This website has been moved to hamsters.clarc.org! This website will not be updated anymore, so please go to hamsters.clarc.org for the most up to date information!
Please notice that this site is more for the benefit of Hams than an informational site about our club.
We've got over 1000 hits!
This map is new, so it may take a whlie to fill up, but it shows the location of every hit we get on this website!
Hamster Simplex has been moved to 147.500 (107.2). This change was made because our previous frequency could have been on a repeater input. Please remember that we have a 107.2 HZ PL tone because the wireless routers in the building cause interference when you walk near them.
Since our website is filling up, I, KE5GDB, created a new website. It looks almost identical to the Hamster website but it is specifically for downloads. Please DO NOT send suggestions to me about the Ham-sters Download site. Here is the link: http://www.freewebs.com/ham-sterdownloads/!
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I, KE5GDE, am taking a trip to Italy this summer, and am planning to do some HAM Radio communications over there. I set up a website about operating in Italy/Europe, including information you need to know, stuff you need to bring with, etc. It is: http://freewebs.com/hamitalia !
We have set up a Yahoo! Groups account Mailing List for HAMsters. It is like the CLARC HAMsters Mailing List, except the rules are more relaxed. This includes that anyone can post, you can talk about anything HAM/HAMsters (but be reasonable), and we will send out HAM news that doesn't quite reach the CLARC mailing list. To sign up, use the box below:
For more information, including the full rules, go to the mailing list website, http://groups.yahoo.com/westbrookhamsters.
Thanks for your cooperation,
Andrew Koenig – KE5GDB
Wade Fabry - KE5GDE
Moderators/Owners for this Yahoo! Groups Account
Here are the photos (not on the Houston Chronicle website). Beware, KE5GDB scanned them on his old scanner...
Here is the article in the paper.
HAM OPERATORS CLUB
Group of pupils hamming it up
Westbrook youths contact others from around the globe
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
After what seemed like a lifetime of unanswered calls, Andrew Koenig was all smiles as he finally connected with a fellow ham operator in Springville, Utah.
"You're breaking up with your node (connection)," Koenig, 12, said into his hand-held radio at Westbrook Intermediate School in the Clear Creek Independent School District.
"I'm not sure if you're unkeying accidently, but you're breaking up."
The six-grader's eyes lit up as the reply came in loud and clear through the radio static.
"It's been snowing since 10 o'clock this morning and it has not let up yet," said the person on the other end, Matt Moody, 49, from Springville.
"We've got a good 3 to 4 inches of accumulation already. So I'd be happy to trade you, Andrew."
Koenig chimed in, "I think it'd be fun if we could get some snow down here, too. The last time we got snow was a year ago on Christmas Eve."
The lively interchange was part of the annual School Club Roundup, a ham operators contest at Westbrook. The contest pitted the school's ham operators club members against other ham operators at the elementary, secondary and collegiate levels. The teams that make the most contacts score the most points.
But more important than a win is learning about the craft and and earning a ham operator's license, said Nick Lance, the club's sponsor.
"The kids are all winners by getting to participate," said Lance, an engineer at the Johnson Space Center.
The club is part of a nine-week course at the school that enables pupils to obtain a professional ham operator's license.
Club members meet after school each week to connect with other ham operators on state-of-the-art equipment obtained through a grant from the National Association of Ham Operators, Lance said. The club is sponsored by the Clear Lake Amateur Radio Club.
"Amateur radio is extremely valuable," Lance said. "Most people own their own equipment and are technically savvy. So during an emergency, when the contractors who maintain the police radio towers leave because of a hurricane, the hams (operators) are there with their equipment."
The club meets in a classroom outfitted with two ham radios — a high frequency unit that retrieves signals from the ionosphere, and a ultra high frequency and very high frequency radio that catches signals from the Internet via relay towers.
So far, The Westbrook pupils have connected with fellow ham operators in California, Pennsylvania and Utah and as far away as Cuba and Ontario, Canada.
Seventh-grader Wade Fabry said he wouldn't trade the experience for anything.
"It feels good," said Fabry, 12. "We usually call "CQ" (calling any station) for about 30 minutes, and finally talk to someone, and then next thing you know, we've made about 15 contacts during the day."
Fellow pupil Tom Harrigan shared his enthusiasm.
"I love it. It's really fun," said Harrigan, a sixth-grader. "You get to talk to all kinds of people. It's cool to talk to people in different countries."sixth-grader at Westbrook Intermediate School
Edits on Fabry's quote done by Andrew Koenig and Wade Fabry himself