Skywarn for the Southern Maryland region is now on the CARA repeater system. When severe weather is around you can get real time info on the current local conditions. Skywarn spotter classes will also be coming, you do NOT have to be a ham to take the classes, more details later.
The Sunderland 146.985 and the Lusby 444.950 repeaters are now linked and have a very big footprint. Where ever you are in the region give it a try, we would be happy to hear from you. Below are coverage maps, your actual results may vary.
146.985
444.950
CALVERT ON THE AIR!. Operate from 10 County parks, State parks or museums within a year to receive certificate.2. Must make 1 HF, 1 VHF, and 1 UHF contact from each park. Not necessarily on the same visit. Repeater contacts are allowed. Technician class must make one additional contact on either UHF or VHF in lieu of HF contact. If more than one operator visits at the same time, each has to make their own contacts.3. Take a picture of the park or museum sign. Keep the file size small, please. More than one sign may be printed on a page.3. Submit a log of contact date, time, frequency, callsign and location with picture of signs to Dave Hardy KB3RAN by email at davehardy0101@aol.com or in person at a meeting or event. This event will be run by Dave Hardy KB3RAN who will issue the certificates and stickers. Submissions must have current mailing and email address. A picture of station equipment used would be nice for publishing. All entries may have information published on our website and Facebook page. Making the submission gives CARA the right to publish the information on social media. Dave Hardy KB3RAN will be the judge for deciding whether a submission fulfills the requirements for a certificate or sticker. 4. Bonus stickers for working additional different 10 county parks, county museums and for both State Parks. Additional certificate for working ALL 24 parks and museums. Additional sticker for working 10 sites on UHF/VHF simplex.5. Calvert County POTA starts April 1, 2023 and will end on December 31, 2024.6. Operator is responsible for fees associated with park entry and for operating safely and legally according to park rules.7. This event is open to all licensed amateur operators who wish to participate. You do not have to be a CARA member to participate. Please share with neighboring hams and clubs.8. If there is interest, there may be a Sprint to see how many sites you can work in one designated 12 hour period. Date in May 2023to be determined. Parks to be included are:P1 Cove Point Park, 750 Cove Point Rd., Lusby 20657P2 Solomons Town Park, 13300 Dowell Rd., Dowell 20629P3 Breezy Point Beach and Campgrounds, 5300 Breezy Point Rd., Chesapeake Beach 20732P4 Chesapeake Hills Golf Course, 11325 H G Trueman Rd., Lusby 20657P5 Dunkirk Park, 10750 Southern Maryland Blvd., Dunkirk 20754P6 Twin Shields Recreation Area, 2420 Shields Dr.,Dunkirk 20754P7 Ward Farm, 10455 Ward Rd., Dunkirk 20754P8 Greys Road Dog Park, 2695 Grays Rd., Prince Frederick 20678P9 Hallowing Point Park, 4755 Hallowing Point Rd., Prince Frederick 20678P10 Marley Run Park, 1455 Mairfield Ln., Huntingtown20639P11 Kings Landing Park, 3255 Kings Landing Rd., Huntingtown 20639P12 BGE Field, 9550 H G Trueman Rd., Lusby 20657P13 Grover Field, 4820 Maryland Ave.,St Leonard 20658P14 King Park (Philips House), 65 Church St., Prince Frederick 20657State Parks:S1 Calvert Cliffs State Park, 10540 H G Trueman Rd., Lusby 20657S2Jefferson-Patterson Park and Museum, 10515 Mackall Rd.,St Leonard 20658Museums:Calvert Marine Museum, 14200 Solomons Island Rd., Solomons 20688M1 Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum, 4155Mears Ave., Chesapeake Beach 20732M2 Annmarie Sculpture Garden, 13470 Dowell Rd., Do20714well 20688M3 Bayside History Museum, 4025 4th St., North BeachM4 Calvert County Historical Museum, 70 Church St., Prince Frederick 20657M5 Chesapeake Biological Laboratory Visitor Center, 146 Williams St., Solomons 20688M6 Cove Point Lighthouse, 3500 Lighthouse Blvd., Lusby 20657M7 J. C. Lore & Sons Oyster House, 14430 Solomons Island Rd S., Solomons 20688M8 Old Wallville School, 1450 Dares Beach Rd., Prince Frederick 20678 (Temporarily closed)These are the parks I could find from county webpages and other online sources. If you know of another county or state park or museum that I missed, please contact me at davehardy0101@aol.com. The certificates and stickers are still in the design stage and should be ready by April 1, 2023.
