[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Alexandria Radio Club meeting Friday, May 9

[ka4gfy at cox.net]

In case you did not get Rick's earlier email...

ARCSHORTS

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NEXT MEETING

 

The next club meeting will be on May 9th at the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Fire Training Center at 7:30PM

Our program will be Mike Chisena, KA2ZEV.  Mike has been working with AMRAD to revitalize 6 meter FM.  He has been single handedly converting Midland commercial radios to 6 meters.  These radios have 22 memories, PL encode and decode, and can put out 60 or 110 watts.  Mike will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of this type of gear.  If you are interested in picking up one of these radios, Mike will have a few at $75 each.  The Midland XTR radios can be expanded to have 99 memories by adding a memory board.  They go for $25 or so on ebay.

 

APRIL MEETING

 

Our last meeting was April 11th.  Our speakers were from AMRAD and talked about software definable radios (SDR).  These radios use a 66 Mhz sampling rate to digitize a fairly wide spectrum of radio frequencies and then software is used to select the mode of modulation being decoded.  Andre Kestaloot also demonstrated his  PARAKEET simplex repeater.  Even better there was a great presentation on what went into the designs.  A lot more then appliance operation.

 

DAYTON MAY 17 � 20

 

If you�ve not been to the largest ham fest in the world, then you need to go!  This is an incredible experience.  There is nothing you need that is not in that flea market.  Call Rich if you would like to go.  He has those hard to get rooms and is arranging for car pools.  Rich also will have the frequency guide.  Call Rich, KA4GFY, at 703-960-4096

 

April 26th Alexandria City CERT Drill

 

As many of you know, there was an attempt to replace Alexandria ARES with a group of RACES volunteers.  This was stopped because of three things that ARES brings to the table that the RACES folks cannot.  One is our level of experience.  We have a 50 plus year history of support to the city.  Two is the fact that we have a working relationship with our friends in Fairfax ARES and can call on their support when we need more ham power, and lastly our past performance in city drills and in actual events has been first rate.

 

We were invited to participate in the CERT drill which was centered around the John Adams Elementary School at the west end of the city ( a short run to the repeater).  The city also requested that all participants have a certificate of completion for FEMA IS-100.  Some of our volunteers have had this taken care of for a while, but many of our members made an extraordinary effort to get it done so we could provide a good team.  Those who participated were Rick, N4ASX, Harry, N4CWP, Ian N8IK, Randy, KI4MWQ, and Marshall, KI4MWP,  The drill called for two shadows on site, EOC, NCS, Alexandria Hospital and Red Cross.  The drill went from 9:30 AM to 12:00 and then it was party time.  We learned a few things.  One is that when we send operators to a disaster or emergency site, we need to send a vehicle that can get a signal out of the hole.  Harry and Randy both had problems getting into the repeater with their handhelds and it was only a mile or so away.  The other lesson learned is that when you are simulating a function like Hospital and EOC, you don�t need to drive to those locations.  The Drill officially started at 9:30 AM, but the safety brief did not end until after 10:30.  We coordinated with Don KI4FON who was the lead CERT volunteer.  Marshall headed for Red Cross, I headed for EOC and Ian headed for the Hospital.  Because Ian was on site first he took over the net until I could stop and get traffic.  The third lesson is that, when we are sending formal third party traffic we need to send at writing speed!  The drill was over by 11:30 or so and some of us had a very productive talk with the City�s EMS folks.

 

D-Star worked well for some talk in and the City EMS folks were really impressed with the mode.

 

Potomac River Run (Marathon)

 

In preparation for the run, we had a frequency and range test up and down the GW parkway both on 6 meters and on 2 meters.  One difference for this year will be to move the NCS to Collinwood, which is halfway down the course,  this cuts the range from NCS to the farthest station from 10 KM to 5 KM.  6 meters worked very well, but we will also be using 2 meter simplex.

 

On May 4th we supported the Potomac River Run which went from Belle Haven Marina to just short of Mt. Vernon.  About 7 miles each leg.  The runners run down and back twice to make up the 26 plus miles.  We will be using both 146.415 Simplex and 52.51 Simplex with the 146.655 (PL 141.3) as a backup.   We will locate the NCS down the course to Collingwood Dr. to give better simplex coverage.  Six meter operators will be placed further away then 2 meter operators but all are welcome to play.  

 

Alexandria supported this race with three club members Rick N4ASX, Rich KA4GFY and Art KD4FBT.  I wish to thank my fellow Alexandria Club members and the folks from Fairfax Jeff AI4IO, Tom N4ZPT, John WQ4L, Chuck KI4DHM, Aric KI4THM, Dick KM4ML, Willy KC0CNH, Steve K3IZ, Prentiss K4PDJ, Carol WA4GFW, Leila WN4PP Jim KC4UWS, Brian WC4J and Cameron MacKenzie K6CLM who is up here from Florida for a few months and volunteered for helping with this event.  We�ve had several this year.

 

A few changes were made to how we did the race.  Both 6 and 2 meter simplex frequencies were used and 6 meters worked very well.  The relocation of the Net Control to the halfway point on the course proved very helpful with many stations being able to use handhelds.  

 

TRAINING (ARES / PUBLIC SERVICE)

 

Many of us are not interested in ARES, so we have tried to avoid programs on ARES.  Many of us were overdosed years ago.

 

After Hurricane Katrina, there were TONS of lessons learned.  Many of these lessons included the need for training.  The City now requires that those who participate in emergency services for the city have FEMA IS-100, additionally IS-700, 200 and 800 are considered good to have.  A very comprehensive set of courses are offered by ARRL  EC-001, 002 and 003.  While the FEMA classes can be completed in a few hours,  the EC classes take more time and cost you about $45 each.  I recommend all ARES volunteers take EC-001.  EC-002 and 003 are also good and encouraged.  When you complete any of these courses, please send Rick, N4ASX a copy of the certificate.

 

 

In one of the class rooms at the Fire Training Center there is a sign that says �In an emergency you will not rise to the level of your expectations, but fall to the level of your training�

 

D-STAR

 

Marshall has sent out to the D-Star owners instructions for getting on the D-Star gateway.  I have not used it yet, but the theory is that you can program your second repeater to any other repeater in the world and the gateway will link you to that repeater and you can talk to folks in that area on D-Star.   This would allow us to link to Richmond if we needed to or maybe to our old home town to catch up with the locals.  

 

Marshall, KI4MQP has been working with the DV Dongle.  This allows him to get into the D-Star network via his computer at home.  No radio needed and he could communicate through the gateway to the D-Star network.

 

ANTENNAS

 

I had a conversation with Mr. Mark Penn and asked him for help with placement of antennas on the Red Cross and at the Fire Training Center.  He has offered to help and sees NO PROBLEM with putting up antennas at FTC.   Now we need to decide what we can put up at the FTC for a club station, where we can locate the gear so that it�s out of the way and can provide service in an emergency and get the gear, cables etc.  

 

Mr. Penn also pointed out that the tower next to the fire station on Seminary Rd is open and he asked us if we wanted to place anything on that tower.  The cost would be to have someone climb the tower each year to replace the light bulb.  As I don�t do towers, we would need a commitment from the club to get it done.  I don�t know if this location would be better then the hospital, but please give it some thought and we will bring it up at the meeting.

 

The Hospital is going to move the feed line from the current room to a new room and we need to also think about moving the antenna up to the higher location.

 

The Red Cross uses two locations as Shelters.  We need to do a survey of these two buildings and see what we can do to install antennas on the Shelters.  The middle of a hurricane or winter storm emergency is not a good time to find out that you need an external antenna installed.

 

FIELD DAY

 

Field Day is one of the club�s biggest events.  This year Art, KD4FBT (KD4FBT at Cox.net) is our chairman.  I will not be able to work Field Day this year as my niece is graduating from High School up in New YUWK that weekend.  I am willing to loan out gear as needed.  I know that Art needs your help to make this a successful event.

 

Our June meeting will be devoted to Field Day planning.

 

1 � Come out and operate! -  This is a 24 hour event and all members should be able to put in a few hours on a radio.

 

2 � Bring a side dish or something for the dinner.  This is the one big social get together for the club.  The dinner is lot of fun after set up and a few hours of operation.  The club pays for the main course and the members provide the rest.  Advise Art that you are going to attend and what you would like to bring.  So this is one of the biggest expenditures for the year, come on out and have a good time.

 

3 � If you can, bring out your portable HF gear or work with someone else to set up a station.  This is also a good time to experiment.  

 

4 � POWER � We have a bunch (8) of the 110 AHr AGM batteries.  of them and we have 5 of the 70 AHr Gell Cells that I will charge and place in the trailer.  So, running on batteries this year should not be a problem.

 

5 � ANTENNAS.  I have a 10/15/20 rotate able dipole,  an 80/40 wire Dipole (Alpha Delta), and the two 40 meter � wave verticals used the last two years.  If someone wants to use the material from the 40 meter verticals to make something new this year, call me (Rick N4ASX, 703-317-9305) and you can come get the material.   It might be fun to try the phased verticals on 75 meters this year.

 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE call Art and let him know that you will be participating in Field Day, and what you plan to contribute to the effort.

 

LOOKING FORWARD  - Another editorial from �.

 

I stepped in as club president this year because last year�s vice president resigned due to a difference of opinion regarding RACES / ARES.  I felt responsible for this.  Don was a very active member and �should� have been next in line.  His resignation was his decision and I hope one day that he will rejoin the club.

 

I will not run for re-election next year.  The younger members need to think about investing in the club and the younger members should step up and take a turn at running the club.  The long time members (read old F*&ts ) will continue to support the club with programs and participation, but for a club to continue (and this one is over 50 years old), all of the members need to pitch in.  Many hands make light work.  I have seen many clubs in other hobbies fold because the majority of members were content to just be members and not interested in taking some responsibility.  

 

Many of our newer members have invested some serious time and effort in the club and others should not let them shoulder the effort alone.

 

Membership is another issue.  The club is a lot more fun when there are more people being more active.  Talk up the club.  We have a great deal to offer.  Bring in a new member this year.  Our club has more repeaters on the air then any other club in the area and this may include the NVFMA!   With Marshall�s efforts, we are the first in Virginia to have a full D-Star stack up and running.  With Tim, Mike and Rich�s efforts our repeater systems will be world class.  

 

Rich tells me that the next radio classes will be in September.  All of us need to get the word out and find some students.

 

73 Rick

N4ASX