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2004
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Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the January 2004 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
Happy New Year 2004 and thanks to EVERYONE for making 2003 the great year that it was!
Well, as I write this report on January 15th, I am very proud to report that the SC Section website was featured in the February issue of QST in the “ARRL in ACTION” column by Dave Hassler, K7CCC! Dan Donovan KF4VIS, PIC took the opportunity to contact the administrator of the SCIWAY (State of SC Information Highway) website, and informed them about the ARRL-SC website. The ARRL-SC website was featured as “Website of the Day”, and now is linked from SCIWAY: http://sciway.net/org/radio.html . SCIWAY is seen by thousands of South Carolinians daily! Congratulations to Dan for his excellent idea!
On this date, the ARRL Board of Directors is meeting. One of the topics will involve whether the ARRL will recommend to the FCC that code testing be eliminated or continue to be a requirement for amateur radio licensure. In WARC ’03, the Morse Code requirement for operation on HF was removed worldwide. Many countries have since eliminated the Morse Code as a requirement for licensure. Some have decided to keep the requirement. Since this is quite a controversial topic in Amateur Radio today, I recently asked ALL ARRL members in South Carolina e-mail our Director of the Roanoke Division, Dennis W4PWF, with their comments and opinions. Since the ARRL Director, Vice Director and Section Manager are all elected positions, I wanted to make sure that Dennis knew the opinions of the ARRL membership. Dennis will have the only vote for the Roanoke Division, and will be representing all of us. Our Vice Director, Les K4NK, has tabulated the results and will discuss them with Dennis in Newington prior to any board vote. I just checked the weather for Newington, and it is -2 degrees! That’s going to be tough for a South Carolinian!
This past Saturday, the 2004
Greenwood Hamfest was held, with fun and fellowship for all. The hamfest was a
success, and I thank all that attended! There were several vendors and a lot of
hams selling their old equipment. From the ARRL-SC team, Bob K4NJN ASM6, Adam
AF4QZ STM, Sue N4ENX OOC, Dan KF4VIS PIC and Les K4NK, Vice Director attended. I
have to stop and add a personal note; I am a very proud Father! My younger Son
Philip, 14, has just passed his first Amateur Radio exam, and is licensed as
KI4DKW. He received his first radio at the hamfest, an ICOM T-90. It is indeed
a special time when a Father and Son attend their first hamfest together!
A note to all that attend the National Traffic System nets, or any
nets that pass radiogram traffic: During your time on the nets, you may have had
an opportunity to pass traffic originated by Gil, W1GMF. Gil received a letter
from an unnamed Section Manager who stated that he was going to block all of
Gil's radiograms to his Section. Gil is in the Eastern Massachusetts Section (EMA)
and his Section Manager, Phil Temples K9HI has written an article entitled "The
Balkanization of the National Traffic System". He has asked Section Managers
from other states to voice their opinions on his article. I replied directly to
Phil, and he asked me to add my comments to his website. The entire article and
comments can be accessed at this URL:
http://ema.arrl.org/article.php?sid=292 . Please visit that website!
On the ARES/RACES front, Charlie AE4UX SEC just appointed two more Emergency Coordinators (EC’s), and may be adding a third one soon. We now have 25 counties covered, with 19 vacancies. Those counties still in need of an EC follow: McCormick, Oconee, Lancaster, Union, Richland, Chesterfield, Darlington, Lee, Clarendon, Georgetown, Orangeburg, Williamsburg, Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper. If you reside in one of these counties and are interested in the EC position, please contact Charlie, AE4UX@arrl.net . Charlie has also forwarded to me what I hope will be the final draft of the Memorandum of Understanding between South Carolina ARES/RACES and the South Carolina Emergency Management Division. In regards to the State EOC, Marc Tarplee N4UFP, TC has performed an evaluation on the current antenna system and his recommendations for improvement. It was determined during a state-wide emergency drill that the antenna system was inadequate as it presently stands. Amateur Radio communications throughout the state had to be done on linked 2 meter systems! Further information on the MOU and the proposed changes of the SCEOC antenna system will be reported soon. Please keep tuned!
On the ARRL-SC section website, there is a new featured item, The Public Information Officers Scrapbook. This page will highlight Press releases and Public Information literature regarding Amateur Radio as produced by members of the ARRL-SC team. Remember, we are all Public Information Officers for the promotion of Amateur Radio! There are several examples up on the website now. Please check them out!
A reminder to all Affiliated Clubs-January is the time to update your club information with the ARRL. Please feel free to call on Brian KR4SP, ACC if you have any questions or concerns. His e-mail is kr4sp-1@juno.com .
Well, that’s it for the January Section Manager’s report! I wish everyone a happy New Year!
South Carolina Section December 2003-Submitted by Adam AF4QZ, STM:
Again, Thanks to EVERYONE for making 2003 the great year that it was!
’73 de Dr. Jim N2ZZ
ARRL Section Manager
South Carolina Section
www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the February 2004 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
As I write this report on February 13th, we have had a very busy month, both nationally and locally. I discussed in my last report that the January 2004 ARRL Board Meeting was being held, and one of the topics was to be one of their most controversial actions-a Code-Free HF license. As I hope everyone remembers, I asked that all ARRL members interested in giving their opinion on whether to continue CW as an Amateur Radio Licensing requirement to e-mail or write our Division Director, Dennis Bodson W4PWF. Hal KC8FS, Section Manager from West Virginia followed that lead, and our Vice Director Les K4NK had over 100 opinions to present to Dennis at the board meeting. At the official sessions of the board meetings, our Division has one vote and our Director casts that vote. It turned out that the actual ARRL proposal to the FCC http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/?nc=1 was to be much more far-reaching than just the CW controversy. The Board’s objective was to have a comprehensive restructuring of the Amateur Radio Service. I realize that I am just the messenger, but I have had many e-mails either sent directly to me or as cc’s regarding the proposal, and many of the comments have been very negative. I cannot begin to speak for the Board of Directors, but I do realize that their task was a no-win situation. Since the CW requirement for HF privileges was eliminated internationally last year at WARC ’03, the ARRL had to take a position on behalf of their members. How did the board come up with the proposal? Word has it that the Executive Committee formulated the proposal, and it was presented to the entire Board for their review and approval. A few amendments were approved at that time http://www.arrl.org/announce/board-0401/ and then the proposal was adopted. I realize that a monthly report does not have enough space to do this subject justice, so I hope to write up a few opinions in the near future.
One of the other agenda items at the Board Meeting was the election (or rather the re-election) of officers. The 3rd Vice President slot, previously occupied by Fried Heyn WA6WZO was deleted and the previous officers were re-elected to their respective positions. Jim Haynie, W5JBP will continue as President, Joel Harrison W5ZN will remain as 1st Vice President, and Kay Craigie N3KN will remain as 2nd Vice President.
I reported previously that Marc Tarplee N4UFP, TC went on a site visit to the SC State EOC with Charlie AE4UX, SEC and Tony N4ADM to formulate a redesign of the HF antenna system. Drills made it clear that although the antenna SWR was acceptable, the antennas did not radiate well. Marc has completed his final draft, with the recommendation of dropping the number of antennas from five to three, offering higher efficiency on HF RACES/ARES frequencies. Marc thanks all of his Technical Specialist appointees who had the opportunity to comment on his recommendations and offered valuable input.
The proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the State SCEMD and ARRL-SC ARES/RACES is almost complete, with only one item needing clarification. All MOU's between a Section (SC) and other entities must be approved by ARRL HQ prior to signing, and hopefully this will be resolved in the very near future.
I had the pleasure of attending the Charleston Hamfest in Ladson, SC on February 7th. It was apparent that the Hamfest was going to be a success just by all the participants waiting to get into the building at 7:30am! It was obvious that the turn-out this year was excellent! The number of participants was much greater, and it almost felt like the Dayton Hamvention, trying to move through the aisles! Jenny WA4NGV had indicated to me that the hamfest is "down to a science"! She has been involved in planning the hamfest for over 20 years, and they contribute at least part of their success to having only two meetings to prepare! Thanks to all the CARS hamfest committee for their hard work! I would also like to thank those members of the ARRL-SC team who attended: Marc Tarplee N4UFP TC (and gave a great forum!), Bob Bacharach WA2EMF ASM2, Adam Hoffman STM AF4QZ, and Mike Duff KG4SLH Asst. PIC. I gave the ARRL forum, and I appreciated all the attention and audience participation! Please check out the "Picture Gallery and Hamfest Memories" for pictures of the hamfest! Thanks to all!
Congratulations to Charlie Hall K4AOT, (EC Charleston County) of the Charleston Amateur Radio Society! During his Charleston visit on Thursday February 5th, President George W. Bush shook hands with Charlie and thanked him for his volunteer efforts! The full news story is available on the WCBD-TV Channel 2/Charleston website HERE . Thanks to Riley Stone K4HYY (EC Dorchester county) for providing this information to me, as well as the CARS members that gave me the "Heads Up" during the Charleston Hamfest! I sent the information above to ARRL HQ, and the news item is now on the national ARRL website www.arrl.org!
From the ARRL letter, vol. 23 Number 07, February 13, 2004:
* President Bush thanks ham radio volunteer: Shortly
after stepping off Air Force One February 5 during a visit to South Carolina,
President George W. Bush took a few moments to express his appreciation to ARRL
member and Charleston County ARES Emergency Coordinator Charlie Hall, K4AOT.
