Connect with the Battleship IOWA Amateur
Radio Association
(BIARA), NI6BB, on the air to commemorate the 177th anniversary of Iowa statehood. This
celebration is an annual activity of NI6BB. Remembering the heritage of Battleship USS
Iowa, as well as celebrating the yearly milestone for the state, offers a unique
opportunity to operate. Operations are expected to be from 1700 to 2400 UTC on 12/28/23.
Modes will be determined by a BIARA operator. Complete information can be found at the
club's website (https://biara.org), including expected frequencies and QSL
information. In this year celebrating volunteers work this amazing heritage station.
We are looking at some changes in the operation of the
Sunday Evening Net to try to speed things up a bit.
KC0JFQ is working, albeit rather slowly, to implement a web-based
check-in system.
This would keep the list pared down to those that have checked-in on a regular basis.
A (configurable) period of inactivity would drop you off the list, but checking in
would put you right back on the list.
There are also some additions to the net roll.
There are now PDF and Postscript versions of the check-in roll.
These have the save information as they are built when the web
page is updated.
These lists are considerably more compact than printing the
roll from the web page.
There should be links to them from almost any Sunday Evening Net
page.
Local & HF Nets
That red button, which appears at the top of every web page,
has links to saved net-roll that I have recieved.
Save the filled-in page to a file and send it to KC0JFQ...
Only the .html file is needed, the images directory has the ICARC logo
image that is already on the website...
Saturday the 20th the ICARC Club will be sponsoring a POTA Activation at Redbird Farms Wildlife Management Area from
10am-1pm.
Location:2290 Black Diamond Rd SW, Iowa City, Ia.
ALL ARE WELCOME
Welcome to the Iowa City Amateur Radio Club (ICARC) home page,
your information source for Amateur Radio in Iowa City and Johnson County, Iowa.
For complete information about the club, please click on the "About ICARC"
topic in the menu bar above. This page contains a great deal of information about the club, including
membership requirements, a membership roster, club officers, a brief history, club incorporation documents
and by-laws, and details on a wide range of club activities.
You may contact ICARC through this
link or by "snail mail" at: ICARC, PO Box 4, Iowa City, IA 52244-0004.
(Note: To use the email link above (or email links anywhere on this site), you must have JavaScript enabled in your browser.)
ICARC meetings are normally held at 7:00 PM
on the second Wednesday of every month,
currently at the First United Methodist Church of North Liberty
Room 203
85 N. Jones Blvd
North Liberty
For current meeting information,
please see the "Upcoming Events" section, below. Visitors are
always most welcome!
We also have a
ICARC Facebook
page. Please visit us there!
Interested in becoming a member? Please see the "Membership"
section on the "About ICARC" page for details and a membership application form.
Click on the icon to the left to visit
ARRL'S Public Service page
for more information about Amateur Radio's emergency capabilities.
Club email is manually handled by sending your traffic here:
I have been getting several bounces with each mailing.
Contact your provider to resolve this.
I'll try to list the providers at fault and the error type here:
q.com "Message Blocked due to spam content in the message."
I think I can update the management scripts and tools to deal with an arrl alias.
If this works, the scripts will use the arrl alias, if listed in the roster,
before the home email.
Upcoming Events
ICARC Meeting Schedule
Scroll down a bit for meeting details!
RF Meeting Outline .
Any meeting presentation pages are linked through the date below.
There is also a link to the ZOOM page where the live presentation may be
viewed.
Meetings usually start at 19:00 hours.
Mail Dues to:
Iowa City Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 4
Iowa City, IA
52244-0004
Roster shows when dues
have been paid
DISABLE/MUTE your computer microphone when not talking
if you're also listening on the repeater (or we get that delayed feedback) DISABLE/MUTE your computer speaker
if you're also listening on the repeater (or we get that delayed feedback)
Enter your CALLSIGN in the name here field
Usual meeting place is:
The First United Methodist Church of North Liberty
Room 203
85 N. Jones Blvd
North Liberty
Be sure to watch this web page for late-breaking updates!
Note: Before the meeting,
Before the meeting, around 18:00 hours, you are invited to
join us for an informal meal and socializing at the J&A Tap in downtown North Liberty
across from Reds Alehouse.
J & A Tap
440 N Dubuque St
North Liberty, IA 52317
We hope to see you there! Please consider bringing a ham guest, either a non-member or an inactive member.
VECs and Volunteer Examiner (VE) teams should not collect the $35 fee at exam sessions.
The FCC fee must be paid online directly to the FCC not to the VE team or organization processing the application form.
VEC and VE team licensing procedures are unchanged.
New applicants will pay the $15 exam session fee to the ARRL VE team as usual,
and pay the $35 application fee directly to the FCC by using the CORES Payer FRN System (easier to use)
or the
CORES FRN Registration system.
