[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] NOVEMBER 2017 Alexandria Radio Club News letter - ARC SHORTS

[Rick Bunn]

ARC-SHORTS

NOVEMBER 2017


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 
ARE UP AND RUNNING - HAM IT UP! Get on the air!
SPECIAL NOTE:  DMR REPEATER PENDING!!!!!!

NEXT CLUB MEETING

Our next meeting is November 10th at 7PM at the Police Dispatch Center at
3600-Wheeler Ave.  Just off Duke St on the south side half a block west of
Quaker Lane.  Dinner at Atlantis Restaurant at about 5:30 prior to the
meeting.  This meeting is the last for the year and we have a bunch of club
business we must transact.  First are nominations for and election of the
club officers for next year.  Unlike a lot of club's, we have TERM LIMITS.
This give all a chance to have a say in the way the club is run.   We also
need to: establish a budget committee and audit committee and prepare for
next year.  We should also talk about the December party.

MEETING MINUTES.

Our October program was provided by Chief Corey Smedley had of the City's
Emergency Management Office.  He pointed out that we are an important part
of the city's emergency response and he expects to integrate our ARES group
and ask us to help with more events in the near future.  The cities EOC will
have space for amateur equipment and we will need to move forward with
installation of equipment at the hospital.  

DMR REPEATER SOON!!!

We now have a DMR Repeater frequency. It's on 442.4125 MHz, +5 MHz offset
and Color Code 1. N8IK is updating the club's code plug and programming the
club's DMR radio with the new frequency.

All we have left is to program the repeater, re-tune the duplexers (or order
new ones) and install the repeater.

We will keep everybody posted with the progress.

73, Rich, KA4GFY

President's Corner

Well, my term as the club president is coming to an end soon. Overall, I've
had fun being your president. Now it's time to pass the proverbial torch
onto the next generation. With club officer elections coming up at the next
club meeting, I beg you to please attend (Friday the 10th at 7 PM) to have
your voice heard and counted. 

As for operating events, Sweepstakes is being held this coming weekend for
CW, 2 weeks later for SSB. For Sweepstakes, your goal is to contact as many
ARRL sections and RAC (Canadian) sections as possible within the 30 hour
time frame. 

See you on the airwaves!

73 DE KI4BXU

-- 
Erik Misavage, KI4BXU
<ki4bxu at mac.com <mailto:ki4bxu at mac.com> >


Future Programs

November 10   - Elections 
December 8th - Annual Christmas / Holiday Party
Possible programs: Contesting HF/VHF, AMSAT, AMRAD, RF Interference (power
company), Logging programs, Dayton follow up, Marine Corps Marathon.
January 12, 2018 -- Installation of new officers - Budget review - Selection
of chairpersons for Membership, Field Day and planning for the Washington's
Birthday Parade.
February 9, 2018 -- Washington's Birthday follow up.
March 9, 2018 -
April 13, 2018- Field Day Planning
May 11, 2018 - Dayton Hamvention
June 8, 2018-
July 13, 2018 -
August 10, ,2018 -
September 14,2018  --
October 12, 2018 - Planning for 2019, Nominations, budget etc.
November 9, 2018 -- Elections
December 14,2018 - Annual Holiday Party.  

Let me know what you want to hear about.  HELP!!!!  If you have an idea for
a program, please let Rick know and he will try to find someone to provide
the program.  If you know someone you would like to have present a program,
let me know Rick, N4ASX
Hamfests -
The 2nd annual American Legion PGCERA SantaFest is on December 9.  The
location is the American Legion Youth Camp in Cheltenham, MD. It's sponsored
by the Prince Georges County Emergency Radio Association and the American
Legion.    
The next hamfests won't be until next year.  We start off the year with the
Post Holiday Hamfest on January 28, 2018 in Odenton, MD.  It's sponsored by
the Maryland Mobileers and is located at the Odenton Fire station on Route
175 in Odenton.  Talk in is on the 146.805 MHz repeater with a 107.2 Hz PL.
Info at
https://sites.google.com/site/marylandmobileers/hamfests-1/hamfest-2.

Training - 

It's hard to believe we are halfway through our latest class.  We started
off on October 3 with 15 students and added a few more the next week.  Don't
forget the exam on December 5, 2017.  If you have been wanting to upgrade,
let me know so I will be sure to have enough materials on hand.

Contests -

November 4 through 6 - ARRL Sweepstakes - CW.  Exchange is other station's
call, serial number, precedence, (power), your call, check (year 1st
licensed), section. .

 November 11 and 12 - Kentucky QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.

November 12 - North American Sprint - SSB.  Exchange is other station's
call, your call, serial number, your name and your state.  

November 18 through 20 - ARRL Sweepstakes - SSB.  Exchange is other
station's call, serial number, precedence, (power), your call, check (year
1st licensed), section. .

November 25 and 26 - CQ World Wide DX Contest, CW.  Exchange is RS and CQ
zone.  We are in CQ zone 5.

December 9 and 10 - ARRL 10 Meter contest.  Exchange is RST and state.  This
s a great contest for Technicians.  Most of the SSB activity is the
Novice/Technician sub band 28.300 to 28.500 MHz. 

December 17 - ARRL Rookie Roundup, CW.  Exchange is your name, 2 digit year
you were first licensed and state.

Don't forget, be sure to send in your log within 5 days after the contest
ends for all ARRL sponsored contests.

Repeaters - 

We now have a frequency pair for the DMR repeater.  We have been assigned
442.4125.  The Color Code is #1.  N8IK has been working with the DMRVA folks
in Richmond to get us connected to their network.  They are very eager to
have us join them.  Check out their web page at www.dmrva.org
<http://www.dmrva.org>  to see what they have available in the network.
There is also very good information on DMR as well as coverage maps for all
the repeaters in the DMRVA network.  They have coverage from Blacksburg to
Wallops Island to Northern Virginia.             

