[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Alexandria Radio CLub Meeting Notice and News Letter for JUNE 2014

Thu Jun 5 18:48:51 EDT 2014

ARC-SHORTS

JUNE 2014

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 ALL AR UP AND RUNNING - HAM IT UP! Get on the air!

NEXT CLUB MEETING

Our next meeting is June 13,2014  at 3600 Wheeler Ave.  Just off Duke Street
in Alexandria about 1 block west of Quaker Lane.  We start the meeting at
7PM with our program and follow with a short business meeting.  

This month's program will be Erik who will give us a brief on the outgoing
DX bureau sponsored by the Sterling Park club and a short follow up on Field
Day planning

Dinner prior to the meeting will be at Atlantis (Bradlee shopping center of
Rt. 7 just east of 395) with folks starting to gather about 5:30.  Our guest
speakers get a meal on the club.

MARCH  MEETING MINUTES

PRESIDENT'S column 

This was my first trip to Mecca...er...Dayton this year. It was a long trip,
and I did spend money, but not

more than I intended. I spent all my time looking at the indoor booths. The
weather outside wasn't all that predictable, raining on and off. We saw
sleet on Saturday, and a tornado struck a bit to the east, in Cedarville.
Apparently, I bring bad weather with me to Dayton, since the last couple of
years were clear, so I don't know if I'll be invited back. :)

I picked up some interesting items. My first purchase was a Begali Magnetic
Traveler Light. I also went to the Universal Radio booth, and got the
CommRadio CR1a SDR receiver. They included the rechargeable battery, and a
Universal Radio lunch bag. I also picked up a $39 frequency counter (50Mhz -
2.4Ghz). I had Rich key up on 146.52 so I could see if it worked or if it
was just a random number generator. It worked!

At this point, I discovered that these were medium sized purchases that I
would have to carry around with me for the rest of the day. That was my
first lesson learned: Buy bigger items closer to the end of the day, if you
can't get the seller to hold them. :)

I was interested in the Enigma Museum, where two 3-rotor German Engima
machines were being displayed. I bought a book on the Enigma, and the author
signed it for me. The ARRL was giving out really nice challenge coins, and I
noticed VERY FEW booths selling non-ham radio/electronic items.

I went to a forum on kit building, and one on radio and embedded Linux
devices. This forum had so many people, they were standing, and sitting on
the floor. I learned some, 

but did not come away with any new ideas for personally using a Raspberry Pi
or BeagleBone in my shack, which was my objective.

The meals:

Thursday breakfast: Cracker Barrel in Winchester

Thursday Lunch: Sheetz Gas Station/Food (yeah, real upscale!)

Thursday Dinner: Texas Roadhouse (crowded, noisy, but the best steak I've
ever had!)

Friday Breakfast: Hotel free breakfast (eggs, biscuits, sausage gravy,
juice)

Friday Lunch: $5 cheeseburger and $3 lemonade at the show

Friday Dinner: Smokey Bones (less noisy, still crowded, food OK)

Saturday Breakfast: See Friday

Saturday Lunch: 2 x $3.50 Cokes

Saturday Dinner: Max & Ermas (free dessert for the table, free burger for
me, because they forgot my order)

Sunday Breakfast: Waffle House (Sorry, Rick, but I give it at least a 9!)
Sunday Lunch: McDonalds in WV

Sunday Dinner: Whatever I could find at the house 

We left early on Sunday. I enjoyed the trip, but I was "shopped out", and
like others in our party, I had to go to work on Monday. One of the cars in
the convoy had tire problems.

We all need to thank Rich for organizing this, and I hope he continues to do
so. If I go next year, I'm going to do like this year, and make a shopping
list, and add some to the budget for "incidentals".

A good time was had by all, as far as I could tell.

73,

-- Tom KJ4FUU

President, Alexandria Radio Club

Silent Key

It is with great sadness that I report the loss of Mike Larkin  KE4ER.  Mike
passed away from a heart attack on May 1st.  Mike had a military career and
then worked as a civilian contractor as well as a very active amateur radio
operator with the Mt. Vernon Amateur Radio Club.  Mike had participated in
many of our public service events.

The following was sent out by Dick, WA4USB on behalf of Mike's family.

The following equipment will be put up for sale at upcoming hamfests. This
is a partial list of the gear that I know personally was in working
condition.

ICOM 746 Pro With SM 50 Desk Microphone and SP 23 Speaker

Astron 35 amp power supply

MFJ Electronic Keyer

MFJ DC Outlet    4 plug set

A full station of Drake 

     TR 7 HF Transceiver

     PS7 Power Supply

     MN2700 Tuner

     RV75 VFO

     MS7 Speaker

     Drake Desk Microphone

     L7 HF Amplifier  220 volt

     L7 Power Supply

ICOM 2800 Dual Band Transceiver   Separate face controller

ICOM 3200 Dual Band Transceiver with PacComm TNC

Kenwood TH28 handheld with desk base charger

There are also antennas ----   HF and VHF Verticals and a VHF Beam.

In addition there are a number of pieces that I would term as collectible
(Gonsets). Give me a shout if you are a collector.

If you have interest contact me at oliverap at msn.com

Field Day 

Jack and Rick are sharing the Field Day chair duties this year and Steve
will be our chef.  The new location is Hensley Park across from the
Alexandria Animal Shelter on Eisenhower Ave.  The club will make use of it's
four HF radios and will be 4A (15,20,40 and 75M).  If you wish to work an
alternative mode, you will need to bring out your key or interface gear.  

The goals are to maximize the fun and team work.  CW and digital count for
double points!  

The club has a 2KW generator and we have a few others in the club.  I'm not
sure yet if the pavilion has AC power, but we will have checked this out
before the next meeting.  

Rick has lots of aluminum if you want to try a new antenna design.  

Food will be $10 per person for 3+ meals (Saturday lunch and dinner and
Sunday Breakfast, left overs for Sunday lunch.)

The goal is for EVERYONE to get some operating time.  If someone else wants
to operate, the max time will be one hour.  

Jack will have more details at the next meeting.  We may print out a station
schedule to allow folks to set up to come out when they can to operate. This
is dependent on the team leaders.

It's always a fun time.  For new hams you don't need to bring anything, just
come out and try your hand at operating.  We will operate for 24 hours and
we have about 4 hours to set up ahead of kick off time.  

ARRL 100th Anniversary 

In order to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Amateur Radio Relay
League (ARRL), there are several events taking place.  There is the get
together in July and there are W1AW stations working thought each one of the
states, and on going contest to work ARRL volunteers.  If you are a VEC,
OES, EC, or other ARRL volunteer you are worth points.  No need to keep a
log if you use Log Book of the World.  ARRL will total your points based on
the call signs you work.

Hamfests - 

June means Manassas Hamfest sponsored by the Old Virginia Hams.  This year's
takes place June 8 at the Prince William County Fairgrounds.  This is a
great local hamfest featuring both indoor and outdoor spaces.  The club
usually gets a tailgate spot or two.  Bring your excess (?) equipment and
take home some new equipment.    

The Mid Atlantic Antique Radio Club is sponsoring Radio Activity,  June 26
through 28 at the Holiday Inn, Timonium, MD.  If you are interested in
antique radios, this looks like a reallky great event.  See the website at
www.maarc.org.  This is right next to the MD state fairgrounds where the
Baltimore ARC holds their hamfest in early April.  

Training - 

We are planning the next class starting at the end of September or early
October.  The plan is to be sure the class is finished in early December.
If you know of someone who wants to become a ham, send them our way.  As
always, they are welcome to attend our meetings.       

Contests -

June 7 - Alabama QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.

June 14 and 15 - ARRL June VHF Contest - Exchange is Grid Square.  Most of
us are located in FM18.  All bands 50 MHz and up.  Primarily CW and SSB, but
there is some FM activity.  FM activity is limited to 6, 2, 1.25 meters and
70 cm only.  CW and SSB are allowed on all the bands.  This is a great
opportunity to use those all mode HF/VHF/UHF radios that are so prevalent
now.  

June 21 - Kids Day.  Not a contest, but an opportunity to introduce young
people to the world of amateur radio.   The idea is to get kids to talk to
each other. 

June 28 and 29 - ARRL Field Day.  Field Day is technically not a contest,
but an emergency preparedness exercise.  However, we do keep score and
accumulate points for number of contacts, number of stations and many other
categories.  

July 1 - RAC Canada Day Contest - HF bands both CW and SSB.  Exchange is RST
and a serial number.

Update to club equipment - 

Thanks to the resourcefulness of Doug, AK4QY, we now have a compatible
keyboard for the club's Ten Tec Jupiter.  Last year, I installed the latest
software upgrade which enables the Jupiter to read CW right off the air.
The keyboard allows us to send CW without using a key or keyer.  Bottom
line, you won't need to know CW to send and receive with this setup.  The
plan is to utilize CW as much as possible during Field Day on 80/75 meters.
For scoring purposes, CW contacts are worth twice as much as phone contacts.

73, 

Rich, KA4GFY

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 PM. A
good burger and soft drink runs about $11.00.

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