General

Richland County E M A will be conducting testing on the Tornado sirens within the county on Wednesday May 14 from 4-5PM EDT. Sirens may activate several times during testing.

A few quick things, 1st congratulations to all who received the yearly awards for their volunteering in the club, and as Danny Said, some were long overdo, again congrats to all who won.

2nd, Right now, the repeater for 94 is offline till tomorrow 5/3, or maybe later. For some reason there is a carrier wave that is locking the repeater into loop mode. Basically the repeater is being kept live because of a open mike. So please check your HT’s to make sure it is not being locked in the on position.

3rd, Because of the Dayton Hamfest, the ARES meeting will be moved ahead 1 week. If anything changes, I will make sure it is posted on either site.

4th, If anyone is interested in learning CW, Please contact Mike WO8R, or Danny, and or Tom. let them know if you are interested in learning CW.

Thanks, Ray Buettner – N0MRB

Scheduled to launch on Monday March 31st, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will carry the Fram2 mission to space. Comprised of four astronauts, the mission is designed to take a polar orbit around Earth for a 3-5 day period. During that time, astronaut and amateur radio operator Rabea Rogge (LB9NJ/KD3AID) will be transmitting SSTV images from the Dragon spacecraft between 435 and 438 MHz. (A simulation conducted from the International Space Station in February occurred on 437.550 MHz utilizing mode PD-120.)

Fram2Ham is an experimental radio competition open to high school and university ages. Rogge will send pictures of three geographical locations via an onboard ham radio, but here’s the twist: they’ll be cut into pieces and mixed up! Participants will receive only fragments of the locations and need to guess where on Earth they are and what their role in polar history was.

Visit the Fram2Ham website for more information or join the Discord server.

The Great Falls Masonic Amateur Radio Club (GFMARC), KK7MR, in Great Falls, Montana, received a grant from the ARRL Foundation to purchase five library book kits to give to local and rural libraries in Montana. The library book kits contain 11 books dealing with amateur radio and testing guides for all three license classes. Two kits were given to the Great Falls Public Library for their shelves and bookmobile. One kit was given to the Wedsworth Memorial Library, the Fairfield Public Library, and the Arden G. Hill Memorial Library within the Malmstrom Air Force Base.

All the libraries lacked information about amateur radio, and providing the books will allow patrons throughout Montana access to the information. With many libraries in Montana being rural, it is another way to reach more patrons, inspire a small community about becoming licensed to help with emergency communications within their community, or even help a farmer or rancher while out in their fields tending to crops or cattle touch base with their home station or contact emergency services. The ARRL library book kits will provide information and start them on their journey to becoming licensed amateur radio operators.

By GFMARC Public Relations & Media Chair Char Ross, KK7KBM.