Club Activities

With its funding secure for another year, WWV, the world’s oldest continuously operating radio station, will have extra reason to celebrate its centennial this fall. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Northern Colorado Amateur Radio Club (NCARC) have teamed up to organize 100th anniversary events. A memorandum of understanding is pending. The WWV Committee has announced that the call sign WW0WWV was granted on February 23 to the WWV Amateur Radio Club for use during the Amateur Radio special event, planned to run September 28 – October 2, with operators on the air — no pun intended — around the clock.  NCARC predicts the effort will require “hundreds” of volunteer operators.

“The 100th anniversary is an occasion to celebrate radio and our understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum, and an opportunity to help people everywhere appreciate what radio does in their everyday lives,” said Dave Swartz, WODAS, who has been spearheading the on-the-air event.  

The WWV Committee met on February 22, with representatives of NCARC and NIST on hand, to further firm up plans for the centennial celebratory events. Although the US government cannot fund any Amateur Radio special event expenses, club members will be allowed to use a 15-acre parcel on WWV property, Swartz has explained. The operating site lies outside the security fence.

For its part, NIST will focus on plans for an October 1 recognition ceremony and an open house at the radio station north of Fort Collins.

Spring Light Up 2 Meters Night, an FM Simplex Event  March 24, 2019 6-8pm Local Time

Most Amateur Radio Operators today start out with a radio capable of operating FM on the 2 meter band, so, you probably already have the minimum equipment necessary to participate. The objective is simple - make 2 meter FM simplex contacts, challenge your operating limits, and just get on the air and have some fun.

146.52 MHz is a good place to start here in the USA, but in your part of the world there may be a better 2 meter simplex frequency. Even US based hams might have a good local simplex frequency in their area.

Now all you have to do is get on the air! Of course, you don't have to stop there, maybe your station needs an upgrade, whether it’s a handheld needing a better antenna, to the 100' of 30 year old RG8X to your 2 meter vertical on the tower needing replaced, or maybe, a new mobile rig has been on your shopping list.

Please share this announcement - the more hams that know, the more can participate, and the more contacts everyone can make.

If you use Facebook, check out: https://www.facebook.com/2MFMSimplex/

Winter Field Day 2018 was held at the Salvation Army EDS building 10629 Burt Circle and was a great success!  Operating away from home and on temporary antennas made for 1500 bonus points.  Two stations operated on 20 and 40 meters for most of the 24 hour operation period. 20 meters was set up in the conference room and was run on a battery, 40 meters operated from the SATERN radio room and ran from

 a generator.    Not using commercial power means another 1500 in bonus points.   K0CTU also had a successfull contact via  AO-91 one of the new cube sats... Another 1500 bonus points.    

The group made 519 contacts during the operating period and had several visitors to the station.  The powerline noise having been corrected meant stations from around the country were easily contacted, even with poor propogation of late.   

 Winter Field Day Association (WFDA) is a dedicated group of Amateur Radio Operators who believe that emergency communications in a winter environment is just as important as the preparations and practice that is done each summer but with some additional unique operational concerns.  

https://www.winterfieldday.com/rules  

 In case you haven't heard... On August 21, 2917, a total solar eclipse will cause the shadow of the moon to traverse the United States from Oregon to South Carolina!

(Omaha is not in the path of totality, but will see a partial eclipse of 98%.   ) 

Although the ionospheric effects of solar eclipses have been studied for over 50 years, many unanswered questions remain. HamSCI, a Ham Radio Citizen Science Investication, is inviting amateur radio operators to participate in a large-scale experiment which will characterize the ionospheric response to the total solar eclipse and target open science questions. HamSci is  sponsoring the Solar Eclipse QSO Party which will take place on August 21, before, during and after the event.  The data from the QSO Party will be used to Study the effect of the eclipse on radio wave propagation. 

Would you like to participate? The Ak-Sar-Ben Amateur Radio Club has been invited to Homestead National Monument of America to participate in their activities, and will be active on HF on August 21, 2017.     Homestead National Monument is one of NASA's official viewing sites, and is also playing host to several organizations and PBS Science programs.

The AARC will be an active participant in the Solar Eclipse QSO Party. Our footprint will be small, much like a National Parks on the Air activation.  Our exact location is still pending, but Homestead staff is trying their best to keep us front and center.  So hopefully we can get some interest and educate a few folks about amateur radio.    

