K9MCE QSN
K9MCE Officers:

President: Mark Kerhlikar,
WD9HBF

Vice-President: Tom Turpin,
KC9WOH

Secretary: Greg Ketcham,
KC9UFZ

Treasurer: Jim Pitchford,
N9LQF

Trustee: Skp Riba, WS9V

Board of Directors:

Mark Osborn, WA9SXK

Gary Huff, K9AUB

Tim Coonrod, KC9HQA

Hugh Watson, AB9UB

Webmaster: Isaac Pizzo,
WX9SRV
Inside this issue:
Club meeting and 1
program. New
officers elected.
H.R. 4969
2
Volume 2, Issue 10
October 2014
K9MCE Club Meeting on Wednesday 1 October
Mark your calendars now and
plan on attending this month’s
meeting of the Macoupin County Amateur Radio Club at 7:00
pm on Wednesday, October
1st. We meet on the second
floor of the Macoupin County
Sheriff Department, 215 S. East
Street, Carlinville, IL 62626.
Prior to the club meeting the
club has an informal dinner gathering at Reno’s Pizza in the
Carlinville Square starting
around 5:00 pm.
This month’s presentation immediately after the business
meeting will feature “Antenna
patterns, E and H planes.” A
program that you will not want
to miss.
After the business meeting, FCC
VE testing is offered. Call Bill,
W9FJ for an appointment @
217-854-8261. Be sure to bring
a copy of your license, some
pencils and a non-programmable
calculator.
K9MCE assists
4
with Flu clinic and
Capitol Century
Hams needed for
marathon
5
Flu shot and Cap- 6-7
itol Marathon
photos
WS9V/R update, 8-9
IL QSO Party and
Tech class
Club calendar
16
K9MCE 2015 Club Officers Elected
A heartfelt, big thank you to
outgoing club president, Gary
Huff, K9AUB, vice-president,
Ron Ochu, KO0Z and board
member Isaac Pizzo, WX9SVR
for their dedicated service to
the club. Again, another heartfelt big thank you to the following elected club officers for
2015: Mark Kerhlikar,
WD9HBF President, Tom Tur-
pin, KC9WOH Vice-president,
Greg Ketcham, KC9UFZ secretary, Jim Pitchford, N9LQF
treasurer and to Gary Huff,
K9AUB who replaces Isaac Pizzo WX9SRV on the board of
directors.
The new officers begin their
duties immediately and will preside at the October meeting.
Club dues are also now due and
are payable to club treasurer
Jim Pitchford, N9LQF. Regular
membership is $20.00, Family
membership is $25.00, Full-time
student is $10.00 and a lifetime
membership is $200.00.
Page 2
K9MCE QSN
K9MCE TRY GRIDS HONOR ROLL MEMBERS
The K9MCE Try Grids Award
was established two years ago
to encourage Macoupin County
ARC club members to experience the joys of VHF/UHF
communications. Members are
encouraged to learn more
about VHF/UHF propagation,
antennas and coax and to improve their stations. Towards
that end the award was created
and the goal is to successfully
establish two-way VHF/UHF
simplex contacts either from
your QTH or mobile with amateurs in three grids. More
information pertaining to grids
can be found at this ARRL
webpage: http://www.arrl.org/
grid-squares
QSL cards confirming the Qs
need to be presented to the
committee and then you, too,
will be eligible for this prestigious accolade at a club meeting
and to have your call inscribed
in the K9MCE Try Grids
Award Hall of Fame. Who will
be next?
“To date, three
club members
earned the Try
Grids Award
and are Honor
Roll members.”
K9MCE Try Grids Honor Roll Members
Jim Pitchford, N9LQF; Mark Kerhlikar, WD9HBF, and Jeff Naville, KC9WZO.
Macoupin County ARC Mission Statement:
We, the undersigned, being desirous of securing for ourselves the pleasures and benefits
of the association of persons commonly interested in Amateur Radio, by promoting civic
interest, specific application, social activities and developing individual efficiency, while improving the general interest in amateur radio, do ordain and establish this Constitution
and By-Laws of the Macoupin County Amateur Radio Club Inc., a non-profit corporation.
