Sometimes it seems like we didn’t do much as a club, but just look back on this last year in the blog, and you will find NanoSail-D, VHF contests, Field Day, the Final Shuttle Launch Special Event, and points in between. We have come a long way in bringing the MARC back to life, and can be proud of that. We logged over 250 HF contacts during the STS-135 commemorative, and have sent certificates to all stations who sent us a SASE. The eQSL logs for this last year’s events will be uploaded before long, so please be patient.  /;^)

Sure we have a ways to go – but we already have plans in place to replace the HF beam rotor, and get our satellite tracking hardware back into operation. We need to focus our attention and get our motivation into gear to operate the multiple modes available on the International Space Station (ARISS is now a formal payload). We are very close to being ready to support voice and packet contacts. Just a little more and we can even support school contacts via telebridge, as requested by the ARISS payload manager N5VHO.

In addition to now holding Army MARS license AAR4CMF, we will likely be hosting a remotely managed HF transceiver for the MSFC-EOC, and be in a position to support their participation in local/regional SKYWARN activations.           (We need to draft a new MOU…)
AND… BTW, speaking of EOCs – our participation in the 2011 Field Day event was nothing to sneeze at. We may have only logged 99 contacts, but that gave us a  score of 248 points in the 1F category. There were only 38 entries nationwide in the ‘EOC’ class, and we were the only entry from Alabama, so we actually took top place in our category for this section.!.!. Wow.

ISS 003UTC2250 over Alabama

OK, so if that is not enough motivational content, here is a quick picture I shot last might watching the ISS fly over my backyard. About 30 seconds of light captured the neighbor’s rooftop, my HF vertical, and a slice of the ISS orbit as they pass by at 17,500  miles/hr…. We need to establish WA4NZD as a presence both with voice and on the packet radio with our Space Station…..
Come by the club station at Bldg 4622 and see how things look these days, it has come a long ways just this year. (Oh Yeah, it is time to pay up some dues – for those that haven’t yet… ) This is NOT a government funded operation, and we do need YOUR support).

Thanks  /;^)

The recent acquisition of the salvaged desk/console makes an attractive addition to the club station. Come see it in person, and help us figure out how we might want to setup the various equipment pieces.
Here is a fairly recent recent photo of the new furniture arrangement :

almost looks 'modern' . . .

There will be plenty of ‘old business’ to discuss, and we are still trying to get dues collected before the end of the year. We need our members to continue their support of ‘our club’ . . . Please make plans to attend this last meeting of the year, and catch up on the various projects and plans we are making for 2012.

Thanks  /;^)

Field Day 2011 @ WA4NZD

We also conducted a special event operation during the Final Shuttle Flight, and logged over 260 contacts during the STS-135 mission. We have opened envelopes and collected the SASE that were submitted, and printed certificates. It is a slow process unfortunately, as volunteer time is scarce these days, but rest assured that you have not been forgotten. If we received your SASE, your certificate will be on the way shortly. Thanks for so many neat  QSL cards ..!.. We expect to upload Field Day and Final Shuttle contacts into eQSL.cc soon also.

Shuttle Event items

Turning to club news, it is time for our monthly meeting this week. We will gather at our club station in Bldg 4622 at the Marshall Space Flight Center. We have several items to discuss, both old and new business. Please try to attend. Typically we start arriving about 4 or 4:30 pm, but there is no strict schedule and we run a fairly loose agenda. We are often there until 6pm or later, so drop in even if only for a short visit. This is great weather to work on our antennas – while  it is not too hot, and not too cold.

Recycled desk/console for us !

Please come see us, and bring a friend.
Thanks  /;^)

I always like to think that ham radio plays an important role in fostering exploration and discovery, that surely was the case for me. Speaking for the handful of ham operators that performed this special event here for the last two weeks; we certainly had our share of challenges and constraints, but we feel our mission was accomplished. We pulled together our limited resources, pooled our talents, and shared our enthusiasm for the space program with hundreds of fellow operators that nearly always thanked us and congratulated us on the success of NASA. We greatly appreciated your enthusiasm and interest.

WA4NZD Mission Patch for STS135

Nine of our club members have collectively logged contact with 262 ham radio operators during our lunch hours, time after work, and even coming back to the Center on the weekends. Those that got onto our log sheets and that send us a SASE will receive our certificate, to confirm their contact. We expect the full log to be uploaded into eQSL.cc after processing is complete. We would have liked to have had more operators, more time on the bands, and more contacts – but we really appreciated this opportunity to participate in such an historic event.
Not bad for a club that has only recently come out of hibernation.
Maybe next time…. The US Space Program is NOT over ..!..

Our thanks to the club operators, in no particular order :
K3XM, N4CNY, K4CNY, WB5RMG, KJ4WIN, KC5EAK, KI4PMW, KB5EZ, & KG4HLZ
(and the supporting members that helped to bring this club back to life)..

/;^)

STS135 Mission Patch

WA4NZD will operate from NASA‘s Marshall Space Flight Center‘s club station after the launch of Atlantis to celebrate and commemorate STS-135, the final flight of the space shuttle program. The launch is currently scheduled for Friday morning, July 8th, 2011. This station may be in operation sporadically throughout the entire mission, based entirely on operator availability. Most likely the operating times will be during lunch and after work. Watch this website and our http://twitter.com/wa4nzd for the most timely updates in real time. Similar operations are being conducted at other NASA centers, including:

• special event station N4S operating near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Their information can be found via http://northbrevardars.org/spaceshuttlefinallaunch.htm .
• The JSC club station W5RRR near Houston, Tx ..
  http://www.w5rrr.org/
• special event station N5S operating from near the White Sands Complex in New Mexico. Their web site can be found via
  http://www.n5bl.org/
• Hopefully, other NASA center radio clubs will be operating on nearby frequencies and several should be available for multiple contacts.

