B-17 "City of Savannah" Radio Compartment Restoration

We have a very unique opportunity to contribute to the restoration of a piece of American history. We were contacted a couple weeks ago about our interest in helping to restore the radio compartment of the B-17 that is currently undergoing a thorough restoration at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum here in Savannah. Wow, of course we’re interested! The B-17 has been at the museum now for a full year and the focus has been on a very detailed cleaning. Now the team is ready to begin planning for the restoration.

On Jan 20th Mac-KF4LMT and Guy-K4GTM went over to the museum to meet with Jerry McLaughlin who is the Project Manager of the restoration. Jerry and Marshall Brooks took us onto the aircraft where we got a good look at the radio compartment. Afterwards, we went into the artifacts room to check out all of the radio equipment and associated gear. Wow, what a treasure. We then spent some time with Jerry and Marshall discussing how we might be able to contribute to this effort.


Some of the next steps will be to research what exactly should be in the compartment, determine the feasibility of making some of the radio gear operational, helping the museum acquire any missing equipment, and of course installing the equipment in the radio room. Whew, lots to do. This should be an extremely rewarding project. Stay tuned for more information. Learn more about this project on the Mighty Eight website at http://www.mightyeighth.org/.

Jan 30 Winter Field Day Outing

We took advantage of the Society for the Preservation of Amateur Radio (SPAR) sponsored Winter Field Day on Jan 30th to get outdoors and operate in "other than normal conditions". Had breakfast with the normal crowd at 0700 then stopped back by the house to pick up some stuff and fill a thermos with coffee. It was already about 61 degrees at 0800 this morning and it was raining like the dickens. Just a miserable day to do anything outdoors but we decided to press on with our activites. Afterall, in the event of an emergency or a disaster, we're not going to be able to pick the weather! So I headed over to the MWR office at Hunter Army Airfield to pick up the key to our reserved shelter out at the Lott's Island Recreation Area. Got over to the island around 0930 and began to setup my radio station. Did I mention it was raining? But at least it was warm. Before anyone else showed up I had my Kenwood TS-440 powered up and a 20 meter dipole antenna strung up between two trees at about 40 feet. Shortly, Mark-KA4CID and his son Nicholas showed up as did Matthew-KG4NKE. Eventually Philip-KA4KOE and his son Jordan arrived as did Kevin-KW4B. Philip set up his military manpack and his bumper mounted vertical antenna. Philip and I began to operate and started racking up several contacts all over Europe on 20 meters. The radios and antennas seemed to be working fine. The field day contest started at noon and we started making contacts with other winter field day stations from Florida up to Canada, out to Texas and Arizona, and all thru the upper midwest where we talked to a guy in Duluth, Minnesota that was operating in an ice fishing hut where it was -14 degrees! Bob-KG6MUQ stopped by for a while as did Lester-KF4JBQ.

Peter-KJ4FAW arrived and brought a nice lunch of bar-b-que sandwiches and Brunswick Stew for us all. Boy did that hit the spot. Thanks Peter! Once we finished with chow, Peter set up his hombrew buddi-pole antenna and began to operate on his Icom 706. That antenna was no more than 10 feet off the ground but it was reaching out all over the upper midwest and Canada!

We also had a chance to see Kevin's new homebrew air powered "line launcher". Wow, he launched the projectile over about an 80 foot tree with just 30 psi. Awesome contraption.

Well as the afternoon wore on the temperature began to drop dramatically and the wind began to pick up. We went from t-shirts to coats, hats, and gloves. Total of a 20 degree drop from 0930 to 1630. Cold and wet but we hung in there. Started to get dark so we packed everything back up, cleaned up the shelter, and headed our seperate ways. I never get tired of setting up and operating a station in a new location with minimal resources and talking all over the world on 100 watts and a piece of wire.