"For all Charlie has done for ham radio and the community, he certainly deserves
to be put in the spotlight," said his friend Alex Krist, KR1ST. A member of the
Charleston Amateur Radio Society and a retired US Army sergeant, Hall, 64,
volunteers with a newly formed Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) <http://www.citizencorps.gov/programs/cert.shtm>,
a Citizen Corps <http://www.citizencorps.gov/>
program. The president shook Hall's hand and thanked him for his efforts on
behalf of the community. ARRL is a Citizen Corps affiliate, and in a growing
number of localities, Amateur Radio emergency response activities are being
incorporated into CERTs. Hall, who also volunteers with the American Red Cross
and a SKYWARN team, was tapped as Charleston County's "official greeter" for the
presidential visit mainly because of his Citizen Corp/CERT activity.--some
information from Alex Krist, KR1ST, and Jim Boehner, N2ZZ
I was informed by both Mike KG4SLH Asst. PIC and Mac K4AVR that Laurie Sansbury Jr. KV4C ASM4 was hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit at Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center. Laurie became ill last week and was hospitalized at that time. I spoke with his father on February 9th, and he stated that Laurie was currently undergoing diagnostic testing. On February 10th, Laurie was moved out of intensive care, and my last information is that he is now in room 234. I'm sure that Laurie would be pleased to receive a note or a card from those in the amateur radio community! Here is his mailing information: Laurie Sansbury, Jr., Room 234, Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center, 1304 Bobo Newsom Highway, Hartsville, SC 29550. We all wish Laurie a speedy recovery!
I was informed that Congressman Jim DeMint, 4th District SC (R) has just signed on as cosponsor of HR 1478 http://www.arrl.org/govrelations/hr1478/ , The Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Consistency Act of 2003 (Also known as the CC&R Bill)! Congressman DeMint is running for the Senate Seat that will be vacated next year by Senator Hollings who is retiring. There will be several candidates in the Republican primary. He is a friend of Amateur Radio, so please consider him strongly when you cast your vote. He is also researching the other bill that is of concern to Amateur Radio, HR 713, The Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of 2003. He may sign on as a cosponsor to that bill as well! Read the current status of these bills on the ARRL website: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/02/10/100/?nc=1
From ARRL Bulletin Number 4, ARRL B004, February 12, 2004:
Meanwhile, the cosponsor count on the CC&R bill, HR 1478,
rose to 32 this week with the addition of Rep Jim DeMint (R-SC), who was
approached by ARRL South Carolina Section Manager Jim Boehner, N2ZZ, to consider
cosponsoring both HR 1478 and HR 713. Introduced by Rep Steve Israel (D-NY), the
CC&R bill would require private land-use regulators such as homeowners'
associations to ''reasonably accommodate'' Amateur Radio antennas consistent
with the PRB-1 limited federal preemption.
Congratulations to the new elected officers of the Foothills ARC: Gretchen Ellison, KF4HGX, Treasurer; Celia Booth, KF4DRG, Secretary; Jennifer Zerlaut, KG4YDC, Vice-President; Deborah Hoyt, KG4UPA, President. Notice anything? Yes, it is an all YL Board! Thanks to John Hoyt W5UGD for this information.
Be sure to check out the New Monthly Club Activity Summary by Brian KR4SP, ACC now on the www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ website.
Thanks to the Chesterfield County Amateur Radio Society, CCARS, who spent a weekend providing communications support to the Sandblast 2004 Sports Car Rally, held in the Sandhill State Forest located in Chesterfield County between Cheraw and McBee along US-1. There were 40 Sport Cars entered, with drivers from all over the US and several International drivers as well. For the race results and pictures please see the Sandblast 2004 Rally website, www.sandblastrally.com. Thanks again to all the participants for your public service, and thanks to Mac K4AVR for this information!
Finally, Broadband over Power Line (BPL) is again “rearing its ugly head”. The FCC on Thursday February 12 had unanimously approved to go forward with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the subject of BPL. Last April the FCC put out a Notice of Inquiry which generated over 5100 comments, many from Amateur Radio Operators. The FCC did not propose any changes to Part 15 rules regarding emissions from unlicensed devices, and did state that they would require BPL providers to apply “adaptive” interference mitigation techniques to their systems. Perhaps the most interesting quote was from Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein; "I think we need to be mindful of harmful interference, but we can't let unsupported claims stand in the way of this kind of innovation," Adelstein said. "We need to do everything we can to move this forward." I find it interesting that with greater than 5100 comments, the numerous on-the-air tests, and the prohibition of BPL in many countries, including Japan, that the claims are “unsupported”. Please read the full story on the ARRL website: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/02/12/5/?nc=1 .
Traffic and Net Reports from Adam AF4QZ, STM:
January 2004 Traffic Reports
Station Activity Reports:
CALL/SENT/RECEIVED/DELIVERED/ORIGINATED/TOTAL
KA4UIV/124/130/6/1/261
WA4MIY/20/20/1/0/41
WA4UGD/35/0/1/0/36
KA4LRM/12/16/2/0/30
K4NJN/9/9/2/0/20
KB3L/5/2/2/2/11
WB4PCS/2/3/3/2/10
Public Service Honor Roll Reports
KA4UIV 100
KA4LRM 90
January 2004 Net Reports
CHECKINS/TRAFFIC/SESSIONS/REPORTED BY
Anderson RC 2 Meter Net/902/48/31/KG4HEY
Blue Ridge ARS 2 Meter Net/2090/50/31/K4SUG
Carolina’s Net (CN)/524/172/62/K4IWW
Carolina Slow Net/117/25/31/W4EAT
Columbia ARS 2 Meter Net/156/10/8/K4RKC
Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net/828/39/31/K4DTT
Lancaster County 2 Meter Net/181/23/12/N4WMB
SC 6 Meter Sandlapper Net/64/0/4/K4IRT
SC SSB Net/1492/142/31/WA4UGD
Thanks to everyone! Have a great month!
’73 de Dr. JIM N2ZZ
ARRL Section Manager
South Carolina Section
www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the March 2004 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
Good news for South Carolina! One of our own, Roger Gregory W4RWG from Union, has become President of the South Eastern Repeater Association (SERA). SERA is the largest Amateur Radio Repeater coordinating body in the United States. Those who have attended SC hamfests remember Roger sitting dutifully under the SERA banner, accepting new memberships and renewing older ones! SERA puts out a quarterly magazine, the SERA Journal, and Roger writes an excellent South Carolina column, reporting club activities throughout South Carolina. Roger has agreed to continue writing his column in addition to his Presidential duties. Roger, congratulations to you, and we appreciate your contributions to our joint avocation, Amateur Radio!
I was just made aware of a database that the ARRL compiles that list our public service activities, ARES drills and activations, etc. This database is used to show public officials the work that Amateur Radio operators volunteer to do, and add to our political “clout”. If you organize or participate in any drills or activities that benefit the public in any way, you are encouraged to submit an FSD-157 (available on the www.arrl.org website) after the event. Alternatively, it can be submitted electronically at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/forms/fsd-157-online-form.php .
Interested in public service events? There is an organization for you! SCARS is an organization dedicated to working public service events. Kevin Wilhide KE4ALL from Lexington is your contact, and you can e-mail him at ke4all@earthlink.net or call him at (803)951-3154.
I wish to express thanks to Doc KI4BXM. While ordering weather radios for the Columbia and Palmetto clubs, he has worked out a deal with Reecom, a supplier of SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) Weather Alert Radios to provide their radios at a substantially reduced cost to Amateur Radio Operators. The radios can be found at http://www.reecominc.com/index2.htm . The R-1630 can be ordered for $36 and the R-1650 for $42. You can order direct from Reecom, but you must include the following statement: "I am ordering this in participation with the South Carolina ARES Plan as set up by Michael J. Cerkez - KI4BXM." Sign your name by including it at the end of the above statement. Again, thanks to Doc for this opportunity!
For those of you in Chapter 89 of the Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA), you know that I currently hold the office of 1st Vice President. For those hams that have been licensed 25 years or more, please e-mail Jenny Myers WA4NGV at brycemyers@aol.com for membership information!
Need a tower for a repeater or digipeater? Thanks to Susan AF4FO, SM of Georgia, we are aware of a number of tower sites that have been retired by AT&T. They are willing to allow hams to use their towers in exchange for maintenance (mowing the grass, etc.). A listing of these towers and contact information is available at www.aaatower.com !
I had an enjoyable experience visiting the North Augusta-Belvedere club this month. The meeting was held at the Signal Corps Museum in nearby Forth Gordon, GA. The museum described the birth of the Signal Corps and its progress throughout the years. Did you know that the Air Force arose out of the Signal Corps? Perhaps the most interesting fact to me personally was that the person who started the Signal Corps was a physician, Albert J. Meyer! Maybe that explains my interest in communications!
Brian KR4SP, ACC reports that the Greer club will be holding a Foxhunt on Saturday March 20th beginning at 2 pm from the Piedmont Plaza (Old K-Mart) on Highway 29 in Greer. Enjoy!
Sue Chism N4ENX, OOC and EC of Greenville County suffered a heart attack. She had a heart catheterization and stent placement at St. Francis hospital in Greenville, and is now recovering at home. Sue did come and visit us at the Charlotte Hamfest, but was understandably tired. I’m sure Sue would enjoy e-mails or cards from the SC amateur community to speed up her recovery! Her e-mail address is n4enx@charter.net, and postal address is available on www.qrz.com . Get well soon, Sue!
