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The HOTLINE |
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Putting a Little Technology into RDF! |
by
John Chamberlain AC5CV |
Larry
Bush W5NCD has always impressed us with his workshop projects. So we are going
to graciously give him a head start on “home-brew night.” (Hint: That is
typically HOTARC’s October meeting event…Start planning now!!)
At
the August HOTARC meeting, Larry has agreed to give us a peek at some of his
latest projects that add a little spice to fox-hunting, or RDF (radio-direction
finding). Larry will demonstrate a couple of cardioid-pattern antennas suitable
for hidden transmitter hunts, as well as a broadcast band loop antenna.
He also has perfected the packaging for an active attenuator for use with fox hunting. He’s agreed to bring a few of these both assembled and unassembled. (Hint: Bring some cash if you’re interested!)
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QRV? (Are You
Ready?) |
by
Ed Middlebrook, KC5NT |
Do you remember your first
job out of college or high school? Your education was beneficial, but when did
the 
real
learning begin? On the job!
Your first few years in Amateur Radio are not any different. You study, take a course and then the exam. If all goes well—you’re a HAM! Now what? Welcome aboard—your education is about to begin!
What can WE experienced operators do to help? Become a mentor—an Elmer (or Elmira). We’ve talked about this topic about a year ago, but let’s see if we can begin creating a solid Mentoring Program within HOTARC. I’m asking one member to step forward and work up a list of Mentors and coordinate the effort to put them in touch with new hams in our area.
We
complain that a lot of new hams don’t know the ropes, they use improper
language (lingo), and have poor operating habits. Won’t you agree with me that
if we all took a little time to work with these folks, they could become First
Class Operators? I can personally vouch for this by working closely with JW
Roach (W5AYX), my Mentor almost 26 years ago.
Let’s do it! We now have a growing group of new folks entering the service and the time to begin a coordinated approach is now. Won’t you help?
See you Thursday!
73
Ed Middlebrook, KC5NT
HOTARC President
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For the Record... |
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HOTARC Meeting of Members
July 22, 2004
The July meeting of the Heart O’ Texas Amateur Radio Club was called to order by Ed Middlebrook KC5NT at 7:00 pm at the Kultgen Automotive Building on the TSTC Waco campus. Present were eighteen full members, one family member, and five visitors: Mark Mitzel of the Waco Police Department; Roy Rabey AD5KZ of Bedford, TX; Melissa Rasmussen KM5R of Irving, TX; Chris Hudgins N5IUF of Dalls, TX; and Joan Roach KA5MND (wife of J.W. Roach W5AYX).
The Minutes for the June meeting were approved as published in the HOTLINE, following a motion byBill Feltenberger KD5UEW, second by Scott Shafer KD5MLY, and unanimous vote by the members present. The June Treasurer’s Report as published in the HOTLINE was also accepted, following a motion by Ed Hynan KC5KNI, second by Rusty Keyes AD5JY, and unanimous vote by the members present.
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The
Treasurer Reports... |
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Heart
O’ Texas Amateur Radio Club Beginning Account Balance $ 3,296.22 Income Interest $ 0.69 Dues 15.00 TOTAL Income $ 15.69 Expenses Field Day food $ 49.73 Field Day fuel 22.90 Meals, July guest speakers 40.00 TOTAL Expenses $ 112.63 Ending
Account Balance $ 3,199.28 Outstanding (as of 8-20-04) Submitted by |
Announcements
· Salvation Army Trailer: Wayne Branscum KD5SMC reported that the Austin SA group has no licensed amateur operator, and we know nothing about their trailer, yet plans are to bring their trailer to Hewitt (Midway Junior High School) on August 2 for a one-day-early National Night Out event. HOTARC members are invited to come help check out the trailer.
Committee Reports
· ARES: KC5KNI reported on the WMD Exercise in which amateur radio handled about 10% of the messages when all other communication channels were “brought down.” The new Bell county wide-area repeater worked very well. Certificates were presented to those hams participating in the exercise. Bill Cox W5JRM reported that as a result of the exercise, there are now two new marked coax cables connected to 2-meters and HF (multiband vertical) antennas.
· Trailer: The trailer worked very well during Field Day, with both generators being given a chance to contribute.
· Repeater: Scott Shafer KD5MLY reported that it was hoped that the 145.15 antenna work would occur next week.
· Web Page: Justin Martin KC5KQL reported that all was well.
· ATV: David Bush KC5UPOZ reported that the ATV antennas were found damaged, and so we are operating now on a temporary arrangement of the former RX antenna serving as the TX antenna, and a southwest-aimed yagi for RX. Replacement antennas are being constructed by W5NCD. The 2m-SSTV nightly nets are still going well.
Old Business
· Field Day: KC5NT presented a slide show summary of the scoring results for this year. He will be submitting a claimed a score of 5504 points, slightly less than last year’s high, but remarkable in light of the very challenging (wet!) weather this year.
