Megan's Message and Musings It is the beginning of another school year, and the final months of a calendar year. It is the end of long hot days and the beginning of shorter, cooler months. It is the start of the holiday season and the end to vacations and outings. It is the end of campfires and s'mores and the beginning of burning leaves. It means picking apples and your favorite Michigan football team. Yet as we can make comparisons to the calendar changing, we can also look back on how our club has changed during the first three seasons. I was making a list of all the changes that have occurred since I took the helm January 1, 2010. I started out by asking everyone to try to think outside the box, to get involved with new activities using your amateur radio license, and to help the club build its way to becoming one of the largest, most active clubs in West Michigan. By golly, I do believe we have just about hit our goal!! This year, the Holland Amateur Radio Club has received a lot of attention and support from a local, county, state and national groups! First, we became an ARRL Affiliated Club, and then we were recognized as an ARRL Special Services Club We offer several learning opportunities season, from Morse Code classes each to Technician, General and now Extra License study classes. We have one of the largest memberships clubs of amateur radio clubs on the west side of the state We host the annual Great Lakeshore SuperSwap. We help the local communities, participating in at least one amateur radio related service event each month We offer a wide variety of activities to capture the interest of all of our members To augment the already popular weekly 2m net and Donuts at Donutville, we have added the monthly Ham is for Breakfast We offer a wide variety of topics and the occasional field trip at our monthly meetings, which have now become so successful that we had to move these meetings from our clubhouse to a larger facility to accommodate all who wanted to attend Closing out this year, we look forward to our SuperSwap in October, the annual Banquet in November, and we will wrap up the year with December's year end business and elections meeting. Believe it or not, we already have topics and guest speakers lining up for next year's meetings. This year, a variety of organizations have requested our help because we are hams, and next year's community support activity dates are already starting to fall into place on our calendar. So remember, it isn't too late to try something new. If you have never checked into the net, do so. If you have never helped with parade communications, do so. If you have never helped out at, or attended, a Hamfest, do so. If you have never lent a helping hand, do so. Many of our members already lend us their time and hands behind the scenes so that the club runs smoothly, and we would like for you to lend us your talents too! Here is your chance to make a change... do so! Meg WO0MEG First Contact Way back in 1971 I first entertained thought about becoming involved in Amateur Radio. I bought study guides and began reading. I also bought a code key and a handful of parts from Radio Shack, designed a simple audio oscillator, soldered the parts together, connected a battery and found that I could make “Beep” sounds emerge from the speaker. OK, now what? At that time I did not know of any radio clubs in the area, and soon discovered that the “Self-taught” method for learning Code does not work well. I put aside thoughts of Amateur Radio, and life went on. 20 years later the FCC created a “No-Code Technician” license class. This re-kindled my interest in Amateur Radio, and offered me a way to get started without that old stumbling block. I passed the Technician Class test, bought a 2-meter HT, found the local repeater frequencies and then joined a local club. After suffering good-natured ribbing about not being a “real” ham, and receiving a lot of genuine encouragement to learn Code and upgrade to General, I decided that using a computer would now be the way for me to study Code. The computer program was “Super Morse” that has not survived the PC operating system advances into Microsoft Windows. In anticipation of my future upgrade, I had already purchased an HF rig and did my best to copy QSOs off the air. I also bought a Terminal Node Controller that let me peek at the screen anytime I wasn't quite sure what I was copying. All of this effort rewarded me with a very shaky, but passing grade on the 13wpm Code test, and some additional study rewarded me with an Advanced license class. Yet another 20 years later I signed up for a CW class offered by the Holland Amateur Radio Club. I found that some Code came back fairly quickly, along with some of the old bad habits. With a lot of encouragement from Mike, WD8NHA, I kept at it, until one fateful evening in the radio room at our Ken Grooom ZR5AAD Technical and Training Center we turned on the HF radio and heard a few CQ calls and tried to answer but got no response. “They sound pretty fast, it's just as well. I'll just let that one go.” I told myself. Then I heard “N8QMD N8QMD DE W8EL W8EL K” Good grief! Did I copy the call right? Was someone calling me? Mike confirmed that