[NCARC] Northern Colorado APRS & Simplex Net

[Kevin Utter]

Northern Colorado APRS & Simplex Net
When:				Thursday Evenings, 1930 hrs (7:30pm).
Where (what Frequency):	147.420 (voice) simplex (starting point, Larimer/Weld County Airspace)
	144.390, (APRS)
What:				Simplex  and general (with certain specialized APRS) techniques.
Starting:			Thursday June 1,2017, 1930 hrs (following the ARES net).

We’d like to invite you to something that is brand new to our Ham Radio community.  It’s soul purpose is to help you be better prepared to meet the challenges of being a better Ham Radio Operator. Our plan is to have a living emerging plan to give each operator the resources to make their own station more functional, better equipped and build the skills to venture in directions many have either not been exposed to or still have questions of “how to” or “what’s this about”.

Most of us have been exposed to repeaters, but few it seems spend much time on simplex. Who can YOU talk to using simplex? Is it only your buddies down the block, or have you tried it to see if the guy in the next county can communicate with you. Are you just running an HT with a rubber duck or do you have and outside antenna. Have you ever spoken simplex to someone over 100 miles away or wanted too?

Although some of us have used APRS, what else can we do with it besides beacon our location, or check on others?  How well can it work beyond the range of a digipeater?  How else can it be used?

The idea is to help with suggestions of better antennas, feedlines, radios, and other components that will equip the operators of Northern Colorado, should local repeaters go down… Perhaps you want to help with an event, such as the MS 150 or the Courage Classic… Or maybe getting involved with ARES for drills or emergency events.  What you have at home is only part of the equation.  Understanding what is  required to establish and maintain good communications paths takes practice. What causes distortion or multipath signals and how to correct it, how changing locations or frequencies will affect  communications, what digital paths and modes to use for APRS, all are important things to know and understand.  Relaying details is a skill and an art, when done with great accuracy!!!

Learning and using your equipment and resources on a regular basis affords you the ability to troubleshoot your own problems and function better as a communications team member. By pooling people, equipment, providing training, and Q & A sessions, we hope to provide  you the tools to be proficient and help you to be a more valuable member of this communications team.  Looking with an eye to the future, we might even consider such things as  group activities and/or  friendly competitions utilizing techniques  promoted by this net, as a way of furthering your training, and providing hands-on experience.

For more information, contact K7AVV, N7GES, K0RAW, or KC0DSJ

                                                                 Thanks and hope to hear you on the air!