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July VBARC Meeting
Tonight's VBARC Meeting
There has been a schedule change and the July VBARC Meeting will now feature a presentation on "Field Day: What did we do right? What we can do better!". Additionally, another of our increasingly popular HAM 101 series will be presented, specific lecture details to follow... Please read the latest from VBARC's President.
Friday 26 June 2009
Newest Hamton Roads Hams!
Hampton Roads Newest Hams & Upgrades
This Field Day will be a very special event for a select few of Hampton Roads' amateur radio operators! They will be operating under their new privileges obtained from the latest joint club Training & Testing effort. From the end of last year, Jim AG4XT (VBARC Licensing Coordinator) and Paul K4PRB (CARS President) whipped up an awesome schedule of cooperative Training for the entire year.
This last effort (a technician and general class) has yielded 7 new amateurs and 5 license upgrades! A great show, both on the part of the students and the VEs that participated in this exceptional evolution! If you see one of these new Hams/upgrades, give them a hardy congratulations on their new privileges. New calls and upgrades granted today, Tuesday, June 30th! That means all of the new licensees are cleared HOT to GOTA (Get On The Air)! Please take the time to register with VBARC when you get the chance and (for our newly licensed Hams) don't forget to join the club as the rest of this year is on us!
June Membership Meeting by Bernadette Williams-Yetz KI4VCR
The meeting was called to order by President Steve W4XQ at 7:30 PM. This was our annual Field Day meeting. Ron W8RJL and Vice President John WB4AXY gave a presentation on the rules and regulations for Field Day and what Field Day is all about. It was very informative and I think helpful to all the newly licensed hams who have never participated in Field Day.
Lew W4BLO talked about the upcoming Virginia Beach Hamfest which will take place in September at Virginia Wesleyan College. For the first year, there will be a youth lounge at Hamfest to occupy children while the parents shop. I think this will be the start of a new tradition for Hamfest.
Jim AG4XT talked about the ongoing VBARC/CARS Tech/General classes. They are being held at the CARS shack in Chesapeake. Dates and times are listed on the VBARC calendar.
Al WA4TCJ thanked everyone who helped out at the Pungo Strawberry Festival Parade and the Breezy Point Triathlon. Al then introduced a special visitor who attended the meeting. His name is Joe, KI4LXT. He is the Assistant Virginia Section Emergency Coordinator.
Ed KN4KL talked about the software for Field Day and how to log contacts using the software.
We took a short break and then started the meeting again. President Steve W4XQ thanked everyone who helped with the Special Event Station at the Pungo Strawberry Festival. Vice President John WB4AXY talked some more on the topic of Field Day. He told us that the new Mayor of Virginia Beach and other City officials will be attending the opening of Field Day. We will meet at the Golden Corral that Saturday Morning for Breakfast and then head to Great Neck Park to start setting up stations. Don't forget to bring your appetite and your favorite dish for the picnic. Please email or call Bernadette and let her know what you would like to bring.
Bill Verebely W4WV won the 50/50 and split $48 with the club! The meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM.
Editor's note: Have a look at all the pictures from the June Meeting in the Image Gallery.
President Steve W4XQ called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM and immediately turned the meeting over to Vice President John WB4AXY. John introduced Vern W4THN, who gave assembled members and guests a presentation on Ham Cruises. He talked about the steps it took to set it up with the cruise line and the set up of the antennas on the ship. He had some wonderful pictures and it looked like a lot of fun. If you are interested in making preparations for "getting underway" on the next Ham Cruise for all the details. The next cruise will be February 27, 2010. This will be an 8 day cruise to the Bahamas. The prices available per occupant are:
$727.88 for Inside Cabins
$1107.88 for Balcony Cabins
$1787.88 for Suites
Thank you Vern for putting so much time and energy into making these cruises successful and enjoyable for the local amateur community!
John then presented Vern with a certificate of appreciation and thanked him for his time and very interesting presentation. John also presented certificates of appreciation to George WA4GDB and Ed W8NLZ for their recent VBARC presentations during previous meetings.
Ron W8RJL, followed up and informed the club about two of our amateur brothers from overseas that happended to be in town visiting. One gentleman was from the Greek Navy and the other was from Budepest! Thank you Ron for your time and good ambassadorship with these visitors.
We took a short break before the second half of the May VBARC Meeting. Upon resuming the meeting we went around the room for introductions. Immediately thereafter we conducted the business portion of the meeting.
The Pungo Strawberry Festival will be Saturday and Sunday, May 23 and 24th. Steve is setting up a Special Event Station again this year. It will located by the 4-H Booth.
