FCARC Meeting Minutes for January 9, 2007
Members & Family Present: 23 Guests Present: 4 Total Present: 27
Kelly Boswell, KA5MGL
Perry Carleton, AE5EE
George Carroll, W5GHC
Robert Carroll, KA5WVE
Ken Chafin, N5RKC
Robert Crites, N0UVE
David Doty, N5XF
Bill Fill, KD5IC
Dora Anna Fill, NI5D
Jim Grinder, N5TSG
Randy Harrington, N5RYG
Gary Hawkins, KD5ZQF
Wayne Johnston, KD4TA - Vice President
Brian Kessler, N1WNC
Marlene Kessler, KE5HQU
Glenn King, N5GK - Custodian
Craig Mangrum, N5CTM - Secretary / Treasurer, and his wife, Janine
Stewart Nelson, KB5LBE
Frankie Parks, K5FRP - President, and his wife, Hannah
John Webb, WE4BB
Roger Williamson, N5QNA
Joetta Williamson
Guests:
Elizabeth McCall, KB5ZZF (Roger Bargar's daughter)
Raymond McCall
Margaret Pope, KE5ERH
Larry Pope
Call to Order
President, Frankie Parks, K5FRP, called the meeting to order at 18:30.
Treasury report is $2119.61
Quick Announcements
Club Dues For 2007
Craig Mangrum announced that the club dues were to start being taken at this meeting. The deadline for the dues is February 13, 2007. There is also a new membership form ALL members need to feel out. And anyone interested in ARES, there is a commitment form that members need to fill out. If you can't attend a meeting or lunch, please go to the club's website and download a form. The address to send the form in is on the form. The follow web address will take you directly to the form: http://www.w5auu.org/files/FCARC_Membership_Form.pdf
Old Business
Ideas and Visions For The Club - Frankie & Wayne
1. Club photo credentials - update and progress. We will need these to get into places to do our job during emergencies. We need to get photo ID badges made for all ARES members. ARES members will need these to get into secure places to perform their emergency communication job.
2. Photos of members - We are trying to get our website's members pictures updated. Wayne said he has about 50 photos so far, including the ones already on the website and with the ones he has taken.
3. Up to date list of equipment and capabilities and training. Such as, is the rig a large one or portable, deployment capability, portable antennas, vehicle setup, etc. Wayne and Craig hope to have a form for everyone to fill out by the next meeting. The form will also be posted on the website.
4. Meet your local hams & their setup. A presentation to the members describing of what you have, how you set it up, what you have done with it, and what you wish you had. Most of our knowledge like this comes from one on one discussions rather than a group presentation.
5. Digital net once per quarter - There are already about 7 or 8 members that have the ability to do digital communications. About that many or more are interested in getting setup to do so. Craig mentioned that some aren't sure how to get setup. Wayne suggested that we may do a digital communications class sometime.
6. Quarterly deployment drill - A test such as using NVIS or 2M simplex operations across the county. Plan a date (contingent upon weather) and then deploy from home on a Saturday morning to a predetermined location; establish contact; and be done by noon. Wayne stated that he would like some input on this idea.
As a little bit of new business, Perry Carleton, AE5EE, put the Thursday night net to a test on February 8th. Perry simulated an emergency. He simulated the roof of the Conway MEMS building had collapsed in one corner. He then had each member of the net take and deliver formal traffic using the National Traffic System message format and handling. There were 34 messages passed with 100% accuracy.
Craig was located at Conway MEMS along with Perry. Craig was working simplex on 146.520Mhz and communicating with David Turner, KD5JKX, who was located at the MEMS headquarters in Little Rock. Bob Hambuchen was stationed at Conway Regional Medical Center. Bob was simulating as situation where he had lost the book to his radio and only had the 146.970 repeater programmed. All the other members were at their homes.
Everyone did a great job. One paramedic was checking in from time to time and stated they were impressed with our abilities.
A news article was written and has been submitted to the Log Cabin Democrat and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Perry will be the net control operator again in March and is planning another exercise. So be prepared!
7. New ham training session at the Library during Feb, March, or April. Start grooming the next generation of hams. Publicize on TV, newspaper, at ACXIOM, and the high school science classes. This ties in with the Scout Venture ham radio group too.
George Carroll mentioned that Blake from the Boy Scouts said there was going to be a search and rescue campout on March 17, 2007. This will take place at the Petite Jean airport. They expect about 200 boys with 75-80% of them being from Conway. The club has been asked to be there. This would be a great chance to get some of the boys interested in amateur radio and we could put them into an Explorer's group.
George is looking for volunteers to attend this event. He is also looking for volunteers to help with a class to help those interested in getting their licenses. Ken Chafin, Frankie Parks, George Carroll, John Webb, Glenn King, and Wayne Johnston have already volunteered to help with the class. If you can help with either, please contact George Carroll, W5GHC.
New Business
Message Follows
"Message Follows" - a recurring segment for meetings about communications - Wayne Johnston, KD4TA
Those present received a handout compiled from various sources containing the Faulkner County Amateur Radio Club Message Format and related message tips. That handout will be posted on the w5auu.org website.
Glenn King (N5GK) and Frankie Parks (K5FRP) demonstrated both bad (long and wordy) and good (concise and efficient) message handling traffic procedures.
