Special Events
N2MO/MM FM-39
Marrucci Park Field Day Photos
Fox Hunts
International Marconi Day (IMD)
Doppler RDF Classes
Joe, N2XYZ provided OMARC a wonderful slide show a presentation on the Batteship New Jersey (BB-62) musem in Camden, NJ and the Battleship New Jersey Amateur Radio Station (BNJARS) and Navy MARS sation NJ2BB/NNN0CNH.
The photo below is the NJ2BB QSL card.
The Battleship New Jersey (BB-62) once again has a MARS station, where Navy, Air Force and Army MARS operators operate.
The callsign held by the USS New Jersey while last activated has been restored as Navy MARS call NNN0CNH. Today, the New Jersey is considered a part of the Afloat Network, participating as a museum ship. For more information on NNN0CNH click here.
Below are a number of photos taken during the meeting as members looked over the exhibit of photos and materials N2XYZ brought prior to Battleship New Jersey presentation and during the slide show.
OMARC was the subject of a CableNews 12 team visit at the Diana site for three (3) live segments from the Diana site
presenting Amateur Radio in conjunction withour sister clubs GSARA, Neptune and QCWA. Those
present were:
Ron Olender, WA2HZT, OMARC
Sterling Rodgers, N2GT, Nepture ARC
Bob Buus, W2OD, GSARA
Frank Gudicello, K2TVY, QCWA
News 12's Ms. Leron Kornreich, Reporter/Bureau Chief for Channel 12 News New Jersey was the interviewer during the segments with some additonal footage shot in between.
Presentations including a VK HF contact on 20 meters thanks to a tip via 145.110 by AE2X that a VK2MO was on with strong signals, W2OD was at the mic for that, a presentation on QRP by K2TVY which displayed altoid based transmitters, a walkthrough of our lab displaying one of the Doppler kits being assembled and various other pieces of information involving WA2HZT on camera.
We hope to show the footage at an upcoming OMARC business meeting.
OMARC Picnic
The now alsmost annual club picnic was held in the photos below at the wonderful facilities of Allaire State Park in Howell, the most recent club picnics have been held at the Diana site.
This is a covered dish affair for members and immediate family only was just great, the weather was picture perfect and everyone had a great time.
We have hamburgers, hotdogs with all the dressings and drinks on the club and covered dishes with lots of left overs. All the soda and water that was not drank has been moved to the Diana site.
We had an HF QRP station setup for PSK31 and CW contacts, a mic was there as well, but it was a QRP so we stuck to the digital modes. Bacci ball was played, food was ate, drink was drank and we talked and enjoyed each others company all afternoon.
Below are a few photos of the picnic.
Ron, WA2HZT master chef traving back to the grill...
Larry KB2RIS and family...
Bob WB2KNS and others...
Bob WD2U and others...
Kathy KC2KQG and Bernie WB2EJT playing Bacci ball.
Gerry W1GD and Rob N2QDQ
Steve, N2CKH's Yaesu FT-817 with vibroplex racer paddle and PSK31 software on laptop running off battery power. The antenna was an MP-1 ground mounted on a tripod with counterpoise out of sight in the woods. We alternated between 20 and 17 meters.
We hold our Project Diana Special Event annually in January.
At our January meeting we always have a show and tell and then go onto the Annual Project Diana Special Event.
Here are some past visits to the Diana Special Event
Bill Hudzit, W2UDT the ARRL NNJ SM
88 year old Winthrop Pike, a member of the Project Diana team in 1946.
A little bit of Amateur Radio history.....
Below is a photo of 17 year old WV2HZT at his station in 1959 before he went off the see the world at sea with the U.S. Navy.
This was the first station of WV2HZT and it consisted of a Globe Chief (75 watts xtal controlled) CW transmitter that he built from a kit and the receiver was a Hallicrafter SX110. His antenna was a forty meter half wave folded dipole fed with 300 ohm ribbon cable and he used a 4 to 1 balun to match the transmitter. If you look carefully, on top of the receiver is his home brew TR switch.
Back in those days you received a "V" in the prefix of the call to identify you as a Novice. When you passed the General test the "V" was changed to an "A". So this youngster if you have not already guessed, is our very own WA2HZT, OMARC el Presidente Ron back in 1959 !
Here are some past photos during Christmas of club spirit overpouring from all present at a club meting. We had a number of new members present at this meeting as well as guests that are interested in becoming licensed and future members. Below are a few pictures taken during the meeting.
In this photo el Presidente, Ron, WA2HZT is addressing the membership as el Vice Presidente, Larry, KB2RIS readies his papers.
This photo shows the OMARC Christmas tree (don't tell the folks at the dinner.. hi hi) with the little ARRL emblem added in all its glory.
Here is Marianne,KB2IAP in a lovely shade of Christmas red, completely caught by surprise when the camera flash went off.
In this photo as AE2X read the DX report we have just a bit of Kathy, KC2KQG (grey Yankees shirt), Mike, KA2TTE, (solid blue shirt) , Rob, N2UIQ (dark blue zipper shirt), Russ, AE2X (blue flannel shirt) and Greg, one our guest (red shirt).
At past club meetings we have played host to the Metropolitan Coordination Association, Inc (MetroCor) as MetroCor executive board members Larry Lutzak, WA2CNV; Rich Gelbar, K2WR; Mark Herson, N2MH and Walter Wenzel, KA2RGI (both seated) who below presented some of the first MetroCor coordinations to OMARC and AREIALS.
