Port City Amateur Radio Club - Portsmouth NH

Build Party: Pneumatic Launchers for Antenna Deployment

Several club members will be building pneumatically powered tennis ball launchers. These launchers use compressed air to propel a tennis ball, towing a fishing line, over a tree or other tall object in order to deploy a wire antenna.

A few parts remain to be acquired but most of the materials have been purchased to assemble six launchers.

Announcing the ARRL New England Division Convention

The 2008 edition of the ARRL New England Division Convention, fondly known as Boxboro, will be held August 22 - 24, 2008.  Mark your calendars now and plan to attend!

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Icom 746 Service Issue

From: Bill Leahy K0ZL, Dec 15, 2007

We have been seeing Icom IC746PROs come in with a bad driver modules and/or driver idle bias current set far too high from the factory.

INDICATIONS Low or no power output in all modes. Usually starts off as an intermittent, then gets worse with time. Also excessive current draw (4.5 to 5.5 amperes) in SSBTX with mic gain set to zero. Excessive heating of the driver transistors; they immediately become too hot to touch upon going into TX mode, SSB, with no modulation.

An Acrobat PDF describing this issue in full, including how to repair or prevent it has been posted.

Tom Kelly K1TJK - SK

THE KING IS DEAD!...LONG LIVE THE KING!!!

Sad but true, HossTraders is now Amateur history and what happened there, or is alleged to have happened there is now mere legend and memory.

But like the mythical Phoenix, that great Ham tradition held at the Deerfield Fairgrounds located on Highway 43 in the Town of Deerfield, New Hampshire USA rises from the ashes. NEAR-Fest will take over the helm for HossTraders. Please read the below article, the visit their website for more information regarding NEAR-Fest.

-- 73...QRT and off the key!

Richard H. Wheeler - N1KXR Amateur Radio Operator Western Massachusetts (USA)

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The NEW ENGLAND AMATEUR RADIO FESTIVAL (NEAR-Fest) will hold its' Spring 2007 get-together and flea market on Friday May 4th and Saturday May 5th at the Deerfield Fairgrounds located on Highway 43 in the Town of Deerfield, New Hampshire USA...

J-pole Building Party March 28

The club will sponsor a J-pole antenna building party at the clubhouse on Wednesday, March 28 at 6:30 pm. The J-pole is a versatile, easy to construct antenna that exhibits some gain, and can be made either portable or fixed depending on your needs. It works well on 2m and 440Mhz, in fact one of our 2m antennas at the clubhouse is a J-pole.

Bring some basic tools, including a solding iron and solder, some twinlead wire, an SO-239 or BNC chassis-mount connector, and your favorite J-pole plans and let's have some fun buidling them and sharing ideas!

VE Session Sept. 30

The Port City Amateur Radio Club will be sponsoring a VE Test Session, (test for amateur radio license), At The Piscataqua Fish & Game Club at the end of Tuttle Lane in Greenland, NH.

The exam session will be held Saturday September 30th. Pre-registration is strongly recommended. The session opens at 2:30 PM. Walk-ins will be accepted until 3:00pm, and testing will begin at 3:05pm.

ARRL New England Convention

Announcing Boxboro 2006 !!
August 25, 26, and 27, Returning to the Holiday Inn Conference Center, Boxborough, MA Exit 28 off Route I-495.

The ARRL New England Division Convention in Boxboro is New England's largest ham radio event, featuring thousands of hams, dozens of vendors, over 30 talks and seminars, and a giant two-day fleamarket!

We'll have VE exams, a special event station, and thousands of $$$ in prizes! Don't miss the fun!

Visit the ARRL New England Convention website

VE Session July 29

The Port City Amateur Radio Club will be holding an ARRL Amateur
Radio License Test Session on Saturday July 29, 2006 at 2:30 pm

Items needed to participate in test session:
1. Need 2 forms of ID, one which has to be a picture ID.
2. If upgrading then a current Amatuer Radio License or a CSCE certification certificate..
3. A copy of ID’s, License, and CSCE.
4. $14.00 This fee is charged once, no matter whether taking any one, two, three or all four test elements, one time. Retests of an element failed at the same test session will require payment of an additional test fee.
5. No programable calculators, pencils preferred over pens to correct mistakes.

Location for testing:
The ARRL Amateur Radio License Test Session will held at the Piscataqua Fish & Game at the end of Tuttle Lane in Greenland, NH.

VE Session April 22, 2006

The PCARC VE group will hold a Volunteer Examiner Session on Saturday April 22 at 2:30pm. Examinations will be available for all license classes, including the Element 1 Morse Code exam. Candidates must bring  two (2) forms of ID - one of which must have a photo, any currently held Amateur Radio License or Certificates of Successful Completion of Examination, and the exam fee of $14. You cannot sit for the exam if you arrive without any of these!

This exam session is open to all, current and unlicensed individuals alike. Pre-registration is encouraged but walk-ins are welcome as always. The exam will be held at the Piscataqua Fish and Game Clubhouse at the end of Tuttle Lane in Greenland , New Hampshire (map link).

For more information or to pre-register please contact the VE Team.