Our club gathers again next weekend (June 22nd and 23rd) for Field Day at Ensor Park and Museum. Come join in on the fun, as there will be several days of casual visits while raising the new trailer tower and constructing a number of antennas and portable stations, all powered by generators and batteries. This annual event provides experience in serving the public with emergency communications. This is a great occasion to learn technical skills, so please stop out, as in addition to the air-conditioned trailer, we'll have stations to operate on the porch and others under pop-up shade canopies, all surrounded by lawn chairs and good conversation. 

 MEETING TO ORDER:

    President George, WBØCNK, called to order the June 2024  business meeting of the SFTARC at about 8:00 AM CDT.  A total of 24 members attended, 19 joining in person at the Gardner Perkins and 5 joining via Zoom. There were four guests.

SECRETARY-TREASURER REPORT: 

    Marty, KEØPEZ, reported the bank balance. There were several regular annual expenditures this past month. Membership chair, Jason KFØISL, reported that the club now has 68 members in good standing; 40 of them are ARRL members.

OTHER BUSINESS:

Kansas QSO Party Planning

     This annual Kansas QSO Party event runs from 9 AM to 9 PM on Saturday, August 24, and from 9 AM to 3 PM on Sunday, August 25. Please see https://ksqsoparty.org for details of the event. Members are invited to operate and/or log at the Sawyer Antenna Facility in Edgerton. Operations there will take place between 10 AM and 3 PM on Saturday, August 24, and between 1 PM and 3 PM on Sunday, August 25. Please come and go as your schedule permits.

     You are also welcome to operate KSØKS from your home station. However, please contact Marty for details about signing up for slots on the schedule. We have to avoid having two stations operating on the same band and mode at the same time.

     Bob Harder, KØBH, would like our club to also run WØE, and Eric, WØEAS, has offered to run this 1x1 callsign.

ENSORFEST

     Ensorfest '24 was a success again this year. The weather cooperated beautifully. The total attendance was estimated to be 250, with about 75 people touring the farmhouse and peg barn. 

Repeater Update

     Jim, KØNK, reported on repeater matters. Before his passing, Rob Maberry KE5BR, had donated his 440 MHz repeater to SFTARC and asked that its callsign be changed to the club callsign KSØKS. Del Sawyer, trustee of callsign KSØKS, gave his approval of this action. Jim will apply to reactivate this repeater using the club callsign. Other issues involving area repeaters and their use during events, such as the Garmin Marathon, were discussed.

Tech Night Program

     The June program will be a debriefing "lessons learned" evaluation of the 2024 Field Day event.

HAMVENTION

     Joe, KRØUT, reported: "We went, we had a good time, we came back." George added: that in addition to Hamvention, the group visited Fair Radio Sales in Lima, OH , and The VOA Museum in West Chester, OH.

Field Day

     ARRL Field Day will take place June 22 and 23, 2024. George, WBØCNK, expressed a desire to promote socializing and having fun at this year's event. Participants are invited to bring a pot luck dish for the Saturday evening meal. The club will buy several roasted chickens for Saturday evening. George will provide bottled water. We will operate Class 3A. A tentative layout of stations and antennas was presented and discussed. Event Timelines for al three days may be viewed on the Club Calendar at https://sftarc.org.

Tower Trailer

     Dave Cochran, KBØVRA, donated a Glen Martin tower trailer to SFTARC. The club is paying for several associated parts and supplies. Jim, KØNK, ordered new tires and had them installed along with a new towing safety chain. Tom, WA2IVD, volunteered to install lights. Tom also investigated and confirmed that this vehicle is not required to be licensed. Jeff, KSØJD, and Jim will secure the necessary ownership paperwork.

Fund Raising

     George commented on fund raising. Greg, KIØKK, outlined some ideas for improvements to the club trailer. We can talk more about these ideas after Field Day.

Appreciation

     The club would like extend its sincere appreciation to Dave, KBØVRA, for donating the tower trailer and to Jim, KØNK, for managing the necessary details of the project.

Ensor Park and Museum

     Joe urged more club members to sign up as volunteer tour guides at Ensor. Marty moved that the club create a raffle with a $100 Associated Radio gift certificate. Ensor volunteers receive one entry in the raffle for each day they volunteer. Del seconded the motion. After short discussion, a vote was called. The motion passed unanimously.

Other

     Greg, KIØKK, encouraged club members to submit photographs and Tech Blog articles to the club website. It will be good for us to make our website more interesting and informative.

ADJOURN:

     President George adjourned the meeting at 9:06 AM.

For many Amateur Radio Operators, Field Day is a highlight of the year

Peg KDØVQO and Ed KUØRTZ Operating Field Day      If you haven't had your share of HF radio activity at home this year, this is your chance to "Be Radio Active".  This year, we want members who have not been as active as they'd like to be to join in setting up and running the stations. ARRL Field Day is one of the largest operating events for amateur operators and radio clubs across America, with some contacts in foreign countries. It has been an annual event since it's start back in 1933, and provides an opportunity to practice emergency preparedness skills aimed at supporting the public in times of disaster when normal communications infrastructures fail. SFTARC has made it essentially a yearly event since the club was founded. In the earlier years, it was set up in various parks; however, since the 1980s, it has been held at the Ensor Park and Museum.

     The weekend offers a wide variety of activities. Many folks simply enjoy the casual visits in the open outdoors; others enjoy helping put up the antennas and the stations, which can be educational and a display of technical skills, (with a few added tricks). Others are anxious just to see how the antennas perform and  how far away and numerous the contacts will be. Throughout the 24 hour period  the excitement of contacts from far-off foreign countries gets rapidly passed around the site. Most years, usually 3–6 foreign countries are contacted. 
     Saturday and Sunday, June 22nd and 24th, are the dates for this year's Amateur Radio Field Day, in which hams across North America participate.Field Day Discussions Abound

     The 24-hour operating event is not just for SFTARC Amateur Operators. The public is invited to visit and learn about the operation. This year, the club is planning to operate voice, CW (morse code), and digital computer modes (FT-8)  with three stations on the HF bands plus a 6-meter (VHF) station. A GOTA (Get On The Air) station will also be setup to let newly licensed amateurs and the general public operate the radio under the guidance of an experienced operator. The SFTARC’s Field Day will be held at the Ensor Museum in southwest Olathe, on 183rd St., just west of Ridgeview Rd.

     Come enjoy being part of the largest single emergency preparedness exercise in the United States, with over 30,000 operators each year.