CCARC, April 2024 Club Meeting

The Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Club will meet at 10 AM on Saturday, April, 6, 2024 at the Saint Peter Lutheran Church at 130 Luther Lane in Gun Barrel City, Texas. NOTE: this is a change of date as the Club normally meets on the 2nd Saturday of each month. The change for April was done to allow the Club members to attend the Belton Ham Fest on April 13th.

. According to the FCC on August 15, 2023 there were 759,475 licensed radio operators in the United States. California led the pack with 98,551 and Texas was second with 53,856. The FCC controls the radio spectrum in the U. S. and works with radio authorities around the world to coordinate frequencies to prevent interference. Amateurs have certain frequency allocations for their sole use and others with secondary privileges. Motives for these allocations include Amateur Radio’s contribution to technical proficiency and its Emergency Communications ability. Our club (or members) maintain radio stations at two local Fire Departments, for example.

The Cedar Creek Amateur Radio club serves the Henderson, Kaufman, and Van Zandt county areas. The club operates a capable repeater system and has many members participating in ARES (the Amateur Radio Emergency Service). The club typically operates an on the air Tech Net the first Monday of each month at 7PM for licensed amateurs to improve their technical knowledge and skills. There is also a Rag Chew Net (general discussion) on Thursday each month at 7PM. Transmitting requires a license but anyone can listen to these nets on the 146.900 MHz repeater in the Gun Barrel City area or the 147.220 MHz repeater in Athens. Several club members have formed a group of Volunteer Examiners offering amateur radio license testing the third Tuesday each month at the Computer Store in Gun Barrel City across from the Dairy Queen. Anyone interested in testing can contact R. C. Wetzel at n5oro.rc@gmail.com or call 469-404-6895 (if no answer leave a message). Club membership is open to both licensed and unlicensed individuals so take a look if you’re interested!

K5CCL@groups.io

All members and non members of the Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Club (CCARC) are invited and encouraged to join us on groups.io. We have adopted this platform to have an ongoing discussion of club and ham related topics. Just type in groups.io in your browser and click on the Sign Up button on the top right of the page. Be sure to put in K5CCL as the group you are joining.

One you have joined, you can use this link to sign in to the group: https://groups.io/g/k5ccl

In addition to using groups.io we also hosts a Tech Net on our 2M repeater, 146.90 -600 PL 136.5 each Monday evening at 7pm local time.

Recognition Plaque

CCARC Vice President, Wes Riddle, KA5TTS is presenting the plaque (prepared by Gary Oliver, N5GDO,) to Sandra and David Huffman in recognition for the support of Huffman Communications (tower owner) to CCARC and Henderson County ARES.

During the visit we learned of the history of the company and were provided a tour of their radar site. Both David and Loyd (deceased) are ham radio operators.

CCARC and ARES were well received and they are committed to the ham community and especially emergency communications.

Our sincere thank you to Huffman Communications for providing tower space to CCARC and ARES.

October 9, 2020

Monthly Club Activities

Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Club Monthly  Activities 

Monthly Meeting:

CCARC conducts its monthly  meeting on the 2nd Saturday at 10am (local) at the St Peter Lutheran Church, 130 Luther Lane, Gun Barrel City, TX 75156 (next to the Pizza Hut on 334). Specific information about the meeting is on the home page. If you have questions, refer to the “About Us” tab and click on the info@k5ccl.org link to send us email.

Tech Net

1st Monday night of each month  at 7pm (local) on the 146.90 & 147.22 MHZ repeaters. This net is dedicated to technical questions and helping hams understand and solve various technical issues.  Many resources are shared via k5ccl@groups.io. If you would like to become a member of the group, here is the link:

https://groups.io/g/K5CCL     select the JOIN Group button on the bottom left.

If you have questions, refer to the “About Us” tab and click on the info@k5ccl.org link to send us email.

Net Control is Patrick, KM5L

Tuesday Lunches with Trivial Pursuits:

Each Tuesday at 11am at various restaurants in the Cedar Creek Lake Area members and non  members meet for lunch and a spirited game of Trivial Pursuits.  See below for the  schedule:

March 2024 Lunches with Trivial Pursuits

Mabank Cafe

303 N 3rd St

Mabank, TX 75147

1 903 887 0177

Yes, this is the original Tuesday Lunch with conversation and fellowship and trivia. We take trivial pursuit cards and stump the group. Which leads to lots of kidding and trash talk. Who would want to miss this opportunity?

If you have questions, refer to the “About Us” tab and click on the info@k5ccl.org link to send us email.

