Meeting Location

Yes, there will be a meeting on Tuesday November 26th. Pleas come join us.

We meet every fourth Tuesday of the month and we are meeting at Miller’s BBQ & Cafe located at 4600 25th Ave NE #165 Salem, OR 97301. https://maps.app.goo.gl/8gLvqLjVooNhUACu7

You can use the link below to see the menu now. On the day of the meeting you can place your order as a “pick up”. When selecting a time, pick the latest time and just note you are with the radio club.  This will help them expedite orders and make sure we get everyone served before the meeting starts.
https://millersbbqcafe.square.site

There are signs to help guide you to parking and the entrance.

Come join us, all guests welcome.

Winter Field Day Summary – January 2024

We made a total of 577 contacts, from a total of 9 operators!
That’s:

  • 71 CW contacts
  • 17 DIG contacts
  • 489 Phone Contacts

We claimed the following bonus goals:

  • Operate 100% on alternative power
  • Operate away from Home
  • Deploy multiple Antennas
  • Send and receive at least 1 Winlink email
  • Operate 6 continuous hours

We didn’t quite make the bonus of “operate on at least 6 different bands”.  We only needed 1 more!

This puts us at a total point score of….   5,985.  (Assuming none of our contacts are disqualified.)
This is not only significantly more contacts than last year’s winter field day, but it is also well over the 317 contacts we made at SUMMER field day!
I would like to attribute a lot of this to Dan – KN0MAP for graciously providing his tent for us to operate in out of the weather, and to Mark -KI7FZV for bringing his tower & beam antenna, which I estimate to have been used to make around 2/3 of the total contacts!

We would also like to thank our visitors for coming out and joining us. Zack who provided the header picture you see above and Jess who helped with logging and we got on the radio to make some contacts. We look forward to getting the both licensed and having them out with us for future events.

HAM Radio at Girl Scout STEM Day

Saturday, Nov. 18, Valley Radio Club and the Salem Radio Club jointly participated in the Girl Scout Western Washington and Oregon STEM Day in Salem, OR.  It was located at the Salem Convention Center and was a perfect spot for the exposition.

There were 1,600 scouts and their chaperones present for a fun day exploring the many aspects of science and technology.  Representatives from commerce, industry, education and interest groups occupiied 168 tables providing the attendees an introduction to the many  various levels and branches of science available for young women and girls to explore.  Of course, HAM RADIO was a perfect fit for displaying our talents and hobby to the scouting organization.  Our booth was constantly filled with enthusiastic scouts and adults  learning about our hobby.

The Valley Radio Club provided the demonstration process, the handout materials and people.  Salem Radio Club (Mark) put the station together, insured operability through the WA7ABU Salem repeater, and of course people.  We organized the booth into three sections.  1. The intro to amateur radio area where handouts were distributed, and the scouts learned about CW (morse code) and phonetic name spelling.   2. The radio station demonstration contact and 3. The Special First Contact Award presentation from the GS STEM Day exposition.

Our volunteer hams received “on the job” training for what to say, what to expect and what to do with the scouts.  I personally could not have been more proud of the performance of the group explaining amateur radio to the hundreds of guests visiting the booth. (yes, hundreds).  Due to the number of visitors attending, the demonstration contacts were kept to about 1 every 4 minutes.  We manned the booth  from 0900 until 1200, and then again from 1300 until 1600.  One hundred contacts were performed through the WA7ABU repeater, and many more hundreds of visitors gathered the handouts and played the morse games.  The Amateur Radio booth received special attention  on their girl scout visitors feedback boards for being one of the best tables at the STEM Day. The booth would not have been successful if it were not for the many, many dedicated hams RESPONDING on the repeater to our calls for contacting the scouts at the STEM Day.  Our heartfelt thanks to the Salem ham community giving great information and friendly conversation to the girls for over 6 hours on anything from pets names to favorite colors to their age and of course why do you like ham radio.  The WA7ABU repeater provided excellent coverage over a 50 mile radius.    There were NO missed call-outs!  A response was received every time.  I wish I had recorded your calls.  Many were noted on our white boards as we operated, then erased.

Mark Holt – W7EAZ

I want to thank Mark Holt for taking the lead on this. Mark you did a fantastic job and it sounds like this is a good event to show a presence at.

Mike Reed – KJ7BRF – SARC VP

Operators wanted for W1AW/7 Oregon operation, Sept. 6-12

Hello Oregon hams! 