Started New Technician License Class

Well we started our first amateur radio license class of the year on Jan 28. Kevin-KW4B and I are teaching again and Tom-KG3Z is assisting. We've got 12 students. Wow, our biggest class yet. A great group of people from all walks of life. Everyone seemed motivated and genuinely interested in the material. In session #1 we covered a "Welcome to Amateur Radio" and then jumped right into "Radio and Electronics Fundamentals". Everyone was able to follow along very nicely. Looking forward to next week when we'll continue the electronics fundamentals and move on to "Operating Station Equipment".

Jan 23 2010 Statewide Georgia ARES Meeting

Steve-K4SDJ and I took a trip to Forsythe, GA for the annual statewide Georgia ARES meeting. Steve picked me up around 0515 and we hit the road stopping in Dublin to have some breakfast at the Craker Barrell. We got to the Goergia Public Safety Training Center around 0900 and the sessions began at 1000. It was a full agenda of updates from the D-Star project, NWS, GEMA Director, and others. Got to see some of my Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief buddies and meet some of the other ARES members. Got some things in the works to possibly extend the Peach State Intertie over here to the coast. It was a productive meeting. Steve and I hit the road around 1630 to head back to Savannah with another stop in Dublin for dinner at the Craker Barrell. We love the Craker Barrell! Had a great day spending some time with Steve.

First HAM Radio Operator Contact from Haiti

Here is a report of the first contact with a HAM radio operator in Haiti as reported in the Amateur Radio Newsline.

RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO FIRST RESPONDERS ACTIVATE FOLLOWING HAITI QUAKEA powerful earthquake has struck off the coast of Haiti. The tremor hit on Tuesday, January 12th at 2153 UTC. According to the US Geological Survey the epicenter was about 10 miles south-west of Port-au-Prince and hit a magnitude 7.3 on the Richter Scale. The first tremor was followed by two aftershocks with magnitudes of 5.9 and 5.0. Soon after the first jolt amateur radio first responders were activated in Cuba to listen for any distress calls from is Caribbean neighbor. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with more.--HH2JR: " I am able to communicate for the first time. I hope you are copying me OK. The situation is chaotic and I am only alive thanks to god. Over."--That's just part of a conversation captured by Newsline listener Brian Crow, K3VR, on Wednesday, January 13th as hams in quake ravaged Haiti began returning to the airwaves. Jean-Robert Gaillard, HH2JR, was one of the first and with Fred Moore, W3ZU, running the patch he described what Haiti was like when he finally was able to get a chance to view the devastation first hand:--HH2JR: "Yesterday was really bad but I managed today to go and visualize -- myself and a couple of friends. We took some pictures and its really chaotic. I've never been through a war but its what a war (signal fade). Dead bodies all over the place and dead bodies (signal fade) to be buried."--HH2JR also described the aftershocks:--HH2JR: "I'm OK and my house is OK and that's all I can tell you. (signal fade) We have had thirty aftershocks, Repeat three zero aftershocks since the big one yesterday at ten (minutes) to five in the afternoon. Over to you."--That contact was among the first of the personal ham radio on scene accounts of living through a killer quake but not the first ham radio response to this disaster. Soon after the quake hit, CQ Magazine editor Rich Moseson, W2VU, put out an e-mail alert that quoted IARU Region 2 Area C Emergency Coordinator, Arnie Coro, CO2KK. Corro said that he was already coordinating a multi-national response by hams with organized nets on 7.045 and 3.720 MHz. The net control stations were identified as CO8WM and CO8RP located in the city of Santiago de Cuba. According to Corro these nets were in direct contact with the National Seismology Center of Cuba located in that city. CO2KK asked hams world-wide to monitor the two net frequencies, but to also keep them clear of non-essential traffic. International Radio Emergency Support Coalition is also active on EchoLink node 278173.On Wednesday the ARRL put out a notice saying that amateur radio operators should also be aware that emergency traffic pertaining to the Haitian earthquake is expected on the Salvation Army SATERN net frequencies. According to SATERN's leader, Major Pat McPherson, those frequencies are 14.265, 7.265 and 3.977 MHz. The Salvation Army is accepting health and welfare traffic requests on its Web site.As to the health and welfare of hams living in Haiti. Part of that was covered in the January 13 edition of The Daily DX newsletter. It reported that the Reverend John Henault, HH6JH, made contact late Wednesday morning with the Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net on 14.300 MHz. This is the IARU Global Center of Activity frequency for emergency communications. HH6JH said that he was safe, but had no power and no phone service. Also that he was operating on battery power and hoping to get a generator running later in the day. The newsletter also noted that Pierre Petry, HH2/HB9AMO who was in Cap Haitien about 140 km north of Port-au-Prince is okay. Petry is in Haiti working for the United Nations World Food Program.Daily DX also reports that members of two ham radio groups from the neighboring Dominican Republic, the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) and Union Dominicana de Radio Aficionados (UDRA) are preparing to go to Port au Prince. Once there the team will be installing an emergency radio communications station operating as HI8RCD/HH and a mobile station. The team of Dominican Republic Amateur Radio operators includes HI8PGG, HI8FLB, HI8CJG, HI8DBF, HI8SAR, HI8JLH, HI8ROD and HI3TEJ. The situation in Haiti is still chaotic and literally changing from moment to moment. The most important thing is to keep 3.720, 7.045, 7.265, 14.265 and 14.300 clear for emergency and priority traffic and quake relief nets on these frequencies. We will post updates in text form on our Newsline Facebook web update page as they become available. To access it just go to facebook.com and friend Amateur Radio Newsline.

