[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] ARCSHORTS December 2020
n4asx at cox.net
n4asx at cox.net
Sat Dec 5 18:14:54 EST 2020
ARC-SHORTS
December 2020
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.
: DMR IS UP AND RUNNING 442.4125 +5Mhz Color Code 1.
PLEASE USE OUR REPEATERS.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting would normally be our annual Christmas Party. Due to
COVID-19 that won’t happen, but Don may come up with something different.
Last Meeting
ARC Meeting Minutes
November 13, 2020
Club officers update, the members of the Alexandria Radio Club voted to
re-elect the following members in their current positions for a second term
Donald Lewis (KI4D) as President, Mark Bonanno (KM4GML) as Vice President,
William Wilson (KM4KLK) as Secretary and Richard Morani (KW4UJ) as Treasury.
There was some special concession made this year due to the Covid-19
pandemic, our treasury has completed a two-year term as of December 31,
2020. A majority of our members voted to extend this position to a third
year due to the pandemic.
The following members: Rick Bunn N4ASX, Richard Adamy KA4GFY and Harry Jones
N4CWP were voted by the majority of our members to be given a Lifetime
Membership in the Alexandria Radio Club due to their continued dedication
and support of the Alexandria Radio Club. Each of them has contributed forty
years of service.
The majority of our members has agreed we should update our By-Laws too
allow for more than a two-year term so as to maintain continuity in the year
of a pandemic. Our By-Laws will be update for the year of 2021.
Web Hosting
Due to the loss of our web master Roy Wright K4AXQ-SK, Ian Keith N8IK has
assumed the responsibilities as web master. He has moved all rights to
access the ARC web site so as to continue updates and changes as necessary.
If you have the skills to assist as a backup in supporting the ARC web site,
please contact Ian Keith N8IK.
Each of the committees provided and update on the status of their area and
each report was accepted as given.
73 William Wilson
KM4KLK – Secretary
Presidents Corner
As you know on October 16th we notified club members about the passing of
Roy Wright (K4AXQ) our webmaster and public information officer (PIO). Roy
was 79 when he died on October 14, 2020. Ted (W9TCE), Ian (N8IK) and Don
(KI4D) are assisting Roy’s family with ham radio equipment arrangements, and
other matters. To assist Roy’s family with his estate, a public auction for
his ham equipment is planned by ARC shortly.
Virginia continues to be under a state of emergency based on COVID-19 and
has recently increased restrictions because of increasing infections,
state-wide. Based on Executive Order 67 as amended, gatherings are now
limited to 25 people, with some specific exceptions. The latest general
COVID-19 guidance from the state of Virginia is that it is still “Safer to
Stay at Home” with advice to continue teleworking if possible, wash hands
regularly, maintain six feet of physical distance when Aside of home, and
get tested immediately if you have COVID-19 symptoms. Given the mixed set
of indicators concerning reopening the economy and continued spread of
COVID-19, Alexandria Radio Club leadership has not elected to recommend
resumption of in-person club activities; we will continue with our virtual
meetings using Zoom.
At the November 13th monthly meeting of the Alexandria Radio Club held via
Zoom tele video, voting took place electing officers for 2021, with the
exception of Club Treasurer. Club members unanimously elected Don Lewis
(KI4D) as President, Mark Bonanno (KM4GML) as Vice President and William
Wilson (KM4KLK) as Secretary. Although our serving Treasurer was willing to
continue as Treasurer, he was not elected mainly because he has already
served two years, which is a limit established by club Bylaws. No other
person volunteered to become Treasurer. As a result, the club Board
proposed modifications to the Bylaws to allow club members with a majority
vote to extend the office terms of club officers beyond two years. The
proposed Bylaws modification language was introduced at the November 13th
meeting. During the meeting, club membership approved recommended wording
changes to the proposed Bylaws modifications, which were duly incorporated.
According to Article II, Section 2.01, paragraph (c) of the Club Bylaws, a
written copy of the revised proposal to change the club bylaws was made
available to all members within one week after the November meeting. At a
club Board meeting on December 4th, comments from two club members
concerning the proposed Bylaws changes were considered, resulting in a minor
change to the proposed modifications to the Bylaws. The modified Bylaws
will be presented for a membership vote at the January 8th monthly meeting.
A copy of the Bylaws modifications is attached.
On December 4th, the club leadership group met to discuss planning for 2021
and other matters. The club leadership group consists of elected officers,
committee chairs, and presidents emeritus. At this meeting a consensus was
developed on a range of issues including the types of programs and
activities being planned for 2021. The Board welcomes any ideas from club
members for programs and activities in 2021. Please send your ideas to
<mailto:president at w4hfh.org> president at w4hfh.org. The agenda for the
December 2020 meeting was also established.
