Wow, what a fun weekend. TSPOTA (Texas State Parks On The Air) received lots of activity from the JSCARC as we operated April 20-21 across 5 state parks on SSB and CW. Truth be told… initially Dan KG5PVP and I (W5OC), were the only crazy ones who were willing to embark on an adventurous car … Read more…
Belton- The biggest Hamfest in Texas didn’t disappoint. It’s been interesting to observe the ebb and flow of this Hamfest each year as different hams and vendors seem to have seasonal inventory and predilections! For example, over a given event, I’ve seen periodic abundances of amps, or vintage gear, or HT’s and mobiles, or antennas, … Read more…
A bit off topic for the general group, but I wanted to share a video of an arcing 3-500Z tube and a tip in troubleshooting with shorted radios/amps.(Note: the 3-500Z is a very popular compact power triode used in many older tube KW amps.)This defective tube, was inside a Kenwood TL-922 linear amp that I … Read more…
With a break in the weather, 4 intrepid student interns, Zane, Issac, Arthur, and Eric participated in a special JSCARC Fox Hunt held a the JSC Gilruth center on Sunday March 24. For this event, we decided to deploy 6 hidden foxes, across the 2m and 80m bands. For 2m, we handed out the Handi-Finder … Read more…
Due to sketchy weather and not much advance promotion/notice, the JSCARC POTA #19 was a one-person show by myself, W5OC. However, the weather behaved in spite of the harrowing thunderstorms earlier in the morning at my home in League City around 5-6AM. The thunderstorms kept me in bed, while I was thinking, “this event will … Read more…
Ken K5RG acquired a table for the club at this year’s Greater Houston Hamfest. He, Carl WD5JRD, and W5OC anchored the JSCARC table from Friday afternoon through Saturday. The early opening of the hamfest on Friday afternoon was a new twist this year, with fair attendance but limited sales activity (retirees on limited incomes…). The … Read more…
Mission Success: JSCARC’s 1st activation for 2024 @ San Jacinto Battle Ground Park. With Houston’s crazy weather cycles, we were graced with awesome weather for Saturday Feb 16. Participants were: David KG5URA, John AB5SS, Jayant KG5LJZ, Dale KG5U, and myself Dave W5OC. I arrived a bit later, since I was supporting an 0900 adhoc on-line … Read more…
I’m getting progressively better at this new adventure of ham radio- VHF/UHF Contest Rovering My QSO count is still extremely low, but I’m gaining tons of experience with still a long way to go. This is *hard* with makes it fun. For the January VHF contest (Jan 20-21, 2024), I couldn’t travel far out enough … Read more…
