CLUB NEWS
MONTHLY MEETINGS
BCARA General Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 P.M. at the Boy Scouts of America Moraine Council Building located at 830 Morton Avenue Extension, Butler.
The repeater located at the Center Township water tower has a new battery backup system installed thanks to several club members. A Trace UPS which was donated by John Wick, K3HPS, which will provide 8 hours of emergency power. Dave Parkhill assembled and tested the system over the Christmas holidays and with the help of Richard Deal, WB3BFC, and Dave Zibrat, W3VXT. Jim Love, W1JHL built the shelving that houses the system and big thanks to everyone else that helped with the project.
The system has the capability to start and control an electric generator which has not been installed at this time.
The weather station is installed and will be operational by summer and will provide BCARA repeater users with the outside temperature, wind speed and direction, along with rainfall information.
EXAM SESSIONS
The BCARA VE Team holds Amateur Radio Exams Sessions at the Boy Scout Center, 850 Morton Avenue Extension at 0900 the second Saturday of February, May and August and the third Saturday of November. There are four exams; 5-WPM code, Technician, General and Extra Class. Exam fee is $14.00 per session (retests are considered a new session). The Exam Team will schedule special sessions upon request as needed. Reservations are required for all sessions.
For additional information contact Jerry, W3DMB@arrl.net or by phone at 724.282.6777.
SWAPFEST 2011
SwapFest 2011 will be held at the Unionville Fire Hall on September the 11th. The committee needs your help. There are many small tasks that must be handled. So donate an hour or so to the cause, your help will be appreciated.
SWAPFEST 2011 CLUB TABLE RULES
BCARA reserves the right to monitor all sales for appropriateness and suitability; however, neither Butler County Amateur Radio Association, Inc. or its officers or representatives assume any responsibility whatsoever for any claims made therein nor make any guarantees regarding the items sold. Any resulting transactions are strictly between advertiser and buyer.
The club, BCARA, will make available and maintain a sales table at the SwapFest. This table is available to any attendee wishing to sell an item.
To sell an item the seller must mark the asking price on an envelope (supplied by BCARA) and available at the club's table. One envelope must be completed for each item to be sold. However, if there are several items to be sold as a single unit, only one envelope needs to be completed. Upon completion of the sale the monies will be deposited in the envelope and sealed by the club member at the table. The seller may pick up his envelope, or envelopes, after the sale at the club's table.
The club, BCARA, will charge an amount totaling 10% of the sale price for this service.
HELP IS NEEDED
We will need your help on July 17th at the repeater site to help install the 440 transceiver, antenna, weather station and to check the backup batteries. All members is welcome to help install and test this equipment which will be a great addition to the repeater's use. We will be able to transmit current weather conditions at regular intervals and confirm that the batteries will give us the expected 8-hour backup should we lose power at the repeater site.
FIELD DAY OPERATORS ARE NEEDED
If you have a few hours free on either Saturday June 24th or Sunday June 25th come on out to the Cooper's Lake Field Day site and help in operating o a band or better yet bring your transceiver and antenna and join in the fun. We have several bands which need coverage. You can name the mode in which you are most comfortable. Come join the fun of operating in the wilds of Cooper's Lake.