There are lots of activities at the park for kids of all ages, so if you are looking for a great place to watch the eclipse, Homestead should be on that list.  The K0USA team would welcome some relief operators, loggers and people to talk to curious people walking by, so please consider coming down.  However, this is no parking allowed on the property that day.  But there are free shuttles from Beatrice (only 4 miles away) which start running at 6:00 am and running until 6:00 pm. There is lots of free parking available in Beatrice. (There will be programs by NASA and lot of other things going on in Beatrice as well)

Even arriving earlier than 6:00 am will not get you parking on the site any vehicles parked at the site need to be removed prior to 6:00 am on 08/21.  At this point even the K0USA team does not have parking priveleges on the park grounds.  Members of this team do have  a lot of experience traveling light after a year of National Parks on the Air, so a quick drop off of equipment should be all that is needed, and the truck will need to be parked off site and the driver shuttled back to Homestead.    If you think you are coming.. send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let them know.   If you plan go to Homestead then  please review their rules and parking and shuttle information.   There will be food vendors on site, but it is recommended you at least take snacks and a refillable water bottle.  

But, if you can't, or don't want to travel to see the eclipse, you can still help out by getting on the air with the Solar Eclipse QSO Party, a contest-like operating event designed to generate data for studying the eclipse!  There are also a LOT of other Special Events going on on the air that day.  Several are listed at: http://www.arrl.org/news/many-special-events-will-be-on-the-air-to-mark-the-total-solar-eclipse-in-august .  If you have APRS.. check out this link http://www.hamsci.org/article/aprs-and-total-solar-eclipse -  Event Nuts and Volts magazine has an article about various projects: http://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/article/the-solar-eclipse-and-ham-radio - Look for How Can You Participate near the bottom of the article.   As well as http://www.hamsci.org/projects/2017-total-solar-eclipse/get-involved.  

Museum Ships Weekend is an annual operating event in which hams operate on the amateur radio frequencies from retired maritime vessels, both military and commercial.   To be a participant the hams participating must be on or within site of the ship they are activating.  An established physical memorIal to a ship is considered the same as operating from the ship as long as the group/person is operating form the Memorial or within sight of the memorial.   

The Ak-Sar-Ben Amateur Radio Club will be operating from the radio room and fan tail of the ship on June 3 between the hours of 10:00 am and 3:00 pm only.    (These are the normal operating hour for the park)   Everyone is invited to come out and get on the air and look around the ship.    

So far the plans for operations include PSK operating from the radio room of the USS Hazard, 20m SSB from the fantail, and a CW operator stopping by and operating from his car from 20 and 40m.  SSB will change bands as conditions dictate.  All stations will be using the callsign KØUSA.

The Museum Ships Weekend Event is sponsored by The Battleship New Jersey Amateur Radio Station.  Details of the event and a list of participating ships can be found at http://www.nj2bb.org/museum/  - the list is expected to grow to over 100 before the event starts.   

The USS Hazard  will be one of two minesweepers participating in the event and the only WWII Minesweeper.   

USS Hazard (AM-240) is an Admirable-class minesweeper that served in the United States Navy during World War II. Hazard was launched on 1 October 1944 and was commissioned on 30 December 1944. The vessel was built by the Winslow Marine Railway and Shipbuilding Company of Winslow, Washington. Hazard was fitted for both wire and acoustic sweeping and could double as an anti-submarine warfare platform.

The Admirable class of minesweepers were also used for patrol and escort duties. Hazard first served in this capacity, escorting a convoy from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor, and then running with convoys to Eniwetok and Ulithi. In March 1945, the sweeper was sent to Okinawa, where she first performed anti-submarine patrols before sweeping the waters off Kerama Retto in keeping with the minesweeper's slogan, "No Sweep, No Invasion." 

At the war's end the ship cleared the seas off Korea and Japan for the occupation forces. Returning to the United States in 1946, Hazard was decommissioned and joined the reserve fleet. 

Stricken from the Navy Register in 1971, Hazard was purchased by a group of Omaha, Nebraska, businessmen and is open to the public along with the submarine USS Marlin (SST-2), an A-4 Skyhawk, an A-7 Corsair II, and an HH-52A Seaguard US Coast Guard helicopter at Freedom Park on the Missouri River waterfront in East Omaha. Hazard earned three battle stars for her World War II service. Hazard is a National Historic Landmark, the only Admirable-class minesweeper left in the United States.