New Business
· New Member: Elaine Ault KC5WQE of Waco submitted an application for membership. A moti0on to accept the application was made by Otto Hackfeld KI5QT, seconded by Mike Ross N5MVL, and unanimously approved by the members present.
· National Night Out: Terry Williams KD5KJU discussed plans to support the Alta Vista neighborhood NNO event again this year (August 3, 6:30-10:30 pm), and introduced visitor Mark Mitzel of the Waco P.D. who shared the department’s plans to support the citywide event.
KC5NT heard a motion by KI5QT to adjourn the meeting at approximately 7:40 pm.
The program this evening was presentations from 1) Roy Rabey AD5KZ, the ARRL NTX Section Manager, who discussed BPL developments in Texas, spectrum protection measures underway, repeater coordination issues, the growth of CERT programs, and upcoming ARRL elections; and 2) Chris Hudgins N5IUF, a Director of the Texas VHF-FM Society, who discussed the upcoming Society meeting and elections to be held at the Austin Summerfest.
Submitted by:
John Chamberlain AC5CV
HOTARC Secretary
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Symphony 6000—We Need
Your Help! |
by
John Chamberlain, AC5CV |
As
you will read in my email this week, we need volunteers for this annual special
event. Please mark your calendars with a big red circle around
Saturday, September 4, 2004.
The first run starts at 7:30 am, so we need to be ready to play our roles no later than 7:15 am (actually 7:00 am would be better).
Please reply to my email invitation, and come to the HOTARC meeting this week to discover your assignments. And since the Symphony folks have really come to appreciate our part in this event, they are happy to give you a very nice t-shirt.
As usual, the run will involve several hundred runners who are very serious about this official 6-kilometer event, as depicted on the map here. The HOTARC trailer should be located near the starting line. We hope to use the BARC repeater—good for a 2-watt HT anywhere on the course.
BARC Repeater:
147.16 (xmit + 600 kHz, tone 123 Hz)
For more info about the Symphony 6000, click here.
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ARES Update: Served Agency Support |
by Ed Hynan, KC5KNI, |
Amateur radio, and the service we provide in time of
emergency, is getting noticed by a number of local agencies. The recent
city/county Terrorism/Weapons of Mass Destruction Exercise tested the ability
of amateur radio to be the sole source for passing critical message traffic by
“taking down” local phone, fax, cell, 
and
radio systems as part of the exercise. This scenario, if it were to really
happen, has got local agencies thinking about including permanent amateur radio
options into their facilities. We need to develop better and more efficient
ways of passing critical message traffic also to better support the customers.
The McLennan County Public Health District wants to install radios and antennas. Providence Hospital is considering the same. The Waco Police Department has initiated an idea to have an amateur radio repeater installed on the 80 foot tower that sits next to their building. The Waco Fire Department is interested in incorporating amateur radio into their Hazmat program after seeing the demonstration of longer range communications between the Hospitals during the last exercise.
These are all positive initiatives and indicate that we are making progress in selling our capabilities and available services to these agencies. As some or all of these ideas come to being it will mean a larger role for amateur radio and McLennan County ARES within the local operations of these agencies. This brings up a question that we have to address. In the McLennan County ARES application, prospective members are asked about their availability to support served agencies in exercises, weather nets, and actual disaster response. Availability is grouped into three categories: 1) 24/7; 2) nights and weekends; and 3) general. In preparation for the exercise, I e-mailed the 27 operators that indicated 24/7 availability on their application. I got responses from less that 25% of them and had some difficulty finding enough operators to fill the needed positions. I realize that this was just a planned exercise, and that if there had been an actual disaster situation there would have been more operators available. I also realize that we are all volunteers and cannot be available all the time, but the agencies that we support are more inclined to count on amateur radio to fill gaps in their capabilities in time of emergency. I would ask that all McLennan County ARES members look again at their indicated availability to provide support and let me know if there are any changes. You can e-mail changes or updates to your information to me at KC5KNI@arrl.net. Based on our excellent track record in providing support to local agencies, I can only see requests for emergency communications support to continue.
Thanks to all members for the support you provide. If you are not an ARES member you should be. The only requirements are a valid amateur radio license and the willingness to help. Applications are available on the HOTARC web site (in FAQ) or by e-mailing me direct at the above address.
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Mark Your Calendars! Fall Special Events: Symphony 6000: September 4 Waco Wild West Century Bike Ride: October 2 |
Amateur
Radio—Front and Center! |
Summarized
from ARRL Online |
If you’ve been following any of the stories coming out of Florida, you know that Hurricane Charley left the communications infrastructure in a shambles along the west coast of Florida. With power outages continuing over much of the area for over two weeks, Amateur Radio has proven again to be a communications mainstay as conventional telecommunications systems became unreliable or went down altogether after Hurricane Charley hit.
