The club will conduct it’s Field Day exercises this year in memory of Roger Ryan, W9RDR, SK. The club president provided the proclamation below to Roger’s family. Our SSB stations will also make occasional announcements stating that we are operating in Roger’s memory.
Tim, KD9LAI attended his first SARC meeting in May and received a Baofeng UV-82X handheld donated to the club by Jim, KB9RGU. I asked him a few questions about ham radio now that he’s had some on-air time.
In the early 90’s I developed an interest in “world band” just in time for the first Gulf War. This was entirely on the “receiver” end of things, but even then I toyed with the idea of getting my “ticket.” Life intervened, however. Fast forward to 2013, at which point I began volunteering with the Civil Air Patrol. This, as well as other experiences, has impressed upon me the need for emergency communication skills during times of crisis.
I primarily used 3 completely free resources: (a) A set of power-point videos by Ham Whisperer in conjunction with notes from (b) FCC Technician Class Exam Study Guide – 2014-2018 … and (c) the Roy Watson Ham Radio Exam practice tests–available as both android and iOS apps. I found straight/rote memorization of answers to be insufficient to my needs. The Ham Whisperer videoss along with the wikibooks pages provided just enough explanation to get me through.
The amount of knowledge and expertise exhibited by current club members.
Jack, KD9LCB recently joined the club. I’ve been working with him to get a VHF/UHF station up and running. After he made a few on-air contacts I asked him for some thoughts his experience so far with ham radio
I got interested in ham radio by watching my son operate his radio and seeing all the new people that he made contact with and all the different areas of the United States and the world that he connected with. I realize that with some nice equipment and the knowledge and skill for operating it the opportunities seemed boundless to make connections with people all over the world.
I used the book I called Now You’re Talking [from the ARRL]. I read the book cover to cover and then I started to use the practice exams online I studied for about 6 weeks, an hour or two hours a day and took practice exams and when I got to the point where I was getting 30 or more correct on a regular basis I took the test. This was somewhat difficult for me because I have no electronics background, being in corporate media sales for 25 years, but it was fun. I’m retired now and I had the time to do it.
I was very impressed by my first meeting at the Schaumburg radio club. It was very well organized and everyone seemed to contribute something in a positive manner. The members I chatted with were extremely nice. I found the presentation about the emergency Weather Service [Skywarn] very interesting. And the upcoming events showed that this is a club that not only talks but takes action by being involved in community service and other activities.
Over the weekend several members of the original Giving a Helping Hand to a HAM in need team wrapped up the project.
Dirk W0RI writes:
We re-draped the coax and the tower now rotates as designed. Some of you witnessed firsthand the gratitude Ray had for the volunteers and the SARC club answering his SOS to get his tower back in shape. When all is said and done, I believe this is the CORE what AR is all about, helping each other, learning as you go along and having some fun while doing it. On behalf of Ray, I want to THANK everyone for taking time to help get his shack back in shape.
Our meetings will still take place at the Schaumburg Community Recreation Center on the third Thursday of each month. Our usual room, which was directly across from the elevator, is unavailable as it is being renovated. The new location is the Community Room which is upstairs, down the hallway east of the restrooms.