it was Ernie, W8EL, pointed most emphatically at the key and said “Go on!” I thought, “Oh boy, what have I got myself into?” Science Fiction is full of stories of First Contact situations. The best First Contact stories are always full of suspenseful and stressful situations. My fellow hams, let me tell you making First Contact using CW cannot be any less stressful than making First Contact with aliens. In fact, I was beginning to imagine that was about to make First Contact with Code-speaking aliens! I know I answered Ernie, but somehow the rest of the QSO memory is a bit fuzzy. The paper I copied with is no help, since it is filled with random letters, some numbers, and a lot of blank spaces. Too late, I realized that I had replyied faster that I could copy. The dits and dahs morphed from individual characters into beeps and noise, and any confidence I once had in my ability to copy quickly leaked out of my fingers. I wondered if it was possible to sweat enough to short the key! Thanks to Mike, who copied the whole exchange and acted as my copilot, I suppose I was able to carry on a brief QSO. Mike later told me that the mixture of excitement, confusion and even sweating are all normal when making First Contact. So, I recommend that all of you who have been thinking about “doing CW someday” should just go ahead! Sign up for class and learn Code. Oh, and I heartily recommend having a copilot when you make First Contact. Jim, N8QMD Fall Classes Offered by the Holland Amateur Radio Club Amateur Extra - lead by Tom Bosscher K8TB beginning Monday, September 13, 2010 Technician - lead by Jim Heyl N8QMD beginning Wednesday, September 15, 2010. VE Testing is scheduled for November 20, 2010. CW – lead by Mike Cole, WB8NHA starts Tuesday, September 21. All classes begin at 7:00 pm at the Ken Groom ZR5AAD Memorial Technical and Training Center located at 280 East 8th Street in Holland, Michigan. For more information and to register, contact: Ed Heyboer, KF8EV kf8ev@arrl.net VE Testing will be held at the Kollen Park Fire Station, located at 279 Kollen Park Drive in Holland, Michigan. Testing begins at 10:00 am and is open to all wishing to become licensed for their first time or to upgrade their license class. August Meeting Minutes The August 2010 Board of Directors Meeting was canceled and there were no business topics discussed at the General Membership Meeting at the Park Township Airport, so there are no minutes to report. Meet, Greet and Eat Times and places to meet fellow amateurs “Open Mike” Night, every Tuesday night at 7:00pm At our Ken Groom ZR5AAD Memorial Technical and Training Center, 280 East 8th Street in Holland, Michigan. Come to operate or just enjoy coffee and conversation, members and guests are welcome. Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting, 1st Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm. Various locations announced via our K8DAA Yahoo Group email reflector. All HARC members are welcome. General Membership Meeting, 7:00pm, Holland Fire Station Conference Room, 279 Kollen Park Drive in Holland, Michigan. Guests are welcome. Donuts @ Donutville every Wednesday at 2:30pm, 676 Michigan Avenue in Holland. Stop by for coffee and conversation. “HAM is for Breakfast” last Saturday of each month at 9:00am. We meet and eat at the Southside Inn,192 West 35th Street in Holland, just east of Washington Avenue. We have tables in the back room. Members, spouses, friends, family, and anyone else interested in amateur radio are welcome. NOARC Public Service Event The North Ottawa ARC (NOARC) needs help September 18, 2010 with the Oldboys Octoberfest marathon, half-marathon and 5k race. We need 20 to 25 people to provide communications around the 26.2 mile route from Spring Lake into Grand Haven, Fruitport and back into Spring Lake, finishing at the Oldboys Brewhouse. We will meet at William Ferry Park in Ferrysburg at 7:00am and the race starts at 8:05am. This event includes a meal and a shirt. Please include your shirt size with your reply by September 14. Contact John kc8uny at kc8uny@arrl.net. Upcoming Public Service Opportunities Please contact each event's coordinator for more information. Parade of Lights Tuesday, November 30, 2010 Ivan DeWitt, K8EMU idewitt@charter.net Nets of Interest Compiled by Tom Wilson, KD8DEG Sunday 8:30 AM 50.400 AM Grand Rapids 8:00 PM 145.270 FM Lowell Club 8:00 PM 50.400 AM Kalamazoo, Gary K8BKB 8:00 PM 147.240 FM Allegan, Jim AC8AG 9:00 PM 50.150 USB Zeeland, Charlie N8QEM 9:30 PM 144.155 USB Holland, Bill K8NFT Monday 7:30 PM 147.060+ FM HARC 2m Net. Ed, KF8EV, Net Manager Tuesday 7:00 PM 144.222 USB Kalamazoo, K8BKB Gary 9:30 PM 50.300 USB Kalamazoo, K8BKB Gary 9:00 PM 145.270 FM MDXA, Dave KC8PCL 9:30 PM 50.400 AM Kalamazoo, K8BKB Gary Wednesday 8:00 PM 28.380 USB Allegan 9:00 PM 50.140 USB Cedar Springs, AC8AH Jerry Thursday 6:30 PM 147.520 FM 2nd Thursday each month, OCEC Simplex Net 7:00 PM 147.060+ FM 4nd Thursday each month, OCEC Repeater Net 7:00 PM 147.160+ FM Michigan youth, 22 and younger 8:00 PM 146.800+ FM MAARC weekly Net Daily 7:00 PM 50.200 USB Cadillac, round tables If you know of any other nets, please let me know and I'll add them to the list. Jim N8QMD, n8qmd@arrl.net.