We do further agree that in pursuit of these purposes, this organization shall be nonsectarian, non-partisan and that it shall lend neither support or influence to any political
party or candidate for office. The Macoupin County Amateur Radio Club, Inc., shall afford
all persons, regardless of race or creed an equal opportunity to join, participate, hold office and enjoy in the benefits of this organization and the challenges of amateur radio.
Volume 2, Issue 10
Page 3
H.R. 4969 Still Needs You!
At the September club meeting,
going over old business the
topic turned to H.R. 4969.
House Resolution 4969 is cosponsored by representatives
on both sides of the aisle so it
has bi-partisan support. This
resolution, if it gets enough cosponsors, will stand a good
chance of getting on the floor
of Congress as a bill to be debated. But first it needs to get
out of committee.
This resolution will allow Radio
Amateurs to negotiate with
governing bodies, such as home
owner associations to bargain
in good faith reasonable anten-
na/tower accommodations. In
other words, passage of this
resolution, if were to become a
bill, would not give Radio Amateurs “carte-blance” authority
to put up any tall tower in a
subdivision. It will allow Radio
Amateurs who were prevented
before from putting up towers
to now put up a “reasonable
tower and antenna.” This is a
very important piece of legislation and it is vital for us to urge
our legislators to co-sponsor it.
Our legislator in U.S. Congress
is Rodney Davis. He can be
reached at this URL: https://
rodneydavis.house.gov/contact/
Although this newsletter has
been urging club members to
contact Mr. Davis since July, as
of the September meeting of
those present, only two club
members have done so. This
is a dismal showing from
our club. The link above will
take you Mr. Davis’ email page
and all you need to write is to
urge him to co-sponsor H.R.
4969. As of press time, Mr.
Davis has not indicated that
he’ll support H.R. 4969. How
important are putting up outside antennas and support
structures in Amateur Radio to
you?
Rep. Rodney Davis
needs to hear from
YOU on H.R. 4969.
Welcome to Our Newest Club Members!
K9MCE QSN welcomes Greg
Ketcham, KC9UFZ to
the K9MCE Macoupin
ARC family! Greg
joined at the August
meeting and inadvertently he did not appear
in the September edition. Greg was elected
to the position of club
secretary at the September meeting! Congratulations Greg.
“Please
welcome our
newest club
members, Greg
KC9UFZ and
Robert, KD9BXF seated near the fridge
Please welcome our newest
member, Robert Hester,
Greg Ketcham, KC9UFZ
KD9BXF from Witt, IL who
passed his Tech at our hamfest
and upgraded to General at the
club meeting!
Your ARRL Central Division
Director: Dick Isely, W9GIG; [email protected] 630-584-3510
Vice Director: Kermit Carlson, W9XA, [email protected]; 630879-0983
Illinois Section Manager: Tom Ciciora, KA9QPN,
[email protected] 815-498-4929
Robert,
KD9BXF!”
Page 4
K9MCE QSN
K9MCE Members Assist with Capitol Century Ride
Roman Durand, getting into the spirit of
providing public service via Amateur Radio!
“A reminder to
all club
members, who
haven’t paid
their dues, that
the club’s “new
year” begins in
October.”
Sunday, September 7th and
once again the alarm woke
Debbie and I up way to early.
Before long we were showered
and ready to get to our assigned spot along the Springfield Bicycle Club’s 125 mile
Capitol City Century Ride by
8:30 am to assist with communications. We were in place by
8:00 am or so we thought. In
actuality we were just south of
where we needed to be and
soon we were at the right spot
which included a rest stop,
shade trees, porta-potties and
plenty of snacks! Among all the
communications volunteers,
Debbie and I were assigned to
what just had to be the “Taj
Mahal” of assignments. We
assisted with two sag wagon
requests and with one-flat tire.
Other than that we had a nice,
enjoyable day watching to bicyclists peddle their way back to
Springfield. In fact, Debbie and
I heard “thank you” so many
times from the bicyclists for
supporting their event that we
almost felt guilty about the easy
gig we had. Not that we were
complaining, but if things were
to become “dicey” then we
were prepared to step up our
game. Jim , N9LQF, Mark,
WD9HBF, Bill, W9FJ and
Greg,KC9UFZ from our club
assisted with communications.
