The Walworth Communicator

The monthly newsletter of the Lakes Area Amateur Radio Club
146.865 MHz 127.3 PL (WI9ELK Repeater)
443.700 MHz 123.0 PL (N9ZXP Repeater)
Lakes Area Amateur Radio Club Inc. | Facebook
LAARC, Inc. PO Box 253 Elkhorn, WI. 53121

March, 2024

This issue contains the minutes from the February and March meeting. The club
secretary/treasurer was not present at the February meeting, he was spending time in
recovery from surgery so I'd like to thank Richard – NQ9R for taking the February
minutes. The February regular club breakfast/meeting held on the 17th at Nora's Cafe.
Members in attendance at February: W9AKS, W8QXR, KA9JJK, NQ9R, N9BBG,
KB9MMJ, KB9OLD, N9YTX, WX9EMS, K9WH, KB9MUX, N9CEV and
KD9VTU.

February 17, 2024 Meeting
Meeting Call to Order 
08:50 am

Secretary Report
None

Treasurer Report:
None

Technical Committee:
Tom K.: Working on the controller codes and such. Going to shut down the Elkhorn
Repeater and bring up the Fontana site for about 1 month period to test and burn in
the controller before cutover.

Activities:
None

Old Business:
None

New Business:
2 Guests in attendance. Capt. Todd Neuman and Cliff Hammerstrom. They gave an
update on the new tower and associated equipment installation. All is going per
schedule.
Motion was made and seconded to buy the UHF antenna. Motion carried.
Richard: mentioned the website. club members should contact Peter Atkinson with
information that should be on the website.
Adjourn: 9:05am
The March meeting was held on the 16th at Nora's Cafe. In attendance was W9AKS,
NQ9R, KD9VTU, KA9JJK, N9BBG, KB9MLH, N9CXK, KB9MMJ, K9SO,
KD9ZZJ and KB9VGD.

March 16, 2024 Meeting
Meeting Call to Order
8:39am

Secretary Report
Email from Dr. Susan M. Wildermuth in regards to a STEAM Faire at Whitewater
High School on May 18th. Thanks to all the were involved in the Makers Faire at the
Elkhorn High School, you made a good impression! If you can help on their Faire
please contact direct.

Hello, I was at the Elkhorn Maker’s Fair today and my son and I had a wonderful time
speaking with members of the amateur radio group that was there. They were so
interesting and kind! My girls are both in a FIRST robotics team at Whitewater High
School and they are hosting a STEAM Faire on May 18th from 10-3pm and are
looking for organizations to participate. Would your group be available to come? The
audience would be mostly K-12, so radios, walkie talkies, weather spotting, CB radio,
and radio controlled cars would all be SO interesting to them.

Thank you,
Sue
Dr. Susan M. Wildermuth
Assistant Chairperson, Department of Communication
Director, UW-Whitewater Teaching and Learning Center
110 Heide Hall
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
800 W. Main St.
Whitewater, WI 53190
262-472-5064
Wildermuth, Susan M wilderms@uww.edu

Treasurer Report
Beginning balance $3178.16
Deposits $350.00 ($300 insurance donations and $50 dues)
Expense $415.24 ARRL Equipment Insurance
$100.00 Antenna transport donation
$1771.68 Antenna and parts
$312.32 Second antenna
End balance $928.92

Technical Committee:
Here is the March 2024 report on the Tech Committee activities.
1) New repeater controller message announcements programming to be
finished by the end of March. New controller installation and repeater off-air
testing will commence then.
2) Final new repeater cabinet is mostly completed now with added sealed AGM
battery backup with trickle charging. This will reduce any future latency in
back-up site power switchover.
3) The club approved purchase a single UHF loop antenna was completed and
picked up by Tom N9BBG right after our February club meeting. Both VHF
and UHF Dipole antennas are now ready for installation at any point.
4) A very recent UHF Loop antenna installation cost for the 50 foot new tower
level is in excess of $ 3,600.00 at this point. The club will have to decide to
proceed or hold off on the unexpected installation cost for this UHF Link-
Control antenna system. Tom N9BBG will hold onto and store this UHF
Loop antenna for future use.
More Updates in April 2024.
Tom N9BBG John K9KEU
Richard NQ9R
L.A.A.R.C. Technical Committee Director Builder and Wiring
Controller Programming
New UHF Loop Antenna for Control - Link

