Month: June 2023

FIELD DAY, 2023

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President’s Report

Independence Day 2023 is quickly approaching. Be safe and have a great holiday!

 I have a strong desire to POTA with a Foxhunt! I plan to have this on Saturday the 15th of July, 2023. Location TBD. Watch Facebook for further updates. 

Field Day 2023 was a success, mostly. We did shut down early because of the threat of severe weather. I want to thank everyone who came out, especially those who helped set up and tear down. There’s no way I could do that without you. 

We had several new members come out and make their first HF contacts. Micah made his first DX contact as well! Congrats to you all!

Again, have a great holiday and be safe! We dont need anyone to get hurt. 

73. Justin Flick N9WX PAARC President 

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Meeting Minutes:

Membership Meeting:

June 8, 2022, American Red Cross – Justin Flick, N9WX, Club President called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.

Tom Hunt, W8NWG, made a motion to approve the Meeting Minutes as published in BandBits.  Darren Weir, KD9HZZ, seconded the motion.  A vote was taken, and the motion passed.

Treasurer Report – John Zdanowski, KD9QQU, submitted his report to Justin Flick, who read it to those in attendance.

A motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report was made by Mark Suhs, W9WGN, and seconded by Jon Dainty NMO0.   A vote was taken, and the motion passed.

SuperFest Report – Justin Flick, N9WX, and Darren Weir, KD9HZZ, spent some time today considering various SuperFest issues.  They believe we need some 13-14 signs to be made up to direct folks at the new site.  A draft of a new “Midwest SuperFest” banner was passed around for review.  There were no objections to the design, so expect such to be prepared.

Repeater Report – Earlier today, a group from the club moved the entire D-Star cabinet from the Groveland site to the Garage Radio Room at the Bunker.  As a result of that move, the VHF D-Star Repeater will be taken off the air, and the UHF D-Star Repeater will be put on the air, serving the Greater Peoria Area/Central Illinois.  The Bunker had a folded dipole VHF antenna at 240’ height available free-of-charge, courtesy of the Woodford Repeater Association.  Thanks to those club members who worked with the Woodford group to make this possible, including but not limited to Steve Grob, KD9AER and Justin Flick, N9WX.  And thanks to those folks who came out today to perform the move.

Justin Flick, N9WX, also reported that the next step at Groveland will be to get 2 antennas down from the tower, at some future time.  Expect to get the bill in July for the antenna for the W9UVI repeater located at the 160 ft position.

Matt Behnke, KD9ERS, reported that the relocated UHF D-Star machine is running just locally right now, as the computer in the D-Star cabinet is not working.  A replacement computer will be configured and installed soon to connect the UHF D-Star machine to the Internet and restore full functionality.

It was also reported that a laptop has been built for the Glasford repeater Wires-X station.

Old Business – Darren Weir, KD9HZZ, and Andy Day, W9DAY, are planning to assemble the new antenna that the club has for a replacement of the damaged antenna recently taken down at the Red Cross.

New Business – We will hold Field Day on June 24-25 at Illinois Central College in East Peoria in the Visitor Parking Lot.  Hoping to run on battery power only.  Planning to have 2 stations set-up, with IC-7300’s and antennas.  The club’s 10 x by canopy will be used.  Hope to set up HAMRS logging software on a laptop or tablet to record QSO’s.  Justin says he expects to start setting up on Saturday about 11 AM, and would welcome any and all help.  Bring a Folding Chair!

Program Report – From Scott Tranchitella, K9XJT

Who is aware of the TEMU App/Website?  This is a chance for first time shoppers to get a Baofeng UV5R for only $2.99.  Throw some antenna options in too.  We can give these away to new folks who pass the Technician Exam, and get them on the air quite cheaply.  Everyone should jump on this to help out new hams.

Three future Program Subjects include:

1) RTTY

2) POTA Session, possibly instead of a meeting night

3) Fox Hunt (we have a low power 2 meter transmitter to use)

Send other program ideas you have to Justin’s email.

Scott then presented tonight’s program on how to use DroidStar on Android and ios devices.  Simply put, this app provides D-Star capability on an Android phone, over the Internet, no radio needed.  The demo included contacted a ham on D-Star in California.  For ios device, one can use an app called TestFlight which will run DroidStar, does take some luck to get it set-up and working.

Meeting ended at 8:15 PM

Submitted by Richard Holtman, KD9ANU

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Peoria County ARES

July 5, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
July 12, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
July 19, ARES On-line Conference @ 7:00 PM CST (Watch your email for Zoom conference info)
July 20, Emergency Expo 4:00-7:00 PM at Grand Prairie Shopping Center

Call or email Rich if you are not on the ARES Roster and desire to join the Zoom Conference.

