Sullivan Amateur Radio Club

by N0NOEPosted on Posted in SARC — No Comments ↓

This year’s annual trip to the top of Taum Sauk mountain was just fabulous! In attendance we had Allan Sieker (AD0FT), Nick NIchols (KE5ILE), Paul Barber (AA0GB), Mike Benton (KC0ZIN), Chris Williams (KE0LKV), myself and a special visitor Danny Gillam (N0WNC). We arrived on site around 10:30 in the morning and got straight to putting up some antennas. Two radios were in operation, and we rotated people through them. Quite a few contacts were made across the country and in addition, Paul contacted someone in Spain and I believe Chris spoke to someone in Norway! Chris and Nick both contacted a special event station for the anniversary of the Voice of America and they will be getting certificates to hang on their walls for that! Congrats guys! That’s just super cool!

On the way down, Chris let us know that he had a surprise for us. He brought his barrel smoker and chicken wings and prepared them for us right there on site. Those of us who hadn’t purchased food yet, stopped in Steelville and purchased some hot dogs and bratwursts and Chris happily cooked them all up for us. And if that wasn’t enough, Chris brought an additional surprise. He brought brownie mix and all the ingredients and baked brownies for us right on the smoker in a cast iron skillet! Needless to say, we ate VERY WELL and we have Chris to thank for all of that!

The weather was beautiful and some of us climbed the fire tower that is located right there at the site. We could only go up to just below the cabin, but the climb was well worth it! The view was fantastic! There’s a couple of pictures of us on the tower in the gallery below.

Needless to say, we all had such great fun that we will definitely be doing it again next fall. In fact, there was such excitement, that there maybe be another outing in the month of October. Stay tuned!!

Some Brownie Fun!!!

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by N0NOEPosted on Posted in SARC — No Comments ↓

At our September meeting tonight, Mark Griffith, KD0QYN, will be assisting our members in setting up FLDIGI on the members computers. If you are interested, please bring your laptop, and your radio interface and radio if you can. Mark generated a substantial amount of interest at the last meeting with his introduction to the FLDIGI software. See you tonight at 6:00 pm.

by N0NOEPosted on Posted in SARC — No Comments ↓

On Saturday August 17th, the Sullivan Amateur Radio Club was treated to a very special Knucklehead Breakfast, by Paul and Robin Barber (AA0GB and KC0ZIJ) . We were treated to Robin’s world famous Breakfast Bake (a regular treat at Field Day on Sunday mornings!) and a wonderful Cherry and Apple Cobbler. The food was fantastic, the fellowship was stellar and a great time was had by all. One of our newer friends, Dane Brockmiller (NR0K) brought some things to give away to the attendees. Many, many thanks to Paul and Robin for their generosity and hospitality! Thanks to Dane for the goodies and also, thanks to Pat Center for taking the pictures below. You will from this day forward be known as our Official Club Photographer. (Just kidding, Pat! Unless of course you really want the job! 😀 )

by John McReynoldsPosted on Posted in SARC — No Comments ↓

Digital Presentation by Mark, KD0QYN

For those that were unable to attend, Mark Griffith (KD0QYN), creator of the PiGate solution for RF based email for emergency communications purposes, presented on digital modes for ham radio. As one could expect, this piqued the interest among several in attendance. A vote was taken and the club is pushing forward with the creation of a digital net.

Action Items

To start, all interested parties need to purchase/procure the following items:

  1. A VHF transceiver
  2. An interface that will connected your transceiver with your computer. A very popular choice is a Signalink with appropriate cables to connect to your transceiver. These are currently on sale at DX Engineering. Click here to have a look.
  3. A laptop or desktop computer
  4. Software, namely FLDIGI (click here to download) and FLMSG (click here to download)

Please have the above taken care of prior to our September meeting. We will have time then to have everyone bring their setups to the meeting and provide help in configuring

by N0NOEPosted on Posted in SARC — No Comments ↓

On Saturday, June 22nd, Nick Nichols (KE5ILE) passed his upgrade test to the Amateur General Class!! I know that Nick prepared for the test through some personally trying times. Let’s all congratulate Nick next time you see him or hear him on the air!!!! Well done, Nick!!!