Please send a QSL card to the following address to receive a commemorative QSL card in celebration of the 57th Anniversary of the Handiham Program:
Courage Kenny Handiham Program
3915 Golden Valley Rd
Mail Route 78446
Golden Valley, MN 55422
Handiham 57th Anniversary Announcement
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a sought-after contact and to be on the receiving end of a pileup? Well, your chance to have this experience will be coming soon!
On Friday, April 26 through Sunday, April 28, the Handiham Program will celebrate its 57th anniversary. We will be celebrating with a QSO party sponsored by the Handiham Radio Club, and all currently licensed Handiham Program members are welcome and encouraged to participate.
The object is to work as many stations as possible during the 48-hour operating period. We also will use this opportunity to promote and give more details about the Handiham Program and the Handiham Radio Club for those who are interested. Participants may use all amateur bands and modes to make contacts, including digital and VOIP modes.
The QSO party will start at 1900 UTC on Friday and run through 1900 UTC on Sunday. Logs will be required and may be submitted by mail or email no later than June 1, 2024. The exchange is simply name and state, province, or country. One point will be given per contact.
Call CQ Handiham 57, and grab those contacts, or listen for stations calling CQ Handiham 57, and give them a contact! Most of all, get on the air and have fun!
Please tell any contacts that they can obtain a commemorative Handiham special anniversary event QSL card by qsling direct to the Handiham Program. See the www.handiham.net or the www.handiham.org web site for more details.
Instructions for Handiham Special Event Spotting
Instructions for Accessing and Using the Handiham QSO Party Spotting Page
from Mark Senk, WB3CAI
April 21, 2024
The Handiham program and the Handiham Radio Club would like to thank Chip Morgan, N3IW, for granting us space for our Handiham QSO Party spotting page on the site he maintains at http://QSOPartyHub.com/. You will find a link to the Handiham QSO Party and many other amateur radio events on this website.
The Handiham QSO Party runs for 48 hours from 3 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 2 PM CDT, 1 PM MDT, and 12 PM PDT on April 26, 2024, until 3 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 2 PM CDT, 1 PM MDT, and 12 PM PDT on Sunday, April 28, 2024. Learn how you can participate and request a special QSL card in honor of the 57th anniversary of the Handiham program at https://handiham.org or http://handiham.net.
Here are some instructions if you would like to try the new spotting page for keeping track of those working the Handiham QSO Party. These instructions seem to work well with the Jaws screen reader.
1. Go to http://QSOPartyHub.com/handiham-qp-spots.php
2. Once this page opens, you will see a form that has three required edit fields. You can quickly get to the first edit field with the screen reader E command. The fields are 1. “call being spotted”, 2. “frequency”, and 3. “QTH”. The QTH field has a combo box, from which you can pick state or province. There also is a field for comments or additional information. Finally, there is a field entitled “poster”, where you can enter your call sign.
(Note: There is not a field for name, so if you want to enter a name, put that in the comment field.)
3. Once you have completed the form, you can Arrow down to where you will find two buttons. These buttons can be used to either Clear or Post your form.
4. Entered spots are displayed in a table below that form, and the info will disappear after about an hour. The newest entries are listed first.
5. You can use the T command to quickly jump to the Table of Stations or JAWS key plus F5 to show a concise list of the web form elements.
Here’s an (imaginary) example of spotting a station:
I enter KA3TTT in the “call being spotted” field. I then tab to the frequency and type 7.057. Finally, I tab to the QTH field, where I find the combo box with options for selecting State or Canadian Province. Next, in the Optional Comment space I might type “QRP from Philadelphia.” I can then Tab or Arrow down twice and use Enter to activate the Post button and the station info becomes visible for anyone hunting for HQP stations.
You are welcome to enter some spots for practice before the event, and don’t hesitate to promote your own callsign and frequency when you start calling CQ Handiham 57!
Handiham World Update for March 28, 2024
After a winter with hardly any snow and very little cold weather, we had quite a bit of snow and cold over the past week, reminding me that the Handiham headquarters are still located in Minnesota. I am hoping that soon we can return to the warmer spring weather that we had been enjoying. Even though the snow looks pretty when it first storms, it is not fun to commute on icy, treacherous roads!