These are volunteers, and many of us are working supporting shuttle and ISS missions during our day-job time slots… please be patient with us.

The operating frequencies for WA4NZD are most likely to be near 7.280, 14.280, and 21.280. A confirmation certificate will be provided only to stations in our contact logs that submit a large 8.5 x 11 (#10) SASE, as this operation receives only voluntary contributions for postage and printing expenses. Confirmation via eQSL.cc is of course at no cost.

We are proud to be able to support the shuttle program, and to be able to celebrate this final launch of the shuttle program. Bon Voyage . . . ! . . .

The STS135 crew

Listen for us and give us a call.
Thanks  /;^)

( – update, as of 11am CDT 8 July 2011 – )
The orbiter Atlantis is underway, and has attained orbit.
Our special event operations will commence shortly.
Please also visit our Final Shuttle Flight page for additional thoughts.

( – update, as of 4:30pm CDT 8 July 2011 – )
We are currently on 20m at 14.280 +/- 10 kHz.
We managed to get thru the pileup and made contact with N4S, there were lots of stations calling them. Could be busy…  /;^)

We had a good time, worked 99 stations total. Not a huge count, but the object was to get some folks to come out, exercise the equipment, our skills, and have some fun. We met all those objectives, and learned a few things about ourselves and others in the process. Field Day is a valuable lesson – we’ll probably do it again next year (maybe the air conditioning will be working by then).

Here is the photo gallery from the event. Please add your comments.

Thanks to everyone who came out to help activate the club station, and to all those that made contacts with us. Lets do it again soon …   /;^)

Anyway, WA4NZD will be active on the ham bands this weekend – so give us a call if you hear us. Or stop by and say howdy if you can. We will try to keep an ear to the 147.100 repeater for talk-in.

Thanks  /;^)

Our 5 element 50 MHz antenna on the rotor deck

The coax is secured and weatherproofed, the rotor and thrust bearing is intact. Inside you can see my Yaesu FT-897D from home, along with my MFJ antenna analyzer. The SWR is a respectable 1.8:1 at a resonant frequency of 50.150 … I called CQ on 50.125, but had no response. A short time later tho I did hear someone else, and moved the antenna rotor to improve the signal. I had a brief chat with Ed – K2LCK, who lives on Long Island in New York (FN30)… only 850 miles or so with 50 watts – I thought that a good indicator of success.

FT-897D listening on 50.125 MHz

Even tho I messed up on the date, and we missed the ARRL June VHF Sweepstakes – there is a SMIRK contest this weekend on 6 meters. I came out Saturday morning about 8am, but have only worked two stations so far. First was Barry – KJ4UGO, over in Trinity, AL (EM64). Then just now I worked Don – KC2AQU in Tuckerton, NJ (FM29). I have heard some others down in the noise today, so I suspect the band is gonna be up and down. I may come back out later this afternoon or evening and listen some more.

There is currently some undetermined issue with my outbound email, so any information I sent out last night about my activities here today have not made it to the YahooGroup. Anyway, I’ll try to listen on the 147.100 repeater this afternoon in case anyone is trying to get me there. You can try me on my cell phone once I leave here for lunch, but I’m using it here as a modem to get on the internet to post this…

Thanks  /;^)

Well at least I got the rotor under the beam, and connected to the controller.
That is a good thing because there is actually a different contest this weekend. This one is even a 6 meter contest – SMIRK !! SMIRK.ORG

I’ll post more on this shortly, but wanted to announce my mistake in case anyone was planning to participate, or even just to watch. This SMIRK event runs from 7 pm CDT Friday evening, thru 7 pm Sunday evening.
But don’t just take my word, go check that website.
Apparently I am not always paying attention.
Maybe . . . ?

Thanks  /;^)

MARC takes First Place in Alabama Contest

Considering this is the first contest entry submitted by this club in over a decade, this is a nice accomplishment. Congratulations to our operators who overpowered several configuration challenges and endured the opressive heat to show ourselves and the world that we seriously enjoy this radio sport .!.
[ WB5RMG, N5AYD, K4RGG, KO4FV, & (soon-to-be-licensed) Andy ! ]
Of course, it helped that we had really great propagation on 50 MHz….
Looking back to last year’s post, I have extracted this breakdown by band :

50 MHz : 93 contacts - 55 grids
144 MHz : 12 contacts - 3 grids
222 MHz : 1 contact - 1 grid
432 MHz : 3 contacts - 3 grids
Total = 114 contacts - 62 multipliers # 7626 points

Just think of what we oughta be able to do this year. I hope 6m is good again !
Last year we were barely trying, and Andrew didn’t even have his license yet !
Don’t forget – this event is coming up June 18 & 19th. Even if you can’t come out and help us get things ready – drop in over that weekend to say howdy, and see what this VHF contesting thing is like. Here is the letter from ARRL …..

Congratulations from the ARRL

(you can click to get a larger one to read the detail)

Even if you stay home and work only a few stations for the event, please submit your log. The contest doesn’t include repeater contacts, but even 2m FM QSOs on simplex can be included (do not use the National Calling Frequency 146.52). Most of the VHF contacts are on 144.200 USB, and 432.100 USB. For FM contacts you might listen on other standard simplex frequencies like 146.55 or 146.58 … All of my 220 contacts during these contests have been on FM, as that is all I have on that band. In 2009 at home, I took the award for 1st place in Alabama on 220 MHz with only 3 contacts ..!..

Give it a try, you just might have some fun…  /;^)