[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Arc Short - Oct 12

[Rick Bunn]

ARC-SHORTS

 

October, 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, Ocotober 12th 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 this month will be
presentations from our

prospective new officers for next year and a timely presentation on D-Star.

 

September Meeting Program

Our September our program was presented by Mr. Art Blank, WA7NB, Art was
part of the

Midway Island DXpedition and has been on may other DXpeditions. He provided
a great deal of

insight into what it takes to put on a DXpedition and why folks do it. Lots
of money and lots of

effort go into putting rare entities on the air and being at the other end
of the pile up sounds like

one needs a great deal of skill and professionalism. It was a shame to hear
that some operators

don’t behave themselves when DX is on the air. The video was interesting,
but the real interest

was Art’s presentation and his response to questions.

 

September MEETING – Minutes KJ4FUU

1. Open meeting

2. Introductions: KJ4FUU, pass sign-in roster

3. Treasurer’s report: W9TCE, $20 dues, $20 DSTAR fund, 50/50 tickets

4. Secretary’s report: KJ4FUU – latest body count – 39 paid members

5. Committee reports:

a. Training Report – KA4GFY

Class begins 10/09 @ 3600 Wheeler Ave., 17 members, cost: $50

Exam on 12/11, no class on election day

b. ARES – N4ASX

October National SET Test, www.aresva.org [Alexandria City]. We may have a
drill

in October. Marine Corps Marathon – Deanna Lutz offered to come back. Web
site:

www.marinemarathon.com

c. Repeater & remote receivers – KT4MV, KF7IJZ, K4GOR, KA4GFY

No changes in status reported. 33Cm, 2m up; 1.25m ½ done, 70cm, 23cm down

d. DSTAR – KI4MWP

1 new user registered, new DSTAR capable ICOM models released

e. Webmaster – K4AXQ

Current, updated. 2 virus hits in 5 days, came in through WordPress. Roy
will change the

dinner time on the site.

6. Upcoming Events:

a. Marine Corps Marathon, October 28th, www.ncacdc.com

7. Hamfests:

a. Virginia Beach – tomorrow – 9 – 4, $10 admission

8. Old Business:

a. Berryville hamfest report?

Nice, but nobody bought our junk.

9. New Business:

a. W9TCE - Ways and Means

b. Nominating committee for 2013 club officers

Current candidates: Tom KJ4FUU, president; Jeremy KF7IJZ, vice president;

Steve W8RJH, treasurer; Bobby KK4CKJ, Larry KK4CBL, any position

c. Holiday Party - December 14th at Mango Mike’s

d. FAR Fest – T-MARC meeting

10. Net Controls: September 20: ____N4ASX______

September 27: ____KA4GFY_____

October 4: _______K4GOR______

October 11: _____KF7IJZ_______

October 12: next meeting

11. Last call for 50/50, then pull winning ticket – Winner: Jay KV3W

Speaker: Art Blank, WA7NB - DXpeditioning

Adjourned

 

Future Programs

Nov – Elections

Dec – Party

January 2013 – New Year Business meeting – New officers, budget, plans and
programs

Washington’s Birthday operation.

February 2013 –

March 2013

April 2013

May 2013 –

June 2013 – Field Day prep meeting

July 2013

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013– Club Elections

December 2013 – Club Party

 

SKYWARN Basic Class will be presented early next year, There may be a need
to start our

meeting early to cover all the material. I’ve asked NOAA to plan for
February or March.

Let me know what YOU would like to hear. The alternative might be a DX video
or How many

ways you can mess up your wire dipole.

73 Rick N4ASX

 

CLUB ELECTIONS – Passing to torch

Craig Church has volunteered to be a officer nomination chair. If you are
interested in running

for office, please send Craig a short note at GOR.Craig at verizon.net.

So Far the nominees are

Tom KJ4FUU – President

Jeremey KF7IJZ – VP

Steve Wagner W8RJH – Treasurer

Larry – KK4CBL – VP/Tres/Sec

Bobby – KK4CKJ – VP/Tres/Sec

Nominations can be taken from the floor, but the nominee must agree to be
placed on the ballot.

