Metrocrest Amateur Radio Society
Archives
June 3, 2025
Carrollton and Farmers Branch Recognize Amateur Radio Week
In the runup to ARRL Field Day, June 28–29, the cities of Carrollton and Farmers Branch have each declared the week of June 22 through 29 to be “Amateur Radio Week.” In separate proclamations the cities recognized the contributions of amateur radio operators in times of emergency and providing communications for charitable public events.
Farmers Branch Mayor Terry Lynne issued his designation on May 30. Carrollton Mayor Steve Babick will present the Carrollton certificate to MARS President Andy Smolenski, KI5YLX, during the City Council meeting on June 17 at 7:00 PM at City Hall.
Many thanks go to Immediate Past President David Gilpin, K5GIL, Kevin Grantham, N5KRG, Carrollton Emergency Management Coordinator Elliott Reep, K5EJR, Assistant to the City Manager Grace Currie, Farmers Branch Emergency Management Coordinator Luke Parten, KI5WJM, Farmers Branch Deputy City Secretary Erin Flores, and to Mayor Babick and Mayor Lynne for their support.
Texas State Parks Wraps
—Ron Reeves, NN5R
On April 12, club members ventured to the Johnson Branch Unit of Ray Roberts Lake State Park for Texas State Parks on the Air (TSPOTA). It turned out our reserved pavilion was being used by another group so the park rangers reassigned us to pavilion number two, further down into the park south of the swimming beach. We used this location a few years ago so we made only a few changes to our antenna plan to get on the air. (Making plans gives you something to change when you get there.) We set up two SSB stations, two FT8 stations, and 6 antennas to work 4 HF bands.
Austin Litman, N4AKL,brought his tower trailer and set it as the end point for the 67-foot 40–10m end-fed. We ran the antenna towards the pavilion then used ropes for the rest of the run to the pavilion, over the top, and anchored that end of the rope to a tent stake on the far side of the pavilion. We had enough real estate that we could have set up a 133-foot 80-10m end-fed. We’ll try that next time.
Kim Walter, KI5ZOT, mounted a vertical antenna and Kevin Grantham, N5KRG, set up a delta loop and we used them both on 15 meters. It didn’t matter which antenna we used; 15m propagation was poor.
Darrell Crimmins, KG5E made the first contact at 10:22 AM – which was pretty good considering most of us were delayed by bad traffic on I-35 and didn’t arrive until after 8am. With grandson Collin Swain, KG5ELO, the pair made 54 QSOs on 15 meters using FT8.
It was sunny and windy all day long. That sure beats the cold windy rain, thunderstorms, and flooding we’ve experienced in previous years. There were white caps out on the lake and not many boaters or other water enthusiasts. It was a good day for kite flying and fishing, but not so good for radio.
Propagation on all the bands was poor. We made a few voice contacts on 15 and 40 meters, and a bunch of FT8 contacts on 10m and 20m. There were almost no sideband signals heard on 15m. Several of us heard a voice station in the Czech Republic (north of Prague) and another on the island of Anguilla, a little 16- x 2.5-mile island east of Puerto Rico, but we couldn’t raise either of them. Mike Brown, W5MDB, snagged a station in Puerto Rico on 15m SSB. Our FT8 operators could see QSOs on the waterfall but just weren’t very successful in making contact. David Gilpin, K5GIL, had an FT8 QSO with a station in Uruguay. We had QSOs on at least 3 bands with stations across the lake in the Isle du Bois unit of Ray Roberts Lake. Isle du Bois reported having the same poor propagation as us so it wasn’t just our problem. At the end of the day, the KB5A expedition made a total of 60 contacts. We submitted a total score of 295 points.
For lunch we had cold cuts; the dinner menu featured hamburgers and hot dogs cooked over charcoal by grill master George Williams, KG5GXU.
Despite the poor propagation, everyone had a great time setting up antennas, rigs, getting on the air and enjoying the outdoors. Thanks go to all who came out to play radio. We’re looking forward to TSPOTA 2026 and to our upcoming Field Day in June.
Working the Birds
At the April 10 meeting, Tom Schuessler, N5HYP, explained all you need to know to get started working Amateur Satellites. You’ll find a video and links from his talk on our YouTube channel.
APRS Basics
At the March 13 meeting, MARS President Andy Smolenski, KI5YLX, gave an excellent overview of the Automatic Packet Reporting System aka “APRS.” He explained that the system does much more than just tracking your location while you are on horseback. You’ll find a video of his talk on our YouTube channel.