[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] ARC SHORTS - March 2018

[Rick Bunn]

ARC-SHORTS

MARCH 2018


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 IS UP AND RUNNING 442.4125 +5Mhz Color Code 1.

NEXT CLUB MEETING

Our next meetings March 9th program will be the VA QSO PARTY.   Our meeting
is held on the 2nd Friday of each month at the Alexandria Police Dispatch
Center at 3600-Wheeler Ave.   Just off Duke Street just east of Quaker Lane.
Meeting starts at 7PM and ends at 9PM.  Many of our members have dinner at
Atlantis Restaurant in the Bradlee Shopping Center on the south side of Rt 7
just east of 395 most arrive around 5:30. Our program presenters are invited
to join us. 

LAST MEETING 

Our February program our program will be provided by Mark Braunstein WA4KFZ.
Mark used MESHNET as an experiment during the last MCM.  Unlike the past
MESHnet briefs, Mark showed new equipment that included the ability to use a
MESHnet on Amateur Radio frequencies which avoids interference from shared
WIFI channels.  The cost of these hotspots is about $200.  We may see this
expanded for the next MCM and may be a solution to digital communications at
other public service or ARES events.  The group working this is the AREDN or
Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network

Meeting Minutes

Date: 2/9/18
Time: 7:00pm
Presentations:  AREDN Test at the Marine Corps Marathon presented by Mark,
WA4FZ and club members shared their projects that they have been working on

Reports:
Treasurer: Bills have been paid and club membership cards are available
Membership: Chairman was not present
Repeaters: 2.20 audio was low, everything else is up and running
Training: Next class starts March 6th
Trailer: All good and running

Net Controls:
2/15/18: Rich, KA4GFY
2/22/18: Don, KI4D
3/1/18: Young Ian, KM4KLD
3/8/18: Bonanno Family, KM4GMQ(P and L)

Other Business: Maintenance Site Project was voted and approved on to clean
the repeaters twice a year

If you didn't make it to this meeting, we hope to see you at the next one!
The next meeting is this Friday, March 9th, 2018 at 7pm. Hope to see you
then!

-Casey Bonanno , KM4GMQ

President's Corner

Greetings hams!  I wanted to let everyone know that there will be a CERT
training course starting Thursdays April 5- May 24th with an exercise on May
26th.

https://www.volunteeralexandria.org/search?sort_c=&sort_o=&opportunity_id=&s
earchvo_serve_with_this_org=CERT&page=1
Stay safe out there and 73,
Monica, KC2IAY

Washington's Birthday Parade

The day was a bit wet, but not as cold as it has been in the last few years.
We did not use D-Star or Packet for order of march, but we did use APRS, but
there was no one on the reviewing stand who would keep the computer up, so
it went to sleep, and no one used it.

Another issue was parade volunteers who did not understand what we were
doing for them.  I have already sent the organizer a note on this and next
year we will better plan our operation with the organizers.

Many thanks to the following who came out on a holiday to support this
event:

Rich KA4GFY 
Harry N4CWP  
Larry KK4CBL
Mark KM4GML
Don KI4D
Rich KW4UJ
Ian N8IK
Ian KM4KLD
Wilson KM4CLK

73 Rick
N4ASX


Future Programs

March 9, 2018 - VA QSO PARTY Program
April 13, 2018-  Amateur Radio Support to Porto Rico - Gary Sessums KC5QCN
May 11, 2018 - Dayton Hamvention, WINLINK 2K, WINLINK RMS and WINMOR
June 8, 2018- Field Day Prep meeting
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 next hamfest on the calendar is the Vienna Wireless Society's Winterfest
on March 18, 2018.  It's located at the Annandale campus of Northern
Virginia Community College just west of the beltway on Little River Turnpike
(Route 236)    It's a nice hamfest close to home.  If you have equipment
that needs a new home, we always have a few tables to sell your excess
equipment. Here is the link:
http://viennawireless.net/wp/events/winterfest/  Talk-in will be on the
146.910 MHz repeater (-600 kHz, no PL)

The Frederick amateur Radio Club is holding their annual FredFest on March
24.  Frederick, MD is short drive up I-270.  It features FREE admission.
Here is the link:
http://frederickarc.org/

