June 2022 – HamGab

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We will continue for May, June, & July to meet at the Bridgeview Community Center, 7902 S. Oketo Ave., Bridgeview, Illinois

Secretary’s Beat – Meeting Minutes

Hamfesters Amateur Radio Club meeting May 6, 2022 at Bridgeview Community Center 7:38 pm.

Roll: Nora kc9mlv, Jim w9jpr, Kurt wb9fmc, Patti kc9lye

Secretary’s Report: by Patti kc9lye, The February club meeting, I wasn’t there, so there were no minutes.
The May meeting was on Zoom only, our annual Weather Spotting program by Dave n9kpd. There wasn’t a meeting, except Jim w9jpr, has Hamfesters tickets, and fliers.

Tonight’s meeting I forgot the signup sheets, I guess there were about 20 people there.

A reminder, check the website Hamfesters.org for updates. Also, the club is still looking for a volunteer to bring treats to the club meetings. The club pays for treats, see Nora kc9mlv, or Don kc9eqq, for details.

Health & Welfare: by Don kc9eqq, “John Radio Russell” has retired from WDCB 90.9fm radio station
due to health issues. His show was Saturdays at 5:00 pm.

President’s Report: by Nora kc9mlv, June Birthdays: Cathy kc9nrh, (her’s is today), & Don kc9eqq. Today is the 50th Anniversary of Steve w9kxt & Peggy k9qlm Peters, that’s why they’re not here. Welcome to all our first time visitors, and friends that we haven’t seen in a while, like Tom ka9zxn. Welcome everyone, thanks for joining us tonight.

Report by Don kc9eqq, yesterday Don saw veteran Ron Kalat (formally kb9tcx), collecting donations for poppies.

Thank you, to all veterans.

Programs: Programs June-July will be held here. Tonight’s program contact with the MIR spacecraft April 1996 with astronaut Jerry Linenger. The contact was made possible through clubs; STARS & Hamfesters, it took place at a local Illinois Jr. high school. Program presented by Jim w9jpr. June program Field Day’s Memories by Jim w9jpr. July Our annual salute to veterans picnic, we’ll have a speaker also.
August Hamfest 2022

Publicity: by Jim w9jpr, he sent an email to local newspapers about tonight’s meeting.

Field Day 2022: by Jim w9jpr, at our June meeting we’ll take orders for Field Day pins. Pins are now $7.00 each, and the ARRL is charging $5.00 shipping.

Jim & other club members will look over the FD tent, to see if it can be patched up.

Hamfest Tickets 2022: Jim w9jpr, has tickets, and fliers. Please take some to sell.

Hamfest 2022: by Don kc9eqq, our hamfest will be held on Sunday, Aug. 7th at the fairgrounds.
On Saturday, Aug. 6th at the fairgrounds in the evening there will be pizza for vendors, and set up staff. We need volunteers to work hamfest. We’re still looking for vendors, please help us find more.

Old Business: Orders for club shirts, hoodies, & sweatshirts (Sweatshirts are $25.00 each), we need at least 12 orders before we can place an order. In the future, we’ll discuss ordering club jackets.

2023 will be Hamfesters 90th year, we need ideas on how to celebrate.

New Business: We need speakers at our club meetings in the fall. Connie AC9CK, has two YouTube presentations, she’s offered to do. Thanks, Connie.

Adjournment: 21:10 pm Bob kb9fqb, & Don kc9eqq

Winner of Split the Pot Rich kb9ntx
raffle prize winners: Keith ka9hpl, Chris Mike k9acm’s better half, & Jim kd9ukj

de Jim Riley W9JPR

In “The Blues Brothers,” Jake and Ellwood were in a quest to get their band back together. We don’t have to face that kind of quest. Our band is back together. Your station leaders from past years are signed up and ready to go and our meals are all set. Not only are we going to have a good time, we’re going to eat very well too. All we need is you to join us.

   The big news for this month is the price increase of Field Day pins. Patty KC9LYE will still be taking orders at the June meeting but we have to raise our price to $7.00. Not only has the ARRL added sales tax but now they’ve added shipping. It used to be you could send them six bucks to order a pin for yourself and they would mail it to you for free. Now a single pin is going to set you back $11.88 with the added tax and shipping charges. Our price of seven bucks is a real bargain in comparison. Buying in bulk pays.

   All orders must be placed by the end of the June meeting. I will order the next day so we can have them in time for distribution at the event. Can’t make the meeting? You can send a check made out to me at my roster address.

   As of this writing, the tent situation is still in doubt. We hope to have a final decision before the meeting.

   If you absolutely can’t join us for Field Day, you can still help if you operate from home. There’s a place in the log submission form to add your points to our score. Just enter Hamfesters Radio Club on the appropriate line.

