Great CARS Meeting Tonight

Here is a good summary of the great club meeting that we had at the Coastal Amateur Radio Society this evening as reported by Mac, KF4LMT.

March 2011 Coastal Amateur Radio Society Meeting

"For the first time in probably a year or so, I was in town to attend a Coastal Amateur Radio Society meeting. Tonight’s meeting was well attended and very interesting. We had at least 33 present including new hams from the club’s recent class and VE sessions. After the business meeting, Ken – W4JKG gave a presentation building an antenna for a club earth-moon-earth project and Kevin – KW4B gave a presentation on APRS. As the unofficial social media person for the club, I tweeted via the club’s Twitter account @CoastalARS during the meeting:
 •Quick headcount at tonight’s CARS meeting is 28 including a number of new hams!


•2 more came in late, attendance is up to 30!


•This Wed at 2pm, Guy-K4GTM needs some help putting radios in the B-17 at the @Mighty8thMuseum. Contact Guy for more info.


•Jere-KT4ZB reporting excellent band conditions during the #ARRL DX Contest with Solar Flux at 120-140s with 10m active.


•Ken-W4JKG is giving a presentation on homebrewing an antenna to do earth-moon-earth with as a club project. Note: The club will try to receive EME signals from a special event on April 12 using the homebuilt antenna, probably from Tybee Island. For more info, contact Ken.


•Kevin-KW4B is giving a presentation on APRS


•Think we’ve ended up with a crowd of 33 at tonight’s meeting!


•There is a possibility of an APRS digipeater being placed at Candler hospital. For more info, contact Kevin-KW4B. Note: Kevin says that Savannah is an APRS dead zone because there is no digipeater that covers the area. He is going to try to establish a digipeater at Candler that will fill the hole between Charleston and Jacksonville.


It was good to be at the meeting tonight and see some folks I haven’t seen in awhile and see some of the new hams. I also used the opportunity to spread the word about proposed cuts to the National Weather service since there are close ties between amateur radio and Skywarn weather spotting. Hopefully it won’t be so long before I make the next meeting!"

http://kf4lmt.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/march-2011-coastal-amateur-radio-society-meeting/

NBEMS Testing

Experimenting a little with the NBEMS software tonight. Moving data from one computer to another over 2 meter simplex using various digital modes.

http://www.arrl.org/nbems
http://www.w1hkj.com/

http://panbems.org/

This is going to be a very useful tool for sending information that is not very conducive to sending via voice.  Things like supply lists, rosters, reports, etc.  And the tool even puts the data into ARRL Radiogram or ICS message formats.  Message integrity is guaranteed with the use of checksum techniques. Very cool.

Plan to do some more testing with other ARES members.

Working very well.......de K4GTM

D-Star 2 meter Frequency Change

From John-WB4QDX........

Due to some frequency coordination issues, the Pembroke, GA (KJ4GGV C) repeater's 2m module has changed frequency from 145.30- to 145.28 -0.6. Please make note of this change and reprogram your radios to the new frequency. KJ4GGV C is located at Pembroke, GA between Savannah and Statesboro and has super coverage.

NanoSail Visible Pass

Might be an opportunity to see a visible pass of the NanoSail-D as it passes east of Savannah on Sunday, Feb 27th.  

Amateur ham operators are asked to listen for the signal to verify NanoSail-D is operating.

This information should be sent to the NanoSail-D dashboard at: http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm.

The NanoSail-D beacon signal can be found at 437.270 MHz.

New Tower At Southside Fire Station #1

Southside Fire Station #1 has been turned into the new dispatch center for EMS since the acquisition of MedStar.  This is to be a temporary location while a new center is built somewhere on Dean Forest Rd.  This station happens to be where we have our Coastal Amateur Radio Society radio station and antenna tower.  It's also a location where we have many radio events including our annual Field Day.  The addition of the dispatch center required the installation of a new antenna tower for the department.  Here are some pictures that I took this week.

