At November’s business meeting the club reelected the current 2016 officers for 2017.  They continue serving at the January club meeting.

The officers for 2017 are:

President – Craig McClure KJ4LAA

Vice-President – Mike Lowery K4RML  (ex- KM4JCD)

Secretary – Richard Matthews KB4CAY

Treasurer – Lester Christophe W5GSU

2016 was a good year for our club, and 2017 should continue the trend!

The October meeting of the Decatur Amateur Radio Club is going to be a bit different. Just like last year’s October meeting

Instead of the regular meeting at the Morgan County Courthouse, we will meet at the home of the former club president and current treasurer, Lester Christophe W5GSU.  If you did not receive the notification e-mail with his address and directions, please contact the club secretary (secretary <at> darc-w4atd.org or kb4cay <at> gmail.com) and we’ll get it to you.  Or call out on the 147.00 repeater and someone can help direct you to the meeting.

The meeting time is changing as well.  Since Lester needs his beauty sleep, and he’s having a birthday in a few days (again! – he’s making an annual habit of this!), we will meet at his home at 6:00 instead of 7:30. One more VERY IMPORTANT thing:  come ready to eat!  Lester’s wife Rosine is a fantastic cook, and we will be treated to some extremely tasty dishes from her kitchen.

And spouses are invited also.  Rosine would probably appreciate some company while we talk sports and radios and whatever else we guys talk about.  Oh, yes.  Club business.  That too.

So, please DO NOT go the the courthouse on Tuesday, October 4th.  Do not arrive at 7:30 (or earlier, as we usually ask).  If you do, you can sit in the dark parking lot and think about the food and fun you just missed by not coming to the proper place at the proper time.

The proper place:  W5GSU’s home in Decatur.

The proper time:  6:00pm on Tuesday, October 4th.

See you there on Tuesday evening!!

Richard Matthews  KB4CAY
Secretary, DARC

The score and documentation for the 2016 Field Day operation have been posted to the ARRL for scoring.  We actually scored a little better this year than last year.

Here’s the breakdown:

Number of participants:  31

CW contacts:            166
Digital contacts:        88 (all by GOTA)
Phone contacts:        335 (includes 12 GOTA SSB contacts)

QSO points – CW:       166 x 2 =        332
QSO points – Digital:   88 X 2 =        176
QSO points – Phone:   335 x 1 =        335

Total QSO points = 843

Power multiplier:      150 watts or less = QSO x 2

Claimed QSO score =                     1,686

Bonus points:

200 points – 100% Emergency power
100 points – Alternate (solar) power – 5 contacts
100 points – Set-up in Public Place
100 points – Information Table
100 points – Site Visit by Invited Elected Official
80 points – GOTA bonus
50 points – Online entry form submission

Total bonus points =                        730

Total submitted score:       2,416 points
(66 points MORE than last year)

Here are a few interesting observations:

• We had 40 more CW contacts this year than in 2015 (THANK YOU Byron, N4AX!!!).
• We had 40 fewer phone contacts on the main stations than last year.
• We had 88 digital contacts on the GOTA station this year (2 points each).
• We only had 12 phone contacts on the GOTA station this year. Last year was 145 total GOTA contacts, all phone (1 point each).
• We get 80 bonus points because 4 operators of the GOTA station each got 20 or more contacts.
• We do not get any media publicity points this year. The Decatur Daily and the cable company were not contacted.
• We were not visited by an invited agency official.
• We were visited by an invited city council member but no other invited city or county officials.
• We get 100 bonus points for making more than 5 contacts with solar power.

All in all it was a great outing, and I think everyone involved had a great time.

Now, wait till next year!!!

Field Day 2016 is coming up shortly. The Decatur Amateur Radio Club will operate from the picnic shelter behind the main Spirit of America stage at the Point Mallard Park in Decatur. We plan to have 2 main stations, a 6-meter station, and a GOTA station operating all 24 hours.

The club meeting for June will be held at 6:00 on Tuesday evening, June 7th, at Libby’s Catfish and Diner on Highway 67 in Priceville.  We will meet together, eat together, and then make our major plans for the Field Day operation.  All are welcome to come to both the meeting and the Field Day activity.

Hope to see you there!

On Friday, March 18th, the Decatur Amateur Radio Club was able to provide support to Tim Cunningham N8DEU and AMSAT as they conducted a contact from Walter Jackson Elementary School in Decatur with astronaut Tim Peake aboard the International Space Station.  The ARISS contact with NA1SS lasted just under 10 minutes, and 20 students were able to ask questions of the astronaut and hear the answers.  The event was practically flawless and everyone was suitably impressed by the whole thing.

Tim N8DEU did all of the legwork, provided most of the equipment, and was the control operator for the event.  He did a masterful job!

The Decatur Daily published an article on March 19 about the event.  They also posted a photo gallery and a 3-minute video clip.

