KDØCL
West Bloomington 147.090+ Tone: None Central Bloomington Analog/Fusion 443.175+ DCS: 165
Twin City FM Club Picnic
Wednesday July 25th 2018
The TCFMC picnic will be at the Louisiana Oaks Park Pavilion (the Field Day location) 3520 Louisiana Avenue South, St. Louis Park from 6 to 9 pm.
Come see your fellow Twin City FM Club members and friends. The Club will be providing hamburgers, hot dogs, drinks and other fixings. Dishes are welcome to be brought. All are welcome to attend. Bring a friend that may be thinking about becoming a licensed HAM or is looking for a radio club. Talk in will be on the 146.760 repeater starting at 5:30 PM. We would like to have an idea of how much food to bring, so please RSVP for this event by e-mail, phone, text message or the club Facebook event page:
AJ Hirman – N0PVC
n0pvc@arrl.net
763-412-9014
Club Membership Chairperson
Amateur Radio Operators Recognition Days in Minnesota
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has proclaimed June 23 and 24, 2018 as Amateur Radio Operator Recognition Days in the State Of Minnesota
Below is a PDF version suitable for printing
Field Day 2019
The premiere operating activity of the year takes place Saturday June 23 until midday Sunday June 24.
The Bloomington Amateur Radio Association joins the Richfield Radio Club at the Richfield Community Center on Nicollet Avenue for this event.
Please show up around 10 A.M. to help setup. Radio operations begin at 1 P.M. Saturday and conclude at 1 P.M. on Sunday. Help tearing down is most appreciated.
Amateur Radio Exam Session
http://bloomington-ve.org/
The last Bloomington VE session, before their summer break, is Saturday June 23 at Bloomington Civic Plaza (City Hall)
Please click on above link for all the details.
June VHF Club Challenge
On behalf of the Bloomington Amateur Radio Association, I would like to issue a challenge to local clubs around Minnesota (including their membership in surrounding states): can you get more stations on the air and logs submitted for the ARRL June VHF Contest than BARA?
With Field Day on the horizon, the June VHF contest is a good opportunity to get operators on the air and making contacts, even if it’s only on 2m/70cm FM. It would be fun to see if you can put your microphone where your mouth is and make a few contacts during the June VHF contest. The contest runs from 1:00 PM CDT Saturday 6/9 (1800z) to 9:59 PM CDT Sunday 6/10 (0259z Monday 6/11).
To make things a little less intimidating, I suggest three half-hour FM focus times during the contest, 4:00-4:30 PM Saturday 6/9, 8:00-8:30 AM Sunday 6/10, and 9:30-9:59 PM Sunday 6/10, using a frequency of 146.550 MHz (and 446.000 MHz). With these focus times, a casual operator doesn’t need to spend the whole weekend looking for contacts, and there’s even a category exclusively for FM-only operators.
The information exchanged is your four-character grid square, and you will need to log frequency, call, grid square, time (UTC) and mode. In Bloomington and the southern Twin Cities metro the grid square is EN34, but you should check yours before participating in the contest.
If you are interested in a quick overview of how to participate in a VHF+ contest, complete with recommended scripts for contacts, I urge you to take a look at this 2-page guide. For a more detailed discussion of VHF contesting, including modes other than FM, there is a longer guide here. Full rules for the ARRL June VHF contest can be found on the ARRL website.
Make sure that after the contest you submit your log to the ARRL! You can enter the data from paper logs and submit them directly using this web tool.
I hope to hear you on the air!
Bill
AE0EE
President, Bloomington Amateur Radio Association
The forecast on Sunday afternoon looks quite nice, so I’m planning to operate portable on 20 meters at Kenwood Park, somewhere on the hill near the center of the park from 2-5 PM CDT. If you’d like to come by and join me, you’re welcome to do so. It’ll be a bit like Field Day, except shorter (but very likely good weather). Bringing a pair of headphones/earbuds and a logging device (pad of paper, notebook, phone, computer) is recommended.
Left to my own devices I’ll be operating using Morse code, but I’ll have capability for all modes including voice, FT8, and RTTY for anyone who wants to join in and doesn’t know code by ear.
April Meeting Canceled
After consultation with the forecast products from the National Weather Service forecast office in Chanhassen, we have decided to cancel the in-person meeting tonight. Heavy snow throughout the day will make travel difficult this evening, and the BARA meeting is not sufficiently important to hold in-person.
However, we will take this opportunity to make use of the BARA repeater (147.090 MHz, +600 kHz offset, no tone), and will hold a net at 7:30 PM CDT. The BARA amendment vote will be held in May.
I hope to hear you on the air tonight!
April 3 Meeting: Bylaws Change
At the February meeting, a change in the Constitution and Bylaws was proposed to eliminate the requirement to hold a post office box. We did not reach a quorum at our March meeting. The change is now on the agenda for the April 3 meeting (7:30 PM, Haeg conference room, Bloomington Civic Plaza). The document showing the changes (eliminating the post office box requirement, updated dates, and a few minor corrections to names and locations) can be found here.
Meeting Date Change: Next Meeting Tuesday Feb. 13
Because of a conflict with precinct caucuses on Tuesday Feb. 6th, the BARA meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday Feb. 13th. We will still meet in the Haeg conference room at Bloomington Civic Plaza at 7:30 PM, and our program will be on Logbook of the World.
As a reminder, if you haven’t already downloaded the TQSL program and submitted your request for a certificate, you should do that soon. To get your certificate you will need to receive a postcard the ARRL sends through the postal system, which can take a while. Instructions on how to do all this can be found here.
Similarly, the November meeting has been rescheduled to Tuesday November 13th, 2018, to avoid conflict with the general election. See the Secretary of State’s website for information on voter registration, early/absentee voting, sample ballots, polling places, and other elections-related information.
2018 January Meeting Slides and Grid Square Chase Presentation
Here are my January 2018 meeting slides and my presentation on the grid square chase
2018JanuaryBARA