[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Alexandria Radio Club Meeting Notice - March 9th 2012

Tue Mar 6 11:23:28 EST 2012

ARC-SHORTS

March, 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 

PLEASE NOTE:

We have moved our meeting location to Alexandria City's new Emergency
Operations Center at 3600 Wheeler Avenue for the remainder of this year.  

NEXT CLUB MEETING

Our next meeting is FRIDAY, MARCH 9th 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 High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP)
by Steve Floyd, W4YHD.  

February MEETING - Minutes KJ4FUU

Our February program was the VA QSO Party.  Great program and great stats!
Last year the club had a few intrepid soles who activated a needy county.  I
understand that this may start something with an expeditionary nature within
the club.

Secretary's Report: Nothing to report

Guest: Joe Barasoan, from the Fire Department

Treasurer's Report: Share: 2784.60, Trailer 573.19, Checking: 563.26,
Education: 2424.82 

                            Total: 6345.87

Committee Reports:

Training: Rich KA4GFY needs estimates of interest in Extra class class size.

ARES:  GW 10K Run on 2/18, GW Birthday Parade on 2/20, volunteers needed.
Charlie McCrory retired, replaced by Joe Henderson. We are better engaged
with Mark Penn & the govt. The city is happy with us. Good turnout for the
hospital drill. Our antennas and coax at the hospital need to be labeled.

DSTAR: 2 new members.

Repeaters: Tim couldn't make it.Craig K4GOR reports: 2m: RC820 controller
has issues, still unsupported. The older CAT 300 controllers can be had for
$300.00, remote receivers planned, but no time frame available. 70cm: Keeps
shutting off. Tim suggests we sell old controller and use new one.  1.25m:
Converted Micor, needs to be installed, may be up in 6 months.
6m: Plans similar to 1.25m, a little later.  33cm: Up and running  23cm: 2
mobiles tied together, but it works.

Webmaster: Not present, no report

Upcoming Events:

Hamfests: Winterfest (2/26), Timonium (1 day only this year, 3/31)

LA & NH QSO Parties

Old Business: Trailer antenna committee has not met yet.

New Business:

Budget proposed and accepted with modifications

No audit needed because the officers didn't change

We need to investigate holding classes @ 3600 Wheeler Ave.

We need to investigate a club seller account on eBay.

Motion to fund D-STAR with club funds and collect donations over the year to
pay back the club made by Rick N4ASX -- Carried.

Motion to sell ARCOM repeater controller made by Jeremy KF7IJZ -- Carried

Motion to buy different repeater controller (C800 DX? Bad handwriting) made
by Jeremy KF7IJZ -- withdrawn

A new controller is estimated to cost about $300.00.

Editor's note: Repeaters Tim has been working his magic and 444.6 is up and
has great coverage.  Let's make some use of it!  If you're on the road going
to and from work, think about getting up on our 2 meter or 440 machines.
They're too quiet these days.

GW BIRTHDAY EVENTS:

First, THANKS to all the folks who supported the 10K run. We had a record
number of volunteers and a great time after the run.  We only had one call
for help and it was handled quickly and the rest of the race went well.  We
got a thank you note from Mr. Shumard for our help with both the 10K and the
Parade

The GW parade went well with the exception of our D-Star file transfer.
Looks like we have some work to do to get Windows 7 to share files with XP
computers at the other end.  We were able to work around the roblem and the
parade organizers never knew there was an issue.   This will be something we
address at our D-Star 201 program.  We had 15 volunteers support the parade
and that too is a record.

Thank you all VERY much for helping out.  Great support.  We are radio
amateurs but there was nothing amateur about the level of support.

President's Corner

"With the upcoming daylight savings time change nearly upon us, ARC members
can begin to look forward to having more opportunities to enjoy longer
operating hours during the warmer days of spring.   

First, though, thanks go out to all the ARC members and non-ARC hams who
turned out to assist in the annual George Washington Birthday Parade
activities.   Several individuals who have been involved in organizing ham
activities associated with the Parade mentioned that they thought this was
one of the biggest turnouts of ham volunteers in some years.  A lot of fun
was had by all those assisting, and, combined with great weather, made for a
wonderful weekend to "play" with ham radio.    The next big activity threat
involves ARC members is the upcoming Virginia QSO party on March 17 and 18.
Mark Travis, KI4OBT, of the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club, gave a great
presentation at our last club meeting on the Party, with this year's big
change being the period of operation--10:00 am to 10:00 pm March 17, and
8:00 am to 8:00 pm March 18, local time.   We as a club did pretty good well
last year in terms of contacts and scoring, so hopefully ARC members will do
as well or better this year in making contacts across the Commonwealth.   If
you haven't participated in the past, the contest is a lot of fun, and it
really tests your skills in trying to  make contact  with the 95 counties
and 39 independent cities around the state. More information can be found at
http://www.qsl.net/sterling/VA_QSO_Party/2012_VQP/2012_VQP_Main.html .

And, for those who may be familiar with the suite of amateur radio software
products produced by Scott & Kimberly, N3FJP & KA3SEQ, good news--Scott has
issued updates for all their software as of the end of February for the
first time in about five years.   Scott has indicated that he plans to
become re-engaged in writing and producing amateur radio software again, so
this is good news for those of us who use their logging program for the
Virginia QSO Party.   More information can be found at their web site,
www.n3fjp.com .  And, one last thing--it's not too early to be thinking
about visiting the Dayton Hamvention this year.   For those who may be
interested, please feel free to contact Rich Adamy, KA4GFY, for more
information.