If you have been interested in dabbling with digital voice, but the cost of
a DSTAR or Fusion radio is off putting, DMR may be your answer.  A handheld
DMR radio is about half the cost of a DSTAR handheld and even less in some
cases.

I will send an email to the club reflector and in ARC Shorts once the
repeater is up and running.  Also, I am sure N8IK will update the "club"
codeplug with the new frequency/color code and talkgroups.  We will need to
schedule a DMR 101 class at a meeting early next year.

Be sure to use the club repeaters and log those contacts with other club
members for the year-long club QSO Party.  Each band and mode counts as a
separate contact.  The club repeaters are all up and running.  Make 2017 the
year you try a new band or mode.

As always, ham it up and get on the air.
73, 
Rich, KA4GFY

WORKED ALL ALEXANDRIA RADIO CLUB MEMBERS VHF/UHF CONTEST
Our club has MORE repeaters then just about any other general interest radio
club. Look at the banner at the start.  BUT, if you listen to the repeaters
they are so quite you wonder if they are working.  Rich, KA4GFY and I
(N4ASX) came up with an idea.  Lots of folks played with the ARRL's National
Parks On the Air.  This was a yearlong contest so there was no rush. So we
think a contest that get's folks in the work each other and others over a
year would be fun.
To make the contest fair, we will have classes for each type of operator: 2
Meter HT only, Dual Band (2/440) only, 2 Meter Mobile/Base only, Dual Band
Mobile/Base only, All bands.  Points are awarded for working club members
who have been (within the last two years) or are club members.  You can work
club members on each repeater, on simplex on each VHF/UHF band and work them
on any mode (D-Star, Packet, PSK-31, CW, SSB, AM, etc.)  So, you can work a
member many times but only once per band using the same mode.  We will go
from June 10th 2017 to June 10th 2018.  We encourage the use of LOTW, but
you can use any logging program or paper.  For those who are not members
they too can participate but points are awarded for working Alexandria Radio
Club members.  A club member will get a point for non-members they work on
our repeaters.
Hope your keeping your logs up to date.  This contest is open to all.
73 Rick N4ASX
ARES

MARS/ARES HF event

Elements of the US Department of Defense will conduct a "communications
interoperability" training exercise November 4-6, once again simulating a
"very bad day" scenario. Amateur Radio and MARS organizations will take
part.
"This exercise will begin with a notional massive coronal mass ejection
event which will impact the national power grid as well as all forms of
traditional communication, including landline telephone, cellphone,
satellite, and internet connectivity," Army MARS Program Manager Paul
English, WD8DBY, explained in an announcement.


During the exercise, a designated DOD Headquarters entity will request
county-by-county status reports for the 3,143 US counties and county
equivalents, in order to gain situational awareness and to determine the
extent of impact of the scenario. Army and Air Force MARS organizations will
work in conjunction with the Amateur Radio community, primarily on the
60-meter interoperability channels as well as on HF NVIS frequencies and
local VHF and UHF, non-internet linked Amateur Radio repeaters.
Again this year, a military station on the east coast and the Fort Huachuca,
Arizona, HF station will conduct a high-power broadcast on 60-meter channel
1 (5,330.5 kHz) on Saturday from 0300 to 0315 UTC. New this year will be an
informational broadcast on Sunday, on 13,483.5 kHz USB from 1600 to 1615
UTC. Amateur Radio operators should monitor these broadcasts for more
information about the exercise and how they can participate in this
communications exercise, English said.
"We want to continue building on the outstanding cooperative working
relationship with ARRL and the Amateur Radio community," English said. "We
want to expand the use of the 60-meter interop channels between the military
and amateur community for emergency communications, and we hope the Amateur
Radio community will give us some good feedback on the use of both the 5-MHz
interop and the new 13-MHz broadcast channels as a means of information
dissemination during a "very bad day" scenario.

Encourage all who have HF listen and coordinate on 147.315.

ARES

We have a club with 57 members and only 14 of those members have volunteered
to support ARES.  Volunteering means that the Alexandria ARES Emergency
Coordinator can call you when one of our served agencies (City, Red Cross
and the Alexandria Hospital) call on us to provide communications support
for either drills or real events.  To volunteer, ask Rick, who is our EC,
and provide contact and equipment so that you can be called if needed.  Like
all volunteer activities, if you cannot participate then just say so when
asked.  

Chief Smedley pointed out that there may be as many as 14 events where ARES
and the club may be asked to provide communications.  The more volunteers
the better we can provide support.  We meet at the City's facility and
supporting the city is our way of paying the rent as it were.

Our weekly nets served two purposes.  The first is to pass traffic of
interest to amateur radio operators and to the club. The second is to
practice net procedures.  For those who have been loaned a city ID-51A plus,
part of the loan agreement is to check in to the net at least once a month.
The EC does keep a track of who checks in to meet that requirement.

There are many public service events where amateur radio plays an important
part in providing communications.  Not all of them are supported by the
Alexandria Radio Club.  They are great practice in preparing for emergency
communications.  You don't know how you and your gear will function in an
emergency until you try it and yourself!

73 Rick
N4ASX

Social Events

Monday Night Burgers - There is a group that gets together at 6:15 PM on
Mondays at a local burger joint.   Mark up on the 147.315 repeater and join
them for the fun.  Mark up on the repeater about 6PM and join the group.
The location does change!  IF you have a good spot, you might make a
suggestion.



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