Please distribute this to whomever you think might be interested in participating!

W1AW/7 in Oregon, part deux, runs from September 6-12, 2023. 

This is coming up in just about a month!

  • You must be an ARRL member.
  • You can operate from anywhere in Oregon. 
  • You must use a computer logging program that generates an ADIF file.
  • You must apply to be an operator via the ham-qtv site.

When registered, you will have access to a sign-up schedule where you can pick as many 2-hour slots as you want.  

You will select the date, start time, band (6, 10, 15, 20, 40, 80, 160), and mode (CW, Phone, Digital).  

The schedule will show which slots are taken (showing call) and which are available.

Please note that 2 meters is permitted as well, although it’s not shown on the signup sheet.

The procedure to register and request to operate is simple:

  1. Go to the website https://www.ham-qtv.com/.  
  2. You will see boxes for Current Events, including W1AW/7 Oregon SECOND Week, with me N7JI as coordinator.  
  3. At upper right you will see Register and Login.  Click on Register.  
  4. A Register window opens.  
  5. Fill out the form – your call, email, name, and a password (only you will know it – so write it down!).  
  6. Click on the blue Register button.
  7. Click on Logout.  

You’ve created an account on the ham-qtv website, but need to log back in to “request to operate.”

  1. On the ham-qtv.com website, click on Login.  
  2. Enter your call and password.  
  3. Click on the W1AW/7 Oregon SECOND Week event.  
  4. You will see a schedule of bands and times with some slots showing QRV.
  5. Click on the blue Request to Operate button.  
  6. A Request to Operate window opens.  
  7. Click the blue Request button.

Then you wait…for me.

You might want to send me an email stating that you’ve applied as I might be kinda slow.

ars.n7ji@gmail.com

I will send you an email when you’re approved to take slots.

Once approved I will also send you a set of guidelines for operating as W1AW/7 as well as contact info of the other operators.

Once you are registered and approved to operate…you can sign up for operating slots.

  • Go to https://www.ham-qtv.com/.
  • Click on Login.
  • Enter your callsign and password
  • Click on Oregon SECOND Week event.
  • There is a separate signup page for each of the 7 days of the event.
  • Select the TIME (UTC or Pacific time).
  • Once you’ve picked a sheet for the desired date…you will see the schedule for that day.
    • If a slot says, “TAKE,” it is available.
      • A box with a callsign listed is NOT available.
    • If you want to reserve a slot, click on the “Take” box.  
    • You are asked to confirm you want the slot.  
    • When you confirm, your call appears in Red in that slot.  
    • If you later change your mind, you can click on that slot and confirm you want to release your slot.  

Please note that you do NOT have to operate for all of any 2-hour period. 

You also don’t have to pound away for 2 hours on a band that’s dead.

If you’re done with a time slot, you just release it, and someone else can take it.

If you run into problems signing up, let me know.

Scott N7JI 
ars.n7ji@gmail.com
541-221-2475

Club Scrapbook

I took photos of our club scrapbook from storage while at our 75th anniversary party, while I had the opportunity. These were taken with a phone, under less than ideal circumstances. We hope to digitize much of this in the future in a better way.
Nick
N7UF

Repeater Site Electric is Almost Done

Thanks to Jay WB6RDV we now have power and lights at the site. One more outlet to wire and we are done. We should have it all wrapped by end of next week. Here are some more pictures of the progress. We thank Jay for all the work he is doing it looks great.

Jay WB6RDV wiring an outlet.
Finished Outlets
Jay WB6RDV Lighting the new site up.

More Progress on Repeater Site

This week we made more progress at the repeater site. As you will see from the pictures below all but the last section of the tower is up (Thank You Mark Doucette – KI7FZV). The building is in place and we have it insulated with OSB on the walls and just need to complete the OSB on the ceiling. Next week we are hoping to get the electric installed. We will post more on the progress as it happens.

Carl – KF7BBR and Mike – KJ7BRF picking up tools after getting the inside walls done.
Looking at the front of the site while work in progress.
Back of site showing the last section of tower ready for some antennas.
Chris – KJ7UYT admiring his handy work.
Insulation being installed in the ceiling.

Tower Foundation Poured!

Progress has been made at the repeater site. The foundation for the new tower has been poured! Thank you goes out to everyone involved with the club that has had a hand in keeping this project moving along.

Special thanks goes to Mark and his wife Vikki, to Carl and to Jay for being available to go on site the day of the pour!