[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] ARCSHORTS NOVEMBER 2022

Mon Nov 7 15:02:05 EST 2022

ARC-SHORTS

NOVEMBER 2022

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 will be Friday November 11th at 7PM.  The Program is
ELECTION of OFFICERS and DIRECTORS for 2023.  THIS IS AN IN PERSON ONLY
event.  We will have out a ballot and you can either vote for the nominee or
write in a candidate. The club by-laws do not allow for proxy voting.

Last Meeting

Date:               October 14th

Time:               1900 hours

Location:        Hybrid Meeting: Via Zoom & In-Person at APD Community Room,
Wheeler Lane

Presentation

*	Topic:  New Radios coming! 
*	Presenter: Steve Gilmore W4SHG Steve talked about the new Yeasu and
ICOM radios including the new MICROWAVE radio that does 2/440/1.2G/2.4G/5G
and as an option 10G.

Reports

Carol was not at the meeting, so our minutes are abbreviated. 

ARES - Rick N4ASX announced that he was going to stay on beyond Dec 31st at
the behest of the Section Manager.  Pointed out that Alexandria Radio Club
is the face of ARES Alexandria so that the City and building managers
understand that the club uses it's assets in support of public service and
emergency responses.

Repeaters: Rich KA4GFY/Ian N8IK

*	Rich: All repeaters are up and running; no issues reported; working
on a replacement for 2 meters. Work continues on a replacement 2 meter
repeater and at that time we will also look at the feed and the antenna.
*	Ian:  AREDN Project - nothing new to report

Education/Training:  Rich KA4GFY

*	Technician and General license classes began Tuesday, October 4th
and finish on Tuesday, December 6th via Zoom

Trailer:  Rich KA4GFY

*	New battery charger procured with a power receptacle from Amazon;
roof to be painted in the fall

Webmaster:  Richard KW4UJ

*	Site updated with WordPress version 6.0.1; security updated

Old Business  

*	 N/A

New Business

          Rick Bunn, N4ASX has agreed to stay on as ARES EC until a level
III qualified ARES member agrees to take over as EC.

Presidents Corner

Richard, KW4UJ

ARES

First, We have a new State Emergency Coordinator - Martin "Marty" Krupinski
KE4KEW.  I welcome Marty and he HAS hit the ground running!  Thanks to Jack
Smith KE4LWT our Section Manager for making the resurrection of ARES a
priority.

I did not participate in the Marine Corps Marathon this year, but the
weather was great and from what I could hear by listening to the race and
aid station nets when I could.  It went very well.  Congratulations to all
of the operators who supported this event.  It is one of the biggest most
complicated events of the year for emergency communications practice.  If
you did participate, please send in your after action reports.  This is the
way we make it better in the future.

I had a meeting with the City's new emergency manager, Mr. Kevin Coleman.
Kevin comes to us from FEMA and California.  I provided a brief rundown on
Alexandria ARES and did provide a list of members and their training levels.
Personnel information was NOT shared.  Call up is via the EC or either of
the two Assistant ECs (Rich KA4GFY and Ian N8IK).  

I also visited INOVA Fair Oaks and provided an ARES brief to Mr. Alan Pike
who is Mr. Lorenzo Reed's counterpart.  This was at Mr. Reed's request, and
I did invite the Fairfax ARES EC to attend, but he was not available.

If you are a volunteer, please sign up for FEMA classes on the web and
complete IS-100.  This gets you to level I and allows you access to
shelters, the EOC and Disaster sites.

As the winter weather arrives, keep your go kits up to date.

A new ARES SOP is in the works and out for third party review.  Hope to have
it out by next month.

Rick N4ASX

Activities and Events - Rich KA4GFY

Hamfests -

As of press time, there are no hamfests in driving distance on the calendar
until March 2023.  That may change.  I will keep checking and will post any
announcements when I see them.

Training -

Our current Technician and General classes have been meeting since early
October.  We started out with 17 students between the two classes.  They
seem to be a very engaged group.

The exam is scheduled for December 6 at the Alexandria Police Department HQs
building.  If you are a Technician looking to upgrade (you should be in the
General class) or a General looking to upgrade to Extra, let me know and we
will save you a spot.  Please contact me at  <mailto:ka4gfy at arrl.net>
ka4gfy at arrl.net or  <mailto:training at w4hfh.org> training at w4hfh.org for
information and to sign up.

Contests - 

*         November 19 and 20 - ARRL Sweepstakes, SSB.  Exchange is serial
number, precedence (Power level), your call sign, check (Year you were
licensed) and ARRL section.

*         November 26 and 27 - CQ Worldwide Contest, CW.  Exchange is RST
and CQ Zone (we are in zone 5)

*         December 2 through 4 - ARRL 160 meter contest.  Exchange is RST
and ARRL/RAC section.

*         December 10 and 11 - ARRL 10 meter contest.  Exchange is RST and
state.

*         December 17 - RAC Winter Contest.  Exchange is RST and state.

*         December 18 - ARRL Rookie Roundup, CW.  Exchange is year first
licensed and state.

While its not a contest, be sure to mark your calendar for Jan 7, 2023 for
the 1st ARRL Kids Day in 2023.  

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> http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html.

Every Tuesday at 0000 (7 PM EST Monday 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>
https://wwsac.com/rules.html

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/>
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. 

Repeaters -

The club repeaters are all up and running.  The DSTAR repeaters are seeing a
lot of activity.  We have been linking the 2-meter repeater to Reflector
062C for Virginia and Maryland communications, and the 70cm Reflector 030C,
for long-range communications and the 23cm voice repeater to Reflector 025B,
the Northern Virginia local reflector or 001C, the world-wide reflector.  If
you want to link to another reflector, be sure to unlink the repeater first
and then link to the reflector of your choice.  All we ask is you unlink the
reflector you were listening on when you are finished.   

DMRVA has announced the first VHF repeater in the DMRVA system is now on the
air in Fredericksburg.  The frequency is 145.300 MHz.  It uses the DMRVA
standard talkgroup lineup and color code 1 for access.  

The Alexandria Radio Club has one of the only 23 cm analog repeaters in the
area.  Give it a try on your IC-9700, G-7, ID-1, or if you still have one, a
T-81.  It works quite well.

We also have one of the few 33 cm repeaters in the area.  It has good
coverage and can be accessed with a handheld in many of the same places as
our 70 cm repeater.  If you have an Alinco G-29, Motorola GTX or a Kenwood
TK-981, give it a try.  If you are curious about 33 cm, check out kw902.com.
This is the go-to website on everything about Kenwood 33 cm equipment.
Another good source of 33 cm information is the San Diego 900 MHz Club at
SD900MHz.com.

We have resumed the follow-on net on one of the other repeaters after the
Thursday net on the 2-meter analog repeater on a rotating basis, 6 meter,
1.25.meter and 70 cm repeaters.  There has been discussion about trying the
33 cm and 23 cm repeaters as well.  There isn't too much 33 cm equipment in
the club, but several members have the ICOM 9700, so a 23 cm net is not too
far-fetched.    

Ian, N8IK, runs the Wednesday night DSTAR net on the 145.380 MHz repeater at
8 PM.  The Wednesday night net is starting to pick up some momentum.  We
link the repeater to Reflector 62B at net time so members and former members
outside the local area can join in.  Some time ago, I asked the folks who
maintain the lists of DSTAR reflectors to create a Virginia perma-link
reflector.  Many other states have them.  Be sure to put Reflector 62B in
your DSTAR programming.  

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

73, Rich, KA4GFY

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