Next
Sponsor: Iowa City ARC & U Iowa ARC
Date: Late Spring 2024
Time: 7:00 PM (Walk-ins allowed)
Fee: $15.00
Contact: Richard S. Haendel
(319) 331-6805
Email: rhaendel@q.com
VEC: ARRL/VEC
Location: Van Allen Hall
30 North Dubuque St
Iowa City, IA 52242
VE's:
Jeff KI0JP
David K0LUM
Willy KC0JFQ
Rich W3ACO
Brent KQ0Y VE Checklist
Sponsor: Southeast Iowa Hamfest
Date: ????
Time: 10:00 (Walk-ins allowed)
Contact: Bruce C. Dagel
Email: bdagel@machlink.com
VEC: ARRL/VEC
Location: Louisa Cty Fairgrounds
101 Fairgroud Rd
Columbus Junction IA 52738-9999
Sponsor:
CVARC
Date: TBA (see CVARV website)
Time: 16:00 CDT (NO Walk-ins, please call)
Contact: KA0IES, Allan J Butler
Email:ka0ies@arrl.net
VEC: ARRL/VEC
Location:
Cedar Rapids Christian Church
727 Collins Rd NE
Cedar Rapids IA 52402-2105
Need usual "stuff" (ball point pen, FEC #, etc.)
This section was suggested by Brownie Girl Scout leader Carla Rodriguez and her daughter Willow. Her Troop has been
talking about
ham radio
in their meetings lately while learning about emergency preparedness and communication skills.
One of the girls mentioned that her grandfather and father have been ham radio operators for many years, and all the
girls are really interested! We hope you will be, too!
This web page concludes with a list of many interesting links to other web sites about amateur radio. The first one,
which I will repeat here, is this page, published by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL): www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio?
My thanks to Carla and Willow for providing the inspiration for this section!
"The primary mission of Project Lifesaver is to provide timely response to save lives and reduce potential injury for adults and
children with the propensity to wander due to a cognitive condition."
Adults and children with cognitive issues who are at risk of wandering are outfitted with small transmitters. If it becomes
necessary, they can be located with direction-finding devices.
While the transmitters don't operate on amateur radio frequencies, many of the skills amateur radio operators use in direction
finding exercises could be applicable.
Johnson County Emergency Management is planning to hold training on Project Lifesaver equipment and procedures soon.
If you are interested in learning more, please let me know and I will notify you when the training is scheduled.
Thanks, and 73's
-Neil N0SFH (ARES emergency coordinator for Johnson County)
We have provided a page of Weather Spotter Safety information (from the
National Weather Service) to remind you of proper safety procedures when you are engaged in spotting severe
weather for the Johnson County Skywarn® Net. Please read this information
before you become active in Weather Spotting, and review it every month or two during the severe weather season!
Please Keep Your 2 Meter Radio ON!
To truly make amateur radio a valuable emergency communications tool here in eastern Iowa, and to make our local
amateur community more welcoming and open, we must all resolve to keep our 2 meter radios ON, both at home and
in our automobiles, at all times (except maybe when asleep!). You should try to monitor at the very least the
146.85 (WØJV) repeater. If you have scanning capabilities on your radio(s), it would be helpful to include
the 147.15 Coralville repeater and the national simplex frequency (146.52 MHz) as well. And, if you are so truly
lucky as to have a dual-band FM radio, there is some activity on the 444.75 MHz repeater, too.
Let's all give it a try! Keep the radio on, and respond when somebody announces "KØXYZ monitoring".
Most importantly, respond to visitors to our community who are looking for directions or just somebody to
talk to as they pass through town. We can have a much more enjoyable, open and friendly hobby if we all will simply
have QSOs with other local hams or travelers as they pass by on the Interstate. It doesn't have to be a half-hour
"rag chew" -- short "How are you today?", or "Can you believe this weather?" QSOs are often quite adequate.
So, how about it? We'd love to hear you on 2 meters!
Military Auxiliary Radio System
MISSION - The United States Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System provides contingency
communications support on behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense and other U.S.
Government users in support of their important and diverse national security missions whenever,
however and wherever required..
VISION - To support the Department of Defense and U.S. Government in any manner ...
www.mars.af.mil
Military Auxiliary Radio System
Home [www.mars.af.mil]
MISSION - The United States Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System provides contingency
communications support on behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense and other U.S.
Government users in support of their important and diverse national security missions whenever,
however and wherever required.. VISION - To support the Department of Defense and U.S. Government
in any manner ...
http://www.mars.af.mil[www.mars.af.mil]
If you have never been on HF and would like to find out what all the excitement is about, the
Share a Radio program provides a way for you to become acquainted!
Share a Radio allows hams who have little or no HF experience or who do not currently have an HF station to
team up with hams who do have HF stations for a demonstration or to get some time on the air. When visiting a
station, you may use your own call sign and log while operating under your own license class privileges; or with the
station owner as control operator, you may enjoy the "Extra Class" experience. Please visit our
Share a Radio page for more information!
For weekly propagation bulletins, please visit the ARRL's W1AW Propagation Bulletins web page. A new bulletin is posted every Friday. Also,
N6RT's excellent Propagation page is a
great resource.
DX Code of Conduct
(The following is from the DX-Code
web site. This should be required reading for everyone who chases DX. Please read and heed these rules -- or, even better,
a copy of the Code in PDF format is available here for you to print out and
hang over your operating desk! Just think how much more pleasant DXing would be if only everyone followed these rules!)