Statesboro Amateur Radio Society Club Meeting

Had a great time at the Statesboro Amateur Radio Society (STARS) club meeting last night. I went along with Mac-KF4LMT and Dan-KF4MND and enjoyed dinner with our good friends in the Statesboro club. For the club program, I presented the slideshow that I put together for the ARCS and CARS joint Christmas banquet chronicaling all of the events and activities that we did in 2009.

Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief Communications

Have spent most of Tuesday evening monitoring various HF nets supporting emergency communications for the earthquake in Haiti. A SATERN Net has been active on various freq on 20, 40, 80 meters. Also monitoring the International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) Echolink Net which KF4MND is re-transmitting on the 442.700 repeater via his node and the W4SGA node. Mac-KF4LMT is monitoring for Coast Guard and other military traffic. We are also posting frequencies and website addresses on our newly created radio club Facebook page called Coastal Amateur Radio Society.

Coastal Amateur Radio Society Club Meeting

Had a great CARS club meeting tonight. First meeting of the new year. Lots of great ideas and plans for 2010. We broadcasted the meeting via Ustream so that folks who couldn't attend could still enjoy the meeting via the Internet. We have a great radio club.

Monitor Savannah Area Amateur Radio on the Web

For those of you who may not have a radio or scanner you can now monitor Savannah area amateur radio traffic on the web. We are currently streaming a few audio feeds that can be monitored on a website called http://www.radioreference.com/. This site also gives you the capability to monitor a variety of radio traffic across the world. To listen to the Savannah area amateur radio repeaters just follow this link. http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?ctid=407

Let me know if you have any questions or would like to learn more about how to become an amateur radio operator (HAM).

