

HAPPY DECEMBER ,

Ham Radio Horizons ,

Dates To Remember ,

The Doctor Is In ,

This Week’s ARRL Letter ,

ARRL DX Bulletin ,

Amateur Radio Newsline ,

Ham Nation ,

Odds and Ends ,

Upcoming Hamfests within 250 miles _…_._

HAPPY DECEMBER!

Let me be one of the first to say “Welcome to December!” Of course, you really can’t tell anything about it by the weather – far too warm to be December in my book – but at least we’re not dealing with slick roads and raw North winds … yet. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve already gotten all my Christmas shopping done! “Black Friday” means something completely different than when that term was coined a number of years ago. Rather than stand in L-O-N-G lines in the cold and rain just to get elbowed in the teeth by my next door neighbor, I’ve turned to the Internet for my early shopping over the past many years.

However THIS year, many retailers treated the entire MONTH of November as “Black Friday”, and I took advantage. My Bride has been steadily filling-out her collection of Franciscan Desert Rose place settings and told me that if I ever found a Cookie Jar anywhere (that was not cracked, chipped, or otherwise mangled) that it would be “a perfect Christmas present”. Check that box! Already wrapped and under the tree. And my 8 year old Windows PC, which I use to run the software for my Flexradio 6300 (among other things) has been steadily going belly-up, so I stole a great upgrade from an online sale (picked it up from the Local Brick&Mortar Store 2 hours later) early in November, and upgraded my 5 year old iPad to a brand-spanking-new one, all with the full authority of the Comptroller here at Golden Oaks Quarter Acre!

I’m relatively certain that SOME of you have been grabbing some of the deals that have been passing through your email from some of the Big Amateur Radio Dealers. There’ve been some REALLY good deals. I’d be interested to hear what you may have already added to your ‘collection’!

December is a normally busy month for Amateurs, and this one portends to be much the same, if not moreso. After all, Christmas Eve is a Sunday this year, so that means that MANY of you should be able to help out by tracking Santa, or helping your kids and grandkids with chatting to Santa on-the-air before he loads up his sleigh and heads out to run his delivery route.

All THAT said, SCARS has a VERY busy month ahead of us, and the first 9 days finds us VERYVERY engaged! The Annual Christmas Party is this coming Tuesday (the 5th) at Golden Corral. As noted on the second paragraph of the SCARS Webpage:

This annual event started in 1978, and brings tens of hams together with for a great meal, and a ‘White Elephant’ Christmas gift exchange. A maximum $10 spend on each gift, and “No Free Harbor Freight items were allowed”. Bring your wrapped gift labeled as from/for either a “male”, or “female”. This year this will be December 5, 2017 at 6:00 pm, at the Golden Corral, in Norman, OK. This is at the NE corner of I-35 and Main street. More information is available at club meetings, or on the SCARS Facebook Group. See you there!

And then two nights later, Thursday December 7th, is the December edition of SCARS Amateur Radio License Testing at Fire Station #7. And then two days after that is the SCARS Monthly Meeting! And this doesn’t even include all the on-air Nets, informal gabs, and Contests during the month.

All that said, December is busy, so get your shopping done so that YOU can Get On The Air and ENJOY IT!

73 de Gary, WB5ULK



Ham Radio Horizons

I’ve spoken during the Technician classes, and off and on to individuals, about one of my all-time favorite ham rags “Ham Radio Horizons”. Even before I became an ARRL member, I subscribed to this little mag and dog-eared so many articles that none of my issues would ever lie flat! I opined in a very pathetic manner that I’d lost all 3 years of my copies one way or another and that I’d been completely unable to find it anywhere online.

But, Gloryoski! I dredged around and found it!

This is a wonderful, easy to read AND understand publication which has MANY accessible construction projects. It also explains things in a very easy and straightforward manner since it was written with a new Amateur in mind.

You can read this in MANY formats, or even download the entire library as per-issue pdf files. You should At The Very Least go browse among these wonderful pages.

