CHANGE IN DINNER VENUE!! It’s ITALIAN!!
Sunday March 17, 6:30pm Club Monthly Dinner at Pizza Time in Coral Springs
This month, GCARA will be meeting at and eating at PIZZA TIME in Coral Springs 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm. They close at 9 so we are starting a bit earlier to be able to finish our food. The Board has decided to “eat around” at different restaurants until we find a possible “home” for us. Stay tuned each month for our restaurant addresses. This month’s meeting date will be March 17, 2024.
The meeting is open to all hams and guests but if you do not normally attend our meetings and are expected, kindly give Melanie a shout so she can make sure we can be accommodated in comfort. Thank you.
Pizza Time Italian Restaurant
11504 W Sample Rd, Coral Springs, FL 33065
Menu: pizzatimecs.com
If you have a favorite restaurant to suggest, all suggestions are welcome. Please contact Melanie Fernandez @ 954-560-3706. Thank you.
Guest Speaker Robert Molleda on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024
Our favorite meteorologist at the NWS in Miami, Robert Molleda, will speak this February 27 about Space Weather and its effects on communications.
We should find this talk very interesting and hope to see everyone there on Zoom.
Melanie Fernandez is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Space Weather
Feb 27, 2024 Zoom Room open at 06:30 PM, meeting starts at 7:30PM
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Jan 23, 2024. Joe McGee on Winter Field Day 2024
Feb 27, 2024 Robert Molleda, NWS, on Space Weather
March 26, 2024 Robert Molleda, NWS Hurricane Prep
April 23. 2024 Jeff Stahl K4BH, Digital Mode
May 28, 2024 Rick Rosen K1DS, Satellite Communications
June 25, 2024 Dave Howard, Candidate for Sheriff Broward County
July 23, 2024 TBA
Aug 27, 2024 TBA
Sept 24, 2024 TBA
Oct 22, 2024 TBA
Nov 26, 2024 Elections, TBA Speaker
Many of you do not know what goes on in planning a Field Day so I thought I would review some of the processes of this past Winter Field Day.
When someone volunteers to head up the committee, in this case Joe McGee NX4T, they map out what they would like to see happen. Joe wanted to see as many different hams as well as club members attend the Field Day and have a good experience. He first thought of how to bring that about and came up with an idea to reach out by Post Cards to hams all over the Broward County area. Normally we had only used the emails we have in our database in the past. The Board agreed to support the project and Joe went to work designing the post cards with the help of Tom Savoca K9TJS, our PIO and webmaster over the December break period. After the design was complete it was sent off to the printer and when they were received by Joe, he went busily to work hand addressing the Post cards using the info from the FCC database for all the general and extra license holders in Broward County. He addressed some 400 cards and since he had not included call signs on them and the general thought was that it would be a better way to bring attention to the cards, a great friend to the club and most gregarious member, Aurora Figueiredo WD4AGF, then took the cards and added all of the call signs to them and sorted them by zip code for easy mailing. I then took all to the post office and put them in the mail.
Of course, although the hopes were that people would RSVP for food prep purposes, we did not get any and thought perhaps the Post cards may not yield any results. On WFD, we found that we got a 3% response in attendees and the visiting hams were delighted to be invited and meet our worker bees for the club. Some had issues with their antennas and other things in their shack but they were introduced to Jeff Stahl K4BH, Ricky Eaton KD4HGR, Tom McClain N3HPR, and Joe McGee NX4T to discuss the issues and get better ideas and the promise of future help with the problems.
It was wonderful to have satisfied people in our midst and we felt the Post Card effort was not in vain.
