South Carolina August Section Report

September 21, 2024

Greetings South Carolina Amateur Radio Operators! I know August has been a busy month for many of us, especially those sending kids back to school or returning to school ourselves. A special thank you to all the ham teachers getting back to work as well.

ARRL Teachers Institute

Speaking of teachers, I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology. TI - 1 is an Introduction to Wireless Technology, TI - 2 is Remote Sensing and Data Analysis, & TI - 3 information is coming soon. I have spoken to some teachers who attended and they had nothing but praise for the program. The teachers are able to take this information back to their school and better engage students at their school or hopefully start a school club. Please follow this link for more information and applications. http://arrl.org/teachers-institute-on-wireless-technology In South Carolina our SYC “Section Youth Coordinator is Michael Grimsley, KF4W. He has attended the Teachers Institute and would be glad to speak with any teachers about the program.

ARRL Section Manager Training

While the ARRL Teachers Institute is great for teachers, I was fortunate to visit ARRL HQ for new Section Manager training on Saturday, September 15th along with 12 other new Section Managers. This was an amazing opportunity to meet many of the ARRL field services, education, and publication staff as well as CEO David Minster, NA2AA. You can read more about it at this link and see a picture of the group. https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-section-managers-gather-for-training-at-headquarters 

National Calling Frequency 146.520

I mainly listened to 146.520Mhz during the drive from SC to CT and back to SC. I would throw my callsign out every so often, and I made 6 or 7 QSO’s. I recently joined a facebook group which is encouraging hams to use the national simplex frequency more often in hopes of making simplex contacts. The group has over 14,000 members currently, and I believe it is making a difference.

Shelby Hamfest

On August 31st I attended the Shelby hamfest and was able to visit with Roanoke Director Dr. Jim Boehner, N2ZZ, Vice Director Bill Morine, N2COP, and North Carolina Section Manager Marv Hoffman, WA4NC. While this year was still hot, it was definitely cooler than last year. The most interesting part of the hamfest for me was meeting Tadd Torborg, KA2DEW, and learning about the North Carolina Packet group (https://ncpacket.net/) and their Terrestrial Amateur Radio Packet Network, or TARPN (https://tarpn.net/). I have seen NC Packet at many hamfests, but I never stopped to learn about the group. After talking with Tadd about their network and then also talking with a couple hams in Spartanburg, SC about their packet network I am ready to give it a try. I have purchased a couple of the NINO TNC’s and Raspberry Pi’s and hope to get the two of them working head to head for now and then moving on to adding radio’s and extending the range. I will be glad to work with any other hams, especially those in the midlands that have an interest in trying out packet as well. Please check out the links above if you have any interest or if you don’t know anything about packet yet.

Florence Hamfest

The rescheduled Florence Hamfest was held on Saturday, September 7th and had a great turn out and lots of door prizes at the end of the event. I am looking forward to attending again next year. Donald Bryant, KB4RRC, and the Florence club did an awesome job getting the event rescheduled and held at a great location.

Upcoming Events:

Roanoke Division Town Hall - October 3rd at 8PM at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/live/1cujiSb3rHU

Ballots to vote for South Carolina Section Manager will be mailed out by October 1st and must be returned by Friday, November 15th. The votes will be counted on Tuesday, November 19th. Please Vote!

October 19 - ARRL EME Contest

October 21 - ARRL School Club Roundup

Hamfests:

October 12, Rock Hill Hamfest & ARRL Section Convention at Covenant Presbyterian Church 1830 Celanese Road, Rock Hill, SC 0800 AM to 12 Noon. https://www.ycars.org/ 

November 2 & 3, Stone Mountain Hamfest and ARRL GA State Convention. https://stonemountainhamfest.com/

November 16, Amateur Radio Club of Augusta “Gobbler” Swapmeet at 1416 Goshen Rd, Augusta, GA from 0900 AM to 1 PM. https://w4dv.club/event/arca-fall-tailgate/ 

January 11, 2025 GARSfest in Greenwood, SC. More information to follow. https://garsfest.com/

Thank you for reading this month’s Section Report. I trust everyone will have a great October and I look forward to meeting those of you who attend the Rock Hill hamfest next month.

New SC Hams

While I can’t pull up new ARRL members or new hams through the ARRL site currently, here are a list of new SC Hams provided by RadioQTH https://www.radioqth.net/

If any of these hams are in your area please listen out for them on the radio and make contact if you hear them on the radio. Welcome to Amateur Radio!