For those who are interested, here’s Tim’s equipment list:

Greetings, all!  The Decatur Amateur Radio Club invites you to its annual Christmas Dinner.  It will be held at Libby’s Catfish and Diner on Highway 67 in Priceville.  We will meet at 6:00 on Tuesday, December 1st, and enjoy good food and friendship in the last club meeting of the year.

If you’re available and want to join us, please come and participate!  Bring your family along as well!  The food is tremendous, and the talk around the table will be a lot of fun.

Hope to see you on Tuesday, December 1st!

At November’s business meeting the club elected the officers for 2016.  They begin serving at the January club meeting.

The officers for 2016 are:

President – Craig McClure KJ4LAA

Vice-President – Mike Lowery KM4JCD

Secretary – Richard Matthews KB4CAY

Treasurer – Lester Christophe W5GSU

We’re looking forward to another good year for our club!

The ARRL has posted the Field Day 2015 results on the website.  They will be printed in the December issue of QST magazine.

Once again, this wasn’t our club’s best showing.  But we DID make a great effort, as always!

Here’s the breakdown:

– Out of 2,720 entries overall, W4ATD was #769.

– Out of 209 entries in the SE Division, W4ATD was #79.

– Out of 44 entries in the AL Section, W4ATD was #16.

– Out of 391 Class 2A entries overall, W4ATD was #159.

– Out of 30 Class 2A entries in the SE Division, W4ATD was #16.

– Out of 6 Class 2A entries in the AL Section, W4ATD was #3.

Looks like we had a mid-range showing.  Again.  But we did have a bit more competition this time.

Let’s be better next year! June 25th and 26th will be Field Day 2016!

The database can be found at http://www.arrl.org/results-database?event_id=68929.

The October meeting of the Decatur Amateur Radio Club is going to be a bit different.

Instead of the regular meeting at the Morgan County Courthouse, we will meet at the home of the former club president and current treasurer, Lester Christophe W5GSU.  If you did not receive the notification e-mail with his address and directions, please contact the club secretary (secretary <at> darc-w4atd.org or kb4cay <at> gmail.com) and we’ll get it to you.  Or call out on the 147.00 repeater and someone can help direct you to the meeting.

The meeting time is changing as well.  Since Lester needs his beauty sleep, and it’s close to his birthday (29th, or 39th, or something-9th – again!), we will meet at his home at 6:00 instead of 7:30.One more VERY IMPORTANT thing:  come ready to eat!  Lester’s wife Rosine is a fantastic cook, and we will be treated to some extremely tasty dishes from her kitchen.

And spouses are invited also.  Rosine would probably appreciate some company while we talk sports and radios and whatever else we guys talk about.  Oh, yes.  Club business.  That too.

Speaking of Rosine, she has asked that club members individually consider making a donation for a cancer walk that she will be participating in.  It’s being arranged by Bell P. B. Church, and it will be at Wilson Morgan Park at 8:00 on Saturday, October 24th.  Anything you can contribute will be appreciated, but she and Lester say that donations are NOT mandatory.

So, please DO NOT go the the courthouse on Tuesday, October 6th.  Do not arrive at 7:30 (or earlier, as we usually ask).  If you do, you can sit in the dark parking lot and think about the food and fun you just missed by not coming to the proper place at the proper time.

The proper place:  W5GSU’s home in Decatur.

The proper time:  6:00pm on Tuesday, October 6th.

See you there on Tuesday evening!!

Richard Matthews  KB4CAY

Secretary, DARC

The scoring is complete, all of the bonus documentation has been collected and is being submitted, and Field Day is over for another year.

At least, until the scoring summary is published in QST Magazine in November or December.

Here’s the rundown on the club’s submitted score:

Number of participants: 23

CW contacts:            126  (THANKS Byron N4AX!!!!!)
Digital contacts:        0
Phone contacts:       508 (includes 145 GOTA contacts)

QSO points:

126 x 2 =        252
363 x 1 =        363
145 x 1 =        145

Total QSO points =                          760

Power multiplier:      150 watts or less = QSO x 2

Claimed QSO score =                     1,520

Bonus points:

200 points – 100% Emergency power
100 points – Media Publicity
100 points – Set-up in Public Place
100 points – Information Table
100 points – Site Visit by Invited Elected Official
100 points – Site Visit by Invited Served Agency Official
80 points – GOTA bonus
50 points – online entry form submission

Total bonus points =                        830

Total submitted score:       2,350 points

(38 points less than last year)

Photos taken by Richard KB4CAY, by Bob K4MLR, and by Craig KJ4LAA have been posted to the club’s Flickr account.  If you happen to have a photo or two of Field Day that you’d like posted in the album, e-mail it to the secretary and they’ll get included.  Here’s the address to look at the pretty (NOT!!) pictures:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darc_w4atd/albums

Thanks again to everyone who participated in any way!  Please be thinking already about next June.

NOTE:  Post edited to correct error by fat-fingered typist who left out 100 CW contacts.  Apologies and thanks to N4AX for pointing it out!