Joe McGee NX4T also felt that it was of the utmost importance for all visiting hams get a chance on the air during a Field Day so Joe again enlisted the able aid of Tom Savoca K9TJS to write a program where people could register for a time slot on the air of their choosing in half hour increments. This would, one, insure everyone got a chance to get on the air when convenient for them and two, the radio would be busy all day and night long. Thanks to these two gentlemen, who worked all through the Christmas holidays on the program project, its objective was met. Someone was on the radio at all times supporting the club by operating. We had over 15 different operators as opposed to the usual 3 or 5 we normally had on the radio. Some were first time operators and were given a chance to get their feet wet on the air. The GCARA Board were all happy with the result of the efforts of Joe and Tom and the support staff at the WFD. It was a first and it won’t be the last!
Now, if this intrigues you, we would like to invite your participation in the summer ARRL FIELD DAY. With the new ideas Joe spawned for inviting and operating, we managed to gather 54 visitors, all of whom were treated to a good time. The opportunities to shine are endless and Joe has more fun up his sleeve for the summer, as a consultant, to the contest. I admire his enthusiasm and genuine desire to mentor hams. He works with many newbies or shut ins who need help with equipment or whatever. He is one of the most socially active hams among us and I am so pleased he serves as a director in the club. I am also pleased with the hard work and creative designs of Tom Savoca KJ9TJS who saw these 2 involved projects through all of the time constraints and effort it took with such positive feedback and energy. Gentlemen, GCARA thanks you.
……….and that’s the rest of the story!
Submitted by Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT
Our March meeting will again be presented by Robert Molleda of the NWS in Miami, this time on the Hurricane Season and storm preparedness. We invite all hams to come and learn about this season’s forecasts and how we can protect ourselves and others for it. We would greatly appreciate seeing many volunteers gear up to man the shelters this year. It is a great way to use your amateur RADIO license. See you there!
Topic: GCARA GENERAL MEETING
Time: Mar 26, 2024 06:30 PM
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Saturday morning ” ham” breakfast.
From 7 to 9 AM interested Hams meet since 1994 at JJs Cafe for breakfast.
Everyone is welcome to join.
JJs Cafe
6051 NW 31st Ave,
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
http://jjcafefood.com/
Click to download and print the PDF version NOTE: Meeting minutes are posted online as a draft for review until approved at the following meeting. Corrections can be sent to the Secretary, currently rickiwitte4@gmail.com.
General-Meeting-2024-02-27Click to download and print the PDF version NOTE: Meeting minutes are posted online as a draft for review until approved at the following meeting. Corrections can be sent to the Secretary, currently rickiwitte4@gmail.com.
Board-Meeting-Minutes-2024-02-25CQ, CQ, CQ Call all GCARA hams to breakfast at JJ’s Café.
This past Saturday, it was my pleasure to meet with one of the longest meeting breakfast ham groups that I AM AWARE of in South Florida. GCARA hams have eaten there since 1994 at its convenient location : 6051 NW 31 AVE in Ft. Lauderdale 33309.
I spent an enjoyable breakfast with Mike Spivak WB4RFC, Al Nevares N4ACN, Gary Evans N4TOT, Dirk Basting N4AN, and Roger Johnson AC4RL. These were among the first members of GCARA and have a lot of valuable insight to share. Unfortunately, many of the hams who occupied seats at the first table are SKs now and we all would raise a toast to their contributions of the GCARA. I have dined there in the past with many great people with a good ham spirit and good ham values.
I am going to make the e_ort to come every Saturday morning for the next 2 months and I invite all of you to give it a try. The food is good, the service is good and the conversation is always lively!
Buon appetito!
Submitted by Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT
David S. Pomerantz
Amateur Radio License Call Sign: KO4DKN
Boynton Beach, Florida 33437-4073
Today while I was at Ham Radio Outlet in Winter Springs, FL I was debating about getting a second antenna. This one would be for my Kenwood D710G mobile. I already have both a Comet CA-2x4SRNMO antenna and a Comet SBB-7NMO antenna for my Yaesu FTM-500DR dual band mobile radio. So, which one do I get after I drove 3hrs to the radio store? Both antennas are very good Dual Band Antennas for any mobile VHF/UHF radio which operate on the Amateur Bands. Let’s Dig In!
