From ki4d at arrl.net  Tue Oct  1 06:00:30 2013
From: ki4d at arrl.net (Don Lewis (KI4D))
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2013 06:00:30 -0400
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] FW: VOA Radiogram during the
	government shutdown
Message-ID: <069d01cebe8d$0fff5160$2ffdf420$@net>

For those interested in receiving digital transmissions by VOA, here is the status of the VOA Radiogram program for the coming weekend.

 

Don, KI4D 

 

From: VOA Radiogram [mailto:radiogram at voanews.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2013 4:50 AM
To: VOA Radiogram; kimweb at verizon.net
Subject: VOA Radiogram during the government shutdown

 




Hello friends,

You probably have heard the news about the US government shutdown. Congress has not sent to the White House an appropriations resolution that would allow continued funding of US government operations.

While VOA will remain on the air to provide news in its 42 languages, I will be on furlough during the shutdown and may not be able to produce a new VOA Radiogram for the weekend on 6-7 October. If the shutdown continues through the weekend, the transmitters, if they are on the air during the four half-hours of VOA Radiogram, will probably broadcast last weekend's program, number 28, again.

After about 1500 UTC today, 1 October 2013, I will not be able to use this email account to send or receive emails until the shutdown ends.

My personal website, www.kimandrewelliott.com, will continue to be updated during the shutdown, and you can correspond with me using the email address for that website: kimweb at verizon.net 

The VOA Radiogram website, voaradiogram.net, will remain online during the shutdown, but I will not be able to update it after 1500 UTC today. I have already posted on that website some interesting results from the past weekend's program. 

Thanks to all of you who sent reception reports for VOA Radiogram during the weekend of 28-29 September. I will respond to all of your emails but will not be able to do so until after the shutdown.

And now I begin my unscheduled vacation....

Kim

Kim Andrew Elliott
Producer and Presenter
VOA Radiogram
voaradiogram.net




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From ki4d at arrl.net  Tue Oct  1 22:39:36 2013
From: ki4d at arrl.net (Don Lewis (KI4D))
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2013 22:39:36 -0400
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Baofeng UV-5R Dual Band Radio
Message-ID: <091d01cebf18$a3127820$e9376860$@net>

Tonight at the first session of the Alexandria Radio Club license classes
Ian asked me to post on the reflector the link for the radio I mentioned,
the Baofeng UV-5R dual band radio, for those who might be interested.  The
price of the Baofeng is $31.74 on Amazon.com.  

 

There is a lot of information on the Internet about this radio and it is FCC
approved, which is not the case with some ham radios on the market today.
The price of the radio today on Amazon is about one half of what it was last
year this time on the open market.  It can be found on Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-5R-136-174-400-480-Dual-Band/dp/B007H4VT7A.

 

The key features include:

- FM broadcast radio 

- National Weather Service radio broadcasts for emergencies, including
weather alert mode

- Family Service Radio (FRS) 2-way radio - search and rescue, camping,
hiking, vehicular travel, etc

- General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) 2-way radio - search and rescue;
currently requires a license, and the applicant must be 18. No testing.

- Amateur Radio Service - dual band (VHF/UHF) full capabilities - requires
testing for licensing, no age restriction 

 

 

Here are two videos describing the radio.

 

--Baofeng UV-5R overview 2M/70CM handheld radio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqzTJq-0EJs

 

--Baofeng UV-5R Review and Set-Up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56PvtAqacz8

 

Don

 

KI4D


From ebradshaw at gmail.com  Thu Oct  3 20:49:43 2013
From: ebradshaw at gmail.com (Edward Bradshaw)
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2013 20:49:43 -0400
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Oct 3 Net
Message-ID: <B11EB766-E681-4404-B13F-3C290D07E338@gmail.com>

ak4qy doug
kk4inz craig

jeremy kf7ijz
rick n4asx
don ki4d
rich ka4gfy
jack k5otz
pete n2kfa
tom kj4fuu
ted k4hnl
harry n4cwp
bill wb4kfo

