Newsletter of the Newport County Radio Club, August 2016 National Parks on the Air Have Station, Will Travel The National Parks Service, together with ARRL, are celebrat- Narragansett Bay Islands Wickford Harbor Islands ing their 100th anniversary by Our island activators continue promoting activations of selected their portable station setups National Parks. around the Bay. Since last month’s Patience Island activation, we qualifi ed three more in the US Islands program in quick succes- sion. Fox Island, July 16th Just outside of Wickford harbor Rabbit (left) and Cornelius (right) lies Fox Island. Evan Bowen, K1GEA, was lead Touro Synagogue, Newport, RI op for the activation of Cornelius Touro Synagogue, the oldest Island and solo op of Rabbit Island synagogue in America, is a Na- on the weekend of July 23rd and tional Park and part of the NPOTA 24th . program. Fox Island Southwest Beach Among its many former own- ers was a dentist. He’d pick you up in Wickford, whisk you out to the island to get drilled, then run you back in a daze. The current owners maintain a very dignifi ed stately retreat. Evan setting up on Cornelius Island US Islands Awards Program Forrest working the pileup Junior member, Forrest Ficke, Unlike Island on the Air (IOTA), W1Mee, and Vic Farmer, WW4OK, which recognizes eleven Rhode with assistance from Mike Cullen, Island islands collectively as K1NPT, and his son, Mac, KC1CZW, NA-031, the USi awards program pre-activated the synagogue on allows activators to list and qualify July 26th, making 187 contacts. islands that meet their criteria. The full activation will be this Sun- The USi Rhode Island page cur- day, August 7th. rently lists 25 islands. NCRC W1SYE has qualifi ed (fi rst activa- http://www.newportthisweek.com/pa- Fox Island on 20 meters geview/pages/2016-08-04 tion) eleven of those 25! Newsletter of the Newport County Radio Club, August 2016 Tuesday Meeting Fox Hunt Update The August meeting will be this Our fox hunting members got of reporting numbers. On fi nding Tuesday, the 9th, not Monday the together on July 26th to plan a a fox, a team will locate their team 8th. The meeting program will be multi-club fox hunt at Beavertail number and the corresponding a potpourri of mixed vegetables, State Park on Conanicut Island. reporting number for that fox. so please bring any and all of the September 25th They will then call the sign-in table on the declared 2-meter following. This is your opportunity (Rain date October 23rd) to air that niggling thought in the simplex frequency and send the back of your mind. This activity is intended to serve reporting number and the call of How well shielded is your HT? three purposes: the reporter. We’ve had trouble with HTs on • Provide a fun radio activity Using the reporting number, fox hunts because of inadequate for our members. the sign-in table will be able shielding. Please help us out by • Encourage members to to post the team, time, and fox bringing your HT and shielding build antennas and support found so that spectators can fol- materials—cardboard boxes, alu- electronics for use with their low hunt progress. Bob Beatty, minum foil, copper foil or screen, HTs. WB4SON, has volunteered to man tin cans—anything that we can Hunt Control (the sign-in table) at • Serve as a fi rst meeting test. Also bring any HT-to-anten- parking lot 4. na pigtails that you may have. among southern New Eng- land radio clubs. Registration will open at 0930 Got an innovative device or and the hunt will begin at 1000. construction that we might enjoy The hunt format will remain The hunt will end at 1100. A test seeing? Bring it along for show essentially the same as the trial range will be set up prior to 0930 and tell! It may not be portable or run at Beavertail last fall. Five and hunters will be encouraged exist anymore, so tell us about it low-power 2-meter transmitters— to arrive early enough to verify instead. foxes—will be hidden in camou- their equipment on this range fl aged cylinders south of the park Questions—who doesn’t have before the 1000 start. entrance. No fox will be hidden a question? We’ll try answering all so that bush whacking through Radio clubs from Rhode comers. brush, nor climbing on the rocks Island, southern CT, and SE MA In short this will be a mixed will be necessary. (Dartmouth) will be invited and bag, so dig out that Wouff Hong mix and match teaming will be and let’s have some fun. Each fox will transmit on its encouraged, but not required. own announced frequency. Each A formal announcement will be transmission will begin with a fox published soon. Meeting Schedule identifi er: MOE, MOI, MOS, MOH, There are two Monday meeting or MO5. The identifi er will be fol- nights that require a change be- lowed by a continuous tone, then Missing in Action cause they fall on holidays. Here by an equal length varying tone, An MFJ 259-C antenna analyzer are the meeting dates for rest of and end with the FCC call of the went missing during Field Day. 2016: fox owner. This unit was in a black nylon August 9th (Not the 8th) At the sign-in table, each bag-style case and was last seen September 12th two-member team will receive around the GOTA station and the an instruction sheet listing these 6-meter station. Please send any th th October 11 (Not the 10 ) details and a number unique to news or sightings to the Editor. November 14th that team. Each hidden fox will December 12th have a card attached with a series [email protected].