Faulkner County Amateur Radio Club W5AUU - the meeting, Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm by President Frankie Parks
A roster of members was circulated. The following checked as present:
Larry Appleby KC5YWC
Don Bollman KB8LNV
Chris Brannan K5ELY
Perry Carlton AE5EE
George Carroll N5GC V.P
Ken Chafin N5RKC
Robert Crites N0UVE
David Doty N5XF
Lynette Dowdy KD5QMD
Jim Elliott W5JNE
Jim Grinder N5TSG
Randy Harrington N5RYG
Gary Hawkins KD5ZQF
Gerald Hogue AE5GH
Greg Hutchinson KD5WSI
Stefan Johnson KE5YBN
Wayne Johnston KD4TA Sec/Treas
Brian Kessler N1WNC
Glenn King N5GK
Eric Martin N5EMX
Dave Moore K0DST
John Nordlund AD5FU
Frankie Parks K5FRP Pres.
Roger Williamson N5QNA
Kathy Williamson KB5RMY
Others:
Kenneth Leo W5HXK
Dale Gibbs
Julie Bollman
Treasurer Report: The FCARC currently has $2,051.37 in the bank, plus dues collected in the past week and at the current meeting. We have 52 paid members at this time, with more in line waiting to pay.
Dues Collection will be ongoing into February. Although the February meeting in theory is the last time to pay your dues to get on the roster, we will continue to collect dues throughout February. The rate is $10.00 per individual and $15.00 for family (defines as all living under the same roof).
New Business:
Iron Mountain Triathlon -- June 6 and 7, 2009.
The main event starts on Saturday June 6 at 7 am with 400 to 500 riders expected. June 7 is a mini-event on Sunday with at least 400 entrants expected who will go to Damascus and back. The Sunday event will not be hard to cover, but the Saturday event will be very difficult. The route for the main event on Saturday goes from Beaverfork Lake (after a 1 ½ mile swim) they run 15 miles and bike 56 miles. They start at Beaverfork
up highway 25 to Wooster then up highway 85 to Damascus plus a side jaunt on 225 toward Greenbriar, up toward Center Ridge, Damascus and then back to Beaverfork. They plan on using AWIN to coordinate communications. Glenn suggested that they send someone to the area with an AWIN radio to be sure it has coverage. Glenn thinks that a portable repeater or two will be needed with crossband capability. The area of the county is remote, and the contours are extreme. This is a pre-qualification event, so the participants should be able to complete the bicycle course in four plus hours. Most participants should be done in five hours. The event should be done by early afternoon.
Note: ADEM just invested $800,000.00 in AWIN radios as a result of the the recent ice storm in northern Arkansas. The problem is that the AWIN system has failed every time it has a realistic test. For example, during a simulated tornado exercise in Greenbriar, the event was terminated early because AWIN failed. Because of the uncertainty of AWIN, the hams may be tasked with providing the main communications for the triathlon event.
FCARC got involved in the triathlon because of CAUHF's initial involvement. They are working with FCARC and some Conway County hams to assist in the event (AC5RU et al). CAUHF has an entry form on their web site for hams to register who think they may be able to help. There is a real need for coordination because many of these hams have not worked together before. Because the event is scattered over such a large area the communications needs to be tested ahead of time. The AC5RU repeater might cover the area better than any from FAARC -- i.e. The .97 or 521 repeaters. There is a UHF repeater at Center Ridge on Wolverton Mountain(George Doty's) on 444.1 with a 114.8 tone that might be useful.
The Conway County repeater on 145.45 is located fairly high, and is actually in Van Buren county.
The May 12, 2009 FCARC meeting will cover many more details about support for the event. The CAUHF and Conway County hams will need to come together to plan out the support.