Field Day weekend is June 27th and 28th. We had two designs turned in for the annual Field Day T-Shirt contest. Both Zach KJ4EZJ and Linda KI4LO turned in designs, and after all the votes were tallied, Zach's design won the contest (and the free T-shirt)! Many thanks to both of our designers for taking the time to create such nice works!
After the contest, VBARC held its bi-annual auction. Ron W8RJL once again stepped up to take the auctioneer's gavel.
Thanks to everyone who brought in items to sell and also to everyone who bought them. It was a great turn out and the club made a total of 74.00!
President Steve W4XQ won the 50/50. He and the club split $48! The meeting adjourned at 9:50 PM.
W4S, a Special Event station from the Pungo Strawberry Festival was again a success in its second year of operation Saturday and Sunday, May 23rd and 24th, 2009. This year we operated in style from the EMCOMM trailer provided by The Norfolk Area Baptist Association. You may have seen this fully-equipped beauty at Field Day last year. If not, be sure to check it out this year! Thanks to Chuck Moseley NS4CM, Pastor of Oak Grove Baptist Church for making this happen.
W4S again ran a Yaesu FT-900 and a Buckmaster OCF (Off Center-Fed) dipole. The amp we used this year was a Yaesu FL-2100B, running a pair of 572b's. A new addition was the satellite station: A Kenwood TS-2000, KenPro Az/El rotor and a Cushcraft AOP-1 antenna array. Don, KC4H made a video of the station in operation and put it up on YouTube. View the video here (also available in our Video Gallery for Club Members). That's me (Steve, W4XQ) operating; Ed, KC4UFN logging; and Butch, KE4AZL and Joe, KI4RKB inspecting the coax patch panel outside the trailer.
W4S made over 450 contacts this year. Most were on 14.260MHz. We ran for a brief time on Saturday morning on 7.260 MHz. but quickly abandoned that frequency to avoid QRM as various nets started popping up. HF contacts included 36 states and 29 countries. The satellite station actually only ran one satellite pass. That was late on Sunday as AO-51 was passing over. We made about ten contacts in that pass. The YouTube video made by one of the stations we contacted on that pass, KC2UOO, is available here (also in the Video Gallery).
Thanks to VBARC and to all who donated their time, equipment and/or talents to making this station a success again this year: Chuck NS4CM, Rich N2XQM, Ed KN4KL, Butch KE4AZL, Ron W8RJL, George WA4GDB, Zach KJ4EZJ, Will KJ4FRI, Joe KI4RKB, Sim K4SIM.
73, Steve W4XQ
Editor's note: Please have a look at all the great pictures from the Pungo W4S operation!
The April 2009 VBARC Meeting was called to order at 7:40 PM by President Steve W4XQ. Steve immediately turned the meeting over to Vice President John WB4AXY. John introduced our first guest speaker, Chief Meteorologist Jeff Lawson from WVEC. Jeff talked about different weather conditions, including severe weather and tornadoes. Jeff emphasized what we should do to protect ourselves. He indicated that having emergency plans and kits made up, in case of evacuations, was essential to weathering a severe storm or hurricane. Jeff talked about his background and how he became interested in meteorology. He has been at WVEC for a number of years and has enjoyed working there. After he finished speaking, Jeff took questions from the assembled VBARC members and guests. John WB4AXY presented Jeff Lawson with a certificate of appreciation from VBARC for taking the time to come out and speak to our members.
After a short break, Steve Molo KI4KWR gave VBARC a short presentation on SKYWARN. Steve told us about the new equipment set up at Wakefield. If you would like to volunteer to operate, please to make arrangements. Steve said, if you call to report weather in your area, please give them the best information possible. For example, if it is hailing, tell them the approximate size of the hail that is falling (marble, pea, baseball). Also provide damage reports, wind speed (if in excess of 50 MPH). When Steve was finished, John presented him with a certificate of appreciation for his presentation.
The following announcements were made following this months presentations:
- Al WA4TCJ reminded the Club about the upcoming Tour De Cure bike ride for Diabetes being held in Chesapeake. CARS will be in charge of this local community service event.
- The 26th Annual Pungo Strawberry Festival is coming up and Steve W4XQ will have a special event station set up by the 4-H tent. If you have never worked a special event station head out there and give it a try! It will be May 23rd and 24th in Pungo.
- The Ham cruise is coming up in February 2010. The cruise will be for eight days beginning on February 27, 2010. For more details, contact .
- The QCWA meets at Angelo's Steak and Pancake House in Newport News, on Jefferson Avenue.
