Our team of Volunteer Examiners (VEs) dedicates one Saturday morning per month to administering Amateur Radio license exams for all three license levels. They also spend additional time submitting paperwork for all of the new licenses generated from the tests as well as keeping their testing materials up to date with the latest question pools. In 2017 the team granted 68 new or upgraded licenses.
You can find more information on our test dates and times here.
Kevin K9AAB put together the following from photos and videos he collected while visiting our Field Day operation.
SARC is sponsoring two scholarships for W9DXCC this fall. Forms are due August 1, 2017 and should be sent to the club president.
Thanks to a generous donation from a member, the club will be sponsoring two people to attend the W9DXCC convention on September 14 and 15 at the Hyatt Regency in Schaumburg.
The criteria for awarding the scholarship as well as other conditions are in the attached form. The due date is August 1, 2017.
The club operated 2A (two transmitters + GOTA, club station) on Field Day. We had approximately 35 participants over the 24 hour period.
Our final score is: 3,204
This consists of:
We did not get all of the sections, missing a few in Canada, AK, EWA, and PAC. We made contacts on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters.
We would like to thank everyone who operated, participated, helped in the setup, teardown and planning for the event. We are especially thankful for those who oversaw the tent and food preparation: Robert W9RKK for SSB, Bob W9DXR for CW, Bob W9GEW for GOTA and Bill W9WEM for both dinner and breakfast with help from Frank N9QPD. A special thanks goes out to Ryan W9RAO for climbing the tower at both setup and tear down, and as serving as our impromptu first aid station.
Here is a video shot by drone as we were setting up. Thanks to Peter KD9ICT for bringing the drone.
A few photos of our operation follow.
The club recently assisted with the Hoffman Estates Independence Day Parade. This event is slightly different than most public service deployments. Typically, ham radio volunteers are only expected to be communicators, helping event staff effectively communicate over a large area. While we still used our radios and communications skills, we are also responsible for getting all parade units lined up in the proper order in the staging prior to the parade beginning. We have worked with the village for many years and appreciate that they trust us with this task.
Rob N9MVO served as net control operator for the event and was also our liaison with the village. He reports that the event went very well. He also commented that we were able to assist the police in locating a girl who had been separated from her mother during the event. While the club didn’t necessarily plan for this contingency all of our operators were very professional in their response.
Jim KB9RGU was located at the parade reviewing stand and commented “Excellent job by everyone involved!”
Thanks to Robert W9RKK for the photos.