New list as of 10/1/22
A new list is posted in the member section.
On Thursday evening May 12 CARA had its first in person meeting since the pandemic. This was a hybrid meeting with some in person and some on Zoom.
On Monday April 18th, Dale KC3RKP and wife Debbie, and Dave KB3RAN went camping at Cunningham Falls with the intent to get on the air from the forested mountains. Little did they know that they would arrive to snow. Dale arrived with an inch of snow, Dave to a couple inches and it continued until evening with about 4 inches total. The temperature was hovering around freezing with light winds so it was just a different experience rather than a problem. We ate indoors together on some big juicy hamburgers.
Antennae up the next morning. Dale put up his ham stick spider web attached to the back of his travel trailer. Dave got a 20 meter wire dipole up in the trees and a multiband ham stick on the back of the van. Dale was on the air making lsb contacts to hams in the eastern part of the US. Dave was attempting to make contacts on 20 m PSK. This being a new Roadtrek campervan; not all of the bugs are worked out and he was getting nowhere. Most likely due to stray rf modulation getting back to his computer. We cooked steaks outside on Tuesday smothered in onions. That was tasty.
Wednesday we did more of the same. Dave got on the air on 20 meter sideband, then changed his dipole to a 40 meter wire dipole in the trees. It was warm enough to stay outside for longer and Dave played a bit and sang with his autoharp.
Thursday we had a round robin chat group with 4 stations in Calvert and 2 in Frederick County from the campground. Participating were Dale KC3RKP, Dave KB3RAN, Steve N3BPM, Erik KC3QQD, Bob N3PPH and Shawn N3AE. This was a great exercise of NVIS capabilities and fun to chat with the folks back home. It turns out NVIS Day on April 26 didn’t happen due to a lack of venue; so we got some practice in anyways. Dave never made a PSK contact but made more sideband mike conversations than he had ever done, so that was good. Ferrite beads are on order and will be put to use soon.
We left Friday morning to a beautiful day going up to the 70’s and all the snow had melted. It was a great trip and we plan to do more of these and hopefully get more folks to join us.
Dave KB3RAN
On April 9,2022 CARA/AUXCOMM participated in the Hospital Emergency Radio Operator (HEROs) MDC Section Region V Drill. This was a combined exercise involving Montgomery, Prince George’s, Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s counties. Each county set up a station for message transfer and a communications and control station. The purpose of this drill is to demonstrate MD Medical Region V continuous communications capability among the five Region V counties, specifically those hospital facilities therein during a disaster event. The expected outcome is a better understanding of the process of setting up an off-site station ‘near’ the affected facility in the event of an evacuation. Part 1 is a point to point message originating in Montgomery Co and passing through to St Mary’s through the other counties. Part 2 is posting a WinLink Position report via an APRS server.
Attending on Saturday were Shawn N3AE Emergency Coordinator, Dale KC3RKP Club VP, Dave KB3RAN Club Secretary, Erik KC3QQD, Les KH6CUJ, Ed WN6NCO, Dave W3PQS and others. Stations and antennae were set up on the grass at the north end of the Calvert Memorial Hospital campus. All was battery powered with solar and generator charges. The weather was cooperative with sun and breeze with temperatures in the high 40’s to 50’s.
Messages were passed with just some minor glitches as to which station was to present the information to the which county. Some on-the-fly adjustment of mode was made to accommodate changing propagation conditions.
There was lots of free time for conversation and coffee and donuts. It was good to have so many club members out for a portable radio operations event.
Dave KB3RAN
Due to a lack of meeting space on the first Thursday of the month club meeting are now the second Thursday of the month at the Harriet Brown Community Center, 901 Dares Beach Road, Prince Frederick Maryland at 7:30 PM.
