Sights of Hamfest ’25
Thanks to everyone who helped make Hamfest ’25 a success! Club members, vendors, visitors … everyone did a great job. We’ll look forward to doing it all again next year. Meanwhile, reminisce a little with these photos.
Minutes: July 8, 2025
1900 Meeting called to order
Guests
* KEØVHD Patrick
* KFØTXG Scott
Both have signed up and paid their dues. Welcome, new members.
Announcements/Reports
* Minutes, Todd/John – Passed
* Treasurer’s report, Todd/Tom – Passed
* Repeater Trustee: .12 machine nominal. .67 machine: Repeater duplexer cabinet was rescued from Bontragers and taken to Bell Enterprises in South Hutchinson. The bottom of the cabinet is in bad shape. We are going to proceed with sand blasting. Whatever holes or missing metal exist we can replace, then we will powder coat it. The duplexers themselves can be placed back into service, and we will do that next week.
Hamfest Committee
Zack reported that there was a disconnect between various departments at the college. No word on insurance requirements. The hamfest is still a go. We will have a dinner meeting August 5, the Tuesday prior to the hamfest.
Old Business
We discussed the Field Day event; the good, the bad, and the ugly.
New Business
* New EOC is scheduled to be completed November 1.
* We need to fabricate some wood bases for the mad cow. They need to be 4 inches thick and 3 foot square
* We need more members of this group to be more involved and join CERT.
50/50 aka Crooked Raffle
Joe ACØMO won $5 and the remaining $5 goes to the club.
NCS
* July 15 WØRHP
* July 22 ACØMO
* July 29 KAØNES
* August 5 KFØBZM
2000 Meeting adjourned
Hamfest ’25
Field Day 2025 Preview
Field Day is coming up this weekend, and the club’s vice president, Mark Rankin, is quoted in this Hutch Post article telling people what Field Day is and what RCKARA is doing. Thanks to Mark for getting the word out!
For yet more information about the annual event, see this page at the ARRL’s website.
Minutes: June 10, 2025
1900 Meeting Called to Order
Announcements
* Eagle Media Interview at 7:15 a.m. June 24; Mark volunteered.
* Mad Cow setup at 10 a.m. June 27 at the Kansas State Fairgrounds.
* May minutes read, John/Tom motion, passed.
* Treasurer’s report read, Jeff/Phil motion, passed.
* Repeater Trustee: The .67 repeater is awaiting duplexer cabinet overhaul. The .12 repeater is nominal.
Committees
* Field Day: Setup will be at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 28. NØUNI/UPRR will be in charge of procuring ice. ACØRL will be in charge of the grill and meat. The EOC/ACØRL will be in charge of the radios.
* Great Plains Super Launch: This will be June 14 in Buhler.
NCS
* June 17 – WØUY
* June 24 – KAØNES
* July 1 – KBØSQL
Crooked Raffle
* Ron KFØJNO won $12, back to club treasury. Ron also brought some wonderful cucumbers to share! YUM!!!
Motion to adjourn Phil/Mark, passed.
1943 Meeting adjourned
Minutes: May 13, 2025
1900 Meeting called to order.
There were many new and old faces so we did introductions. A new face was Mike, WBØUWM.
Announcements
* ACØRL will be attending Hamvention in Dayton, OH.
* New EOC at G and Plum is under construction.
* April Minutes read, Phil/Zack, passed.
* Treasurer’s Report, Ken/Jeff, passed.
* Repeater Trustee Report: The .67 repeater has a high SWR and will require additional troubleshooting, but it’s still in service. The .12 repeater deserves a visit; all is nominal.
Committees
* Hamfest ’25: Still waiting on insurance requirements. Dan’s wife can provide us signage.
Old Business
* Zack and his Project Traveler are hosting a large balloon launch from June 12-14. Learn more at www.superlaunch.org. You can sign up for the extended activities.
Field Day
This will be June 27, 28, and 29. KFØJNO will be hosting another GOTA station; he could use some additional club assistance. Motion to pay up to $100 for GOTA QSL cards, Joe/Zack, passed. We will be running two stations: FT8 using ACØRL’s 7100 and computer, and the EOC’s FT1000 for SSB/CW.
NCS
* May 20: ACØMO
* May 27: KAØNES
* June 3: NØUNI
50/50, AKA Crooked Raffle
* Ken won $5, $16 to club.
2003 Meeting adjourned.
Minutes: April 8, 2025
1900 Meeting called to order
Introductions
* New attendees: Logan Barone, Craig Cooper
* Guest: Bob Harder, KS QSO Party
Announcements
* The new .67 repeater is being programmed for installation.
* March minutes were read, Phil/Jeff made motion to accept, passed.
* Treasurer’s report read, Ken/John made motion to accept, passed.
* Repeater trustee: New .67 in progress; .12 nominal.
Committees
* Field Day, none established at this time.