Looking at the March issue of QST, I see that Mike KG4SLH, Asst PIC has his library display pictured in Dave Hassler’s ARRL in ACTION column on Page 12! Great job, and the display is wonderful! Additionally, I was surprised to hear that a Middle School class in Summerville had the opportunity to speak with the International Space Station via Amateur Radio. My congratulations to their teacher, Alene Wilkins KG4NKD, Glen Little WA4UIV, ham radio coordinator and Will KC6ROL, event coordinator. The full story is available on the ARRL website: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/03/11/3/?nc=1
This past Saturday was the Charlotte Hamfest and Computer Show. I was happy to be able to attend, and the turnout appeared excellent. It seems like we had quite a few South Carolinians cross the boarder! From the ARRL-SC team, I would like to thank Marc Tarplee N4UFP, TC; Mike Duff KG4SLH, Asst. PIC; Dennis Fowler KG4JIA, SGL; Sue Chism N4ENX, OOC and Adam Hoffman AF4QZ, STM who joined me at the hamfest. Dennis Bodson W4PWF, Director Roanoke Division and Les Shattuck K4NK, Vice Director Roanoke Division attended, as did John Covington W4CC, SM North Carolina!
The ARRL forum was given by Dennis W4PWF, and a number of topics were discussed. The highlight of the forum was the presentation of the Roanoke Division Service Award to our Vice Director and South Carolina resident Les K4NK. The Award is given in memory of Vic Clark, and when presented, is to honor Roanoke Division amateurs who have devoted their time and effort over many years to the improvement of Amateur Radio and the ARRL. Congratulations, Les!
An interesting sidebar is that Les is a dyed-in-the-wool QRP enthusiast with over 300 countries confirmed QRP. Les told us that he has just acquired a Drake Linear Amplifier. Les has tasted QRO, and he likes it! Les, welcome to the other side of the 5 watt power limit!
Finally, I am pleased and proud to announce that the Memorandum of Understanding between the State of South Carolina and the South Carolina Emergency Service has now been signed and is in force as of March 15th, 2004. This document represents months of hard work by Charlie, ARRL HQ and the SC Emergency Management Division personnel. This is a great step forward for the recognition of Amateur Radio as a valuable resource in South Carolina! My congratulations and gratitude to all involved!
Well, that’s it for now! Again, thanks to everyone for making the Amateur Radio Experience in South Carolina what it is today!
South Carolina Traffic Reports for February 2004-From Adam AF4QZ, STM:
(Note: This is a partial report-Adam’s other information is at his home in Bamberg)
Station Activity Report (Call, Received, Sent, Delivered, Originated, Total): KA4UIV, 157, 151, 9, 0, 317; KG4VDR, 13, 15, 22, 0, 50; WA4MIY, 24, 23,1, 48; WA4UGD, 33, 0, 2, 0, 35; KA4LRM, 10, 9, 3, 0, 22; K4RKC, 10, 12, 0, 0, 22; WB4PCS, 5, 2, 4, 0, 11; W4NVO, 4, 2, 2, 2, 10; N4VVX, 3, 4, 1, 0, 8
Public Service Honor Roll: KA4UIV 100; KA4LRM 82; N4VVX 73
Net Reports (Check Ins, Traffic, Sessions, Reported By): Anderson ARC 2 Meter Net, 1033, 32, 29, KA4LRM; Blue Ridge 2 Meter Net, 2095, 52, 29, K4SUG; Carolina’s Net, 457, 192, 58, K4IWW; Carolina Slow Net, 133, 21, 29, W4EAT; Columbia ARC 2 Meter Net, 156, 9, 9, K4RKC; Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net, 1869, 52, 29, K4DTT; Greenwood 2 Meter Friendly Net, 670, 27, 29, W4JAK; PALS Net for January, 1085, 79, 31, KG4KOE; PALS Net for February, 1240, 57, 29, KG4KOE; SC 6 Meter Sandlapper Net, 63, 0, 4, K4RKC; SC SSB Net, 1342, 126, 29, WA4UGD
Thanks to everyone for a great month!
’73 de Dr. Jim N2ZZ
ARRL Section Manager
South Carolina Section
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the April 2004 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
Since my last report, a number of events have taken place, locally and nationally.
The FCC has invited comments on Amateur Radio Restructuring plans, and these comments are due by April 24th. There are several petitions before the FCC; three of which deal mainly with the entry level amateur radio license and a three tiered license class system, while one mainly focuses on the Morse Code requirement. Interested parties may view and comment on these petitions via the FCC Electronic Comment Filing System, www.fcc.gov/e-file/ecfs.html. When entering the RM-10867 number in the ECFS ''Proceeding'' field, RM must be in capital letters and the hyphen must be included.
On March 27th, Florence County ARES provided communications for the McLeod Sports Medicine's 10K/5K Run/Walk. Communications were provided between the water stations, sweep vehicles, and operators served as a shadow for the director. Thanks to Mac Cullom, K4AVR, and wife Suzie, KG4YVK, for bringing their RV and using it as a net control station. Mike Duff, KG4SLH, Assistant PIC set up an amateur radio display-- complete with a TV showing the amateur radio video-- in front of the RV. The Florence club and Florence ARES will be using Mac's "net control RV" again at the Mayfly air show on May 1st and 2nd. This event will be held at the Florence Regional Airport, and will require 36 or more volunteers per day. Volunteers and their immediate families (Spouse and Children) will receive complementary tickets for the show. Bobby Collins, KG4BZK, Florence EC reports good response to the request for volunteer help, but more volunteers are needed. Please contact him if you would like to participate: kg4bzk@arrl.net .
Speaking of May 1st, another event will be taking place in the Upstate- the Upstate Hamfest! This is the South Carolina Section Convention and will be held in Spartanburg. Dan Henderson N1ND from ARRL headquarters contest branch will be attending, and will be speaking on “Logbook of the World” as well as other topics. For more information, visit their website http://www.upstatehamfest.org or contact John Hoyt N5UGD hamfest@brars.org . I hope to see everyone there!
On the Broadband over Power Line front, an article on BPL expressing our concerns was published in the Wall Street Journal on March 23rd by staff writer Ken Brown. Although this article brought our concerns to the public, Mr. Brown did make statements calling amateur radio operators “a quirky bunch”. He also quoted an executive from a power line company stating that "This is a fairly vocal group [amateur radio operators] that has been whipped into a frenzy by their organization." An example was also given about an interference complaint that turned out to be a faulty refrigerator rather than BPL interference. Additionally, the FCC’s chief engineer was quoted as saying “Why is this thing such a major calamity? And honestly, I’d like the answer to that!” Still, just having this article about BPL published in the Wall Street Journal has taken our fight to the public, and gives it credibility. Within the Federal Government though, FEMA, who previously expressed “grave concerns” about BPL’s ability to disrupt emergency HF communications, has now expressed its desire to “clarify the record” to ensure that its filing was not "misunderstood or misconstrued." They now state that "We have become aware that certain distinct approaches to BPL may have the potential to cause interference to FEMA's high frequency radio communications system," Brown said in his January letter. "However, we continue to study the BPL proceeding and have not concluded that there is a material interference problem or that all of the distinct technological approaches to BPL pose a risk of interference." I really cannot comment on this as your Section Manager, but I’m sure you can draw your own conclusions. I still feel somewhat unsettled that Japan, a technologically savvy country, has outlawed BPL due to the interference that it causes, that BPL has been demonstrated to cause HF interference in several other countries, and even by tests in this country! What about the basic theory that wires that carry RF energy should be either twisted or shielded to minimize interference to other services? What about the several thousand filings to the FCC, many of a very technical nature, that describe in detail the interference potential of BPL? With all of this information, there seems to be little acknowledgment of the widespread interference that BPL can cause by the FCC. Their Chief Engineer’s comments are above. Perhaps the most interesting quote was from FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein; "I think we need to be mindful of harmful interference, but we can't let unsupported claims stand in the way of this kind of innovation," Adelstein said. "We need to do everything we can to move this forward."
I enjoyed attending the Union Hamfest on April 3rd. Thanks go to Roger Gregory W4RWG and the Union Hamfest Committee for a great hamfest. Thanks also to the ARRL-SC team that attended: Dan KF4VIS, PIC, Adam AF4QZ, STM, Charlie AE4UX SEC and Les K4NK, Roanoke Division Vice Director. See everyone May 1st at the Upstate Hamfest!
Brian KR4SP, ACC has informed me of several foxhunts in the Upstate by the Foothills ARC, Greer ARC and Anderson ARC. Congratulations! We will try to keep the events and notices current on the www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ website!
Congratulations to Barbara KA4UIV for being named “South Carolina Single Sidebander of the Year” by the SC SSB net on April 7th. Thanks go to Miss Emmie KA4LRM, Tom WA4VYS, Johnnie WA4UGD and all the others that compiled the 2004 SC SSB net roster, which looks great! If you haven’t received yours, just check in to the SC SSB net on 3915 at 7pm local time, and send a request to Miss Emmie, KA4LRM. Of note, the SC SSB net has announced plans for their net picnic to be held on June 12th at 1pm at Dreher Island State Park on Lake Murray, Picnic Shelter #9.
Well, that will do it for now! Thanks to all for a great month!
March 2004 South Carolina NTS Reports
Station Activity Reports (Sent / Received / Delivered / Originated / Total): KA4UIV/132/143/5/0/280; KG4VDR/15/11/21/0/47; WA4UGD/0/34/2/0/36; KA4LRM/9/15/6/0/30: K4RKC/5/20/0/0/25; WB4PCS/2/3/2/0/7
Public Service Honor Roll: KA4UIV 100; KA4LRM 90
Net Reports (Net Name / Check Ins / Traffic / Sessions / Reported By):Anderson 2 Meter Net/1032/41/31/KA4LRM; Blue Ridge 2 Meter Net /2302/42/31/K4SUG; Carolina’s Net (CW)/444/217/62/K4IWW; Columbia ARC 2 Meter Net/148/8/8/K4RKC; Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net/870/34/31/K4DTT; Greenwood 2 Meter Friendly Net/641/29/31/W4JAK; Lancaster County 2 Meter Net/206/24/13/N4WMB; SC SSB Net/1372/136/31/WA4UGD
Again, to all, thanks for your contributions to Amateur Radio!
’73 de Dr. Jim N2ZZ
ARRL Section Manager
South Carolina Section
www.qsl.net/arrl-sc
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the May 2004 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
Since my last report, a number of events have taken place, locally and nationally. First and foremost is the threat of Broadband over Power Lines (BPL). I had sent out a section mailing regarding the grassroots effort of the ARRL to make our position and stance known on BPL to our elected representatives. I had asked everyone to write, fax or visit our two US Senators and their respective US Representative. I know everyone is tired about hearing about BPL-it has been on our radar screens for now over a year. It appears that the FCC is planning on moving forward with BPL, regardless of any evidence of it’s capability to destroy communications from 2-80 mHz. The only way to affect the proliferation of BPL is to let our elected representatives know about the problems it can cause. PLEASE take time to become politically active, if just to write a letter. A full BPL package including a sample letter is available on the ARRL website here: http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/cta/ . Please take time to download this letter, and at least personalize the first paragraph, so that you do not appear to be sending a form letter. Additional links there will give you the mailing addresses of our US Senators and respective Representatives. On a positive note, ARRL President Haynie has been invited to a meeting of the White House staff this Thursday, May 20th to discuss BPL!
Saturday May 1st brought two major events to South Carolina. In Spartanburg, the Upstate Hamfest was held, and in Florence, the MayFly Airshow took place, with a large number of amateur radio volunteers! At the Upstate Hamfest we were fortunate to have Dan Henderson N1ND of the ARRL contest branch come down from ARRL HQ to visit us. Dan gave a very good talk on the “Logbook of the World” as well as discussing its new interface with the DXCC database. The hamfest was well attended, despite a little precipitation. Thanks to everyone on the hamfest committee for their hard work and dedication! Over in Florence, the Mayfly event was a success! I appreciate all the hard working volunteers that showed the public our public service capabilities!
Sadly, I have to report a few deaths this month. Bob Meyers KN4AS, State MARS director and former DEC for the SC EOC became a silent key on April 19th. I feel that I was fortunate to meet him at the Charleston hamfest for the first time. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society. Les K4NK’s father, Francis Shattuck died on May 6th, and Les traveled to Auburn to officiate at his Father’s memorial service.
Well, I returned late last night from the Dayton Hamvention. A bit of rain on Saturday, but I really did enjoy the show. Hara Arena was filled with vendors selling everything from LED lights to rigs costing several thousands of dollars! The flea market outside was very well attended, although Saturday drove most of the participants inside. A few of the new products I noticed were the ICOM IC-7800, now available with a street price of $11,000, an Alpha Wattmeter with a modest price tag of $1000, and the new prototype of theYaesu FT DX 9000 twins, with the 200 watt model going for $11,500 and the 400 watt model going for $13,500. Whew!
At the ARRL booth, I had the pleasure to meet ARRL President Haynie and receive the latest news on BPL. As I mentioned above, he will be meeting with the White House staff on Thursday, and this may be the breakthrough we need! President Haynie gave an excellent ARRL forum. He is an entertaining speaker, and fielded a number of questions from the audience.
I was very pleased to hear from Charlie AE4UX, SEC while I was in Dayton. Although I haven’t received a report regarding the South Carolina Emergency Communication Training Day as yet, I understand it was a success, with over 50 participants attending the event! More on this event later.
Well, that is all for this month! See you next month, and have a great time enjoying Amateur Radio!!
Next, our section traffic and net reports from Adam AF4QZ, STM:
April 2004 National Traffic System Report for South Carolina
Net Reports
Net Name / Check Ins / Traffic / Sessions / Reported By
Anderson Radio Club 2 Meter Net / 1084 /
31 / 30 / KD4HEY
BRARS 2 Meter Net / 2201 / 38 / 30 / K4SUG
Carolina’s Net / 395 / 149 / 60 / K4IWW
Carolina Slow Net / 139 / 32 / 30 / W4EAT
Columbia ARC 2 Meter Net / 8 / 145 / 8 / K4RKC
Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net / 899 / 38 / 30 / K4DTT
Greenwood Friendly Net / 570 / 27 / 30 / W4JAK
Lancaster County 2 Meter Net / 73 / 18 / 12 / N4WMB
SC Sandlapper 6 Meter Net / 62 / 4 / 4 / K4IRT
SCSSB Net / 1219 / 114 / 30 / WA4UGD
Station Activity Reports
Call / Sent / Received / Delivered / Originated / Total
KA4UIV / 115 / 122 / 5 / 0 / 242
WA4MIY / 22 / 22 / 1 / 1 / 46
K3LM / 9 / 15 / 6 / 0 / 30
KG4VDR / 10 / 9 / 9 / 0 / 28
WA4UGD / 0 / 26 / 1 / 27
KA4LRM / 4 / 13 / 2 / 1 / 20
WB4PCS / 3 / 3 / 2 / 0 / 8
Public Service Honor Roll
KA4UIV 100
KA4LRM 80
To all-THANKS for your contribution to our joint avocation, AMATEUR RADIO!
’73 de Dr. JIM N2ZZ
ARRL Section Manager
South Carolina Section
www.qsl.net/arrl-sc
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the June 2004 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
I mentioned in my last report that Charlie AE4UX, SEC called me while I was at the Dayton Hamvention. Charlie was invited to the quarterly meeting of the South Carolina Emergency Management Association (SCEMA) which was held at the SCEOC in Columbia. SCEMA is the professional association for South Carolina career professionals in emergency management. Charlie was called upon to give an impromptu talk on Broadband over Power Line (BPL) and its potential interference to emergency communications. At the end of Charlie’s presentation, the SCEMA voted to have letters from their organization sent to the FCC and numerous other national organizations against the implementation of BPL. They also voted to enlist support of their national organization to oppose BPL. Further, Charlie was asked to be put on the Association’s agenda for a future meeting!
The South Carolina Emergency Communication Training Day held on May 15th in Columbia was a success, with over 50 participants involved. Feedback was excellent, and hopefully this will become an annual event! Thanks to Charlie AE4UX, SEC and all others that made this event possible!
On June 2nd and 3rd, a statewide emergency management exercise was held, with a scenario of a 7.7 magnitude earthquake occurring in the Charleston area. Originally, the state was prepared to deploy amateur radio operators into various operational areas around Charleston via Coast Guard helicopters, but the helicopters were unavailable during the days of the exercise. Over fifty operators participated, all the costal EOC’s and all major costal hospitals were manned, and most of the shelters were manned as well. There was even a position at WBCD, Channel 2 as media liaison! I asked Charlie AE4UX, SEC to submit a report of the exercise, and I am proud to add it to my report:
Note from Charlie AE4UX: Please remember that as a government agency they tend to think of the ham radio support as RACES rather than ARES. The "BCD" abbreviation stands for Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester [counties]. The reference to "operational areas" refers to the natural separate areas that would be created if a disaster prohibited travel across the many bridges in the BCD area.]
The Statewide exercise on June 2nd and 3rd, 2004 was a success. We received enthusiastic praise about the field operations. Comments from Franz Coetzee (acting as head of ESF-2): “Because of their collective efforts, the RACES operations under Charlie Miller was able not only to beat the satellite phone connectivity timeline with RACES communicators and equipment in county EOCs, but to also provide representation in many of the 18 newly-formed operational areas in the BCD area. This accomplishment cannot be understated, as it represents to largest, most coordinated and constructive exercise participation by RACES in memory and a viable capability for the future.” Debra Justin, SCEMD's Low Country Resident Area Coordinator commented that "The ham radio operators were a Godsend. " In summary, they were very pleased with the amateur radio support. I personally want to offer my thanks to the PALS organization for letting us use their linked system. Although switching to a different antenna at the SEOC gave us marginally better HF performance than in the past, it was still not up to the standard we need. In addition, HF propagation fell off drastically during the morning of the 2nd. Using linked repeaters outside of the damage zone allowed us to continue to communicate. We now have to perform our own assessment of what happened during the exercise. We are usually harder on ourselves than those who receive our services. I hope that we always are. Identifying things that we can improve is the purpose of participating in exercises.-Charlie AE4UX, SEC and SC State RACES Officer
Thanks to ALL involved! This really gave Amateur Radio a chance to SHINE in the eyes of our Emergency Management Officials!
I received a resignation from Adam AF4QZ, STM who has indicated that he will be giving up the Section Traffic Manager position as of June 30th. Adam once spent a great deal of time on the National Traffic System (NTS) nets, but his college responsibilities have made it difficult for him to maintain that schedule. Adam has recommended Peter KG4VDR to fill the STM spot, and he will take over Adam’s duties as of July 1st. After due consideration, I have decided to give Adam the post of Assistant Section Manager-Youth. He will promote all facets of Amateur Radio to the Youth in the South Carolina section by using the internet and hamfests to gather young hams and get them excited about Amateur Radio. He will also write a bi-monthly report on the happenings of youth around the country, in hopes that it will inspire the local youth to get more active. In the same vein, I would also like to appoint an Assistant Section Manager – Education. This individual would offer his or her services to the schools in our section to get them involved in the ARRL “Big Project”, bringing in a Wireless Technology curriculum. This position is still open, and if you have an interest, please contact me at n2zz@arrl.org.