It is no secret that the on-the-air behavior of hams, especially in pileups, has gotten worse in the last few years.
Unpleasant, uncivil, impolite behavior of our fellow hams reduces the enjoyment of our hobby.
It does not have to be that way nor should it be. Impolite behavior is counter-productive and simply inconsistent
with the aim of our hobby, to have fun.
Just as we work to improve our technical skills, we should all aspire to hold ourselves to the highest ethical
operating standards. This Code is a reminder of the high ideals of which we are all capable.
I will listen, and listen, and then listen some more.
I will only call if I can copy the DX station properly.
I will not trust the cluster and will be sure of the DX station's call sign before calling.
I will not interfere with the DX station or anyone calling him and will never tune up on the DX frequency or in the QSX slot.
I will wait for the DX station to end a contact before calling him.
I will always send my full call sign.
I will call and then listen for a reasonable interval. I will not call continuously.
I will not transmit when the DX operator calls another call sign, not mine.
I will not transmit when the DX operator queries a call sign not like mine.
I will not transmit when the DX station calls geographic areas other than mine.
When the DX operator calls me, I will not repeat my call sign unless I think he has copied it incorrectly.
I will be thankful if and when I do make a contact.
I will respect my fellow hams and conduct myself so as to earn their respect.
For a detailed discussion of the Code, please visit DX-Code.org.
I received a bit of memorabilia from Tom Nelson along with his yearly
renewal. THis looks to be of some interest, so I added some hooks to the
code that creates the membership roster web page to link to additional
content.
If you scan down the list, note that all the callsigns show up as
hyperlinks. This hyperlink will take you over to their QRZ web page.
What is added is the capability to add a link in the Name column
and in the City column. A couple of the entries have links to
pictures or images that you might find interesting.
If you would like me to add some content, send it to the ICARC email
address and I'll try to accommodate it.
-W
3Y0J Dxpedition to Bouvet Island, January/February 2023
Press Release from the Intrepid-DX Group
As we completed our successful VP8STI-South Sandwich and VP8SGI-South Georgia DXpeditions in 2016, we began to plan for our next
Dxpedition. Our target is the Norwegian Island Bouvet. This is the #2 most wanted DXCC entity.
At this time, it gives us great pleasure to announce that we have joined forces with Intrepid Norwegian DXpeditioner Ken Opskar-LA7GIA
in our quest to activate Bouvet.
Together, in January 2023, 14 men will board the Braveheart in Capetown and make the treacherous voyage to Bouvet. We will plan to
spend twenty days at Bouvet and weather permitting, we plan to have 14 to 16 good days of radio activity.
This will be an arduous and expensive mission. Our budget is $764,000 USD and the 3Y0J team will fund much of this mission. We
desperately need the global DX Community to support our mission and help us make this important activation of the #2 most wanted DXCC
entity. It is only through this kind of support that we can achieve our mission of making 100,000 contacts or more from Bouvet.
We plan to make best use of Propagation and Modes on 10-160 meters.
We pledge to assemble the strongest team possible and to use good operating practices to optimize your ability to reach our stations.
We are confident that the Braveheart crew can get us there and back safely.
In closing, we especially wish to recognize and thank the Northern California DX Foundation and the International DX Association as
our premier donors. Without the support of the NCDXF and INDEXA, operations to the world's rarest entities would not be possible.
You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages:
http://www.3y0j.com [www.3y0j.com]
https://www.facebook.com/groups/901378553769436 [www.facebook.com]
Thank you,
Paul Ewing-N6PSE Co-Leader
Kenneth Opskar-LA7GIA Co-Leader
INDEXA is a proud supporter of the 3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet!
73 - Bob Schenck, N2OO
INDEXA President
We are rolling out (or at least giving it a try) a video conferencing system for the monthly meeing.
This, we hope, will allow us to present an interesting program, much as we would at our (seemingly ancient) face-to-face meetings.
We plan to use the Sunday evening net to stress test the system prior to having it in active use for the August Meeting.
Links to the video conference may be found near the top on the primary ICARC web page.
Clicking on the Sunday Evening Net Link will take you to the
Local & HF Nets page where the actual link to the video conference meeting.
Please let us know how it works for you.
Meeting Location Information
Meeting Location Changed to The First United Methodist Church of North Liberty
Room 203
85 N. Jones Blvd
North Liberty
Web pages status
I am working slowly to make these pages html 4.01.
If you refresh and get garbage, or no response, try again in a few
seconds.
I'm also working to increase the contrast of the page.
The web server does not serve encrypted pages (https: will not work).
Other odds & ends
Antenna Analyzer
MFJ 249: K0GH - Business Radio, Coralville
AA230: KE0QKF - Mike, Iowa City
For those that found Coralvikki, please let us know where you
found it :-)
Last updated 26 Apr 2021 by KC0JFQ
Skywarn ™ and the Skywarn logo ™ are registered trademarks of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, used with permission.
https://biara.org
