Several volunteers stepped up to help with field day preparations. We thank everyone for their help.
Dirk W0RI presented HF digital modes with FLDIGI.
April Meeting
Public Service: Chicagoland Marathon
The Chicagoland Marathon takes place on May 20, 2018 in Busse Woods. Several hams are needed to help monitor the course and provide communications supporting the medical team and supplies logistics. Plan to operate from approximately 6am to 2pm.
The club thanks Frank N9QPD and Phil WB9C for their support of this event in the past. They will be returning this year because the event organizers have specifically requested their help because they demonstrated superior radio traffic management skills in past events. Take this opportunity to hone your sills and work with a great communications leaders.
If you are interested please contact the EMCOMM chairman or John K9WIC.
From the Editor
They say April showers bring May flowers, but I never heard of April Snows bring May flowers. This April has been a wild ride for weather, and its been slowing me down with outdoor HAM antenna work, but I’m making the best of it. So in this months edition we are looking for articles. I’ve got one on a 160M antenna I’ve been working on. Hopefully others chime in.
Mike K9KQX
Public Service: MS Walk 2018
This year’s MS Walk is on Sunday, May 6, 2018. We’re needed from approximately 7 am until noon. All you need to work this event is an HT and a chair to sit and monitor the location. Contact the Public Service chair if you’re interested in volunteering for this event.
The event takes place at the Schaumburg Baseball Stadium, 1999 South Springinsguth Road, Schaumburg.
RF Tornado Detection, 1959
By Bob W9DXR
With the upcoming weather spotting season, this article we recently unearthed is very timely. My wife recently came across a newspaper clipping from around 1959 that her family had kept. At that time the use of black and white television was still predominant and I believe the following method of tornado detection worked best with a black and white TV (you do remember those don’t you?) on an outdoor antenna.
I can attest that the Weller method did work for detecting lightning and strong storms. There is enough energy at 54 Mhz (approximately channel 2) in a lightning storm to trigger a TV screen to turn white and flicker with the energy. Although it was somewhat crude it worked well. Fortunately I was never close enough to a tornado to see my screen turn completely white. Today we have digital TV and cable in place so we are stuck watching the weather channel or a weather app on our smart phone. Ahh… the good old days.