ARRL Field Day 2018: June 23 – 24

AB3DC June 15, 2018 No Comments

The University of Michigan Amateur Radio Club and the ARROW Radio Club invite you to attend the National Amateur Radio Field Day at the Ann Arbor Airport.

When: June 23, 2 p.m. to June 24, 2 p.m. (24 hours)
Where: Ann Arbor Airport Soccer Field, 801 Airport Dr, Ann Arbor, MI (W. Ellsworth and Airport Blvd.; Across from Costco)

The public is welcome and admission is free!!!

This annual 24-hour national open-house event gives the public an overview of amateur radio and also helps amateur radio operators prepare for emergencies and develop radio communication skills. You will get a chance to meet experts, ask questions, learn how radio operators help local governments in times of need, and even operate the station, under supervision.

Free and open to all ages, amateur radio or ham radio is a hobby where licensed operators use radios to communicate with people all over the world and even with astronauts in space. Please do drop by and experience the amazing world of ham radio and don’t forget to bring along your kids as Amateur Radio might be a stepping stone for them to get involved in STEM-related activities and careers.

More information about Field Day can be found here: http://www.arrl.org/field-day

Amateur radio well-represented at Ann Arbor Maker Faire

KB6NU May 25, 2018 No Comments

By Garry, W8GMD

Jerry Anderson, WB8FXY, and I manned a table at the Ann Arbor Creativity & Making Expo (formerly known as the Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire) in the downtown library on Sunday May 20^th while everyone else was basking in the warm sunshine in Xenia, OH 😉 . We had a fair number of visitors with most of the younger children having fun with the Morse Code keys. There was some interest in the remote demonstration of FT-8 on 40 meters until the band washout around 3:00 pm. I did make a few contacts at the beginning of the day but nothing later in the afternoon. To make these contacts, I was remotely controlling my ICOM 7300. Everything else went well and we also talked to a couple of inactive hams and others concerning what Amateurs do, and have done in times of need.

I was told that we would be outside but as is seen in the pictures we were not. I’m thinking they think of the area we were in as “outside” the general library area. It was good that we were inside since it did rain a bit at the end of the day. Jerry and I were also going to demonstrate 2-way communication on 2 meters but were not able to make it to any of the local repeaters in the location we were in.

We were also helped by the AACME committee by making us one of the stops the kids had to go by to get their cards stamped. This did generate interest in some that I think would not have stopped by if it wasn’t for that. They got some sort of prize or something for having all the things stamped. So all in all, I’d say everything went well and Radio Amateurs were well represented at the Expo.

Dayton Hamvention 2018 Bus Trip

AB3DC April 13, 2018 Comments Off

Sold Out

Please consider joining us for the one-day excursion to the Dayton Hamvention on Saturday, May 19th at 5:00 AM. We will arrive in Dayton around 9:00 AM, depart for Ann Arbor at 5:30 PM, and be home by 8:30 PM or 9:00 PM.

Who could ask for more? Breakfast. Door prizes. You have the dealers and forums inside and the monster flea market outside.

Please join us! Tickets are ~~$55 (Before April 1) and $65 (From April 1)~~. Please note that this does not include the Hamvention ticket.

For more info and to buy the tickets online please visit: https://w8rp.org/activities/dayton-bus-trip/

A Big Thank You To Our 2018 Prize Donors

April General Meeting: RemoteHams

KB6NU April 1, 2018 No Comments

This month, we’ll hear from Scott Bicknell, W1BIC on RemoteHams, a community of amateur radio operators that share their stations with one another over the Internet. These are not the expensive “super stations” that you sometime read about, but rather a grass-roots kind of effort by real hams for real hams.

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 11 at 6:45 pm.

Location: Rm #2424 Space Research Building
University of Michigan
2455 Hayward St
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

The doors at UM automatically close at 7:00 pm. So please plan to arrive 5-10 minutes early. If you are locked out please give a call on the 146.96 (-ve) repeater frequency.

Maps and Parking info: https://w8rp.org/news/change-in-general–meeting–location-for-march-2017/

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

March 2018 General Meeting: Michigan Balloon Recovery & Satellite Testbed (MBuRST)

AB3DC March 13, 2018 No Comments

Date/Time: Wednesday, March 14th at 6:45 pm.

Location: Rm #2424 Space Research Building
University of Michigan
2455 Hayward St
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

The doors at UM automatically close at 7:00 pm. So please plan to arrive 5-10 minutes early. If you are locked out please give a call on the 146.96 (-ve) repeater frequency.

Maps and Parking info: https://w8rp.org/news/change-in-general–meeting–location-for-march-2017/

The General Membership Meeting will be held on, Wednesday, March 14th in Room 2424 at the University of Michigan’s Space Research Building.

This month’s presentation topic is Michigan Balloon Recovery & Satellite Testbed (MBuRST).

“MBuRST is a design team at the University of Michigan focused on flying scientific and satellite payloads on high-altitude weather balloons. These balloons reach altitudes upwards of 100,000 ft and temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celcius. This near-space environment allows MBuRST to be a great testing platform for student-built space systems.”