KQ4UWC Doyle, Rodney A 08/22/2024 Technician 29566

KQ4UWO Carlson, Caleb 08/23/2024 Technician 29407

KQ4UWS Carpenter, Dana K 08/23/2024 Amateur Extra 29483

KQ4UWV Becknell, Lee H 08/24/2024 Technician 29377

KQ4UXB Taylor, James H 08/24/2024 Technician 29576

KQ4UXE Lupo, Michael J 08/24/2024 Technician 29569

KQ4UXQ Christman, Barry G 08/27/2024 General 29376

KQ4UXR Aldridge, Edward B 08/27/2024 Technician 29576

KQ4UZE Hollis, Taleta F 08/28/2024 Technician 29617

KQ4UZX Snow, Gregory B 08/29/2024 Technician 29582

KQ4UZZ Robinson, Donald L 08/29/2024 Technician 29069

KQ4VAL Toda, Yukihiko 08/31/2024 General 29334

KQ4VAM Hulst, Matthew C 08/31/2024 Technician 29164

KQ4VAV Mount, Andrew S 08/31/2024 Technician 29664

KQ4VAY Stoker, Andrew R 08/31/2024 Technician 29209

KQ4VBE Colon, David I 09/04/2024 General 29485

KQ4VBG Davis, Chris 09/04/2024 Technician 29063

KQ4VBO HELMS, EDWARD S 09/04/2024 Technician 29072

KQ4VCI Foxworth Jr, Jessie 09/05/2024 Technician 29541

KQ4VCU Care, Mark T 09/05/2024 Technician 29072

KQ4VEN Brouillard, Joseph 09/10/2024 General 29706

KQ4VGG Hollo, Holly A 09/11/2024 Technician 29572

KQ4VHG Sheffield, Taylor L 09/12/2024 Technician 29706

KQ4VHH Hughes, Leslie C 09/12/2024 Technician 29631

KQ4VHT Nicholson, Christy C 09/13/2024 Technician 29676

KQ4VHW Hovanec Jr, Bernard 09/13/2024 Technician 29642

KQ4VIK GRAHAM, MARVIN 09/14/2024 Technician 29016

KQ4VIV Cheney, Michael E 09/17/2024 Technician 29323

KQ4VJE Stampf, Lucas 09/17/2024 Technician 29625

KQ4VKB Brandon, Theodore 09/17/2024 Technician 29681

KQ4VKL Ashworth, Christopher 09/17/2024 Technician 29615

August 2024 National Traffic System Report for South Carolina compiled by Section Traffic Manager Dean, N4AJK

Net / Check Ins(winlink) / Traffic / Sessions / Reported By

Anderson Radio Club 2m Net / 666 / 36 / 31 / W3SUE 

Big Ears Aynor Repeater/ 69 / 0 / 5 / KD2OJQ

Blue Ridge 2 Meter Net / 1371 / 42 / 31 / W4DJW

Cherokee Amateur Radio Emergency Services / 71  / 3  / 5 / N6WWG

Carolinas Net / 307 / 138 / 62 / AA4MP

Carolinas Slow Net / 133 / 23 / 31 / KI4KZS

CARC Sunday Net / 102 / 21 / 4 / N4PRF

Central SC CARC VHF Simplex Net /  16  / 0  /  1  / KN4KRZ 

Florence Amateur Radio Club / 125 / 21 / 5 /WB6GUC

Florence Skywarn Net / 55 / 28 / 3 / WB6GUC

Grand Strand ARC 2m Net / 163 / 17 / 17 / N4AJK

Grand Strand ARC 1.25m Net / 18 / 3 / 3 / N4AJK

Grand Strand ARC 70 cm Net / 61 / 9 / 9 / N4AJK

Greater Pee Dee 2m Net / 1004 / 69 / 31 / KK4KSZ

 Horry County ARES 2m net / 6 / 1 / 1 / AC2LB

Horry Co. ARES simplex net/ 14 / 1 / 1  / WB4FTU

Kershaw ARC 2m Net / 87 / 9 / 9 / KK4RUI

Lancaster County ARC 2m Net / 29 / 0 / 4 / N4WMB

Lori’s Ham Radio Club / 7 / 2 / 1 / N4SLC  (new club)

PALS Net / 948 / 45 /  31 / KK4MQN

Ridge ARC VHF Net / 106 / 20 / 12 / KD4HDR

Ridge ARC HF Net / 5 /  1  / 1 / KD4HDR

Ridge ARC Simplex  Net / 28 /  0  / 4 / KD4HDR

SC Heart Training Net / 270 (5) / 0 / 5 / KQ4KK

SC Statewide ARES HF Net  / 72 (29)  / 9  /  4  /  KN4KRZ

SC Midlands ARES Training Net  /   41 (21)  /  13  / 2  /  KO4WAA

SCSSB Net / 1246 / 127 / 31 / KG4RUE

SC ARES VHF/UHF Net/ 316 / 4 / 4 / KI4RAX

SC Winlink Tuesday Net / 138 ( 139) /  138  / 4  / KN4KRZ 

Sumter County EmComm Net/ 28 / 2 / 3 / KK4HFG

Trident Amateur Radio Club / 52 / 2 / 4 / K4TCP

YCARS / 696 / 1 / 43 / K4TTM

YCARES / 9 / 0 / 1 / K4TTM

WS4P August  2024 Station Activity and PSHR Reports

Station / Sent / Received / Delivered / Originated / Total

WS4P/39/28/0/0/67

WS4P Digital Relay Station 

Rec::9  Sent:: 3  Total: 12

Public Service Honor Roll

Station / Cat1 / Cat2 / Cat3 / Cat4 / Cat5 / Cat6 / Total

WS4P/40/40/20/0/0/10/110

Winlink Net Check-ins: 12

73

Matthew Crook, W1MRC, SC Section Manager