According to club Bylaws, each member shall have one vote on any issue that
comes before the membership, provided that the member's dues are paid and
current. Zoom technology does not allow sufficient capabilities to quickly
ascertain membership of those in attendance for voting purposes. For this
reason, only currently paid members of our Club will be invited to the
January 8th meeting via Zoom. For attendance at this meeting, we are asking
everyone to review their membership status and to make sure annual dues are
current by January 1st. If you are uncertain about your membership status,
please contact the Club Treasurer at <mailto:treasurer at w4hfh.org>
treasurer at w4hfh.org. We prefer membership dues payment by PayPal on the
Club website, but checks may be sent to Alexandria Radio Club, PO Box
30721, Alexandria, VA 22310-8721. You do not have to have a PayPal account
to pay via PayPal.
ARC recorded Zoom meetings with featured presentations are located at
<https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MG9VUqKOWeoWEWt0oBwychbzh4qILqbI?us
p=sharing>
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MG9VUqKOWeoWEWt0oBwychbzh4qILqbI?usp
=sharing.
Scheduled Activities and Presentations for 2020 updated as of November 6,
2020
* January 10th – MEETING, 2020 Plans & Programs, Membership Dues
* February 1st – FROSTFEST, Richmond, VA
* February 14th – MEETING, VA QSO Party, Gordon Miller ( NQ4K)
* February 17th – George Washington Day Parade Participation
* March 10th – License Classes begin (Ends May 5)
* March 7th – St Patrick’s Day Parade
* March 13th – (CANCELLED) MEETING, AREDN, Joe Porcelli (KT3I)
* March 21-22nd – VA QSO Party Weekend
* March 29th (CANCELLED) WINTERFEST, Annandale, VA
* April 8th – (POSTPONED INDEFINITELY) FIELD DAY 2020 planning
committee kickoff (John Marshall Library)
* April 10th – ZOOM MEETING, Alexandria CERT, Dr. Marjorie Windelberg
* May 8th – ZOOM MEETING, WINLINK, Greg Butler (KW6GB)
* May 15-17th – (CANCELLED) HAMVENTION, Dayton, OH
* May 16th – HAMVENTION QSO Party
* June 12th – ZOOM MEETING, FIELD DAY 2020 final briefing
* June 21st – ARC (STAY SAFE) License Class FCC Exams
* June 27-28th – (STAY SAFE) FIELD DAY 2020 Weekend
* July 10th – ZOOM MEETING, AMSAT, Paul Stoetzer (N8HM)
* August 2nd – (CANCELLED), Berryville HAMFEST, Berryville, VA
* August 14th – ZOOM MEETING Ed’s Twinlead Antennas, Dr. Ed Fong
(WB6IQN)
* September 11th – ZOOM MEETING, SDR Trends, Bob Nagy (AB5N)
* October 9th – ZOOM MEETING, Ham Radio Outlet, Steve Gilmore (W4SHG)
* October 25th – (CANCELLED) MARINE CORPS MARATHON
* November 13th – Members Only ZOOM Meeting, Year in Review, Elections
* December 11th – ZOOM MEETING
Please stay safe with masks and keep up with your social distancing.
73 Don, KI4D
Presidents Corner
ARES
We are making progress on the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC). At
present, the two VHF/UHF radios have been connected to the antennas on the
roof of the EOC and tested. The city also will provide three new laptop
computers with Windows 10 and we will install the amateur radio specific
software.
The software list is: RMS EXPRESS (WINLINK 2K), HyperTerm, RT Systems
programming software for the radios, N3FJP logging program, APRSpoint (APRS
client), FLDIGI, FLRIG, VARA, VARA FM, Radio manuals. I hope to get MS
office installed by the city, but if not, we can use open office. If you
have any other requirements, please let me know.
Addition EOC installations will include a third VHF/UHF antenna to cover
220MHz. An Alinco DR-235Mk III to cover 220Mhz, and an Alinco DR-06T Mk III
to cover 6 meter FM.
If you have volunteered on ARS CONNECT please check the site for activities
and other useful information once a week.
There has been a question about the difference between ARES and RACES. ARES
is a sub-organization of the ARRL and offers support to various served
agencies. ARES has no governmental relationship other then Memorandum of
Understanding with those organizations. RACES “IS” a governmental
construct. RACES or Radio Amateur’s Civil Emergency Service was established
as part of the FEMA/Civil Defense programs and the state and local
governments assign a Responsible Officer or RO to manage RACES stations in
their jurisdictions. This is NOT to be confused with RACES INC. Which is a
private organization that claims to run RACES in Northern VA. In the City
of Alexandria, our MOU states that the Alexandria ARES EC is also the RACES
RO.
