Contesting and Operating
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Cross Roads Ham Radio Club has created a “Linked Repeater System” to create a “wide area” repeater system.to provide continuous coverage along the Hwy 59 / Interstate 69 corridor from Victoria through Houston. The system is open to all licensed amateurs and is accessible on several VHF and UHF frequencies, as well as Echolink and Allstar. Please visit the club website for more information.
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Update - Field day results will be posted in December QST. Until then, here is the official record of entries received by the ARRL.
As you are all aware, we still have pandemic restrictions that affect our ability to host our normal Field Day setup. This, despite the welcome news that repairs to the beam antenna at the Klein VFD facility has been repaired thanks to the generous assistance of the Klein VFD. Common sense as well as usage restrictions on the use of the Klein Fire Department facility prevent the kind of gathering we normally host.
All is not lost, however. Two recent amendments to the Field Day by the ARRL rules significantly expand our options. NARS Field Day 2020 activities can now be conducted from our individual home stations and still have the individual scores count toward the W5NC score as well as your own score.
The current operational plan is as follows:
- Prior to the contest date, visit the N3FJP website for suggested logging software. You may also use another logging program if you prefer, as long as it will produce the required submission format.
- We ask each participant to download and review the meeting presentation. You may also want to get the instructional presentation on integrating N#FJP logging software with your existing digital mode software such as fldigi or wsjtx if you plan to operate digital modes on Field Day.
- If you need tutoring or assistance, the following resources are available:
- Amateur Radio Mentoring Group meeting on June 22 via Zoom - password 123456
- Lee Glassman, KC3LEE - one-on-one or group online assisstance
- Kirc Breden, N5XJB - online assistance
- Marty Fitzgerald, W5MF - online assistance
- Walter Holmes, K5WH - online assistance and technical consulting
- The previously scheduled VE session will be held on Field Day, Saturday 8 AM to 12 PM at the Klein VFD facility. Upon completion of the exams, the exam team will depart the Klein VFD facility to their respective homes to operate over the remainder of the Field Day event.
- Upon completion of the exam session, Marty, W5MF, will operate class 1F-STX from the on-site radio room under the club call, W5NC. This is so that the collective logs can be submitted under the club call.
- Once 5 to 10 calls are logged, Marty will return to his home QTH and continue to operate class 1D-STX under his personal call, W5MF for the remainder of the event.
- Club members wishing to participate will operate from their home QTH or mobile as described below:
- 1C (Mobile operation)
- 1D (home operation with commercial main power)
- 1E (home operation using ONLY emergency power)
- Each operator is responsible for maintaining their own Field Day log and submitting it to the ARRL. Each operator is asked to be certain to show Northwest Amateur Radio Society as the club affiliation. IMPOTANT: no abbreviations, such as NARS.
- Logging-specific tutorials and information will be following over the coming days and weeks, in the form of ZOOM sessions provided by KC3LEE, and the amateur radio mentoring group (ARMG).
- Because there will not be sustained Field Day activity at the site after the test session is concluded, the field day lunch/dinner is cancelled this year.
- When you are operating as a 1D/1D/1E station, you must use your OWN call sign and privileges for Field Day.
- Lee, KC3LEE, and Kirk, N5XJB, are available to help you submit your Field Day Log to the ARRL upon conclusion of FIeld Day 2020.
The Field Day Team Will have a preliminary orientation meeting on June 9 at 7:30 PM on ZOOM (Room number: 480-236-7199 pass-code 123456). Please plan to attend.
Please check back here on w5nc.net and on the NARS reflector for updates and announcements.
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The Klein local repeater is available for the weekly NARS DMR Net each Tuesday evening beginning at 7:00 P.M.. This net is open to ALL licensed Radio Amateurs, whether you are a NARS member or not. The first round of check-ins will be on your hotspot using the NARS talkgroup on Brandmeister. The second round of check-ins will be held immediately after using the NARS talkgroup on the Cypress (444.475, +5) and Klein (444.300, +5) DMR repeaters.
IMPORTANT: Visit the W5NC groups.io page to check for any updates. You may need to log on or join to see the messages. Please follow the registration guidelines if you are not already a member.
This is a directed net. Mike Lizzio, WA2TOP, is the the primary net control operator, but we welcome others who would like to take a turn a net control. We will try to give everyone that wants to serve as net control the opportunity. Contact Mike on the air or by
This is a DMR-only net. Allstar and Echolink connections to the NARS repeater network will be temporarily blocked from about 15 minutes before the net start time to approximately 15 minutes after the conclusion of the net.
We also encourage net control stations as well as net participants to consider using NetLogger to make the operation simpler and more efficient. Visit NetLogger on this website for more information.
Please note that this feature is not working well, and may not work at all. The Brandmeister group is aware of this, but no one seems sure that they are working on a fix. Worth a try, but don't expect too much.
HotSpot DMR Information:
- TG - 3146211
- Color and Slot are set according to your preferences
Klein DMR Repeater Information:
- Rx - 440.30000
- Tx - 445.30000
- CC3 - TxMARC [DMRTexas.net]
Richmond DMR Repeater Information:
- Rx - 443.75000
- Tx - 448.75000
- CC9 - TxMARC [DMRTexas.net]
Codeplug Support
IMPORTANT: if you need the latest codeplug, visit the Ham Radio Tech Notes group on groups.io. You will need a username and password, easily obtainable by visiting the page and requesting one. There is also information on the latest DMR and satellite happenings as well as assistance and advice if you need help getting up and running. You may also contact Walter, K5WH, directly by email at
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NARS hosted a field day event at Burroughs Park in Northwest Houston. This year we have 591 contacts in the log. Last year we had 498. Thanks to all who participated. It was hot - the usual Texas weather for June. At least we didn't have to contend with rain and thunderstorms. We had our traditional barbecue lunch/dinner on Saturday (Thanks, Tom - KD5EIJ).
Photos courtesy John Ellis, W5PDW
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Activity Schedule:
- Friday, June 22, 6:00 PM — Meet at park to put up antennas
- Saturday, June 23, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM — set up equipment, test, get ready to operate
- Saturday, June 23, 1:00 PM - Sunday, June 24, 1:00 PM — event operating hours
- Sunday, June 24, 1:00 PM — equipment tear-down and cleanup
Operating positions:
- CW
- SSB
- Get on the air (GOTA) no license required, supervised)
- 6 Meters
- Talk-in (VHF Simplex 146.52)
Location:
