[BCVHFA] [Amateur-SIG] Amateur SIG Announcement

[K8CM]

via  mvarbb mailing list

-----Original Message-----
From: amateur-sig-bounces at dma.org [mailto:amateur-sig-bounces at dma.org] On
Behalf Of Todd Collins
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 12:26 AM
To: ewing at mail.com; Dayton Microcomputer Association's Amateur Radio 
/ Computer SIG
Subject: [Amateur-SIG] Amateur SIG Announcement


Attention all parties interested in Amateur Radio, digital 
communications, and the convergence of computers and radio!

Tuesday August 1 at 7:00 pm at the DMA headquarters on Valley Street 
is the next DMA Ham SIG meeting.  The topic this month will be APRS.

This exciting technology uses packet radio technology to offer 
amateurs a way to track the position of a ham radio station.  The 
possibilities are endless, including tracking volunteers during a 
search and rescue mission, aiding in a bike race or foot race public 
service event, sending or receiving weather data, and communicating 
via short text messages.

The set-up is easy and you may very well have everything you need to 
get started in your junk box ... or go the easy route and get a rig 
with a built in TNC (the device that makes it all work).  A new 
Kantronics TNC sells for around 100 bucks and other solutions are 
even cheaper.  GPS units are getting cheaper every day, and for 
around 100 dollars you can have a device that will serve you well for 
APRS or you can carry around by itself for routine driving, biking, 
or hiking.

Here is the rough agenda, depending on how much I can get working 
between now and Tuesday:

1.  Demo of a Kenwood suite of VHF/UHF radios that have built in 
packet radio capabilities, including built in TNCs.  I will connect a 
TH-D7a handheld to a Garmin GPS unit, and attempt to get that to talk 
to a TM-D700a mobile that will be wired to a computer running the 
free software UIView. Combined with an old copy of DeLorme Street 
Atlas I had on my shelf, I can generate some great maps and display 
the location of the portable unit along with all of the other systems 
in the greater Dayton area (depending on how good of an antenna we 
can jig up at Valley Street).

2.  I am trying to get a Kantronics TNC working, with a completely 
miserable radio.  I may just junk that project and connect it to the 
700a for fun, no matter what I will bring the device and the test 
connector lash-up and we can play with it.  Perhaps a better versed 
ham can play Elmer and teach this old dog a few tricks.

3.  We will bravely try to send a message through the APRS network 
and receive it back via e-mail!  And if we are lucky, make it work 
the other way.   This free service allows for short e-mails and we 
will go through the process and see what happens.  This is relative 
to propogation from Valley Street, or maybe we will turn my PC into a 
Winlink server for a while and send messages via the handheld. The 
joy of experimentation!

4.  We will take a brief tour of the GPS world, a refresher for most 
of you but feel free to ask questions or bring the rest of us up to 
speed, as the case may be.

5.  We will touch on Winlink2000;  I am setting up a Winlink station 
at home for public use thanks to my location high up on a hill near 
the new mall in Beavercreek.  This is a complete topic for another 
day but I will answer any questions and try to get the software 
installed on the desktop I am bringing so we can look at it, if you want.

If you have never seen APRS, this is a "must-go" meeting.  If you 
have gotten out of it, come by and get refreshed on what the APRS 
community is up to.  If you are an expert, please come to share your 
experience and help me fine tune my system!

Contact me for more information at 
:   <mailto:toddc at woh.rr.com>  toddc at woh.rr.com

Go to  <http://www.dma.org> www.dma.org for info on DMA and to get 
involved in this exciting and fun organization.  All are welcome, you 
are not required to be a member of DMA to attend a meeting.

73

Todd Collins N2TUN
937-545-7015

toddc at woh.rr.com

n2tun at winlink.org  for testing and fun only



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