A Ham's Night Before Christmas

December 2011 Technician Class and Testing

The December 10th/17th Technician Class at the Panama City ARC Clubhouse went well. We wrapped up with a testing session on the 17th. Congratulation to the following:


New Licenses:

Felix Blair (Technician)
Stephen Corbitt (Technician)*
Tom Cothern (Technician)*
Thomas Gilmore (Technician)*
Ruth Jurgonski (Technician)*
Roger Lemire (Technician)
Christopher Oswald (General)*

Upgrades:

Joseph Bayba (Extra) KC2OI
Robert Jurgonski (General) KK4CVU


The * indicates students in our class. Sam Oswald our youngest student yet will be passing the tech test soon. Thanks for Gary Bills heading up the testing and team of volunteer examiners including Addison Marvin "Marv", Jack Crusan, Rick Gutknecht and John Latham. Thanks to Charlie Wooten for loaning us the projector.

Tom Cothern, Roger Lamire, Ruth Jurgonski, Tom Gilmore,  Chris Oswald,  Sam Oswald, Steve Corbitt

Bob Jurgonski, Tony Blair, Don Cornelius

Instructors: Greg Lane, Jack Crusan, Gary Bills

Grumpy's Ranch and KK4DWC Antenna Farm

I had the opportunity to visit Grumpy's Crooked Fence Ranch and the KK4DWC Antenna Farm the Friday after Thanksgiving. The proprietor is Don Cornelius (Not the one from Soul Train). Don and his sons live North of Southport on 388 East. The highlight of the farm is the horses and each one has their own story which Don will fill you in on. Don's Son Gene has the ajoining Lazy C Ranch. Gene offers pony parties, riding lessons and more. See www.lazycranch.us.

Don KK4DWC is getting setup on the HF bands and has a nice tower up which is just the beginning of his antenna farm. The tower has a G5RV now hanging from it and may get a yagi soon. Don is one of the of the new hams at the Panama City Amateur Radio Club. He has received elmering from Henry N4HHM and Steve AC4QB. Of course we appreciate Don running for Club Treasurer. He is unopposed. So give him your support next year. By the way Don has invited the club out to the ranch to do portable ops.

Greg N4KGL

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Amateur Radio Technician License Class December 10 & 17

The Panama City Amateur Radio Club is offering a two day Technician License Class December 10 and December 17 at the Panama City ARC Club House. Students must register by November 30. To register for the class, contact: Greg Lane N4KGL at panamacityarc@gmail.com  

Please get the word out anyway you can! Let your church, other clubs, co-workers and neighbors know. There is a flyer attached.  Thanks for your help.

Greg N4KGL

Panama City ARC President

The Technician license is your gateway to the world-wide excitement of Amateur Radio   

• Earn your ham radio Technician class radio privileges
• Pass your FCC amateur radio license exam right in class on the second day
• Multiple-choice exam, *No Morse Code Required*
• Live equipment demonstrations
• Learn to operate on the ham bands, 10 Meters and higher
• Learn to use the many VHF/UHF FM repeaters in Florida
• Find out how to participate in emergency communications
• Find out how to communicate with astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS)

There is no charge for the class (donations accepted)


However, students must have the required study guide: Gordon WestTechnician Class 2010-2014 guide, 7th Edition $20.95 and pay the FCC Exam Fee: $14.00  The text book is available on Amazon.

For more information on amateur (ham) radio visit  www.arrl.org or www.wedothat-radio.org

November 12th Lynn Haven Portable Ops

The park by the bay at the west end of 5th street in Lynn Haven FL was an excellent portable location and the blue skies made it even better. Jason Charles N4JTC had his ground plane setup for 10 meters which was very hot. Using PSK-31 he worked:

IW0BMC - Rome, Italy
YU7YG - Serbia
HB9BRU - Switzerland
IK5FKB - Italy
OE6BMG - Austria
9A1CCB - Croatia
VE7MWP - B.C. Canada
DL2OCE - Germany


Jason also did phone message relay, health and welfare for ve7mwp. He has relatives here and wanted to send a message of hello all is well from B.C., Canada.

Marv KK4DKT had his 20 meter dipole setup at the shore. Jim K4LIX had a QRP setup and Greg had a QRP rig hooked to a 40 meter full wave loop. Thanks to all for a great turn out.

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Under The Oaks Portable Gathering

There was a well attended gathering for portable operations October 29th at Under The Oaks Park. The setup included Greg's Icom 703 hooked to Marv's dipole hung from an oak. Jason's SDR/TX hooked to his ground plane and Greg's Ten Tec R4020 hooked to his half square supported by crappie poles. Jim also brought his K-1.Other attendees included Dave and Tom, Ron, Henry, Sonny, Duane, and Jim and his wife. We enjoyed meeting Lars and Jared who are excited about ham radio. Marv worked a station in Trinidad. He was pretty happy about that.

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Jamboree On The Air 2011

The scouts had a good time doing Jamboree On the Air at the Panama City ARC club house on October 15th. Thanks to club members NZ2I, KA4UOW, AJ4KY, KK4DWE, WB4BLX, and N1HQ for making this a success.