Tri-Cities Amateur Radio Club

New to the Area? Come to Coffee and Donuts with a bunch of other hams Saturday morning at Popular Donuts, in Kennewick( 101N Union St) . We get together the first Saturday of the month. It starts around 7:30 and the RAG CHEW could go on for a hour or two. If you can't make it, tune into the morning social net on 146.64 (Neg offset and toneof 100hz) at 7:30. Ed W6OLA will be net control. Hope to see you there.

I was sent this from a ham in Arizona. I am sharing it with you now.
Dear Fellow Hams,

A recent study discovered that 47 out of 68 tested Starlink Satellites were leaking RF radiation, far outside their GHz authorized frequencies. The researchers discovered that RF was leaking into the frequencies from 110 to 188 MHz and of course our 2-meter band falls right in the middle. Also of even more importance is the aeronautical frequencies from 108 to 136 MHz that pilots and air traffic controllers use to conduct safe traffic separation (voice starts at 118.0 MHz, navigation aids are below 118.0 down to 108.0 MHz).

At this time, I could not find any discussion as to whether the StarLink RF leakage is actually interfering with any comms between 110 and 188 MHz since this is just a very recent study. However the fact that some of the Starlink satellites were quiet but others were transmitting (leaking) in the 110 to 188 MHz frequencies should indicate that there is a RF quality problem with some of the Starlink birds. Since some of the signals used in this frequency band are considered to be weak signal (aircraft navigational stations and ACARS text messaging to airline cockpits for example), if any reports do develop about interference to aviation comms, you can bet that the FCC will be all over the problem. This will be a difficult problem to observe as the Starlink satellites are traveling at 17,000 MPH and so you might have one satellite exhibiting no leakage and the next one behind it will be a "leaker". It may turn out that there is no interference detected that is harmful to earth comms from Starlink but there are many other constellations of satellites that still need to be tested for RF leakage.

You can read more at: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/unintended-satellite-emission...

WINTER FIELD DAY IS IN THE BOOKS

8 MEMBERS OF THE TRI-CITIES AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, AND 4 VISITORS TOOK PART IN OUR WINTER FIELD DAY OPERATION.
THE CLUB STATION IN THE RED CROSS BUILDING WAS A VERY BUSY PLACE ON SATURDAY THE 28TH..
MARK HUNN BROUGHT AND OPERATED HIS "GO BOX" I DON'T THINK I HAVE EVER SEEN A BETTER THOUGHT OUT PORTABLE UNIT. THANKS MUCH MARK!
WS7V TONY, KG7TYU SCOTT, AND W6OLA ED, SPENT TIME ON THE AIR CHASING POINTS.
THIS EVENT WAS OPERATIONAL FOR 24 HOURS, BUT WE ONLY SPENT 6 HOURS, 4 ON THE AIR AND 2 HOURS STATION PREP TIME DUE TO BUILDING RESTRICTIONS.
OTHER CLUB MEMBERS ACTED AS LOG KEEPERS AND "ELMERS". WE WERE GLAD TO HAVE CLUB MEMBERS THAT ACTED AS "ELMERS" SINCE OUR 4 VISITORS WERE FULL OF QUESTIONS. RON KK7JNU, JIM W7ZND AND MARTY N7UMW. THANKS GUYS.
ONE OF OUR OPERATORS HAD NOT BEEN OF HF FOR A LONG TIME, SO OUR FIELD DAY OPERATION ACCOMPLISHED ONE OF THE GOALS WE HAD IN MIND FOR "FIELD DAY". HAVING MEMBERS ACT AS "ELMERS" AND HAVING NON-HAM VISITORS MET TWO OF OUR OTHER GOALS.
WE MAY NOT HAVE WRECKED UP A LOT OF POINTS IN THE CONTEST; BUT AS A CLUB WE SPARKED INTEREST IN MEMBERS. OLD AND NEW, TO GET ON THE AIR.
WE EVEN PUT MIKE KC7CCK TO WORK. MIKE SPENT THE WHOLE TIME TROUBLE SHOOTING OUR KENWOOD RIG THAT MAY BE A LOST CAUSE.
COFFEE, COOKIES AND FRIENDSHIP KEPT US GOING.

TAKING A LOOK AT "LESSONS LEARNED" WE SEE SOME ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:
1. WE NEED A RIG TO REPLACE THE KENWOOD TRANSCEIVER. ANY DONATIONS WILL BE WELCOME.
2. WE HAVE 3 HEAD SETS THAT ARE IN VARIOUS STAGES OF USELESSNESS.
AGAIN I WANT TO THANK EVERYBODY THAT HELPED MAKE IT A SUCCESSFUL "FIELD DAY"
ED W6OLA

On Saturday the 29th, men of the Tri-Cities Amateur Radio Club got busy and removed the well aged vertical antenna for the club station and replacex it with a new vertical antenna. A huge thankyou to Mike, Marty, Steve, Tyson, Ed, Albin and Dogger for getting it done.
Things are working fine. We now have a vertical and loop antenna for the club station. Some of the guys were working some DX.