Dates To Remember

Some VERY important events are scheduled in the near future which you need to put into your planner:

ARES Net *NEW TIME* – 7:30PM, Each Tuesday, 147.06 repeater December 5 – SCARS Christmas Party, Golden Corral, 6pm

(See 2nd item on SCARS Homepage – http://w5nor.org/) December 7 – SCARS VE Testing – http://w5nor.org/license/ December 9 – SCARS December Meeting – http://w5nor.org/meetings/

The Doctor Is In

The Doctor’s Latest Podcast is titled

“ Coaxial Cable vs Balanced Lines “

Which is the best? It depends!



Listen to it here-> Listen to it here-> The Doctor Is In Podcast

This Week’s ARRL Letter

Most Recent Headlines:



Read it all here: ARRL Letter

ARRL DX Bulletin

QST de W1AW

DX Bulletin 48 ARLD048

From ARRL Headquarters

Newington CT November 30, 2017

To all radio amateurs SB DX ARL ARLD048

ARLD048 DX news This week’s bulletin was made possible with information provided by

JA2JWH, OH2GIL, OH9MM, the OPDX Bulletin, 425 DX News, DXNL, Contest

Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites.

Thanks to all. RODRIGUES ISLAND, 3B9. Olof, G0CKV is QRV as 3B9HA until December

12. Activity is holiday style on the HF bands using CW and possibly

FT8. QSL to M0OXO. MAURITANIA, 5T. Operators Ahmad, 9K2AI, Obaid, A61M and Fawaz,

A92AA are QRV as 5T5TI from Tida Island, IOTA AF-050, until December

7. Activity is on 80 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and various digital

modes. QSL direct to NI5DX. SAMOA, 5W. Katsu, JA1DXA will be QRV as 5W0DXA from December 2 to

6. Activity will be on the HF bands using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL

direct to JA1DXA. MALAWI, 7Q. Shin, JA7SGV is QRV as 7Q7AB until December 2.

Activity is on 40 to 15 meters. QSL to home call. MALTA, 9H. Kjell, SM6DQR and Kathrine, SM6AAF are QRV as 9H3DQR and

9H3AAF, respectively, from Gharb, Gozo Island until December 11.

Activity is on 160 to 10 meters using CW and SSB. QSL both calls

via SM6DQR. WEST MALAYSIA, 9M2. Rich, PA0RRS is QRV as 9M2MRS from Penang

Island, IOTA AS-015, until January 31, 2018. Activity is on 40 to

10 meters using CW, SSB and PSK. QSL to home call. THE GAMBIA, C5. Andre, ON7YK is QRV as C5YK from Bijilo until

January 30, 2018. Activity is on 40 to 6 meters using FT8 and some

CW. QSL to home call. BAHAMAS, C6. Operators Tomi, HA7RY, George, AA7JV and Mike, KN4EEI

are QRV as C6AGU from Water Cay, IOTA NA-001, until December 3.

Activity is on 160 to 10 meters using mostly CW and some SSB. This

includes being an entry in the ARRL 160 Meter contest. QSL via

HA7RY. GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, HC8. A group of operators are QRV as HC8LUT from

San Cristobal Island, IOTA SA-004, until December 8. Activity is on

160 to 10 meters using all modes. QSL via IK2DUW. SVALBARD, JW. Erik, LA2US is QRV as JW2US from Bear Island, IOTA

EU-027, until June 2018. Activity is in his spare time on the HF

bands using CW, RTTY, PSK and FT8. QSL to home call. GUAM, KH2. Operators JA2JWH, JA2QNV and JE1JAC will be QRV as

KH2/K2IO, KH2/W2VR and KH2/AC2CX, respectively, on December 2 and 3.

Activity will be on 40 to 6 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY, JT65 and

FT8. QSL to home calls. LUXEMBOURG, LX. Members of the Luxembourg Amateur Radio Union are

QRV as LX2017TRAM from Luxembourg City during December to welcome

their new tramway. QSL via bureau. FINLAND, OH. Members of radio club OH2AP will be QRV as OH100FIN on

December 6 to celebrate the 100th year of Finland’s independence.

