| Dayton Hamvention 2012 |
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| May 18, 2012 - The flea market at the Dayton Hamvention is huge! Greg N9CHA and his friend Dick AH6EZ spent nearly the entire day walking only a little over half of the available spaces. Bright skies and a cool breeze kept the festers active. |
Photo: Dean KC9EOQ |
| May 18, 2012 - Winning a door prize is very unlikely considering there are over 20,000 attendees to the Dayton Hamvention. But on Friday, Greg N9CHA got his ticket pulled and won one of coveted prize bags. A soldering iron, wire cutters, coupons, drink cooler and other items were stuffed inside the prize bag. |
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| May 17, 2012 - The annual ARRL Donors Appreciation Reception held at the Meadowbrook County Club near Dayton, OH was attended by PCARA club member Greg N9CHA. Dave Sumner K1ZZ provided the keynote address entitled "The Reason Why," an impassioned presentation highlighting current and former members of the League and IARU. The tireless work of many hams help keep the "passion" of ham radio alive around the world by representing us all. |
Photo: Dean KC9EOQ |
| May 17, 2012 - ARRL President Kay Craigie introduced the key note speaker and special guests at the Reception. Greg N9CHA (left) and Dick AH6EZ (right) attended the event as special guests of Central Division Director Dick Isely W9GIG. This was the 10th annual reception held in honor of members who make contributions to Amateur Radio, helping to fund many different projects such as the Spectrum Defense Fund, keeping our privileges away from commercial interests. |
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May 17, 2012 - Greg N9CHA (right) meets an "on-air" friend Mitch DJØQN and his wife. Mitch and Greg's father Chuck WD9GWG have frequent QSO's on IRLP. Mitch and his wife live in Munich, Germany and traveled to the US to attend the Hamvention. Mitch was recognized as a member of the ARRL Maxim Society. |
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| SUCCESS! Farnsworth Aerospace Talks to ISS |
Photos: Rick W9WS |
| May 7, 2012 - Students from Farnsworth Aerospace school in St. Paul await their turn with great anticipation to ask questions of astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station. The PCARA facilitated the contact using amateur radio to make the voice connection directly from the school. |
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| May 7, 2012 - Several members of the PCARA tech team monitor the radio equipment as they try to make contact. (l to r) Bill WY9E, Steve NØXC, Mark W9GWG, Ben KC9ROI, Dale W9DKB and Mark KC9GHQ. |
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| May 7, 2012 - The auditorium at Farnsworth Aerospace just prior to the contact with Don Pettit. 6th graders, teachers, school officials and local community members waited in anticipation until the ISS came up over the horizon at 11:16am. The students, who called themselves the "ARISS Team" practiced their questions earlier in the morning. The equipment had been tested many times as well. |
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| May 7, 2012 - Contact with astronaut Don Pettit! One of the students from Farnsworth asks his question as Greg N9CHA holds the microphone. Pettit did a fantastic job of answering the questions; everything from what they eat every day to what they wear and how they sleep aboard the station. |
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| May 5, 2012 - With the contact over, the audience of students and guests erupted in applause. Smiles all around as they recognized their accomplishment. The experiment of contacting Don Pettit aboard the ISS was a success. |
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| May 5, 2012 - The TEAM! Students, ham radio operators, school officials and invited guests pose for a photo after the contact with astronaut Don Pettit. The local media was present and ran news stories in print, on the radio and television. No doubt this is an experience all will remember. |
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| ARISS Contact Set-Up "We're Ready!" |
Photos: Rick W9WS |
| May 5, 2012 - This high angle view shows several PCARA club members working hard at Farnsworth Aerospace Magnet School in St. Paul running cables and setting up the ham radio equipment. The ARISS contact will take place Monday May 7th at 11:14 am local time. The ISS downlink can be heard on 145.80. |
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| May 5, 2012 - The main operations table has 2 TS-2000 transceivers, tracking computer running NOVA, a Yaesu Rotor system and AEA-ST1 controller. Audio is being distributed to the local PA system in the auditorium, Skype and IRLP. Students who ask their questions and the answers by astronaut Don Pettit will be broadcast through a school audio/video system so all can watch. |
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| May 5, 2012 - PCARA club members, Mark W9GWG, Steve NØXC, Ben KC9ROI, and Mark KC9GHQ practice their operations for the ARISS contact on May 7th. The club members rehearsed switching from the primary radio to the back-up as well as changing frequencies based on doppler. |
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| May 5, 2012 - Bill WY9E logs into the local IRLP node on UHF. He will announce the contact details to the local hams in the Twin Cities and also make the audio available to the Discovery Reflector 9010. Hams from around the world can then join the Reflector and listen to the contact. |
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| May 5, 2012 - Steve NØXC and Mike KK9MC attach the feed line to the beam antenna. It was brought up to the roof via a rope which was handled by Steve NØXC, Ben KC9ROI and Chris KC9NVV. |
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| May 5, 2012 - "I can see the tower!" says Bill WY9E and Greg N9CHA. The club is using the K9EQ UHF repeater located in Shoreview for access to IRLP. The aiming of the antenna was made very easy as it was a simple task to site the tower. |
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| May 5, 2012 - Whatcha' got there Mike? Reaching down into the roof mounted air vent, Mike KK9MC goes fishing for cables. The crew below tied the cables to a rope which then got hoisted up through the vent and onto the roof. This path for the cables worked out great, allowing easy access to the auditorium. |
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| May 5, 2012 - The Az/El beam, the egg-beater and UHF beam are in place awaiting contact. The small plastic case with the yellow top contains the gel cell batteries used to power the pre-amps. The City of St. Paul can be seen on the horizon. It took the club members about 2 hours to hoist all the equipment to the roof and get it set up. There are sandbags wrapped in plastic holding down the tripods. |