This year the course was cool
and sunny as opposed to last
year’s rainy, hot and humid.
900 bicyclists participated in
this year’s ride and all had a
safe ride. Communications
organizer Jess Hunter wrote,”
We received nothing but praise
and admiration from the event
organizers and I wish it could
have been possible for each and
every one of you to be there
to hear the praise we received.
It made me proud to be associated with the group of Radio
Operators we pulled together
for this.”
Annual Club Dues Are Now Payable
A reminder to all club members, who haven’t paid their
dues, that the club’s “new
year” begins in October. A
new slate of officers will preside at the October meeting
and club treasurer Jim Pitchford, N9LQF encourages all
club members, who haven’t yet
done so, to please get their
dues into him by this meeting.
Your dues dollars assist with
maintaining the WS9V/R, club
liability insurance which allows
us to co-sponsor the West
Central Illinois hamfest and to
conduct license classes at the
North Mac School district.
Dues also assist with the exceptional Field Day cookouts
and hamfest prizes!
Checks are fine and should be
made out to Macoupin County
ARC.
year.
Senior membership is $15.00/
year.
Full-time Student is $10.00/year
Lifetime
membership
is $200.00/
year.
Regular membership is $20.00/
year.
Family membership is $25.00/
K9MCE Members Assist with Flu Shots
Flu shots were given
at the fairgrounds on
Saturday September
6.
In spite of the headline, K9MCE
club members, Gary, K9AUB;
Mark Kerhlikar, WD9HBF;
Greg, KC9UFZ; Bill, K9FJ, Jim,
N9LQF, Debbie, KC9ULA and
Ron, KO0Z provided communications for the Macoupin
County Health Department on
Saturday, September 6th at the
Macoupin County Fairgrounds.
Hardee’s run for some much
needed coffee and sausage &
egg biscuits. We were all assigned stations along the route
which started from the fairgrounds entrance to the Bates
building. If need be, we were
told how to enlarge the route
to accommodate more vehicular traffic.
Saturday morning arrived
bright and early as did the
aforementioned club members.
Ron and Debbie made a
The purpose of the event was
to vaccinate as many people as
possible against the flu from
8:00 to 11:00 am. The idea
behind this exercise was to
partner up with the Macoupin
County Health Department
and prepare for an actual
emergency where hundreds of
people at a time would need
vaccinations. The event was a
success! Participants all received a free flu hot for volunteering!
Volume 2, Issue 10
Page 5
Club Christmas Party?
Last year, K9MCE substituted
its December club meeting for
a club Christmas party at Crabby’s Restaurant in Carlinville.
Tromelin Island to be QRV
Tromelin Island, FT4TA is
expected to be QRV starting
October 30 and going to
November 10. Tromelin
Island is located in the Indian
Ocean off the cost of Africa
and it hasn’t been on the air
sine 2000.
Is the club interested in having
another Christmas Party and if
so, then where? Should the
club keep it at the same location or perhaps move it to
Litchfield to accommodate
some of more “southerly” club
members?
This island rates 8th on the
most needed DXCC entities
list.
DXpedition planners hope to
knock this entity off the most
needed list for quite some
time. They are aware of the
short openings to North
America.
Let’s bring this topic up under
new business at our club meeting!
Ham Operators Needed for the Springfield Marathon
Craig Held, WX9CAH put out
the word requesting ham radio
operators to once again assist
with the Springfield Marathon
to be held on Saturday October 18th and on Sunday October 19th. This is an expansion
from last year. A 5K run and a
kickoff party will occur on Saturday afternoon/evening.
The 10K, half and full marathons will take place on Sunday.
Craig will need ham radio operators at the water and first
aid stations that will take place
all day Sunday. More information regarding the marathon
can be found at
www.springfieldmarathon.com
Once again this is an excellent
opportunity to publically
showcase the importance of
Amateur Radio in our communities. If you haven’t tried
communicating in a public service event, here is your chance.
All you need is to have a 2
meter radio and antenna, back
up batteries and some free
time. Marathon organizers will
take care of the rest. Jim,
N9LQF can answer any questions. Let’s have a great
K9MCE turnout for this worthwhile event!
