| 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 |
| August 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/ |
| Affiliate: | ARRL, FAR |
| Information: | Jack Reed, WA4FXX, wa4fxx@amsat.org (e-mail), (703) 685-7933 (phone). |
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The August 16 meeting of the Arlington Amateur Radio Club will be held at the usual time (1930L) and place (4333 Arlington Blvd). Activities Chair Alan, KO4ALA, will actually screen the loooooong-promised ARRL video, Everything You Wanted to Know About Antennas, But Were Afraid to Ask.: "Frank Rutter, K3AW, demonstrated the effects of different antennae using a signal generator and mini-antennae. For antenna skeptics, this is an excellent video, and clearly demonstrates the radiation patterns of different antennae that we normally find only in graphics." This video was last shown at AARC in 1997.
There will also be some old business to attend to, including web hosting and PC purchase.
Don't miss this one! Hope to CU there.
73,
--Mike, NW3V, AARC Secretary
Activities Chair Alan/KO4ALA has lined up, but not yet scheduled, a presentation by Terry Bathen, of the Department of Defense, on the National Security Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-458) "and why we have 15 agencies in the first place," as Alan puts it. We hope to announce a date for this in a future Beacon. (Note: Title VII, Subtitles C and D relate to first responders.)
Well before the meeting, President Jack/WA4FXX had communicated that he expected to be absent, and Vice President Dennis/W4WVP expected to preside--until shortly before the meeting, when a conflict arose. Dennis proposed to Secretary Mike/NW3V (who in accordance with the By-Laws should preside in the absence of the President and the Vice President) that Treasurer Mike/KG4RKL preside, so that Mike/NW3V could record the Minutes. Mike/NW3V agreed.
Treasurer Mike/KG4RKL called the meeting to order at 1938L. Attending, besides RKL, were Members Mike/NW3V, Ian/KI4DTP, Roy/AI4GO, Chuck/KI4DHW, Jack/KB3KKY, George/KR4MU, and eventually Dennis/W4PWF, and visitors Howard/WD5DBC and Lew/WB6YGX.
RKL noted that the first item of old business pending is the membership application of Lew Doss/WB6YGX. It was moved, seconded, and passed by acclamation to accept Lew's application for membership. [Welcome, Lew!]
RKL asked for a report on FD2005. W4WVP control op Mike/NW3V reported that the Field Day operation was well attended by Members and Visitors, and that most QSO points had been logged by visitors. Mike said Dennis/W4PWF had submitted the logs to the ARRL, but said he (3V) hadn't seen the final version and couldn't provide an exact claimed score.
Mike thanked Dan/N8YSZ, Sim/KD4REE, and Alan/KO4ALA for submitting digital images, and said that he had already put them, or links to them, on the FD2005 page on the W4WVP website and the brauhausdc.org mirror. "Just look for the Field Days link at the top of the real home page, or, better yet, the mirrored home page, that is, the page you get once you get past the page that provides links to the real home page or the mirror. When you get to the FD2005 page, notice the links at the top to Dan's photos and Sim's photos, which have many additional images of FD2005."
Mike thanked George/KR4MU for preparing the delicious breakfast on Sunday morning, and Dan/N8YSZ for providing laptops loaded with WB6ZQZ's FDLOG program and an Ethernet local area network to enable networked logging. "It worked pretty well, I thought, considering that most of us had no experience with the software before we started logging. With this experience and a little preparation," [viz., reading the fine manual: fdlogman.txt] "I expect we'll have no problems next time, and I'd like to see us use it next Field Day."
RKL asked Members and visitors to introduce themselves, and they did.
Returning to the FD2005 topic, Mike/NW3V said that within a few hours after the close of Field Day, Dan had merged the electronic logs from the three computers that ran FDLOG, added QSOs logged on paper at less active operating positions, and sent the draft report to him (3V). Mike said that he discovered he had a paper log that had not been given to Dan at the close of Field Day, so he entered the contacts from that log into the draft Field Day report file, and sent it to Dennis and Jack/WA4FXX for review. Jack noticed that Mike had not corrected some of the totals. Mike had to leave for vacation and couldn't do the corrections, so he asked Dennis and Jack to correct the sums.
Mike/KG4RKL reported on the club's finances. He said that $29.31 of Field Day expenses had been reimbursed by a grant via Colin Chaperon.
It was suggested that talk-ins be provided on meeting nights. Mike/NW3V responded that if this were advertised on the club web site or in Auto-Call, then there should be an effort, e.g. a duty roster, to ensure that the advertised service would be provided reliably. There followed some discussion; collective opinion seemed to favor voluntary monitoring of 145.47(-) MHz before meetings by Members so inclined, who could provide talk-ins if requested.
It was moved, seconded, and passed to accept the Minutes of the June meeting as published on the web.
Chuck/KI4DHW suggested automated announcement of meetings, and the Arlington County Net, by email, "maybe a few days before, and then the day before (for a meeting) or the day of (for a net)." Mike/NW3V, replied, "I said I'd look into that, but didn't do it. I will." Howard/WD5DBC (the ARES DEC) said "Fairfax [ARES] uses Yahoo groups. It's easy." 3V complained, "I don't like to accept cookies...."
