KDØCL
West Bloomington 147.090+ Tone: None Central Bloomington Analog/Fusion 443.175+ DCS: 165
May and June License Exams Cancelled
The amateur radio exams scheduled for May 23 and June 20, 2020 have been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. The exam teams hope to resume testing in the fall. Monitor http://bloomington-ve.org/ for updates.
Bloomington VE exam session dates for 2020 are as follows:
May 23 – Cancelled
June 20 – Cancelled
July – no exams
August – no exams
September 26
October 24
November – no exams
December – no exams
All Exams will be held at Civic Plaza in Bloomington in the Haeg Conference Room. All sessions will start at 8:45am.
2020 Summer Fete and River Rendezvous Cancelled
The 2020 River Rendezvous (held in the fall) has been cancelled.
2020 Summer Fete, at Normandale Lake Park,
July event canceled; event may rescheduled to September
April 21, 2020 – The City of Bloomington has initiated changes to Parks and Recreation operations and programming in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The City continues to base decisions on data, guidelines and orders from Governor Walz and the Minnesota Department of Health.
NWS Twin Cities Online Skywarn Training
NWS Twin Cities presents the Spring 2020 Skywarn Spotter Training. Sign up for a free class. Classes will last approximately one hour and include information about severe weather safety, storm structure, intensity and tornado development, and how you can help the NWS in severe weather. Content is appropriate for all ages – invite the whole family!
You will have to sign up to attend the GoToWebinar sessions.
Click the following link to sign up: https://register.gotowebinar.com/rt/7049938121727200524
You do not need to sign up for the Facebook live classes. Just follow us on Facebook and you should get a notification when we go live.
APRS Overview – Virtual Presentation
Aaron, AG7GK, will be hosting a presentation on April 21st. This will be a casual overview of APRS on 2 Meters, equipment, tips and tricks, fun stuff, etc. This will be a video conference but you can just call and/or video conference via phone, tablet, or PC. Here are the details:
Topic: APRS Overview
Time: Apr 21, 2020 08:00 PM Arizona
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://asu.zoom.us/j/2875395168
Or Telephone:
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 6833 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 646 876 9923
Meeting ID: 287 539 5168
International numbers available: https://asu.zoom.us/u/as9cABC7Y
Or iPhone one-tap (US Toll): +13462487799,,2875395168# or +16699006833,,2875395168#
https://www.ag7gk.org/
www.queencreekarc.org
https://www.facebook.com/groups/EastValleyAmateurRadio/
Metro Skywarn classes cancelled, picnic postponed
Skywarn Training Classes – We are now cancelling all Skywarn training for the year. The NWS is working on their online training session and we will post it when it’s available. You’re welcome to review Milwaukee’s training in the meantime. Our training slide set and other tools are also available on our website > Spotter Resources.
Picnic – Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we will be cancelling the picnic for this year. We will be re-evaluating later to see if we can have some sort of event this fall or winter.
Social Distancing While Spotting – We’d like to remind everyone to follow current social distancing guidelines when spotting this summer. Safety First!
Amateur Radio RF Exposure Calculator
I found this link very useful for those of us operating a radio with an indoor antenna or in close proximity to any antenna and high power output. High power stations are required to perform these calculations. I recommend all amateurs review their exposure. Its quick to calculate with the link below. For example, In my apartment, 14W is maximum recommended output power (on 144 and 444 MHz) when I’m 6 feet away from my indoor vertical antenna.
http://hintlink.com/power_density.htm
ARRL RF Exposure page has more detail about FCC station testing requirements and suggested steps to protect yourself and others from the RF emitted from your station.
Hamvention QSO Party May 16
https://wwrof.org/hamvention-qso-party/ has all details
Let’s celebrate the many years we have all had at the Great Gathering we call Hamvention. We also want to remember Ron Moorefield W8ILC who never missed a Hamvention and contributed to our club until his recent death.Let’s light up the airwaves with our remembrances of Hamventions of the past! See you on the air! K3LR, Tim Duffy and W8CI, Michael Kalter.
Here is the deal: 12 hour event, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EDT on Saturday of Hamvention May 16, 2020. Operate CW or SSB on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters. The exchange is a signal report and first year you attended Hamvention. If you have never attended Hamvention you send 2020.
Send your score (number of QSOs) to 3830scores.com within 5 days of the event. You can print a certificate on line via www.HVQP.org. More details will appear on the Hamvention QSO Party web site being set up now.
Special bonus: W8BI, the club call of the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA is the host of Hamvention) will be activated by designated DARA members from their home stations. You can add 10 points for each band/mode QSO with W8BI (12 available). So you can earn 120 bonus points (like having 120 additional QSOs).
MN Repeater Council Spring Newsletter
The Minnesota Repeater Council Spring 2020 Newsletter is available on their website at https://www.mrc.gen.mn.us/
Stillwater club meeting on the air. All welcome to join.
Stillwater’s Saturday club meeting has been moved from in person to on the air and all are invited to attend.
the SARA meeting for March has been cancelled. Shortly after the decision to cancel was made, Boutwells Landing informed us that they were restricting access to the facility. The staff thanked us for being proactive.
We will gather on the air Saturday morning with a Get On The Air Meeting or “GOTAM” in lieu of our regular meeting, We will begin at about 9:15 AM.
Here’s how we’ll do it. There will be 2 bands used, 75 meters and 2 meters. Those with capabilities to get on 75 meters, we’ll meet at 3.856 +/- QRM. If you can’t get on HF in general, or 75-meters due to antenna issues, we will be in the SARA repeater at 147.060 +Offset 026 Normal DCS/DCTS.
Your hosts/facilitators will be Jim WØELC on 75 meters and Joe KCØOIO on the SARA repeater. Between the two of us, we’ll cross band simulcast as much as we can so that all can hear the full gathering. We’ll have a couple of topics for discussion during the course of the gathering to keep things interesting.
For those of you out of town members, SARA members have access to the WØEQO and WØZSW remote bases using the RCForb client software from RemoteHams.com. Download the RCForb client for Windows from remotehams.com or RCFOrb Android app from Google Play. Contact Pat WAØTDA ( wa0tda@arrl.net ) for approval to access the remote bases. You can also listen in via a webSDR or if you can listen but not transmit from your location; send me an email that you’re listening and will check you in.
I can’t think of a better way of proving the social contact aspect of Amateur Radio at cautious times like this than getting on the air to gather when we can’t gather in person.
Fire up your radio and join SARA for the Get On The Air Meeting!.
—
Joe Heitzinger, KCØOIO
President – Stillwater Amateur Radio Association
Assistant Director – ARRL Dakota Division
www.radioham.org
Buffalo MN hamfest postponed. ARRL virtual meeting scheduled
Midwinter Madness, the hamfest scheduled for Saturday March 21st, in
Buffalo, MN, has been postponed.
Since most of us are going to hunkered down in our homes, I thought I
would host a Dakota Division virtual meeting on the Internet.
I will give an ARRL update and then share the highlights of my recent
trip to V4 St. Kitts and Nevis.
If you have a topic you would like to present to the amateur radio
community, please contact me about adding you to the agenda.
I plan to begin my presentation on Saturday March 21, 2020 at 9:30 AM
CDT. Please sign-up to get specific connection instructions for
computers and telephones at
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3546387199993324547
Let’s try to make the best of these unusual circumstances spend a little
virtual time together since we can’t meet in person.
Stay safe and I hope to see you can join the webinar.