“Let’s have a
great K9MCE
turnout for this
worthwhile
event!”
Tech Updates from Jimmy WX9DX
K9MCE reported in the September issue the success of Jimmy’ WX9DX MFJ-941EK antenna tuner do-it-yourself class. Kudos go out
to Jimmy for not only organizing and having the class, but now he’s made available on You Tube the ins and
outs of building this tuner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncu0Ve3whp0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFue1RiW33k
In addition, Jimmy also sent a link about the Buddipole antenna :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ATX2Z9ews
Page 6
K9MCE QSN
K9MCE Members Assist with Flu Clinic
As reported on page four of this newsletter, N9LQF, WD9HBF, KC9UFZ, W9FJ, N9AUB, KC9ULA and KO0Z provided communications at the Macoupin County Health Department’s annual flu immunization clinic on Saturday, September 6th from 8 to 11 AM at the
county fairgrounds. Over 100 people were given flu shots and they never had to leave their cars. The idea was to gain experience vaccinating large numbers of people in an orderly, efficient fashion. Here are some photos from the event.
Flu clinic advertised
KC9ULA first to greet and direct traffic
K9AUB assisting with traffic at the fairgrounds
Health Dept director along with N9LQF
KC9UFZ and WD9HBF manning their station
KC9UFZ assisting with traffic
Roman loves directing traffic along with KC9ULA
Volume 2, Issue 10
Page 7
K9MCE Members assist with Capitol Century Bicycle Ride
As reported on page four of this newsletter, N9LQF, WD9HBF, KC9UFZ, W9FJ, N9AUB, KC9ULA and KO0Z not only provided communications for the flu clinic on Saturday, they were up and at it again representing K9MCE at the Capitol Century Bicycle Ride. Communications for the 125 mile route was provided through the 444.400 repeater in Springfield. 900 bicyclists participated in the event and
everyone returned back safely! Here are some photos of the event held on Sunday, September 7 west of Springfield, IL.
Page 8
K9MCE QSN
WS9V/R Back up to Normal!
A big thank you goes out to Skip Riba, WS9V for climbing the 400 foot tower northwest of Litchfield and repairing the 444.250 repeater. As it turns out, the coaxial jumper connecting the hardline to the antenna had its braid pulled free from a connector. Skip
speculates that the weight of ice could have been the culprit. In essence only the center conductor was feeding the antenna which
would account for the reduced power output, higher SWR and reduced repeater coverage.
Once the coax jumper was replaced, the WS9V/R repeater roared back to full strength and full coverage. So, WS9V/R is back up to
normal as in all the way to Normal, IL (well almost!)! Well done Skip!
The WS9V/R antenna is the one just above the center tower leg up over 400 feet. The coaxial
jumper was damaged by ice perhaps.
WS9V/R located about 4 miles northwest of Litchfield. The repeater antenna is on top of
the left tower leg.
Volume 2, Issue 10
Page 9
K9MCE StartedTechnician License Classes
It hasn’t been since the 1990s that the Macoupin County ARC offered any license classes. That all changed on Saturday, September 27
from 9 to noon at North Mac Intermediate/Middle School’s library. Instructors Debbie, KC9ULA and Ron, KO0Z welcomed nine
eager middle school students for a month long series of Saturday classes culminating with a FCC exam. The idea of the class is to not
only give the students the questions and answers, but to offer explanations as to why as well. Unfortunately, no adults from the community signed up. Isaac, WX9SRV put up a great signup link on the website, but no takers as of yet. It’s not too late, but if you are
aware of someone who is interested please have them come to the Saturday, October 4th meeting.
Ron, KO0Z providing instruction to nine, eager middle school students studying for their Tech License!