Ed, K8MKN is the coordinator

Thursday Lunches without Trivial Pursuits:

For those who would like to have lunch with other hams but are not interested in playing Trivial Pursuits, this group will meet on Thursdays at various locations in the Cedar Creek Lake area at 11:30am. The location will be published here each week:

The Thursday non trivia lunch will be at:

The May 2nd Thursday Lunch will be at 11:30 am at

Lake Jackson Seafood Restaurant

1610 W Main St, Heritage Cove

 Gun Barrel City, TX 75156

903-887-1199

Coordinators: Tex, KA5Y/Charles, N5SER/Tom, K5WWN

Rag Chew Net:

With the end of summer, the Rag Chew Net returns to its normal schedule of each Thursday at 7pm (local) on the 146.90 & 147.22 MHz repeaters. This net is dedicated to a general discussion brought forth by the participants on the Net. You might just find out where the best burger is my simply asking. Unlike the Tech Net, the Rag Chew Net is there for any and all topics.

If you have questions, refer to the “About Us” tab and click on the info@k5ccl.org link to send us email.

Net Control: Charles, N5SER

All licensed amateur radio operators are invited and encouraged to participate in any of the nets. Anyone interested in becoming a licensed amateur radio operator is invited and encouraged to participate in the Tuesday Lunches and the monthly meeting. For those wanting to become a “ham” radio operator, please review the information on the “Educational Resources” tab on this website. If you have questions, refer to the “About Us” tab and click on the info@k5ccl.org link to send us email.

FIELD DAY 2017

Field Day Is A Record Setter

  

The last full weekend of June every year is called Field Day for ham radio operators around the world.  It is a challenge to individuals and groups to get outside of their own ham shacks and demonstrate that they can operate their equipment for 24 continuous hours.  And do it on emergency power and contact as many other stations as possible.

 That challenge was answered by the Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Club.  Their operation at their new club station at the Gun Barrel City Fire Department was a way of testing the equipment and antennas and people.

 And it was a record setter for the club.  They exchanged simulated emergency information with over 200 stations worldwide.  Field Day coordinator Dave Randall said, “The opportunity to test our equipment and our operators at our new home was a great combination.”

The weekend was also used to introduce visitors and members alike to “fox hunting.”  The fox is a hidden transmitter.  Using antennas built at the fire station, groups drove off trying to track down the location of the signal.  This can be a difficult exercise and though the secret transmitter was located in Tool, some folks weren’t so successful.

 Member Jeff Irion’s group couldn’t find it.  Irion said, “We thought we were close around Tamarack, but we were on the wrong side of the lake!”

 It all made for a great learning weekend and presents a challenge to be even better next year.

 

Field Day: Club members and visitors gather at the Gun Barrel City Fire Station for  24 hours of continuous operations.

Building: Old and new members learned how to build a portable antenna to be used for “fox hunting”.

Trailer:  To show support Southern Baptist of Texas Convention Disaster Relief set up their communications trailer.

 

All photos credit: Bob Doss, KG5EUX.

 

Club Station at the Gun Barrel City Fire Station

Assembly of the HF Antenna

Lifting the Antenna to the Roof

Tex and the Fire Chief

Long Wire Installation

The installation of a club station at the Gun Barrel City Fire Department is now working.

The rotor and Hex beam are giving us 20 thru 10 meters and the long wire for the lower bands.

The SWR on the Hex beam is less than 1.7 to one on all bands and in many places less than 1.5:1. It is really performing.  The TS-440 built-in tuner brings every frequency down to a perfect match.

If you use the rig, use the call K5CCL.  Technician operators should bring a general or higher class operator so you can get on the air on almost every frequency.  I think you will find them interested in joining you there.

Many thanks to Hatch, George and Charles for spending many hours on the roof during a hot sun and high winds.  And Tex for leading the group to assemble the beam. A great joint effort.

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How to talk to the world with your handie-talkie, mobile or base station

 The club has connected our 444.050 MHz repeater to the Yaesu Wires-X system.

 It allows our repeater to connect with other repeaters and stations around the block or around the world.  The terminology they use is nodes and rooms.  But they really are repeaters and stations.

 So how do you know where and what to connect to?  You need to bookmark the following website:

 https://www.yaesu.com/jp/en/wires-x/id/active_room.php

 There you will see a list of thousands of “rooms” or stations that are currently connected and available.  Here is a sample of what the list looks like…

 

 

On the far left is some information about the room choices.  The next column is the most important.  This 5 digit number is your key to connecting to that station (or room).

 But equally important is the next column that’s called ACT.  That is the activity or how many people are currently connected or using the room.  If it is all zeros, nobody is listening and it would make no sense to try to connect to that room.  But look at the bottom two rooms, lots of people are active there.  That would be your best bet to find someone to talk to.

 You must remember you are on ham radio when using this system so you must use your call and be courteous and allow other people to talk too.  You may connect to a room and hear nothing or a conversation underway.  Listen for a moment to make sure you are not cutting in on an existing contact.  This system replaces short-wave skip with an Internet connection.