Glenn King will be invited to the Faulkner County planning sessions for communications support that will involve the volunteer fire departments from Faulkner and Conway County, the sheriff's department, the Damascus police department, and all the reserve officers who will be coordinating their activities
Russellville Ham fest
Glenn King reports that FCARC has a large collection of radio equipment from W5GKL H.O. Tyler's estate stored in his shop area, including an entire Collins S-Line rig. No one in the FCARC to date has expressed interest in buying the rig, so it is time to sell it to others. There are three big boxes of transmitting and receiving tubes (old 304TH tubes) in the box still new, and some old ham gear that works, including old Tektronics scopes that work. On February 21 we need to have several members to meet at Glenn King's shop to sort out the things that might sell for more on ebay, and what to put in the flea market tailgate area outside and what to put inside on a table at the Russellville ham fest.
Note: Eric Martin volunteered to help sell some of the items on ebay.
The probable price for the Collins S Line equipment would be $1,350.00. 7531 32S1 ,It does not have the 30L1 Amplifier with it, but it does have the console, the watt meter, phone patch, speaker, power supply. When the rig went into storage the receiver was working good. The transmitter was not working because of the power supply problems. Glenn totally rebuilt it in 1984. This is the equipment was purchased by the federal government with a grant to the state. The equipment spent the vast majority of its life in the basement of the Faulkner County Court House. The County Judge wanted more office space and took the area where the rig was stored. The County Judge called Glenn and then sliced the property tags off the equipment and gave it to the FCARC. There was also Gonsett Communicator (now in the trash) and a Hammerlund 6m rig transceiver that works -- it looks like an old lunch bucket.
In 1963 and 1964 the FCARC had club meetings in the room in the Court House -- where Glenn had listened to that rig while a Novice.
If anyone is interested in any of the equipment that Glenn, be sure to see him before the Russellville ham fest.
QST Article
Antenna issue has arrived in the mail. Wayne Johnston KD4TA. If you ever decide that you want to build hexagonal reflective W beam antenna, then you can borrow his beam hub rather than having to build their own. This particular antenna has the smallest footprint of any of the wire beam antennas like reflective M or X beams.
Test Session will follow the regular meeting.
Note: The May meeting probably will focus on communications support for the Iron Mountain Triathlon scheduled for June 6 & 7, 2009.
Main Program
A. David Norris, the new Delta Division Vice Director (and former Arkansas Section Manager) presented a talk about the ARRL, its foundational pillars, its organization, and function of the Board of Directors.
The ARRL has been growing the past several years, and is now even larger than the Japanese Amateur Radio Relay League. Arkansas has been leading the way in growth in the ARRL. The original four pillars of the ARRL were (1) public service (2) advocacy (3) education and (4) membership for the promotion and protection of amateur radio in the United States and world. A fifth pillar was announced in 2008 -- (5) technology. All these pillars integrate and work together.
(1)Public Service -- includes the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the National Traffic System (NTS). ARES purpose is to provide emergency communications when called upon, and is really the justification for the Amateur Radio Service and ultimately our hobby. The NTS is the way communications are moved around the country. It covers not only phone and code, but also digital communications. He predicts further integration of ARES and NTS with digital communications becoming more important to our served agencies.
(2)Education -- the HQ at ARRL has a whole section that takes care of providing information for amateur classes, the scouting program, and the Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology. The "Big Project" grants are available to school systems around the country to start radio clubs and technology programs. This is a good way to get new hams in the system.
(3)Advocacy. The HQ keeps track of what is going on in the congress, and seeks to advance and protect amateur radio. Relations with the FCC are important to ensure that our frequencies and privileges are protected. The hiring of Allen Pits W1AGP for public relations was a great step forward in this public relations regard to get out the word about amateur radio. Be sure that good stories about amateur radio are publicized locally, and get that story to the ARRL HQ. He can provide good information about how to get the ham radio story out to the public.
(4)Membership. The heart of the organization including all the services provided to the members such as QST, various publications, products, support aids, operating aids, volunteer examiners, volunteer consulting engineer experts and counselors are part of membership benefits. Membership is more than receiving QST, it is a being part of a great organization that supports amateur radio, protect its spectrum, and privileges.