 

 

Space Shuttle Discovery Launch

Had a nice view of the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery from the top of the parking deck at Candler Hospital.  I was joined by Chris, KJ4YQB and Will, KJ4PSU.  We followed the shuttle all the way to main engine cut off and then lost it in the haze.  I had a hand held and a scanner listening for air-to-ground comms from the shuttle but didn't hear anything this time.  Kevin, KW4B and John, KJ4WBF viewed from the Tybee Pier and Ken, W4JKG also viewed from Tybee.  Mark, KA4CID viewed from Colonels Island and Mac, KF4LMT viewed and heard comms from Jekyl Island.  Always enjoy the shuttle launches.  This was the last one for Discovery and there are only two more left in the program.

NASA Feed of Space Shuttle Discovery Launch

Listen up on the 147.330 repeater on Thurs, Feb 24 for the NASA feed of the Space Shuttle Discovery launch. The feed should be active from just before noon until sometime after the launch which is at 4:50pm est.

Call Signs Are In For The Feb 15th Test Session

Here are the new call signs for the folks who tested on Feb 15th. Congratulations!



Scott Wallace, KK4AMG

John Miller, KK4AMF

Don Oberlin, KK4AMD

Fredrick Kramer, KK4AMB

Jammia Richardson Newkirk, KK4AMA

Ray Schrum, KK4AME

Mark Richmond, KK4AMC

More New Amateur Radio Operators!

We had four more students pass the Technician Class exam over the weekend! And a couple of them came oh so close to passing the General. Congratulations to the following new HAM Radio Operators!





Matt Maulden - Technician
Nick Bacich - Technician
Sandra McKiver - Technician
Christine Hale - Technician

And we still have quite a few from the class who have not tested yet, so stay tuned for their progress.


de...........K4GTM

February Technician Class Complete

We finished our Technician Class last night and I think everyone feels good about taking the test. We had a great group of students and Kevin and I thoroughly enjoyed teaching them. Our largest class yet.

In fact we had several students from the class who tested last night at a special VE Session that Steve, K4SDJ and his team held in another class room. Here is the list of new operators. Call signs should be issued over the next week.  Congratulations folks!


Scott Wallace                                -General
John Miller                                    -Technician
Don Oberlin                                  -Technician
Fredrick Kramer                            -Technician
Ray Schrum                                   -Technician
Jammi Richardson-Newkirk         -Technician
Mark Richmond                             -Technician


Now we are looking forward to the rest of the class testing on Saturday morning. Good luck to all!


de K4GTM

More Antenna System Troubleshooting at Candler Hospital

Kevin,KW4B and Guy,K4GTM spent some more time today at Candler Hospital troubleshooting the antenna systems.  Made some headway and discovered one bad stretch of cable, a bad VHF/UHF antenna, and incorrect lightening arrestor for the HF run.  Kevin will take a closer look at the Diamond dual band antenna and see about getting the correct lightening arrestor.  Stay tuned for the next report...............de K4GTM

Feb 9, 2011 Statewide Tornado Drill Summary

Members of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) participated in the Statewide Tornado Drill on Wed. Feb 9th as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week in the state of Georgia. Amateur Radio Operators in Chatham and surrounding counties exercised the ability to provide backup communications support in the region and across the state in the event that primary forms of communication are interrupted by severe weather events such as tornadoes. Amateur Radio Operators are trained and equipped to provide various forms of communications in emergency situations and without the use of the primary electrical grid.


On Wednesday morning local operators sprung into action to practice this capability. A Network Control Station was established at the Savannah Chapter of the American Red Cross which was manned by Guy McDonald, K4GTM who is the District Emergency Coordinator for the ARES program in Southeast Georgia. Guy was assisted by Kenny, KJ4YPP who was participating in his first drill. Guy and Kenny arrived at the Red Cross chapter around 7:45am and got the amateur radio station connected up and tested in preparation for the drill. Meanwhile, Steve Jonas, K4SDJ was setting up the radio station at the Chatham Emergency Management Agency EOC. Steve provided communications support for CEMA during the drill.

The statewide ARES Net got started around 8:30am on our primary statewide HF frequency of 3.975 MHz. Charles Pennington, K4GK who is located in Sandersville was the Net Control Station and began taking checkins from radio operators across the state of Georgia. We established communications with him from both the Red Cross and CEMA stations as well as other stations across the county. I relayed in the stations at Candler Hospital and Evans County EOC.