A Tribute to Jack Main W4YCZ - SK by Vic Culver W4VIC reprinted from the QCWA Chapter 119 Event Horizon (Vol 4, No 13)
We sometimes miss the opportunity to do things we would like to do simply because there is so much to do. Putting off important things never is a good thing to do and sometimes the ranking of important things is not what we might wish it to be had we better foresight. And so it is that we are coming a little bit late to something we wish we had done earlier. The QCWA Member Profile this week features Jack Main W4YCZ, who became a silent key last week on March 28, 2009. We might have done better to have celebrated Jack while he was here to accept our congratulations in person. As it is, Jack knows that we are honoring him in this way, and if you wish to express your appreciation of Jack then send a note to Sally, his wife, and let her know how much Jack meant to you, and to all of us: Ms. Sally Main, 172 Ocean Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23503.
Enclosed are some biographical notes that came this way over the past few days. They tell a story of one side of this extraordinary individual. Enjoy what we know to share with you.
Wally Carter K4OGT shared the following note about Jack:
...I can not come up with a time line but I do remember that Blair Blanton W4CEU, now deceased, and I stopped by and talked him in to running for president of SPARK as we were returning from the Virginia Beach Hamfest. He ran and was president for two years.
Earlier, around 1972, I had coffee with him and in our conversation I found out he was the Weather Bureau man on a Coast Guard ship, (not in the Coast Guard per say) somewhere in the North Sea in 1952. I was on a Troop ship headed for Europe and he was giving weather bulletins by radio. We had a transoceanic in the group and followed the news about the storm. The first mate told me they were in direct contact with the weather ship. This continues until we docked and then left Southampton, England. We ran into the edge of the storm and had to stand off of Bremerhaven for about 18 hours, on sea anchors. The storm was in 1952 and the only reason I can set a time is I remembered it was 20 years later when I first met him. He and Sally were great music lovers and they followed the Hampton Lions Jug band, all of the Williamsburg events and another band I played with from 1972 until 2003, called the Lyrics. They would always bring Sally's parents to the Fort Monroe Officers club, when they were in country and we were playing there.
He was one of our first operators to train and fill a weekly slot at the Virginia Air and Space Center radio station, until his doctor told him recently to quit extra travel and outside activities. He had a small side key and would send "My Name is Jack" on our oscillator. He was surprised more than once to have someone walk up and say "Hello Jack." Last year, as you remember, I helped Sally to set up a party, at VASC, for his 80th birthday. I am so sorry I can not add more. I will miss him.
73, Wally Carter K4OGT
The following came our way in a document titled “I Remember Jack Main” written by Jack A. Eckert. In this document there is a letter written to Armand Brunette, with additional comments by J. Eckert:
June 13, 1992 Dear Armand, I enjoyed talking to you last night as I mentioned. I have been on nearly every East Coast Cutter and one on the West Coast. Some of these ships, or should I say most of them are long gone now. The following is a list of the ships and the number of times I was on each one:
That adds up to 150 trips aboard Coast Guard ships. Most of the trips were about five weeks long but one was two and one half months in the South Pacific. These ships represent the five classes of ships that stood weather patrol. This would be 255' or Lake Class Cutters; 311' or ex-AVP Navy Seaplane Tenders; 327' and 378' Cutters were Secretary Classes and the Chambers was the one lone ex-Navy Destroyer Escort which was the worst riding ship the Coast Guard ever had.
Jack (W4YCZ)
Mr. Everett comments:
Jack Main was a Civilian Weatherman who was assigned to the various East Coast Cutters beginning in 1950. OSJ has not contacted him directly but it is assumed he left his Weather Ship duties about 1970. 150 patrols over 20 years is about 7-1/2 patrols per year. That is about 233 days at sea per year every year. How many of us "Old Salt's" can make that claim? He should be nominated as "Lord HIGH BRINE Density." That is more than just being an "Old Salt" and we should stand at attention in his presence and salute him.
The "Weather Birds" were a hardy breed, they had to be. It is one thing to go to sea as continuously as they did but to go to sea on Weather Wagons was something else. They worked around the clock like most of the sailors did.
They were given the privileges of officers but in some respects that wasn't really a plus for them. Their sleeping quarters were the worst available that could still be considered in Officer's Country. They ate in the Ward Room which meant they paid for their meals directly. Every one of the larger ships in those days had an Ensign type Mess Treasurer trying to preserve as much as possible of his (there were no hers) monthly meal allowance of $47.88. On one ship a Junior Officer bragged that the mess bill for the entire patrol was $7.77. While the Weather Birds didn't have to pay much for their chow, they didn't eat very well either. There weren't very many fat weathermen.
