Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Salt Lake County ARES® Volunteers


Message from Salt Lake County ARES®
Link to the website:  http://www.slcoares.net/




Country Fest Parade - The City of South Jordan

At our in-person meeting it was announced that South Jordan City needs some operators as indicated below. I have done this event in the past and they have bee easy to work with not to mention it was a lot of fun! Pat

The City of South Jordan is requesting 4 Amateur Radio operators on June 16 from approximately 0830 to 1100 hrs.

They would be providing communications for the Country Fest parade like the OLRC has done in years past.

Please let me know as soon as you can if ARES can help support this event.

Brett Neilson (KC7IIB)
801-414-9734 C
brett@brettneilson.com

Salt Lake County ARES® D-RATS Training


Message from Salt Lake County ARES®
Link to the website:  http://www.slcoares.net/




D-RATS Training

When:         Sat Jun 2 8:30am – 11am Mountain Time
Where:       10001 Hook Dr, South Jordan, UT 84095 (map

Bring your laptop and we will connect to the Ratflector that is now set up for SLCoARES at the UofU. Our focus for this next year will be digital communications. This will enable us to better serve our served agencies. That is the direction disaster communications is going due to its efficiency and less susceptibility to human error. So come and join the fun!


Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Operating on a Vacation

On the Foothill Net, a question came up about operating your station while on vacation - specifically a cruse.

Below is a link to a posting from Wikipedia that seemed to cover it.  Footnotes of references from the ARRL are contained in the posting.

Check it out!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_international_operation#International_Waters.2C_Airspace_and_Extraterrestrial_Operation

Saturday, May 19, 2012

BSA to Offer Morse Code Interpreter Strip


For many years, Boy Scouts and Scouters have been able to earn an interpreter strip to wear on their uniforms. This strip -- worn on the uniform above the right pocket -- denotes proficiency in a foreign language or sign language. Each language has its own strip (with the name of the language embroidered in that language), and some Scouts and Scouters wear more than one strip. Now those hams involved with the Boy Scouts can show their proficiency in Morse code with a Morse code interpreter strip (with M-O-R-S-E spelled out in Morse code).


 

According to BSA Director of Communication Services Jim Wilson, K5ND, the idea for a Morse code interpreter strip came about during meetings preparing for the 2012 Jamboree on the Air (JOTA). “One of the ideas presented was a variation on an interpreter strip for Morse code,” Wilson told the ARRL. “We played around with it a bit and then approached the BSA Awards Committee with the idea. They liked it, so we decided to explore the idea a bit more. We looked at the existing requirements for interpreter strips to see how they could be adapted for code. The BSA approved the strip in April, but we decided to wait until the strips were available before we announced it.” Wilson also serves as the BSA’s National JOTA Organizer and is President and Trustee of K2BSA, the BSA Headquarters Amateur Radio station in Texas.

The requirements to earn the Morse code interpreter strip are in line with the requirements of interpreter strips for other languages:

  • Carry on a five-minute conversation in Morse code at a speed of at least five words per minute, and
  • Copy correctly a two-minute message sent in Morse code at a minimum of five words per minute. Copying means writing the message down as it is received, and
  • Send a 25 word written document in Morse code at a minimum of five words per minute.


“Together, Amateur Radio and Boy Scouting is a wonderful thing,” Wilson told the ARRL. “The new Morse code interpreter strip is a nice recognition of the special skill of Morse code and its use in emergency communications. From my perspective, the strip gives us more buzz on things happening in Amateur Radio. In the past couple of decades, we have seen a tremendous increase in the number of Radio merit badges that have been awarded. In 1991-2000, we awarded 20,000 Radio merit badges. But in 2001-2010, we awarded 54,000! The interest in this badge has grown by leaps and bounds, indicating not only a keen interest in the art and science of radio, but in technology, too.”

Beginning with the 2013 National Jamboree, Wilson said that they will be teaching the Radio merit badge in four hours: “We will be teaching the badge every hour, on the hour. Scouts will spend 90 minutes in a classroom environment, 30 minutes on the air and then back to the classroom for another 90 minutes. In four hours, they will have their badge.” K2BSA has operated at every National Jamboree since 1977 and will be at the 2013 National Jamboree at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia.

