douglas-Walker Park from 9 am to 12 noon.  There will be at least five micro-transmitters hidden in the park for you to take your time locating, practicing your skills, and debugging your equipment.  At noon, the park activity will stop, and a “live” fox will go on the air, located within eight miles of the start.

There will be experienced fox hunters to help with your equipment and techniques.  If you have a fox box or a micro/mini fox and would like to bring it to the park to be used, please contact the event coordinator, Nathan, N8THN at n8thn@arrl.net.  Douglas-Walker Park is on 84th St, 1.5 mile west of US-131 exit 74, Byron Center.

The second week of May is Tulip Time in Holland and that means flowers and parades. The Holland Amateur Radio Club, along with other area amateur radio operators, support the event while having a lot of fun!  The Red Cross supplies transport for volunteers to and from downtown from an offsite location, a box lunch, beverages, safety vests, and instructions.  There’s a variety of positions for volunteers, but most operators are paired with Red Cross medical personnel to provide communication for them as the teams each cover a block or so of the parade route.

No medical or parade experience is necessary.  This year the Tulip Time administration will be supplying us with UHF digital hand held radios.  That said, please bring your 2-meter handheld transceiver, headphones, and some extra batteries for use as a back-up if needed.  We will still be our own net, with our own net control operators.  If you’d like to join in the fun while providing a community service, please contact Tom, president@hollandarc.org.  You may also request a particular location or position at that time.

Here are 14 of the folks who helped out with the Tulip Time Parade medical communications on Wednesday, May 10, 2017.  When all else fails, there is amateur radio.

Here is a short pictorial on this year’s Field Day. Thank you to all who participated.

Holland Amateur Radio Club Field Day 2017

Presented here is a simple PDF with several online links that can help you study for your first technician license, and upgrade to the general and extra class:

So you want to get your license ?