We convened our local area net on our primary ARES frequency of 146.970 around 8:45am and establish contact with 21 operators in Chatham and six surrounding counties. We had radio operators positioned at several of our served agencies including CEMA, Savannah Red Cross, Candler Hospital, Liberty County EOC, and Evans County EOC. As each radio operator checked in they provided their name, call sign, location, and a report as to whether they heard the warning sirens from their location in the county. The tornado drill was complete by 9:30 and the Local Net was closed at 9:42am.

We were also able to establish communication back to Atlanta from CEMA and the Red Cross Chapter via the D-Star Digital Repeater System located at the WVAN site in Pembroke.

This was a very successful and productive drill for us in Coastal Georgia as well as for HAMs all across the state. Charles, K4GK reports the following:

"The “Tornado Drill” on February 8 was supported by the ARES net with K4GK as net control. The event started with 2 NWS offices as well as the SOC (State Operations Center), 24 county EOC’s and 17 hospitals or public health agencies were represented. Three hundred forty two stations checked in, mostly from all across Georgia. Agencies with liaisons for the drill included Military Affiliate Radio Systems (MARS), Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), and Georgia State Patrol. Total ARES man hours of 684."

So, once again the Amateur Radio Emergency Service proves that we are ready to provide a far reaching network of operators ready to support the backup communications needs of our served agencies.

Special recognition to the following local area operators that participated in the drill.

K4SDJ – CEMA EOC, AEC Chatham County
K4GTM – Savannah Red Cross, DEC Southeast District
KJ4YPP – Savannah Red Cross
WN4Q – Swainsboro, ADEC Augusta Public Health
KJ4VIG – Evans County EOC
N2DRL – Liberty County EOC
KW4B – Candler Hospital
N4VAD – South Bryan County. MARS Liaison
WA0CGZ – Long County
W4REQ – Chatham County
KF4JBQ – Chatham County
KI4TYO – Effingham County, AEC
KC4MKD – North Bryan County
KJ4PTP – Port Wentworth
KJ4YPM – Liberty County
KJ4FAW – Effingham County
KC2NYU – Skidaway Island
KJ4FAV – Savannah River area
KF4LMT – Bacon Park, ADEC Georgia State Patrol
NT6H – Savannah Airport, Effingham County EC
KT4RW – Garden City
KJ4BSM – Beaufort County, SC

Candler Hospital Antenna Work

Kevin, KW4B and I did a little troubleshooting of the HF antenna system at Candler Hospital this morning.  A connector broke off where the feedline meets the antenna.  Kevin will replace and we'll do some more troubleshooting.  Candler in one of about 13 hospitals in Georgia Hospital Region J.  Five of which currently have amateur radio stations that are manned by ARES operators in times of emergency.  We currently have a project underway to outfit the other eight hospitals with stations.

 

Jan 28, 2011 D-Star Airborne Exercise

Chatham County ARES participated in a short notice D-Star exercise this morning. Mac-KF4LMT got the word from Steve-W4SKB who is the DEC for Georgia State Patrol that there would be an exercise to transmit some aerial photographs from an aircraft flying over Savannah and Brunswick to the SOC in Atlanta via the KJ4GGV D-Star repeater in Pembroke. So we got permission to participate here in Chatham County and we decided it would be a good idea to operate from the Chatham EMA EOC to show the D-Star capability. Steve-K4SDJ and I arrived at the EOC around 0945 and began to set things up.  We reported in to Dustin Hetzel and Jennifer Rodriguez who are two of the Emergency Management Specialists at CEMA that we work closely with. 

I brought my Icom ID-800H radio and connected to the EOC dual band antenna. Steve brought along his D-Star DV Dongle and setup his laptop to connect to the D-Star Network. Once I had the radio ready, I made a call thru the KJ4GGV repeater to John-WB4QDX at the SOC in Atlanta. John came back with a good copy and gave us an update on the aircraft. He said they had left Briscoe Field in Gwinnett County around 0900 and should be in the Savannah area by 1100. Steve-K4SDJ got a good comm check on the DV Dongle as well.