Technician Class To Begin Jan 28 in Savannah

We have settled on dates for the next Amateur Radio License class here in Savannah. This will be the entry level license called Technician. No radio or electronics experience is required. This class is delivered by Extra Class Amateur Radio Operators who are American Radio Relay League Registered Instructors. We'll teach you everything you need to know to get your license. If you are interested in attending the class just send me an email or give me a call. If you know someone else who may be interested please pass this info on to them as well. If you would like some more detail or just to ask me some questions please feel free to contact me. Here are the particulars:

Date: Jan 28, Feb 4, Feb 11, Feb 18
Time: 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Place: Memorial University Medical Center, Hoskins Building
Cost: Free
Study Guide: Get one at http://www.amazon.com/ARRL-Ham-Radio-License-Manual/dp/0872599639/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262826447&sr=8-1
Test Session: Feb 20 at 9:00am at Memorial Medical Center, Hoskins Building. Cost is $15

Guy McDonald, K4GTM

ARES Emergency Coordinator
Chatham County GA
President, Coastal Amateur Radio Society

www.k4gtm.blogspot.com/

HF Phone Patch

Had some equipment recently donated to our radio club and one of the items included was a Kenwood Phone Patch Controller. I've always been intrigued with the concept of radio phone patches dating way back to when my dad was in Viet Nam and we recieved a couple of calls from him via the MARS system and then again when I was an an airborne communications tech in the Air Force. So I was excited to give this phone patch controller a try. I took a quick look at the intruction sheet and commenced to connect the device to my Kenwood TS-440 and to my analog telephone here in my radio shack. I quickly determined that I had an audio problem. I broke out the multimeter and began to test the pinout on the cables. Bingo, broken wire in the mic plug. The wire was too short and had broken off over time. I soldered in a new wire and was back in business. I also had to modify my phone by soldering in a two wire phone cord to connect to the line terminals on the controller. Would have been easier if I had a two phone jack adapter laying around but I didn't. Besides, I like to solder any chance I can!

So now with everything repaired/modified, and connected up, I was ready to test this thing. I solicited the help of a couple of my buddies to give it a try. I called Dan-KF4MND on the phone and I met Ralph-W4REQ on an available 80 meter frequency. Once I had them ready to go, I threw the "On" switch on the controller. Dan and Ralph were both able to communicate as I provided the keying of the radio when Dan spoke. My first test was a success.

A day later I decided to give it a try again so that I could have a chance to adjust recieve and transmit audio levels and to test the whole thing using VOX instead of having to manual key the radio for the telephone attached party. This time I solicited the help of a couple of other friends. This time I got Will-KJ4PSU on the phone and Kevin-KW4B on the radio. Once I had them both connected I threw the phone patch inline and they were able to speak to each other with me providing the manual keying once again. Once that test was completed, I turn the VOX on the radio to see if that would work. Not quite. When in VOX the radio is staying constantly keyed so I still need to troubleshoot that. No problem. That's half the fun.

Phone patches aren't used very much these days but it sure is nice to have the capability in case it's needed.

Next Coastal Amateur Radio Society Club Meeting

The next monthly meeting of the Coastal Amateur Radio Society will be on Monday, Jan 11th at 7:00pm at the Whitebluff Presbyterian Church Education Building. We'll spend some time brainstorming about things we might want to accomplish in 2010.

We will have a board meeting at 6:00pm prior to the regular meeting.

My Son Zane is Headed to Iraq

Not radio related but here's a little slide show of my son Zane from baby boy to American soldier. He's heading to Iraq on Monday for a year. He's a infantryman with the 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart, GA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni4KrXJC2fQ

QSL Card from USS Cobia Amateur Radio Station

Recieved a nice QSL card today from a contact I made with the USS Cobia Amateur Radio Club, call letters NB9QV. They were on the air commemorating the 66th birthday of the submarine USS Cobia SS-245.