* Hamfest, WØZC: The hamfest will be ARRL sanctioned. It will not be the ARRL state convention as it took ARRL section manager Ron Cowan about eight months to respond to Zack’s request. Four directional signs will be needed.
Old Business
* Bob Harder presented our first-place plaque for the KS QSO Party. Thanks to those who participated. Shirts and stamps were distributed to those participants present.
* Jerry thanks those who assisted him in putting up the new tower and beam.
New Business
* The DMR repeater on 43rd Street is operational. Motion by Jeff/Dan to send Justin Reed, NV8Q, $250 to support his efforts and expenses, passed.
NCS
* April 15: WØZC
* April 22: KAØNES
* April 29: KFØBZM or ACØMO
* May 6: KBØSQL
50/50
* WØRHP won, donated $20 to club.
20:15 Dan/Jeff Motion to adjourn, passed
Minutes: March 11, 2025
1900 Meeting Called to Order
January minutes read, motion Phil/Ken, passed
Reports
*Treasurer’s report, motion Jake/Jeff, passed
*Repeater trustee: New 67 repeater progressing at government pace. 12 repeater operating nominally.
Hamfest Committee
* Ron Partridge donated to the club a pristine FT891 for a raffle/door prize.
* ARRL has info.
* D&L wanted club to pay for his lodging; no.
* Mark from Derby will be there.
* Matt from Tribune will be there.
* Ron Cowan has not responded.
* We are seeking presenters.
Old Business
* None.
New Business
* ACØRL is inviting the club membership to use the ham shack. The club was instrumental in the construction of the shack, and ACØRL feels it is a club resource. There are many contests coming up and ACØRL desires for the membership to benefit fro use of the shack. ACØRL will publish a list of events that he will be available to open the shack. If there is an event you wish to operate in, please notify ACØRL. ACØRL is ready to have the new beam antenna mounted on the new tower. This will be beam #2, a real pileup buster. He will put out a message as to when the beam party will occur.
* John Brady asked about special events at the Cosmosphere. We have not been involved with that organization for a very long time.
* KBØSQL informed the club of an app for Android and iPhone: Droidstar. It supports all current digital voice modes.
NCS
* 3/18 ACØMO
* 3/25 KAØNES
* 4/1 ACØRL, expect foolishness!
Program
Zack Clobes did a presentation of some portable antennas that he designed and built. He used a 3D printer to make coil forms and tripod base fixtures. He will be using them on his trip to the Caribbean.
50/50
Ron won, donated back to club, $24.
20:00 Meeting adjourned
No February meeting
Here’s a reminder that the club members voted, during the February 4 net, to have no RCKARA meeting this month.
Minutes: January 14, 2025
1900 Meeting called to order by President Charles Tucker.
We had an exceptional turnout and we did introductions. There was a new face: Mike Davidson, KBØUWN. We also had some Irish royalty present, Sir Sherradan.
Announcements:
* EOC is hosting a CPR and First Aid course, free to CERT members, $25/class to non-CERT members, and $45 for both. Register with KBØSQL. The classes will be held Feb. 11 and 13. The 11th conflicts with our February meeting, so depending upon conference room availability, we will announce when the February meeting will be held.
* The Great Plains Super Launch will be June 12-14th, hosted by Zack Clobes, WØZC. Check out the Super Launch website for more details. You don’t want to miss this!
Reports:
* November minutes were read and approved, motion John/Larry, passed.
* Treasurer’s report was read and accepted. There was a question on the $100 expense for last year’s hamfest; after research it was found to be money to make change for the entrance fee, to seed the till. Report was accepted, motion Larry/Jeff, passed.
Repeater Trustee
* The .67 machine is dying a slow painful death with low output and low modulation. The .12 machine is nominal. See the discussion below under New Business.
Hamfest Committee
Hamfest is scheduled for Aug. 9 at the HCC Fire Science facility. Laurel VEC will hold exams; they request advance registration. Ron Cowens has been contacted regarding ARRL participation. Break-out sessions are requested, so anyone who wishes to do a session should contact Zack, WØZC,
Old business
* Treasurer needs to get e-statements going at RCB.
New Business
* Reno County EOC has offered $5,000 to the club to replace the .67 repeater. That could buy us a DMR repeater. Internet access is unavailable and unaffordable for the club. It may be possible to set up a full duplex link via 70cm or 1.2m using TNCs for a Internet backbone to the site. We need to research if a 9600 baud link is sufficient for the DMR Internet link. Other repeater options are all on the table. Whatever we decide upon, it will need to be tolerant of the awful conditions at the site.
NCS
* Jan 21: NØFXG
* Jan 28: KAØNES
* Feb 4: KFØBZM
50/50
Our local knight in rusty armor, NØFXG, won again, I think this is becoming a truly crooked raffle. He took home $10, $11 to the club!
2000 Meeting adjourned, motion Scott/Phil, passed.