We also established contact with Steve-W4KSB and Jim-WB4NWS who were manning the ARES station-WX4GMA, at the SOC. Once the aircraft and Scott-KF4PWI, were in range of the repeater in Pembroke we began to her him on the frequency. Scott was using a Icom D-Star handheld running 5 watts from the aircraft. We had a great copy on the aircraft during the entire time they were in the area. Unfortunatley there seems to be a problem with the 23cm D-Star repeater as they were unable to establish a data downlink from the Icom ID-1 transciever in the aircraft. John-WB4QDX tried to bounce the gateway with no luck. Looks like the photo download will have to wait for another trip. The airborne HAMs decided to fly on down to Brunswick and land to grab some lunch before heading back to Atlanta.

In the meantime, Joey-NC4D told John-WB4QDX that he would be happy to go to the repeater site and help to troubleshoot before the next attempt. We will provide an ID-1 transciever here in Savannah to test the data link with when the time comes. Even though things didn't quite work out as planned because of the repeater, it was still a productive exercise for us to participate in.  While we were at the EOC we went ahead and did our routine monthly comm checks on the CEMA equipment.  Steve-K4SDJ and I secured the radio station at the EOC, debriefed the CEMA staff and headed home.

Looking forward to troubleshooting and testing the 23cm D-Star repeater and preparing for the next exercise.

Guy McDonald, K4GTM
DEC Southeast District
Georgia ARES

Started New Amateur Radio License Class

We started a new amateur radio license class here in Savannah on Jan 25th.  Kevin-KW4B and I are teaching another Technician class.  I think we have a total of 28 registered and we had around 24 in attendance last night!  That's a pretty big class.  We have students from a wide range of backgrounds.  From teachers to students to engineers to healthcare workers to retirees.  In fact two of my own harmonics (children) are in the class!  Charlotte who is 15 and Jackson who is 13.  I can't wait till they get thier license! 

Most folks seem to be interested in the emergency communications aspect of amateur radio.  Pretty good reason.  In addition to teaching the students what they need to know to pass the FCC license exam, we will also expose them to all of the various facets of our hobby.

Can't wait till next week to dive into Electricity, Components, and Circuits.

2011 Statewide Georgia ARES Conference

We had a really good statewide ARES meeting this year.  Our day started very early this morning when Steve-K4SDJ picked me up at 0400.  We drove over to pick up Lester-KF4JBQ near Kensington Park then out to Pooler Parkway where we picked up Peter-KJ4FAW.  We headed west and when we started getting near Dublin we gave out a shout for Bob-WN4Q on the 145.150 repeater.  Bob met us at the Cracker Barrel at 0600 and we had a nice breakfast before continuing on to Forsyth.  We arrived at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center (GPSTC) around 0815.  Over an hour before the meeting started.  That gave us some time to catch up with other HAMs that we usually only talk to on the radio.  Always good to put a face with a callsign.

The meeting got started at 0930 with welcome and introductions of Section Officers and Area DECs.  The first guest speaker of the day was Robby Westbrook who is the EMA Director for Cherokee County.  Mr. Westbrook gave us some great pointers on how to build a strong releationship between the local ARES teams and the county EMAs.  He referred to the relationship as an "Extreme Partnership" and couldn't say enough good things about the ARES program.  He also stressed the importance of professionalism in what we do and how we interact with other agencies. 

Next, and at several times throughout the day, there were door prizes given out.  Quite a few ARRL books, mugs, and such as well as the grand prize of a Wouxon Dual Band Handheld radio.  Good stuff.