Let’s do some testing using my Rigexpert 230 Stick Pro and take some antenna measurements for SWR to see which one has a better SWR reading. Then, let’s do some real world testing on the local repeaters in the Broward & Palm Beach County areas and see how well my audio sounds on each antenna.
The first reading I did was on the Comet CA-2X4SR, which on 2 meters was right out of the plastic sleeve. No tuning. The package indicated the antenna required no tuning…sure!
Very low SWR reading across 2m
the second reading I did is on the Comet SBB-7
As you can see the SWR increases the higher the frequency you go
Let’s take a look at the signal reports from these two antennas. The receiving signals from our local repeaters in Broward & Palm Beach County indicated to me that the CA-2x4SR was a little scratchy in certain areas as I traveled and at times it did not produce a good clean signal especially near the Boca Raton’s Club Repeater from the Sawgrass and Northbound Turnpike.
I decided to switch over to the Comet SBB-7. I noticed a significant improvement in receive and voice, but it must be noted that the SBB-7 does have a higher DB gain rating then the CA-2x4SR antenna and is a taller antenna. Side Note: While traveling the local roads the next day on the Turnpike South to Fort Lauderdale with clear skies outside, I didn’t seem to have any issues on the receive end with the CA-2X4SR antenna.
Both antennas do produce a good receive and transmit when you are on open roads like the Turnpike, I-95 in Martin, Indian River Counties and areas with open roads. Minimal trees and buildings were a plus. As Amateur radio operators we must also consider propagation, solar flare activity and weather as a factor to. Some days are just better than others no matter what we do, I have experienced.
I have really enjoyed both antennas on moderate distance travel, but I would probably to go with the CA-2X4SR antenna for long distance travel due to its smaller size when I’m traveling at higher rates of speed. If I was setting up for an Ares activation/drill, APRS, sending/receiving Winlink traffic or in a rural area I would use the Comet SBB 7. The is no magic bullet antenna out there for every situation, but our signal reports do help all of us determine if the antenna we are using is affective or not. In an emergency, that is not the time to determine that we have a subpar antenna.
I decided on the Comet SSB-7 antenna, but I do continue to enjoy both antennas. Please feel free to share with us what type of antenna you use for portable or mobile use.
’73 All
Stats for CA-2X4SR Antenna: VHF/UHF FRS Applications
2M: 4.5dBi 6/8 wave center-load
70 cm: 7.2dBi Three 5/8 waves in phase
SWR: 2:1 or less
Max Power: 150W FM
Length: 40″
Stats for the Comet SBB-7 Antenna: VHF/UHF Dual Band
2M: 4.5dBi 6/8 wave center-load
70 cm: 7.2dBi Three 5/8 waves in phase
SWR: 1.5:1 or less
Max Power: 70W FM Length: 55″
First let me say a little about myself. I am a US Army Veteran and my job was a Field Radio repairman from 1980-1984 active duty so I have quite a bit of knowledge. But I don’t know everything and still learning to this day and second I want to say thank you to Radioddity for allowing me to give my thoughts to this radio which is the Radioddity QT-40.
It’s a great 10m radio right out of the box but with a couple of quick mods which is very simple and you have a great CB rig as well as it will cover all the 10 / 11 and 12 meters as well. You must Also use the software to complete this mod by using the drop down box and changing it to CB mode to complete the expanded TX RX frequencies. So instead of buying a plane old CB rig why not give this radio a chance as you get basically 3 band and full output power on all 3 bands.
It does SSB / AM / FM. It has a programable Roger Beep and Echo built in ( not allowed on ham bands ) and can be setup to the way you want.
There are several different roger beeps to choose from and there is several different delays in the each settings as well.
Also in the software for this rig is a setting to turn as a SWR meter which shows up in the channel selector. So say your SWR is 1.6 when you key the rig the channel leaves and it will display 1.6 instead of the channel you were on.