Meeting Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, Training Documentation, Repeater & Simplex Testing, NVIS Exercise, Winlink News, Volunteer Opportunities, Emergency Expo, and more.

Please submit your Training Documentation form.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272

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Purchase tickets, Flea Market spots and indoor vendor spaces onine!

I want to say thanks to those of you who have reached out already volunteering for different positions at Superfest, anyone else who would like to request certain positions, feel free to contact Deb Suhs WD9EB@arrl.net.

Please make sure you have Superfest on your calendar and please plan on helping during it, without Superfest our ability to keep our repeaters is in jeopardy, your help is greatly needed and appreciated.

Since most of the positions/help needed were listed in the May Bandbits, and some definitions were in the June Bandbits, here is the explanation for the rest of the jobs/positions.

Flea Market Spot Sales and General Assistance – checking in the flea market vendors, selling/assigning spots if needed, and assisting flea market vendors with finding their spaces.

Vendor Assistant – checking with the indoor vendors, making sure they don’t need anything, watching their stuff if they need to use the facilities, especially if an indoor vendor is alone, getting food for them, answering questions, genera support as needed.

Forum Assistant – making sure the guest speakers have what they need, answering any questions, and making sure they don’t go over into the next session.

Ticket Barrel Sales – selling extra stubs, answering questions and assisting Matt & Brett with prizes if needed.

Rapid Fire Giveaway Assistance – help listen for responses when the numbers are called and help pass out prizes won.

Table takedown, clean-up – are what they sound, after the indoor vendors are done, we need to take the tables down and clean up after ourselves.

The next Midwest Superfest meeting will be on Thursday July 27th at 7pm via Zoom on the Club Meetings page.

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June Net Logs

6/4
KD9ANU K9XJT KD9MPI KD9TEG W9JDP W9WGN N9NDF N9WFT NM0O KD9PXZ KD9JXR KD9IVV W8NWG KD9AER K9TNT KB9OGS WF9E KT9TB KD9STL NP2WJ K9UQF Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

6/11
WD9EB W9WTF K9XJT KD9ANU W8NWG W9WGN W9JDP NM0O KD9AER KD9IVV KD9PXZ KD9JXR W9TTX KB9ATO K9TNT N9NDF KD9WSP KD9TEG KD9STL N9WFT K9RCS KD9RYH KD9RJH KD9WHE K9UQF KB9OGS KD9QQU KD9SPJ WF9E KD9NYE Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

6/18
W9WTF K9XJT KD9ERS WD9EB KD9ANU W8NWG W9WGN KD9YCJ K9HJZ KC9IH N9GUE W9TTX N9NDF W9JDP NM0O KD9JXR KD9RJH K9OBI KD9PXZ K9TNT K9RCS KD9AER N9WFT KD9IVV KD9QQU KT9TB KD9RYH KD9WHE KD9NYE KB9OGS Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

6/25
KD9ANU N9WX W9WGN K9OBI K9HJZ KD9WRX KC9IH K9XJT W9TTX KD9YCJ KD9HZZ W9JDP K9TNT KD9IVV N9NDF W9DAY KB9ATO NM0O KD9PXZ KD9AER KD9JXR KD9NYE N9WFT W8NWG KD9QQU KB9OGS K9CEW KD9WSP KD9TED KD9VIN KD9RYH KD9STL K9RCS KD9ERS WF9E WW9DLM Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

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July Club Events

July 5 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

July 6 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting via Zoom

July 12 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

July 13- 7:00 p.m. – Club Meeting: TBA – American Red Cross, 311 W John H Gwynn Jr Ave, Peoria

July 19 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Meeting: TBA

July 20 – 4:00-7:00 p.m. – Emergency Expo: The Shoppes at Grand Prairie. For information contact Rich, KD9ANU

July 27 – 7:00 p.m. – Superfest Meeting

President’s Report

It’s already June! That means it is almost Field Day 2023 time! We are going to be at Illinois Central College main campus in the Visitors Lot. 1 College Drive East Peoria, IL. Setup starts at 11:30am and I can use all the help we can get. This year I’m wanting to run off Battery Only. If you have a battery box and want to see how well it performs, bring it on out! I have 2 inverters that I will bring for AC power. We will have Water and most likely get pizza later in the day. Feel free to bring your own dishes/snacks/drinks to share. Please Bring Your Own Chair!

In other news, the UHF D-Star machine is moving to the Bunker! This is thanks in large part to the Woodford County Club allowing us access to their site and antenna. This will save our club on tower rent, get the D-Star higher than it is currently and further our relationship with the Woodford Club. I want to thank Steve Grob and Brad Haney for working with PAARC to get this accomplished. For more information, see the story lower on this page.

