Author name: W8NI

Club News & Events, Contests & Events

1st Annual Radio Activity Awards

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October is here, which means the Defiance County Amateur Radio Club Christmas party is right around the corner. This year it will be held on Saturday, December 6th and we hope you will all be able to attend.

This year, along with the Christmas party comes a set of awards. I hope you have been tracking your activities throughout the year and will submit the results. As mentioned clear back in January, the awards are as follows:

  1. WAS (SSB) in 2025
  2. WAS (CW) in 2025
  3. WAS (Digital) in 2025
  4. Most contacts (SSB)
  5. Most contacts (CW)
  6. Most contacts (Digital)
  7. Most total contacts (all modes)
  8. Longest distance unassisted VHF/UHF contact
  9. Attend most DCARA meetings/nets
  10. Attend most events (Breakfast, Summer Field Day, etc.)

The “logs” need to be turned in (or emailed to me, W8NI) by our November meeting (November 10th). If you completed the WAS, please let me know how many states you worked and/or the date it was completed, just in case several of you got all the states. For the most contact categories, a number of contacts per mode is sufficient. The longest distance category, I only need to know the number of miles (and I would like to know the band you used for it). Finally, for category #9 and #10, just a number will suffice.

If you have any questions, please just ask. I look forward to getting your “logs” and am even more excited about handing out the awards at the Christmas party.

And for those of you looking ahead to 2026, our awards will be different. Next year the awards will be as follows:

For HF, the award will be for most DX entities. This will be broken down into CW, SSB and Digital modes, as well as a combined category. For VHF/UHF the award will be for most States/Provence. So, start working those into your plans for 2026, and I look forward to seeing you all on December 6th.

Club News & Events, Contests & Events

Winter Field Day Recap

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It has been cold in NW Ohio. But natural disasters don’t wait for perfect weather, and neither does the Defiance County Amateur Radio Club (DCARC). On Saturday, January 25th the DCARC took part in Winter Field Day (WFD). WFD is an event that aims to help amateur radio operators improve their preparedness for disasters and enhance their operational abilities even in adverse conditions.

The purpose is for participants to go out and setup a temporary station in an effort to improve emergency preparedness skills. This station consists of a few radio transmitters, temporary antennas that span several feet, and coax to connect the two together. Using this system, radio operators use different radio frequencies and modes to make contacts. The operators leverage these contacts to send and receive information worldwide. Different modes consist of regular voice contacts (one operator talking to another operator), digital (computer to computer over RF) and morse code.

Participation in this event also allowed for a lot of fun and conversations off the radio waves. The DCARC enjoyed making contacts with 34 different states and 6 different countries. If you would like to know more, or are interested in amateur radio, we would love to talk to you about it. Check out our Facebook page or email us at dcarc.k8von@gmail.com

Club News & Events, Contests & Events

DCARC Annual Awards Contest

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What an amazing year we had in 2024! So many fun events and get togethers as we continued to learn from one another and improve in our amazing hobby. The pinnacle of which was our 2nd place finish in the OSPOTA contest. But the year consisted of much more than that one event, as we also participated in Winter Field Day, Summer Field Day, Amateur Radio Day and a few others.

So much fun was had, and it culminated in our club Christmas party as we finished out the year. The party was well attending, the conversation joyful and the food delightful. But as I reflected on everything, it seemed as though there should have been more.

So this year, in 2025, we hope to provide more. This year at our club Christmas party we look to recognize and give awards to radio operators who are furthering our hobby. But rather than just “spring” these awards on you, we want to let you know the categories and let you set them as goals for 2025. The awards are as followed;

1 – WAS (SSB) in 2025
2 – WAS (CW) in 2025
3 – WAS (Digital) in 2025
4 – Most contacts (SSB)
5 – Most contacts (CW)
6 – Most contacts (Digital)
7 – Most total contacts (all modes)
8 – Longest distance unassisted VHF/UHF contact
9 – Attend most DCARA meetings/nets
10 – Attend most events (Breakfast, Summer Field Day, etc)

We hope these goals will encourage you to operate more in 2025. We also hope they will fuel excitement and friendly competition. Also, we hope this will foster discussions for new categories/awards in 2026! From all of us, we hope you have a radio-active 2025!