(5)Technology. The purpose is to encourage and enhance math, science, design, and engineering and skills in individuals who will be part of the amateur radio experience. This is a close mesh with the education pillar. Dave Summner K1ZZ was the originator of the concepts in an August 2008 QST editorial -- that became the technology pillar. The new ARRL web site -- wedothat-radio.org is dedicated to this effort. Traditional and legacy methods are respected, but we must get involved with new technology or ham radio become extinct. Some in the national government are concerned about a lack of knowledge and interest in science and technology and the fields of math, science, and engineering.
The ARRL is organized into Field Services (for the members) and representation for the members to the ARRL For example, the Section Manager J.M. Rowe represents the league to the membership and assists with oversight such as that provided by Official Observers. The Directors and Vice Directors represent the members to the ARRL board for policy issues. Be sure to keep the Director Mickey K5MC@arrl.org or Vice Director David K5UZ@arrl.org informed to know about policy issues.
Most of the actual work of the ARRL is done by the Finance Committee and the Public Service Committee and their subcommittees. Ad hoc committees have been created for certain issues.
In his view, the ARRL Board of Directors is composed of an impressive group of doctors, engineers, dentists, -- a real good cross section of amateurs elected by the membership. The officers of the ARRL (Pres, Vice Pres etc )are elected every two years from the sitting board members. The CFO Harold Cramer and Dave Sumner and a few others are hired people who will remain in those positions until removed. The folks who work at HQ are dedicated and do a great job. They put in a lot of hours --most are hams who do it for the love of the hobby, as the ARRL wage scale is below the local average.
For example a recent Board of Directors meeting voted to allow troops overseas active membership status (without delivery of QST) until they return. They came up with a resolution to investigate new technology and to bring it within the ham radio operations. They recommended federal legislation to solve the problem with covenants and deed restrictions. They also voted against any deployed system (think BPL) that interfered with the amateur radio spectrum. In other action they voted to support the Boy Scouts in their National Jamboree in July 2010 with a demonstration station, a Radio Merit Badge learning station and VE examiners -- in other words to help scouts become hams while at the Jamboree.
The Bill Leonard W2SKE Professional Media Award went to Ted Randall WB8PUM of Lebanon TNT of the Delta Division and will be presented during the meeting of the National Association of Broadcasters. The Board also too action in regard to legislation that has been directed at hands free operations of cell phones to be sure that it did not restrict ham radio operations.
The new person at the FCC is not a ham. She has met with Riley Hollingsworth (who used to drop in while on the air with problem situations). In the old days WA4D caused lots of problems, but Riles's era brought it to an end.
BPL (absent a push from the new administration) is collapsing under its own economic problems. It is not well suited for use in rural areas because of the cost and necessity of lots of equipment. Entergy's experiment in Little Rock failed because of maintenance problems and performance inadequacies. In September 2007 an ARRL expert on BPL (Ed Hare) came and visited with the Entergy engineers in Little Rock (along with David and Rick Moblett from Arkansas). The other systems that have notch filters do work and may be viable. As a matter of policy, the ARRL does not oppose the concept, but the interference with ham radio that specific systems may create. Other systems that do not have BPL shortcomings may be used.
The ARRL monitors what is going on at the FCC in regard to commercial entities looking for more spectrum. They will protect the ham radio spectrum, even if it requires going to court as was done recently.
David does not think that the phone use of 2.5 kHz pass band will be limited in the ham radio spectrum with the advent of more and more digital signals. We should not that every mode that hams have had since WWII is still available to them. The focus has always been on avoiding interference rather than on limiting modes that have inherent characteristics.
By the year 2013 all commercial signals (that operate under public safety and business radio) must transfer to 12.5 kHz narrow band rather then 25 kHz bandwidth. Most of the commercial radios in the last ten years can be programmed, but will not be allowed after 2012. Thus the older commercial rigs might be available to hams as surplus gear. J.M. Rowe does not think that mode limitations will impact hams.
Feb 28 the Lawrence County Ham Fest at Hoxie was scheduled to have the Memphis Amateur Radio company and an antenna manufacturer.
A memorial for AD5IZ Bob Norris was scheduled for 11 am Friday 13 Feb 2009 at the Highland Hills Baptist Church. He was a regular (along with his wife Robin AD5JA) on the 3937 group on the air, a VE, and a great ham -- now a Silent Key.
