Author: Caleb Rich

AB5AR\SK Obituary

Virgil Kimbrell obituary

Details on the arrangements for Virgil can be be found at the link above. Visitation will be from 5-8 PM tomorrow night at Fairview Baptist Church, 127 Airline Road, Columbus.

There will be a donation container, person, or something at the park next Saturday if you’d like to donate something. The plan is to make a donation in memory of Virgil to the Palmer Home from the radio clubs. Tune in to the W5YD net Monday at 8 PM and the Lowndes County net on Tuesday at 7:30 PM for additional details on this.

73, K5RFL

2 Meter band changing in ITU Region 1

I don’t know how much you view online, or on social media, but if you’ve been on either much as of late,you’ve probably seen a headline related to this.

It probably said something to the effect of “They’re taking away our 2 meter band.” I’ve skipped over them mostly because I didn’t figure it was related to us since I haven’t heard any chatter.

This morning I was looking through You Tube checking out some tech videos and saw one about this reallocation, so I decided to go ahead and check it out. Here’s what i learned. The 2 meter band, from 144-146 mhz, is under consideration for reallocation in ITU Region 1 for aeronautical use. ***after talking with Mark, W5TXR, this morning, I learned that not only are they more active on 2 meter in this region than I suspected, but this is their entire portion of the 2 meter band that amateurs there are allocated. ***

Although this doesn’t directly affect us, it’s food for thought. Use it or lose it, as they say. I’m glad that we have such an active 2 meter bunch here in the Golden Triangle and the turnout for the weekly net is always encouraging. I smiled big last night when I heard the new tech from Texas check in on Echolink because he saw that the repeater was active.

The repeater will show active on Echolink when they’re are stations connected via Echolink. I’ve heard, multiple times over the last year, that traveling hams don’t hear much 2 meter activity until they’re in range of the W5YD repeater here. We’re a veritable welcome mat for hams traveling across the Southeast and that’s awesome.

Regarding Echolink, even though you’re in repeater range, swap it up once in a while and connect on Echolink for a bit. Those new hams searching for an active Echolink repeater can find us and join in. That’s the 3rd, I believe, new tech I’ve heard whose first contact, or one of first few, was W5YD on Echolink.

From my perspective, that’s something to he proud of that our repeater is active enough on a regular basis for hams around the country to see it and check in. You’re an incredible group of hams around here and I’m proud to he part of it.

73, de K5RFL

Radio Day in the Park, Starkville

Well, the Day in the Park was a success. We had a couple of potential new hams come by and we were able to get our hands on some great equipment, courtesy of MFJ. The Xiegu G90 is an incredible little radio packed with features and will get you excited about QRP operations, if you’re not already excited about it. We had 20+ in attendance throughout the day and beautiful weather, with a light breeze most of the morning. Below are some pictures from the event, taken by John (K5DDT). John, we thank you for capturing the day so well. It was well attended and I thank everyone for coming out and having a great time.

  • Satellite Contact Demo
  • Robert (KD5FRy)
  • Walt & Doug
  • KF4KQS with the Xiegu G90
  • KM5MS & N5OMK
  • K5DDT
  • MFJ Crew*
  • Group Picture 2*
  • N5OMK
  • KD5FRY

If you’ve been on the Magnolia ARC Facebook page, or checked in to the W5YD net recently, you’ve probably heard something about the MagARC and Lowndes ARC clubs getting together for a Day in the Park on July 13th. With the LoCoARC meeting night falling on July 4th we’ve decided to get the clubs together on July 13th for a Radio Day in the Park and we’ve invited the public to attend.

The plan is to grab a quick breakfast at Vowell’s and head over to McKee Park, located near the Starkville Sportsplex on Lynn Lane, for our Day in the Park. As usual there will be a station or two setup, but we’ll either use one of these or an additional setup as a GOTA station.

Mark, W5TXR, has indicated that he would be interested in doing a satellite communication demo that day. Here’s what I’d like to see for this event, since we hope to have a good public turnout. Whether or not you setup a working station try to bring something related to amateur radio that you feel comfortable talking about.

Homebrew projects would be great to have represented and would give a “station” if you will for kids to go to and ask questions. Ask yourself what your favorite part of the radio field is and bring something relative to that. I want everyone to be involved as much as you want to be involved. Don’t leave that park wishing you’d brought something or had done something more.

Antennas, Go kits, portable station, HT, computer, QSL cards, CW key (I’ll bring a practice key from MFJ for someone to demo with), etc… N5ZNI, Jeff, has his QSL cards in albums. How cool would it be for a kid to come up and flip through an album and see a QSL card from a battleship or one of the cool cards from W9IMS with Nascar stuff.

This is a great opportunity for us to showcase what we love about amateur radio and spark interest in someone else, so don’t just come out and be there. Come out and share your excitement about amateur radio with whoever comes by.

We’ll have a blast together, undoubtedly, and I bet we’ll recruit a few more folks into the world of ham radio. I can’t wait to see you there.

73 de K5RFL, Caleb