On behalf of OMARC, our current president, Ron Olendar, WA2HZT accepted the OMARC 145.110 repeater coordination certificate.
The OMARC coordination is among the first that MetroCor has issued for repeater systems that have had no technical changes from their prior TSARC coordinations. These events mark the first time any organization has issued any coordination documents within the NNJ/NYC/LI area that was previously covered by TSARC.
To play an MPEG movie of the presentation complete with sound click here
Billy Brahn, WB2FNO, son of our very own Russ Brahn, AE2X, was the first student from the OMARC sponsor Technician training classes to take the test, upgraded from Novice to Technician.
Here is Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML (in the photo below) as the ARRL Hudson Division Vice Director at our club meeting and later at the Diana site. Among other things Steve spoke about 30 meter QSO's now being eligible for a distinct DXCC award.
Below is a photo of W2ML touring our antenna farm during his recent visit.
Photos pf the OMARC Anual Picnic and 25th Anniversary Celebration
What a great time ! Fun and Food for all 26 members and their family that attended. There were a number of digital photographs taken, the first batch below were taken by Rich, KB2OPQ, I hope to have the photos taken by April, KC2BIT soon.
WA2HZT manned the barbeque pit and made sure all the hamburgers and hotdogs were cooked just right.
We had dozens and covered dishes with enough variety to provide something for everyone and a HUGE cooler of ice cool softdrinks.
The WX was picture perfect and games were played, HF and VHF radio stations were setup and everyone had fun in the sun for yet another successful picnic.
Richard Marks, KB2OPQ was presented with a plaque by Ron Olender, WA2HZT on behalf of OMARC in recognition of his years of service on the OMARC board of directors in the Club Secretary position.
Here is a closeup of the plaque.
OMARC N2MO/MM ARRL VHF Contest at Sea to FM-39
Another successful N2MO/MM VHF+ contest at sea.
N2IHN, N2CKH, KA2MAL and N2FW operated as N2MO/MM from FM39 for nearly 24 hours and then operated rover class from FN30 and FN20 on the way back to the marina as we cruised up the coast line.
In the photo below N2CKH can be seen on the first deck talking to KA2MAL on the second deck as cables and being adjusted for slack while N2FW and Israel, the boats hired hand are seen on the top deck doing final installation of the 6 meter beam. N2IHN was the photograher thus not in the shot. The mast used was 2 inch OD below the Ham IV rotor and 1 1/2 inch above, the antenna were 12 foot boom 5 element Cushcraft A50A on 6m, M2 6m Loop and Cushcraft rear mounted 5 element on 432. The 2 meter M2 12 element beam can just be seen forward forward near center beyond N2FW as it was not mounted on the same mast, N2IHN likes it on his captains mast off the main control room and does el manual rotation.
This operation was on 6m, 2m and 70cm with directional antenna on all bands and also a horizontal loop antenna on 6m to switch between the beam.
The operation is tenatively planned to be held again in the ARRL VHF Contests in January, June and September of 2003.
At a past OMARC club meeting the guest speaker was
Larry Lutzak, WA2CNV President or MetroCor and Mark Herson, N2MH, Director of MetroCor, Inc.
MetroCor, Inc., a non-profit organization acting as amateur
radio spectrum coordinating council for the Downstate NY and
NY-NJ Metropolitan region.
To learn more about MetroCor visit http://www.qsl.net/metrocor
Larry has been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1968. He held the previous callsigns of: WN2IBW and WN2EKX. He is the trustee for the Emergency Communications Service Amateur Radio Club/K2ARC, the "alter ego" American Red Cross Emergency Communications Service(ARCECS)/WB2QBP. He is also the trustee for the Metropolitan DX Association/K2SEX. (NOT his idea to file for that call - the idea of WB2ZTH!)
He has been a member of ARCECS since August, 1967 and have held just about every elective and appointed office in ARCECS, including President.
He currently serves as an Assistant Director to the Hudson Division (NLI) of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). Since 1992, he has enjoyed the thrill of HF DX'ing, and have Mixed DXCC, WAC and still shooting for mixed WAS and DXCC on 10m SSB.
At a past club meeting the guest speaker was be Bill Hudzik, W2UDT, then ARRL NNJ Section Manager.
The Section Manager is the senior elected ARRL official in the section. In cooperation with the director the Section Manager fosters and encourages all ARRL activities in the section. Bill lives way up north in Gillette, NJ and is also an accomplished DXer and DXexpeditioner.
W2UDT succeeded Jeffrey Friedman, K3JF, who did not seek another term as Section Manager. Hudzik, 54, holds an Extra Class ticket. He serves as a volunteer examiner and also volunteers in the QSL bureau. He's a trustee of the Raritan Valley Radio Club and of the Frankford Radio Club.
W2UDT has headed the ARRL New Jersey Amateur Call License plate group working closely with the powers to be in Trenton to get to bring fees into alignment with current costs and how important it was to include leased vehicles in the updated amendment.
W2UDT shall be an interesting speaker, he has over 40 years in the hobby.
For a bio on W2UDT from the Frankford Radio club site click here
As we keep rolling along, we continue planning many new activities and events. We have exciting new features planned for our membership and all visitors to this website.
The club snail mail address is:
Address any questions the club and its events to:
Ron Olender, WA2HZT
President: raolender@att.com