http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/uss-cobia.html

NWS Charleston Skywarn Recognition Day

We had a great visit to the National Weather Service in Charleston this weekend to operate the amateur radio station WX4CHS for the Skywarn Recognition Day event. I picked up Mac-KF4LMT at about 1945 and we met Dan-KF4MND at the Cracker Barrell just after 2000. After we grabbed a late dinner we hit the road to Charleston around 2100. It rained the whole way. In fact it rained the whole time we were there and the whole way back. But we got to the NWS office near the airport just before 2300. Bobby-W4SKD met us at the front door and we signed in for the evening. We took a quick tour around the center and met the forecasters that were working the mid shift. Let me tell you, they are some weather watchin fools. All kinds of monitors and radars and such and they were constantly updating forecasts and other information throughout thier shift. It was good to spend some time with them and learn more about the NWS. Bobby then gave us a quick run down on the radio station and we began to operate right away. Dan setup some nice Echolink connectivity between a station in Summerville and our home station in Savannah. This allowed for us to talk from the NWS back to Savannah on 2 meters and coordinate with several of our buddies about where we would be operating on HF. I started out on 80 meters using the Icom-746 and quickly contacted several stations back in Savannah. Greg-N4VAD and Jerry-W4SGA among them. As Dan began making some VHF contacts on the South Carolina Linked Repeater System, I began to search for and make contact with several other National Weather Service Stations across the country. Some included:

- Morehead City, NC

- PeachTree City, GA

- DeMoines, IA

- Upton, NY

- Morristown, TN

During the course of the evening we all got a chance to operate the station and make quite a few contacts considering the time of day. Mac did a great job of leveraging his blog and Twitter to provide real time updates on our activities to include photos. The time really flew by and before we knew it it was already 0500. So we thanked the forecasters and our great HAM host Bobby and hit the road back to Savannah. We had a really great time there and have plans to strenghthen our relationship with the NWS and our radio friends in South Carolina. Even talks about figuring out how we can link one of the Savannah area repeaters into the South Carolina repeater system specifically for Skywarn purposes. We arrived back in Savannah about 0730 and met some of our other radio pals at breakfast. Overall a great "radio field trip". Already looking forward to next year.

More Amateur Radio Upgrades In Savannah

Congratulations to the following operators on thier license class upgrades today. Great job guys!

Bill Taylor-KC4HXJ, upgrade to Amateur Extra
Kirk Meals-KJ4PTP, upgrade to General

Appreciate the VEs who administered the exams today, especially Bob-W4WTO for the use of his facility, and Steve-K4SDJ for his expertise in the administration process.

We've had a great year for new licensees and upgrades. Here are the totals

Technicians - 14
General - 5
Extra - 6

Skywarn Recognition Day

This Saturday, Dec 5th is Skywarn Recognition Day. Amateur Radio operators across the country will be operating radio stations at NWS offices trying to make contact with other NWS offices and as many hams as possible to celebrate the contributions that volunteer Skywarn radio operators make to the National Weather Service. This year, Amateur Radio Operators from Savannah have been asked to operate a shift at the NWS Charleston amateur radio station. I will be heading up to Charleston tonight with Mac-KF4LMT and Dan-KF4MND to work the midnight to 0530 local shift at the NWS Charleston station. We'll be active on HF and VHF using the callsign WX4CHS, so listen out for us. As part of the special event operation, the contact exchange will consist of call sign, signal report, location, and a one or two word description of the weather. Mac-KF4LMT will be making blog posts and Twitter updates from the station. Will update again tomorrow with some pictures from the station.

Chatham County EOC Activated Today

As many of you know, the CEMA EOC activated today to be ready to deal with possible impact of the severe weather that we had in the area today. We have a HAM station (N4CEM) at both EOC locations and CEMA considers us a valuable part of thier backup communications plan. Consequently, we were asked to man the station during the activation. I arrived at the station at about 3:00pm and stay until the event was terminated at about 8:00pm. Things went pretty well from our perspective. Got good radio checks and great participation from our local HAM community. Although the weather proved to be uneventfull for us, it was still a great opportunity to practice our procedures. I discovered a few shortcomings with the station that we'll address. But hey, that's why we go through the motions. Each activation provides us with valuable information that'll make us even better for the next one. Special thanks to the following operators.....hope I don't leave anyone out.

David-KC4MKD
Dan-KF4MND
Jerry-W4SGA
Peter-KJ4FAW

"When all else fails......amateur radio."