[SMCARA] [Fwd: SMLS Update]

steve speer csolo99 at aol.com
Fri Sep 9 18:01:58 EDT 2011 

Tom.  I wouldn't throw out the option of b/u power via a generator at the
Hermanville site (not a green solution which I suspect wouldn't have worked
regardless of the recent weather)  .  I still think we need to gather the
data on the requirements for power b/u and then search to see if we can find
a bill payer/contributor and coord with the Navy.  I think it is a vital
addition to our emergency response to the county.

I thought that Pete was taking that for action with his Navy contacts per
the last meeting?  Have we discounted approaching the county with a grant
proposal? Or should we add this to the list of "to do items"?

Cheers

Steve (N3SCS)

Please delete the forwarding history, which includes my email address, 
if you plan to forward this email. Erasing the history helps prevent 
Spammers  from mining addresses and viruses. Thanks 

-----Original Message-----
From: smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Clarke, Tom AIR4.0P NATOPS
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2011 5:03 PM
To: Grant and Rita Farrand; Tom Shelton
Cc: smcara at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [SMCARA] [Fwd: SMLS Update]

Good ideas and we can discuss them at future meetings.  This month's
meeting would be a good time to discuss our experiences and lessons
learned from the recent spate of natural disasters.

So far I have heard the need for backup power at the Hermanville site
that is not dependent on internal combustion, a linked repeater on the
Northern Neck, and/or a remote receive site.  A remote in VA would
improve coverage for mobiles over there.  We have several controllers, a
voter or two available as well as some candidate radios/repeaters.  I
suspect the big snag would be finding a nice high spot for the antennas.

What might be an interesting exercise would be trying to do this and
dealing with two different repeater coordination groups!

73 Tom/W4OKW

-----Original Message-----
From: smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Grant and Rita
Farrand
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2011 8:25 AM
To: Tom Shelton
Cc: smcara at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [SMCARA] [Fwd: SMLS Update]

Just food for thought,

Us folks over here across the river in Westmoreland Co. Va. would love
to have a repeater linked to the .64 machine if you are looking for a
place to relocate a repeater.

Grant Farrand
gmfarrand at vabb.com

W4GMF / KJ4FZT
Virginia Fone Net #29

and...IN GOD WE TRUST !!!

-----Original Message-----
From: "Tom Shelton" <gl1800winger at verizon.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 8, 2011 9:35pm
To: smcara at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [SMCARA] [Fwd: SMLS Update]

I would add that during Irene, I was set up and ready to provide Skywarn

service to the area and to NOAA.  Because the linked repeaters were
down, I 
was unable to be active with that group.  The actions of a few took away
a 
benefit to many, and potentially put life and property at risk - all I
can 
say is shame on them...

Tom, AB3IC

-----Original Message----- 
From: petebutt at comfac.com
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 9:21 PM
To: smcara at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [SMCARA] [Fwd: SMLS Update]


Forwarding stuck message - PDB

---------------------------- Original Message
----------------------------
Subject: SMLS Update
From:    "LDG Electronics Inc" <ldg at ldgelectronics.com>
Date:    Thu, September 8, 2011 7:59 pm
To:      smcara at mailman.qth.net
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--

Howdy Folks,



This month marks an end to a short era of about a half decade of
experimenting with repeater coverage in Southern Maryland. About three
months ago, members of the Calvert Amateur Radio Association took it
upon
themselves to change the lock on a door at the Mt. Hope Community Center
in
Sunderland that did not belong to them and disconnected all of the
equipment
in that room that did not belong to them.



This included the southern remote for the Southern Maryland Radio Club's
147.150 repeater, the southern remote for the Anne Arundel Radio Club's
147.105, the receive site for the Southern Patuxent ARC's 147.255
repeater,
the Southern Maryland Link System's main UHF Hub repeater  and the
N3PX-2
APRS digipeater that covered nearly all of Southern Maryland.



Since the inception, the SMLS had grown and contracted, but had settled
in
the past couple years with the 147.150 in Brandywine, the 145.35 in
White
Plains, the 147.390 in Lexington Park and the 147.255 in Prince
Frederick.
It established a four and a half county wide system that had never
before
been available in a reconfigurable system. Additionally, the AARC was in
the
process of establishing connection to the SMLS to be connected during
times
of need. With the Hub gone, none of these repeaters can be linked. We
were
very fortunate that the recent hurricane did not cause more problems and
a
multi-county system was not required "this time".

In several subsequent meetings that were called by the Calvert County
government personnel to discuss CARA's actions, there has been no
resolution. The last meeting was held about a month ago with the simple
agenda of figuring out how all of the above named groups can get along
with
CARA, but CARA was only able to bring up stories of differences in
personality and their technical ineptitude. In so many words they said,
we
didn't know what all that stuff was, so we just disconnected all of it
and
locked the door.



Be that as it may, we're now left with no SMLS. his month marks the
official
end of the project. With the 146.640 repeater working well in Lexington
Park, there is no longer a need for the 147.390 repeater in the same
town.
That repeater will be taken off the air in the coming weeks. We're glad
that
the power stayed on during the hurricane and it was once again used for
a
good purpose during a perilous time.



The fate of the other repeaters and capabilities in the system remain up
in
the air (no pun intended). The APRS coverage for Southern Maryland is
largely picked up by K3NAL-1, but even then it's only local to the
Lexington
Park area. Tom Clarke (W4OKW) has been instrumental in getting that
digipeater working and there may be more ways to help increase the
coverage.



The 147.150 and 147.105 repeaters are now in search of sites that will
serve
the southern portion of their coverage area to server their club
members.
The 147.255 repeater, which had the largest coverage of Calvert county,
remains off the air and will most likely be removed.



However, as it's been said many times, change can be embraced or feared.
In
this case, it's going to be embraced with adaptation. We already have
had
talks of formations of new clubs and/or several clubs joining together
to
have a stronger presence in the ham community and overcome the actions
of
the Calvert Amateur Radio Association. There will be more plans for an
inter-county system and capabilities despite the efforts of a small
group of
people that have worked very hard to prevent it.



By this time next month, the remaining groups (minus CARA) will have
already
started working on the next generation of infrastructure to provide
coverage
multi-county in the Southern Maryland area. While it took five years to
build the system, it only took CARA a single day to disable it and take
coverage away from hundreds of amateur radio operators in the area.



Every effort will be made to return the coverage that has been available
for
years. Stay tuned for more updates soon.



Dwayne Kincaid

WD8OYG





________________________



LDG Electronics, Inc.

1445 Parran Road

St. Leonard, MD 20685

Phone: 410-586-2177

http://www.ldgelectronics.com

groups.yahoo.com/group/LDG-auto-tuners/

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -









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