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By Tim McGillen/N9CA 2020 LCARC President
December 2020 Season’s Greetings, November’s Meeting: A big THANK YOU to Charlie Sultana/AJ9N (former LCARC member now living in Florida) for a remarkable ZOOM virtual program presented by him - for us - on the 20 year anniversary of the first elementary school contact with Astronauts in space on the International Space Station from Burbank Illinois. He shared how they did it, with lots of pictures and videos of other school contacts he and members of our own Club both past and present accomplished together. A YouTube recording of Charlie’s program can be accessed at: https://youtu.be/R7c1L_tHPCM December 11th 2020 LCARC physical meeting has been cancelled due to the resurgence of Covid-19 concerns. We will be attempting a virtual ZOOM Club meeting instead. Stay tuned. Watch your email for a ZOOM invitation it will start at 7:00pm. Live VE Session Scheduled: Saturday January 23rd 9:00am – 11:00am. EMA office 2900 W. 93rd Ave. Crown Point IN 46307. $15.00 exam fee, if upgrading - provide a photocopy of current license. Proper mask required, hand sanitizer supplied, hard surfaces will be disinfected. *Pre-registration mandatory! Exam limited to the first 14 applicants to allow social distance spacing. Contact Tim/N9CA at: (219)-769-0673 or email: tim2020@sbcglobal.net 2021 Club Dues are well… due. Just $20. Send to: LCARC, PO Box 90, Crown Point IN 46308. Licensed amateurs, who have never been a member of LCARC, may join – 2021 dues waived - when they attend a physical Club meeting in 2021. Election News: A LCARC Board Member slate was presented and approved at November’s meeting. They are: James Harney/KF9EX, Bill Leaming/N4GIX, Russ McComb/KB9HO, Tim McGillen/N9CA, Mark Skowronski/K9MQ, George Suprenant/N9GWS, Adam White/KD9JCX. Others who wish to be 2021 Board Members may nominate themselves at the Tuesday December 8th 7:00pm ZOOM Board meeting. LCARC December Board Meeting: Tuesday December 8th at 7:00. Watch your email for a ZOOM e-vite. LCARC informal Information Net Wednesdays at 8:00pm Club VHF and UHF repeaters. A great way to stay in touch with Club members. If you haven’t logged in, why not? Non-member logins welcomed. HR NEWS -The ARRL has urged the FCC to waive its proposed $50 amateur radio application fee. The proposal has already drawn more than 3,200 individual comments. -US Representative Debbie Lesko of Arizona has introduced a resolution to designate April 18, 2021, as National Amateur Radio Operators Day, -As Category 4 Hurricane Iota neared landfall in Central America on November 16, the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) was forced to suspend operations at 0300 UTC because of what HWN Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, described as "deafening interference from a foreign AM broadcast station that came out of nowhere at 0200 UTC." At the time, the net had shifted to its 40-meter frequency of 7.268 kHz, collecting real-time weather and damage reports via amateur radio. The offending signal appeared to be from a 500 kW broadcaster in Turkey. Graves said the HWN has a long history on 7.268 MHz, but that the net is now considering a 40-meter frequency below 7.2 MHz. -Academic Paper Predicts Sunspot Cycle 25 Could be Among the Strongest Ever! Scott W. McIntosh, Deputy Director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, et al., has concluded that Solar Cycle 25 could be among the strongest sunspot cycles ever observed, and will almost certainly be stronger than the just-ended Solar Cycle 24 (sunspot number of 116). The scientists say it will also most likely be stronger than Solar Cycle 23 (sunspot number of 180). COOL PODCASTS The latest episode of the On the Air podcast (Episode 11) discusses how to choose the right antenna for your station, considering several aspects that go beyond cost and complexity. The latest episode of Elec Tech (episode21) features a discussion about undersea homes for data servers, and a chat with Nigel Vander Houwen, K7NVH, about HamWAN networks. The On the Air and Eclectic Tech podcasts are sponsored by Icom. Both podcasts are available on iTunes (iOS) and Stitcher (Android), as well as on Blubrry -- On the Air | Eclectic Tech. A SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying four radio amateurs autonomously docked on November 17 at 0401 UTC with the International Space Station (ISS). The four will remain on station until next spring. They joined Expedition 64 Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, on the ISS. Victor Glover, KI5BKC; Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, and Shannon Walker, KD5DXB, as well as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP." This marks Glover's first time in space. The others all are ISS veterans. Roselie White/K1STO US ARRL Delegate said all but Noguchi likely will take part in ARISS contacts with schools. White said the first school contact is tentatively scheduled for December 4th with Tecumseh High School in Oklahoma. School Club K5THS SKYWARN™ Recognition Day (SRD) has celebrated the long relationship (since 1999) between the amateur community and the National Weather Service (NWS). SKYWARN Recognition Day 2020 will take place from 0000 UTC to 2400 UTC on December 5. Amateur radio operators comprise a large percentage of SKYWARN volunteers across the country. During the event, operators are encouraged to exchange their name, home station, SRD number, and current weather conditions with other participating stations. The event website provides complete operating guidelines. Radio amateurs may sign up for a SKYWARN Recognition Day number by completing a participant sign-up form. A SKYWARN Recognition Day Facebook page has been created and will host a variety of live and recorded segments throughout the day. Facebook GroupsSKYWARN Recognition Day has 594 members. SKYWARN™ Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather ... Colorado ARES Group Thanked for Wildfire Support Boulder County, Colorado, Director of the Office of Emergency Management Mike Chard thanked Boulder County ARES (BCARES) for its contributions in support of the recent wildfire emergency response. DECEMBER RADIO SPORT EVENTS Friday Dec. 4 – 6th ARRL 160 Meter Contest info at ARRL.org Sat. Dec 12-13th Peak of Geminid meteor shower info at PINGJOCKEY.net Sat. Dec 12-13th ARRL 10 Meter Contest info at ARRL.org Sun. Dec 20th ARRL CW Rookie Roundup info at ARRL.org Wishing all of you the very best this holiday season, 73 Tim/N9CA |
Short SkipThe Official Newsletter of the LCARC
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