Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville Welcomes You!
The Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville (RACK) was founded in 1954 as a way
of promoting the interest of amateur radio operators in the Knoxville Tennessee area.
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RACK / METERS
Hello Fellow Amateurs,
I neglected to announce an event last night at the meeting.
Wallace Memorial Baptist Church is having their annual MoonRun
and is need of Radio support.
We will need minimum of 10 RADO'S to be on the course for comms. This is an excellent opportunity to practic our skills and show our meeting place host our appreciation.
We will need to be at Victor Ashe Park on 08December2024, at about 1630 to get assignment and get to our assigned position. The event should be over by 1930. Only needed equipment will be a portable radio, flashlights, headlights, hivis vest, and weather related clothing. Maybe water and a snack.
Please text me, 865.310-8310 ASAP to participate in this event.
Thank you!
Jim Norman, N4CFB
President
Hello Fellow Amateurs,
We have a great meeting planned for November. Will West, KO4WIL, is presenting on Meshtastic. This mode, although not ham frequency, is very active and talked about on our voice modes. I feel sure he will have some items to show and tell about this popular type of communication.
We also have a Christmas dinner with METERS on December 10, 5pm-7pm at Louis' Restaurant on Old Broadway. If you choose to participate, bring a wrapped gift for a child to be donated to Wallace Memorial Baptist Church for distribution to less fortunate.
Our Christmas dinner is our December meeting. We won't meet again till January 2025. These years are going by very quickly!
Freddy has some very good meeting presentations lined up for the first of the year, so get ready to be informed about interesting facets of our service.
Keep our government officials, military, first responders and law enforcement in your prayers.
See you at the meeting,
Jim Norman, N4CFB
President
November 2024 meeting
One of several Small Meshtastic transceiver
1972 RACK CLUB INFO.pdf1972 RACK HISTORY AND MEMBER LIST
1972 RACK MEMBERS.pdf
From a Facebook post Oct 4, by Dave Thomas KM4NYI
Amateur Radio Operators + Teamwork = Success
Kevin Duplantis, W4KEV of Knoxville, TN operates many repeaters in the eastern part of the state. Among these, is 145.410, located on Viking Mountain (4572' AMSL) in Greene County, TN. The repeater covers much of the area in North Carolina and Tennessee that was decimated during the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, and is RF linked to 3 other TN repeaters to make a network connecting major cities like Knoxville, Nashville and Chattanooga, TN with Asheville, NC and dozens of rural towns and communities scattered across the Great Smoky Mountains.
Power lines to this repeater went down as Helene blew through, leaving the repeater on battery power. Not knowing how long it would be before commercial power was restored, the RF link was disconnected in order keep the repeater itself operating as long as possible. As it became clear power was liable to be off for an extended time, additional batteries were going be become necessary.
A conversation with TN ARES SEC Jim Snyder, AJ4NO resulted in a call for help. West TN ASEC Steve Kellett KF4SJU arranged a donation of an entire pallet of batteries courtesy of Dale Sanders WD4IFR of Alpine Power Systems in Memphis. The question then was "how do we get ¾ ton of batteries from Memphis to upper East Tennessee, 500 miles away"?
Tennessee ARRL Section Manager David Thomas KM4NYI put out a request for help on the evening session of the 75 meter Tennessee Phone Net (the daily section traffic net). Morning Net Manager, The Rev. Sky McCracken KO4DKI of Jackson, saw this as an opportunity to assist. He traveled to Memphis and brought the batteries to Dickson where Alex Cochran KB4LX hauled them to the office of commercial broadcasters Midwest Communications in Nashville. Through the courtesy of Midwest's General manager Michael Brody and engineer Jason Cooper, the batteries got to Knoxville, where W4KEV and others can use them. The pallet of batteries will be shared between repeater owners including W4KEV, AA4BS, the Andrew Johnson ARC, and MTEARS (a statewide network of linked repeaters).
The whole process is proof positive that good things happen when amateur radio operators come together as a team. We appreciate those in the western part of the section for coming thru for us as we attempt to serve those who are hurting in the Carolinas and upper East Tennessee.
Fellow Amateurs,
Dave Garner, K4YRK, Became a silent key Sunday August 25.
https://www.knoxnews.com/obituaries/pokr0924604
Brice Umstead, K0CSJ, became SK, Sunday, July 7th .
Services for Brice Umstead (KØCSJ) will be held at:
Get directions 2200 East Gov. John Sevier Highway (Hwy #168) Knoxville, Tennessee 37920 United States. Coordinates: 35.95233, -83.80638. 865-577-3228. Cemetery ID: 2421287.
Thursday 26 September at 2:00 P.M. E.D.S.T.
Willard
W4HZD
RACK Meeting
September 19th
Our meeting was presented by RACK member Steven Patrick, KO4JJU. His topic is the HamClock. This is a cool application that can run on several platforms. It shows a lot of stuff, live data, conditions, even what time it is. So it was great to have someone give a run-through of what it is and how we can install it and use it while we are on the radio. A unit he used in the presentation can be found at https://inovato.com/
Join or update your membership to RACK here