 

President's Notes

With cooler days ahead and the days getting shorter, ARC members thoughts
turn to preparing

their outdoor gear for the cold days that lie ahead. The National Capital
region was fortunate

over the past two winters to have had a relatively mild winter season, but
that doesn't mean that

"past success is a guarantee for future problem-free DX'ing!" As I mentioned
last month, now

in the waning warm days of October is the time to check all that outdoor
gear for good seals and

tight connections. Also, have you thought about what you would do with
regards to outside

equipment (cables, wire antennas, Yagis, towers, etc.) if we were to have a
significant icing

event?

 

A number of us have seen pictures in QST of the effects of significant
snowfall or ice on

antennas and how they can bow dramatically under the weight. ARC members who
have outside

equipment/antennas may want to consider what type of a plan they would
implement to try and

clear any significant accumulations off their gear that could be
accomplished safely.

A few minutes of thought in developing a plan can be well worth the effort
if issues develop later

this winter!

 

Also, the latter part of October brings with it an annual ham activity, the
Marine Corps

Marathon. Hams have been actively engaged in assisting the Corps as well as
the participants

pretty much since the inception of the event in 1976. Our club has been
particularly active in

assisting, and that tradition of help continues on this year. I have been
fortunate in being

able to assist in past years, and it has been one of the more gratifying
events I have experienced

as a ham. For those near the Mall area, there is nothing more exhilarating
to see than the rising

sun in the crisp October air over the Capitol dome and the Washington
Monument in the inky

early dawn. Many hams devote many hours of public service to this event, and
the event

officials have said year after year that without the ham's assistance, they
couldn't do all that they

do for the participants. For those who are assisting for either the first
time or once again this

year, my thanks go out to you for all the work and help that you do in
providing service to the

Marine Corps Marathon participants, and promoting the use of amateur radio
to the public. I

hope that all those amateur radio operators assisting this year have clear
skies and warm

temperatures, and once more have a successful, trouble free event!

 

73,

Marshall

 

ARES

Marine Corps Marathon is on for October 28th. This is the BIGGEST public
service event of the

year. Many of the local repeaters will be in use to support this effort.
Many of our members will

be putting in some serious hours to provide some serious support to this
event. To those

members, my thanks

 

Trailer changes

Rich, KA4GFY and I did some upgrades to the trailer. The trailer now has a
new Kenwood

D710A programmed with the RT software (yes, we have the software and the
cable). Packet

frequencies were not installed but they will be dependent on what we do with
APRS and Packet.

We still need to find a suitable GPS receiver that can be mounted out on the
roof and fed to the

radio to use the APRS display or to beacon when we use the trailer. A new
tri-band (1.2Ghz, 2

Meter, 440Mhz) antenna was also installed for the two D-Star radios. So, we
now have

1200/9600 baud packet capability and D-Star digital voice and data
capability as well as the

ability to run 3 two meter and 3 440Mhz channels if needed. Further we have
a 22 channel 60

watt Midland commercial radio on 6 meters an Alinco 235 on 220 Mhz, and a
P-25 trunking

scanner in the trailer. We will be upgrading the power distribution system
and may look at

installing a swing up awning for solar battery charging. We will have a
trailer cleaning party

prior to Marine Corps Marathon. The trailer will once again be on site with
Rich KA4GFY and

Cameron K6CLM at Aid Station 4.

 

73 Rick

N4ASX

 

Upcoming Contests –

Oct 13 – Arizona Centennial QSO Party. Exchange is your name and state.

Oct 13 - Pennsylvania QSO Party. Exchange is a serial number and ARRL
section.

Oct 15 through 19 – Aimed primarily at school clubs, but anybody can
participate. Exchange is

the signal report, your class and state.

Oct 20 - Iowa QSO Party. Exchange is the signal report and state.

Oct 20 – New York QSO Party. Exchange is a signal report and state.

Oct 20 and 21 – W/VE islands QSO Party. Exchange is signal report and state.