Field day (June 26th and 27th) will be here soon, and Charlie AE4UX, SEC and I will be visiting Field Day Sites around the state. Please e-mail DETAILED driving directions to your Field Day site to me n2zz@arrl.org with a map if possible. We will bring those e-mails with us to guide us to your site. Hopefully we will be able to give you a few contacts while we are mobile. My Memorial Day weekend was spent installing a screwdriver antenna and amplifier in my car, so hopefully we will have a chance on the crowded bands while mobile!
As I am writing this report on June 12th, the SC SSB net picnic was held today at Dreher Island State Park. I was unable to attend, as I was on call this weekend. From listening to the comments on the SC SSB net tonight, it was a success and a good time was had by all! Hopefully this will be an annual tradition of the SC SSB net!
It will be a busy day next Saturday, June 19th. The Chester ARES group will be holding a tailgate party at Chester State Park and the Greer ARC will be holding their monthly foxhunt. Further details are available on the www.qsl.net/arrl-sc / website!
That’s it for now! Have a great month!
May 2004 National Traffic System Report for South Carolina Reported by Adam, AF4QZ, STM:
Net Reports
Net Name / Check Ins / Traffic / Sessions / Reported By
Anderson Radio Club 2 Meter Net / 772 /
14 / 31 / KD4HEY
BRARS 2 Meter Net / 2181 / 45 / 31 / K4SUG
Carolina’s Net / 407 / 146 / 62 / K4IWW
Carolina Slow Net / 108 / 23 / 31 / W4EAT
Columbia ARC 2 Meter Net / 135 / 9 / 9 / K4RKC
Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net / 880 / 36 / 31 / K4DTT
Greenwood Friendly Net / 572 / 26 / 31 / W4JAK
Horry County Skywarn Net / 46 / 17 / 4 / KF4HAV
Lancaster County 2 Meter Net / 170 / 20 / 12 / N4WMB
SC Sandlapper 6 Meter Net / 65 / 4 / 4 / K4IRT
SCSSB Net / 1218 / 94 / 31 / WA4UGD
YCARS Net / 47 / 2 / 4 / K4CON
Station Activity Reports
Call / Sent / Received / Delivered / Originated / Total
KA4UIV / 106 / 72 / 11 / 0 / 189
KG4VDR / 16 / 11 / 28 / 0 / 55
K3LM / 19 / 16 / 4 / 1 / 40
WA4MIY / 18 / 17 / 1 / 1 / 37
KA4LRM / 20 / 12 / 3 / 1 / 36
WA4UGD / 0 / 30 / 1 / 31
Public Service Honor Roll
KA4UIV 100
KA4LRM 96
Thanks to everyone for a great month! I hope to see everyone out having a good time on Field Day!
’73 de JIM N2ZZ
ARRL Section Manager
South Carolina Section
www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the July 2004 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
This past Field day marked our second annual road trip around South Carolina visiting Field Day sites! Named by me as “Jim and Charlie’s EXCELLENT Adventure, Part DEUX”, Charlie AE4UX, SEC and I visited eight sites on Field Day, covering 750 miles and spending about 15 hours in the car! On Saturday we traveled to Anderson (Anderson ARC), Greenville (Blue Ridge ARC), Spartanburg (Spartanburg ARC), Columbia (Columbia and Palmetto ARC's), North Charleston (Trident ARC), and Charleston (Charleston ARS). After being turned away from a hotel in Charleston, we did find lodging in Georgetown for the night. On Sunday we traveled to Myrtle Beach (Grand Strand ARC) and finally to Florence at Lake Darpo (Florence ARC). My sincerest apologies to those sites where we were invited, but could not attend-Laurens, Hilton Head/Bluffton, Foothills, Greer, Bamberg, Orangeburg, North Augusta/Belvedere ARC, as well as other sites across the state. South Carolina is a large state, and it is impossible to hit all the sites in a 24 hour time frame. I received an interesting invitation when I asked for detailed driving directions in my last report:
Take the 3rd ID bridge from the Green zone in Baghdad to Sadoon street to the circle in front of the fox news Baghdad cam and drive behind the mosque to the Sadeer....we will be operating with a 20 meter dipole on the roof At 120 feet
K8HID/YI
This was from Gary Foster, K8HID/YI -Yep, serving in Iraq!!!-I'm told that he is from a Sheriff's department in the Upstate and is assisting the training of the Iraqi police! Gary, I truly doubt I will be able to visit your (current) field day site in the future, but I know we all hope that you will be home next year to operate with your home club!!
I must thank EVERYONE for their hospitality in making Charlie and me feel welcome. Brian, we enjoyed looking at your antennas. Elsie, thanks for the Oreos (or is it Oreoes?). Art, great work on that trailer! Sue, thanks for guiding us to your site by using Hooters as a prominent landmark! John, you are the slingshot master! Web, I hope that poison ivy doesn't take! Mike, great work on that TV camera crew and newspaper article. Eric, great TV interview! Matt, fight that cold and get used to the Eastern Time Zone soon! Roger, good to see you again, and thanks for the introductions! Jack, love the shirt(s)! I could go on and on..............
While I was visiting the Florence site,
I was interviewed by WPDE-TV and was quoted: ""One
of the things that says on one of the license plates we have," said Jim Boehner
with the South Carolina Amateur Radio Relay League. "It says when all else
fails, it's amateur radio, because when all the commercial services go, amateur
radio will still be there." Of course, it was the
American Radio Relay League, and I was speaking about the license plate
FRAME that is put out by the ARRL
http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=9062
. I learned something-it is not easy to be interviewed with a TV camera
running! Hopefully my next interview will be better!
Everywhere we went, people were excited about the Field Day event, had very novel equipment configurations, and fantastic antenna ideas! Media coverage was unprecedented! Governor/Mayor proclamations, TV spots, Newspaper coverage-we had it all! I even had a chance to operate while traveling-as 1C SC. It was a bit difficult running FD as a mobile station, but fun nonetheless! Charlie proved himself as an excellent logger as well as a navigator!
I thought I saw excitement last year, but this year it REALLY was there! I was very excited to see the interest and fun in amateur radio in everyone's faces this year! THANKS TO ALL!! This is REALLY what Amateur Radio is all about!!!
I have posted pictures of the Field Day sites we visited on the www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ website under “Picture Gallery and Hamfest Memories”. The North Augusta-Belvedere club sent me pictures of their event, and I put them up on the web as well. I would like to extend that invitation to any of the SC clubs that participated in Field Day-please send me pictures, appropriately captioned, and I’ll post them to the website!
During our travels on Field Day, I had the honor of presenting the ARRL Merit award to Charlie Hall K4AOT of the Charleston ARS aboard the USS Yorktown.. Charlie has retired as Charleston EC. Here is what Riley Stone K4HYY (EC Dorchester County) composed about Charlie:
Charlie Hall isn’t one to talk much about his accomplishments but there are many on his resume. So many, in fact, that President George W. Bush during a recent visit to Charleston, took time from his busy schedule to recognize Charlie for his services
Charlie is a retired US Army senior enlisted veteran, who understands the value and need for volunteer emergency participation. He was, for many years an Emergency Medical Services responder. He was one of the first to graduate from the Community Emergency Responders Team (CERT) course.
Charlie has been deeply involved in Ham Radio and Amateur Radio Emergency Services activities. He spends many hours a month at the Charleston County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) where he checks and maintains the ham radio equipment there and faithfully reports in to various emergency nets. When an emergency event or drill occurs, Charlie can be counted on to man the Ham Radio operation at the EOC. He also is one of the primary operators of the Skywarn net at the National Weather Service, Charleston office. He is quick to offer assistance to another ham operator who has a problem.
Hall was instrumental in selecting the equipment that the county purchased recently through a Homeland Security grant, and has been involved in its installation.
Charlie was the Emergency Coordinator for Charleston County for many years. Charlie also maintains a close liaison with the Local Red Cross Chapter Disaster Services unit and was recently recognized in their newsletter.. He is not one to rest on his laurels. He has completed several Amateur Radio Relay League emergency communications courses and is currently enrolled in a Federal Emergency Management Agency course.
Charlie Hall fully recognizes the need for and value of volunteer emergency radio communications. No matter what the situation, he can be counted to give at least a 110% effort. He is what Ham Radio is all about!
Congratulations to Charlie Hall! Thank you for your service to Amateur Radio and your community!
I would like to welcome Peter Spence KG4VDR to the ARRL-SC team! Peter has assumed the duties of Section Traffic Manager as of July 1st, and has submitted his first report. Peter has just celebrated his 24th wedding anniversary-Congratulations to Peter and his family!
June 2004 National Traffic System Report for South Carolina Submitted by Peter KG4VDR, STM:
Net Reports
Net Name / Check Ins / Traffic /
Sessions / Reported By
Anderson Radio Club 2 Meter Net / 990 / 38 / 30 / KD4HEY
BRARS 2 Meter Net / 2093 / 38 / 30 / K4SUG
Carolina’s Net / 394 / 124 / 60 / K4IWW
Carolina Slow Net / 104 / 26 / 30 / W4EAT
Columbia ARC 2 Meter Net / 0 / 0 / 0 / K4RKC – No Report
Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net / 955 / 47 / 30 / K4DTT
Greenwood Friendly Net / 520 / 32 / 30 / W4JAK
Horry County Skywarn Net / 0 / 0 / 0 / KF4HAV – No Report
Lancaster County 2 Meter Net / 163 / 30 / 12 / N4WMB
SC Sandlapper 6 Meter Net / 0 / 0 / 0 / K4IRT – No Report
SCSSB Net / 1230 / 95 / 30 / WA4UGD
YCARS Net / 611 / 10 / 48 / K4CON
Station Activity Reports
Call / Sent / Received / Delivered / Originated / Total
KA4UIV / 59 / 57 / 6 / 0 / 122
KG4VDR / 16 / 11 / 16 / 0 / 43
K3LM / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 – No Report
WA4MIY / 8 / 8 / 1 / 0 / 17
KA4LRM / 5 / 13 / 4 / 23 / 73
WA4UGD / 31 / 0 / 1/ 32
Public Service Honor Roll
KA4UIV 100
KA4LRM 83
Thanks to everyone for a great month, and your service to our joint avocation, Amateur Radio!