Jimmy, WX9DX; Jim, N9LQF; Mark, WD9HBF, Debbie, KC9ULA; Ron, KO0Z and possibly Skip (if work allows), WS9V are busy making
preparations to participate in this year’s Illinois QSO party sponsored by the Western Illinois Amateur Radio Club, W9AWE-W9OAB
near Quincy. The QSO party occurs on Saturday, October 19 starting at 17:00Z (noon local) and running to 01:00Z (8 pm local). Illinois stations give RST and county. All others give RST, state, province or country. Operate on 160-2 meters excluding 30, 17 and 13
meters. For more detailed rules follow this link to the Western Illinois club website: http://www.w9awe.org/ILQP2014.html
We plan to be QRV at the corner of Greene, Jersey and Macoupin counties, so working K9MCE will give three counties for one QSO
which should make us rather popular for QSO Party participants and county hunters! Let’s all hope for and pray for good WX and
propagation! Club members are encouraged to work K9MCE from their home or mobile stations. No repeater QSOs are allowed, but
FM simplex is acceptable. We will be operating from grid square EM49, so those of you interested in working a new grid on 2 meter FM
simplex to apply towards your Try Grids Award, here’s your chance!
We are planning to operate 80, 40 and 20 with some activity on 15 and 10 depending on band conditions. QSO Party rules suggest that
we check 15 and 10 at 18:00Z, 19:00Z and 20:00Z for activity. Of course we will be listening on 146.550 FM simplex. We plan to operate phone, CW and RTTY from the tri-county location.
QSO points: Phone is one point, 2 points for CW and digital. Rovers are encouraged to operate. Perhaps some K9MCE club members
would like to rover on that Saturday afternoon/evening! It’s still not too late to make plans and to participate. More details will be
forthcoming at the October club meeting.
The 2014 Illinois QSO Party
will be held Sunday, October 19.
(1700Z October 19 to 0100Z October 20)
Logs are due by 2359Z Nov 19, 2014
Page 10
K9MCE QSN
Welcome to the
Saint Louis Halloween Hamfest
Sponsored by Saint Louis Amateur Radio Club
23rd Annual
HALLOWEEN HAMFEST
Saturday October 25, 2014
Kirkwood Community Center
111 S Geyer Road Kirkwood, Missouri
7:30 A.M. to Main prize
drawing at 12:00 P.M.
Talk in 147.75/147.15
Thanks to the Telephone Employees ARC
GPS Coordinates are 38.34.848N by 090.25.004W
Raffle Prize for
2014
1st – $300.00
2nd – $200.00
3rd – $100.00
4th - TBA
Admission
Children under 12 free
Tickets in Advance $3 each or 4 for $10
Tickets at the Door 2 for $10
For more information contact: Phone: Bob Sluder, N0IS at 636-2857605
Volume 2, Issue 10
Page 11
Page 12
Illinois ARRL Section Manager
News
By Tom Ciciora — KA9QPN
From the top...
**There is still a lot of work to do on HR 4969. At this time, we have
thirty-two co-sponsors, plus the original two sponsors. There will be a
flurry of activity in DC during the next few weeks, then Congress will
adjourn during October for the runup to the election. Afterwards, there
will be the lame duck session until any newly elected Congressmen and
Senators are seated. The resolution will still be live during that lame
duck session, and the thinking is that conditions will be optimal to get
it passed during that time. If we do not, we'll need to start all over
next session. Optimistically, if we were to collect a bunch of
co-sponsors, the FCC might concede the obvious and go ahead with the
business of extending PRB-1 to private property. Please follow the
instructions on the League website for submitting comments, so your
letter doesn't get shunted off for anthrax testing until next May.
Campaign time is the perfect opportunity to catch your representative
live, so don't miss those opportunities.
**You can also check on the co-sponsor count at congress.gov.
Get informed...