Oct 20 and 21 – Worked All Germany. Exchange is signal report and serial
number.

Oct 21 and 22 – Illinois QSO Party. Exchange is signal report and state.

Oct 27 and 28 – CQ World Wide SSB Contest. Exchange is a signal report and
CQ zone. We

are in zone “5.”

Nov 3 through 5 – ARRL CW Sweepstakes. Exchange for this one is a little
more complicated.

It’s the other station’s call, a serial number, a precedence, your call, the
year you were first

licensed and your ARRL section. For example: N8IK, number 1 A, KA4GFY, 79,
VA. The

ARRL website explains the precedence and categories. Most of us are “A.”
Remember, you

can’t work somebody more than once, regardless of the band.

 

Upcoming Hamfests –

Oct 21 – Mason-Dixon Hamfest. Located at the Carroll County, MD Agricultural
Center, 706

Agriculture Drive, Westminster, MD, 21157. The entrance is located just off
the intersection

with Smith Avenue. Nice venue for a hamfest.

 

Classes –

We have a new venue this fall. The location is the Alexandria Police
Department HQs, the same

location as our meetings. In fact, the very same room. The plan is to do the
Technician class in

the Fall and the General in the spring.

As of Columbus Day, we have between 20 and 25 students that we know of.
There can always

be a few that read about the class and come to class without contacting us
for information.

This is GREAT news. We look forward to a large class of new hams. The
Amateur Radio

Service is growing. The number of US amateur licenses is over 706, 000.

 

FCC News –

The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Oct 2 with some
changes to the

Amateur Service.

The first proposal is to allow Time Division Multiple Access emission. The
idea is that more

than one station can occupy a repeater channel at the same time. This
emission is starting to gain

traction in the public safety arena. We already have repeaters using the P25
protocol as well as

DSTAR and even a few proprietary types.

 

The other parts deal with licensing. The first has to do with allowing
credit for expired licenses.

Many people may have held a license in the past and for one reason or
another became inactive

and may have let their license lapse. The proposal is to allow those people
to claim credit for the

material they past originally. So, if a former ham had a General license in
the 1970’s and it has

now expired, they would be able to get a new General license by proving they
had the license.

Keep in mind, this does not affect Certificates of Successful Completion.

Based on that, the 2 year grace period is reduced to 180 days, since the
former ham would be

able to claim lifetime credit for elements passed. This would also affect
the vanity call system

because somebody looking to get a vanity call would only have to wait 181
days before an

expired call becomes available.

 

The other proposal is to reduce the number of VEs required at an exam
session from 3 to 2. The

reasoning is that many smaller areas have trouble finding 3 VEs to
administer exams. There

have been exceptions on a case by case basis, but the 3 VE rule has been
around since the

beginning of the VE program.

These are only proposals at this point. If you would like to comment on this
NPRM, its number

is 12-283.

 

TMARC News –

The Mid Atlantic Amateur Radio Council (TMARC), the repeater coordinating
body for this area

held a meeting at the Columbia ARA Hamfest over the Columbus Day weekend.
The main topic

was changes coming to the 70 cm repeater frequencies. As of now, TMARC
utilizes repeaters

with high frequency in and low frequency out as well as low frequency in and
high frequency out

70 cm repeaters. The commercial/public safety standard is high in/low out.
The Southeastern

Repeater Association and coordinating bodies around us use that protocol as
well. So, TMARC

wants to standardize the 70 cm repeaters. This will not directly affect us,
but will affect

repeaters in the area because they will eventually need to flip their input
and output frequencies.

It is only a proposal at this point. Get ready to start reprogramming your
70 cm radio.

73, Rich, KA4GFY

 

CLUB Christmas Dinner

The Holiday/Christmas party will be at Mango Mikes on our regular meeting
night December

14th (second Friday). , and it looks like we have four members interested in
running for various

offices at the moment

Marshall

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.

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ARC_SHORTS OCTOBER 12.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 59835 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/alexandriaradioclub/attachments/20121007/2a52cb45/attachment-0001.pdf