An interactive Radiogram program that allows text entry into the Radiogram standard format (and subsequent printing) is available at http://www.tricountytraffic.net/Radiogram3.pdf. This eliminates the need to hand-copy audio messages, provided you can type faster than you can write.
Repeater Updates / Power Poles / Batteries - Glenn King, N5GK
This is from an email that Glenn sent out:
I turned the 146.97 repeater off because it is of little use like it is. I took it apart Sunday. The electronics seem to be working perfectly fine. The problem is (1) the Duplexer. One of the cavities on the receive side will not reject tune correctly. It may need to go in for repair if I can't fix it. I was able to compensate with one of the bandpass cavity I used at ADEM to keep the paging company out of the repeater there. Adding the bandpass cavity adds 1.5db - 2db of insertion loss. We can put up with the loss for a while but then I discovered (2) the Cushcraft ARX-2 that we installed more than ten years ago on my tower is bad. She is open. The repeater will be back on the air if we can replace the antenna.
I bought another 100 pairs of 30 Amp Anderson PowerPoles. I haven't bagged any yet but will soon. Maybe tomorrow...
Thanks to David Doty we have some really nice high AH batteries that we plan to backup power the repeaters. More about that project to come.
Presentations
Presentations - BPSK 31 Demonstration on 145.55 & Antennas - 300-Ohm Twin Lead J-Pole Demonstration & Handout
Wayne Johnston (KD4TA) and George Carroll (W5GHC) provided a demonstration of sending and receiving message traffic composed of voice and BPSK-63 digital signals on 145.55 MHz using only laptop computers. This simple method of transmitting and receiving digital signals does not require the use of a TNC or additional equipment. Wayne used his laptop with a computer microphone that was not physically connected to his radio. George connected his computer by a simple cable with a stereo mini-plug that fit his radio headset jack. Both computers were loaded with DigiPan 2.0, a digital panoramic tuning program that is available as a free download at www.digipan.net. The program can copy, decipher, and display more than twenty simultaneous conversations on different adjacent frequencies. Using that program, it is possible to download text files and transmit them to a distant recipient using HF or VHF radio waves. Once the digital messages are received, they can be saved to a word processing program and printed out as needed. Thus, the computer sound card system eliminates the requirement to hand copy voice messages.
The demonstration was aborted; probably due to HF signals overloading one of the laptops form an adjacent j-pole antenna only a few feet away. Never-the-less, Wayne and George were able to report they had successfully transferred several digital messages across Conway using the computer sound cards to generate and receive audio signals transmitted on 145.55 MHz the previous Sunday afternoon. In addition, Perry Carleton (AE5EE) reported using DigiPan for the first time on that same Sunday after he downloaded the program and transmitted a digital message to Wayne. The sound card system is simple and, absent computer crashes, a reliable means of sending message traffic.
George Carroll (W5GHC) displayed on his computer screen one of the digital photos that he had sent successfully to Wayne Johnston (KD4TA) over 145.55 MHz using the same sound card system with another free program named MMTV. All that Wayne had to do to receive the photo was to open the program on his computer and hold his radio loudspeaker near the computer microphone. The computer program automatically adjusted for the mode of transmission. The implications for use of data photo transmission in a disaster are obvious - digital photos of storm damage could be transmitted back to the Conway EOC from a remote field location elsewhere in the county using only a laptop computer and a radio.
George also related his experiences of having QSO conversations with hams across the country by using the computer software program named Echolink at echolink.org
The J-Pole diagram/handout will be posted on the club's website. www.w5auu.org
Other Discussion
John Webb mentioned that he would like to get with some other hams that do APRS. He also mentioned that in his old club, all members participated as net control operators.
If you would like to be net control for a month, contact Frankie Parks, K5FRP. Frankie is our net manager.
Upcoming Events
The Lawrence County ARC Winter-fest will be February 17th 2007. Location: Walnut Ridge Fire department's Fireman's Hall 218 East Main Street Walnut Ridge, AR 72476 Same Locations as last years fest. Parking is across the street at the church of Christ, we ask everyone to please not park in the beauty shop parking lot to the south of fireman's hall. http://www.cwrnet.com/lcarc
Russellville Hamfest March 3, 2007. More details on the Russellville club's website at http://www.cswnet.com/~arvarf/hamfest.htm
2007 Hanging Judge Hamfest, Fort Smith Area Amateur Radio Club
Location: Columbus Acres Fort Smith - 10203 Columbus Acres Road
http://www.HangingJudgeHamfest.com
Kelly Boswell made a motion to adjourn and was seconded by Jim Grinder. The meeting adjourned at 19:25.
2-Meter Net Reminder
The FCARC net meets each Thursday night at 7:30pm on 145.210MHz PL 114.8Hz. The Net Control Operator for February will be Perry Carleton, AE5EE. Perry also volunteered to be net control for March.
Don't forget about lunches at Smitty's BBQ on Fridays at around 11:00 am till we leave.
Next Club Meeting will be March 13, 2007.
For more information about the Faulkner County Amateur Radio Club, including news and upcoming events, go to http://www.w5auu.org/
Minutes taken and typed by Craig Mangrum, N5CTM, Secretary/Treasurer