B. J.M. Rowe the Arkansas Section Manager presented several items of interest to Arkansas hams.
The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management ADEM has completed their move the Camp Robinson. They now use the Emergency Support Function Model required by the federal government. Under this Model, if anything happens, then ADEM will go to another agency to actually accomplish the mission. For example, if ADEM needs communications support for an emergency, they contact the Arkansas Department of Information Services DIS -- who manage the AWIN radio system. The first week in February they bought 1,000 new radios for the state at a cost of $800,000.00 -- a cost to be reimbursed to the state under the Stafford Act. This ESF Model involves a change in the way business is done. As a result, ham radio support must also change to meet the need and the procedures used to obtain support. Make sure that the served agency asks for your support, or ham radio will not be requested. For example, the ice storm in Tennessee was handled by MARS using WinLink rather than ARES using ham radio. This is a competition for communications assets -- as a result, ARES is practically non-existent in Tennessee and has no function during emergencies.
A few words about AWIN. The engineering is great. At the time it was created, it was single largest digital trunked system with the deepest and best penetration. ie. n 90% of the time in 90% of the locations. But if the battery is dead, the portable is of no use. In north Arkansas in the ice storm the radios were not charged; instead of sending generators to charge the existing radios, they got a 1,000 more radios. The director of AWIN is Penny Rebou -- but they have a hard time understanding that hams might be useful while their system is broken. ADEM has contracts with Motorola for every problem, but they do not have foresight about using ham radio. If the Faulkner EOC asks for ham radio operators, they will get them. But ADEM will never send ham radio operators per se.
Ham radio operators are supposed to be self policing. There has been objectionable language on 80 m. recently. The miscreant was corrected immediately on the air -- as a result, a official observer report will not be needed at this time.
The ARRL put out a call some time ago about getting help for people to convert their digital systems. As a result of concerns about improper behavior, the official position from the ARRL is that ham radio operators are to lend assistance if they can, but are under no obligation.
Cell Phone Bills at the Arkansas legislature. One bill prohibits anyone under 21 from using a cell phone at all. The other bill prohibits cell texting or using a hand held device at all in a car regardless of age. The bill exempted CB operators, but did not exempt ham operators. Dan Henderson, the regulatory guru at ARRL, opined that the proposed Arkansas statutory definition was narrow enough to not involve ham radio operations.
ARRL membership numbers in Arkansas have gone up the past several years. Without ARRL membership, then you do not have an advocate for your ham radio interests. As one member commented -- just like the NRA supports gun owners, the ARRL is THE voice for ham radio operators.
J.M. Rowe will be attending the 700 mHZ Planning Committee Convention in Orlando, FL that deal with re-allocating 1,100 channels in that bandwidth. The plan for disposition of the spectrum is over 100 pages long (written in major part by John Nordlund after committee meetings). For example, when the TV stations moved to digital and NEXTEL was bought out, they vacated part of that bandwidth that has to be re-allocated into public safety and other use. J.M is the Arkansas Chairman for that committee.
Ham radio is a hobby, but we can do it well. Don't promise more than you can deliver, but deliver what you promise.
If anyone has any concerns about ham radio, then get in touch with him: N5XFW@arrl.org or N5XFW@arrl.net or telephone (501)282-1580
Other business:
John Nordlund conducted a VE test west of Hot Springs for about 25 new hams of the Pike County Search and Rescue. He needed help with the exam.
March 7, 2009 Russellvill ham fest. FCARC will have booth and trailer.
Thursday net 7:30 pm FCARC at 146.97 repeater, with Roger Williamson W5QNA and NCS for February.
Once each month, the FCARC will provide an experienced ham operator at the Faulkner County 911 center on Hogan Road to participate in the normal net.
Faulkner County Office of Emergency Services will provide a Storm Spotter Class at 57 Acklin Gap Road, on Thursday March 12, 2009, at 6:30 pm. Storm Spotter certification is good for two years. The course is updated, and John Robinson has new photos of Arkansas storms.
The meeting adjourned at 7:50 pm.