[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Alex Radio Club meeting notice for April

[rrbunn at cox.net]

APRIL 11th Meeting

Our next meeting is April 11th at the Fire Training Center at 7:30 PM.  Many of us get together at the Chicken Out Restaurant at Franklin and Washington for dinner before the meeting (approx 6 PM) 

Our guest speaker is Mr. Frank Gentges, K0BRA, with AMRAD who will talk to us about Software Definable Radios.  Many of us have experienced Digital Signal Processing as part of our newer commercial radios but I think you’ll find that SDRs add a new dimension.  Please come out and support the programs.

PLEASE come out and enjoy the meeting.  Larger groups help us get better programs.

March Club Meeting

If you didn’t make the March club meeting you missed a Terrific program given by Steve Floyd W4YHD.  Steve is the chief engineer for the Naval Research Lab  (NRL) sponsored High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP).  The system has 180 crossed dipole arrays that are capable of acting as a phased array to develop over 3.6 Megawatts of ERP.

For more details see http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/tech.html <http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/tech.html>  

We missed the fund raising committee, did not hold a 50/50 and failed to appoint net control stations for the month, but we did have a good time at the meeting.

Repeater Upgrades

Tim KT4MV and Mike have been working on the repeaters and the progress to date is.  The new 2 meter and 440 repeaters are ready to go and the controller is set up with basic commands. The old antennas on the building have been taken down and our 6 meter receiver, 220 MHz and 1200 MHz repeater antennas have been installed.

Members of the club are working to enhance the performance of the repeater stack including the application of remote receivers, emergency power, more output and more flexibility in interconnecting the repeaters.

At the Timonium Hamfest our hamfest scroungers were able to get 4 connectors and 80 feet of hardline for the new repeater system.  Well done!

One of the issues is the lack of use of our repeaters, please try to mark up and use the machines.  The custom in the past has been to link 2 meters and 440 MHz and 220 MHz to 6 meters, but our new controller will allow almost any combination.  Current members will be receiving touch tone codes to make some changes to the configuration.  Our trustee, Rich – KA4GFY, asks that if you alter the configuration you return the repeaters to the agreed to configuration before you QRT.

D-Star

We have approval to install a DSL line at the D-Star site and Marshal, KI4MWP, our D-Star lead has a server and software ready to go.  IN FACT Marshall has been working many hours and now has the gateway up and running.
	  
Public Events this past month.

The third annual National Marathon was held on 29 March.  The following Alexandria Radio Club members participated.  Rick, N4ASX and his XYL provided some support.  Unlike the Marine Corps Marathon, this support is only to the aid stations and APRS was used for some message linking, but there were vary few incidents and non at Aid Station MM 24.  Rick was able to use the D700 to track the tail end of the race using the readout on the D700A (no computer needed) as Jeff AI4IO was in one of the sag wagons and he was APRS equipped.

Up Coming Events

April 12th is the Bull Run Run.  A 50 mile run through the Occoquan Reservoir.  Art Pond, KD4FBT a club member and FAIRFAX ARES OPS Officer is the coordinator,  He is still looking for volunteers.  Call him or e-mail him to volunteer.  The club trailer may be used, good PR for the club. In the past the Alexandria Radio Club has provided a great deal of the support, so please consider volunteering.

On  May 4th we have the Potomac River Marathon.  Rick Bunn, N4ASX is the coordinator and needs 14 volunteers.  The race starts at 7 AM so volunteers need to check in and pick up info at 6 AM.  This is a mobile activity as repeater coverage down along the river is limited.

Dayton Hamvention May 16 -18.  

This is the “Big Daddy” of all hamfests.  If you have not been to the Dayton Hamvention, then you NEED to go.  There is nothing in ham radio that will not be there.  If you need it, you can find it there.  This is also where all the NEW gear is brought out for the first public view.  Rich KA4GFY is our lead for this effort and he has a limited number of rooms reserved.  To get rooms in Dayton for Hamvention you need to normally reserve them in December!  So, if you would like to go, call Rich.  The Alexandria Radio Club normally car pools to and from and stacks each vehicle full of radio gear.  It’s a fun time and a great getaway from our normal day to day ham radio patterns.

Communications Trailer

The club needs volunteers to tow the trailer to and from events.  If you have a vehicle equipped to tow a trailer, let Rick, N4ASX, know.

For the Potomac Marathon and Bull Run Run, we will have the 6 new 110AHr batteries installed.  When Art K5DID and Deanna K9DID have time, they have volunteered to do some of the trailer upgrades which include installation of a storage box on the tongue.  

We are looking at adding a generator to the trailer to provide a more reliable source of power.  

ARES

We could always use more volunteers.  If you have not yet done so, please consider going to www.aresva.org <http://www.aresva.org/>  and filling out the volunteer section.  
 
OLD RADIOS

It was interesting to look at the last two hamfests (Richmond and Vienna) and not that the value placed on some of the older 1970s -80 vintage radios was way down.  I guess there is an aversion to these older units as they do not have a digital readout, computer interface,  

MAY 9th  Meeting

Mike, KA2ZEV, is our tentative program for May 9th.  He will be talking about conversion of commercial radios for use on the 6 Meter band.  He has been selling these radios with 99 channels at local hamfests.  If your interested in getting on 6 meters in a big way (100 watts), here is your chance.  I told Mike that if he brings a few radios we might have a few buyers.  I think the price is under $100 ready to go.  The radios already have the club’s 6 meter repeater programmed in, so they are plug and play.  

Mike has also spent some time in Iraq and has some interesting stories if we have time. 

Mike was running a 6 meter tech net, but I don’t have the details and Jack K5OTZ was running an informal 6 meter net, but again we will have to ask Jack for more info  on that.

Remember we do have a 6 meter repeater on 53.13 (PL 107.2), NVFMA now has a 6 meter repeater on 53.61 (PL 67.0 Hz) and our club is looking at a SECOND 6 meter repeater as well.  Many of us have IC 706 radios, T-81s and other gear that can get you up on 6 meters and 6 meters can be a very interesting band.  

There are now 2 operational 6 meter repeaters on Bull Run Mountain on 53.45. I expect that one will be moved to another frequency.  I was able to key both of them with 4 watts on my ringo at roof height.
	 

73 Rick
N4ASX