Chuck/KI4DHW mentioned the recent repeater installations for the American Red Cross.
RKL called for discussion of the new business items submitted by President Jack/WA4FXX and published in the July issue of The Arlington Beacon. He noted the first item was assisting Roy/AI4GO with installation of an antenna: a dual-band vertical to be installed on a chimney. Roy reported that Jack/WA4FXX had visited his QTH, which is rented. "We showed the landlord a photo of the antenna and the intended mount location, and he had no problem." Lew/WB6YGX said, "I've volunteered. It will have to be on a weekend." Mike/NW3V suggested using the mailto: link on the HTML page that he emailed to Members, to compose an email message to all Members to poll interest in volunteering to help.
At this point, Vice President Dennis/W4PWF arrived and assumed the chair.
There ensued a discussion about lightning arrestors and ground rods. It was suggested that ground rods could be purchased at Berryville for $15 or from Home Depot or Radio Shack. After further discussion, this plan was agreed: volunteers Lew/WB6YGX, Chuck/KI4DHW, George/KR4MU, and anyone else interested should convene at Roy's QTH [the address was provided but won't be published here] at 1000L on Saturday, July 23. Roy's landline number was provided [but won't be published here], and Roy said he would also monitor 145.47 MHz. In case of rain, the following Saturday would be the rain date.
The next new business agenda item was planning for particpation at the Arlington County Fair. Few Members could commit to specific shifts at the Arlington County Chapter's table, but Mike/KG4RKL said he would try to visit and distribute information.
The next new business agenda item was planning for purchase of a new computer with a sound card to support digital modes using popular sound-card modem software. Ian/KI4DTP, said the main issue was whether to purchase a desktop PC or a notebook PC. He said representative prices for new, low-end Dell computers were $549 for a notebook and $299 for a notebook. Both include a one-year warranty. [Ed. note: dell.com offers 90-day warranties now.] Ian asked, rhetorically, "What do we want the computer to do?" He proposed a list [links added]:
[Ed. note: (1) A Winlink page says, "over an HF channel, the TNC must support Pactor I or (preferably) Pactor II." (2) A VDEN page specifies only "Pactor," without further qualification.]
There followed a discussion of how to recycle the existing PC, which runs MS DOS and has no sound card. There was also some debate on whether a notebook was really needed, given the higher price. A decision on which computer to purchase was postponed until the August meeting.
Dennis displayed the Virginia QSO Party participation certificate he had received as Trustee of W4WVP.
Ian noted that Kate Hansen would be leaving the Arlington County Chapter on July 22, and asked "Does the Club want to do anything for her? She's been very supportive of W4WVP and ARES." Dennis/W4PWF made a suggestion.
Howard/WD5DBC said "I'm here recruiting for the Marine Corps Marathon. It will be the last Sunday in October. We need packet ops, APRS, shadows, and more. Interested ops can sign up at www.ncacdc.com.
Dennis asked whether there was additional new business. Mike/KG4RKL displayed a listing of Scout Jamboree frequencies, from the Mount Vernon ARC. Howard/WD5DBC said, "the Vienna Wireless Society is launching a baloon this Saturday, out of Front Royal. It will carry ATV, etc., and should reach 80,000 feet."
Dennis noted that the next meeting would be August 16. He solicited and obtained a motion to adjourn, which was seconded and passed.
Respectfully submitted,
--Mike, NW3V
AARC Secretary
Jamboree on the Air will take place Saturday and Sunday (local time) October 15 and 16. The conference room outside the W4WVP shack is not available on Saturday, October 15, but Mike/NW3V has reserved it for Sunday, October 16. Paul/KA9KUU plans to bring Cub Scouts and Brownie Scouts to participate, at times still to be scheduled, and Mike has volunteered to co-host. Future updates will be posted on the W4WVP web site; look for JOTA headers and links.
ARLS007: Shuttle Discovery launches successfully
ARLS006: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station in repeater mode
ARLB-018: FCC proposes dropping Morse code requirement entirely
ARLB-017: ARRL board adopts modified regulation by bandwidth proposal
This is just a sample. For other recent bulletins, check out http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/, or listen to W1AW.
http://siteflip.com (Nominated by Adam, KG4VNC)
http://pwrhosting.com (Nominated by Adam, KG4VNC)
http://www.dreamhost.com (Nominated by Dan, N8YSZ)
http://obscure.org (Nominated by Dan, N8YSZ)
http://brauhausdc.org/n8ysz/ (Nominated by Dan, N8YSZ)
FDLOG
tlf
Harv's Hamshack Hack
AFU-Knoppix
Debian-Ham
CERT
D-STAR System
Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP)
http://live.irlp.net:8000/listen.pls (IRLP Crossroads Reflector)
The Arlington Amateur Radio Club
4333 Arlington Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22203