“The sole purpose of any interpreter strip is to serve as an immediate, visual cue to others that the wearer is able to perform as an interpreter when needed, not to award the ability to converse in another language,” Wilson explained. “This is also why it is placed on the uniform is near the nameplate. When you wear the strip, whether it say Español, Français, Italiano, Signing or Morse, a Scout or Scouter is showing to the world that he or she has that proficiency to be tapped as an interpreter when needed.”

Article from ARRL.org

Three Hams Venture to ISS Next Week

All six crew members on Expedition 31 are 
radio amateurs! From left to right (front row): 
Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, RN3DT,
 and Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX. 
Back row: NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, KE5DAR,
 Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin, RN3BS,
 European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, PI9ISS,
 and NASA astronaut Don Pettit, KD5MDT. 
[Photo courtesy of NASA]
NASA will televise the launch and docking of the next mission to the International Space Station (ISS), scheduled for May 14. NASA Flight Engineer Joseph Acaba, KE5DAR, and his two Russian crewmates, Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin, RN3BS, are completing their training as they undergo Soyuz spacecraft fit. Live NASA TV coverage of the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan begins at 9 PM CDT on Monday, May 14 (0200 UTC May 15), with the launch scheduled for 10:01 PM CDT (0301 UTC).

The trio will arrive at the station May 16, joining Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX, of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Flight Engineer Don Pettit, KD5MDT, of NASA and Flight Engineer Andrei Kuipers, PI9ISS, of the European Space Agency, who have been aboard the ISS since December 2011. Padalka, Acaba and Revin will transition to the Expedition 32 crew in July and return to Earth in mid-September. You can watch live online on the NASA TV Public and Media channels, or on your television set. Contact your local provider for the NASA TV channel in your area. Click here for a complete schedule of televised events.

Article from ARRL.org

Sunday, May 13, 2012

KC6TYD's Go Box

Ron Hyte, KC7WVS and other Ham's are looking to put a box similar to this one together.   Check out the video link:




Email by Ron Hyte, KC7WVS on the Go-Box


"Greetings everyone,

I have been asked by several people to put together a list of items that I used for my Kit.  I also realize that some of you might have the advantage of ordering stuff through your company for better deals.  I have added links to the places I purchased my parts from.   Other times I have added links just for pictures of the part.

I should mention that I have been researching for an application that I would like to use for my Grab and go kit.   I looked at the ones that were built in the Pelican brief cases of various sizes but they didn't have options to add a TNC or another radio.  This is a YouTube video for the one I decided on and was my inspiration.    One of the problems he had was space for his speakers.  He had to shave the top and bottom down to fit them in.   That was not an option I wanted to take, so I modified the spacing of the shelves.


The first Item is the case.   There are several companies that make a case like this but they do not compare in quality or durability.  This case is called a Gator Pro with 6 units.   In the link I sent you, is a 6 Unit case and is what I used.   Each unit is about 1.75 inches which figures to be about 10.5 inches inside measurement.   The price on this case was $144.  This case comes with mounting rails in front but not in back.   The company however encloses a coupon good for free rails just like the  rails in front.  You also get black mounting screws.   The new rails nestles in place and all you need to do is drill three holes on each side for three bolts and nuts that are provided..


The surge protector is made by Furman and they have several models available.   You will get the best deal with this going on ebay.  The model number is Furman M-8Lx.

Right now I did a search for this model and I saw one for $59.95 and another for $49.50, with a “Buy now” option.

The shelves are two different sizes.   The rear shelf is a half rack.   A half rack is 6” deep.  The front shelves are full but that doesn't mean they go all the way back to the rear mounting rails.  Ebay has several racks but the best ones go for about $27.00 each on eBay.   Some of the cheaper ones go for $15.00 but are heaver.
I got my shelves from Poll sound, located here in town and he let me have them for $17.95 each.   That was a special price because of other purchases I had made there.   Maybe if you went through your company you could get a better deal also.  This is the shelf that I got from Poll audio.   This link is just for a picture.

The two speakers I used were MFJ 281 that I got from our local ham store, Communications Products. Please note Bob has closed his store and is now only an internet store but you can go to his house and buy from him.   Because I didn't have to pay shipping it was cheaper to get them from him rather the one of the bigger Ham Outlets.   Go to his website and call him.   He will give you directions how to get to his house.

This is a MFJ link to see what speakers look like.

If you were putting one of these kits with someone else’s money,  I would consider using one of the slimmer speakers from Icom like the Sp-10.

I also used a Rigrunner 4005 power strip for power distribution.