PCARS (K8BF)

Good morning everyone, This Saturday (April 20th) is our 2nd ParkPedition of 2024. This time we’ll be at Punderson SP (11755 Kinsman Rd, Newbury Township, OH 44065).

It looks like beautiful weather is forecast, but it is NE Ohio, so . . . .

There will be stations set up at the pavilion near the Marina. Just enter the park, and follow the signs to the pavilion, or the archery Range; either oner will get you there.

We’ll be there from 10AM – 4PM. Visitors are encouraged to stop by. You’ll see stations in operation and be able to ask questions. Or you can bring your own gear and set up. There’s plenty of room for antennas.

Punderson SP is designated US-1985 in the Parks On The Air (POTA) program. This weekend is the Spring Support Your Parks weekend sponsored by POTA, so you can expect a lot of In-Park stations on the air all weekend.

Sounds like a great time, right? We’ll also be grilling out. We’ll be doing burgers, dogs, brats. There’ll be homemade baked beans.

Come on out, enjoy the camaraderie, and have some Big Fun.

PCARS 2024 “ParkPeditions”

73,

John, WG8X
wg8x.radio@gmail.com
330-936-5021

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The next meeting of the PCARS Antenna Special Interest Group will be held April 16, 2024 at 7:00 PM.

We will be in-person at the PCARS club site, and on Zoom.

Join Zoom Meeting:

https://zoom.us/j/99273855876?pwd=VWhuemc0T3JRdWVUd2NTZGJZWnBUQT09

Meeting ID: 992 7385 5876
Passcode: 047804

The Antenna SIG meetings are open to all PCARS members and guests. All ham radio operators or anyone interested in Amateur Radio are also welcome to attend. We will be discussing all aspects of antenna design, construction, test equipment, and experimentation. Everyone is welcome to join in the discussion and talk about their antenna-related projects with the group.

This week will be hosted by Mike Gonzalez, KP4VZ

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PCARS 2024 Field Day Dinner will be served Saturday, June 22 starting between 5:45 and 6:00 pm. Dinner will be delivered to on-duty station operators/loggers first. Dinner for PCARS members and guests will start immediately after.

Dinner is free to all pre-registered PCARS Members. Guests will be charged $5.00 each. I am requesting that everyone who wants to share FD Dinner with us please register by June 8 so we can have enough food available for everyone.

To register online for FD Dinner click the following link:

2024 PCARS Field Day Dinner Reservation Form

Dinner Menu: Rigatoni; Fried Chicken; Parsley Potatoes; Green Beans; Rolls & Butter. Bottled water will be available (no charge); soft drinks may be available (no extra charge).

Please note that to have dinner with us you must be on the dinner registration list. Those on this list will be served first. PCARS members (and paid guests) not registered for dinner may be served after registered members have eaten (if extra food is still available).

Tony WA8AR, Field Day Chairman

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What: 4:1 hybrid balun build
Where: At the Clubsite
When: April 27, 2024 9am-12pm

This antenna is quite versatile, capable of handling 100 watts and working on frequencies ranging from 80-10m. It can be used for a delta loop or an off-center fed antenna. This is my go to antenna for portable operations. It has not been tested in wet weather so keep that in mind if you’re planning a permanent install. The cost for participating in this build is $40, which covers everything except the antenna wire. The build process is expected to take around 3-4 hours. To join, please RSVP by Thursday April 18th to bmercer@eutonian.com and payment will be required upfront. Cash is preferred but we can also arrange paypal once you email me.

A small assortment of tools will help the build go smoothly. If you can bring side cutters, and a soldering iron, you can get through most of the build. I’ll bring some small tools that I have to share, but they will be limited. If you are familiar with winding torroids, that is the bulk of this build. We will also be soldering on some small connectors, and bolting the mounting studs in. I will also have a nanovna and dummy loads so we can run a sweep on each build to verify that it is constructed correctly.

The plan for the build is for everyone to have their own instruction manual that will walk you through step by step with pictures. This way everyone will have a visual to follow along with at their own pace. The instructions will also include some basic information on how to test the balun to make sure it’s functioning correctly. Having built several of these, I’ve also come up with a few helpful hints I will include along the way.

Because of the lead time in preparing the kits, I will need to know absolutely no later than April 18th if you are interested in participating.

73’s
Brandon KE8ARB

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Our next Portable Operations SIG will be on Tuesday, April 9th at 7 PM; that is if we haven’t ceased to exist as predicted by the tinfoil hat crowd.

There’s a lot to talk about this month.

The Hamvention forum schedule has been released. I like to sit in on the forums, and try to learn some things each year. The schedule this year is impressive, and you can read it at https://hamvention.org/event-details/forums/

We also have our April ParkPedition at Punderson State Park coming up on the 20th.

The WWFF program has added some new parks into the system

A friend has purchased the Chameleon antenna, and is really enjoying it!

Lastly, let’s talk about logging programs! N3FJP has an update that allows us to enter the new POTA park numbers easier; the HAMRS developer is back at the stick, and working on the program.

Or, bring up a topic of your own; See you on Tuesday!

As usual, we’re meeting at PCARS World Headquarters (705 Oakwood St, Ravenna). If you’d prefer, feel free to join us on Zoom. Here’s the info:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/92154491950?pwd=cmZNSlFhZVRmcVg3L3pnazdrK1ZuUT09

Meeting ID: 921 5449 1950

Passcode: 878917

One tap mobile

+13092053325,,92154491950#,,,,*878917# US

+13126266799,,92154491950#,,,,*878917# US (Chicago)

Hope you can make it! 73, DE WG8X

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