WA8AHZ

QCWA Ch 91 Members & Friends of Ch 91.... Hopefully we’ll see you at our Saturday, Dec 9th holiday party at 1130 at PJ Skidoos* in Fairfax. We’ll have some cheer, and a grand time socializing. There is no technical program planned for the meeting. In January, we’ll return to our traditional 3rd Saturday of the month meeting, and the program will discuss the ability of the aging power grid, the largest manmade machine in the world to absorb more and more renewable energy generation projects. Our meeting will be at Glory Days, in Fairfax at 1130 (Microcenter Shopping Center). For your info, at our November meeting the membership in attendance forming a quorum for voting purposes reaffirmed the current leadership team for Calendar Year 2024. We also voted to send a $100 donation to the QCWA Scholarship Fund on behalf of former Ch 91 President, Ray Johnson, K5RJ (SK). Further, the Club Secretary made a motion to send a $100 donation to the Northern Virginia FM Association, for the use of their 146.790 MHz repeater to support our Sunday morning QCWA Ch 91 net. BTW, all are welcome to join our net on Sundays. Hope to see you on December 9th. Mike, WA8AHZ QCWA, Ch 91 President *The address for PJ Skidoos is: 9908 Fairfax Blvd Fairfax, VA 22030

QCWA, Ch 91 & Friends of Ch 91: Hope to see you at our November meeting, Saturday, 18 Nov @ 1130 at Glory Days in Fairfax (MircoCenter shopping Center off Nutley Rd. This month you are in for a treat. Tom, AI4UZ is going to dazzle us w/ new magic tricks hot from this year’s Magic Trick Convention. Looking for one volunteer willing to be sawed in half. Note at the November meeting we will have election of officers. If you would like to be considered for an officer position, let me know. While you are updating your calendar, don’t forget to block Saturday, Dec 9th (@ 1130) for our annual Christmas party at PJ Skidoos, in Fairfax. PJ Skidoos is at 9908 Fairfax Blvd. Mike, WA8AHZ

Justin, let's take this off line to the larger group of Ham Volunteers. Expect an email to you/several others on this request. Mike, WA8AHZ RACE NET CONTROL Lead

ALL: Thanks to all you all* who checked their radios today during the RADIO CHECK DAY. We did capture a couple non-MCM Ham Volunteers, who were somewhat confused w/ our use of tactical frequency. Some for the After Action Report. One issue to resolve: the W3DCA repeater was apparently offline today, and KILO is the primary repeater for RACE NET C. Of course, if we lose any of the nnine repeaters on Race day, we'll assign one of the spare repeaters (NOVEMBER, OSCAR) in its place. We also validated both spare repeaters, and the repeaters used for the MEDNET are operational. 73, Mike, WA8AHZ Don, KM4DC Darwin, K4HAX Net Control Operators, RADIO CHECK DAY *Total checkins: 29 Hams

Today's Radio Check Day will run from 1200-1400, and the purpose is for MCM Amateur Radio Operators (AROs) to test their race day radios for operational capability. It is accomplished on the Federal holiday to allow AROs to locate near their assigned locations, and scope out routes in the daylight. Given we don't have our assignments yet, we're expecting AROs will attempt to test their radios from home, or possibility from one of the (taller) roof top parking decks in/around the area. Other spots to locate are on the National Mall, Potomac Park in DC, or one of the many parks in Arlington. Please stay away from using your radios on the Pentagon Reservation, or in Arlington National Cemetery We will NOT be using tactical call signs; just our given FCC assigned call signs. This is a simple test. Net Control will be operating using our given call signs, and identify as net control for purposes of radio discipline. We will use "directed net" procedures. We will start calling at 1200 on one of repeaters: -- ECHO, HOTEL and KILO. We'll wrap up at 1400 and expect to be off the air by 1530 at the latest. Try any (or all) of these primary repeaters to test your radio. The Race Net Operators will be directing groups of you to move to the secondary repeaters (for further testing), so if you don't hear anything on the primary channel wait a few minutes, and we'll be back on the Primary channel to take the next group of AROs to the secondary channels. It is very unlikely you'll be able to hit all 11 repeaters from any one location. Just find a primary channel and we'll meet up with you. We will use standard net procedures, and remember, when identifying yourself, identify the station you're calling first, followed by your call ("you, this is me") If you are out and about, play it safe. Law Enforcement will be advised of our activity, but expect them, and others to be curious about what a bunch of guys (and gals) are doing talking on walkie-talkies on the street corners. Recruit a new wave of Hams if you have the chance. Qs: text at 703 870-1730 Mike, WA8AHZ Radio Test Day Coordinator

