| 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 |
| February 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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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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Activities Chair Alan, KO4ALA, plans to have ACPD Capt. Tom Panther update us on the new County emergency plan and EOC developments.
--Mike, NW3V, AARC Secretary
President Jack, WA4FXX, called the meeting to order at 1940L. Attending besides Jack were Vice President Dennis, W4PWF, Secretary Mike, NW3V, and Members Jack, KB3KKY, Ian, KI4DTP, George, KR4MU, Jim, K9AUC, Mike, KA8OPJ, Rich, KI4FWE (now KI4FW), and visitor Larry, K3HE, from the Louden Red Cross Disaster Services. Also present in the building, but initially in a Red Cross Volunteer Orientation class, were Activities Chair Alan, KO4ALA, Members Keith, KC1AD and his YF, Paul, KG4PXF, Adam, KI4VNC, and visitor John, AF4PD, of the Vienna Wireless Society (VWS). WA4FXX asked Members and visitors to introduce themselves, and they did.
Chuck, KI4DHW, reported on his Metro (Transit) Training for CERT. Chuck said that he was very impressed with the WMATA police and maintenance facilities. He said "they did a very, very good job of training us. They don't really expect us to do much--[except] know when to evacuate passengers and when not to evacuate passengers."
"I went through the 'train the trainer' stuff, too.... One task is looking for anomalous people who look like they don't belong there and who might be doing long-term surveillance."
The Minutes of the December meeting as published on the Web were reviewed. Jack, WA4FXX, asked that the Minutes be amended to add that a motion to reimburse Keith, KG4UIR, for the cost of shelving for the shack was made, seconded, and passed. The Minutes, subject to this addition, were approved (moved, seconded, and passed).
ARRL contact Dennis, W4PWF, said "I'll be going to Hartford, banged up as I am. The main issue will be regulation by bandwidth. For example: what does CW mean? Does it include PSK? We know now that DSB is 6 kHz wide. We don't want this to be latched onto another request for rulemaking that's down there; that could take a long time.
"Are there any suggestions I culd take back?"
Larry, K3HE: "The arrl.org search engine is a good search engine, but it could be improved. It only searches foe one word. It would be better if it could search for multiple words."
Dennis: "Boolean?"
Larry: " No, just multiple words."
Mike, NW3V: "For example, both words are not required, but a page ranks higher if both are present."
Larry: "Or match quoted phrases."
Dennis: "The Logbook of the World--many features are now done."
Larry: "When will WAS be implemented?"
Dennis: "I'll make a note to ask that."
Jack, WA4FXX, asked Foundation for Amateur Radio Representative Alan, KO4ALA, about the FAR meeting. Alan said, "I'll let you know as soon as I get the Minutes. Auto-Call has gone to bed--the deadline is the 15th of the month before the month before--two months ahead. They want copy in ASCII."
Larry: "Winterfest...."
Alan: "Yes, that's coming up March 13, with a license exam the day before.."
Dennis: "It conflicts with the hamfest in Charlotte."
ARES Arlington County Emergency Coordinator Alan, KO4ALA, reported on emergency communication planning activities. He said, "I talked to Lorrie about getting courses for us here. I'm going to arrange for us to get the Intro to Disaster program. I'll call [ACPD] Captain Tom Panther about a program on the new ECC. Also, ifyou all got the email from Keith [KG4UIR] today,..." Jack, WA4FXX, interjected: "No, that was just for Members." Alan continued, "Come see people prepare for the Inauguration -- sat phones...." "No, IP phones over satellite links," said George, KR4MU.
Alan continued the ECC thread: "The new EOC--Emergency Operations Center--will be in the new building. The ECC--Emergency Communications Center--will remain at Uhle Street for now. The EOC there may also remain as a back-up."
Jack, WA4FXX, said, "I have the NIMS slides that [ACPD Captain] Steve Holl presented." Ian, KI4DTP, said, "We may be able to download those from the FEMA web site." Jack said, "They [slides] mention the FEMA web site. Anything else?"
Jim, K9AUC, said, "I updated the info sheet that we give to responders. There's a privacy concern--it lists home phone numbers--so don't take one unless you're a responder. DAT Teams have a new cell number, NexTel. [Red Cross] Volunteers don't know how to use them, so see the handout.
"The Mid-Atlantic Emergency Net meets on the 60-meter band. I'd be interested in finding out after Thursday [the Inauguration] what worked and what didn't work."