I bring this up because this confusion can hurt the operation of amateur
radio in support of emergencies, when someone claiming to be THE RACES RO
challenges the operations of ARES at a time of emergency.
Some time, when we are allowed to meet in person, I will start collecting
pictures for ARES ID Badges and forms for the mandatory background checks by
the City.
Training. While there is no requirement for training to join Alexandria
ARES, Volunteers do need to complete FEMA IS-100 as a minimum to work in
shelters, or city EOCs. This takes about 30 minutes to complete. There is
also a training plan with levels of accomplishment assigned. If you don’t
have the task book, please let me know and I will send you the PDF.
We did have a RED CROSS drill on November 14th but it consisted of sending a
single WINLINK e-mail using the RED CROSS 213 form. Several of our
volunteers did send that form. To them MANY THANKS.
DRILL SUPPORT NEEDED
On December 16th (yes, it’s a weekday) the INOVA Alexandria Hospital has
requested ARES support for a drill. They are operating their emergency
command center as a precaution when their remote patient monitoring system
is upgraded. So, this is a good time for them to do their annual drill.
The scenario for the drill is a communications outage where they will go to
their backup. Amateur radio (ARES) will provide communications links to the
Alexandria City EOC, Mt. Vernon Hospital and Fairfax Hospital. Later in the
day they will run a similar drill at Mt. Vernon Hospital that will need
communications with Fairfax and Alexandria.
Those who can work this drill will assemble at the Alexandria hospital
visitor’s entrance at 8AM and final directions and assignments will be made
at that time.
If you can participate, send an e-mail to Rick N4ASX (Alexandria ARES EC)
at <mailto:N4ASX at ARRL.NET> N4ASX at ARRL.NET.
73
N4ASX
ELMER’S INPUTS
Lots of new hams are tying to expand their amateur radio activities. Most
start off with a 2 meter or dual band (2 and 70cm) VHF/UHF handheld radio.
They soon find out that even with 5 watts, the range is limited. Next step
is to get a better antenna and like many this should be feed with coax and
up as high as you can get it. The Ed Fong J pole antennas help and have
some gain. Remember that VHF/UHF is line of sight. Roughly 4/3 the optical
line of sight range over average terrain.
Eventually, you will want to move to a mobile radio with more power, better
receiver, but that will require a power supply (most of these radios run on
12 -14 volts. If you get a radio that runs as high as 50 watts you will need
a 20 amp capacity power supply. You will also need that external antenna.
Still, you’re on VHF/UHF and that limits your range and options. Buy
mobiles can be expensive, but you can find radios that are as much as 20
years old that will do everything you need for FM. A recommendation if you
are not ready to upgrade to General Class but want to talk around the world
the DMR or D Star options are good. If you live in a restricted location,
the DMR or D-Star antennas are small and can be hidden.
Once you upgrade to General Class, you will get the itch for High Frequency
(HF) radio. This adds great new ability, but it’s a different world. NO
CHANNELS, no repeaters, and lots more people to meet and many more modes of
operation. Unlike the internet, you NEVER know who your going to talk to or
for how long. Some like to chase DX other like to find rag chew nets and
still other lurk. Again, New HF radios can run from just over a $1000 and
up to $10,000. If you plan to operate on the lower HF bands remember that
you will need an antenna and that a ¼ wave is 300/Frequency in MHz /4 *3.28
feet. So, 75 meters (3.5- 4MHz) is 64 feet for a quarter wave so 128 feet
end to end for a dipole.
As sunspots get better you may want to try the upper bands 20 meters is THE
DX band and the dipole is 33 feet end to end. When things get good a 10
meter antenna is only 17 feet end to end. On the lower bands you many need
an antenna tuner. At 100 watts not expensive, but if you decide to run 500
to 1500 watts then you will need a tuner that can handle that power level
and that is EXPENSIVE. For starters, I recommend new Generals start on 40
meters (64 feet end to end for the dipole), 20 meters for DX. Later you can
look at other antennas and other bands. The other thing to remember is to
look at older radios. Most HF radios going back to 1990 will have digital
readouts, computer interfaces, dual VFOs, Memories and may have digital
signal processing (DSP) and put out 100 watts. Incidentally, I run two Ten
Tec radios both were marketed in 1985 and have exceptionally good receivers
and all the bells and whistles you need. Kenwood’s on TS-430S, 440S, 450S,
830S, 930S, ICOMs IC-706MKIIG is a great little radio and provides 160
Meters to 70cm. Kenwood’s TS-2000 is an incredible radio and can be
purchased for less than a $1000.