Operator Blogs

More than just a hobby

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September 26th, 2024, hurricane Helene made landfall in the “Big Bend” area of Florida. Over the next 3 days, the hurricane continued north until it stalled and dissipated over Tennessee. As of November 6, at least 233 deaths and nearly $88 billion in damage has been attributed to this storm.

One hundred and twenty seven years ago, on May 13, 1897 Guglielmo Marconi sent the world’s first radio message across open water. It is considered the birth of “Telegraphy without wires” – known to us now as radio. 

In today’s world we are familiar and comfortable with communications without wires. Our corded phones have jumped off the wall and into our pockets. Computers sit on our desk with no cords attached as we search the “world-wide-web”. All of which, in today’s world is quite common and considered not that impressive.

Even in my own house, as I work to stretch the abilities of my small and humble radio station, I have been known to excitedly proclaim to my wife, “I just talked to someone from Australia”! My wife will pull out her phone and say, “I can too”. Saddened, I admit that yes, maybe she can. But her communication is aided by a network of cell towers, and over a million miles of phone lines. All of which are susceptible to the kind of weather mentioned above.

One of the biggest problems in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene was the inability to communicate. People who needed help, were unable to get it because the cell towers where down, power was out, and now, those cellphones where bricks. And it is at this point that a 120 plus year old technology showed up.

Enter Amateur radio. A type of communication that provided a reliable way to pass information into and out of this area. So valuable was it, that a call went out for licensed amateur radio operators to come and help with communication during the disaster. Cell phones need infrastructure; amateur radio does not.

In truth, the real benefit of amateur radio is found in catastrophic situation such as these; providing communications when electricity is absent. In those moments we find truth in the words that “when all else fails, ham radio works”. When disaster strikes, ham radio can still communicate and pass information. So many think amateur radio is outdated and obsolete. But tragedies like this remind us of its immense value. It is a reminder that Amateur radio is more than just a hobby, but it could be essential in certain circumstances. That is why I always encourage others to get their license, learn how to use a radio, and practice often. It is the best way to be prepared for storms that may come.

Kevin, W8NI

Club News & Events, Contests & Events

2024 OSPOTA

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On Saturday, September 7th, the DCARC joined together at Independence Dam State Park for the annual Ohio State Parks on the Air contest. Many members came out to experience this contest and either operate a radio, help with logging, or even just provide support. Every member there was appreciated as it was a long day.

Scoring a total of 25,000 points was our goal this year. In recent years that would rank us somewhere in the top 5. But every year is different with some years higher than others. This is based on propagation as well as the number of parks (multipliers) activated.

Propagation was in our favor as we made contacts with 10 DX entities, 39 individual states, 49 different Ohio State Parks, and 511 total contacts. This all added up to a fun but exhausting day. But we believe the work was worth it as we totaled 25,039 points!

Obviously, we are excited for our success. Especially as we look back over the last 10 years from 2013-2023. In those 10 years, K8VON took part in OSPOTA only 5 times. During those 5 outings our highest score previously was in 2023 when we scored 6,270. This was far above the other four outings. In fact, if we added our scores over the 2013-2023 OSPOTA contest, we accumulated just 8,623 points.

That’s right, this year in 2024, we almost tripled our score over the previous ten! That is amazing and speaks to the devotion and dedication of our club to this event. 

All the logs have been submitted, and now we will wait to hear of the results. I will assume that we will hear of the results in early November. After all, that is the regular release date of the results. Until then, rest up, and then get out into the Parks to get ready for next year!

73, Kevin-W8NI

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