Posted in: Newsletters

Newsletter – Feb 2020

Written by John Cole
LAST UPDATED: 2-FEB-2020 – 0957 ET
PLEASE NOTE: Newsletter may be undergoing updates

Proposed Minutes
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Announcements

  • WELCOME TO 2020

  • General Member Meeting PBC Boca Library 7pm 4-FEB-2020
  • Satellite Tower Base INSTALLATION COMPLETE
  • 2020 Winter Field Day 25+26 Jan 2020 – SEE BELOW
  • PayPal available for 2020 dues, donation, and purchased items
  • 2020 Membership Dues will be accepted 1-October 2019
  • 2020 HamCation Carpool Plans, reservation are NOW STANDBY
  • Website: New Event and updated Reservation capability rolled out
  • New Extra Class CLICK HERE FMI

PROFILE IN ACTION

Every so often we will profile a member of our association and share a little bit about their life experiences.

Stanley Pulitzer W5JYK

Stan has always been connected with kangaroo characters and memorabilia. Friends and family would donate these treasure pieces to Stan and he in turn would register and certify them; the donor would automatically become a member of his exclusive Kangaroo Club. Stan pursued obtaining his vanity callsign  W5JWK callsign and his kids announced it to mean “Jumping Yellow Kangaroo“. He has the logo to prove it.

Stan summers with his son Donald and his wife in Greensboro, NC and winters with his daughter Nancy and husband in Boca Raton FL. Stan’s family has a long lineage to the Pulitzer of Hungary and Czechoslovakia; and yes, The Pulitzer Prize. Stan was first licenced as a 13 year old and continues to work CW. As a 14 year old one day, he was hearing a word repeated over over. He thought he was hearing the other station’s name: “PEARL”. What he heard was Pearl Harbor had been attacked and later that day all operators we ordered to cease transmissions and listen and report questionable activity. In the below painting rendered by his daughter Nancy, Stan is working CW with his “JYK” logo on his dress shirt. He’s a blessed man to have such talented and loving family.

Often San and Maxine (SK) spent the day together. Maxine  was an accomplished artist with many painting works and sculptures. They were married over 50 years. On shopping days, Stan would drop her off for shopping and he would travel around various neighborhoods looking for towers and other antennas. When he spotted one, he approached the home, knocked on the door and explained to the owner he saw the antena and that he too was a amateur operator. He usually got invited into the home and a lengthy discussion of the hobby occured.  Hope he did not forget Maxine  was shopping and in need of a ride.

Stan has a few passions aside from amateur radio and one includes photography and interviewing people. Often he’d invite a person to talk with him and gather that person’s story and yes take pictures. He loved hearing these tales. His work was published in local amateur radio club publications and public news outlets. Stan once had a QSO with an Italian operator and they exchanged common interests. Over time several of Stan’s family and his Italian friend would would visit each other and share stories all due to amateur radio and Stan’s willingness to reach out to people.

For many generations beginning in the 1800’s, Stan’s family lived in New Orleans LA running the long established wholesale family business in the downtown near the French section and the superdome. Stan is a long time New Orleans Saints football fan and never misses a game. Just before hurricane Katrina, Stan and his wife Maxine left their home in New Orleans to ride out the storm.

Stan is old school and has one of the most quiet and pleasant personalities always being a good listener and wealth of knowledge and good stories. As you can imagine Stan has many amateur radio friends all over the world with a few special buddies In Greensboro and yes to all of us in south Florida.

PROJECT NAME: Satellite Tower Base (Phase-1)

  • PLANNER: George WA2VNV
  • WHEN: Saturday 1-FEB-2020 at 9.00 am 
  • WHERE: The Shack @ West Delray Park
  • WHAT: Install tower base for Satellite system
  • WHO: All able folks who can help excavate tower base
  • WHY: Set tower base for installing satellite system
  • CONTACT: Email George sintchak@optonline.net

DESCRIPTION

BRARA is undertaking installing the satellite system donated to our association by Roy K4YV. The first step is to plan out installing the base of the 20 foot tower section which will hold the directional antenna system.In this first phase we need several individuals who can handle excavating the dirt either by hand digging and or operating a gas operated auger. We will be rotating the labor force so each person digs a bit and then has a break.

The goal is to dig a hole deep enough to set the pre-made 4 ft tower section with hinges which will enable the tower to be tilted over for servicing.

Once the hole is deep and wide enough to our specifications, then we can hand pour concrete into the hole and allow it to set.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO BRING
  • Work shoes
  • Work gloves
  • Water
  • Shovel
  • Folding superviser outdoor chair
  • Willingness to offer your labor
  • Sense of humor
PROJECT TASKS
  • Begin excavation at 9.00am
  • When clear of all conduits, use auger to dig the rest of the hole
  • Once auger is done, remove any remaining debris
  • Lower  tower section and secure
  • Build wood retaining wall around top of hole
  • Dumped concrete into the hole and mixed with water
  • Continue until 2 inches above the ground level for rain runoff

Training Classes

Class: BRARA Extra class
 Register: By EMAIL to training@brara.org
 Date: 15,16,22,23-FEB-2020
 Time: From 9am to 5:30pm
 Where: The Shack
West Delray Regional Park
10875 W Atlantic Ave
Delray Beach, FL 33446
 MAP: CLICK FOR MAP
 Food: bring your own
 Text Book: Gordon West Extra Class 2016-2020
 Purchase: CLICK FOR GORDON WEST ON AMAZON
 Exam: There will be an exam session on the final afternoon

Free Laurel VEC Testing
CLICK TO READ MORE

Thank you for being part of our event. Special thanks to our operators, Radio and MIS teams, setup and cleanup staff. We learned a lot, have begun plans to fix what did not go as planned and enjoyed an array of food items (thanks John.H KE4IDW).

