Europe visits W5RRR Oct 29, 2024

  It’s not too often the JSCARC gets visitors from overseas.  Last month, Ben OS4K, contacted us through our w5rrr.org website to inquire if a visit to the shack was possible.5000 miles later, Ben and his associate, Dr. Fabian Steinmann met us at the shack for a wonderful meet and greet. John AB5SS and I … Read more…

Congrats KG5HOK for his 1st POTA activation

Keith KG5HOK successfully operated on his first POTA activation on Oct 30, at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Park, US-3511.  Jeff AB4ME and Dave W5OC accompanied him for his first exposure as an activator. Using Dave’s FT991A 100W transceiver and a 20′ Sotabeam linked dipole, Keith made 20 QSOs across the USA on 20m … Read more…

Fall Student Intern Soldering 101

JSCARC members Jeff AB4ME, Kelvin K5KGH, and Dave W5OC host 3 Student Interns for a soldering 101 tutorial and a few minutes on the air. Shirina, KO6DOS, was already a licensed tech, but never operated on HF.  With gentle encouragement from AB4ME, we got her for some fun SSB ragchewing with a ham out in … Read more…

Scout Troop 990 Visit

Jerry N5FWB and David KG5URA hosted Scout Troop 990 at the JSCARC shack on Friday Oct 11. 8 talented scouts and Scoutmaster Tristan Cossey had an opportunity to visit and get on the air, just ahead of the official Jamboree On the Air (JOTA) this upcoming weekend.

3PP (3 Park POTA) for JSCARC- a 2nd try

There’s not too much to say here except we’re going to attempt our 2nd 3PP (3 Park POTA) roving adventure on Saturday November 2, 2024. The linked Power Point presentation provides the detailed information of our route plan and times.  (Note CW operators must use WARC bands after 1000CT.) If you’ve never tried a POTA … Read more…

Belton Hamfest Oct 2024

Belton Hamfest hails as the largest hamfest in Texas held twice a year- Spring and Fall.  This venue is a conveniently located equi-distance from the surrounding big, populated cities of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas/FW, and a bit closer for Austin-ites. It’s still a boring 3.5-hour drive from Houston/Clear-Lake, assuming traffic is clear.  Sympathies to Keith … Read more…

Dave’s 5th VHF Rover Adventure

The September ARRL VHF Contest, Sept 14-16, 2024 In hopes this post inspires others… This was my 5th outing as a VHF/UHF Rover.  A Rover is a mobile station that run a route throughout Maidenhead Grid Squares (A grid is approx. 70×100 miles or 1 deg latitude x 2 deg longitude).  Scores in the VHF … Read more…

W5RRR Attempted POTA Activation at Glacier National Park

<Submitted by Dan Nagla KG5PVP> It was a beautiful Montana morning at Apgar Village on the shore of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park (POTA US-0028). Dan Nagala (KG5PVP) and Jayant Ramakrishnan (KG5JLZ) attempted an activation starting around 15:50 UTC on 25 August 2024. From the beginning we experienced very poor reception with background QRN … Read more…

Congrats Jeff, 1st POTA activation

Saturday Aug 31, 2024 @ Sheldon Lake, Texas US-3056 Following right behind the heels of Jayant KG5LJZ’s recent 1st CW POTA activation, Jeff AB4ME did it today with over 30 SSB QSOs on 20m.     Setup: TS-480SAT transceiver + new PAC 12 vertical antenna + LiFeO4 battery (repurposed from his motorhome).   Overall the … Read more…