The Chawed Rag – September 2021

President’s Update

It’s been a strange year. Even with the vaccine and the end of official quarantine, it still feels a little like life in slow motion. During the summer, it was good to see fellow hams at the weekly lunches and at the three in-person meetings that we had, and hopefully we can get back to that soon.

As hams, we should be good at communications, and thankfully radio has very few limits and certainly shouldn’t be affected by a virus. So the question remains Why are the repeaters so quiet?

I’ve had more than one new ham say “I’ve listened to your repeaters and don’t hear much” and I’d like to know why that is. I know that less people are doing the traditional morning and evening drives to and from work, but that doesn’t explain the evenings or weekends. I can’t believe that everyone has become shy all of the sudden. I do know that activity breeds activity, so I wish we all could be more like KD5OUG who throws his call out most every time he is in his car. The RWK has a reputation as a friendly club and I want us to live up to it. So the next time you’re in your car or just in the shack, throw your call out. And the next time you hear a call that you don’t recognize, introduce yourself and say hello!

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Question for the Klub: Richardson High School has a club station license. The trustee is a ham that taught there from 2018-2019 but no longer is there. Does anyone know anyone in the science faculty at RHS or has a kid at RHS that can get us a lead at the school? We would like to find out if there’s any interest in restarting the RHSARC and getting more high school kids interested in radio. If you know anything, please let me know.

Thanks for being a RWK Member! – 73 de KD4C

RWK History

By Chip Coker KD4C

At a recent RWK Hungry Hams lunch, I had a conversation with Tim Bratton K5RA about the Klub’s history. I’ve been attempting to document some of the history of the RWK and trying to find some of the details of the early years of the RWK. This kicked off a trip down memory lane for Tim and Dave Cummings WA5TET, where they started spouting callsigns and names and who worked where. I knew none of this and almost pulled out my phone to record it. Instead, Tim agreed to go back and find some old QST listings and document some of the things that he remembers and try to canvass the people that are still around.

One of the things that Tim remembered (and I had heard this from others) was that the RWK (in those days it was the Richardson ARC) scored very highly in multiple Field Days. He has found QST listings that show RWK as top 10 ranked for several years in the early 70s (#1 in Class 2A in 1971!).

Another interesting tidbit is how the Klub ended up with the K5RWK callsign. William (Bill) Baugh had the K5RWK callsign up to 1968, when he died prematurely, and somehow the klub got that call assigned to a club station license. Before the club had K5RWK, it appears that they competed in FD using various members’ callsigns and that there was no club station license (we have been unable to find a club license for the Richardson Amateur Radio Club in old callbooks). In 1969, it appears that the klub competed as K5RWK but entered as the Richardson Amateur Radio Club.

We would love to know what you know about the early years of the RARC/RWK. Please drop a note to Tim or me (KD4C) and we will continue to update you with what we find. I’ve started a RWK History page on the website to capture and share this history: https://www.k5rwk.org/rwk-history/

ARRL VHF Contest Experience

By Ken Hansen, N2VIP

I am not a Contester – sure I participate in Field Day, but rarely do I make a point of participating in other contests, I rarely find myself with sufficient time to participate in any meaningful way. But with encouragement from a few friends, I committed to participating in a recent contest. With a very modest setup – an Icom IC-705 QRP radio, an external 9 amp Bioenno battery, and an Elk dual-band Log Periodic beam on a 6′ tripod on a second floor balcony in NJ (Maidenhead Square FN20io), I went forth and worked the recent ARRL VHF Contest. Read Full Article ->

FCC License Fees Update

Due to recent congressional actions, the FCC announced earlier this year that they will be charging $35 for new licenses, upgrades, vanity grants and renewals.  Administrative updates (such as address changes) will not require a fee. We have been awaiting notice from the FCC about just when this fee would go into effect, due to the interaction with the Volunteer Examiner program. Reports from people that have been on conferences with the FCC about this suggest that the fees won’t be implemented before the new year, and there will be a 90 day notice before the fees will go into effect. Keep that in mind if you are planning on upgrading or applying for a vanity callsign in the near future. – Michael WT9V

Project of the Month – September 2021

Product Review: DIY Mini Spot Welder

By John Slaughter WB5HSI

Recently I was faced with trying to repair a battery-operated device and had the usual problem of how to make connections to the battery.  Normally a spot welder is used to weld nickel strips to the battery terminals.  While it is possible to solder to a battery, it is not recommended and with Li-ion batteries there is the real risk of uncontrolled discharge and fire due to the flammable electrolyte.

Read Full Review ->

K5RWK Repeater Updates and Improvements

By Chip Coker KD4C

As we mentioned earlier in the year, we’ve been hard at work planning some improvements to the K5RWK repeater systems. There are three separate activities in work.

1. Improvements to the main Palisades repeater site
2. Relocation of the UHF 443.375 Repeater to East Renner
3. Replacement of the DMR Repeater at the UTD site

Read Full Article ->

Katherine Forson KT5KMF Receives the 2021 ARRL Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award

The recipient of the 2021 Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award is our own (well, partly) Katherine M. Forson, KT5KMF, of Plano, Texas. A Technician in 2013 at the age of 9, a General in 2017, and an Amateur Extra in 2018, Katherine’s enthusiasm resulted in her appointment as the North Texas Section Youth Coordinator in 2019. Katherine and “driver” led our foxhunts for “Wheatley” for over a year, but she’s done far more than that. Read more about her award ->

Don Bowen K5LHO – SK

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Don Bowen K5LHO on August 13, 2021, after a short illness.

Don was one of the earliest members of the RWK, held many leadership positions in the club, including treasurer for many years. Don was voted “Director Emeritus” in 2019 in honor of his long-time RWK service.

Don had a very long career with several area companies and then “retired” and worked part time for UTD for another 20 years. Don and his wife Gwen K5JRT are long-time residents of Canyon Creek. Read Full Article ->