**Sometimes, we collectively become too smart for our own good and let
technology run ahead of us. Case in point: I was doing my usual trolling
of various club newsletters, looking for material for the News (because
I rarely get submissions from the field, but I digress...). In the
current issue of the Fox River RL ArcOver, I found a reprint of an
article by Dan Romanchik, KB6NU. It was a report of a brewing
controversy over remote stations. Perhaps you are familiar with these:
contest-grade stations which can be remotely controlled via the
Internet by a qualified licensee. As a result of this technology, the
League's DX Advisory Committee has suggested a rule change. This change
would stipulate that a QSO would count towards DXCC credit only when the
remote user and the controlled station were 200 kilometers or less
apart. There are a lot of strong opinions floating around on this
matter. One of the louder voices is that of one Rockwell Schrock WW1X,
who feels that such a rule change is detrimental. And, well he would
feel that way, as the gentleman is the lead developer for
RemoteHamRadio.com, who charges remote users to operate superstations
set up around the world. On one hand, it's nice that hams without the
ability to assemble a really nice station can actually operate one if
they have the means and the bandwidth. Over the years, I've been
fortunate to operate from much nicer stations than my old TS-140 and
G5RV at 20 feet, including W1AW. It's quite a thrill to do so when your
own equipment installation is marginal (read 'sucks'). I'm not a real
big DXer, but I'm sure that part of the kick of collecting those DXCC
countries is tweaking your station until it screams 'uncle' so as to
get the best performance. Now, imagine short-circuiting all of that
effort by merely paying the fee and connecting to an already tweaked
station, there to make contacts at will. I imagine that there is
nothing 'wrong' with the concept of remote operating, but it also
inspires a vague uneasiness (to this writer, at least) as to the moral
correctness. Again, technology is screaming forward and a lot of us are
scrambling to catch up. There will be more of these discussions as time
goes on, and over concepts that we have not yet even imagined.
K9MCE QSN
Volume 2, Issue 10
**You can still register to participate in supporting the 2014 Bank Of
America Chicago Marathon on 12 October. The registration process starts
at http://goo.gl/JVbQWk and closes on 6 October.
**Three.
================================================================
Around the Section...
**The Palatine ARES/RACES is holding a Technician license class
beginning on 1 October and continuing for the next six Wednesday
evenings from 7PM to 9:30PM. The course itself has no cost, but a
requirement is to purchase the currently valid Ham Radio License
Manual. This is an opportunity to attend a class series that actually
shows the material instead of relying on a day cram to your short term
memory, leaving you wondering what to do later. Contact Chuck Towner
AE9CT at his arrl.net email address if interested.
**The Illinois QSO Party is scheduled for 19 October, once again
brought to us by the efforts of the Western Illinois ARC. Said it
before and I'll say it again: organizing and pulling such an event
together is not trivial, and involves so much more than what's seen.
Many thanks to the Club for their considerable efforts since 2006. The
best thanks that you can offer is to get out there and participate.
Again, it would be nice to see all 102 Illinois counties active for
this exercise. There are counties in the southern part of the Section
which have only a handful of licensees. Factor out the inactive and the
SKs, and it's slim pickings. There are some rover efforts being
organized to help this situation, and hopefully, there are enough to
make the entire state live.
**Reminding you that on Saturday, (20 September), I'll have the 8:30AM
forum at the Peoria Superfest. I'll be covering HR-4969 and anything
else that might be brought forward. After that, it's back north for the
W9DXCC Convention in Schaumburg that afternoon/evening. These are two of
the larger events in the Section each year, and I'm looking forward to
seeing as many of you as possible.
Page 13
Page 14
K9MCE QSN
Jim of Jim’s
Engraving is a
“local” ham —
KF4NBG from
Pocahontas, IL.
K9MCE QSN Contact Information:
K9MCE QSN is a monthly publication of the Macoupin County Amateur Radio Club. Our club meets on the first Wednesday of the month at 7:00 pm on
the second floor of the Macoupin County Sheriff Department in Carlinville, IL
Editor: Ron Ochu, KO0Z. [email protected]
Repeaters: 444.250 (103.5 pl); 146.865 (103.5 pl).
Website: www.k9mce.org
Webmaster: Isaac Pizzo, WX9SRV
Testing: Bill Ogle, W9FJ 217-685-0711
Macoupin County
Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 253
Carlinville, IL 626260253
Volume 2, Issue 10
Page 15
K9MCE March 2013 Calendar
K9MCEOctober 2014
Sun
5
Clinton Cnty ARES
Mon
6
W9EVY Memo-
Net @ 8:30 pm on 444.250
(103.5 pl)
Okaw Valley ARC Net @
9:00 pm on 444.250 (103.5
pl)
N9MAF Net, 146.805 (94.8)
at 9:00 pm
rial Net @ 8:30 pm
on 146.820
12
13
Clinton Cnty
W9EVY
Memorial Net @
8:30 pm on 146.820
19
20
W9EVY
Memorial Net @
8:30 pm on 146.820
26
27
Clinton Cnty
CQ WW SSB DX Contest
ARRL EME Contest
Thu
1K9MCE
2
CLUB MEETING, 7:00 PM.