Activities
Monday Night ARES/RACES Net at 7pm
Tuesday Morning Round Robin Net at 9am
Wednesday Morning Breakfast at Delavan Family Restaurant 8am
Thursday Morning Round Robin Net at 9am
Third Saturday of month, Monthly Membership Meeting
Fred – K9SO from the Lakeshore Repeater Association would like to remind everyone
that they hold a “Happy Hour Net” at 5pm daily on the LRA repeater system. Check in
and let everyone on the net know what your happy thought is for the day. If anyone is
interested in participating in a FoxHunt or learning more about it, check their website
for more information and dates. www.kr9rk.org

Old Business
None
New Business
Discussed the cost of the UHF antenna installation. Motion made and seconded to not
install it on the tower but to store it at this time. Motion passed
Discussed the new club web site.
If anyone have any info or material that should be
included in the site please forward to Peter – KD9VTU. kd9vtu@gmail.com

Discussed moving the monthly meeting to a different location and time. Nora's Cafe
was a bit too noisy to hold a proper meeting. Starting in April the new location will be
in Delavan at the same site that we hold our VE test sessions. The address is at the
Community Center 826 E Geneva St. The start time is changed also, it will begin at
9am. This will give everyone a chance to still have their breakfast and then attend a
meeting in a quiet atmosphere. Plans are to hold the meeting and then hold a short
training/info session at the end. (you have the Delavan Family Restaurant and
McDonald nearby)

Announcements & Upcoming events
See Hamfest/convention listing below.

Adjourn
8:56am


VE Testing Sessions:
Sponsor: McHenry County Wireless Assoc
Date: May 21, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM (No Walk-ins / Register or Call ahead)
Contact: Steven C. Maresso (847) 477-3518
Email: scmaress@gmail.com
VEC: ARRL/VEC
Location: Free Methodist Church 934 N Seminary Ave Woodstock IL 60098-2953

HAMFEST/CONVENTION

04/13/2024
Location: Mandt Community Center 400 Mandt Parkway Stoughton, WI 53589
Website: https://w9hsy.org
Sponsor: Madison Area Repeater Association
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Talk-In: 147.150 MHz (+600) pl 123.0
Public Contact: Paul Anderson , WB9QVV 459 N. Arthur Cir. Verona, WI 53593
Phone: (608) 354-1025
Email: pda53593@gmail.com

04/27/2024
ORC 44th Annual Spring Indoor Swapfest
Location: Ascension Columbia St. Mary's Center (Milwaukee Curling Club)
W67N890 Washington Avenue Cedarburg, WI 53012
Website: https://www.ozaukeeradioclub.org
Sponsor: Ozaukee Radio Club, Inc.
Talk-In: 146.97 MHz (- offset), CTCSS 127.3 Hz
Public Contact: Tom Trethewey , KC9ONY
W69N905 Evergreen Ct. N., #202 Cedarburg, WI 53012-1170
Phone: (262) 421-6351
Email: swapfest@ozaukeeradioclub.org

LAARC Freefest on June 8th. 2024 at Riverview Park in Lyons, WI.

From the Editor's Desk
This is the link to the ARRL Wisconsin Section web page. ARRL Wisconsin Section –
ARRL Wisconsin Section wi-arrl.org
Once again, thanks to Richard for taking the February meeting minutes. There's a very
good chance that I'll not be able to attend the April meeting. I've got another surgery
scheduled for 3/26 at UW Hospital in Madison and they said I might be in there for
two weeks, so I'll need the attendance and minutes saved again.
Stay safe and stay healthy, 73,
Gary - KB9VGD
Lakes Area Amateur Radio Club Inc.Secretary/Treasurer
Racine Astronomical Society - Modine-Benstead Observatory
Family Motor Coach Association – Amateur Radio Club
RV Radio Network
AMSAT