“The only reliable communication we have here is Amateur Radio,” reports ARRL West Central Florida Section Manager Dave Armbrust, AE4MR. Armbrust says ARES needs trained and knowledgeable emergency communicators—and especially those with leadership skills—with their own equipment. During the week after Charley, he made a special plea for ARES groups with emergency communications vans or trailers.
Radio amateurs also have been handling emergency traffic and assisting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in setting up HF communication to the state EOC in the capital of Tallahassee. ARES volunteers also provided communication for search-and-rescue teams, handled outgoing health-and-welfare traffic from storm victims now living in shelters in stricken communities, provided or supplemented public safety communication and even took on some dispatching duties. At a command post in the DeSoto County town of Arcadia, St Lucie County Communication Response Team radio amateurs established a trunking system that allowed the Arcadia fire and police to use their own radios and to communicate. The group's emergency communications van can operate on HF and VHF as well as on CB, Marine and any public service frequency.
And, in typically heroic fashion, the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) on 14.265 MHz spent nearly five days in continuous operation. The Salvation Army provided meals, household necessities, and other assistance to residents displaced by the storm and has been relying on its own Amateur Radio resources. SATERN also has taken on responsibility for health-and-welfare inquiries, both via Amateur Radio and through its web site.
Amateur Radio volunteers also deployed to hospitals, some of which have experienced spotty communication. Several still-operational VHF and UHF repeaters have been buzzing this week with emergency traffic.
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Hurricane Charley Photos
by KG4YZY Dave, N4SCF Sean, KG4JPL Kyle, KI4FQA Jason and KI4DAU Mike (Click on
images for larger versions.) |
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KG4JPL
putting a dual band antenna on a crank up tower for a portable repeater. |
7/8-inch
hardline literally ripped off the side of this cell tower. Even the ladder
bolted to the tower was ripped off. |
You can
now see why they say it will take weeks to get power restored. |
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Traffic
control is back in the dark ages. I didn't see a single traffic signal that
would function once power was restored. |
This was
a Rohn 25 tower. The top 30 feet is bent to the right, and the hardline is
all tangled in the guys. |
People
parked their cars in an empty parking lot to avoid damage, each of these
vehicles has its windows blown out. |
Click here to read a first-hand report of the impact that ham radio had in Florida, involving the Salvaion Army, APRS, and hams who were up to the task. This should motivate every one of us to heed the calls of Ed Hynan KC5KNI and others to get ready!!
The HOTLINE is the monthly newsletter of the Heart
O’ Texas Amateur Radio Club (HOTARC), Inc., a nonprofit corporation, chartered
by the State of Texas and principally located in Waco. It is permissible to use
any of the original material contained herein, provided proper credit is given
to the source.
Edited and Published by John
Chamberlain AC5CV, AC5CV@arrl.net
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2004 Board
of Directors |
HOTARC 2004 Board of Directors
President: Ed Middlebrook KC5NT, 826-4053, KC5NT@arrl.net
Vice Pres: Rodney Baden K5YKC,
857-9760, K5YKC@arrl.net
Secretary: John Chamberlain AC5CV,
855-7731, AC5CV@arrl.net
Treasurer: Norris Martin KB5SLI,
829-2138, NMartin@tstc.edu
Past-Pres.: Rusty Keyes AD5JY,
662-1461, RustedKey@aol.com
Director
(2004):
Bill Cox W5JRM, 863-5149, W5JRM@aol.com
Director
(2005):
Ed Hynan KC5KNI, 666-4873, KC5KNI@arrl.net
Director
(2006):
Scott Shafer KD5MLY, 848-5888, ScottShafer@clearchannel.com
145.15 MHz
(input at –600 kHz, tone 123 Hz)
146.88 MHz
(input at –600 kHz)
146.98 MHz (input at –600 kHz, tone 123 Hz)
ATV: 421.25MHz (Cable 57), input 439.25 MHz
(Cable 60)
NO TESTING in August. Regular schedule to resume in September:
10:00 am on the fourth Saturday of the month at Baylor’s Rogers Engineering Bldg, Room 109. Bring: 1) testing fee of $12 (cash, please); 2) current license and photocopy of it; 3) a photo ID (two for first-time licensees), and 4) photocopy of any relevant CSCE. Contact: Linda Hynan, AC5QQ at 666-4873 or Linda.Hynan@UTSouthwestern.edu.
Meeting Notice
This month’s
meeting of HOTARC will be at 7:00 pm on Thursday August 26, 2004 in the Kultgen Automotive Center of
the TSTC Waco Campus. Meetings generally last about 90 minutes
consisting of fellowship, general Club business, and an interesting program.
Visiting hams, family members, and prospective hams are welcomed! |
