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Less than One week
until Hamfest!
Now
is the time to put the finishing touches on your "Hamfest
early Christmas List". If you will be looking for something
in particular and know exactly what you want, it would be prudent
to shoot an email or make a phone call to one of the vendors, to
ensure that they bring what you need! Don't miss this great
opportunity to get what you want, at a great price, and oh by the
way - scratch the shipping fees!
To facilitate communication
with the vendors I have provided the all of the banners for their
websites below... You will find all of their contact info
at the respective site.
If you don't have a
ticket, don't fret, they will be available at the door. This
years fun will open to the public at 9 AM this coming Saturday,
September 20th. Get all the details at the
Hamfest website!
Click for a Map
Fox Hunt Project Links
 Here are more than a few projects for Fox Hunting (or
Amateur Radio Direction Finding). Lots of stuff can be found just
by Googling those two terms...
There isn't a lot of time left before
the Hunt goes down on Saturday the 27th of September. Find a good
project or two and get busy! Here is a
link to the rules, incase you haven't already downloaded them.
As of today, there
are four amateurs registered to compete in the VBARC 2008 Fox
Hunt. Registration is easy and may be done by
email. Additionally, you will also be able to register
at the Virginia Beach Hamfest, just look for the VBARC table.
Build an Offset Attenuator
All About Radio
Direction Finding (RDF)
A TDOA Antenna Unit for Fox Hunting
Arrow Antennas.com
(for those who would rather get it off the shelf)
Some great
tips from the Warminster Amateur Radio Club
Tape Measure Beam Optimized for Radio Direction Finding
Radio Direction Finding Projects
(a whole slew of great projects)
DX Zone
(more links than you could ever possibly need)
Piedmont Transmitter
Tracking
(best site I've found)
An RF Step Attenuator from ARRL
Thanks to Jason AD5IY!
Fox Hunting Rig & Antenna image
courtesy of Piedmont
Transmitter Tracking
From the President
of CARS
 As
the highly anticipated
Virginia Beach Hamfest
coincides with our usual third Saturday of the month schedule for
Shack Day, it is a "no brainer" to say that we won't have Shack
Day at our clubhouse, but we hope everybody turns out to support
the Virginia Beach Hamfest and has a really good time there at
Virginia Wesleyan College next weekend, September 20th and 21st.
Be sure to make the most of the opportunity to do
some shopping for ham radio goods you need/want. There will
be many tables of "good stuff" for sale, and there will be some
first class commercial vendors such as
KJI Electronics
and Cedar
City Sales.
I hope to see you there. Our next Shack Day
at
our clubhouse will be Saturday, October 18, following our monthly
club meeting at our clubhouse on Monday, October 6 at 7:30 pm.
CARS next Public Service meeting will be held at
The Shack (aka the QRM Room) this coming Wednesday, September
17 at 7:30 pm. Here is an opportunity to pat ourselves on
our collective backs for the good turnout we had for Tropical Storm
Hanna and to get more people involved in this Public Service aspect
of our hobby. I'm sure many will find it very rewarding once
they give it a try and get a better understanding of the tasks.
It isn't difficult, it just takes that first step to try it.
 Our
agenda includes some further familiarization with the
ARRL National Traffic System method of message handling led
by a real Pro; discussion of our own "Lessons Learned" from the
Tropical Storm Hanna event; opportunities to discuss how we can
minimize the burden of efforts to make it easier for more of us
to support the City; coordinating our individual responses to the
City's Emergency Management current feedback questionnaire.
And of course an open discussion of individuals' thoughts.
I look forward to seeing you there next Wednesday evening.
73, Paul K4PRB
September General
Membership Meeting
 On
September 4th, 2008, VBARC President Don AI4ME kicked off the September
VBARC meeting around 7:35 PM. John WT4M wasted no time in introducing
the evenings guest speaker Carl Clements W4CAC, our
ARRL Virginia Section
Manager.
Carl spoke to a crowd
of 54 VBARC members and guests. He provided an informative outline
of the
League's Field Organization and discussed the responsibilities
of the different posts. Carl also fielded a few questions from the
audience.
 Carl
answered Gordon's KU4EC emailed question concerning the why the
DXCC Number One honor roll amateurs are not listed on the
DXCC
Listings web page at the ARRL website, when the other categories
are (i.e. Honor Roll, DXCC Challenge, etc.) Carl responded by stating
that after speaking with the fellows at the DXCC Desk, the indicated
that they were aware of the web pages shortcomings and were working
to make them more standardized and provide the Number One Honor
Roll List.
John WT4M, yours truly,
then spoke to the club about the upcoming
VBARC
Fox Hunt at
First Landing State Park.
 I
went over a few of the rules and basic equipment required. I would
have liked to give a PowerPoint, but unfortunately our projector
is getting good use at the VBARC classes that were running concurrently
with this months meeting. In any event I will be providing additional
links to great information here at the website. I also fielded a
few questions and provided printed copies of the rules, which can
also be downloaded
here. If you would like to register for the Hunt, just shoot
me an
email.
