ARRL Field Day 2014 announcement

News flash: Modes used during Field Day

News flash: ALE AMD during Field Day

News flash: APRS during Field Day
News flash: Field Day Antenna setup

Stay tuned for more updates...

- Public Announcement for immediate release -

The Arkansas Radio Emergency Services (A.R.E.S.) Club, The Central Arkansas UHF (CAUHF) Club and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System Ham Radio (CAVHS) Club have once again joined forces for this year's ARRL Amateur Radio Field Day @ the VA Hospital.

We three Little Rock Amateur Radio Clubs will once again be participating in the annual ARRL Field Day event the weekend of June 28-29 on the Historic Ft. Roots Parade Ground, Little Rock, Arkansas using the call sign N5AT.

We will be operating with emergency power and alternate power, erecting a 20m beam antenna, wire antennas and a magnetic loop antenna. There will again be a dedicated SSB station, a dedicated digital station, a digital&voice GOTA station and a VHF station. Digital operations will be CW (straight key) and sound card based modes, including Automatic Link Establishment (ALE AMD).


The AHDNN net will be conducted from this site between 1600h and 1700h CDT, 7.070 mhz 1000Hz +/-, MT63-500L.
Technician Class Licensees - SPECIAL NOTICE: Please check-in with CW on Center Frequency, we are listening out for you! Net will be conducted using the NBEMS software suite with FLDIGI and FLMSG to facilitate section "7.3.6. Message Handling” of the ARRL Field Day 2014 Rules. NBEMS nets in adjoining states have planned to stand by.


We have decided to organize the event per the NIMS / ICS model, as to increase our knowledge and experience with it, making use of and learning about the AUXFOG. We will have an Educational Activity and hope that the Little Rock Boy Scouts will be able to join us! http://fd.ema.arrl.org/FD_ICS.html

Irrespective of the above, our focus is - as always - on the great cameraderie between the clubs and it’s members, where everyone is invited and welcome to visit and operate.

Although we have chosen to follow the ARRL Field Day 2014 Rules Objective closely ("To work as many stations as possible on any and all amateur bands…” and to "developing skills to meet the challenges of emergency preparedness as well as to acquaint the general public with the capabilities of Amateur Radio.”), we will nonetheless approach it as we always have, with a degree of leisure appropriate for the searing heat at that time of year!

If you have time, come join us!


Directions to the park are here: Google Maps directions and please see the map at the bottom of this post, we will be located on the Parade Ground.


Historical background:
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=5807
http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/places/13000021.htm

We all look forward to meeting you, be it on air or in person!

Wishing all a most enjoyable and especially safe Field Day 2014,

73 de Marcus NX5MK
A.R.E.S. Club, CAUHF & CAVHS FIELD DAY 2014 UC/IC





ArcGIS - US National Grid with Current Hazards

For all those who believe that ALE is "a solution looking for a problem"...

There are a number of Amateur Radio operators (aka. "hams"), who believe that ALE is a solution in search of a problem. It is for those, that the following is written:

Executive Summary:

The automatic link establishment protocol (aka. "ALE") used for high frequency (HF) radios, is a vendor-independent protocol, which does exactly as it name implies. It automates the establishment of an HF link between two stations. Technical details are sufficiently documented and freely available on the Internet.

Experienced HF radio operators are fairly good at estimating which frequency (band) will likely result in good two-way reception between two stations at a fixed distance from one another at any given time of day.

If however, there are more than two stations who want to be able to communicate with each other without prearranging a schedule and who are at various distances from each other (e.g. 20miles, 200miles, 1000miles, 2000miles, 4000miles), then experience alone is not the solution. How is the radio operator to know who is wanting to contact him right now and that with 24/7 coverage? Since the other stations are at varying distances from him, which frequency should he be listing to? 

One could of course buy a dedicated transceiver for every frequency and band that one would need to cover, but the cost for such a setup is prohibitive and arguably impossible to accomplish for mobile and portable stations.

This is where ALE comes in and thus is indeed a solution which solves a real world problem and does so more efficiently (less bandwidth and less time consuming) than any "experienced" radio operator could.

