| 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 |
| August 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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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 August 19 meeting will be dominated by old, and maybe new, business, such as planning for the Arlington County Fair 2003, August 21-24, and what to do with (what some regard as) the superfluity of PCs in the W4WVP shack. One of the PCs is a recently-donated Compaq Presario Pentium, running some version of Microsoft Windows. The, uh, ownership of the operating system (OS) license is suspect, and, in any case, it's probably a version no longer supported by Microsoft, so there may be a case for replacing the OS with a free but supported OS such as Red Hat Linux. Software such as LinPSK, for PSK31 and RTTY communication, could be installed on a Linux system. Members who are curious about Linux, but wary of installing it on their own PCs, may be interested in this.
Mike, NW3V, will bring some Linux CDs (Red Hat 9, and Knoppix) and a floppy (tomsrtbt) to describe, demonstrate, use, and/or loan. (Yes, he burned them on a Linux-powered PC, and, yes, copying them ad infinitum is allowed and even encouraged under the applicable license terms.)
President Jack WA4FXX called the meeting to order at 1937L at the Arlington Chapter of the American Red Cross. Also attending were Members John WD4MIS, George KR4MU, Dennis W4PWF, Paul KA4KUU, Mike NW3V, Mike KG4RKL, Jaskaran KG4YIQ, and visitor Richard Donnelly.
The minutes of the June meeting, as published on the W4WVP web page and distributed by e-mail, were approved, and the Treasurer's report was read. KR4MU submitted a Field Day food bill for $40.55. NW3V observed that one gourmet Italian dinner, comparable to what KR4MU cooked, would cost as much.
Dennis, W4PWF, one of our Foundation for Amateur Radio Representatives, reported that he attended the FAR meeting. He said, "Fall-Fest is looking good. FAR is holding its own. Auto-Call isn't breaking even, but is improving. They'll be looking for volunteers [for Fall-Fest]." FAR Representative George, KR4MU, and AARC President Jack, WA4FXX, noted that Fall-Fest 2003 would conflict with a September 6 County event, the The Arlington Police/Fire/Sheriff 9-11 Memorial 5K Race, and said "we'd rather support that."
President Jack, WA4FXX, reminded Members of the Fairfax Emergency Net simplex net, which meets on the first Wednesday of each month about 20:45L following the Fairfax County ARES Net on 146.79 (or, if that repeater is unavailable, on 146.91). After check-in on the repeater, the net QSYs to simplex. Jack also reminded Members of the Old Dominion Emergency Net on the last Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. on or about 144.250 MHz, upper sideband, with horizontal polarization.
Jack, WA4FXX, summarizing preliminary results compiled by Dennis, W4PWF, said that W4WVP made more than 300 contacts during Field Day 2003, almost half of them Morse code contacts made by John, WD4MIS and Mike, NW3V. Mike said most were made by John. Jack said this showed that Morse code remained an important mode of communications in marginal and emergency conditions.
Dennis, W4PWF, raised the matter of some By-Law amendments that had been voted, saying the vote did not specify exactly how the amendments should be worded. Dennis proposed,and Mike NW3V concurred, that Dennis would draft the changed By-Laws, for discussion and approval.
Jack, WA4FXX, raised the matter of the Arlington County Fair, asking who could be there. He said he would work with Mike, NW3V, to email a survey of interest to Members.
George, KR4MU, noted that the American Red Cross National Headquarters Emergency Communications Center had moved to 2025 E Street in the District of Columbia. Jack suggested that Arlington ARC Members should tour the facility. George said that he could arrange that, but he wasn't sure whether we could get an evening or a weekend tour. Jack said that an evening, on or near a meeting night (third Tuesday) would be best.
Jack again raised the matter of Arlington County Fair participation, and said he'd mail a survey [to discover interest in volunteering].
Mike, KG4RKL, reported on a Boy Scout Radio Merit Badge class taught at Goshen Scout Camp by AG4PO with his assistance. The class had sessions on three days. Twelve Scouts got blue cards (earned the merit badge), but, in addition, other Scouts and Scouters (adult leaders), attended sessions because they were interested in becoming hams.
Visitor Richard Donnelly was invited to introduce himself. Richard said that he was a retired Federal employee, having served thirty years in the Pentagon. He is now in the Arlington County CERT Program. He learned about the AARC from the Field Day edition of the Beacon we mailed out to GMRS licensees.
Jack adjourned the formal portion of the meeting at an unrecorded time, so that attendees could ragchew, explore the shack, or whatever.
Respectfully submitted,
Mike NW3V, Acting Secretary
ARLB054: Hams a bright spot during power blackout
ARLB052: FCC Turns Away ARRL Challenge over Part 15 Authority
ARLB051: ARRL urges improved RFI immunity standards for consumer electronics
This is just a sample. For other recent bulletins, check out http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/, or listen to W1AW.
Linux distributions (from Linux Weekly News).
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 Arlington Amateur Radio Club
4333 Arlington Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22203
