June 18, is ARRL Kids day, so lets get kids on the air. We will setup at the Caldwell side of Lake Lowell hopefully at the pavilion area. We will setup at 11:00am with lunch at 1pm. This is also a Pota location so we will be activating the park as a POTA as well.
Please bring any kids that you know are interested in radio. They will be able to get on the air and talk to people, hopefully all the way around the world.
Just a reminder we will be setting up for Field day in Tripod Meadows outside of Smiths Ferry. More details are on the Facebook page.
The SWIARC June meeting will be 2 at 7 PM at Bob’s Restaurant on Shilo Drive in Nampa. Meeting will be on Solar power and batteries for portable operation.
Before the meeting you can enjoy dinner at the restaurant. People show up for dinner starting at about 5:45. Main lobby has full menu, meeting room area has a limited menu.
We are holding a Ham Cram study/testing session on May 14 at the LDS Church building at 1332 Cornell St, Middleton, ID 83644. The class starts at 8 am, with testing in the afternoon after the class. Please pre-register for the testing via hamstudy.org
https://hamstudy.org/sessions/625f8515791c573a3ac60910/1/register
Here is the study material that we will use during the class.
http://www.hamclass.org/2018-2022_tech_questions_with_correct_answer_only.pdf
The Summer SWIARC Simplex contest will be on May 14, from 10 am to 10pm. All vhf and up frequency bands are valid. The exchange is your 4 digit maidenhead grid square (if you are in the Treasure Valley, it could be DN13). Full rules can be found here.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SouthWestIdahoARC/permalink/1475144689569893/
South West Idaho ARC is sponsoring a swap meet on May 7’th from 9 am to noon. This is a parking lot swap meet to be held at the 10 Mile Christian Church on the corner of 10 Mile and Franklin. Please bring your own table or tailgate. We will have access to the building for bathrooms. The SWIARC will bring their club trailer with some antennas, power meters and power to test equipment if you wish you use it.
A map will be provided before the event to let you know what part of the parking lot we should be using. Just get it on your calendars.
The May meeting will have a presentation by Scott B W7IMC on doing POTA and SOTA activations. And maybe some chasing as well. POTA is short for Parks on the Air. In the pota world a park is any federal or state park, wildlife refuge or national forest. Lots of people love pota because it gets them out of the house into a lower rf noise environment to operate. Sota is Summits on the Air, which are mountain tops. Both of these organizations of great web sites with lots of info on the rules and awards available.
The web site supports classified adds. If you have anything you want to sell, email the details including price and pictures if you have any to swidahoarc@gmail.com and we will put them on the web site.
April 9’th fox will be turned on at 10am. Lunch will be served after the hunt at the finish line. If you want to meet before the event starts and get written rules/clues, come to the Nampa School District Office at 625 S Canyon in Nampa at 9:45. Or if you don’t think you need the rules/clues just tune into 147.450 for the high powered fox, which you should be able to hear from most areas of the treasure valley. The fox is someplace in Canyon county east of Karcher rd HWY 55, South of the Freeway and North of the River. This is a large area so use your tools and skills to limit where you search. There will also be a lower powered fox that is turned on at the same time on 146.565. The low powered fox only has 150 mw so you might not be able to hear it from all of the Treasure Valley.
We will be setting up for the Idaho QSO party on the morning of March 12, and will operate as a parks on the air activation until the QSO party starts. Dinner will be at about 5pm and everybody is invited. We will sign up for 2 hour slots to operate the radio’s. There will be at least three stations going hopefully the full time, all operating on different bands. Stations will not be allowed to change bands without coordination with event control to make sure we are not causing issues with ourselves. Here is the link to sign up for a guaranteed time slot