Many thanks to all the Handiham members who reached out to let us know that our toll free number was ringing to Abbott Northwestern hospital and not to the Handiham Program as it is supposed to. The problem is being worked on, and hopefully it will be fixed soon. In the meantime, the regular number still reaches us.
The Handiham Program office is so busy! We had several more new members join us this week, which is actually great for Melissa as she learns how to set up new members. Melissa has enjoyed getting to know members as they call in. You can reach her at 612-775-2291 or handiham@allina.com. The best times to reach her by phone are Mondays through Thursdays between 9am and 12pm Central time in the US. Melissa is also looking forward to meeting everyone in person at Radio Camp in September!
We have some more sad news to report. Long-time Handiham equipment volunteer Dave Smith, KC8PCL, is a silent key. I got to know Dave when I first became a ham because he ran a popular net in my area. Later, because of my involvement with the Handiham Program, Dave decided he wanted to volunteer to help out other Handiham members with their equipment. He will be greatly missed.
We had a lot of fun at the Midwinter Madness Hamfest last Saturday. Melissa even came to check out her first hamfest and got to have her first in-person meeting with a Handiham Program member, Nick, KE0WKX. It was nice to visit with Hamfest attendees and get the word out that we are looking for more volunteers for Radio Camp in September. We also got to catch up with some of our volunteers from the 2023 Radio Camp.
May will be here before we know it! If you are planning to attend Dayton Hamvention, we will have a booth there as usual. We always set up several extra chairs at our booth, and we would love to visit with you for an eyeball QSO!
The 2024 Radio Camp is coming up fast. September will be here before we know it! If you have not received stage one of the application (the scholarship offer) and you want to attend camp this year, please contact us so we can get that sent to you. The second stage will be going out soon to everyone who has returned their first stage of the application. Melissa is working on getting that second stage application into an accessible PDF format to make it easier for members to fill out on their own if they would prefer. We have some great classes and activities planned for Radio Camp including a lot more hands-on radio time. The instructors are planning for interesting and challenging classes, and Jerry, W0UH, keeps sharing new music he is preparing that we will get to enjoy live during camp.
Jerry, W0UH, our net manager, would like to invite you to check into the Handiham Radio Club net. We have great net control stations who faithfully keep the net running smoothly and provide interesting topics each day. The Handiham Radio Club sponsors daily nets at 11:00 am Central time and on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm Central time on the Handiham Conference Server. Please join us as often as you can! It’s a fun time to get together with other hams throughout the world and enjoy some good conversation.
We are in the second semester of the Advanced Morse Code Class, and our students are preparing for their final on air test to earn their class certificate. This week, they were able to keep a QSO going between them for over 30 minutes. That’s a huge accomplishment! The advanced code class is two semesters with a long break between semesters, and we only offer it every couple years. For this class, you should have regular access to an HF station with Morse code capability. To become fluent in any language, including Morse code, students will need to get on the air to practice as part of the class.
If Morse code sounds like something you want to learn, we will have a virtual beginner class starting in September of 2024. This class is designed for Handiham Program members who are new to Morse code and will teach all the characters along with prosigns. At the end of the one semester class, students should be able to copy Morse code at five words per minute. If you want to join this class, send an email to Handiham@allina.com so we can add you to the list for an application.
The two-semester virtual General Class License Class just finished week 23, our first of two weeks of practice tests. This class is in the same format as the two-semester Technician Class we finished last April with interactive Zoom classes along with class recordings and handouts sent via email to students each week.
Next September, we will start a virtual two-semester Extra Class License Class using the new question pool that will take effect on July 1, 2024. If you want to be a part of this class, please send an email to Handiham@allina.com to be added to the list for an application. This class will run for 30 weeks due to the large amount of material we have to cover. The class includes interactive Zoom classes along with class recordings and handouts sent via email to students each week.
The Handiham Radio Club is getting radio active! Jerry, W0UH, our Handiham Radio Club president will hold the next monthly meeting on Sunday, April 7th at 3:00pm Central Time. The Zoom link will go out to the radio club Groups.io list. If you have not yet joined the Handiham Radio Club, all current members of the Handiham Program are eligible to join at no additional cost. Just send an email to handiham@allina.com to let us know you want to be put on the email list for the club. Staying on that list allows you to keep up with everything that is happening in the club.
73,
Melissa and Lucinda AB8WF