Hamfests –
The spread of COVID-19 (AKA Corona Virus) has put a major damper on
hamfests.
With the ongoing COVID-19 situation, be sure to check the websites to make
sure the hamfest has not been cancelled. This has been a lean year for
hamfests, or any other activity where people gather in large numbers. Check
any hobby/activity and we are all going through the same issues.
The Santafest scheduled for December 12, 2020, has been cancelled. The
Richmond Frostfest for 2021has been cancelled. The Vienna Wireless
Society’s Winterfest scheduled for March 14, 2021 has already been
cancelled.
Here’s hoping 2021 will improve as the year goes on.
Training –
I am exploring the idea of doing a General Class on-line for those newly
licensed folks who would like to upgrade from Technician to General. If you
are interested in upgrading, please contact me at ka4gfy at arrl.net
<mailto:ka4gfy at arrl.net>
I am in the process of learning how to do exams on-line. I suspect on-line
exams will be done more often than in-person exams, at least for the
foreseeable future. I have an idea to combine the two methods once we are
allowed to use the meeting room.
Being able to offer remote exams gives us another tool in the toolbox.
Another alternative may the “drive-in” exam during warmer weather.
Contests –
* Dec 12 and 13 – ARRL 10-meter contest. Exchange is RST and state.
* Dec 19 – Radio Amateurs Canada Winter Contest. Exchange is RST
and serial number.
* Dec 20 – ARRL Rookie Roundup, CW. Exchange is Name, 2-didget year
you were first licensed and state.
* Jan 9 and 10 - North American QSO Party, CW. Exchange is name and
state.
* Jan 16 and 17 – North American QSO Party, SSB. Exchange is name
and state.
* Jan 16 thru 18 – ARRL January VHF Contest. 50 MHz and up.
Exchange is 4-character grid square. Most of us are in FM18.
Every Sunday evening at 8 PM local time, the K1USN Radio Club sponsors the
“Slow Speed “Contest.” The exchange is similar to a QSO. See the rules
here: http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html.
Every Tuesday at 0100 (8 PM EST for us) is the Worldwide Sideband Activity
Contest. Exchange is RS and age group (OM, YL, Youth YL or Youth). Here
are the rules: https://wwsac.com/rules.html
Don’t forget ARRL Kids Day on January 2, 2021. Exchange is name, age, QTH
and favorite color. Here is the link to the rules:
http://www.arrl.org/kids-day
Don’t forget, be sure to send in your log within 7 days after the contest
ends for all ARRL sponsored contests. ARRL now uses a web application for
contest log submissions. Here is the link:
http://contest-log-submission.arrl.org/ Be sure to convert your file to
Cabrillo format before submitting. Most logging programs support the
Cabrillo format.
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. If the contest asks for a club affiliation,
the Alexandria Radio Club is on the list of contest clubs. Contesting is
one way we show that we are using our frequency allocations.
Contests may not be your thing, but contests are a great way to show outside
interests we do use our valuable spectrum. By showing we use our spectrum,
other services will have a hard time proving that we don’t use our spectrum
and it’s up for re-allocation to someone else.
Contests can also be a great way to become introduced to HF communications.
While it can be intense, pick the contest and jump in. Most contests have a
limited exchange so it is usually easy to get what the other station needs.
State QSO parties are a great introduction to contesting. Most are low-key
and the exchange is limited.
Speaking of state QSO parties, there is now a state QSO party challenge.
You can start accumulating multipliers by submitting a log in any state or
provincial QSO party to 3830scores.com QSOParty Groups.io.forum and State
QSOParty.com.
There was some good news about the solar cycle. ARRL reported the Royal
Observatory of Belgium determined the solar minimum between Solar Cycles 24
and 25 occurred in December 2019. For the next few years, we should see
improved propagation on the HF bands.
Repeaters –
The club repeaters are all up and running. I want to give a big shout out
to N8IK, KT3I and KI4MWP for their work on the DSTAR server. Immediately
after N8IK and KT3I installed the server, we had the Echotest function and
the main trust server was seeing our activity. A few days later, we could
connect to reflectors. The DSTAR repeaters are seeing a lot of activity.
The DMR side is working normally with access to the DMR servers.. If you
use the DMRVA codeplugs, they have updated codeplugs on their website with
the new DMR repeaters added since early this year for many of the popular
handheld and mobile DMR radios. The codeplugs include more than just the
DMRVA system repeaters. Their website is <http://www.dmrva.org/>
http://www.dmrva.org/
We have resumed (semi-regularly) the follow-on net on one of the other
repeaters after the Thursday net on the 2-meter analog repeater.
As always, ham it up and get on the air.
73, Rich, KA4GFY
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