PCARS and the Melbourne Hamfest committee provide this information as a convenience and public service. A small sampling of nearby accommodations is provided. Prices are taken from details posted on various Internet travel sites. We apologize for any inadvertent errors or omissions.
Twice each year, the ARRL encourages local amateur radio clubs, and individual operators, to host Kids Day events. The ARRL has designated Kids Day to be the first Saturday in January, and the third Saturday in June each year. It is a chance for the younger generations to check out amateur radio, get on the air, and communicate with other kids.
Contacts can be made around the county using the VHF/UHF bands, or across the country or even the world using the HF bands. When hams are making contacts during organized event, they often have what is called an “exchange”. The exchange for Kids Day contacts is very simple, the kids will exchange their name, age, general location, and favorite color. There will be experienced operators present to coach and help the kids on the radio.
Besides making voice contacts with other kids or hams, the kids can learn about radio equipment, and even the science behind it all. It could spark an interest, and fits right into the STEM curriculum that kids really need.
Kids Day at the PCARS station will start at 2:00 PM (14:00 to hams). Many kids will also be operating from personal amateur station locations across the country. The contacts will continue until 8:00 PM, the PCARS station will close by 5:00 PM unless we have visitors.
The PCARS station will be located at the city of Melbourne Fire Department Training Center, located at 1900 Hughes Rd, Melbourne, Florida .
This year, Field Day is back, in full force. We are planning a complete activation of W4MLB, including CW & SSB stations, a 6 Meter station (if the band opens), a satellite station, & last but not least, our GOTA (Get on the Air) station, for hams licensed than a year, and also non-hams, family members, etc.
2PM Saturday — Field Day starts!! “If you ain’t calling, they ain’t going to answer” – AF4Z Pizza & refreshments will be provided for the evening/overnight operating crew.
Sunday, June 26 — Field Day shuts down at 2PM. TEAR DOWN BEGINS. This involves taking down everything temporary (crank up tower, antennas, cables, etc.) & storing it back in place. This is always the most difficult part of Field Day, as most people are tired, ready to go home, etc. But, everything that was set up, must be taken down.
I can’t tell you how many times I stayed after a full weekend, to assist K9ES, the formal Field Day Chairman, to take everything down with little or no help. If you don’t come out for anything else all weekend, please consider coming out at the end to help.
More information will be forthcoming, & the June General Meeting program will be dedicated to Field Day.
On the Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend, May 29, 2021, members of PCARS got together to further the club’s emergency preparedness. The crew assembled at the club shack location at the city of Melbourne Fire Training Center. The purpose of the exercise was to get some more members familiar with the set up and operation of the go kits, and to test the radios’ operation in the field.
Demonstrating the equipment
Prior to this exercise, members had been encouraged to Adopt a Go Kit. This involved checking out a go kit and taking it home for a checkup and overhaul. Members charged the battery for the radio. They also updated the software and charged the batteries for the notebook PC.
The exercise started off with a short demonstration of the go kits for those who were not yet familiar with the components and operation. PCARS has six identical go kits. The major components of each kit:
Icom IC-2300H 2 meter only transceiver
12V 35AH SLA battery
110VAC to 12VDC power supply / battery charger
2 x 50′ RG-58 coax with PL-259 connectors
Windows 10 notebook PC with two batteries
2 meter J-pole antenna made from 450Ω ladder line
Assorted flashlight, tools, connectors, etc.
PCARS go kit with notebook PC
Once everyone was familiar with the equipment, the crew split up into teams. One team went north to Wickham Park. Three groups spread out and set up stations on the grounds of the Fire Training Center. The last group headed south to a private residence near the southern Melbourne city limits and set up in the backyard. This put five of the six kits into the field for testing. The other kit had been tested separately earlier.
Name
Call
Don Winn
AF4Z
Donald Purnhagen
K4ILG
Walter Aucoin Jr
K5LD
Rob Railer
K8RAR
Jim Lauk
KC9UD
Skip Bush
KD0CXT
David Knickerbocker
KN4ZGM
Bill Schultz
KO4NID
Bob Creswick
NB4C
Phil Tso
W7TSO
Deb Markly
WD8JPX
Alicia Perugini
N/A
Participating Members Present
With the help of the W4MLB station in the club shack, a directed net was established using the PCARS 146.610MHz repeater located at Holmes Regional Medical Center. After testing communications with all stations through that repeater, the group transitioned to the PCARS 146.850MHz repeater located near Turkey Creek in Palm Bay. Once all stations established a connection there, the group finally tested station to station traffic using the PCARS default emergency simplex frequency of 146.580 MHz. One kit had to have the battery replaced, but all communications were successful.
The antenna hung on a balcony
The exercise exposed several areas where things need to be improved. The emergency committee will get together and improve the programing and settings of the radios. A few additional components will also be added to each kit. One more ladder line J-pole antenna needs to be constructed. If there is enough interest, we could have a club project where members could make their own.
The antenna design is very practical. It can be built at a very low cost, and has several qualities which make it a good choice for an emergency, field deployable, antenna. They can be rolled up and stored very easily, and hung just about anyplace. During our exercise, the antennas were hung from low tree branches, and the eave of an outbuilding. Plans can be found in many publications, and of course on the internet.
Hello world! is a phrase associated with computer programming. It is also appropriate for the website modernization project being undertaken by the PCARS Website Committee.
On Saturday, November 21, 2020, the website committee had a working meeting to plan for a revitalization of the PCARS website. It is realized that there is a wealth of information on the PCARS website. However, it has not kept up with the advances available in modern website design and coding. It was also difficult to edit existing information, and even harder to post new content.
It was decided at the website committee meeting to start development of a new website, to run in parallel with the old website, until such time as it can be switched over. It was agreed upon to use the WordPress content management system (CMS) as the framework on which to build the new site. WordPress is a free and open source software platform for building and maintaining modern, database driven websites.
If you are reading this post, then you have found your way to our preliminary test site, located at: https://pcars.org/wp/
Take a look around. But remember that this is a work in progress. Many things may be incomplete, missing, or not working just right. This is all part of the process. The website committee is looking for members of the club who want to actively participate in this modernization project. We are especially in need of someone with computer graphics knowledge and skills. If you want to help, or just have comments or suggestions, please send them to the committee:
