| President: | Jack Reed | WA4FXX |
| Vice President: | Dennis Bodson | W4PWF |
| Secretary: | Mike Skelly | KA8OPJ |
| Treasurer: | John Maher | WD4MIS |
| Activities Chairman: | Mike Callaham | NW3V |
| Editor: | Mike Callaham | NW3V |
| April 2003 (rev.) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Meetings: | Third Tuesday of each month, 7:30 P.M., Red Cross, 4333 Arlington Blvd. (US 50), Arlington,VA. Nonmembers are invited to attend. |
| Net: | Tuesday (except meeting nights) at 7:30 P.M., 144.87/145.47 MHz FM |
| WWW: | http://www.w4wvp.org/ |
| Roster: | http://www.w4wvp.org/roster.html |
| Affiliate: | ARRL, FAR |
| Information: | Jack Reed, WA4FXX, wa4fxx@amsat.org (e-mail), (703) 685-7933 (phone). |
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The April 15 meeting will be at the usual place--the Arlington County Chapter (ACC) of the American Red Cross. The theme is Emergency Communications. Jim Hastings, K9AUC, will help us familiarize ourselves with the existence and contents of the Go Carts--the shopping carts filled with radio communications gear--in the ACC shed. We'll also begin planning for Field Day 2003.
At the May 20 meeting, Mary Kane (or another ACC official) will be on hand to take photos and issue ACC photo IDs to AARC Members who are ACC Volunteers and need a new or replacement ID card. (If you haven't taken the Red Cross Volunteer Orientation course, and would like to, please contact Sally Cooney, ACC Volunteer Coordinator, at 703-527-3010 x735 or scooney@arlingtonredcross.org.)
We'll also continue planning for Field Day 2003.
The Arlington ARC Roster is online at http://www.w4wvp.org/roster.html. Do we have your info correct? If not, please contact the Treasurer (John, WD4MIS) or webmaster (Mike, NW3V).
The March meeting of the Arlington Amateur Radio Club convened at 7:30 PM at the Arlington County Emergency Communications Center (ECC), 1400 North Uhle Street. The business portion of the meeting was held in a conference room graciously provided by the ECC. AARC President Jack, WA4FXX, called the meeting to order. Attendees besides Jack included Members Michael, W4GKI; Alan, KO4ALA; Paul, KG4PXF; George, KR4MU; Mike, KG4RKL; Paul, KA4KUU; Keith, KG4UIR; John, WD4MIS; Richard, KG4GFW; Richard, WB4HYZ; and visitor Adam, KG4VNC.
The Minutes of the January meeting of the AARC were approved as published on the web. [The February meeting was cancelled due to snow.]
Jack noted that Dennis, W4PWF, had been called away and couldn't report on ARRL activities. Jack reported on AARC activities to familiarize the public and ACC Volunteers with Amateur Radio, the ARRL, ARES, and the AARC, and to recruit new hams and new members. Jack said that, for this purpose, the Club now has a copy of the ARRL videotape Amateur Radio Today narrated by Walter Cronkite as well as CDs introducing Amateur Radio.
Foundation for Amateur Radio (FAR) representative George, KR4MU, said that he didn't attend the latest FAR. meeting. Alan, KO4ALA, said that he attended the FAR meeting and reported on it. Alan said FAR is looking for articles for Auto-Call--technical articles, etc., not just club reports. He said the deadline for submitting club reports, the first of each month, is a hard deadline (no exceptions). He said FAR figures it made 3.5 cents per hour from WinterFest.
ARES Arlington County Emergency Coordinator (EC) Alan, KO4ALA, reported on ARES news. He noted that once a month there is a statewide 2m SSB net. [A RACES net, actually, but all are welcome.] He said that the AARC has a 2m/70cm vertical antenna at the ECC, and has a purchase request [at the ACC] for a horizontally-polarized squalo antenna, but he didn't know the status of the purchase request. He encouraged members to try to check in to the net from home. Alan also reported that the ARES metropolitan area NCAC organization is revived and once again called NCAC.
Asistant Emergency Coordinator (AEC) Jack, WA4FXX, reported on the first test of the District of Columbia Emergency Radio Network (DCERN), a grassroots metropolitan area network using Family Radio Service (FRS) radios. Jack said he heard about three stations in the background, and tried to check in, but wasn't heard. Alan, KO4ALA, said that he also monitored the test, but heard only one station--a youngster on the other side of the school near his house. Alan said that a tiered GMRS net would [MORE]
Jack, WA4FXX, noted that the CQ worldwide Worked All Prefixes SSB contest would be March 29-30. He also said that the Bull Run Run, April 12, was looking for volunteer operators; this would probably require a mobile rig--an HT would not be enough.
Richard, KG4GFW, said the 9/11 race would be September 6 this year--the same day as the FallFest, which means it will be hard to recruit ops. Last year the Red Cross operated a water stop, which was too far from the race headquarters at the Doubletree Hotel to communicate using FRS. Richard is the volunteer coordinator and is seeking 80 volunteers, including 2 amateur radio operators. To volunteer, please email Richard at spenc1392@comcast.net or kg4gfw@arrl.net .
George, KR4MU, asked about the MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Run. Jack, WA4FXX, said he didn't have any info on that yet, but the March of Dimes Motorcycle Race would be sometime in October.
The membership applications of prospective members Gary Niki, KC7TNU, and James Quinn, Jr., KD7SSM, were approved unanimously. [Welcome, Gary and James!]
Jack, WA4FXX, moved that spending up to $75 for a horizontally polarized 2m antenna, for use in 2m SSB simplex communications, such as RACES nets, be approved. The motion was seconded and passed.
The business portion of the meeting was adjourned so that we could begin the featured program--a tour of the ECC. Before we divided into groups for the tour, an overview of the ECC was presented by dispatcher D.J. Winsock, who was introduced by fellow dispatcher Richard Spencer, KG4GFW.
D.J. recounted that he was working the morning of 2001-09-11 when the ECC got the first cell phone call related to the terrorist attack on the Pentagon.Because the call was via a cell phone, the ECC didn't know where the caller was, and because the caller was hysterical (understandably), the ECC didn't know what it was, nor what down meant. In any case, within minnutes the ECC was flooded with other calls and messages, many of which provided specific details of the disaster. D.J. said that the poignant anecdote illustrates some of the problems faced daily by call takers in the ECC.
D.J. described the minimum qualifications for dispatcher applicants, training of dispatchers, and assignment of dispatchers to shifts. He also noted that the ECC would move to the 7th floor of the new County building about Spring 2004.
Just after 2030L, we divided into two groups to tour the ECC. One group (which included me) was led by D.J., the other by Richard, KG4GFW. D.J. pointed out the work areas for call takers, police dispatchers, and fire dispatchers, and the shift supervisor, and he described how calls were handled. One interesting resource was Language Line, a privately contracted language translation service. Call-takers can dial this service and get translation assistance within seconds, but they must recognize the language in order to select the right dialing option. There were many questions, and answers too numerous to recount here.
All AARC Members enjoyed the tour and learned a lot. We're grateful to the ECC's Lisa Thompson for making arrangements, to shift supervisor Cindy McCuin, and to dispatchers/tour guides D.J. Winsock and Richard Spencer.
Respectfully submitted,
Mike Callaham, NW3V, Acting Secretary
Corrected 2003-05-04 per April meeting Minutes
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The Arlington Amateur Radio Club
4333 Arlington Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22203