’73 de Dr. JIM N2ZZ
ARRL Section Manager
South Carolina Section
www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the August 2004 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
I have received many comments about my monthly Section News Summary that is e-mailed to all ARRL members that have signed up on the www.arrl.org members-only website as being very difficult to read. Up to this month, I was limited to a total of 60 lines, and had a lot of information to squeeze into that space. I am very happy to report that the ARRL has now increased that space to 120 lines, and I will actually be able to use paragraphs instead of my “***” paragraph separator! Section News summaries from all the ARRL sections are included in the ARRL CD-ROM that is produced each year, and serves to archive those summaries.
I think everyone has had a chance to relax since Field Day. I think Field Day was a wonderful success and it was great to see everyone out having a great time! The Field Day pictures are now on the www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ website under “Picture Gallery and Hamfest Memories”. I received a comment from James Tarpley KN4UE, TS that there was an N2ZZ mobile station operating 1C SC that never made it into the picture gallery! As soon as I can get together with Charlie AE4UX, SEC, my Field Day navigator, we will take a belated picture of Charlie, myself and the “ZZ” mobile to add to the website!
The most noteworthy news this month honors Mike Duff, KG4SLH, Asst. PIC for winning the ARRL Phillip J. McGan Silver Antenna Award for excellence in the Public Relations aspect of Amateur Radio! This is a national award given annually by the ARRL, and 2004 marks the 13th presentation of that award. The award is given in memory of Phillip J. McGan WA2MBQ (SK) who served as the first Chairman of the ARRL's Public Relations Committee, and who helped reinvigorate the League's commitment to Public Relations. Mike has gone well beyond the call of duty, having at least two contributions to the "ARRL in Action" section of QST, participation in many local events such as Kid's day, Jamboree on the Air (JOTA), and working with others to build library displays in the Florence area. Mike's accomplishments are too numerous to mention. I am proud to have Mike on the ARRL-SC team! Mike, CONGRATULATIONS, and keep up the excellent work!
There will be another Emergency Services statewide exercise in the Charleston area, beginning on Friday August 20th at 6pm and ending on Saturday August 21st at 6am. The scenario is that of a WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) event. Amateur Radio has again been asked to participate in the exercise by State Emergency Management Department officials. Charlie AE4UX, SEC has asked for 20 volunteers outside of the Charleston area to travel to the exercise area. Limited reimbursements for travel and lodging are available via the USC Center for Public Health Awareness and pre-registration is mandatory for reimbursement. Please contact Charlie at ae4ux@arrl.net or your local Emergency Coordinator for further information.
I would like to remind everyone about the 2004 Shelby Hamfest which will be held on September 4th and 5th. Information on the hamfest can be found at www.shelbyhamfest.org ! I hope to see everyone there!
I received a report from Marc Tarplee N4UFP, TC regarding technical issues that he and his team of TS’s are working on at the current time. I was interested to see that Echolink was being added to another one of the repeaters on the SC coast. I was also interested that a “phase-in” period was planned to allay fears regarding the implementation of Echolink on that repeater.
For those who have not heard of Echolink, it is a way of connecting hams and distant repeaters via the internet via VoIP (Voice over the Internet Protocol). For example, you could access a local Echolink Node and connect to an Echolink Node on a distant repeater or simplex frequency. You could even access the distant repeater directly via your own computer. As you might guess, you must be authorized as a licensed ham to use the Echolink system, and that authorization is performed prior to being able to access the system from a computer. For those interested in further information, the ARRL has just published a book “VoIP-Internet Linking for Radio Amateurs”.
I have heard a lot of interesting comments regarding the Echolink system. I heard one comment from someone on the ARRL-SC team stating that “If I wanted to talk over the internet, I would join a chat room”. Another comment was “The Internet is NOT ham radio”. Still another, “Echolink will bring about the demise of Amateur Radio”. I certainly respect the traditions of yesteryear, and encourage that they continue. For example, I was very gratified to see that the ARRL has set up an AM operating station at W1AW. Although AM has been overshadowed by Single Sideband over the years, it is great to see that hams of the future will see where our roots came from. By the same token, I feel the need to be progressive, and investigate new technologies. We discuss whether or not we can communicate with a certain area at a certain time of day. Propagation may or may not cooperate, and we may be unable to communicate. How about having at least 95% certainty that we will be able to communicate with a given area on the globe reliably? It is an interesting concept. How about listening to a Skywarn net in progress in an affected area from your home hundreds of miles away (but still in the path of the storm)? What about getting message traffic out of a disaster area with directional antennas and an Echolink node just out of the disaster zone?
This technology has been very controversial, to be sure. I look on Echolink as another resource that we have at our fingertips. To this end, I set up a local Echolink node at my QTH. I realized the only way I could really learn all the ins and outs of Echolink is if I actually participated! I have had a number of great QSO’s all around the world, and have kept in touch with friends around the USA. Our County Emergency Preparedness Director who has recently become a ham is VERY interested in the technology.
Any technology that is new may be difficult to accept at first. I view the internet and VoIP as complementing our current technologies rather than replacing them. My best wishes to the group adding Echolink to their repeater, and I hope they keep us informed as to their progress.
That’s it for this month! I hope to see everyone at the Shelby Hamfest!
July 2004 National Traffic System Report for South Carolina – Peter KG4VDR, STM
Net Reports:
Net Name / Check Ins / Traffic / Sessions / Reported By:
Anderson Radio Club 2 Meter Net / 993 /
53 / 31 / KD4HEY
BRARS 2 Meter Net / 2181 / 55 / 31 / K4SUG
Carolina’s Net / 410 / 139 / 62 / K4IWW
Carolina Slow Net / 109 / 31 / 31 / W4EAT
Columbia ARC 2 Meter Net / 146 / 8 / 8 / K4RKC
Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net / 955 / 34 / 31 / K4DTT
Greenwood Friendly Net / 501 / 33 / 31 / W4JAK
Horry County Skywarn Net / 27 / 13 / 5 / KF4HAV
Lancaster County 2 Meter Net / 173 / 20 / 12 / N4WMB
SC Sandlapper 6 Meter Net / 65 / 4 / 4 / K4IRT
SCSSB Net / 1219 / 75 / 31 / WA4UGD
YCARS Net / 703 / 22 / 51 / K4CON
Station Activity Reports:
Call / Sent / Received / Delivered / Originated / Total:
KA4UIV / 76 / 106 / 13 / 0 / 195
KG4VDR / 7 / 24 / 7 / 0 / 38
KA4LRM / 7 / 12 / 0 / 0 / 19
WA4UGD / 1 / 30 / 1 / 0 / 32
Public Service Honor Roll:
KA4UIV 100
KA4LRM 79
N4VVX 72
Have a great month!
’73
de Dr. Jim N2ZZ
ARRL Section Manager
South Carolina Section
www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the September 2004 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
This has been an active hurricane season. I think that I have accessed the National Hurricane Center website more this year than any other! The South Carolina Coast was threatened by Hurricane Charlie on August 13th and 14th after causing widespread devastation in Florida. I received a report by John Welton N4SJW, DEC5 indicating that the Charleston area was prepared. The Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, and Georgetown EOC’s were manned with amateur radio operators. In addition, most area shelters, hospitals, Red Cross headquarters, and the National Weather Service office were manned and ready in the Tri-County area with amateur radio operators. The storm made landfall between Awendaw and McClellenville in North Charleston County causing sporadic damage, power/phone outages, trees down, and debris. Hurricane Frances was next, and as I write this report, Hurricane Ivan is threatening Jamaica, Cuba and the Southeast United States.
More now than ever, we are being acknowledged by the media for our work in Emergency Communications. I have heard numerous references to the Hurricane Watch Net on 14.325 mHz in the media, and even Mobile Radio Technology magazine discussed our Maritime Mobile Service Network on 14.300 mHz, and went on to say “...that amateur radio operators provide invaluable service in times of crisis and should be applauded.” The National Weather Service gives us on-the-air thanks for our Skywarn efforts. I am pleased to see that the general public is being presented with information as to what our capabilities are, and where we “fit in” with emergency communications. With the current day spectrum auctions, and the threat of Broadband over Power Line (BPL), we need the general public to know what could be lost if our spectrum was either taken away or rendered unusable by man-made interference.
Interesting note-For those who have moved to Satellite Radio, XM has just added an Emergency Channel, #247 (easy to remember-it is on 24-7!) that deals with disaster areas, and can be an additional resource for emergency information. Yes, they even mentioned amateur radio efforts!
