Club News

Its almost time for the Annual Meeting and the Election of Members.   You can feel the excitment building!   The nominating committee had met and has decided on the following canditates for your consideration for each open position.    (President, Vice President and two Board Members) 

For Club President:

Bill True, WA9ASD As you can tell from my call sign (originally WN9ASD) I have been licensed for many years and I have enjoyed a wide range of ham radio activities over the years. For more than half of the years I have been licensed I have been a member of this club. While my participation in club activities over the years has varied from none to a great deal my membership has always been important to me. The club provides a wonderful resource not only for the hams in the area but also does an excellent job of providing benefit to a number of government and private entities in the area. To continue and enhance this benefit I feel increasing the membership in the club is an important goal for the coming year. 

For Club Vice President:

Justin Tabor, KE0BHP First licensed in 1993. I have always had an interest in electronics and building things since I was young. Always trying to think of ways to improve a process or build something to see if there was a better interface to the people that use it. Later, I graduated from the University of Nebraska as a Industrial Engineer deeply intrigued with systems and processes. After school, I worked at UPS in the Engineering dept and had a lot of experiences with many aspects of the package delivery business. My interest in ham radio began while listening to our local emergency radios on a scanner my Dad gave me for Christmas. Of course today I use a cell phone every day, but am intrigued by the fact that in an emergency situation, amateur radio operators dispatched into the field can be the only source of communication. I take part in APRS, AREDN (Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network) exercises with my local club.

Board of Director:

Barb Westcott, KC0HLB I am running for Board Member of the Aksarben Radio Club. I was elected to the board in December of 2012 and have had the good fortune to serve since that time. I sincerely wish to continue to work for the club in that capacity. I was initially licensed in March of 2000 with a tech license until passing my general in July of 2011. In 2002, I became an online mentor for the ARRL’s Emergency Communications Course and continue in that role today. In September of 2010, I took and successfully passed the “Public Service and Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs” course

 
Board of Director:

Brian Sohl, KE0GKB Though relatively new to amateur radio (Just two years this month), I do have a very diverse background in radio from Bearcat scanners, GMRS, and SDR's. This passion has been used to support my work in community service and disaster preparedness. One of the events that I worked with AKSARBEN ARC has been the Market to Market Relay for the past 2 years. I started off on exchange 8 and this last year I took on exchange 9, the most remote site. I learned so much from this experience and I am anxious for next year when I can use these lessons learned to provide even more value to the event. In addition to Aksarben ARC I am also involved with REACT where I am a Storm Spotter and also work with Law Enforcement providing traffic control and road closures for special events, as well as 4 wheel drive patrol during bad weather. In my personal life I moved from the DC area back to Nebraska almost 4 years ago to be closer to family and friends and enjoy a more normal lifestyle. As for work, I spend my days at Offutt AFB where I am a Windows Server Administrator. My hope is that I can be of service to the organization and I look forward to learning so much more about Amateur radio from each and everyone here.

If you would like to see another active club member join the roster, remember that club members in good standing can nominate additional candidates who are also members in good standing by nominating them from the floor during the election process.  Please approach your candidate before you submit them for a position, and if they are not present, please have proof that they are willing to serve.    

On Saturday November 11, 2017 - members of the Ak-Sar-Ben Amateur Radio Club setup operations on board the USS Hazard to celebrate the day and let all the vets (including the Hazard herself) know that they are appreciated.  

The ship's oven needs a thermostat repair, so the plan for pizza was scrapped, but crock pots full of chili and bar-b-que chicken were a nice warm subsititute.   There was also plenty of coffee to help keep the operators warm.   

The KØUSA remote operation team (aka - KØCTU and NØTRK) decided against using the Icom IC-728 that is currently housed in the radio room, and instead opted to use the Icom IC-7000 that was a veteran of National Parks on the Air in 2016.   The also decided to try the newest additon to their portable set up, an Bioenno 30aH LiFePo4 battery.   They did use the ships long wire antenna for all contacts.

While the chili and chicken were warming in the galley, the radio room was getting warmer as the heaters worked hard to chase away the chill of the steel hull of the ship.    Sinse the band condtions  have been poor lately, the KØUSA team assumed that the contacts would come slowly and it would be a great time to get new hams and other visitors a chance to get on the air.   They were wrong.

Read more: A great time on the USS Hazard

SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) will take place this year on Saturday, December 2from 0000 until 2400 UTC (starts on the evening of Friday, December 1, in US time zones). During the SKYWARN Special Event, ham radio operators will set up stations at National Weather Service (NWS) offices and contact other radio amateurs around the world.

Participating Amateur Radio stations will exchange a brief description of their current weather with as many NWS-based stations as possible on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meters plus 70 centimeters. Contacts via repeaters are permitted.

SRD was developed jointly in 1999 by the NWS and ARRL to celebrate the contributions SKYWARN volunteers make to the NWS mission — the protection of life and property. Amateur Radio operators, which comprise a large percentage of SKYWARN volunteers, also provide vital communication between the NWS and emergency managers, if normal communications become inoperative. 

The AkSarBen ARC will be on the air from the radio room of the USS Hazard on November 11, 2017 to commemorate United States Veterans.
There is an amateur radio station installed on the ship, and we will be using the ship's antenna.  All area amateurs are invited to come out.  

Operations will start at 10:00 am and will continue until 3:00 pm. Come out and visit and get on the air for a while. The park will be open for the day and admission as always is free.   

The USS Hazard is an Admiral Class Minesweeper that served in the Pacific theater during World War II. 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.

Read more: Veteran's Day on the USS Hazard