If you would like to head South, The Raleigh Amateur Radio Society's annual
RARSFest is taking place March 31, 2018.  It's held at the North Carolina
State Fairgrounds in the Jim Graham Building.  A good way to do this hamfest
would be to drive down the night before and stay overnight.  Here is the
link: 
http://www.rarsfest.org/

It is not too early to start think thinking about Hamvention.  This year's
event takes place May, 18, 19 and 20.  There is one space open in the
Alexandria Radio Club rooms this year.  There may still be rooms available
in some of the outlying areas, but those will fill up fast as Hamvention
gets closer.  There were over 29,000 people at last year's Hamvention.  Here
is the official Hamvention link:  http://hamvention.org/. 

As an added bonus, the US Air Force Museum is rolling out the restored B-17
bomber "Memphis Belle" in a ceremony on Thursday, May 17.  So, Thursday is
museum day.  Here is a link about that event:
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Upcoming/Boeing-B-17F-Memphis-Belle-Exhibit
-Opening-May-17-2018/.  

It always amazes me the number of hams who visit the Air Force Museum on
Thursday and not just from the US.

As of press time, I have 1 space left out of the four rooms booked at the
Hampton Inn Fairborn, which is right down the road from the UASF Museum and
a short drive from the Greene County Fairgrounds.  I plan to order the
tickets by April 15 or when the rooms are full.  Let me know ASAP if you are
planning on going.

There may be some rooms available on the outskirts of the Dayton area along
i-75 and I-675.  With the events at Wright Patterson AFB and the USAF
Museum, rooms are filling up.  There are NO rooms available in Fairborn,
even one at $356 per night.
  

Training -

Our next class is scheduled to run from Tuesday March 6, 2018 through May 8,
2018.  If you know of someone who wants to be a ham, send them our way.
Class is filling up, but there are spaces left.  I can't help but think some
very positive news items about hams has raised awareness about what we do. 
In case you missed it, there were a couple of short videos about ham radio
operators in emergencies.  One was produced by the California Department of
Emergency Management and the other was produced by NBC News' "Left Field."
The latter was produced in Hawaii to showcase what hams d in emergencies.
As luck would have it, the news crew was there during the missile scare in
Hawaii.   
Contests -

*	March 10 and 11 - Oklahoma QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.
*	March 10 and 11 - Idaho QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.
*	March 11 and 12 - Wisconsin QSO Party.  Exchange is state.
*	March 17 and 18 - Virginia QSO party.  Exchange is serial number and
county (or city)
*	March 17 and 18 - Louisiana QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.
*	March 24 and 25 - CQ World Wide DX Contest, SSB.  Exchange is RS and
serial number.
*	April 7 and 8 - Florida State Parks on the Air.  Exchange is state.
*	April 7 and 8 - Texas State Parks on the Air.  Exchange is RST and
state.
*	April 7 and 8 - Missouri QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.
*	April 7 and 8 - Mississippi QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.
*	April 8 - North American SSB Sprint.  Exchange is the other
station's call, your call, serial number, your name, your state.
*	April 14 and 15 - New Mexico QSO Party. Exchange is name and state.
*	April 14 and 15 - Georgia QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.
*	April 16 and 16 - North Dakota QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and
state.
  
