Serving Radio Amateurs in Michigan's Washtenaw & Wayne Counties

Category: Events Page 2 of 9

Preparing for Hamvention

Thinking of attending Hamvention this year? Jay, WB8TKL gives us some good ideas for getting ready. Reprinted with permission.

Someone told me that Hamvention was like Mecca and you MUST go at least once in your lifetime. I got mixed up and thought they said that you can only MISS Hamvention ONCE in your lifetime 🙂 I’ve been to all of them since 1977 and have a few tips on how you can make the most out of attending Hamvention.

  • WALK! Weeks in advance you should get out and walk a mile or two or three every day to beef yourself up for all the walking you’ll be doing. Get used to being on your feet for several hours.
  • Over the weeks leading up to Hamvention, break larger bills into $10, $5, and $1 dollar bills. Don’t make the sellers burn through all their small bills.
  • Make a wish list. List the items you need for ongoing projects, and any future projects you hope to do over the next year.
    • Write down the specifications/details of any products you want.
    • Make an estimate of how many you’ll need and how much they’ll cost. Don’t forget to include spares!
  •  Stock up on supplies. I used to hit Mendelson’s first thing Friday morning, with my folding hand cart. I’d purchase 40 or 50 POUNDS of hardware of all sizes ($1.25 per pound). Then haul that heavy load
    back to my car well before I’d burn out walking all of Hamvention. This assured a life-long supply of hardware in my workshop. Did the same with rolls of resistors and capacitors, and filled my parts bin drawers back home.
  • Write down the phone numbers, flea market space numbers, motel name and room numbers, of any friends you hope to hook up with.
  • Put together a list of eateries near your motel that you’d like to try. Include their reservation phone number and address. Maybe make a plan for which place to eat on which night, and share that with your friends and buddies you would like to spend more time with.
  • Make a list of any evening events or dinners you’d like to attend.
  • Make a list of seminars you plan to attend. Note the day, time, and room number. This will help to keep you on schedule and not miss an important seminar you wanted to see.
  • Carry a “goodie bag” to collect all your small items and even some big ones. Picture one of those heavy cloth bags newspaper boys used to use on their routes. Sometimes I even carry smaller bags inside my Goodie Bag, just in case!
  • Carry a DMM and a multitool. Sometimes making a resistance check or popping the cover off a case, will confirm if that “deal” is a good one, or a boat anchor.
  • Be prepared for intense sunshine, rain, and even sleet! Carry a hat and a plastic rain poncho. If you don’t use the poncho to cover yourself from rain, you may be glad you have it to cover that $1000 radio you just bought.
  • Keep track of your purchases. Log every purchase on a small pad or on your wish list. Hamvention is long and tiring and your memory will evade you when trying to figure out where that last $300 went that you can’t account for.
  • Don’t keep all your cash in one pocket or wallet. Place your money in multiple pockets just in case you drop or misplace it!!! Use money clips if you have them. I account for all my cash-on-hand each day before I start out, and reconcile my funds back at the motel in the evening.

By having a plan and a shopping list you are likely to have a much better experience at Hamvention 🙂

—Jay, WB8TKL

April General Meeting: Direction Finding Presentation

The ARROW club had a great general meeting on April 12 at Marsh View Meadows Park with nice weather and great discussions. We had a presentation on direction finding given by Jay WB8TKL.

 

 

2m/70cm Yagi Build Session

We had our first build session on Feb 18th 2023 for our Yagi antennas for our upcoming fox hunt. There will be another build session soon and our April General meeting will have a presentation on fox hunting.

2023 Winter Field Day

ARROW had a successful winter field day / POTA event on January 28-29 at the Brighton State Recreation Area (K-3384) making 230 Qs. Thanks to everyone that supplied equipment, help setup/teardown, and operate the stations.

Operator Total QSOs
Dinesh, AB3DC 82
James, AE8JF 67
Matthew, KE8UUE 53
Ryan, W8RSM 14
Ulrich, AC8PL 14

 

ARROW Jan 11th General Meeting: Special Guest Dr. Tamitha Skov “Space Weather Woman”

Our next general meeting is on January 11th at 7pm (pre meeting check in starting at 6:30pm)
For more information please contact AE8JF or info@w8rp.org

Meeting Presentation: The Rise and Relevance of Space Weather Impacts on Amateur Radio in Solar Cycle 25
Similar to terrestrial weather, “Space Weather” causes a wide variety of issues that affect our daily lives. From the disruption of amateur radio communications and satellite GPS signals to the beautiful light displays of the aurora, this talk gives an overview of Space Weather and the multi-faceted impact it has on society. We begin with the origin of space weather phenomena at the Sun and the different ways these solar phenomena affect Earth, especially radio propagation. The extreme Space Weather events during the hurricanes of September 2017 will be used as a real-world demonstration and illustrates a new kind of a “perfect storm” in our modern world. Such examples show why Space Weather is becoming a critical component of modern weather and highlight how public perception and consumption of Space Weather science is changing.

Presenter: Dr. Tamitha Skov “Space Weather Woman”Tamitha Skov
holds B.S. degrees in physics and physical chemistry, as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in geophysics and planetary physics from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In 2004 she joined The Aerospace Corporation in Los Angeles where she worked as a Research Scientist in the Physical Sciences Laboratory for nearly 20 years. In 2019 she also joined Millersville University as an adjunct professor, teaching a graduate curriculum in space environment, communication and policy. Tamitha works primarily in the fields of solar and space physics research and in the testing of spacecraft materials in realistic space radiation environments. She has been an instructor at The Aerospace Institute and has served as an audio forensics analyst and instructor for the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC), funded by the Department of Justice. Her forecasting work as the “Space Weather Woman” is widely known on social media such as You Tube, Twitter, and Facebook. Tamitha has been featured in Popular Science Magazine, MIT Technology Review, and on television shows for The Weather Channel, The History Channel, NASA TV, and ARTE TV. She makes regular appearances online for TMRO Space News and for HRCC’s Ham Nation (formerly on TWiT TV), doing space weather forecasts under her amateur radio callsign WX6SWW.

www.spaceweatherwoman.com

Page 2 of 9

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén