[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Alexandria Radio Club - Meeting Notice for June 11th - ARC SHORTS

Tue Jun 5 20:47:07 EDT 2012

Rich could you please send to our students from the last two classes

Roy, Please post on the website.

ARC-SHORTS

June, 2012

Club Repeaters: 147.315 (PL 107.2), 444.6 (PL107.2), 224.82 (PL107.2), 53.13
(PL107.2), 927.6 (-25Mhz, PL107.2), and 1282.600 (PL 107.2), DSTAR
145.38Mhz, 442.060, and 1284.600 

NEXT CLUB MEETING

Our next meeting is FRIDAY, June 11th at Alexandria City's new Emergency
Operations Center at 3600 Wheeler Ave.  We will meet in the Community Room
on the first floor. Parking is the public lot right in front of the
building.  DO NOT PARK ON THE STREET!!!  At 7:00 there should be plenty of
spaces.  

Our program will be Field Day!  This is the BIGGEST club event of the year
and it would be GREAT if we could get as many of the club members to come
out for just a few hours as we could.  See the web site for more details,
but we will have at least 5 HF stations on the air and if we had 45 members
come out we could stay on the air for the total 24 hours with each member
only operating about 1.5 to 2 hours.  Don't worry about not having gear to
contribute we have all kinds of gear available.  The club owns four great HF
transceivers. We have four rotatable dipoles available and several members
have the Honda 2K generators.  I know we can count on three and maybe we
have two or three others.  What we need is OPERATORS.  Don't worry about
your class of license.  We have extra class operators act as control
operators so you can use all the bands all the way! 

This year's food chairperson is Stephanie Adamy.  She does a gourmet job.
Please bring something to share for dinner.  The club covers the main
course, but sides and deserts would be a nice contribution.  

MARCH MEETING - Minutes KJ4FUU

Presiding: Marshall KI4MWP

Treasurer's Report: Total - $8,452, Checking $313, Trailer fund  $573,
Education $2,427,Share $5,138

Committees:

ARES:    Absent

DSTAR:  New UPS helped, but PC may be an issue, looking for refurbished PC,
Verizon problems? For the Hamvention, 2m will be set to 38C, normal 2m will
be 25C,              70cm will use reflector 1C.

Training: 7 Technicians, 1 General student left; Test is 05/22.

Web: Announcements section on home page; newsletters, attendance, check-ins,
new                                                               privacy
regulations required for club email. 

Repeaters:          Absent

Old Business:

                Bull Run Run was a success.

New Business:

                Dayton Hamvention next week, 05/18-05/20/2012

                Field Day 06/23,06/24 - Jack K5OTZ PowerPoint presentation,
1st Sunday in June, band captains will meet at Armistead Boothe Park for
antenna layout planning.  

                23Cm radar issues?

                Manassas hamfest 06/10

                Holiday party at Mango Mike's, 12/14

                Civil War special event station at Ft. Ward, 09/08 - 09/09,
if issues with the city can be worked out, but an alternate location may be
needed.

Program: Dennis Bodson W4PWF ARRL Roanoke Division

50-50 Drawing: Vern (no call yet) (BUT, He has one now! KK4JQM -
Congratulations on the call and the win..

Net Controls:                     05/17/2012         Tom KJ4FUU

                                                05/24/2012         Larry
KK4CBL

                                                05/31/2012         Rich
KA4GFY

                                                06/07/2012         Ted W9TCE

Adjourned

73 Tom, KJ4FUU

President's Notes

Spring  and early summer I think are the best times to be a licensed amateur
radio operator.   First, in mid-May is the Dayton Hamvention, one of the
best places that a ham can have his or her equipment dreams realized
(assuming you have a "flexible" credit card!).   Myself and several other
ARC members went to this year's Hamvention and it was another great
experience--large crowds, interesting new equipment, good flea market buys,
and best of all, fantastic weather!    

If you have ever considered visiting Hamvention, I suggest you definitely
make it at least once--it is quite the experience that you'll long remember.

Second, In mid-June, we have Field Day.  This year's Field Day activities
are moving along nicely under Jack's (K5OTZ) guidance.  We met recently to
go over the layout for the various stations at Armistead Boothe park, and
hopefully the weather will be as nice the weekend of June 23 and 24 as it
was then--blue skies, comfortable temperatures, and good DX'ing as far as
one could envision!   I'm looking forward to seeing ARC members at this
year's activities, so make sure you have June 23 and 24 marked on your
calendar.    

And lastly, we have the ARRL's June VHF QSO Party held June 9 through 11.
This party can be a lot of fun for those operating on 6M, 2M, 70CM, 220MHz,
900MHz, 1.2 GHz, and  GHz 2.3 GHzz or higher bands.   There's nothing nicer
that combining a drive in the Virginia countryside up to a high location on
a nice day with a station setup (along with a picnic basket) and making some
VHF contacts.    A great outing can be had along with making some new
contacts on some bands you may not have worked in a while.    So, I hope
everyone will have a great summer this year, and I hope to hear you on the
bands soon!

73

   Marshall, KI4MWP

Hamfests - 

Manassas Old Virginia Hams Hamfest - June 10th

Members of the club usually set up a tailgate spot or two so look for us on
147.315 simplex.  Gates open at 7AM.   

>From the Schoolhouse 

Congratulations to our new and recently upgraded licensees!

Our most recent licensing class wrapped up on May 22 with new licenses for 6
class members and an upgrade for one.  We also had two people join the
festivities for the test, which included one new license and one upgrade.  A
good job by everybody.  If you hear them on the air, say Hi and welcome them
to the world of ham radio. 

Vernon Olson                                    KK4JQM
Technician 

Mathew A. Kirleis                            KK4JQN
Technician 

Dwight A. Nichols                             KK4JQO
Technician 

Paul L.  Diaz                                         KK4JQP
Technician 

David M. Wilburn                             KK4JQQ                General 

Edward J. Bradshaw                        KK4JQR                 General 

Donghai Yu                                         KB3YUN
Technician 

James G. Kincheloe                         KL3IA                     General

Matthew W. Genack                      KI4STB                  Extra 

Dayton Hamvention Report

Our group or travelers was led by KA4GFY, a veteran of 20+ Dayton
Hamventions.  Also attending was KI4MWP, AF2D, W3RST, KG4NRD, KF7IJZ, N8IK,
W9TCE and KI4BXH.  It was the first ever Hamvention for KF7IJZ and KI4BXH.
We also saw some Alexandria Radio Club alumni, N8OQ, K4BAV, and N9ACC.    

Most everybody caravanned out on Thursday keeping in touch via our 70 cm
link with an occasional call on 40 meters.  N8IK was on his way back from a
cross country trip on his motorcycle and met up with us at the hotel.  Many
of us were able to follow N8IK's trip via APRS.   His message on the return
trip said "Heading for Hamvention."  

The weather this year cooperated with the Hamvention organizers.  Not too
hot, nor too cool, but just enough sun to get slightly red from being
outside without sunscreen.  No rupture problems this year either.

Kenwood introduced a new HF rig and Yaesu introduced a new digital handheld.
Kenwood's HF radio looks like it should be a good seller.  Yaasu's plan is
to build an alternative system to DSTAR, with the new handheld as the start.
This is certainly in keeping with the spirit of ham radio, the ability to
experiment with new modes.  One item that caught our interest was a 70 cm
DSTAR repeater being built by a company from the US Northwest.  It is
supposed to have the functionality of the DSTAR repeaters in service now.
The planned selling price is around $400, which should make it very
attractive to anyone interested in putting up a DSTAR repeater.

This year's big purchase goes to KF7IJZ, who bought a service monitor that
operates up to 1.5 GHz.  The great part about this is we have a project for
it already.  Our 23 cm analog repeater may need some adjustments, so now we
have test equipment to do the job right.  The most purchased item was the
GRE PSR-800 scanner.  Several vendors were selling them at Hamvention
special prices, so KA4GFY, W3RST and KI4MWP all bought one.  This scanner is
fairly easy to set up.  Just tell it where you are, and it does the rest.
It also is the only scanner on the market right now that is able to track
the new Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) format that is starting to show
up on some trunking repeater systems in our area.  Don't panic, your current
digital scanner is not outdated. 

The flea market was well stocked with used commercial equipment.  With the
pending change to narrowband by Part 90 users, a lot of equipment is showing
up hamfests.  If you are into converting commercial equipment to ham use,
keep an eye open.  The mandatory cut over date is approaching and some of
the current equipment will become unusable for commercial use, but not for
our use on the ham bands.  

One of the most notable items for sale was the Drake UV-3 transceiver.
There were at least 3 for sale.  These radios were made in the late 70s and
early 80s.  The unique thing about these radios is they were some of the
first multiple band VHF/UHF mobile radios, with 2 meters, 1.25 meters and 70
cm.  They could also be set up to operate with a separate control head and
RF deck, features we see as standard now.  In their day, this was pretty
forward thinking.

One notable item missing this year was the Collins Collectors Association
van.  It had been retired since last year's Hamvention.  In case you're
wondering what's so special about it, it was a 1960s Ford Econoline van that
was outfitted with a complete Collins station built inside.  Keep in mind
that what was considered a mobile radio in the 1960s is not the same concept
we use today. So, the equipment is quite a bit larger than what we are used
to seeing in a mobile setup.  

One very good sign on the health of ham radio was the continuous long line
outside the testing room.  Looking at the results posted outside in the
hallway showed quite a few new licenses issued and quite a few more
upgraded.   Not only that, the DARA VE team was able to post directly to
their VEC, which went almost instantaneously to the FCC's computer.  So,
that meant if you took a test on Friday, you had a new license Saturday
morning.  Talk about service!

So, if you have attended the Dayton Hamvention, you should consider next
year. It's always the 3rd weekend in May.  You never know what you will
find.  If you can't find it at the Hamvention, you don't need it.    

73,

Rich, KA4GFY

Future Programs

June - FIELD DAY Planning - Jack K5OTZ

July -  MARS - Gary Sessums - KC5QCN

August -  D-Star 201  - KI4MWP (beyond the local repeater) - Marshall
DeBerry KI4MWP

Oct - AMRAD (tentative)

Nov - Elections

Dec - Party

Up Coming Events

FIELD DAY 

ARRL Field Day is not a fully adjudicated contest, which explains much of
its popularity.  It is a time where many aspects of Amateur Radio come
together to highlight our many roles.  While some will treat it as a
contest, most groups use the opportunity to practice their emergency
response capabilities.  It is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate
Amateur Radio to local elected community leaders, key individuals with the
organizations that Amateur Radio might serve in an emergency, as well as the
general public. For many clubs, ARRL Field Day is one of the highlights of
our annual calendar. 

Not  only is this a great deal of fun, it's a great time for those who don't
have HF equipment or are new to the hobby to get some time when the bands
will be REALLY busy.  Do not worry about not having experience this is THE
event to learn.  

We are not a contest club, so the goal is to have fun for 24 hours.

More information and planning at the next meeting.  BE THERE.

73 Jack, K5OTZ

CLUB Christmas Dinner

Not too early to mark your calendar for this annual event!  This year we
will have the holiday party on our regular meeting night December 14th
(second Friday).  We have two choices of locations, primarily due to no room
charge which is always an issue in this area, and both restaurants are
available on 12/14.  First choice is Mango Mike's
http://www.mangomikes.com/mangos-alexandria.html on Duke Street which we've
been to for a couple of years.  Price range is $25-30.  

Social Events

Monday Night Half Price Burgers - There is a group that gets together at
Shooter McGee's (Duke and Paxton Streets) on Monday evenings at 6:15 30 PM.
A good burger and soft drink runs about $9.50.

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