QCWA Ch 91 members & Friends of Ch 91: We’ll not have a monthly meeting on the 3rd Saturday in August – instead operate the NAQP-SSB event on Sat, Aug 19th, starting at 2pm, and have fun! We will meet in person next on Saturday, Sept 15th. It will be our annual fall picnic. Pse mark your calendar to join us in September. Also, if the spirit moves you, consider joining our on-air net every Sunday morning at 9am on the NVFMA Fairfax 2m repeater – 146.790 MHz, PL tone 77.0 Hz. Consider joining us on a Sunday! Mike, WA8AHZ

Thanks Jim for setting up the tread for Net Control .... Currently, net control assignments are TDB. That said, there is a small group of Ham Volunteers (who have worked at the Net Control Station before) working on the frequency plan (discussions reserved for different thread), and the revision of the NCS guide. The Net Control Station will operate from the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH) again this year. This site gives the NCS good comms to all 11 repeaters used for the MCM. There will be again 3 Race nets (A, B & C), as in years past. Also, FY/SA: the 1x1 call N4M has been once again approved for the period 25 Oct through 1 Nov 2023 for use by the Marine Corps Marathon. Mike, WA8AHZ

Hopefully you have your calendar marked for our July meeting on Saturday, July 15th. The meeting will be held at 1130 at Glory Days Fairfax, in the PanAM shopping center. Our presentation is by John, K4XC. He will discuss Electrical Communications of Oahu from the 19th century Kingdom to 1922. He’ll discuss the landline telegraph to submarine cables and interisland, coastal, and trans-pacific radio stations, including commercial and US Navy radio operations. The three forms of radio transmitter used during this period, spark gap, arc converter, and Alexanderson Alternator will be described. The effects of WWI on radio communications of the US will be described, with emphasis on events in Hawaii. See on the 15th. Mike, WA8AHZ

Topic: Next generation recruitment of Ham trends and insights. Join Alexandria Amateur Radio Club’s Joe Izaquirre, KO4QQX as he discusses his Club’s efforts finding the 21st century solution for recruiting new Hams to join their Club. The meeting will be held at Glory Days in Fairfax at 1130, on Saturday, May 20th. Glory Days is in the Pan Am shopping center at 3059 Nutley St, Fairfax, VA 22031

Ch 91 Mbrs & Friends of Ch 91: Hopefully you’ll join us on Saturday, Apr 15th, at 1130 at Glory Days in Fairfax. Our presentation on the early history of radio in the Hawaiian Islands needs to move to the right, as John, K4XC won’t be available this month. Instead, we’re going to have a discussion about the history of Amateur Radio, circa 1923-ish. We’ll use Chris, W2PA excellent timeline as our guide. See: http://w2pa.net/HRH/ See you all in a couple weeks. Mike, WA8AHZ

QSL Card Checking, and information about the 4 Area incoming QSL Bureau are available at WINTERFEST 2023 at Oakton HS on Sunday, March 19th. For DXCC or WAS Card Checking follow the instructions found at: https://p1k.arrl.org/onlinedxcc/ or use the paper form found at: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/DXCC/Application%20forms/DXCC_Application_Form_Nov_2022.pdf If you plan to bring QSL cards to check, fill out the record sheet found at: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/DXCC/DXCC%20Record%20Sheet%202013a.pdf prior to arriving at the Hamfest. The outdoor tailgating area opens at 7:00 am and the indoor market fair opens at 8:00 am. The Hamfest closes at 2:00 pm. Purchase your admission/raffle tickets here: https://ticketstripe.com/VWS-WinterFest-2023 You do not need to be present to win the raffle. More info at https://viennawireless.net/wp/events/winterfest/

QCWA, Chapter 91 & Friends of Ch 91: We’ll have no Chapter meeting in March, instead enjoy the Virginia QSO Party (Mar 18-19), or the VWS WINTERFEST (Mar 19). Also, the Virginia activation of W1AW/4 on Mar 15-21st and there is still room to sign up to operate an hour or two. See: http://bit.ly/3iYqWCS In April, we’ll have John, K4XC join us and he’ll talk about early history of radio operations in Hawaii. The meeting will be at Glory Days (Fairfax) on Apr 15th. Mike, WA8AHZ

Please plan to join us for our 2nd face to face meeting of the year on Saturday, Feb 18th starting at 1130. Our venue will be Glory Days in Fairfax, near the MicroCenter. Our topic is Digital Mobile Radio, and some other internet-based methods for getting on the air (GOTA). The focus is on operating procedures. We’ll have a number of DMR experts help us GOTA, and we’ll spend our time exploring different talk groups. See you on the 18th. Mike, WA8AHZ