2020 RESULTS

  • OPERATORS: 14
  • EXCHG: 3H SFL
  • QSO: 643
  • BANDS / QSO:  20M (125), 40M (323) 80M (185)  2M (1) 70CM (1) 6M (1)
  • MODES / QSO: CW (216) DIGITAL (24) PHONE (403)
  • BONUS: 3,000
  • NET SCORE: 20,442

FMI:         CLICK FOR DETAILS 

PHOTOS: CLICK FOR PICTURES

Out thanks to Jay N2ELG and Dennis KA2TGQ for these event photos.

Calendar


CLICK TO VIEW CALENDAR

CLICK TO VIEW EVENTS

This Month’s Speaker

  • Feb: Jim.T N3JT on radio development and CW technology

Ham Shack News

  • Station-1 IC-7600 working normally
  • Station-2 In use, see Larry K4KGG for training
  • Station-3 IC-7600 working normally
  • Station-3 Yaesu Amp and tuner working normally
  • Station-4 FT-1000MP working normally
  • Station-4 FT-897 working normally
  • Station-5 TESTING STATION
  • Station-6 Various VHF/UHF radios are working normally

SHACK ITEMS WE NEED
We are in need to replacing the HF tuner for station-1. If a willing member is able to help finance or donate such an item, our club members and The Shack would be so very grateful and it would help protect our HF assets.

Please see Bruce KO4XL or Art WA8VSJ for details.

ITEMS FOR SALE

CLICK FOR DETAILS

Special Projects

The following are project and watch weekly emails for status

  • Satellite TOWER BASE installation COMPLETE
  • Satellite ANTENNA and radio installation
  • Install amplifier to the 2m analog repeater
  • Shack outside power replacement
  • Replace cabinets at repeater site
  • Relocate microwave dish at repeater site

Use PayPal for BRARA member dues

CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS

  • 2020 DUES accepted starting October 1 2019
  • First time members join for the remainder of 2019 and 2020
  • Dues amounts have not changed from last year.

PAYMENT CONFIRMATION

A recent change to our payment process is to notify you via email that your payment was processed. This could be for dues, a donation, HamCation CarPool, etc.

Below is a SAMPLE of an email to you.

CLICK FOR DUES FMI

HOW DO YOU KNOW?

Currently 98 of 164 members or 60% have paid 2020 dues.

Every member will be shown 2020 dues status when logging onto our website.

For 2020 paid members, they will see the following:

The gentle dues reminder looks like the following:

Further details may help:

Report (by Ed N4II)

TBA

Ed N4II

Dx Operating News and Information
CLICK TO READ MORE

The very latest information on DX Operating News, including DXPeditions, DXCC, and QSL information

Contests and Special Events
CLICK TO READ MORE

Looking for upcoming contests and special events from around the world?

Hamcation


Save the date 8-February 2020

CLICK FOR CARPOOL PLANS

New Website Capability

Have you ever tried to make a Station Reservation for an event like Field Day and did not know the date? A new web capability shows members the List of Events in event date order from which you may choose the event and date you want to make your station reservations.

NAVIGATION: Logon is assumed. From TOOLS > hover and click on EVENTS; review the list of events. From the Event List on the left hand side of the list under SEL column, select the radio button for the event and date you desire. You will be taken to that event reservation and date where you may make your station reservations.

Member Online Auction is LIVE

Please stay tuned for updates

Public Classified Section is LIVE

Please stay tuned for updates

Please note: items are Negotiable 

Training Video 

  • No new Training videos

About Our Members

We honor and remembered our members who have passed

  • Keith McPhail K3SKM
  • Linda Lindeman N4JNL
  • Sidney Gogel W2FUR
  • Bob  Dobski KB8WJF
  • Robert Fox W1VEI
  • Myron Goldstein WA2PWJ CLICK FOR OBIT 
  • Hap Patterson WA4ZLJ CLICK FOR OBIT

Good and Welfare


If you know of an amateur or their family dealing with health issues or may have lost someone, please let us know. Robert.K K3SUH is our go to person to send a communication in the form of a card to the person or family.

CLICK HERE to email details.