73, Marshall KI4MWP

Future Programs

March - HAARP - Steve Floyd W4YHD (Confirmed)

April - Tim -KT4MV -Aviation Communications (Confirmed)

May  - ARRL News - Dennis Bodson W4PWF (Confirmed)

June  - Field Day

July - D-Star 201  - KI4MWP (beyond the local repeater)

August -  ARES/AMSAT/Other??Sept -MCM - Howard, WD5DBC or Tom, N4ZPT
(tentative)

Oct - AMRAD (tentative)

Nov - Elections

Dec - Party

Up Coming Events

Dayton Hamvention-  REMINDER

Rich, KA4GFY had a great article in the last ARCSHORT.  If you've not been
to Dayton, they you've missed an incredible hamfest.  Imagine 30,000 hams in
one place and any type of electronics gear you might think of. 

Rich talked about new gear.  Hamvention is where the manufacturers show off
the NEW stuff before it gets to the stores.  The major stores have their
"get you to the store" deals.  A bunch of us purchased ICOM 706MkIIGs for
$700 one year when the list price was over $1000 and the shipping was free.

There are also great deals on mom and pop operations.  Logging software,
parts, batteries, antennas.  You name it and it will be available.

Rich has some rooms available and car pooling is the ONLY way to go.    It's
about a 12 hour trip each way but if you're in a car or van with a few
friends it's a great time.

If you would like to go, the group leaves on Thursday and returns either
Sunday or Monday (depends on the group).  If you want to join the group,
call Rich, KA4GFY or talk to him at the meeting and reserve your room with
him.

A great side visit is the Air Force Museum.  It gets better every visit.
Some of our group has been interested in the outdoor sports and Cabela's is
on the way home.

Spring Licensing Classes

The Alexandria Radio Club is sponsoring Technician and General licensing
classes beginning March 20, 2012.  Class will run for 10 weeks, with exam
night the last class.   The cost is still $50, which includes the book, test
fee and classroom materials.

The location is 2331 Mill Road, Suite 100, through arrangements made by Roy,
K4AXQ.  It's near the Federal Courthouse and the Eisenhower METRO station.

Class starts at 7 PM and ends around 9 PM.   

If you know someone looking to become licensed or upgrading, send them our
way.  Signing up is easy.  Email me ka4gfy at arrl.net, phone (703) 969-6615 or
sign up through the link on the club web page.  If you haven't seen it,
check out the announcement on the club's web page.    

Upcoming Hamfests

March 31 - Baltimore Hamboree and Computerfest -  Sponsored by the Baltimore
Amateur Radio Club, located at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.
This is probably the largest hamfest in the area.  It features new
equipment, along with indoor and outdoor flea market space.   Note, it's
only one day this year. 

Dayton Hamvention -  REMINDER

Rich, KA4GFY had a great article in the last ARCSHORTS.  If you've not been
to Dayton, they then you've missed an incredible hamfest.  Imagine 30,000
hams in one place and any type of electronics gear you might think of. 

Rich talked about new gear.  Hamvention is where the manufacturers show off
the NEW stuff before it gets to the stores.  The major ham radio stores
often have deals available only at Hamvention their get you to the store
deals.  A bunch of us purchased ICOM 706MkIIGs for $700 one year when the
list price was over $1000 and the shipping was free and because we were
buying from out of state, there was no sales tax.  

There are also great deals on mom and pop operations.  Logging software,
parts, batteries, antennas.  You name it and it will be available.

Rich has some rooms available and car pooling is the ONLY way to go.    It's
about a 12 10 hour trip each way but if you're in a car or van with a few
friends it's a great time.

If you would like to go,  the group leaves on Thursday and returns either
Sunday or Monday (depends on the group).  If you want to join the group,
call Rich, KA4GFY or talk to him at the meeting and reserve your room with
him.

A great side visit is the Air Force Museum.  It gets better every visit.
Some of our group has been interested in the outdoor sports and Cabella's in
is on the way home.

Spring Licensing Classes

The Alexandria Radio Club is sponsoring Technician and General licensing
classes beginning March 20, 2012.  Class will run for 10 weeks, with exam
night the last class.   The cost is still $50, which includes the book, test
fee and classroom materials.

The location is 2331 Mill Road, Suite 100, through arrangements made by Roy,
K4AXQ.  It's near the Federal Courthouse and the Eisenhower METRO station.

Class starts at 7 PM and ends around 9 PM.   

If you know someone looking to become licensed or upgrading, send them our
way.  Signing up is easy.  Email me ka4gfy at arrl.net, phone (703) 969-6615 or
sign up through the link on the club web page.  If you haven't seen it,
check out the announcement on the club's web page.    

Upcoming Hamfests

March 31 - Baltimore Hamboree and Computerfest -  Sponsored by the Baltimore
Amateur Radio Club, located at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.
It's about a 90 minute drive from Alexandria, right off I-83 at exit 17 on
the Northwest side of Baltimore.  Talk-in is on the Baltimore ARC's 146.670
(PL 107.2 Hz) repeater.  This is probably the largest hamfest in the area.
It features new equipment, along with indoor and outdoor flea market space.
Note, it's only one day this year. 

Contests

March 10 & 11 - Idaho QSO Party

March 11 & 12 - Wisconsin QSO Party

March 17 - 10 10 Mobile QSO Party

March 17 - Russian DX Contest

March 17 & 18 - Oklahoma QSO Party

March 17 & 18 - Virginia QSO Party

March 17 & 18 - North Dakota QSO Party

March 24 & 25 - CQ WPX SSB Contest

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 6:15PM. A
good burger and soft drink runs about $10.

Visit to Udvar Hazy - Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  Rick, N4ASX, has
agreed to organize a visit to Udvar Hazy out near Dullaus Airport.
Tentative date is Saturday April 7th.   Let's plan to meet at the Fire
Training Center parking lot and carpool to Udvar Hazy.  They don't charge
for entrance to the Museum but they charge $15 per car to park.  Rick can
take three in his vehicle.