Lunchtime started at 1100.  Most folks either brought a lunch with them or ran out and grabbed a burger and brought back to the conference.  The lunchtime session was a full two hours to allow for folks to eat and visit a variety of forums and displays that were set up like breakout sessions.  This was the best part of the day in my opinion.  It really allowed for some great collaboration with other HAMs from across the state.  Here is a list of the forums:

- National Weather Service:   Lynn Bianco, KN4YZ
- Public Health:   Barry Kanne, W4TGA
- Digital:   Tom Olley, KG4VUB
- Nets and Traffic:   Charles Pennington, K4GK
- D-Star:   John Davis, WB4QDX
- Peach State Intertie:   Jimmy Burgamy, WB4NFG
- Zoning Issues & Solutions:   Charles Pitchford, N4QET
- Mobile Comm:   Clyde Mathe, WB4BDP

The general session started back up again at 1300 with our second guest speaker of the day.  Lans Rothfusz, KD5EJN who is a meteorologist with the NWS Peachtree City gave a nice update of how things are going at the NWS.  Lans also had great words to say about the fine work that HAMs and Skywarn weather spotters do for the NWS.  He gave us a glimpse into some of the technology advancements that are on the way in the weather forecasting world. 

Next we heard an update on how things are progressing on putting together a universaly recognized badge for ARES members across the state.  More work to be done. 

Next, Mike Brown, KE4FGF recognized all of the top nominees for the Georgia ARES HAM of the Year and then announced the winner to be Jim Millsap, WB4NWS.  After some final comments from Mike Brown, KE4FGF who is our Section Emergency Coordinator and from Dr. Gene Clark, W4AYK who is our ARRL Section Manager, we adjorned right around 1530.

What a very good meeting this year highlighted by the two hour breakout session and collaboration with fellow ARES members. 

Steve, Lester, Peter and I hit the road and made it back to Savannah just after 1800.  It was a long day but well worth it.......de K4GTM

Flying Fortress 5K Certificate of Appreciation

The Coastal Amateur Radio Society received a very nice certificate of appreciation from the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum for our assistance during the 1st Annual "Flying Fortress 5K" run back in November. 

We are currently helping to restore the radio compartment of the B-17 "City of Savannah" and really having a great time with it.  What an honor for our club to be part of this project.  We were very happy to assist with the 5K run by positioning radio operators along the race route to relay information back to the start/finish line. 

Note that this certificate includes an authentic piece of fabric from the B-17 horizontal stabilizer.

Allied SX-190 Shortwave Receiver

I'm now the proud owner of a 1971 era Allied SX-190 Shortwave Receiver that a friend of mine gave me! 


There were two models that were manufactured between 1971 - 1973.  The SX-190 for SWL and the AX-190 for the HAM bands. Cost about $250 new in 1971. As you can see this one has had some of the mods done to it. It's working great and it has a Heathkit HS-24 external speaker with it. 
 
I sure do love it when non-radio friends have something they don't want, don't like, or don't appreciate and they give it to me!
 

NanoSail-D Satellite Tracking

I started tracking and listening for the NanoSail-D satellite that was recently launched into low earth orbit.  NASA has asked amateur radio operators for help in listening for the packet data and reporting it to the NanoSail-D dashboard.  Listened for it a couple of times today but did not hear it.  Will keep listening..........de K4GTM
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NASA seeks Amateur Radio operators' aid.
The US Space Agency NASA has asked for the help of Amateur Radio operators to help in receiving the signal from NanoSail-D on 437.270MHz.

The NASA Press release says:

Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 11:30 a.m. EST, engineers at Marshall SpacemFlight Center in Huntsville, Ala., confirmed that the NanoSail-D nanosatellite ejected from Fast Affordable Scientific and Technology Satellite, FASTSAT. The ejection event occurred spontaneously and was identified this morning when engineers at the center analyzed onboard FASTSAT telemetry. The ejection of NanoSail-D also has been confirmed by ground-based satellite tracking assets.

Amateur radio operators are asked to listen for the signal to verify NanoSail-D is operating. This information should be sent to the NanoSail-D dashboard at:

http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm

The NanoSail-D beacon signal can be found at 437.270 MHz.

The NanoSail-D science team is hopeful the nanosatellite is healthy and can complete its solar sail mission.

After ejection, a timer within NanoSail-D begins a three-day countdown as the satellite orbits the Earth. Once the timer reaches zero, four booms will quickly deploy and the NanoSail-D sail will start to unfold to a 100-square-foot polymer sail. Within five seconds the sail fully unfurls.

Read the full NASA Press Release at

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall...11/11-009.html