The DARC will be hosting two virtual meetings during the month of June 2020 in preparation for Field Day 2020. Tune in via Google Meet on June 4th and June 18th at 7pm central time. For the meeting link see the DARC club event calendar online at: https://w5fc.org/club-activities/event-calendar/ These are open public meetings and you don’t need to be a club member to attend. The purpose of these two virtual meetings are to ask questions, get help with station setup, antennas, logging and anything else related to Field Day 2020. You will also have the ability to test your rig and logging software real time and work out all the kinks etc. Review the “DARC Field Day 2020 Participation How We Can Have Fun” document below.
Our June 2nd, 2020, club meeting will feature a program written by Jerry Buxton, N0JY, and delivered by Tom Schuessler, N5HYP. Titled “AMSAT’s Future in the Microwave Bands” It will go into a little history on previous uses of microwaves on Amateur Satellites, look at what is being designed for the GOLF satellites and the design efforts to fulfill the ARISS International goal of putting Amateur Radio on the Lunar Gateway.
The contest calendar is full of events which I have not read about, because space stuff is just so cool. Have a look, and remember that you might want to find small events to participate in to get ready for Field Day, like the Phone Fray or the ARRL June VHF Contest.
ARRL Field Day is the single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth weekend of June of each year, more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups or simply with friends to operate from remote locations. Field Day is a picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN! However, due to the COVID pandemic the DARC/W5FC will not be hosting a club/group event for 2020. Instead, following the ARRL guide lines it is suggested you work as an individual station such as a 1D NTX, or 1E NTX – staying safe! We hope that you will participate as this is such a fun event and the more stations on the air the more fun it will be. Stay tuned in on this web frequency we will have more information coming – including some best practices for operating 1E or 1D, logging and more.
At a little bright spot near the center, there just might be a planet being born. Credit: ESO/Boccaletti et al
Our June 2nd, 2020, club meeting will feature a program written by Jerry Buxton, N0JY, and delivered by Tom Schuessler, N5HYP. Titled “AMSAT’s Future in the Microwave Bands” It will go into a little history on previous uses of microwaves on Amateur Satellites, look at what is being designed for the GOLF satellites and the design efforts to fulfill the ARISS International goal of putting Amateur Radio on the Lunar Gateway.
The contest calendar is perhaps a bit quieter than usual this weekend, but there are two interesting events going on: The Day of the YLs contest, and the Strange Antenna Challenge. Get on out there and electrify your fence, your bird feeder, or your downspouts!
Here’s the info on the announcement from the 10AM net.
Apollo 13-A Miracle in Outer Space will be streaming on the Allen Public Library site.
Associated Press reporter Rusty Williams will discuss all the “behind the scenes” activities of Apollo 13. Last month was the 50th Anniversary of the mission. Rusty will answer your submitted questions about the flight. He was in Houston, reporting on the mission when the third mission to land on the moon became a race against time, to get the astronauts home. It sounds really interesting.
Live but virtual program presented by former Associated Press reporter Rusty Williams at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21 at https://allentx.swagit.com/live/ Audience can submit questions until 8:30 p.m., May 21 at liveonstage@cityofallen.org. Former KERA-FM news editor B. J. Austin will interview Williams on-stage at the Allen Public Library
Fifty years ago the world held its breath as three American astronauts drifted through space in a crippled command module. With depleted oxygen tanks and only a trickle of electric power, only gravity, precise navigation, and a miracle of engineering could save them from a dark and lingering death in deep space.
The dramatic story of Apollo 13 has been told in books, documentaries, and a movie, but writer-historian Rusty Williams witnessed events first-hand from the Mission Operations Control Room at the Manned Spacecraft Center. As a junior reporter for the Associated Press, Williams observed ─ and wrote about ─ the backstage magic eventually brought the astronauts home safely.
Williams will tell his exciting story through a virtual presentation for the first time at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21 at https://allentx.swagit.com/live/. Former KERA-FM news editor and CBS Radio broadcaster B. J. Austin will interview Williams on-stage at the Allen Public Library, asking for details and stories not generally known to the public. Questions from the audience will be accepted until 8:30 p.m. May 21. Please submit your questions to liveonstage@cityofallen.org.
Rusty Williams is an award-winning writer and speaker, the author of four history books. His Red River Bridge War: A Texas-Oklahoma Border Battle (Texas A&M University Press, 2016) was named “Best Book of Oklahoma History, 2016” by the Oklahoma Historical Society. My Old Confederate Home—A Respectable Place for Civil War Veterans (University Press of Kentucky, 2010) won the 2011 Douglas S. Freeman Award for Southern History.
At the May 2020 DARC general meeting the club was lucky to have Jason Dunn of the National Weather Service present “Basic Radar Interpretation”. This was via Google Meet virtual meeting due to the COVID pandemic.
SKYNET!!!! 9PM CT – 10:30PM CT