| 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 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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I regret to report that this November issue of The Arlington Beacon goes to press (the web) after the November meeting of the AARC. The highlights of the meeting were (1) election of Club officers to begin one-year terms on December 1, namely Adam Hahn/KG4VNC to be Secretary and the incumbents (see masthead) for other positions, and (2) acceptance of the Membership applications of Rich/WA3SXX, James/KB1JMV, Aubrey Mansfield/KI4LSA, Charles Schenck/W1EH, Tom Barlow/SWL, Ceci Barlow/SWL, and Mike Wusylczuk/SWL. Welcome, Rich, James, Aubrey, Charles, Tom, Ceci, and Mike! Details will be in the Minutes of the November meeting, to appear in the December Beacon.
73,
--Mike, NW3V, Lame-Duck AARC Secretary
President Jack/WA4FXX called the meeting to order at 1936L. Attending, besides FXX, were Members Mike/NW3V, Ian/KI4DTP, Bob/WB4KLJ Mike/KG4RKL, Adam/KG4VNC, Alan/KO4ALA, Chuck/KI4DHW, Jim/K9AUC, Mike/KA8OPJ, Roy/AI4GO, Dennis/W4PWF, and visitors Ceci Barlow, Tom Barlow, Mike Wusylczuk, Rich/WA3SXX. Charles/W1EH, James/KB1JMV
Jack asked Members and visitors to introduce themselves, and they did.
It was moved, seconded, and passed to approve the Minutes of the September meeting as then published on the web, subject to corrections offered by KA8OPJ, WA4FXX, and KI4DHW. Treasurer Mike/KG4RKL, reported on the Club's finances.
Jack noted that Dennis/W4PWF would be arriving late, so the report on ARRL matters would be deferred until his arrival.
Our representative to the Foundation for Amateur Radio, Alan/K04ALA, reported, "FAR has discontinued publishing Auto-Call."
Alan/KO4ALA said, "Next Saturday at 8:30 am the the Lee Center there will be an NCAC Training Institute, including packet and NIMS training. On October 30 the U.S. Marine Corps Marathon will be run. So far, we have 130 people in 6 radio nets [signed up to volunteer]. How many of you have scanners?" Three hands went up. "I could give you freqs; you could listen to it."
Jack/WA4FXX asked for old business from the "Computer Crowd" [Information Technology Subcommittee]. Adam/KG4VNC, Ian/KI4DTP, and Mike/NW3V responded that they recommended [and Dennis ordered] a PC for just over $700 including shipping and handling: a Dell 5200 with 256 MB RAM, a Pentium 3GHz CPU, sound and video cards, 6 USB ports, and the WinXP Home OS. They said it should be arriving in the next 2 weeks. Jack said "Here [offering a CD] is some software: Digipan, MMSSTV, MMTTY, etc." Ian said, "I'll donate a [hub]."
Jack/WA4FXX "It looks like there's a contest coming. I'll bring W3FJ [?] logging software--we have a full license. Dennis is donating a [West Mountain Radio RigBlaster] Nomic [interface]."
The next item of old business was the 440 MHz antenna project. Jack said that Mike/KA8OPJ has offered some 440 things [antenna, line]. Jack said that George/KR4MU had checked this morning with Mary [Kane], and it [installation] is ok with the ACC.
The next item of old business was the AI4GO HF antenna project. Jack asked, "Anyone take a look at it [QTH] yet?" There were no responses to that question. Alan/KO4ALA said, "I'd suggest an end-fed antenna." Jack continued, "So please take a look. George also convinced Mary to get a 28-foot ladder, so that we can get on high roofs."
Dennis/W4PWF arrived. It was moved, seconded, and passed to approve expenditure not to exceed $703.00 to reimburse W4PWF for the purchase of the new computer. Jack then asked Dennis to report on ARRL matters.
Dennis said, "It's been very quiet, but the Roanoke Division may get a new website." He asked Mike/NW3V, "Have you been called about that?" Mike answered, "No," but regarding the w4wvp.org website as an example, he said, "Dan/N8YSZ suggested obscure.org, and Adam/KG4VNC did the deed."
Moving right along to other League matters, Dennis reported "Sales of the Handbook are brisk--over 5,000 copies, now into the third printing." Mike/NW3V asked how Handbook CD sales were doing, and it was explained that the CD was bundled with the printed document.
Alan/KO4ALA said, "That reminds me: we need County IDs. Send me your name, etc. In a non-Red-Cross incident, you're going to need one."
Jack/WA4FXX asked whether there were any nominations for Club officers, to be elected at the November meeting. Mike/Nw3V, the incumbent Secretary, nominated Adam Hahn/KG4VNC to be Secretary. Adam accepted. The nomination was seconded. Regarding the Secretary's duty to keep the Minutes of all meetings, Mike mentioned, "I have all the Beacons. Dennis asked "All?" Mike clarified, "All electronic Beacons, since some time in 1997." Dennis said, "I have all, since 1974." There followed some discussion of options (scanning, OCR) for generating electronic versions of Dennis's paper Beacons.
Jack said, "It's time to schedule rooms for future activities. We'll need third Tuesdays for meetings, and the fourth full weekend in June for Field Day, and JOTA. What other contests? ARES SET is the first Saturday in October. Could that be coordinated with Arlington County Chapter training?" Ian/KI4DTP said, "DAT training is on a semester cycle--three semesters. At graduation they do training." He added that the annual Gallant Fox exercise should be on the schedule. Alan/KO4ALA asked Ian, "Would you find out when they do a mid-sized exercise?" Ian replied, "Yes."
Jack asked, "What other contests should we open for? I think the Virginia QSO Party [No objection.] Sweepstakes?" [General affirmative response.] "DX? -- I'll pick a couple of contests to suggest." Ian/KI4DTP suggested, "We should put that online...." Adam/KG4VNC said, "When I have more time, I want to a blog interface on w4wvp.org, so people can add events, and old additions get pushed down." Jack continued polling, "CW Sweepstakes, 5 November?" KG4VNC said, "Maybe." Jack continued, "SSB Sweepstakes, November 20: we're down. ARRL 10m contests in December?" [Some looks of tentative interest.]
Jack asked, "Other old business?" Dennis/W4PWF said: "Field Day: we were last in our class: 8F." Mike/NW3V asked, "Were we also first in our class?" Dennis smiled and said, "Yes. I hand-carried our logs to HQ, and they were entered electronically, which earned us bonus points."
Ian/KI4DTP announced, "I saw a TS-520 in the pawn shop on Glebe Road, in case anyone's interested. Also--this is not radio-related, but--there's a book sale at the Library. Also, Batteries+, at Germantown Road and Lee Highway, gives a discount to licensed hams."
Mike/KG4RKL said, I have three applications for Membership to consider at the next meeting, from WA3SXX, KI4LSA, and KB1JMV.
It was moved, seconded, and passed to adjourn for the program, at 2044. The program was a presentation by CERT Member Chuck/KI4DHW and ARES Emergency Coordinator (EC) for Arlington County, Alan/KO4ALA, titled An Introduction to Disaster Preparedness. They used CERT materials for the presentation, which was very instructive and ended at 2135.
Respectfully submitted,
--Mike, NW3V
AARC Secretary
ARLX-005: Radio amateurs helping hurricane kids through toy drive
ARLB-025: W1AW 2005/2006 Winter Operating Schedule
This is just a sample. For other recent bulletins, check out http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/, or listen to W1AW.
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