As I mentioned in my last report, there was a statewide emergency services exercise held in Charleston August 20th and 21st, and amateur radio was invited to participate. Our sponsor, the USC Center for Public Health Awareness, sponsored 20 hams from around the state to join the Charleston Area hams in a Weapons of Mass Destruction exercise scenario. Although I was not one of the sponsored individuals, I was asked to come along and participate. As I sat in the briefing auditorium, I saw virtually every emergency service available. Numerous Police and Fire Departments, EMS, SLED, Military, DHEC and other agencies were represented. The fact that we were present among all of these agencies was encouraging. Gaining the respect of other emergency agencies is key to having amateur radio accepted in mainstream emergency communication plans. After the briefing, the first order of business was having dinner, served by the Red Cross. We then received our assignments. Where do you think a physician (me) on his day off would be sent? You guessed it-a Hospital! I did learn quite a bit from the experience, and want to share that information. First, our HT’s would not work from the hospital parking lot. From the Emergency Room, the repeater could not even be heard. We were told that there was an amateur radio station in the hospital, but no one knew exactly where it was. With the aid of the Emergency Room nurse manager and security, we had to go through 3 or 4 locked doors. We then arrived at a door that even security could not open. Security called someone outside the hospital, and spent about 5-10 minutes convincing the other party that we needed access to the room. We finally unlocked the door and were blocked by a key cabinet that had the key to the amateur radio station, but no one could find the key to that cabinet. That was enough for us. We then went to plan “B” and set up our mobile radio as a cross-band repeater, so that we could communicate with the emergency net.
I would guess that this is not an unusual scenario. Perhaps when a hospital agrees to allow an amateur radio station in their building, many times it will be located where it would be ineffective in an emergency. Hopefully with the publicity that Amateur Radio is receiving, more hospitals will realize where we fit in their emergency communications plan, and locate us where we can be the most useful, either in the emergency room or in a command center. We have a local hospital project going on in my city. James KN4UE, TS has agreed to take on the project of an amateur radio station and possibly a repeater at Aiken Regional Medical Centers, where I am on staff. The hospital CEO has had very positive experiences with amateur radio operators in the past, as while she was a CEO in Las Vegas, amateur radio operators provided communications for her hospital for a week after an earthquake disrupted all commercial communications. After our project is complete, I hope that we will be able to offer a presentation to the South Carolina Hospital Association to pave the road for further acceptance of amateur radio in South Carolina hospitals. We fortunately have a model on the coast where a number of hospitals are already linked via the CARES network in North and South Carolina, as well as an evolving hospital network in Charleston.
To this end, I would like to encourage all those interested to sign up for the ARRL Emergency Communication Courses, levels I-III. We are in the final year of the three year grant to reimburse course fees for successful completion of each level. For ARRL members, the cost is $45 up front for each course, which is reimbursed in full upon completion; so now is the time to take them, while funding is still available! South Carolina hams have been very accepting of the courses. As of this past week, 62 had completed Level I, 12 had completed Level II and 15 had completed Level III. The courses are internet based, and can be taken at your own pace. You are assigned a mentor who will assist you through the process. I completed all three levels, and had a great time learning the information available in those courses. If you have not availed yourself of these courses, please consider to do so!
Please be sure to operate in the upcoming South Carolina QSO party! The Second Annual SC QSO Party will be sponsored by the Sumter Amateur Radio Association and will be held 1300Z September 18 to 2100Z September 19. Details, log and score sheets are available from the SARA website http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/2695/sara.htm or you may obtain them by mail by sending a SASE to Dave Jones, K4DLJ, PO Box 126, Darlington, SC 29540-0126. Plaques will be awarded for the highest scores in each category and certificates will be awarded to 2nd - 4th place in each category. For the contest listing that was published in September QST's "Contest Corral" by Ward Silver N0AX, go HERE. Full Contest rules will be posted on the Sumter website. For further information, contact Dave Jones K4DLJ k4dlj@bellsouth.net or Perry Moses perryz@yahoo.com, President Sumter ARA!
I had a great time at the Shelby Hamfest on Labor Day Weekend! It was great to see everyone after a very long Summer. From the ARRL It was great to meet up with both John Covington W4CC, Section Manager of NC and Susan Swiderski, AF4FO, Section Manager of GA. It was also a pleasure to see Frank Butler W4RH, Director of the ARRL SouthEastern Division at the hamfest. Frank joked that he lives in Florida, and just came up to get away from Hurricane Frances! Representing the Board of Directors for our Division (Roanoke) was Les Shattuck, K4NK.
The weather could not have been better on Saturday. No rain, warm but not oppressively hot temperatures contributed to an excellent turnout!
The ARRL forum was at 10 am, held by Les Shattuck, K4NK. When it was my time to speak, I started by asking how many South Carolinians were in the audience. It looked like over two-thirds of the attendees were from South Carolina! I had the pleasure of presenting the ARRL Phillip J. McGan Silver Antenna Award for excellence in the Public Relations aspect of Amateur Radio to our Assistant PIC, Mike Duff KG4SLH! This is a national award given annually by the ARRL, and 2004 marks the 13th presentation of that award. The award is given in memory of Phillip J. McGan WA2MBQ (SK) who served as the first Chairman of the ARRL's Public Relations Committee, and who helped reinvigorate the League's commitment to Public Relations. I let all present know the great work that Mike has done in the field of Public Relations for amateur radio, and the fact that he sends me more information that I am able to report!
I recognized those members of the ARRL-SC cabinet that were present in the meeting- Charlie AE4UX, SEC; Dennis KG4JIA, SGL; Marc N4UFP, TC; Dan KF4VIS, PIC; Bob WA2EMF, ASM2; Laurie KV4C, ASM4; Adam AF4QZ, ASM-Youth; Sue N4ENX, OOC, and of course, Mike KG4SLH, Asst. PIC. Thanks for attending! Charlie AE4UX, SEC was then asked to say a few words about Emergency Communications in South Carolina.
Finally, I reminded everyone about the upcoming South Carolina QSO party September 18-19.
Our next South Carolina hamfest will be the Rock Hill Hamfest which will be held on October 2nd. Please mark your calendars! Please check out the www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ website for information. I hope to see everyone there!
The PALSNET Picnic has been
announced: The Fourth Annual Two Meter Ham Picnic will be held Sunday September
26th at 12 Noon at Cheraw State Park. Bring your favorite picnic dish. Come
Early, Stay later. Have fun. Meet the Ham Operators you have been talking
with! Bring your musical instruments! Further information can be found at:
www.palsnet.com. We hope to see you there!
The MS-150 Bike Ride is coming up later this month. Amateur
Radio operators are still needed, the dates are Sept. 18th & 19th. You can find
more information & signup at the MS-150 website www.ridemaps.com . You can also
contact Kevin Wilhide, KE4ALL at ke4all@earthlink.net
or Shawn Goodin, K4RSG at shawng@carolina.rr.com
for more information.
QCWA Palmetto
Chapter #89 will meet for their annual meeting at the Hill Top Steak House on
Saturday, September 25th, 2004.
Whew-I guess I’m just a bit long-winded this month! Thanks for bearing with me! See you next month!
August 2004 National Traffic System
Reports for South Carolina- reported by Peter KG4VDR, STM:
Net Reports
Net Name/Check Ins/Traffic/Sessions/Reported By
Anderson Radio Club 2M Net/1052/40/31/KD4HEY
BRARS 2 Meter Net/2119/58/31/K4SUG
Carolina's Net/417/107/63/K4IWW
Carolina Slow Net/130/21/31/W4EAT
Columbia ARC 2 Meter Net/187/7/7/K4RKC
Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net/1064/40/31/K4DTT
Greenwood ARS 2 Meter Net/108/6/4/W4DEW
Greenwood Friendly Net/605/34/31/W4JAK
Lancaster County 2 Meter Net/142/22/11/N4WMB
PALS Net/979/74/31/KG4KOE
SC Sandlapper 6 Meter Net/75/4/4/K4IRT
SC SSB Net/1429/87/31/WA4UGD
York Co. ARS 2 Meter Net/654/32/52/K4CON
Station Activity Reports
Station/Sent/Received/Delivered/Originated/Total
KA4LRM/2/14/1/0/17
KA4UIV/83/83/8/0/174
WA4UGD/0/28/0/0/28
KG4VDR/4/27/9/0/40
Public Service Honor Roll
Station/Cat. 1/Cat. 2/Cat. 3/Cat. 4/Cat. 5/Cat. 6/Total
KA4LRM/40/17/20/0/0/0/77
KA4UIV/40/40/30/0/0/0/100
N4VVX/40/5/20/0/10/0/75
KG4VDR/40/40/30/40/0/0/150
Thanks to everyone for your service and contributions to Amateur Radio! Have a great month!
’73 de Dr. Jim N2ZZ
ARRL Section Manager
South Carolina Section
www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the October 2004 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
First, I am happy to report that as of September 10th at 4pm, the SC Section Manager Nomination deadline, no other valid nomination petitions were received at ARRL headquarters. I have thus been declared elected to the SC Section Manager post for the next two years, through December 31, 2006. I am very proud to represent our section, and hope that the last two years have been as much fun for everyone as it has been for me. My counterpart in Georgia, Susan AF4FO, SM GA described the position to me as “a labor of love” when I was first elected. After serving in this position for the last two years, I couldn’t agree more!
Our Director, Dennis Bodson
W4PWF, has sent out a division mailing asking for nominations for the Roanoke
Division Service award. The Roanoke Division ARRL Service Award was instituted
in 1968 by Roanoke Division Director, Vic Clark, W4KFC. Vic intended the award
to be recognition for a long history of significant and consistent contribution
to Amateur Radio. The amateur selected would have, over the years, dedicated
much of his or her time to Amateur Radio and the ARRL.
Nominees and resumes are encouraged and accepted from the Roanoke Division
amateur population. Winners of the Roanoke Division Service Award become members
of the selection committee and vote on which nominee should be honored the next
year. An individual can receive the award only once. The administration of the
award is done by the Roanoke Division Director. Our Vice Director, Les K4NK won
the award last year. If you know of a deserving ham to nominate, please go to
the
www.qsl.net/arrl-sc website,
and a nomination form is there for you to fill out and mail to Dennis Bodson.