73 de Marcus NX5MK

NIMS ICS forms for AUXCOM, CERT, ARES, Amateur Radio operators

This is the best collection of ICS forms that I have found to date for the AUXCOM, CERT, ARES, Amateur Radio operator, covering all ICS forms of interest for the communicator: http://bearsfl.us/files/ics_forms/

2014 ARRL Field Day - NTS-style message Bonus

ARRL HQ replied today regarding my inquiry about further details on the 2014 ARRL Field Day "NTS-style message Bonus".

It is the message format which is of interest and not the message carrier, i.e. as long as it is in proper NTS radiogram format & via RF. Quote:

"Yes, messages sent via NBEMS or Winlink will count for Field Day bonus points as long as the messages are in the proper NTS radiogram format and the messages leave or enter the Field Day site via amateur radio RF."

That will be most exiting! I can think of: voice (ok, that's nothing new), CW (this neither), FLMSG (within NBEMS suite of free software programs), WinLink, HFLink ALE AMD and APRS as being possible carriers of the radiogram, with the last two likely the least common choices for most HAMs. Maybe I can think of a few more by Field Day… Why don't you too bring something new into YOUR Field Day activation, with some new modes of message relay?

Thus, the Arkansas HF Digital NVIS NBEMS Net (AHDNN) will be operational and have extended operational hours during Field Day, schedule to be announced on the AHDNN newsgroup, NCS: N5AT.

Additionally, the Arkansas Radio Emergency Services Club will send NTS radiograms via all above mentioned digital modes of communication.

73 de Marcus NX5MK

Amateur Radio Featured at 2014 Preparedness Summit

Just came across the following newsline:


Amateur Radio Featured at 2014 Preparedness Summit
The Preparedness Summit is the largest public health preparedness conference in the United States. Each year, approximately 2,000 preparedness professionals attend this multi-disciplinary event. This year, the Preparedness Summit is highlighting the importance of amateur radio.
http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?427424-Amateur-Radio-Featured-at-2014-Preparedness-Summit
http://preparednesssummit.org/ham-radio/

Might be worthwhile to take a look at.

Portable solar-, hand-crank, wind-, water-power in a backpack size...

...sound too good to be true? You might be in for a surprise!

If you go RaDAR, you owe it to yourself to...

Go here:

https://www.powertraveller.com/en/expeditionvideo

and also see this:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jRfyYZ2TOFI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DjRfyYZ2TOFI

I have searched around and have run trials with various equipment for some time now, solar panels, various hand cranks, charge controllers, but have not found anything which is as all inclusive as this promises to be and most importantly - actually working. I look forward to the product launch and more detailed specifications scheduled for May 2014.

73 de Marcus NX5MK

article from GoVerticalUSA arrived defective

I ordered the following article from GoVerticalUSA via their eBay store "jbaran33":
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MILITARY-RADIO-PORTABLE-23-FOOT-CRANK-UP-ANTENNA-TOWER-ALL-ALUMINUM-CONSTRUCTION-/360831421741?nma=true&si=yBOQMHJlv8grj08Y5dFpVASvx2w%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

The portable crank tower was delivered today and I am deeply disappointed as I paid $500 for an article which is clearly defective, structural integrity is clearly breached. It was advertised as "IN NICE USED CONDITION", which it obviously is not, two of the 4 stability arms are bent/ broken and thus dangerous.

I initiated eBay complaint. Seller answered in under 12 hours, stating that damage must have occurred in transport. They stated that they will submit claim under the FedEx transport insurance.

I will keep you posted.

New Year's Resolution: Become a CERT Leader

http://www.arrl.org/ares-el%3Fissue%3Dcurrent#toc01

Right on! See here.

Little Rock Fire Station 16 CERT initiative

Are you interested in supporting your family, neighbors, local community and fire fighters? Do you live close to Little Rock Fire Station 16 located at:

11000 Southridge
Little Rock, AR 72212

Are you an Amateur Radio or Citizen band operator or do you know one who is your neighbor? Do you want to offer other skills and enthusiasm or are interested to learn about how to help yourself and your family? Do you know how you would contact your fire station if the phone nets were down for any reason? Reply to my post, let's talk about it and join in!