For the most part these fellow's were a decent lot. They didn't mix much with the Officers and men but were not aloof either. They are forgotten today to almost everybody but us "Old Salt's."
Jack Main was an avid ham radio operator and was the first man to legally bring his gear aboard ship. In 1964 he had orders to the Castle Rock in Boston and knew he was going to Ireland after the trip. It was a long one and he "sweet talked" the Skipper into permission to bring his little HW-32 and a hustler antenna along. That worked out so well and so many patches were made including several emergency messages that the Coast Guard decided to let him bring his rig on any ship he wanted to. All he had to do was secure the Captains permission. Slowly all of the ships got their own gear and if they had a licensed ham on board would operate with Jack Main filling in when needed.
Yes Jack Main, you are remembered! -- By all of us!
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This Field Day will be a very special event for a select few of Hampton Roads' amateur radio operators! They will be operating under their new privileges obtained from the latest joint club Training & Testing effort. From the end of last year, Jim AG4XT (VBARC Licensing Coordinator) and Paul K4PRB (
Lew W4BLO talked about the upcoming 
We took a short break and then started the meeting again. President Steve W4XQ thanked everyone who helped with the Special Event Station at the Pungo Strawberry Festival. Vice President John WB4AXY talked some more on the topic of Field Day. He told us that the new Mayor of Virginia Beach and other City officials will be attending the opening of Field Day. We will meet at the 
President Steve W4XQ called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM and immediately turned the meeting over to Vice President John WB4AXY. John introduced Vern W4THN, who gave assembled members and guests a presentation on Ham Cruises. He talked about the steps it took to set it up with the cruise line and the set up of the antennas on the ship. He had some wonderful pictures and it looked like a lot of fun. If you are interested in making preparations for "getting underway" on the next Ham Cruise for all the details. The next cruise will be February 27, 2010. This will be an 8 day cruise to the Bahamas. The prices available per occupant are:
The Pungo Strawberry Festival will be Saturday and Sunday, May 23 and 24th. Steve is setting up a Special Event Station again this year. It will located by the 4-H Booth.
W4S, a Special Event station from the Pungo Strawberry Festival was again a success in its second year of operation Saturday and Sunday, May 23rd and 24th, 2009. This year we operated in style from the EMCOMM trailer provided by The 
W4S again ran a Yaesu FT-900 and a Buckmaster OCF (Off Center-Fed) dipole. The amp we used this year was a Yaesu FL-2100B, running a pair of 572b's. A new addition was the satellite station: A Kenwood TS-2000, KenPro Az/El rotor and a Cushcraft AOP-1 antenna array. Don, KC4H made a video of the station in operation and put it up on YouTube. View the video 
W4S made over 450 contacts this year. Most were on 14.260MHz. We ran for a brief time on Saturday morning on 7.260 MHz. but quickly abandoned that frequency to avoid QRM as various nets started popping up. HF contacts included 36 states and 29 countries. The satellite station actually only ran one satellite pass. That was late on Sunday as AO-51 was passing over. We made about ten contacts in that pass. The YouTube video made by one of the stations we contacted on that pass, KC2UOO, is available 
The April 2009 VBARC Meeting was called to order at 7:40 PM by President Steve W4XQ. Steve immediately turned the meeting over to Vice President John WB4AXY. John introduced our first guest speaker, 
We sometimes miss the opportunity to do things we would like to do simply because there is so much to do. Putting off important things never is a good thing to do and sometimes the ranking of important things is not what we might wish it to be had we better foresight. And so it is that we are coming a little bit late to something we wish we had done earlier. The QCWA Member Profile this week features Jack Main W4YCZ, who became a silent key last week on March 28, 2009. We might have done better to have celebrated Jack while he was here to accept our congratulations in person. As it is, Jack knows that we are honoring him in this way, and if you wish to express your appreciation of Jack then send a note to Sally, his wife, and let her know how much Jack meant to you, and to all of us: Ms. Sally Main, 172 Ocean Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23503.
Ingham 14, Absecon 12, Chincoteague 12, Mendota 12, Taney 11, Duane 10, Owasco 7, Spencer 7, McCulloch 7, Half Moon 5. Bibb 5, Sebago 4, Rockaway 4, Campbell 4, Cook Inlet 4, Gresham 3, Barataria 3, Castle Rock 3, Androscoggin 3, Hamilton 2, Boutwell 2, Escanaba 2, Mackinac 2, Ponchartrain 2, Morganthau 2, Munro 1, Sherman 1, Gallatin 1, Yakutat 1, Humboldt 1, Chambers 1, Coos Bay 1 and Unimak 1.
Thursday 02 Jul at 1930
Saturday 18 Jul at 0900