 So now you have checked the list and have a room you want to connect to.  First, listen to our repeater and then put out your call and ask is anyone using the repeater?  There may be a lull in a conversation and some club member may already be connected to a room.  So you must listen before trying to connect.  The simplest method is to monitor the repeater a while before you want to use it.

 If all is clear, have that 5 digit room number ready, announce your call and keep the push-to-talk button pushed and tap on your keypad the pound sign followed by the 5 digit room number.  That’s it.  Do not let up on the push-to-talk while doing this sequence.

 It would look like:        (your call) #12345

 Do it smoothly, maybe practice off the air so you can do it confidently.

When you connect you might hear nothing or a conversation underway.  There is no confirmation from the system that you have successfully connected to the room.  So listen before putting out your call.

 HOW DO I DISCONNECT?  This is most important, announce your call and on your keypad press the asterisk or the star sign once.  You will hear a series of beeps that confirm you have disconnected and the repeater is back to local operation.

 This system is NOT available on Sunday mornings, Thursdays at 7 PM or any time emergency communications are needed.

 All this is a work in progress so please understand some things might change.  For now limit your session on the Wires-X system to one half hour at a time and then standby to let other people use it.

 Remember you are representing yourself, our area and our club to the world.

 Of course the primary use of the repeater remains the same, for local communications.

 But at other times…have fun and talk to the world!

CCARC attending Skywarn Class

Who is that ham in the red shirt??

Rich Casey, N5CSU Presents Digital Modes for Hams

D-Star, Fusion and DMR

Say that again, we can link  to digital repeaters all over the world with our hand held radios!!

CCARC donates “Ham for Dummies” to local Libraries

The Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Club is placing copies of ‘Ham Radio For Dummies’ in public libraries and schools around the Cedar Creek Area. Checking one out is as easy as going to your school or public library and reading about one of the oldest and most respected hobbies in the world.

The book will inform and teach you information about what is need to get your Ham Radio License. And a local website is provided on the first page where you can see information about local events and where and when testing is provided in the area.

Once the test is over…what do you do now????

Well, you need to get on the air and start enjoying the hobby!

 Technician Class

If you recently passed the Technician Class License test, you’ll want to get on the air on frequencies above 50Mhz. The most popular frequencies for new Technicians are the 2Meter band. Most 2M traffic uses frequency modulation (FM) although you are licensed to use many modes.

On 2M FM, transmissions normally travel almost by “line of sight”. There are exceptions to every rule, but if you want to use 2M, chances are you will communicate directly with another Amateur (normally called simplex), or via a device called a repeater that amplifies your signal and increases your range. A simplex radio system works fine for large, open, flat areas. In cities, suburban areas, and mountainous regions however buildings and hills may block radio signals thereby reducing the radio systems’ effectiveness. Repeater systems provide a solution to this problem. When using a repeater, all stations listen on frequency F1 and transmit on F2. Every message that is transmitted on F2 is simultaneously retransmitted on F1 by the repeater.

So, How Do I Get on 2M??

First you need a radio. The good news is that 2M equipment is plentiful and fairly cheap. You can find a 2M radio (rig) for around $140 new. Used rigs can be found for under $100. So where do you look??

But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves…

First check out the book at the library, and then get involved at the local meetings held on Saturdays in the Cedar Creek area. The Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Club meets the second Saturday of each month at the Mabank Cafe, Mabank, TX. The meeting starts at 9am, but most members come around 8am to enjoy the buffet breakfast.

Brad Koskelin, Asst. Supt. of Mabank ISD said:

I delivered the books to the Jr. High and high school libraries and visited with the Lead Librarian. I expressed to her your desire in trying to generate interest in Ham Radio operation with young people and shared some of our conversation with her regarding what it takes to become licensed and the what becoming an amateur radio operator means. She was very excited about sharing something new with the students.

Mabank: Brad Koskelin, Asst. Supt. of Mabank ISD accepts copie from club member Glenn Hughes

 

 

Canton:  Canton Librarian Kristin Rose accepts her copies from club member Glenn Hughes

 

Kaufman:  Yasma Yvette Holland, Director of the Kaufman County Library displays her copy

Malakoff:  Randy Perry, Superintendent Malakoff ISD

 

Thank you Glenn Hughes for being the coordinator for this project. Job well done.

Where Can You Find “Ham Radio for Dummies?”

 Canton High School and Canton Junior High

.Kemp High School…

.Mabank High School and Junior High

The libraries in Kaufman, the Cedar Creek Library in Seven points and the Tri-County Library in Mabank,

Athens school district

Scurry Rosser High school and Junior High

Malakoff High School and Middle School