   Field Day 2022 is June 25 and 26 at SouthBridge Church on Wheeler Drive (155^th St.), just west of Harlem. Operations go from 1800Z Saturday to 1800Z Sunday. Setup Saturday is 0800.

Hamfest Ticket Sales

de Jim Riley W9JPR

While a lot of flyers went out at the April meeting, we still have plenty more. Be sure to pick some up at the next meeting. They don’t do any good sitting in my closet. Your club needs YOU to help spread the word.

Your club also needs you to take some tickets to sell. One of our newest members has taken 15 tickets. He’s the only one.

What about the rest of you? There will be only two months until Hamfest after the June meeting. Your club needs YOU to get those tickets in circulation.    Don’t wait for the next meeting. I will do whatever it takes to get tickets and flyers to you. Call my roster number or email w9jpr2016@gmail.com.

FOR SALE by Owner

Kurtt WB9FMC

FOR SALE:

Flex 6400 with ATU and extended warranty (good until June 2025).

New Flex Price	What I paid (Jun2021)
Flex 6400 w/ATU       $2,429.00	$2,289.00
Extended warranty     ??	$175.00
________	____________
Total                          $2,429.00	$2,464.00

Asking $2,200.00

Note: To transfer the warranty costs $89.00

Also: I have a Maestro on order for $1,199.00 with a 2023 delivery date. The price is currently $1,299.00. I don’t know if that price will “hold” until they build them, but I might be willing to split the difference when it becomes available.

Drake Equipment

Note: I have listed here what WB4HFN gathered prices for this equipment in 2009.*

	WB4HFN 2009 prices
2-B receiver	$201
2-BQ speaker & Q multiplier	$160	(both: $435)
T-4XC transmitter	$340
R-4C receiver	$570
AC-4 power supply	$193
MS-4 speaker	$127
FS-4 frequency synthesizer	$585	(complete station: $1,815)
DC-3 power supply	$68

2-B/2-BQ Asking $400

4 Twins w/FS-4: Asking $1,500

Note: I would like to sell the 2B/2BQ as a set as well as the Drake 4 twins and FS-4 as a set. I am open to all offers.

* See: http://www.wb4hfn.com/DRAKE/DrakeSalePriceHistory.htm

Kurtt  WB9FMC kurtt@pinrod.com (773) 284-9500

Hamshack Hotline

By Benjamin KC9UNS

Yet another “toy” to add to the ham shack? Oh great, just what the XYL wanted!

A few weeks ago I was reading about this new thing called Ham Shack Hotline, from what I can remember I think it was from someone’s QRZ profile. After looking into it more, I thought it might be fun, but was it for me? I mean I already have a crap ton of stuff on my desk as it is. Well the topic kept popping up on youtube and the discord communities I frequent, and figured why not give it a try!

So what is Hamshack hotline(HH)? Well it’s a private telephone network for Hams by Ham Radio Operators and is a Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) phone system kinda like what’s used in corporate companies, where you have a central pbx/sip server that would add an extension for a phone that you’d be able to use.

Some of you may say HH isn’t real radio! Of course it isn’t! The goal of the HH is not to replace the traffic that is carried over RF, but to be a companion to what you have in the shack… the same could be said for echolink or other internet based shack aid.

Getting on the network is cheap, unless you want to buy new old stock phones… hey kinda like ham radio right?

Getting a phone is as easy as pointing your browser to eBay and searching for a used compatible model that the hamshackhotline.com wiki says will work. Or if you want a brand new phone, Amazon has some models still in stock. A lot of offices are going to remote workers and have shut down the office and are considering these phone’s as junk… also known as eWaste! Luckily these phones can skip the landfill and be used for our purpose. If you do choose to buy used, one thing you do need to look out for is if the phone is locked to a previous network and is able to do a factory reset. Almost all of the listings on eBay don’t tell you if the phone is unlocked and you’ll have to contact the seller to find out. The seller may not know what you are talking about. If the seller doesn’t know, ask if they can get into the webui admin and click advanced without a password. A factory reset of the phone can be done by yourself as long as you can login to the web ui. If they aren’t able to do this, it’s a locked phone and you have to hack the phone which is more work than it’s worth, so avoid them. As a protection if the buyer sells you a phone that is locked, you have communications from the seller to contest the fact and passably get a refund.

Some used and new phones don’t come with AC power cable and will need to be purchased separately, this is because a lot of these phones are used in an office setting that have POE (Power over ethernet) and will need a 5v 3 amp power brick. I chose the POE option over the power brick, yes, it is more expensive if you don’t already have the equipment to run POE. but as I already have a ton of cords under my desk and adding another? Well Yeah! You don’t want to see the bird’s nest! Cable management is my kryptonite. 

