 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
|
News and notes from the ARRL National Convention, May 15-17, 2009, hosted by Dayton Hamvention®. More info at http://www.arrl.org/expo. Follow KU0DM at twitter.com/arrlyouth.
Noon: Overcast and Windy
May 16, 2009 12:55 ET
Steve Ford, WB8IMY
ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, at the ARRL forum.
Kit building extravaganza in the ARRL Expo booth. Notice the proud gentleman on the far left.
There was a heavy downpour earlier, but the rain appears to have stopped. Now there are strong breezes whipping through the fleamarket, sending the tarps airborne.
At the ARRL forum, Dave Sumner had an enlightening PowerPoint presentation with images of the actual uncensored BPL documents that the FCC was finally forced to release. The information that the FCC omitted from public view was astonishing to say the least.
TouchTone APRS
May 16, 2009 10:20 ET
Steve Ford, WB8IMY
Rick Ruhl, W4PC, demonstrating the APRSTT software.
Stopped by the CSS booth this morning and glimpsed what might be the future of APRS (the Automatic Packet/Position Reporting System). Rick Ruhl, W4PC, was demonstrating their new APRSTT software. (Read the press release here.) In a nutshell, this clever application makes the APRS network accessibe by anyone with an FM transceiver and a DTMF keypad.
Here's the hypothetical. Let's say you have a wide-coverage station on 2 meters running APRSTT. The station "listens" on an FM simplex frequency (let's say 146.58 MHz). You are somewhere in the vicinity with your handheld FM transceiver and you'd like to communicate your approximate position to friends and family via the APRS network, but you don't have a packet radio TNC (terminal node controller). Not a problem. You send a special DTMF (Touch Tone) sequence, which is translated by the APRSTT station and re-sent over the APRS network on 144.39 MHz. If you don't include your lat/lon coordinates, APRSTT will simply mark your position as being somewhere within a 5-mile radius.
According to Rick, the software will be avialable in August.
At it Again
May 16, 2009 10:01 ET
Duncan P MacLachlan, KU0DM
A few visitors building 24-hour clocks at the ARRL Kit building labs
The Contest forum is well underway with some excellent speakers
Another day at Hara Arena is underway!
So far the gates have opened, Richard Garriott W5KWQ has visited the youth lounge, and the Contest forum has begun, and the kit building continued. The Begali guys have been pretty busy, and have a few young Hams even working it!
10 AM and the Tide is Rising
May 16, 2009 10:01 ET
Steve Ford, WB8IMY
Look for W1AW/8 on 20 and 40 meters right now!
The FlexRadio guys have crowds 10 deep in their booth.
Saturday -- 9AM
May 16, 2009 08:54 ET
Steve Ford, WB8IMY
Another happy customer at the DXCC card checking table in the ARRL Expo.
The kit-building table in the ARRL Expo is something new this year. So far it has attracted a lot of attention.
A forest of antennas in the MFJ booth!
Dayton was socked with rain overnight and this morning (complete with a tornado watch), but as I walked into the Hara Arena complex, sunshine and blue skies were moving in from the west. The forecast is for any lingering rain to clear out by this afternoon.
Again, it is difficult to gauge the attendance. It seems to be about the same as last year, but I can't be entirely certain. As I mentioned in this space last year, the Hamvention fleamarket is definitely smaller. No doubt this is a result of the "eBay effect." Even so, there are plenty of older transceivers to be had at prices that appear to be somewhat less that one can find on eBay.
