Noise Blankers Radio Group

The Noise Blankers Radio Group HQ has been sparsely populated lately, as many folks have “called in sick” to work the recent DXPeditions. Now that those are in the log, we might actually get some real work done.

Hamfest season is just around the corner and we are making plans to attend a few. Lookout Claremore, we are coming to your Green Country Hamfest and have reserved a table to sell some stuff! Then we will head down I-49 to Ft. Smith for the Hanging Judge Hamfest in April. Good times and cheap coax will be had by all. (p.s., did you see this study that determined the top reasons for attending hamfests?)

A couple of years ago, we activated Horseshoe Island on Beaver Lake for the first time ever. We have been talking about an excuse to do it again and this is probably it: the U.S. Islands Awards Program’s One Day Getaway event on May 9, 2015. Look for a blog post about that in the future.

Another public service event is in the books! It’s one of our favorites – National Wreaths Across America Day, where cemeteries across the country decorate the gravesites of U.S. military veterans with a wreath. The Wreaths Across America organization leads the effort across the country each year.

We were happy that the weather was better than last year, which no doubt contributed to a great turnout of approximately 3,000 volunteers at Fayetteville (Arkansas) National Cemetery. Like the previous two years, we provided radio communications and traffic control around the cemetery. K5KVN’s mobile radio provided a cross-band repeater that covered the cemetery and the parking area a mile away.

With five of us at the event, we had Jeff K3DEI at the parking area to let us know when shuttle buses departed; Nathan K5KAC at the back entrance to the cemetery to park the tractor-trailers and motocycles; Gary WBØRUR at the main gate to assist with disabled and VIP parking; and Kevin K5KVN and Andy K5PO at the main entrance to direct vehicles to the parking area.

It worked really well. But next year, someone will be assigned to remind Kevin K5KVN to start his truck at least once to recharge the battery. Even though it had enough juice to keep the Kenwood DM700 going, it wasn’t enough to start the truck at the end of the day.

As excited as we are to wear an HT on our belt and put on our bright yellow vests with “RADIO COMMUNICATIONS” blazed on them, the real reason we enjoy the event is to honor the vets that serve our country. The spirit of the event is contagious.

Thanks to Gary WBØRUR, Andy K5PO, Kevin K5KVN, Jeff K3DEI, and Nathan K5KAC for doing this public service event.

The Noise Blankers Radio Group will be at the WR5P club station using emergency power. And once again, we will present a high-energy, multimedia view of what it’s like to work field day.

This will include a live webcam (with audio directly from the radio), real-time updates posted to Twitter and photos uploaded to the photo galleries here.

Tune in to the webcam for features such as Topless Hour, Oilcans at Midnight, WAS dance party, and Nodding Off At Nine O’Clock.

We will look for media opportunities, too, including local news outlets, the QSO Radio Show, etc.

It’s fun for us ham ops to watch, plus it gives the “public” a view into to what ham radio contesting is all about. Follow along on field day here.

Here’s a look back at what we did last year: 2013 Field Day

Look for WR5P on the air for field day 2014! Let us know what you are doing for field day in the comments below!

p.s. We need some band pass filters. 10m – 160m, please.   

Kevin K5KVN and Andy K5PO can now check “Dayton” off of their ham radio bucket list. This was the first trip to Hamvention for both, and it was a memorable one.

Along the way, the guys were on 146.520 using the club callsign WR5P. Several simplex contacts were made while on I-70 in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, including many hams that were also heading to Dayton. WR5P-1 was beaconing on APRS, too. The drive from Northwest Arkansas took about 12 hours.

The Crowne Plaza hotel was base camp for the Noise Blankers. Many DX clubs were also there, holding forums and events like Contest University and the RTTY dinner.

Getting to Hara Arena wasn’t as difficult as one might imagine. There are bus passes and taxis, but there also appeared to be plenty of parking at businesses and residences near the arena. Every car dealership, church, strip mall and house driveway near the arena was offered up as a parking lot, for a fee (see pic to the right). Andy and Kevin parked the Tahoe in a yard directly across from the flea market.

And since the flea market was right there, that’s the first thing they visited. It’s massive. So much so, that there were rows of stuff that they never saw. Despite on-and-off rain showers and at least two bouts of hail, the flea market was heavily visited.

Being the media hounds that they are, Kevin and Andy were interviewed by Dayton’s Fox45, HamRadioNow.tv and QSO Radio Show. In the interviews, they talked about HamHijinks.com, emergency communications and general ham radio topics.

The best part of Hamvention? The people. The Friday and Saturday tweetups and Reddit meeting was fantastic. It’s really cool to meet folks in person that you talk to on the air or on social media.

And what did they buy while there? A jumper cable and some powerpole connectors.

After leaving Hamvention on Saturday, Kevin and Andy visited the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton. Judging by the antennae in the museum parking lot, there were many other hams there, too.

Photos and videos:

• Panoramic view from the seats inside the main arena
• Panoramic view on the display floor, with guest appearance by K5PO 
• Panoramic view of Yaesu booth  
• Panoramic view of vendor booths
• Panoramic view of flea market
• K5PO’s Instagram (pics and videos)
  

Kevin and Andy were interviewed by Fox 45:

Our Dayton slideshow: (see full gallery at this link)

And this is how it ended at 2:39 a.m. Sunday, after driving straight to Northwest Arkansas from Dayton:

Arkansas! Home from #hamvention. And now we sleep for days and wake up with a beard. G’night. pic.twitter.com/inSFwRwhHx

— The Noise Blankers (@WR5P) May 18, 2014