| President: | Jack Reed | WA4FXX |
| Vice President: | Dennis Bodson | W4PWF |
| Secretary: | Mike Callaham | NW3V |
| Treasurer: | Mike Ingles | KG4RKL |
| Activities Chairman: | Alan Bosch | KO4ALA |
| Editor: | Mike Callaham | NW3V |
| November 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Meetings: | Usually 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.censored.txt |
| Affiliate: | ARRL, FAR |
| Information: | Jack Reed, WA4FXX, wa4fxx@amsat.org (e-mail), (703) 685-7933 (phone). |
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Article IV of the AARC By-Laws mandates that we have a meeting in November "for the purpose of electing Officers and for such other business as may come before the meeting"--and so we shall. But even before that you'll have a chance to nominate yourself or any other Member to stand for election for any office. But--wait!--there's more! Activities Chair Alan, KO4ALA, will screen a video demonstrating the use of subscale antennas to simulate the fields of full-scale antennas. Then comes the best part--Alan, KO4ALA, and/or Jack, KB3KYY, will demonstrate one or more IC-706MkIIg transceivers.
Activities Chair Alan, KO4ALA, has announced future programs for the next three months:
Dec : Xmas Party and Gift Exhange (do we need, say, another video or demo to got along with the party? I am after FFX ARES to line up their program on batteries and emergency power?.)
Jan : Jen Rice and Red Cross Intro Course for Volunteers (needed to get ARC IDs)
February : Capt. Tom Panther and update on new county emergency plan and EOC developments.
To round out the training emphasis of early next year, we need get members signed up for CERT training.
-- Mike, NW3V
President Jack, WA4FXX, called the meeting to order at 1933 local. Attending, besides Jack, were Vice President Dennis, W4PWF, Secretary Mike, NW3V, Treasurer Mike, KG4RKL, Activities Chair Alan, KO4ALA, Members Paul, KA4KUU, Keith, KG4UIR, Rich, KI4FWE, Chuck, KI4DHW, George, KR4MU, Ian, KI4DTD, Jim, K9AUC, Mike, KA8OPJ, and visitors Richard, KG4GFW, Roy, AI4GO, and Roy Nickelson. Paul began recording Minutes until NW3V arrived at 1938. WA4FXX asked visitors and Members to introduce themselves. We were pleased to meet Roy, AI4GO, and his driver, Roy Nickelson, and we were pleased to see Richard Spence, KG4GFW, once again. Jack reminded attendees that Richard would demonstrate his TM-D700A for the program. Jack said that the ACPD Mobile Command Center was equipped with an TM-D700A, as was Nolan, the Arlington County Chapter's Winnebago, and he said the county Emergency Communications Center (ECC) might be equipped with one, eventually. He said that, if we had to use one in an emergency, he didn't want it to be the first time we'd used one.
A motion to accept the Minutes of the September meeting as published on the W4WVP web site was seconded and passed. Mike, KG4RKL, presented his financial report.
Dennis, W4PWF, reported that there were two issues concerning its draft regulate-by-bandwidth petition to the FCC: (1) CW operators want the lowest 25 kHz of each band reserved for CW only, and (2) the bandwidth of AM emissions was an issue. Mike, NW3V, asked about the Ad Hoc HF Digital Committee dissent. Dennis answered, "The League didn't specify WinLink or Pactor--deliberately. We think, in the long run, the market will decide."
Arlington County ARES Emergency Coordinator Alan, KO4ALA, reported on the Simulated Emergency Test (SET): "[In support of] ARESMAT, we sent three ops to Fairfax. We even got up on HF and sent some traffic across the river." Jack, WA4FXX, added: "The only glitch was the copier code didn't work. We wanted to copy radiogram forms instead of using fancy ones. "
Jack noted that there were three sign-up forms being passed around: one for Reecom SAME radios (at CERT discount), one to promise completion and return of ARES forms, and one to provide info needed for a County ID.
Jack said that he reserved the 1x1 call N4A for us to use the weekend of the Arlington Prepares exercise. He asked for volunteers. Ian, Chuck, and Alan volunteered. Mike, NW3V, who had volunteered previously, devolunteered. Jack asked Mike if he would volunteer the 40m dipole and feedline that he brought to Field Day for use in an HF demo station. Mike said that he would. Jack asked Mike to get them to him, or to W4WVP, before the event.
Dennis thanked Ian for cleaning up the W4WVP shack, and said "I'll work with Ian on further clean-up."
Jack asked for a report on Jamboree on the Air (JOTA). Mike reported on the event, noting that a report was in the October issue of the Beacon, and noting that a montage of photos taken by Paul, KA4KUU, was on the AARC home page.
Jack and Ian noted that there would be an NCAC Institute on October 23. Keith, KG4UIR, noted that there would be a Webelos in the Woods Scouting event on November 6 at Bull Run Park in Centerville, with about 50 to 75 folks expected to attend. It's sponsored by Troop 30 of the Sully District, which meets in the Centreville Presbyterian Church. Keith said, "I'll try to get Nolan [ACC emergency vehicle] out."
Jack welcomed visitor Roy, AI4GO, and asked, "I understand you're from the Winchester Amateur Radio Club?" Roy replied that he was in the process of moving to McLean.
Jack noted that election of AARC Officers was coming at the November meeting, and he also mentioned the coming November Sweepstakes contests. Jack gave a "last call" for other new business, and, hearing none, closed the business portion of the meeting and introduced featured speaker Richard, aka Spence, KG4GFW.
For the featured program, Richard Spencer, KG4DFW, demonstrated his Kenwood TM-D700A dual-band 2m/70cm transceiver--the same model installed in the ACPD Mobile Connand Center.
The D700 has a built-in terminal node controller (TNC) for packet radio communication, including APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System). Spence said that one can attach a GPS receiver to the rig to have it beacon its position, as he often does. "You can search for KG4GFW on findu.com." Spence demonstrated the reception and plotting of APRS position reports using a portable antenna. Spence used a NPC 12A 13.6VDC power supply and a Toshiba WinXP notebook PC with the D700.
Spence noted that the ACPD Mobile Command Center had a CD with software for PCs to operate with the D700. To interoperate, the PC must have a serial port; a USB port won't work. The MCC also has three manuals for the D700: "One is Radio Operation, the second is Digital and Special Modes, and the third didn't come with my rig, so I don't know what it's about." He also noted that in order to operate the D700 in the MCC, it is necessary to ask the driver to raise the antenna.
When Spence asked for questions, there were several. Jack, WA4FXX, asked how to turn it on. Mike, NW3V, relayed a question from Mike, W4GKI (who couldn't attend): was there provision for use by a blind person? Spence, and Roy, AI4GO, said one could buy a plug-in board for that, but Spence said he didn't have one. NW3V also asked whether the D700 could be used for 9600-baud packet radio; Speence that it could.
Spence noted that he purchased his D700 on eBay, saving $40.
Jack adjourned the meeting at 2052L.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Callaham, NW3V
AARC Secretary
ARLB-034: FCC suspends Amateur Service license grants
ARLB-033: W1AW 2004/2005 Winter Operating Schedule
ARLB-032: FCC BPL Report And Order stresses interference avoidance, resolution
ARLB-031: Draft Bandwidth Petition, BPL Focus of ARRL Executive Committee Meeting
This is just a sample. For other recent bulletins, check out http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/, or listen to W1AW.
The Arlington ARC Roster is online at http://www.w4wvp.org/roster.censored.txt. Do we have your info correct? If not, please contact the Treasurer (Mike, KG4RKL) or webmaster (Mike, NW3V).
The Arlington Amateur Radio Club
4333 Arlington Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22203