After my Fox Hunt tips,
the club took its obligatory break and we all spent a good 15 minutes
or so just chewing the rag and making those all important "eyeball
QSOs".
 Lew
W4BLO brought in a huge box of goodies (MFJ catalogs, ICOM frequency
charts and grid square maps, etc.) for handout to those in attendance
and spoke about the
Hamfest one
last time (for this year).
 Ron
W8RJL touched on several matters of importance to the club, including
the upcoming
QCWA International
Convention at the Cavalier Hotel from October 3rd through the
5th. He reiterated that QCWA membership is NOT required for attendance
at the event and the importance of VBARC support.
 Ruth
KB4LIF announced that she is involved with a new Chesapeake club
called the Chesapeake Community Communications Club, providing communications
support for the community, and that if anyone were interested they
could
contact her.
 We
had a rare treat this meeting, as we had some past
VBARC Presidents
that we have not seen in awhile in attendance. Both John Cloo KG7EU
who has just returned from assignment in Hawaii for the past few
years (poor fellow) and Christian Slater-Kellogg KN5CK (though you
may have known him as KG4QBN) was in town visiting from Arkansas
and figured he would drop in on a meeting while here. Great to see
you both! Welcome back John and come back soon Christian!
 Bernie
KI4VCR, our esteemed Secretary ended up playing "Let's Make a Deal"
with an amazing 10 new club members! Fortunately she had some application
forms (as I forgot mine, doh!) and we didn't have any change, but
somehow she made it all work out!
With 54 in attendance,
this was one of VBARC's largest meetings in awhile, certainly indicated
by the 45 dollar 50/50 that was one by Jim KF4FRK. Jim you know
you have to earmark that money for Hamfest! Also, thanks to Jim
AG4XT for donning the apron and running the 50/50, as Stew K4STW
(aka Mr. 50/50) was unable to make the meeting.
This was our last meeting
before the Hamfest
and
Fox Hunt, and the
QCWA Convention
immediately follows our October meeting. Don't forget to mark your
calendar for these important events!
You can have a look
at the rest of the meeting's photos
right here.
New Hams get their
Calls!
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Technician Class (2)
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Darrin A. Michalek
KC2TXC
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Brandon A. Page
KJ4GLD
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Lake Drummond Wireless
Association
Now those are some "boat
anchors!" A few years have passed since Mike Williams snapped this
gem for the Portsmouth Star. I thought it would do us all well to
know that Hampton Roads has been "radio active" for quite some time!
What follows is the text from the Star that accompanied this photo
in circa 1958:
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Hams To Operate
For Public
In Vacant Store
Window in Downtown Portsmouth John Abbot,
George Hartsell and Bill Rose Will Demonstrate
Hobby.
Hams To Show
How They Operate
PORTSMOUTH -
Members of the Lake Drummond Wireless Association
will show the public tomorrow how hams operate.
Equipment has
been set up in the empty store window at
232 High St. as part of the Downtown
Portsmouth Association's hobby project.
The Downtown Association is sponsoring a
showing of hobbies in empty store windows
along lower High Street as a public service.
Tom Barnard,
president of Lake Drummond Wireless Association,
said members of the organization would be
on duty in the window tomorrow to show how
messages are transmitted and received between
amateur wireless operators.
The association
with 25 members is licensed by the Federal
Communications Commission. Although it is
strictly a hobby, the men are pressed into
service at times by Civil Defense to operate
its communications system.
It is no problem
to communicate with
Little America, Barnard said, and members
of his organization oftentimes relay messages
to Navy personnel there for the men's families
here.
Many of the
members have their automobiles equipped
with wireless and carry their call letters
on their auto license plates.
* * *
The call letters
of the association are W4HXN. Call letters
have been exchanged with other hams throughout
the world and many of the cards are exhibited
in the association's display at 232 High
St.
Membership in
the association is open to any licensed
ham operators, Barnard said. The club meets
the first and third Saturday nights at the
Norfolk County Civil Defense headquarters
at Deep Creek.
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Things haven't change
all that much! Hams doing good things for God & Country!
 I
received this piece from Lew W4BLO, who had passed it along from
George W4GEO. George is the one standing in the back of the photo. George was kind enough to give me a phone call
about the photo and article. He
stated that it took almost an entire day to get the storefront set
up (all those boat anchors were not so easy to move around) and
it was very difficult to get an antenna hooked up. They maintained
the display for two days. Not a whole lot of contacts, but lots
of participation and interest from the public.
George went on to say
that Lake Drummond Wireless existed for quite a few years and that
they would meet in a
Quonset hut owned by Norfolk County Civil Defense at
Deep Creek Locks Park. George also relayed that they would regularly
pass traffic for the Little America encampment in Antarctica.
To have a look at the
original Portsmouth Star newspaper clip, click
here!
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