OPEN TO PUBLIC

February 2018 General Meeting: Jim Kvochick, K8JK (ARRL MI Section Manager)

AB3DC February 12, 2018 No Comments

Date/Time: Wednesday, February 14th at 6:45 pm.

Location: Rm #2424 Space Research Building
University of Michigan
2455 Hayward St
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

The doors at UM automatically close at 7:00 pm. So please plan to arrive 5-10 minutes early. If you are locked out please give a call on the 146.96 (-ve) repeater frequency.

Maps and Parking info: https://w8rp.org/news/change-in-general–meeting–location-for-march-2017/

The General Membership Meeting will be held on, Wednesday, February 14th in Room 2424 at the University of Michigan’s Space Research Building.

This month we will have the ARRL Michigan Section Manager, Jim Kvochick, K8JK. Jim will talk about his plans for the Michigan Section.

OPEN TO PUBLIC

Protected: ARROW Bus Trip

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µBITX Group Buy Payment

AB3DC January 1, 2018 No Comments

The cost of the kit is $89 (including shipping + customs). They will ship them out in batches of 4 to reduce the shipping charges starting the week of April 9th to Dinesh, AB3DC.

The ARROW Board has agreed to front the cost of purchasing all the 35 kits and the members can then reimburse the ARROW via check, cash or Paypal.

Cash/Check: Please pay Steve Rogacki, Treasurer during one of the Club meetings or mail him a check. Steve’s mailing address is in the email you received about the µBITX payment.

PayPal charges a transaction fee of $3. So the total below reflects that charge.

Clay Mitchell, W8JNZ, SK

KB6NU December 15, 2017 1 Comment

Clay, W8JNZ, at the 2005 Holiday Brunch. Photo: Dave New, N8SBE.

From mlive.com:

Claybourne (Clay) Mitchell, Jr., physicist, inventor, and avid amateur radio operator (W8JNZ), died December 8, 2017, in Reston, VA from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 94 years old and formerly a longtime resident of Ann Arbor, MI. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Clay was the son of Ethel and Claybourne Mitchell, Sr. He attended Flint Central High School, Flint Junior College, and the University of Michigan, where he received a BS in Physics in 1950 and MS in Physics in 1959. During the Second World War, he served as a Master Sergeant in the Army Air Force, Engineering Aviation Battalion, Pacific Theatre (1943-1946). Before retirement, Clay was employed at Bendix Aerospace Systems Division, Udylite Corporation, Controlled Power Corporation, Elcoat Systems (PPG Industries), and Detroit Edison (now DTE Energy), where he retired in 1988 as Vice President, Planning, Research, and Environmental Protection.

He was active for several years in the Optical Society of America and the Engineering Society of Detroit. He also served on several advisory committees, including for the Argonne National Laboratory, the Electric Power Research Institute, Michigan Technological University, and the University of Michigan. He was a member of the Board of Trustees for the Detroit Science Center and the Michigan Energy and Resource Research Association. He also held several physics-related patents. In retirement, Clay enjoyed world travel, cycling, creative writing, fellowship with Detroit Unity and the Ann Arbor Friends, and supporting amateur radio licensing. He was preceded in death by his wife Isabella Ophelia Mitchell (2003) and is survived by his daughter Faith (Archie Brown), granddaughter Alexis Brown, and other relatives.A memorial service will be held January 13, 2018 in Northern Virginia.

On a personal note, I always considered Clay to be one of the “lions” of our club. He, along with Roger, W8ZRF, continued to hold test sessions, even when there wasn’t really an ARROW. In that way, he helped keep amateur radio alive in Ann Arbor.

He was always a joy to talk to. He was thoughtful and intelligent and had a subtle sense of humor. We will certainly miss him.

–Dan, KB6NU

November 2017 General Meeting: Solar Power

AB3DC November 5, 2017 No Comments

Date/Time: Wednesday, November 08th at 6:45 pm. By Zak Zak (Flickr)

Location: Rm #2424 Space Research Building
University of Michigan
2455 Hayward St
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Please note the change in location effective March 2017.

The doors automatically close at 7:00 pm. So please plan to arrive 5-10 minutes early. If you are locked out please give a call on the 146.96 (-ve) repeater frequency.

Maps and Parking info: https://w8rp.org/news/change-in-general–meeting–location-for-march-2017/

The General Membership Meeting will be held on, Wednesday, November 08th in Room 2424 at the University of Michigan’s Space Research Building.

This month’s presentation topic is “Solar Power by Jay Nugent, WB8TKL”. Jay will talk about Solar PV panels (types, price and efficiency), Charge Controllers (PWM/MPPT), battery banks, battery types/chemistries and efficiency vs cost, wiring your house for 12VDC, proper wire gauging, fusing/protection, how to modify existing fixtures for 12 VDC use, DC-to-DC converters for running things that aren’t 12vdc (laptops, flat-panel TV’s, etc.), availability of 12VDC ceiling fans, fridges, water pumps, and the list goes on. Oh! And we can’t forget about running our Ubiquiti AREDN nodes off 12vdc, too!

OPEN TO PUBLIC