Even an "Amateur" can catch a Fox!

Several members of the Rusk County Amateur Radio Club turned out on a beautiful Saturday morning to hunt down a fox! The "fox" (a two-meter transmitter and a special message recorder) was built by AF5RI (Craig) and hidden by W5CWT (David). KF5YAF, Eric, turned out to the be the quickest and the most efficient, finding the fox first and traveling the shortest distance to get to it (just five miles)!

The crew had gathered at Denny's to check in and listen for the first tones of the fox. Then they were off...in a variety of directions! It took nearly 30 minutes for the first of the hunters to show up near the site of the fox, which was hidden near Montgomery Achievement Center on Ruby Drive.

After some final tweaks to their radios in an attempt to attenuate the signal as much as possible, the hunters closed in on a large tree near the edge of the property. There, tuck in the crook of the branches, was the fox!

New Ham is on the Air!

Congratulations to our Newest Amateur, Dana Ashby - KG5JGY

After an extended wait, while the FCC's computer system was up-graded and his technician application floated around in the USPS's system for a couple of weeks before arriving at the W5YI's office in Arlington, TX., Dana's new call sign finally showed up on the FCC's website late Thursday evening.

Was good to hear Dana on the Henderson repeater early Friday morning from his QTH in the Laneville community. Be sure to give Dana a warm Amateur welcome when you hear him on the air the next few days!

Freedom Link Skywarn Group

Here's something new for you to check out. The FREEDOM LINK SYSTEM is a network of 7 linked repeaters spanning the North East corner of Texas, North West Louisiana, South West Arkansas, and South East Oklahoma.The nearest repeater to Henderson and Rusk County is the 146.640 repeater, located in Longview, Texas, with a 136.5 Hz. Tone. 

Coverage Area of Freedom Link Repeaters.

The purpose of this linked network of repeaters is to enhance communications during Skywarn operations and periods of inclement weather.  Please be mindful that there may be active weather events far removed from our local area and refrain from adding non-emergency traffic to the network when these events are ongoing.

Otherwise, it's a rather novel idea to have such a large area of 2 meter, FM voice coverage, especially when traveling North - South along the coverage corridor in North East Texas. Just program the seven networked repeaters into your mobile radio and switch to whichever repeater you are in range of when traveling.

The repeater planned for the Henderson Hospital will be configured in a similar, (but different) linked network when it goes on the air later this year.

To find out more about the Freedom Link System, visit their website at:
http://www.freedom-link.org/

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KN5G