Vice-President David Stephenson was instrumental in getting a special proclamation issued by the mayor of Decatur, Don Kyle.
June 17th through 23rd is Amateur Radio Week in Decatur, Alabama.
Of course, you realize that this includes Field Day weekend, which is the 22nd and 23rd.
Hope you’re planning on coming out and helping with the event. We start setup around 9:00 on Saturday morning at the picnic pavilion behind the Spirit of America stage at Point Mallard Park.
See you there!
Here’s an excerpt from the history files of the club:
The concept for a local Amateur Radio Club was formed in the summer of 1952. By January 1953, organizational meetings were being held in various locations, including the members’ homes. Application was made for an ARRL Club Charter and, in February 1953, a charter was granted to The Decatur Amateur Radio Club, Inc. Arrangements were made to use the Decatur Utilities Auditorium for Club Meetings, later changed to the Red Cross facilities. Finally, the meetings were moved to the Civil Defense headquarters in the basement of the Morgan County Courthouse, a tradition that continues today.
In 1953, the Club participated in its first Field Day and had its first Christmas dinner. During the next few years, the Club made its mark as a valuable asset to the community, receiving recognition for outstanding participation with communications when a tornado hit Hartselle in 1954. Other recognized activites included the winter of 1955 when a severe ice storm plagued Decatur, and when a tornado struck near the airport during a Club meeting in 1957.
So, that means our club is 60 years old this month.
Happy Birthday to us!!!!
We plan to continue serving Decatur and Morgan County with participation in severe weather events, emergency management drills, and any other activities (planned or unplanned) that require reliable and responsible communications.
And hopefully we’ll be here after 60 more years!
Hey!! Nice cake!!
At the November meeting, the club reelected the officers from 2012, so they will be serving a second (or more) term. They are:
President – J. Lester Christophe W5GSU
Vice-President – David Stephenson KJ4OKJ
Secretary – Richard Matthews KB4CAY
Treasurer – Ray Frederick KD4VCW
The “Officers” page is up to date with current photos.
We improved! We really did! A lot!!
The 2012 Field Day results are now available on the ARRL website. The December QST magazine has them as well.
Our club station, W4ATD, recorded 2,058 total CW, phone, and digital contacts, earning a score of 6,196 points (including the bonus points). How did we do?
- W4ATD was #183 out of 2,617 total entries received.
- W4ATD was #47 out of 408 total entries in class 2A
- W4ATD was #16 out of 203 total entries from the Southeast Division
- W4ATD was #5 out of 35 entries in class 2A from the Southeastern Division
- W4ATD was #2 out of 34 total entries from Alabama
- W4ATD was #1 out of 5 entries in class 2A from Alabama.
Did you notice that last entry? We were the BEST class 2A station in the state of Alabama. And we were the 2nd best of ALL stations in our state.
We’ve shown a lot of progress in the last few years!
Now we think about next year. June 22rd and 23th, 2013. Plan to be there! Plan to participate! Plan to SCORE! AGAIN!!!!!
Field Day 2012 was a hot one. Temperatures at the site were above 90°F, but for most of the day there was a slight breeze that kept stuff and people from overheating.
Our club had a much better result for its 59th effort.
All told, we had 702 CW contacts, 15 digital contacts, and 1,323 phone contacts. The GOTA station, using the call of secretary Richard – KB4CAY, got those 15 digital contacts on 20 and 40 meters using PSK31, and contributed 15 of the phone QSO’s .
The submitted point total for this year will be 6,116. That’s more than double the score from last year, but still less than our best effort ever from a couple of years ago.
Greg – K4NO kept one of the stations going overnight, which helped rack up the good SSB total. His nephew Sam – KK4DTQ brought a friend and contributed a few contacts, as did a young ham from Cullman named Felix – KK4DUT. Other thanks go to Byron – N4AX, Steve – K4CU, Rick – K4TD, Lloyd – W4RFZ, Bob – K4MLR, Tim – KY5R, Tom – W4NBS, Lester – W5GSU, Milt – W4YXQ, and all the others whose names are not mentioned here.
We were privileged once again to have a site visit from ARRL Southeastern Division Director Greg Sarratt – W4OZK.
Thanks to all who came out and helped with the setup, operating, and teardown. This year’s operation definitely goes into the “SUCCESS” category.
Now we wait to find out the final results of the contest in November or December’s QST magazine.
And we’ll do it again next year for the 60th time as a club!!!
Look who made the newspaper! Our own Bob McKenzie K4MLR had a nice feature story yesterday (June 14th). Club president Lester Christophe W5GSU got a mention, and Lloyd Barnette W4RFZ (last year”s publicity hound) had a cameo appearance.
The story can be read here.
The story is a good reminder or Field Day, which is June 23rd and 24th. Come out and join us at Point Mallard!
At the April meeting the Vice-President, David Stephenson KJ4OKJ presented a program on radiograms and the National Traffic System.
The Powerpoint presentation he used can be downloaded from the ARRL website here. you may need to log into the site before you can download it.
A former member, Silent Key Dave Knight W4ZJY used to be very active in passing traffic. Is there anyone taking his place locally?
Here’s a great way to use a ham license for public benefit!
At the November meeting, the club elected officers for 2012. They are:
President – J. Lester Christophe W5GSU
Vice-President – David Stephenson KJ4OKJ
Secretary – Richard Matthews KB4CAY
Treasurer – Ray Frederick KD4VCW
The “Officers” page has been updated to reflect the changes and to show the mugshots – I mean photo.
We tried! We really did! We even improved a bit!
The 2011 Field Day results are out. The December QST magazine has them, and you can also find them on the ARRL website.
Our club station, W4ATD, recorded 842 contacts, submitting a score of 2,792 points (including the bonus points). How did we do?
- W4ATD was #636 out of 2,632 total entries received.
- W4ATD was #137 out of 387 total entries in class 2A
- W4ATD was #44 out of 203 total entries from the Southeast Division
- W4ATD was #9 out of 26 entries in class 2A from the Southeastern Division
- W4ATD was #9 out of 36 total entries from Alabama
- W4ATD was #3 out of 7 entries in class 2A from Alabama.
Still not quite as good as other years, but better than last year!
Oh, apparently someone gave us double credit for the GOTA contacts (BTW, thanks Shawn KK4CLF!), because our listed result score is higher than our submitted score by that amount. It wouldn’t change our position much by calling it to their attention, so we’ll watch out for it next year.
Next year. June 23rd and 24th, 2012. Plan to be there! Plan to participate! Plan to SCORE!
Lloyd Barnette – W4RFZ is certainly getting a lot of publicity! First he showed up in CQ Magazine last year after Field Day. Then he appeared in the CQ 2011 calendar. Then he got his photo on the cover of the July 2011 CQ Magazine with mention in an article inside.
Today (September 22, 2011) he appeared in a feature article in the Decatur Daily.
See for yourself: http://www.decaturdaily.com/stories/Decatur-man-gets-a-king-to-ham-it-up,85345
There’s a good photo in the paper of the QSL card he received from JY1, the late King Hussein of Jordan. There are also photos of his “Tuna Tin” transmitter and his sardine can receiver. And don’t forget the intriguing photo of his “telegraph key”. Unfortunately those photos don’t appear in the online article.
The radio club gets a mention, too. We’re always glad for free publicity!