So phones? You can get the basic, of basics like the Cisco SPA-941 or SPA-942 that can be had for as low as $25 including shipping. At the time of this writing I found a seller offering 2 for $30. You can also use an analog POTS phone using the Cisco WIP-310, it might be cool to use a rotary phone on the network!

For myself I wanted something a little nicer and chose the Cisco SPA-525G2 which has a 3.2-inch color screen, wifi, bluetooth, mp3 player, newsreader, and is able to handle upto 5 lines. It was a little more than $60, but well worth the upgrade.

Getting on the HH network is also easy. From the HH site, click on the HHOPS helpdesk link, you’ll need to open a new ticket and create a new account. Once done you’ll need to request a number and provide some info about your phone such as model, mac address, your name, call sign, and a picture of the label on the back of the phone. It may take 24-48 hours for the HH team to send you the instructions via email on how to provision your model of phone and will provide you with your extension number (Mine is 6200000901, call me and leave a voicemail). They may also need some extra info such as a copy of your license. As a note, you wont get on the network right away and will have to wait until the HH server updates, for the US it’s 3:30am EST. IMO this is smart of them. This limits the chances of some bad actor wanting to use the network just to cause problems.

So what can you do with HH? Good question, besides talking to your buddies you can jump on bridges which are kinda like talkgroups for DMR or Fusion but without PTT. Another cool feature is that you can configure your phone to let you know if people are in the room by showing a different line color. The network also has RF links to repeaters and or Allstar nodes such as the K8JTK Link which links together AllStar, EchoLink, DMR, DSTAR, M17, NXDN, P25, and Fusion. To use it you would hit *99 to key the mic and # to unkey. Other fun stuff is listening to the Old time radio service or getting your conspiracy theory on by listening to Paranormal Radio which has archives of Art bell shows and Ground Zero! What else? Well it might be good for clubs, ares, races, skywarn, and EOC stuff, who knows the possibilities are wide open. Fax is also capable… for those who need that type of thing. 

Anyway, have a look at the site, try it for yourself and have some fun. 

Ben KC9UNS

Article links:
https://wiki.hamshackhotline.com/
https://wiki.hamshackhotline.com/

ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program

from ARRL VEC VE Newsletter

The ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program went into effect on April 19, 2022. ARRL will cover the one-time $35 application fee for new license candidates younger than 18-years old for tests administered under the ARRL VEC program. The $35 FCC application fee will be reimbursed after the ARRL VEC receives the completed reimbursement form and the new license has been issued by the FCC. The reimbursement check will be mailed to the fee payer. Also, candidates younger than 18-years old would pay a reduced exam session fee of $5 to the ARRL VEC VE team at the time of the exam. The $5 fee is for all candidates under the age of 18 regardless of the exam level taken. Proof of under 18 status is required at the session. Visit the ARRL website for the program instructions and reimbursement form at www.arrl.org/youth-licensing-grant-program<http://www.arrl.org/youth-licensing-grant-program>.

The ARRL Board approved the “Youth Licensing Grant Program” at its July 2021 meeting in Hartford, Connecticut, expanding on the scope of the original motion proposed by ARRL Southeastern Division Director Mickey Baker, N4MB. The new program will cover the $35 FCC license application fee for candidates younger than 18-years old. The Board believes that “the recruitment and training of young amateur radio operators is a necessary and proper mission of the ARRL, and that subsidization of the $35 fee will reduce the number of new amateurs that otherwise would be lost from these groups,” the Board said. Initially the new program would serve up to 1,000 new license applicants under 18 years old. The program length is indefinite; it may be renewed or terminated by the Administration and Finance Committee or by the Board of Directors. The motion carried with applause from Board members.

Hamfesters VE Testings

Important Note: Amateur Radio Exams

1. Bring 2 pencils for the answer sheet, and a Black ink ball point pen for the FCC VEC 605 form we provide.  (FCC registration form)
2. Exam Candidates: Prior to your arrival. You are REQUIRED to register in the FCC CORES system online and receive a FCC Registration Number (FRN) before exam day.
   Once you have obtained the FRN number, please bring it with you to the exam location. To apply for the FRN, please go here.>>>  https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do 
   Already Licensed? Please bring your Official Amateur License and Photo Copy of Your License. The FRN number is printed on your FCC License. (also found on the GMRS license if you have one) ALL Copies are filed with all testing materials. You will keep the originals. The FCC ULS CORES system must have a valid email address.  Otherwise you may not get your License.
   The FRN number is a requirement on the FCC 605 form we provide and your Exam answer sheet.
3. A fee of $15 dollars is charged for the examination. Payment is Cash ONLY — no credit cards or checks accepted.
4. Please bring a photo ID such as a Government Drivers License or US passport.
5. Exam location is at Oak Forest City Hall 15440 S. Central Ave. Oak Forest.  Enter through the Police Station Door and follow the ARRL EXAM Signs to the Exam Area.
6. Yes, You may bring your calculator, however you must demonstrate that all memories are erased.