Please act quickly, as the nomination deadline is November 15th.
The Second Annual SC QSO party is now history, and I hope everyone had a great time! I again thank the Sumter ARA for sponsoring the event! My operation was limited by a high noise level, and being on hospital call. I also noted that the Alabama emergency net was on our suggested 40 meter SSB frequency, and of course, took priority. My thanks to all that participated! Don't forget to submit your logs to SARA as soon as possible. The SARA website can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/2695/sara.htm
October is certainly a busy month for activities! The Rock Hill hamfest started out the month on October 2nd, and was a huge success. They had about 500 attendees and several dealers, almost all of whom have committed to return to their hamfest next year. After three different locations in three years, it looks like the Rock Hill hamfest has a new home, at the American Legion post 34. They have already reserved the facility for next year, on October 1st, 2005. Les Shattuck K4NK and I gave the ARRL forum, and touched on many topics including BPL and Winlink 2000. I would like to extend a get-well-soon sentiment to Bob Bacharach WA2EMF, ASM2 and Rock Hill hamfest Chairman. When opening the gates at the American Legion Post, Bob was hit in the earlobe which was severe enough to necessitate a trip to the local emergency room for stitches. Thanks to YCARS for putting on an excellent hamfest. Note-one of their draws is FREE COFFEE! Thanks go to Russ Harpster, who donates the coffee, sugar, creamer and of course, the labor!
This past Saturday, October 9th I attended the Augusta (Georgia) Hamfest. It is not a South Carolina Hamfest, but this is the only one I can travel to without having to set the alarm for 5:30 am! Due to my location the state (Aiken), I usually leave my residence about 6 am to reach most SC hamfests before 9 am! I was pleased to see my counterpart in Georgia, Susan Swiderski AF4FO, Sandy Donahue W4RU, Vice Director of the Southeastern Division, and Frank Butler W4RH, Director of the Southeastern Division! Thanks to the Amateur Radio Club of Augusta for the Opportunity!
Next weekend, Saturday 16th will host the Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) where Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Guides from all over the world talk over the air via Amateur Radio! Please make an effort to get involved! Several clubs across the state are setting up stations to introduce scouts to amateur radio! For further information, please go to this link on the ARRL website: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/jota.html.
On October 23rd, the Sumter hamfest will be held. This hamfest has been designated the South Carolina State Convention by our Roanoke Division Director, Dennis Bodson W4PWF. The hamfest will be held at the Sumter County Fairgrounds, and further information can be found on the Sumter ARA website: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/2695/sara.htm. I did receive information from Tom, KC4ZTC that two VE teams are unable to attend, and the Sumter hamfest committee is looking for another VE team. I have asked for help on their behalf, but have no definite commitment yet. If you are a part of a VE team that would be able to help, please contact Tom at dstoy@ftc-i.net .
On the last Saturday of the month, the Grand Strand Beachfest will be held in Conway, SC. This was a great experience last year, and the Grand Strand ARC chefs were more than happy to grill a burger or a hot dog for your dining pleasure! This is a great group, and it gives everyone the opportunity to see Myrtle Beach in the off-season! Further information can be found on their website: http://www.w4gs.org
The ARRL-SC team has been very active as well. Marc Tarplee N4UFP, TC has been assisting an ARRL member in the upstate that has been accused by his homeowners association of causing interference, and reported him to the FCC. Marc did a technical evaluation of his station and found virtually no interference. I have forwarded the station evaluation to Riley Hollingsworth, FCC Special Counsel for Amateur Radio Enforcement for his evaluation. I have exchanged a number of e-mails with Riley, and he has suggested that Chris Imlay, General Counsel for the ARRL be involved to address contract issues with the homeowners association. Efforts are continuing, and I hope to report a resolution in the future. As an aside, this ham (name and call withheld until resolution) has been recruited by Marc as a Technical Specialist, and he has actually assisted Marc in tracking down a separate interference complaint which led him into North Carolina to find the source!
I wish to also thank Brian KR4SP, ACC for his monthly club report which can be found on the www.qsl.net/arrl-sc website. This is a summary of club activities throughout the state, and provides a lot of information in one place. Brian has a number of activities planned this month, and plans to visit the Greer, Greenwood and Anderson Clubs, as well as attend the Sumter hamfest! He will also be participating in JOTA next weekend during the morning, and a Greer foxhunt later in the day. For an octogenarian, he gets around a lot! Thanks again!
September 2004 National Traffic System
Report for South Carolina
Net Reports
Net Name/Check Ins/Traffic/Sessions/Reported By
Anderson Radio Club 2M Net/960/42/30/KD4HEY
BRARS 2 Meter Net/2006/63/30/K4SUG
Carolina's Net/431/129/60/K4IWW
Carolina Slow Net/114/27/29/W4EAT
Columbia ARC 2 Meter Net/189/9/9/K4RKC
Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net/929/52/30/K4DTT
Greenwood ARS 2 Meter Net/117/8/5/W4DEW
Greenwood Friendly Net/482/30/30/W4JAK
Lancaster County 2 Meter Net/160/30/12/N4WMB
PALS Net/1029/82/30/KG4KOE
SC Sandlapper 6 Meter Net/99/0/5/K4IRT
SC SSB Net/1576/111/30/WA4UGD
York Co. ARS 2 Meter Net/705/94/47/K4CON
Station Activity Reports
Station/Sent/Received/Delivered/Originated/Total
KA4LRM/10/20/2/1/33
KA4UIV/51/62/4/0/117
WA4UGD/0/29/0/0/29
W4NVO/0/7/7/0/14
KG4VDR/7/37/8/1/52
Public Service Honor Roll
Station/Cat. 1/Cat. 2/Cat. 3/Cat. 4/Cat. 5/Cat. 6/Total
KA4LRM/40/33/20/0/0/0/93
KA4UIV/40/40/20/0/0/0/100
KG4VDR/40/40/20/15/35/0/150
Have a great month! Enjoy our joint avocation, Amateur Radio!!
’73 de Dr. Jim N2ZZ
Section Manager
South Carolina Section
www.qsl.net/arrl-sc
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the November 2004 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
As I mentioned in my last report, October was quite a month for activity! Rock Hill had their hamfest on October 2nd, Jamboree on the Air was held on October 16th, The South Carolina State Convention was held at the Sumter hamfest on October 23rd, and the Grand Strand annual Beachfest was on October 30th. For those of us on the Western side of the state, the Augusta Georgia hamfest was held on October 9th! I reported on the Rock Hill and Augusta hamfest last month, so now for the rest of the story!
Thanks to the Sumter ARA for sponsoring the SC ARRL State Convention on October 23rd! The hamfest consisted of Indoor vendors, outside tailgaters, a VE Session, and several forums. Les K4NK, our Vice Director and I held the ARRL forum at 10 am. My talk centered about BPL, as the FCC has cleared the way for this technology to be implemented in our country http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/10/14/1/?nc=1 . Various means to address the issue were discussed. To my knowledge, BPL has not been deployed in South Carolina as yet. Recommendation was made that if BPL does enter South Carolina and interference is received, address the issue immediately. Let the ARRL assist you in your efforts. Les's talk centered about Board Meetings of the ARRL. He reminded us that the Vice Directors cannot cast votes on ARRL policy, as that is reserved only for the Directors. He also reminded us that the officers of the ARRL are current directors that are voted in by the directors, not by popular vote. Les also took questions from the audience. It was a beautiful day for the hamfest, and a good time was had by all!
I enjoyed attending the Grand Strand ARC BEACHFEST in Conway on October 30th! Rather than driving from Aiken on Saturday, I stayed overnight in Conway, so it was great attending a hamfest well-rested! This was a great hamfest, selling out all the inside tables, and having a very respectable outside tailgate flea market! The Conway Armory was an excellent location. The GSARC would like to remind everyone that they have set the date of next year's hamfest on October 29, 2005. They will be hosting the ARRL South Carolina State Convention on that date!
The second annual digital seminar has been scheduled for December 4th, 2004 at the American Red Cross building, 1601 West Lucas Street (Hwy 52) in Florence. Lloyd KD4HTW has reported that APRS and PSK31 will be among the digital modes discussed, and actual demos of the modes and the interfaces will be part of the seminar. A VE testing session will be held at 9 am, and the seminar will begin around 10:30 am. This is a great opportunity! Please make an effort to attend. Driving directions are on the www.qsl.net/arrl-sc/ home page.
Peter KG4VDR, STM surprised me with an e-mail message that was generated via Winlink 2000 and sent over HF radio to the internet. Winlink 2000 is a Worldwide Amateur Radio Digital Radio Email Network, which will allow delivery of message traffic anywhere in the World where Internet services are active, or where Amateur Winlink Participating Network stations (PMBOs) are operating. Peter has purchased hardware that has allowed him to experiment with Winlink 2000, and hopes to make it mobile so that he will be able to demonstrate this system to area clubs and emergency management officials. Thanks for your work, Peter!
Members of the York County (SC) Amateur Radio Society (YCARS), responding to a call by ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio, donated dozens of new toys for children in the storm-ravaged state of Florida. Toys sent to the United Way White Dove Project will be distributed to needy children by the Martin County United Way in Stuart, Florida. YCARS President Van Brown, KG4LUT and Trustee Bob Bacharach, WA2EMF organized the toy drive saying "At this time of year we reflect on our blessings and keep in mind how difficult it is for children to deal with the loss of home and possessions caused by the devastating hurricanes that assaulted Florida this