Club Activities

Lincoln SATERN Amateur Radio Club using the callsign K0SAL will celebrate the 82nd anniversary of Donut Day with a special event station on 20 meters on 14.318 from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm CDT Friday, June 5.  Certificate and QSL via Charles Bennett, PO Box 67181, Lincoln, NE 68506  other details can be found on Page 80,of the June 2020 QST.

Each year on the first Friday in June, people participate in National Doughnut or Donut Day. This day celebrates the doughnut and honors the Salvation Army Lassies, the women that served doughnuts to soldiers during WWI.

In 1917, the original “Salvation Army Doughnut” was first served by the ladies of the Salvation Army. It was during WWI that the Salvation Army Lassies went to the front lines of Europe. Home cooked foods, provided by these brave volunteers, were a morale boost to the troops. The doughnuts were often cooked in oil inside the metal helmets of American soldiers. American infantrymen were then commonly called “doughboys.” A more standard spelling is donut.

National Doughnut Day was created by The Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the women who served the doughnuts to soldiers in World War I. This day began as a fund-raiser for Chicago’s Salvation Army. The goal of their 1938 fund-raiser was to help the needy during the Great Depression.   Donut Day is the symbol of the comfort that the Salvation Army provides to those in need through its many social programs.

SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network) is an all-volunteer organization. Their time and efforts go toward aiding The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services and Salvation Army Partners locally, nationally and internationally.

K0USA will activate Parks on the Air entity K-4011 Chalco Hills (8901 S 154th St, Omaha, NE) on Saturday August 17 starting at 5:00pm and the plan is to operate until about 7:00 pm.. Longer if the bands are open and contacts are coming through. Operations will be from one of the picnic areas in the park. Since most are not reservable it will depend which one is available when the scout team arrives.

K0USA will put up an APRS beacon to mark the location to the site can be found. If you are not on APRS you can look on http://www.aprs.fi for K0USA-1 that afternoon. Or right about 5:00 pm, K0USA will be monitoring 146.940 to let everyone know where they are set up and to give directions to the site. Bring a picnic lunch and come out to get on the air, learn about Parks on the Air or just hang out with fellow hams.

Map of Chalco Hills area: 

 https://www.papionrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/chalcoHillsMap2.pdf 

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.

The objective of the Nebraska QSO party is for stations outside of Nebraska to work Nebraska stations and Nebraska counties as possible.  Stations in Nebraska work everyone.  

Highlights for this Year :

• The QSO Party will be only one day, Saturday, September 7, 2019. 
• FT8 is allowed, but only in a separate competition.
• Bonuses will be given for working NEØQP, and the ARRL NE Section Manager, KAØBOJ. 
• For the QSO exchange, signal reports are optional.
  
  

The complete rules can be found at the link below

https://www.qcwa.org/2019-ne-qso-party-rules.pdf

The more Nebraska stations on the air, the more fun it is for the stations outside of Nebraska.  So... mark the date and get on the air for a while.  Its a lot of fun!

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