From ik7565 at verizon.net  Tue Oct  8 17:47:57 2013
From: ik7565 at verizon.net (Ian)
Date: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 17:47:57 -0400
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] portable generators
In-Reply-To: <09039A4BB9E8CA4F9FD224E536E7CEBB3AAB13FE60@MAIL01.INT.FHFA.GOV>
References: <09039A4BB9E8CA4F9FD224E536E7CEBB3AAB13FE60@MAIL01.INT.FHFA.GOV>
Message-ID: <000401cec470$0e0457f0$2a0d07d0$@verizon.net>

Useful info about portable generators:

https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_Hurricane_Facts/grounding_port_generator.pd
f 

https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_Hurricane_Facts/portable_generator_safety.p
df 

73, Ian N8IK 

 

 


From ik7565 at verizon.net  Tue Oct  8 17:51:55 2013
From: ik7565 at verizon.net (Ian)
Date: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 17:51:55 -0400
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] portable generators
In-Reply-To: <09039A4BB9E8CA4F9FD224E536E7CEBB3AAB13FE60@MAIL01.INT.FHFA.GOV>
References: <09039A4BB9E8CA4F9FD224E536E7CEBB3AAB13FE60@MAIL01.INT.FHFA.GOV>
Message-ID: <000901cec470$9b91adc0$d2b50940$@verizon.net>

Trying again to see if the links will stay intact..

 

Useful info about portable generators:

https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_Hurricne_Facts/grounding_port_generator.pdf


https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_Hurricane_Facts/portable_generator_safety.p
df   

73, Ian N8IK 

 


From ik7565 at verizon.net  Wed Oct  9 20:01:22 2013
From: ik7565 at verizon.net (Ian)
Date: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 20:01:22 -0400
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] N9ACC
Message-ID: <004501cec54b$dba3b080$92eb1180$@verizon.net>

Our very own Arnal N9ACC is going on a DXpedition to J3:
http://www.arrl.org/news/informal-grenada-commemorative-operations-set 

 

73, Ian N8IK 


From ki4d at arrl.net  Thu Oct 10 22:04:00 2013
From: ki4d at arrl.net (Don Lewis (KI4D))
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 22:04:00 -0400
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Net check-ins for 10/11/2013
References: <51975CC7.6040400@cox.net> 
Message-ID: <068801cec626$3591d650$a0b582f0$@net>


Net Control: Don, KI4D

Craig, KK4INZ
Ted, K4HNL
Rich,	KA4GFY
Rick, N4ASX
Larry, KK4CBL
Tom, KJ4FUU
Pete, N2KFA
John, KK4RBB
Jeremy, KF7IJZ
Ian, N8IK

73,

Don


From walkerl at mindspring.com  Sun Oct 13 10:58:06 2013
From: walkerl at mindspring.com (Larry Walker)
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 10:58:06 -0400
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Net Controls for next period
Message-ID: <000901cec824$a03663e0$e0a32ba0$@mindspring.com>

.        Oct 17 - KA4GFY

.        Oct 24 - N4ASX

.        Oct 31 - KJ4FUU

.        Nov 7 - KI4D

Larry Walker

KK4CBL

 


From kf7ijz at gmail.com  Thu Oct 17 16:12:45 2013
From: kf7ijz at gmail.com (KF7IJZ - Jeremy Kolonay)
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 16:12:45 -0400
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] An open apology to Roy
Message-ID: <CAE0eeLOuMOE5FVv6J42iPEOBN5Y_Xmy_e1vqnCXBen0OOVNu_Q@mail.gmail.com>

It has come to my attention that there was an unintended consequence of my
disagreement in the last club meeting.  I've been informed that some
members present at October's meeting took my concerns to imply that I was
concerned that Roy was somehow untrustworthy or a thief.  Hearing this made
me realize that I did a terrible job of making my point in the meeting.

I want to publicly apologize to Roy for leaving folks with the impression
that I was implying that he wasn't to be trusted.  In hindsight, I
completely understand how that conclusion could be reached based on my
argument.  Roy has done a wonderful job of keeping the club website
organized, up to date, and easy to find and has not demonstrated any
behavior that would warrant suspicion.

My (poorly expressed) point was from the perspective of removing *ANYONE* from
being in a position where incredulous activity could be accused as it
pertained to club monies..  My anger stemmed from the fact that I felt like
Roy had started collecting funds in to a non club controlled account
without club input.  I would have felt the same way regardless of who had
done this and it was not directed at Roy personally.

As a former officer, it was requested that I provide information that would
give me access to club funds and bank accounts.  In the end, I never
carried out this request because I didn't want to be in a position where
malfeasance could ever be construed.  Overall, I had VERY conservative
views on matters that related to club funds.

So Roy, I am terribly sorry for unintentionally painting you in a negative
light.

Thank you.

-- 
Jeremy / KF7IJZ

From swagner at mitre.org  Tue Oct 22 22:02:11 2013
From: swagner at mitre.org (Wagner, Steven M.)
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 02:02:11 +0000
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] JOTA/JOTI
Message-ID: <CE8CA662.4BA8%swagner@mitre.org>

Folks,

Don (KI4D) and I had a great time this past weekend ?great weather and met a bunch of young eager scouts!!  I received an article and wanted to pass along:

----------------------------
October 19th, 2013 - Boy Scout Troops 581, 1372 and 884, along with the Ole Virginia HAMs Club (W4OVH) from Manassas, Virginia hosted the worldwide Jamboree On-the-Air (JOTA) and Jamboree On-the-Internet (JOTI) operating from an outdoor venue in Bristow, Virginia.
Field expedient antennas were erected on-site to support the JOTA operations and Scouts from the area spoke on-the-air using High Frequency (HF) and Very High Frequency (VHF) radio systems.  Regional communications were established with other participating Troops conducting similar JOTA field operations from Camps Highroad and Snyder, The Mountain Amateur Radio Club, Maryland and Sky Meadows, Virginia.
Wireless Hot Spots for internet connectivity were established on-site for the JOTI operations and an internet caf? was set up to support the JOTI chat rooms transmitting voice and text communications throughout the United States and Worldwide using the internet.
Seventy-one Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Venture Scouts and Scout Leaders from 15 different Troops/Packs/Crews participated in the 6-hour event logging more than 200 contacts with other Scouts from all over the country that included Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Wisconsin and California.  Contacts were also logged from around the globe with England, Germany, South Africa, Croatia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Columbia, Venezuela, France, India, Portugal, Peru, Indonesia, Guyana, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Cyprus, Malta, Wales, the Philippines, Italy and many points in between.
This was the 56th year for the annual JOTA event and the 17th year for JOTI and it was the 4th year that Troop 581 hosted the events.  All participating Scouts, young and old, had the opportunity to complete many of the requirements for the Radio Merit Badge and learn a lot about amateur (HAM) radio and emergency radio communications while earning the international JOTA/JOTI participation patch doing it.

--end--
73
Steve, W8RJH


From ki4d at arrl.net  Thu Oct 24 15:28:58 2013
From: ki4d at arrl.net (Don Lewis (KI4D))
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 15:28:58 -0400
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] FW: New modes on VOA Radiogram,
	26-27 Oct 2013
Message-ID: <04c301ced0ef$4a0f7050$de2e50f0$@net>

The VOA Radiogram Program will be featuring two new fast HF digital modes this weekend, MFSK64L and MFSK128L.  See the complete details in Kim's (KD9XB) email note below.  As you may know, Kim frequently checks in to our Alexandria Radio Club weekly net.  It could be quite interesting  to check out the reliability of the latest HF fast digital modes in action this weekend, although those of us who are supporting the 38th Marine Corps Marathon this weekend will likely miss some of the broadcasts.   

 

Don, KI4D

 

The VOA Radiogram transmission schedule is as follows:


(all days and times UTC)
Sat 1600-1630 17860 kHz
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz
Sun 1300-1330 6095 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz



 

From: VOA Radiogram [mailto:radiogram at voanews.com] 
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2013 11:57 AM
To: VOA Radiogram
Subject: New modes on VOA Radiogram, 26-27 Oct 2013

 

Hello friends,

 

In the past few weeks, we have included the MFSK64 and MFSK128 modes in VOA Radiogram. These fast modes are useful for sending large amounts of information, including html coding. But they are often prone to errors if shortwave reception conditions are less than ideal.

 

To address that problem, the Fldigi development team has created long interleave versions of the two modes: MFSK64L and MFSK128L. They include a "6.25 second interleaver for very robust HF reception."  The new MFSK64L and MFSK128L modes are available in the latest "alpha" version of Fldigi, 3.21.76AR, available from http://www.w1hkj.com/alpha/fldigi/v3.21/

 

During VOA Radiogram for the weekend of 26-27 October 2013, we will transmit the same VOA news story in the MFSK64 "short," then in MFSK64L. After that, we will do the same comparison with MFSK128 and MFSK128L.

 

When you are the w1hkj.com website <http://www.w1hkj.com/download.html> , please also download the latest version of Flmsg: 1.1.33. In the past, diacritics and non-Latin alphabets would not display correctly after an Flmsg item was received, because Flmsg used a different character set. Flmsg 1.1.33 uses the UTF-8 character set, same as used for international language alphabets. Because of this, the VOA Spanish news item at the end of the show, after the Flmsg item, should display the correct diacritics.

 

Here is the lineup of  modes for VOA Radiogram, number 30, 26-27 October 2013:

 

3:17  MFSK16: Program preview

7:02  MFSK16/32/64/128: Image in each mode

:45  MFSK32: Introduction to MFSK64L and 128L

1:43  MFSK64: VOA News re flying cars 

2:00  MFSK64L*: Same VOA News story

2:16  MFSK32 image: Flying car in flight

1:20  MFSK128: VOA News re oldest comet strike

1:36  MFSK128L*: Same VOA News story

2:12  MFSK32/Flmsg**: News from kimandrewelliott.com

2:26  MFSK32: VOA News in Spanish re Blackberry

:33  MFSK32: Closing announcements   

 

*Requires Fldigi 3.21.76AR. Note that text will not display until a few seconds after the tones are heard. 

 

**Use Flmsg 1.1.33 to ensure that the accents appear correctly on the VOA Spanish news item that follows. To make Flmsg work with Fldigi, in Fldigi: Configure > Misc > NBEMS -- Under reception of flmsg files, check both boxes, and under that indicate where your flmsg.exe file (1.1.33) is located.

 

Please send your reception reports to radiogram at voanews.com. Audio samples and screenshots are also appreciated.

 

Thanks to those of you who sent emails after last weekend's program. I hope to have those answered by this weekend.

 

Kim

 

Kim Andrew Elliott

Producer and Presenter

 

VOA Radiogram

radiogram at voanews.com

http://voaradiogram.net

Twitter: @voaradiogram

 


From ki4d at arrl.net  Tue Oct 29 17:23:45 2013
From: ki4d at arrl.net (Don Lewis (KI4D))
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 17:23:45 -0400
Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Two-Way Radios Cause Interference
	| NBC 10 Philadelphia
Message-ID: <022801ced4ed$2701a540$7504efc0$@net>

The upside of really cheap VHF/UHF radios like the Baofeng UV-5R can be
readily appreciated, however, the downside is that their low-price makes
them attractive as toys.  This news item about interference by kids using
Baofeng UV-5Rs raises concerns about a potential horror story during a real
life disaster while trying to maintain critical communications or directed
nets.    

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/video/#!/news/local/Two-Way-Radios-Cause-Inte
rference/228086451 


