Douglas County ARES is hosting a Net Control Station Training on Wednesday February 1 at 6:30 p.m. The training session will be held at the Douglas County EOC at 1819 Farnam St. You need to access the building through door on the Farnam (north) side of the building. There is plenty for free parking in the area.
This training is good for those who are wishing to learn how to be a Net Control Operator or those who are interested in what all is involved in being a Net Control Operator.
As the EOC is located in a secure part of the builiding, please arrive prior to 6:30 p.m. so that you can be escorted to the area.
ARES will try to have someone on 146.940 to do talk in between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m.
The DIY Magic of Amateur Radio
ARRL's new video, "The DIY Magic of Amateur Radio," is an 8-minute video that follows some of the innovative, imaginative and fun ways "hams" use radio technology in new and creative ways. The presentation is directed toward the DIY (do it yourself) movement, which is inspiring a new generation of creators, hackers and innovators. The message should be helpful for existing members to shape the ways they understand and talk about ham radio.
Can I Have “Amateur Radio” for $800, Alex?
If you were watching the popular television game show Jeopardy! -- where contestants have to answer in the form of a question -- on December 15, you might have noticed there was a question featuring Amateur Radio. In the first round, returning champ Boomie Aglietti was playing the category “Pastimes” when he encountered this “answer” worth $800: “The FCC assigns call signs, like N8DNR, to use in this hobby.” Aglietti answered correctly with “ham radio.”
The flooding that swept through the Philippines has claimed 800 lives after the enormous devastation left by Tropical Storm Washi.
Local hams in the disaster area are now doing their best to help out with relief efforts. The search for survivors continues along with the many burials that are needed.
The Red Cross reports the storm swept away entire coastal villages as it dumped heavy rain triggering mud slides. Some 47,000 people are in evacuation centres. President Benigno Aquino is set to visit the disaster zone tomorrow.
The storm flooded a river that sent muddy floodwaters from nearby mountains that coated streets.
It has been a bad season for the country with back-to-back typhoons in September leaving many people dead in the northern Philippines.
Jim Linton VK3PC Chairman, IARU Region 3, Disaster Communication Committee.
Amateur Radio Balloon Flight Crosses Atlantic, Sets Records
Ron Meadows, K6RPT, and his son Lee -- leaders of the California Near Space Project -- successfully launched an Amateur Radio high altitude balloon on Sunday, December 11 at 4:43 PM PST. The balloon reached a cruise altitude between 105,000 and 115,000 feet, where it continued its travel across the United States, the Atlantic Ocean and Spain and into the Mediterranean Sea. For most of its trip, the balloon traveled at about 150 miles per hour and eventually covered 6236 great circle miles in just 57 hours 2 minutes. According to the CNSP, this is a new Amateur Radio balloon flight record for both distance and duration
Amateur radio will become an ongoing part of the ABC comedy, "Last Man Standing." Star Tim Allen will have various pieces of ham gear on his office desk, including rigs provided by ICOM, and an HF antenna from Comet. Scenes from CQ videos will be visible on his large-screen TV and some copies of CQ magazine may show up on his desk as well. His character will be identified as a licensed ham, although the callsign he will use is fictional.
Producer John Amodeo is a ham (NN6JA) and says he feels that ham radio fits right in with the persona of Allen's character, Mike Baxter, who is marketing director for an outdoor/sporting goods company. He also thinks that hams fit right in as part of the show's target audience. Amodeo warns that, at least at first, ham radio's presence will be only visual, and has not yet been worked into any scripts. (See John's article, "Producing Ham Radio," about how he got several of the show's staff members licensed as hams, on page 30 of the December 2011 issue of CQ.)
Creating the Neighborhood Ham Watch
There is a 75 percent chance that a major earthquake will hit Northern California in the next three decades. The question is "Are we ready?" One group says that when landline and wireless devices are not functioning, ham radios can come to the rescue
APRSdroid is an Android application for Amateur Radio (HAM) operators that allows reporting your position to the APRS-IS network, sending and receiving messages. It also displays nearby stations as a list or on a map.
To make full use of APRSdroid, you will need an APRS-IS passcode for your callsign. Easily available.. the app will help you get that.
APRSdroid is Open Source Software written in Scala and licensed under the GPLv2.
The APRSdroid features are: * See what is going on on APRS with the Hub View or on the map * One-time or periodic position reporting to APRS * APRS Messaging support * Get detailed information about a station * Follow the movement of a station on the map * Support for GPS and network location * Status Bar notification when running and for incoming messages
The author is adding new functionality all the time!
The app is not free, but for less than $5 you can can get on APRS. (Call sign verification is required!)
The Monthly Meeting of the AARC will be on February 10, 2012 at the Heartland Chapter House of the American Red Cross at 81st and Spring (near 84th and Center). The Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.
