The Panama City ARC Tailgate is Saturday April 11th

The Panama City Amateur Radio Club is sponsoring a tailgate on Saturday April 11th, 9 AM until 1 PM. Buy, sell or swap ham radio gear. Limited tables are available for $5 on a first come first serve basis. There will be raffle prizes including $150 HRO Gift Certificate. Food is available. License testing at 2PM. Bring $14, picture ID and copy of license if upgrading. The location is the Panama City Amateur Radio Club, 130 N. Church Ave Panama City, FL. The talk-in repeater is W4RYZ 145.210 minus no tone. Questions about this event can be sent to panamacityarc@gmail.com.

A fox hunt will be held on site. Gather in the clubhouse at 10:50 for instructions. The hunt begins at 11:00. The fox frequency is 146.580. There may be multiple foxes. The winners will be rewarded with raffle tickets.

Ham Radio at the Home and Garden Expo March 13 -15

The Panama City ARC will have a booth at the Home Show at the Fair Grounds Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will have displays and information for those new to Ham Radio. Club members can volunteer for the booth or come on by to say hello. Contact Marv KK4DKT for more info.

EXPO INFORMATION

LOCATION: Bay County Fair Grounds, 2230 E. 15th Street, Panama City, FL 32405

DATES: March 13-14-15

SHOW HOURS: Friday, March 13 Noon to 5:00 PM
Saturday, March 14 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Sunday, March 15 10:00 to 3:00 PM

January 17th 2015 Portable Ops and Fox Hunt

Don "Mr Grumpy"  KK4DWC was a wonderful host for the January 17th 2015 Portable Ops and Fox Hunt at the Crooked Fence Ranch. There were three portable setups Bob KK4DIV, Marv KK4DKT and Greg N4KGL. The fox or rabbit hunt started a bit early. Jack N1HQ, Phil N4STC, Cory N4UVR, Bob KK4DIV and Greg N4KGL participated.  Jack N1HQ got two of three rabbits and Phil N4STC got the third. The following video by Bob KK4DIV sums up the day.

Fox Hunt planned on Jan 17th at Mr. Grumpy's Crooked Fence Ranch

This will be an on foot affair rather than on vehicles. Three foxes will be on 146.580.  Each fox will have a distinctive tone pattern. They will identify in code as W4RYZ/1, W4RYX/2 and W4RYZ/3.  The foxes will transmit in different time slots we hope but the cycle time is the same for all. Teams are allowed but only one person can hold the hunt equipment at a time. Gather in front of the trailer with your gear at 1 PM for final instructions and to register your team. The hunt will start at 1:10 and will end when all foxes are found or noon whichever comes first. Spectators are allowed but cannot aid in hunting. Please be aware of horses and electric fences on the site. GOOD LUCK. All are welcome to come out and may bring a portable radio set up if they like.

The ranch is home of Don Cornelius KK4DWC and is located just North of Southport, Florida on Hwy 388 East. You head north on Hwy 77 and turn right on Hwy 388 just 7 miles north of the Baily Bridge in Lynn Haven. We are about 1.2 miles down on the left. Look for the sign. Click here for a map.  There are horses on the ranch and if you are interested in horses contact Don's Son Gene Corneilus at Lazy-C-Ranch. 

There many options for fox hunting. The minimum equipment is a 2 meter HT or scanner. Directional antennas and attenuators can be home-brewed or purchased. Your committee is Greg N4KGL, Don KK4DWC, Phil KK4DWI and Bob KK4DIV.Transmitter hunting (also known as T-hunting, fox hunting, bunny hunting, and bunny chasing), is an activity wherein participants use radio direction finding techniques to locate one or more radio transmitters hidden within a designated search area. This activity is most popular among amateur radio enthusiasts, and one organized sport variation is known as amateur radio direction finding.

For additional info visit these links.

http://homingin.com/equipment.html

http://www.barriearc.com/Fox_Hunt/RDFing.pdf

http://theleggios.net/wb2hol/projects/rdf/tape_bm.htm

http://www.qsl.net/na0pw/FoxHunting.htm

http://www.k3dn.org/foxhunt.htm

http://fofio.blogspot.com/2013/02/low-tech-transmitter-hunting.html

gathering for instructions

Straight Key Night Kicks Off the New Year!

The Panama City ARC club house will be open Wednesday, December 31st, New Years Eve at 6 PM. The ARRL Straight Key Night will be on-going on the ham bands. The gear at the club is available to participate in SKN. See you there!

A Ham Night Before Christmas

The Panama City ARC club house will be closed Wednesday, December 24th,  Christmas Eve. However, the club house will will be open about 6:30 PM on  Wednesday, December 31st, New Years Eve.

Harold Crosby KF4YDO is Silent Key

Harold Crosby, 81, of Callaway, Fla., passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 4,
2014, at a local hospital. A native of Cranesville, Pa., he had
resided in Bay County since 1975. Harold retired from the USAF after
20 years of service and then worked for Civil Service at the Navy
base. He was a Ham operator and member of the National Association for
Amateur Radio and Panama City Amateur Radio Club.

We remember Harold for being present and helpful for most Panama City ARC events. The only time we did not see Harold was when he was on cross country trips operating his mobile amateur radio station. He was well known on the air waves including the 20 meter Maritime Mobile Net.