The 2014 Hanging Judge Hamfest appears to have been a good success! Although the numbers aren’t officially in, judging from the numbers in attendance, we have had a successful 15th annual Hanging Judge Hamfest! Hopefully you were able to make it to the hamfest and got to see all of your friends that you talk to on the amateur bands. Many thanks to N5JUD for being the emcee for this year’s festivities. Thanks also go out to everyone who helped set up – take down, collect money or helped out in any way. It takes a lot of folks working together for the good of the FSAARC club to make this happen each year. We ALL make the hamfest a success every year. This year’s hamfest started at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning April 5, 2014. Hams and non-hams alike checked out the goods for sale inside Columbus Acres in Ft. Smith, AR. VE Testing began at 9:00 a.m. After all the testing was over, there were 7 new Technicians, 6 new Generals and 2 new Extras! Congratulations to all those who tested and passed their exams Saturday. The Southwest Times Record newspaper made it to our event and W5EMP- James Wood Jr., KF5ZPK- Clayton Zoecker, and WQ5R- Gary McCrorey had a photo published in the Sunday morning paper. A forum was done around 11:00 a.m. Prizes were given away on the hour with the Grand Prize being given away at 2:00 p.m. With that the hamfest came to an end and the volunteers took down the tables and chairs and helped vendors get loaded up and on their way home. We hope to see you at the 16th annual FSAARC Hanging Judge Hamfest next year!
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Jeff Ricketts, K5KDX
It finally happened! Mike Cole, W5TMC finally got his 20m monobander antenna direct fed on December 3, 2013. We got lucky and had 1 last day of good weather before the December 5-6, 2013 ice storm hit. Normally towers as a general rule aren’t climbed much in December due to the poor weather conditions. We made an exception and snuck this one in. Santa Claus, aka K5CAJ, Casey Johnson, came by and climbed Mike’s North tower and repositioned Mike’s 15m monobander 90degrees out of phase with his 10m monobander and now both work fine being on the same mast/tower. As you can see, “The General” is on the ground barking out his orders to me for fixing his 20m antenna! His 20 meter antenna is about 55’ up on his South tower which provides a pretty good view of Roland, OK too! Looking down at Mike he seemed tiny but we all know he is anything but tiny! After putting Mike’s homebrew harness up and making the connections, the antenna had fine SWR numbers according to the analyzer. Now Mr. Cole is good for a while with his aluminum performing well. Good luck with the contests and the DXing! As Mike always says, “My door is always open!” Let him know if you’d like to contest at his QTH in one of the many annual contests that we like to participate in! You can certainly learn how to contest or how to log contacts.
73 & Good DX, my friend!
Jeff Ricketts, K5KDX
You are ALL Invited to attend the
Fort Smith Area Amateur Radio Club Banquet 2014
The annual Banquet/ Meeting of the F.S.A.A.R.C. is going to be
Saturday evening Jan. 18, 2014 at 6pm at Big Jake’s Cattle Company (
Steak House )
located at 1702 Fayettville Road in Van Buran Arkansas.
Note of interest
There will be a NEW Menu available the first of December and as soon
as it's ready I'll foward it to everyone on my list.
Also, to find directions and more information about Big Jake’s go to
WWW.BIGJAKESCATTLECO.COM
If you have any questions about this activity please contact me via
email or on the 146.640 repeater.
We look forward to seeing you there.
73
Mike
W5TMC
The local Arkansas and Oklahoma area has an ARRL (American Radio Relay League) approved card checker! Dr. Charles (Doc) Floyd, W5JE, of Mountainburg, AR is the man you want to get to know if you chase ARRL awards by using QSL cards. Doc can check your cards for either DXCC (DX Century Club) or VUCC (VHF-UHF Century Club) awards. In this day of convenience, many people are leaning toward Logbook of the World (LoTW) to confirm their awards. Many still prefer the “old fashioned” way by exchanging QSL cards with other hams. You can also collect ARRL awards via the “hybrid” method which involves both LoTW and QSL cards. If you are using QSL cards at all, this is where Doc can help you. Follow the instructions from the ARRL as to how to sort your cards and fill out the appropriate form(s) if any, pay any applicable fees and Doc can confirm those QSL cards for states, grid squares or countries you have, with the ARRL for credit. Doc is a member of the Ft. Smith Area Amateur Radio Club and is glad to help you get your awards through the ARRL. Give him a shout on the 146.640 club repeater and he will go over the details with you. The service is free from him. You might even catch him in person at the FSAARC Hamfest the first weekend in April or at our monthly FSAARC club meetings on the 3rd Monday of each month. So get those cards out and sorted and who knows, you may have enough to qualify for an award and you didn’t even know it! Heck. You might as well have some wallpaper on your shack wall. You definitely earned it! FSAARC 73 and Good DX,
Jeff Ricketts- K5KDX
Secretary- FSAARC