Activity will be on the HF bands using CW, SSB, RTTY and other

digital modes. QSL via bureau. FINLAND, OH. The traditional Santa Claus Land station OH9SCL will

be QRV during December from Finnish Lapland. Activity will be

mainly on 160 to 10 meters using all modes, including FT8. QSL via

OH9AB. BONAIRE, PJ4. Mike, NA9Q plans to be QRV as PJ4/NA9Q from December

2 to 10. Activity will be holiday style on the HF bands using CW,

SSB and FT8. This includes being an entry in the upcoming ARRL 10

Meter contest. QSL to home call. NAMIBIA, V5. Ulmar, DK1CE is QRV as V5/DK1CE until December 15.

Activity is on 80 to 10 meters using CW. QSL to home call. CANADA, VE. Special event station CK100VDA will be QRV from

December 2 to 10 to commemorate the December 6, 1917 explosion of

the French munitions ship Mont Blanc. QSL direct to VA1YL. LAOS, XW. Ken, K4ZW will be QRV as XW4ZW from December 3 to 8.

Activity will be on the HF bands with a focus on the low bands. QSL

via K1SE. CAYMAN ISLANDS, ZF. Stan, K5GO is QRV as ZF9CW from Cayman Brac

Island, IOTA NA-016, until December 16. Activity is on the HF

bands. QSL direct to home call. THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The ARRL 160-Meter Contest, NCCC RTTY

Sprint, QRP 80-Meter CW Fox Hunt, Brandenburg-Berlin-Contest, NCCC

CW Sprint, Wake-Up. QRP CW Sprint, TOPS Activity CW Contest, EPC

Ukraine DX BPSK63 Contest, Ten-Meter RTTY Contest and SARL Digital

Contest are all on tap for this upcoming weekend. The ARS Spartan CW Sprint is scheduled for December 5. The CWops

Mini-CWT CW Test, Phone Fray and QRP 40-Meter CW Fox Hunt are

scheduled for December 6. Please see December QST, page 73, and the ARRL and WA7BNM Contest

Web Sites for details.

NNNN

Always Latest version at the top here: ARRL DX Bulletin



Amateur Radio Newsline

– SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY WEATHERS THE STORMS

– SANTA NET ARRIVES ON 80 METERS

– IN COLORADO, A NEW SANTA IN TOWN

– NETS OF NOTE: SOUTHCARS IS A NET ON THE MOVE

– NEW ARISS COMMITTEE DOES ITS HOMEWORK

– NASA KICKS OFF YEAR-LONG CELEBRATION OF MILESTONES

– AMATEUR RADIO GROUPS SHINE SPOTLIGHT ON DISABLED

– WORLD OF DX

– SANTA PLAYS THE FOX IN AUSTRALIA SCRIPT AUDIO

NOTE:

The “SCRIPT” and “AUDIO” above are hotlinks. Click to either “read” or “listen”!

Live links, Script, and Audio here:

Ham Nation

“SO MUCH STUFF WE COULDN’T PICK A NAME!”

Episode 327’s highlights:



“Bob Heil interviews maker Michael KE8AQW,

Valerie talks to Bart Jahnke about the

ARRL’s 2018 International Grid Chase,

George shows how to do a Lineman Splice,

Bob does a Pineboard Project recap

and its time again for the Santa Watch Net

and more! “

The last half-dozen or so episodes are linked right here: Ham Nation

Go watch!

Odds and Ends

Upcoming Hamfests within 250 miles

Link below lists all the ARRL-related hamfests within a 250 mile drive of Norman for about the next 5 months. Lots of good ones close to Norman.

http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/search/page:1/Location.zip:73072/Location.area:250.rpt?format=html

As always, News, Links, Repeater Info, Hamfests, Licensing, General Help & more linked from the sidebar at the SCARS Homepage – W5NOR.ORG !!!