NOTE:     Starting  April 19, 2022 the FCC $35.00 Amateur Application Fee Starts. This new fee will only apply to applicants for a new 10 year License, renewal, rule waiver or a new vanity call sign.  (The $35.00 Application Fee is non-refundable) There will be no charge for future License Upgrades or administrative updates, such as a change of mailing address or email address.

The New $35.00 Fee will NOT be collected by the VE’s (Volunteer Examiners). ALL Exam paperwork including exam fees, answer sheets and Form 605s are mailed to the ARRL-VEC headquarters.  If you passed your exam the ARRL-VEC will submit your information to the FCC. Once the FCC runs batch processing, they will email you the process to pay the $35.00 fee. (usually credit card) You will have Ten calendar days to pay per instructions giving by the FCC. If payment is properly transferred, the FCC will then email instructions to download your License.  You will have 30 days to download the Amateur license. 

Again, The FCC must have your valid email address in the ULS CORES system.

ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program starts on April 19, 2022

Anticipating the implementation of the fee in 2022, the ARRL Board of Directors, at its July 2021 meeting, approved the "ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program <https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-board-establishes-program-to-cover-initial-fcc-license-fee-for-young-applicants>." Under the program, ARRL will cover a one-time $35 application fee for license candidates younger than 18 years old for tests administered under the auspices of the ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC). Qualified candidates also would pay a reduced exam session fee of $5 to the ARRL VEC upon examination.

To give yourself practice on all the questions: Please click on the Website below that contains Exam Flash Cards Go to  >>>  https://hamexam.org/   Click on the Flash Cards for the Class of Exam you wish to study. You can also take the practice Exams found on the same Web Site. It’s free and a good practice prior to any Exam Session.

73’s   Al – N9ZD   VE examiner

June 2022 Contest Calendar

From WA7BNM Contest Calendar Website

+ Tisza Cup CW Contest	0000Z-2359Z, Jun 4
+ 10-10 Int. Open Season PSK Contest	0000Z, Jun 4 to 2359Z, Jun 5
+ Wake-Up! QRP Sprint	0600Z-0800Z, Jun 4
+ Kentucky QSO Party	1300Z, Jun 4 to 0100Z, Jun 5
+ ARRL Inter. Digital Contest	1800Z, Jun 4 to 2359Z, Jun 5
+ ARS Spartan Sprint	0100Z-0300Z, Jun 7
+ VK Shires Contest	0000Z-2359Z, Jun 11
+ Asia-Pacific Sprint, SSB	1100Z-1300Z, Jun 11
+ SKCC Weekend Sprintathon	1200Z, Jun 11 to 2359Z, Jun 12
+ Portugal Day Contest	1200Z, Jun 11 to 1200Z, Jun 12
+ AGCW VHF/UHF Contest	1400Z-1800Z, Jun 11
+ GACW WWSA CW DX Contest	1500Z, Jun 11 to 1500Z, Jun 12
+ REF DDFM 6m Contest	1600Z, Jun 11 to 1600Z, Jun 12
+ ARRL June VHF Contest	1800Z, Jun 11 to 0259Z, Jun 13
+ 4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint	0000Z-0200Z, Jun 13
+ NTC QSO Party	1900Z-2000Z, Jun 16
+ SMIRK Contest	0000Z, Jun 18 to 2359Z, Jun 19
+ All Asian DX Contest, CW	0000Z, Jun 18 to 2359Z, Jun 19
+ IARU Region 1 50 MHz Contest	1400Z, Jun 18 to 1400Z, Jun 19
+ Stew Perry Topband Challenge	1500Z, Jun 18 to 1500Z, Jun 19
+ West Virginia QSO Party	1600Z, Jun 18 to 0400Z, Jun 19
+ ARRL Kids Day	1800Z-2359Z, Jun 18
+ Run for the Bacon QRP Contest	2300Z, Jun 19 to 0100Z, Jun 20
+ SKCC Sprint	0000Z-0200Z, Jun 22
+ Ukrainian DX DIGI Contest	1200Z, Jun 25 to 1200Z, Jun 26
+ His Maj. King of Spain Contest, SSB	1200Z, Jun 25 to 1200Z, Jun 26
+ ARRL Field Day	1800Z, Jun 25 to 2100Z, Jun 26

Club Information

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Photos from the March Meeting

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Notice: Beginning with Feb 2021, all HamGab issues will be gluten and salt-free. This is part of my commitment to provide you with the healthiest and environmentally friendly reading possible. You will notice no degradation in image quality due to the clever design of the editor. If you choose to print HamGab we suggest you use low-fat, vegetarian-based ink in your printer.