Jack, WA4FXX, affirmed the last comment by Jim, and elaborated. Then he added, "I need to get an email off to Spence regarding the IC-706 [in the ACPD MCC]: ops will need headphones and splitters." Then Jack discussed the Arlington Prepares fair: "There was a sergeant there [in the MCC] who didn't know what the different radios did. We could put up placards, e.g., 'Long-Range' and 'Short-Range.' If you have ideas, email me, or tell me and email me."
Dennis, W4PWF, noted, "Last week there were a large number of check-ins at The Arlington County Net."
Jack, WA4FXX, noted that the RTTY Round-Up is coming up, and he mentioned other contests. He said, "If we want to do these, we can usually get a room, but you have to let us know if you're interested. They provide good operating experience." There followed some discussion of W4WVP readiness, and next steps, for PSK31, RTTY, AX.25, and other digital modes of operation. Mike, KA8OPJ, displayed his homebrew dual-band 2m/70cm ground plane antenna made from brazing rods. Rich, KI4FWE [now KI4FW], said, "I operated on Kid's Day with my daughter and a girlfriend. We contacted a lighthouse and Johnson Spaceflight Center using 10 watts and a wire antenna. We might want to try that here."
Alan, KO4ALA, said, "The TJ radio club has two members going to the Venture Crew 80 no-code class. Also, the Vienna Wireless Society would like to find a school interested in having an amateur radio club. It would be nice for Arlington to have one."
Mike, NW3V, acting for Treasurer Mike, KG4RKL, collected 2005 dues--from KI4DTP, W4PWF, KI4FWE, KA8OPJ, KI4VNC, K9AUC, and KC1AD.
President Jack, WA4FXX, adjourned the meeting at a time not recorded by the Secretary.
Respectfully submitted,
--Mike, NW3V
AARC Secretary
AARC Activities Chair Alan Bosch, KO4ALA, has provided the following schedule (originally published in the January 2005 Arlington Beacon) for the next CERT class. He noted that "missed classes in this course will have to be made up in the next one after that -- September."
| Disaster Awareness | Tuesday, April 5 | 7 to 9:45 pm |
| Medical Operations I | Tuesday, April 12 | 7 to 9:45 pm |
| Medical Operations II | Tuesday, April 19 | 7 to 9:45 pm |
| Team Organization & Management | Tuesday, April 26 | 7 to 9:45 pm |
| Fire Suppression/Utility Shutoff | Saturday, April 30 | 10 am to 1 pm |
| Terrorism | Tuesday, May 3 | 7 to 9:45 pm |
| Search and Rescue | Tuesday, May 10 | 7 to 9:45 pm |
| Mock Disaster/Final Exam | Saturday, May 21 | 10 am to 1:30 pm |
AMATEUR RADIO
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
THE FOUNDATION FOR AMATEUR RADIO, INC., a non-profit organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C., plans to administer fifty-five (55) scholarships for the academic year 2005 - 2006 to assist licensed Radio Amateurs. The Foundation, composed of over seventy-five local area Amateur Radio Clubs, fully funds three of these scholarships. Ten are funded with the income from grants. The remaining forty-two (42) are administered by the Foundation without cost to the various donors.
Licensed Radio Amateurs may compete for these awards if they plan to pursue a full-time course of studies beyond high school and are enrolled in or have been accepted for enrollment at an accredited university, college or technical school. The awards range from $500 to $2500 with preference given in some cases to residents of specified geographical areas or the pursuit of certain study programs. Clubs, especially those in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin, are encouraged to announce these opportunities at their meetings, in their club newsletters, during training classes, on their nets and on their world wide web home pages.
Additional information and an application form may be requested by letter or QSL card, postmarked prior to April 30, 2005 from:
FAR Scholarships Post Office Box 831 Riverdale, MD 20738
The Foundation for Amateur Radio, incorporated in the District of Columbia, is an exempt organization under Section 501(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. It is devoted exclusively to promoting the interests of Amateur Radio and those scientific, literary and educational pursuits that advance the purposes of the Amateur Radio Service.
ARLB-005: ARRL Tells FCC to "Reconsider, Rescind and Restudy" BPL
ARLB-004: ARRL Board outlines ambitious legislative agenda
ARLS-002: ISS, PC-sat set up for joint packet tests
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