New Membership Form
CLICK FOR MEMBERSHIP APP AS PDF

We welcome the following new members:

  • K2OBM Herbert Burbank
  • Associate Steve DiMartino
  • KC9HTA Nathan Russell
  • KB1VLX Mike Balch
  • KM4YOU Greg Bitto
  • K4BYB James Cruz
  • KO4BKT Alan Friederwitzer
  • W1GGG George Garcia

Statistics

  • 28 Member renewals Jan
  • 118 Paid members YTD
  • 7 New members
  • 3 Pending online applications
  • 7 Silent keys
  • 164 Regular members (2018 to 2020)
  • 2 Associate members
  • 13 Family members
  • 2 Lifetime

Our Scheduled Nets

COORDINATED NETS BEING REFORMED
We have modified the Voice Com NCS Script:

  • Has been shortened
  • Changed theme to technical support, projets, and announcements

CLICK HERE FOR REVISED NCS SCRIPT

BRARA Machines
The BRARA repeaters are located at the Social Security building in Boca Raton FL USA

NET DETAILS FOLLOW

SUNDAY
8.00pm ET SEFL DMR Tech-Net – USE TG-311037

  • BRARA 442.875+ CC-1 TS-2 
  • GCARA 443.350+ CC-11 TS-1 
  • WARA 145.19(-) CC-2 TS-1 (new discovery)

MONDAY
7.00pm ET Voice  Com Net
BRARA analog 145.29- PL110.9

7.30pm ET DMR BrainWaves Not-A-Net – USE TG-311037

  • BRARA 442.875+ CC-1 TS-2 
  • GCARA 443.350+ CC-11 TS-1 
  • WARA 145.19(-) CC-2 TS-1 (new discovery)

8.00pm ET SoCounty NBEMS Net
BRARA analog 145.29- PL110.9 (uses FLDigi and FLMsg)

Other Local Analog Repeater Nets

  • Daily 6.00 pm SEFL Traffic 146.61 MHz
  • Tue 7.30pm CERT Plan-B 145.29- PL110.9

Club Repeaters

  • 144.390 APRS Repeater (NOW ACTIVE)
  • 145.070 Packet Repeater (OFF LINE)
  • GPS Location: 26.39724 –80.09485

Please use 3102 on your pi-star or any replated hotspot.

Local DMR Repeaters
CLICK FOR REPEATER LIST

Scheduled DMR Nets
CLICK FOR DMR NETS

  • Sun 8.00 pm TG-3110037 SeFL DMR Tech Net
  • Mon 7.30 pm TG-311037 BrainWaves Net 
  • Wed 9.00 pm TG-3  NA Tech Net
  • Thu 8.20pm TG-31777 NotQuiteRight Net
  • Sat 12.00 noon TG-1 WW
  • Sat  8.00 pm TG-310035 GCARC KnowItAll Net

BRARA Open House

We meet every Wednesday and Saturday morning between 10:00 and 13:00 ET for our Open House, and for any work that needs to be done at the Shack. Anyone interested in exploring Amateur Radio is encouraged to stop in for a visit.

Newsletter Guidelines

Thanks for all who submitted articles and I hope you continue to do so. We’re also looking for new writers as well. Here are some guidelines for article submissions.

  • Text should be in MS Word or equivalent, saved as a .DOC file
  • Write your best stuff, but don’t sweat the grammar. That’s why there’s an editor.
  • Please submit pictures/illustrations as separate files, don’t embed them in the text.
  • Be sure to submit clear, in-focus photos

Club Ham Shack

West Delray Regional Park
10875 West Atlantic Avenue
Delray Beach, FL 33446

Board of Directors Scheduled Meetings

We hold scheduled monthly Board meetings at 12:00 Noon at the Shack on the Sunday preceding the next General Meeting.

Donations and Contributions

 

 

 

Contributions to BRARA— a 501(c)(3) organization—are tax deductible as charitable donations. As you complete your membership renewal or begin your year-end tax planning, please consider making a donation to BRARA.

Please donate to BRARA via Amazon Smiles:
Search for:  Boca Raton Amateur Radio Association

CLICK HERE TO SMILE AT BRARA

Planned Giving: Please also consider BRARA when updating or initiating planned giving (including charitable gift annuities, bequests and gifts or retirement plan assets) and other assets.

For More Information

Website:    www.brara.org  Twitter: BRARA@N4BRF  Instagram: #BRARA_N4BRF

Facebook:    CLICK VIEW FACEBOOK

Please be advised that the above are the official BRARA social media sites. No other social media sites are recognized by BRARA.

Newsletter Contributions

Got an idea for an article? Or constructive critique? Want to share club news and events? How about writing a short 30-minute project idea? Your submissions to the Radio Flyer are needed to help keep this one of the best club newsletters in South Florida.

Please send articles to   BRARA@BRARA.org

Ham Shack Access Rules

To obtain a key to the BRARA Ham Shack you must be a member in good standing for a minimum of one continuous year, hold a valid FCC Amateur Radio License, and complete a short training session with one of the Club officers.

Address

the Radio Flyer
P.O. Box 480162
Delray Beach, FL 33448-0162

Copyright and Protection

Copyright © 2019 Boca Raton Amateur Radio Association (BRARA).

Reproduction of material from any BRARA web page without written permission is prohibited.

Regards and 73 from The Shack
de N4BRF