Don't forget, be sure to send in your log within 5 days after the contest
ends for all ARRL sponsored contests.
REMEMBER to support the CLUB'S score for contests by providing Ian N8IK your
info (Name, Call sign and Grid Square location) and submit your scores for
the contests you play in.  Contesting is one way we show that we are using
our frequency allocations.
Repeaters - 
In addition to the regular Thursday night net on the 147.315 repeater, there
was a proposal in last month's ARC Shorts to do a follow - on net on other
ARC repeaters.  The rotation would include other analog repeaters as well as
the digital repeaters.  This will not only provide a little activity on the
other repeaters but will also help everybody with the year-long Worked All
ARC Members contest.  Each new band and mode counts as another contact.     
The club repeaters are all up and running.  As always, ham it up and get on
the air.
73, Rich, KA4GFY
CERT and ARES
Citizens Emergency Reponses Teams (CERT) are the true FIRST RESPONSE to a
disaster.  Should we have a disaster that covers a large area (think
weather,  or other large disaster), the Emergency Management (EM) Fire,
Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Police will be tied up and those in the
affected areas will need to have a core of people trained to do those simple
yet lifesaving functions until the Fire/ES/EMS/Police can get to that area.
This includes organization, pulling victims from structures, shutting down
water, electrical and gas in damaged structures, some firefighting, some
first aid.  When time is critical it falls to the citizens to react.  CERT
training provides basic knowledge to help when needed.   As Amateur Radio
Operators we are trained to follow an organized approach to providing
service.  Our communications skills in the face of a disaster aid in
coordination, identifying needs, and sharing knowledge.  ARES can work with
CERT teams as members of a local team to provide communications between a
CERT team and first responders.   I, as ARES EC, encourage all who live in
Alexandria, to take the CERT training and those in live in Fairfax to take
their CERT training.  
73 Rick
N4ASX 
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

Our next ARES training / Public Service event will be the Washington's
Birthday Parade on February 19th (on the Monday president's day holiday.).
I don't think we will do the order of march this year, but I would like to
set up APRS using APRS HTs and a display at the reviewing stand.   I have
not talked to Joe Shumard (city coordinator) yet, but will do so this week.

We will be using 2 meter HTs and the Trailer at the beginning of the parade
and a mobile station at he reviewing stand.  Could use about 10 operators.
We will meet at the Fire Training Center (Nanny J Lee Center) off Franklin
Street at 9AM to coordinate assignments and provide the latest handouts.
Need to be on site at Parade Start/Finish by 11AM when the police close the
roads down. Parade will start at 1PM  (between 12 and 1PM we will help the
parade marshals coordinate the parade order and who shows up and who does
not show up.

We hope to get permission to use the Mt. Vernon 146.655 (PL 141.3) repeater
for the parade, but we will also use 147.315 both repeater and simplex as
needed prior to parade start.  With DMR in the trailer, we may also set up
on Alex Local to see how well it covers Old Town as an experiment.  

The parade ends around 2:30 or so and the club budget includes lunch
afterward.  We will try to meet after the parade at Atlantis Restaurant.

More details at the club meeting this Friday.

Communications for ARES

As amateur operators we get caught between the need to use new technology
and the cost of that new technology.  One of these new technologies is DMR.
This has the ability to allow us to communicate over a network that works
Statewide when needed using a DMR UHF handheld, we can also use it like a
local UHF repeater.  The drawback is that is a bit more complex then regular
FM.

If you have a packet TNC in your shack, and some of us use it only for APRS,
you also have the ability to use WINLINK 2000.  We will have a program on
WINLINK in the near future, but it's a way to send e-mail via your packet
station into the internet and receive e-mail sent to you once you are
registered into the WINLINK system.  WINLINK also has HF gateways that are
used when the INTERNET GOES DOWN and can also be used via internet FTP if
radio fails.  TNCs can be had inexpensively and attached to your standard 2
meter FM radio.  The WINLINK EXPRESS program is free, but they would like a
small donation to register.  

MESH net uses WIFI channels and modified WIFI routers to create a network
covering a very wide area.  We will hear more about that at the next
meeting.   Your radio for this would be your laptop with WIFI.

Just some thoughts on the progression of the hobby.

73 Rick
N4ASX

Social Events

PROPOSAL We have MORE REPEATERS than any other club in the area, but they
sit unused for days even months at a time.  In order to get those who have
the gear up on the air I would like to suggest that we set up a time after
our Thursday night net, for each repeater.  For those who don't know our
NORMAL CLUB NET is each Thursday at 8PM local time on the 147.315 repeater.
I know that the most of our members do not have radios for all of our
repeaters, but I'm going to suggest the following schedule:  THURSDAYS 9PM

First Thursday of the month - 444.6 (107.2)
Second Thursday - 224.82 (107.2) 
Third Thursday - 6 meters (53.13, 107.2) many of you have HF radios that
work on 6 meters.
Fourth Thursday - D-STAR 2 meter 145.38Mhz W4HF  C
Fifth Thursday -  DMR (Alex Local).  

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 suggest it to
the group.
 
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