I want to thank several other members for their hard work and dedication lately. Darren KD9HZZ and Ben KD9RYH have helped with getting the Cub Trailer cleaned out and organized. Darren helped put lights inside and out so we can see at all hours during events. Ben helped take down the leaning HF antenna at the Red Cross. We have another antenna to go back up that needs to be assembled. Thanks to the late Fritz Bock WD9FMB for purchasing said antenna before his passing.

In July, I hope to have a Foxhunt and a Club POTA event so be on the lookout for those!

73! Justin Flick N9WX PAARC President

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Meeting Minutes:

Board of Directors: In attendance: Tom, Darren, Justin, Steve, Deb, Rob, Matt, Adam, Casey, Doug

No Bandbits approval needed due to no board meeting last month.

Superfest committee:
⁃ Deb is still trying to have Chris get us our info for the raffle license… will try to meet him in person soon. We need it so we can get the tickets printed and mailed.
⁃ Adam and Deb will meet Sunday afternoon to discuss getting payments set up for Superfest site…
⁃ Deb also needs to reserve Porta Potties.
⁃ Justin will call to confirm that we got an additional golf cart for Darren.
⁃ Rich has been great at sending out gift certificates and fliers.
⁃ Tom and Deb will talk about trademark stuff for the club… they’re wanting us to file electronically. There’s an 8.5 month wait for new applications, though.
⁃ Darren has heard back from quite a few of the vendors he’s sent messages to… he’s been forwarding the prize offers to Matt. After this year’s SuperFest, he’s going to build a spreadsheet to make this easier next year. Darren is also going to network at Dayton this year on our behalf.
⁃ Matt reports that we’ve hit $2,000 in prizes so far
⁃ Justin will go with Darren to the Sign Guys

Other business:
⁃ Justin may have found another mailbox key that he’ll return

Repeater business:
⁃ Will talk in executive session

Treasurer’s report:
We don’t have our treasurer’s report due to John’s absence and the banking site being down.
⁃ Replacement tires for 16-year-old ones on trailer: $263.12
⁃ Paypal transaction to Bionics: $115 (foxhunt transmitter that was approved over 2 years ago)
⁃ Small solar panel charger for trailer (lights + radio): $35
⁃ Savings: $545.43
⁃ Checking: $1869.87
⁃ Money market: $10939.29
⁃ PayPal: $731.51
⁃ ARRL insurance is due June 18th (we’ll need to send a copy to ICC for Field Day, along with certificate of liability)

• Tom makes a motion to approve the report, Deb seconds. Everyone approves.

Old business:
⁃ Justin is going to confirm that we have ICC available for Field Day (already in contract, just making sure)
⁃ John is still looking for a cheap filing cabinet for the radio room for us (Darren may have one; he’ll check)
⁃ 501(c)3 for the club: Tom still needs to talk to his daughter about it… she’s been busy lately. Darren mentioned that he has some experience getting that set up for the motorcycle club 25 years ago, so he will assist Tom in the effort.

Tom makes a motion to move to executive session at 7:30 to discuss the D-Star repeater agreement.

Membership Meeting: Tom and Scott are running the show tonight in Justin’s absence!

We start the meeting with a presentation by Rob Orr (K9RST) on Chicago Marathon ham support and public service (hamradiochicago.org)

May Bandbits – Rich makes a motion to approve, Scott seconds. All are in favor.

Treasurer’s report – John is absent, so no report this time.

Superfest:
⁃ Deb is working on getting the SuperFest website live.
⁃ Also working on getting our raffle license for the county.

Repeater committee:
⁃ Matt is working on getting the 85 repeater in Glasford set up for Fusion/Wires-X and get it back on analog as well. We still need internet access.
⁃ Working on a couple of other exciting things as well to be announced soon.

Scott then polls tonight’s attendees on what digital radios they have… he’ll be giving away some gear soon to those who do not.

Additionally, Scott shows us what’s inside his emergency kit full of Dollar Store supplies. He’ll be making versions of his to give away at a future meeting.

Finally, Scott previews DroidStar – something he’ll demonstrate at the June club meeting.

Rich makes a motion to adjourn, all are in favor and we are done at 8:22 p.m.!

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Peoria County ARES

June 7, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
June 14, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
June 21, ARES On-line Conference @ 7:00 PM CST (Watch your email for Zoom conference info)

Call or email Rich if you are not on the ARES Roster and desire to join the Zoom Conference.

Meeting Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, Training Documentation, Simplex Exercises, Winlink News, Volunteer Opportunities, Emergency Expo, and more.

Please submit your Training Documentation form.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272
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I want to say thanks to those of you who have reached out already volunteering for different positions at Superfest, anyone else who would like to request certain positions, feel free to contact Deb Suhs WD9EB@arrl.net.

