ARRL Affiliation!!

 Today, the TEARA DX Association received ARRL affiliation. Yay! Really improves the # of contests we can operate in with club aggregate scoring! Https://TEARA.club . Check us out!!!

Resurrection of TEARA

 TEARA, the Triangle East Amateur Radio Association. Formed in 1989, ran strong for many years, did lots of things... but began to die a slow death. Around 2022, it went dormant. A few of us are DX'rs, have done a bit of contesting / special events, and building. We wanted to bring TEARA back, but as a DX Association, a focus we had within the hobby. There are several great, conventional ham clubs in the area, and we didn't want to water them down. So, we set out to start the TEARA DX Association. Lots of things are underway, and I'll post info here about them later. 

TEARA membership is free. No need for dues, all equipment is member owned, and no liability since we'll be operating mostly from home stations. Check it out at https://TEARA.club 

Husqvarna Lawn Tractor...

 Not radio related, but a task that had to be done.. Trying to get all of the yard stuff done before the soil temp falls too far... leaves, aeration, seeding, fertilizer,  etc. "Thought" I'd be done monday... lawn tractor started smoking and puking oil out the rh side of the engine block. At first, I thought it was a base gasket blown, but after cleaning a bit, removing the upper covers and starter, I found a long vertical Crack in the block. 

No time to pull the engine to fix this! I cut a groove in the block crack with a dremel tool. Made a small horizontal cut at the top to try and stop the stress cracking. Degreased with break cleaner and acetone. Laid on the JB and cured 24 hrs. It ain't pretty... Ran all day, yesterday, not a drop of oil leaked. If it'll hold until January,  when I dont need it, I'll pull the engine and give it a proper repair. I hate these red neck repairs, but sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do :-)

Oil was spraying from here. Had to pull the covers and starter to clean and inspect...

There's the Crack, running right along a casting mark...

That's an ugly patch, but it worked. 

FOTA- Fairs on the Air!

Many of you are familiar with POTA (Parks on the Air), SOTA (Summits on the Air), IOTA (Islands on the Air), JOTA (Jamboree on the Air)... 

A new method of event promotion was just launched by Chris  KF4DBX: FOTA - Fairs on the Air. http://www.FOTA.earth is the site for FOTA. Chris, in association with his Club JCARA (Jennings County Amateur Radio Association) recently tested this at the Jennings County Fair and used that as a test bed to get this off the ground. FOTA connects amateur radio with State / County / City fairs, festivals and other community events. This is a free service and app, and allows individual accounts, as well as recognition of area clubs by simply registering the club you may be a part of. The FOTA site allows for spotting, logging, and event event awards for activities worldwide. The site allows for ADIF log uploads, real time spotting, club affiliation pages, and allows users to upload info for your area fairs and other events. Each event automatically provides an event number to aid in spotting, collecting, and chasing FOTA stations. 

I've linked it to the upcoming NC State Fair event (US-NC-SF)  hosted by Travis Russell KN4WJL, where individual hams from the area, as well as hams from area clubs, will come together for a amateur radio presence at the fair. On a related note, Travis is still looking for hams to assist with this effort, and all are welcome to come help with talking to the public, as well as operating on the air as much as possible. You can sign up for this event on the Ham Radio Exhibit site at https://hamradioexhibit.org 

Please take a moment to check it out. If you register for a free account, it'll help with testing the system. If you're in a ham radio club, take a moment to upload something about it so it can be linked to possible Fairs or community events that you or your club might participate in. There's lots to check out, so have fun playing with it, and please register your fairs or community events to help spread the info to others worldwide.

Heathkit IT-3120 Transistor Tester

 It's not often that I find a piece of Heathkit gear in such pristine condition. I picked up this transistor tester from a friend, and it was CLEAN! I replaced the batteries, cleaned and lubricated the switches and controls, checked calibration, and it was ready to go to work. Here's a few pics...