It has a high and low switch on the rig which is High band and Low band and a knob that goes from A-F giving you 40 channels on each plus the high and low for a total of 480 channels.
Also if you set up the Fine tune knob in the software you get the alpha channels on 11 meters and you miss nothing.
This control can be set in the software to what you want it defaults to 0.05 if I remember correctly.
If you hold down both the up and down buttons on the microphone then you channel display shows the Frequency read out 2 digits at a time.
If you hold down the UP button on the microphone while turning on the power it gets you into the radio menu so you can turn things on and off such as the channel beep and the echo on or off as well as the Roger beep.
I found the manual to be incorrect in this as it does not state the radio needs to be off. I would have liked a full digital display read out for this part. I think it would look better.
This is a nicely built unit and I really love it. I’m going to be taking this out and really give it a great run and testing.
I can honestly say that this rig is a very nice radio with the old style look of the old Dynascan Corp. / Cobra 138XLR or 148XLR type radios.
I love the look and I’m still learn all the functions of this radio.
If you want a good strong CB then this is the radio for you as it covers 40 channels below CH 1 and 1-40 regular and CH 41-85 in all modes and all power.
I almost forgot it also has the weather channels built into it as well which you truck drivers and others may find very useful.
It’s a lot cheaper than some of your other 10m rigs but you can’t go wrong at the price of $199.99 currently $174.99 and if you sign up for their email you get another $10 off.
I want to suggest that you give this great little rig a chance and I think you will be pleased with what it can do.
Rick Eaton KD4HGR – Trustee of the W4BUG repeaters and the Gold Coast Radio Club
73 and happy DX’ing
Out of respect for AL and Anna Jean Karden’s service to GCARA, I would like to invite you to make a donation for a Brick at ARRL for Anna Jean Karden N4KAJ. This can be done at the Parrot website, parrotarc.org and make a donation. Donations will automatically stop once the funds goal has been met so this is a great opportunity to show respect for one of our beloved SK.
Anna Jean was a supportive wife to Al Karden N4ALK, who helps with VE testing for our club and others. Although Anna Jean’s health prevented her from being present at our functions, she was with us in spirit as she supported Al who has steadfastly supported our club. Rest in Peace, Anna Jean, and we miss your sweetness in our lives. Thank you for your contributions asap.
Submitted by Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT, President GCARA
More info: https://www.w4bug.org/news-articles/special-request-for-a-beloved-member/
S.3690, also known as the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act, is a bill introduced in the United States Senate on January 30, 2024. It aims to prohibit certain private land use restrictions that hinder the installation and operation of amateur radio antennas.
Here’s a breakdown of the key points:
Purpose:
To allow amateur radio operators to install and maintain effective outdoor antennas on their property without unreasonable restrictions from private entities like homeowners’ associations (HOAs).
This aims to improve emergency communication capabilities and promote the public benefits of amateur radio.
Key provisions:
The bill prohibits restrictions requiring prior approval for antenna installation if the requirement wasn’t present when the property was purchased or leased.
It also prohibits excessive information requirements in applications for antenna approval compared to similar applications.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would be directed to establish reasonable guidelines for antenna placement and aesthetics, balancing the needs of amateur radio operators with community concerns.
Arguments for the bill:
Proponents argue that unreasonable restrictions from HOAs and other private entities can significantly hinder the ability of amateur radio operators to effectively communicate, especially during emergencies.
They emphasize the critical role amateur radio plays in disaster relief, public service events, and scientific research, and that effective antennas are essential for these functions.
Arguments against the bill:
Opponents raise concerns about potential aesthetic issues with large antennas in residential neighborhoods.
They also express worries about the potential impact on property values and the lack of local control over antenna placement decisions.
Current status:
The bill is currently in the introduced stage and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
It’s too early to predict its chances of being passed into law.
It’s important to note that this is a complex issue with valid arguments on both sides. The ongoing debate considers the balance between individual rights, public interest, and community concerns.