Since most of the positions/help needed was listed in last in the May Bandbits, we’re going to explain what some of those jobs/positions are.

Flea Market Marking consists of getting the area between the pavilion and museum turned into several 20×20 spots. We will use utility flags, construction cones and probably marking paint. This will be a learning experience for us, and should be easier than it was in the past.

Gate ticket sales will consists of greeting the incoming vehicle and asking if they have their tickets, if they don’t have tickets asking them if they want a single stub ticket for $10 or a double stub ticket for $15. Once they respond with the type of ticket they want by how many they want, determine the amount owed, collect the amount owed and give them their tickets. After giving them their tickets determine where they need to park, if indoor vendor; flea market or handicap send them straight, if general parking send them to the left.

Table setup and helping vendors load in, are pretty much what they sound like. On Friday morning we will set the tables up according to the layout that will be done ahead of time. Then after the tables are setup we help any of our vendors who would like our assistance with unloading and setting up.

Garbage pickup will consists of a few guys working with Rich KD9ANU, going around in a trailer removing the full bags of garbage and putting in new bags, then putting the bags in the dumpster.

As said last month, other jobs may be added to the list and here are two jobs just added 😎

Parking guides – make sure people park sensibly and in rows

Table pick up/return – we will need some tables picked up from Pekin and probably Peoria Friday morning and returned Monday morning.

More job definitions and possibly more jobs next month.

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W9PIA D-Star Repeater to be relocated

The Woodford County Repeater Association and the Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club have agreed to the use of the Woodford Club’s UHF antenna and transmission line located at the Peoria Emergency Management Agency site, (commonly referred to as “The Bunker”) for the relocation and operation of the Peoria Club’s D-Star repeater. The W9PIA repeater operates on 443.46875 MHz.

When the move is completed, the D-Star repeater operating on 145.1050 MHz will be shut off and the 443.4675 MHz will be activated.

This move will allow the Peoria Club to save on tower rent and will position the UHF repeater on a higher antenna more centrally located in Peoria County.

Work on this project will be completed early this summer.

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May Net Logs

5/7
KD9ANU N9WX K9HJZ KD9HZZ N9GUE W9WGN WD9EB KD9VYM KD9MPI KD9TEG KD9IBC KC9IH W9JDP KD9JXR KD9RJH KB9ATO NM0O KD9NYE KD9PXZ KD9AER KD9VIN K9XJT W8NWG KD9ERS KT9TB K9RCS KD9QQU KD9YCJ KD9RYH KD9STL KD9WSP NP2WJ W9GLO KD9HZX KC9WRK KB9SF Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

5/14
K9XJT KD9ANU K9OBI KD9IBC K9HJZ KC9IH NP2WJ KD9QQU W9WGN WD9EB W9JDP KD9JXR W9WTF KB9ATO N9NDF W8NWG K9RCS KD9IVV KD9PXZ KD9AER N9WFT KB9OGS KD9TEG WF9E KD9RYH KD9STL WW9DLM Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

5/21
KD9ANU WD9EB KD9DBQ K9OBI W9WGN KD9YCJ KD9IBC KD9WRX KD9AER KC9IH K9HJZ K9XJT KD9WSP N9WFT K9RCS W9WTF N0XOH KD9JXR KD9IVV KD9PXZ NP2WJ KD9STL KD9WFP N9NDF KN9OGS KB9ATO KD9RYH K9CEW KD9NYE Submitted by W8NWG 73

5/28
W8NWG N9WX KD9ANU K9XJT W9WGN WD9EB KD9DBQ K9HJZ W9JDP N9NDF KNTNT KD9JXR NM0O KD9AER KD9IVV N9WFT WF9E KD9STL KB9OGS KD9RYH K9RCS KD9WRX N9SL KD9ERS WW9DLM Submitted by KD9QQU 73

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June Club Events

June 1 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting via Zoom

June 7 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

June 8 – 7:00 p.m. – Club Meeting: D-Star on your Android device. Before the meeting, please get your free dmrID and Brandmeister ID. Make sure your bring uour Android device – American Red Cross, 311 W John H Gwynn Jr Ave, Peoria

June 14 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

June 17 – 12:00 noon – FCC License Testing: Morton Knights of Columbus, 616 W. David Street, Morton, IL. FRN Required. Bring two forms of identification and a copy of your license (if upgrading). Testing Fee: $15.

June 21 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Meeting: TBA

June 22 – 7:00 p.m. – Superfest Meeting: Details TBA

June 24 – 25 – Field Day 2023: Illinois Central College. Details TBA. For more information contact Justin, N9WX.

Always check the Upcoming Club Events/Meetings page for the latest additional information or last minute changes.