Pre-meeting
dinner – Reno’s
Pizza at 5:00
8:30 PM, WD9HBF
Net Control, 444.250
(103.5 pl)
8
9
K9MCE NET @
Fri
Sat
3
4
10
11
17
18 IL QSO
Macoupin Cnty ARES
Net, W9FJ Net Control
@ 9:00 pm, 147.480
K9MCE NET @
8:30 PM, WD9HBF
Net Control, 444.250
(103.5 pl)
14
15
16
K9MCE NET
@ 8:30 PM, WD9HBF
Net Control, 444.250
(103.5 pl)
Party
Macoupin Cnty ARES
Net, W9FJ Net Control
@ 9:00 pm, 147.480
ARES Net @ 8:30 pm on
444.250 (103.5 pl)
Okaw Valley ARC Net @
9:00 pm on 444.250 (103.5
pl)
N9MAF Net, 146.805 (94.8)
at 9:00 pm
ARES Net @ 8:30 pm on
444.250 (103.5 pl)
Okaw Valley ARC Net @
9:00 pm on 444.250 (103.5
pl)
N9MAF Net, 146.805 (94.8)
at 9:00 pm
7
Wed
Macoupin Cnty ARES
Net, W9FJ Net Control
@ 9:00 pm, 147.480
ARES Net @ 8:30 pm on
444.250 (103.5 pl)
Okaw Valley ARC Net @
9:00 pm on 444.250 (103.5
pl)
N9MAF Net, 146.805 (94.8)
at 9:00 pm
Clinton Cnty
Tue
21
22
23
K9MCE NET
24
@ 8:30 PM, WD9HBF
Net Control, 444.250
(103.5 pl)
SSB DX Contest
ARRL EME contest-Round 1
Macoupin Cnty ARES
Net, W9FJ Net Control
@ 9:00 pm, 147.480
Partial Solar Eclipse
W9EVY
Memorial Net @
8:30 pm on 146.820
28
29
30
K9MCE NET
@ 8:30 PM, WD9HBF
Net Control, 444.250
(103.5 pl)
Macoupin Cnty ARES
Net, W9FJ Net Control
@ 9:00 pm, 147.480
25 CQ WW
31
K9MCE QSN
BACKPAGE
IL NOAA NWS WX
Radio Stations
Ward Silver, N0AX makes it a point to program his
VHF/UHF FM radios with the seven frequencies nationally assigned to NWS so that when he is on the
road he is within the coverage area of a NWS transmitter. These frequencies are 162.400, 162.425.
162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525 and 162.550.
Keep in mind that not all NWS transmitters have the
same output power. For instance, KD089 out of St.
Louis and WXJ75 out of Springfield, IL have 1000
watts; whereas, KXI79 in Hillsboro runs 300 watts.
A good URL to see the various NWS stations and
their respective output power is http://
www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/Maps/PHP/illinois.php
We’re on the
web!
www.k9mce.org
Besides being up to date with the latest NWS information these stations can also serve as good VHF
propagation beacons. Listen to the various frequencies and see where and how well the station is coming in to your location.
Springtime and summer months brings enhanced VHF
propagation during the morning and evening hours.
Illinois HF Traffic Nets, Times and Frequencies...
Illinois Side Band Net - Net Manager WB9QPM
Daily on 3905 at 1800 local time
Illinois Phone Net - Net Manager K9GYI
M-F on 3857 at 1645 local time
Sunday on 3940 at 0810 local time - right after the Illinois Emergency Net
Illinois Emergency Net - Net Manager K9HEZ
Sunday on 3940 at 0800 local time
North Central Phone Net – Net Manager K9HEZ
M-F on 3912 at 0700 local time
Illinois CW Net (ILN) Net Manager WB8SIM
W9NXM reporting
Daily on 3838 at 1915 local time