In 2018 from August 9th to the 20th, the Sangamon Valley Radio Club (SVRC) sponsored four special event stations in celebration of Illinois' Bicentennial. The dates were selected to coincide with the 165th Illinois State Fair. Three of the four stations were selected to honor the three different capitals since the founding of the state in 1818.
SVRC license classes are getting started at 6:00 p.m. in room 330 at the Red Cross building, 1045 Outer Park Drive in Springfield.
There will be classes for Technician and General licenses with the possibility of an Extra class study group.
There will be an exam session at the end of the classes.
We use the Gordon West books which are available from a variety of sources including Amazon. Be sure to get the current version for the class of license you are studying for.
Most are aware of the interference issues we have had on the 443.0 Mhz Fusion repeater. It took us a while but we identified the biggest source of the interference as a commercial repeater. Several solutions were discussed. On, Monday 6/11/2018 a notch filter providing about 35Db of attenuation at the offending frequency was installed.
Updated: The issues with the W9DUA DStar repeater have been repaired. A new network switch as been installed restoring the connectivity. The club would like to formally thank N9PUZ for the previous router that had been in service for about 7 years. This location is a harsh environment during the summers. the new router is rated for high temperatures.
Previously:
The Sangamon Valley Radio Club will celebrate the 2018 summer season with a picnic on June 2, from 10am to 4pm at the Rochester Community Park. We will be at the large pavilion located next to a fishing pond and great protected playground. Restrooms are close by. Bring your favorite picnic food & drink, radios and antennas - or just come to eat and chat with your fellow amateur radio enthusiasts. Power is available.
MODES, MODES, AND MORE MODES
Modes. There's a word you run across all the time in amateur radio. What exactly do we mean by mode? Well, the answer is: it depends on the context in which it's used. There's modulation modes, operating modes, digital communication modes, and all kinds of other flavors of mode. K9ZXO takes a stab at explaining some of the possible uses of the word in this five minute "mini-lesson".
Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvpV4kZpgJw
On March 3, 2018, the Sangamon Valley Radio Club celebrated its 70th anniversary with dinner and a featured speaker. The even was held at Poe's on the Hill in Sherman, Illinois. Our guest speaker was noted radio and news broadcaster and amateur radio operator, Ben Kiningham. Ben spoke about the long history of the SVRC and entertained us with many pictures and anecdotes from the 1950s and 60s. A good time was had by all.
Watch it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaXtL91jOjQ
In the club station move we found some of the SVRC's QSL Cards and were in the middle of another project one of our members took on scanning all of the 700+ cards so they could be placed on our website. Wow!
This includes cards for:
Thank you verry much Mitch K9ZXO!