New QTH for June Meeting

For the June 8 CCARC meeting, we’ll be moving to a new location with more seating area for our growing club.

Join us in the meeting room at the Mabank Cafe , 301 N. 3rd. Street in Mabank. They have an excellent buffet, so come early for breakfast at 8 a.m. This meeting room will be a no-smoking area for us all morning.

The meeting will begin promptly at 9 a.m.

Dues for the coming year are due in June. Though dues are officially $12, most of us pay $20 to support the club. Also, we have t-shirts in stock again, and available for $15.

Hope to see you there!

New Ham Gets a Gift!

The Cedar Creek ARC recently purchased a Baofeng UV-5RA handie-talkie and offered it as a gift to the next guy or gal that passed their ham license. Well, we have a winner!

Congratulations to Frank Stokes, who just received his license and is now KF5VAW.  Frank received his radio at the May 11 meeting and had it progammed and on the air that evening!

Here’s Frank, on the left, being presented with his new H/T by Jeff Irion, N5ZFB, club treasurer, and Bill Saylor, KE5WUT, incoming club secretary.

CCARC Visits Payne Springs VFD

A contingent from the Cedar Creek ARC received a tour of the brand new Payne Springs Fire Station last week.  The station has a nice sized meeting room with a stage and food area, office areas, a workout room and a dispatch room. We also got a close look at the new tower and working windmill, and of course checked out all the fire fighting trucks and equipment!

Many thanks to Payne Springs VFD for the great tour!  Pictured below, left to right, Bill-KE5WUT, Rich-N5CSU, George-W5BRG, Frank-KV5VAW,  Susan-KF6WXA and Ed-K8MKN.

K5CCL’s New Echolink Node

Our repeater now has a dedicated Echolink node.  Its primary use is to provide a link to the NWS Fort Worth office during a SKYWARN net. It has already proven its usefulness on Easter morning; the NWS was with us throughout the hour long net.

But just because that’s its primary mission doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun with it!

Echolink is a fascinating technology that provides a link between any Echolink-connected ham in the world. He or she might be using a PC, smartphone or tablet running the Echolink application or on a VHF or UHF radio connected to a repeater (like ours).

What do you need to do to use it? Well, the easiest way to experience it is to monitor the repeater and see who drops in!  If you hear a computerized voice announcing a call that is not our repeater call, that means someone has just connected. Wait for a moment and see if they identify, and, if not, give them a call!  If you only caught a partial call, just say your call and perhaps “QRZ to the station on Echolink.” Hopefully, they’ll come back and you’ll have a memorable QSO. When you complete your QSO, they will disconnect at their end. All you have to do is use the repeater!

A few pointers when communicating with a station via Echolink:

• Leave a pause before you transmit. You must let the repeater “drop” before a ham can transmit back to you via Echolink. So, let the repeater drop each time.
• Pause also after you transmit. Remember, that we have a 440 link and the first word is often clipped if you begin talking too fast.
• The party coming in on Echolink is on VOX so their audio might clip. Also, their audio quality is dependent on their Internet bandwidth, so some QSOs will be better than others.

Ready for the next step? Install the free application on your smartphone, tablet PC or desktop computer or laptop.  Feel free to connect to K5CCL-R so you can see how it works (turn your radio down or you’ll hear an echo!).  And, use Echolink to connect back with the repeater when you’re out of range!

Currently, the club Echolink node is hosted on a PC and dedicated transceiver at my QTH (N5CSU); we hope to move it to the repeater transmitter site at a later date.  It’s up virtually all the time. If you have problems or questions, catch me on the air or email me.

For more info on Echolink (and to download a free copy for yourself), visit www.echolink.org.

73
Rich N5CSU
n5csu (at) arrl.net

Monthly CCARC Meeting May 11th

QST!  Calling all Cedar Creek Area Amateur Radio Operators and those interested in ham radio.

Come join us for Breakfast and our monthly club meeting. It’s always the 2nd Saturday of the month.

Location: Dairy Queen on Main Street, Gun Barrel City

• 8 A.M. Breakfast
• 9 A.M. Club Meeting

Talk-in on the repeater 146.90 MHz  PL 136.5 Hz!

CCARC Member List April 2013

We are now up to 28 members! Here’s our current membership:

• AC0DE - Dolores Boswell, Kemp
• AD5QP - Cory Hine, Kaufman
• AD5WO – John Becton, Murchison
• K5NHY - Doc Stiefer, Caney City
• K5PUB – Bill Bassett, Athens
• K8MKN -  Ed Busch,  Mabank
• KA5IPF -  Clif Holland Jr., Mabank
• KA5Y -  Tex Herson Jr., Trinidad
• KB5MT -  Jim Wallace, Mabank
• KC5EKM -  Bill Moos, Mabank
• KC8YWT – Dave Randall, Kaufman
• KD5OCW – Barry Brown, Mabank
• KE5OFL -  Jim Myers Jr., Trinidad
• KE5WUT -  Bill Saylor, Mabank
• KF5HSN -  Robert Gosson, Gun Barrel City
• KF5SCX – Jim Conner, Mabank
• KF5SUV – Shirley McManus, Kaufman
• KF6WXA – Sue Stokes, Mabank
• KK5ID – Larry Gordon, Gun Barrel City
• KW0K - Doug Boswell, Kemp
• N4UJW -  Don Butler, Gun Barrel City
• N5CSU -  Rich Casey, Gun Barrel City
• N5SER -  Charles Wells II, Kemp
• N5ZFB -  Jeff Irion, Mabank
• NG5R – Dale Richards, Malakoff
• W5BRG -  George Yarger, Mabank
• W5RDM – Bob Myers, Malakoff
• WB4SJN -  Bob Allen, Mabank

East TX Regional Ham Radio Tailgate Sale Apr. 6

What: Free tailgate sale. Bring all your new, old, and used amateur radio equipment for sale. This is an outdoor event and will be held rain or shine.
When: Saturday, April 6, 2013 from 7:30 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.
Where: LeTourneau University parking lot , 2100 South Mobberly Avenue
Longview, Texas 75602 32 GPS: 32 d 27′ 52.30” N, 94 d 43′ 36.60” W
Who: Anybody and everybody who has an interest in amateur radio and electronics or anyone who just wants to come by, say hello, and just visit and browse.
Cost: Absolutely free to all. Just bring your ham radio sale items and any tables, chairs or other displays that you want to use. Sorry, no electricity will be available. Tailgate sale parking space on first come first served basis. Be sure to bring water especially if it is hot, as no concessions will be available.
Door Prizes: Co-Sponsor clubs and individuals have donated more than $800 in door prizes ranging from a hand held radio, books, gift cards, antennas and mag mounts. Be sure to register at the event so that you can win one of many different door prizes. Must be present to win. 
Coffee: free coffee at Registration booth

For more info: Todd Hoover, N5TJH2013@GMAIL.COM

SEARCH ARRL.ORG FOR HAMFEST LONGVIEW TEXAS

Co-Sponsor Clubs: LeToureau University ARC, Cedar Creek ARC, Athens ARC, Tyler ARC, Cherokee County ARC, Longview East Texas Amateur ARC,  Panola County ARC, Marshall ARCub, ARC of Shreveport, Shreveport Amateur Radio Association and Minden Amateur Radio Association.