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Monthly Summary for October 2009
News last updated: Tue, November 17, 2009 at 6:12 PM ET
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Welcome to the Maryland-DC Section News Page |
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*********************** MDC Section News Vol. 4 No. 11 November 17, 2009 *********************** |
IN THIS EDITION:
* MDC SECTION ECHOLINK/RF NET FRIDAY NOV 20
* CARROLL COUNTY CLUB BALLOON LAUNCH
* SPECIAL EVENT STATION FOR AIDS
* CHANGES TO WINLINK INSTRUCTIONS
* PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY ARES® HOSPITAL DRILL
* MONTHLY ARES® REPORT
* SECTION TRAFFIC MANAGER REPORT
* FINALLY. . .
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==> MDC SECTION ECHOLINK/RF NET FRIDAY NOV 20
Everyone is invited to join in Friday November 20 at 8:00 pm via Echolink on the WASH_DC node 6154 server hosted by John Creel, WB3GXW, or on RF on a local repeater or ILRP node near you. It's a time to share what has been going on in the section in clubs, ARES® groups, or other areas of interest in amateur radio. If you're local to one of those repeaters/links or have Echolink, please drop by for the net. If you'd like to download the free software and learn more about Echolink, please click: www.echolink.org. |
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==> CARROLL COUNTY CLUB BALLOON LAUNCH
There's always something neat going on in the MDC Section. Witness the Carroll County High-Altitude Balloon Launch, CarrollSat-1, launched in conjunction with the Mason-Dixon Hamfest in Westminster, Maryland. A homebrew PICAXE module to sample temperature and light was sent aloft in a couple Styrofoam cups taped together and a 10 milliwatt garage door opener for a transmitter all attached to a balloon that was a whole one foot in diameter. There was even a technical presentation on the project. To see and read about everything that went into the project, please click: simsat.net/carrollsat/. |
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==> SPECIAL EVENT STATION FOR AIDS
The following is a summary of information posted by Page Pyne, WA3EOP, regarding the upcoming special event station for World AIDS Awareness Day. AIDS is still a threat to men, women and children with 2.5 million people becoming infected during 2008, bringing the total living with HIV to 33.2 million. A special amateur radio station will be operating at UNAIDS HQ in Geneva, Switzerland, from December 1-7th, 2009, with the special event callsign 4U1AIDS. They invite people to observe the "World AIDS Day" and demonstrate global HIV awareness. International World Aids Day 2009 Amateur Radio Certificate: Those amateur radio stations which have a radio contact with 4U1AIDS on any three amateur radio bands, will awarded a special commemorative certificate World AIDS Day Award. Amateur radio stations that have radio contact with 4U1AIDS on five amateur radio bands will be awarded a special commemorative UNAIDS pennant.
Special QSL card:
QSL information:
WEB sites:
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==> CHANGES TO WINLINK INSTRUCTIONS & MDC NTS INFO
MDC ASM Al Nollmeyer, W3YVQ, has provided updates to Winlink instructions and MDC NTS information. These updates may be viewed on the MDC Section home page, www.arrl-mdc.net/. Look for the blinking !NEW! symbol. Assistant Section Manager Al, W3YVQ, is the MDC Section Traffic Manager, STM, and has been a force majeure in establishing the Winlink e-mail over radio as an integral part of our national message handling system.
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==> PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY ARES® HOSPITAL DRILL
On October 6, 7:30 PM Prince George's County, Maryland, Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) conducted the fourth and final quarterly Hospital drill for the year 2009. Radio operators participated in a "impromptu" drill called for by ARES AEC Wanda Montgomery, KA3AHI, who is assigned responsibility for the County Hospital Project by EC Dan Blasberg, KA8YPY. The drill required email messages be sent from the hospitals to "a Shelter" (W3CB at home) where a radio operator would store and forward them to the Health Department. The Health Department would receive them via Telnet on site and forward to AEC Wanda Montgomery, KA3AHI, "HD clients." Five of the six Prince George's County hospitals and the county Health Department participated in the drill. Unfortunately unforeseeable events prevented the staffing of Fort Washington Medical Center by the regularly scheduled radios operators, Kenny KB3IIE and Bob W1BJC. Their participation in the drill was missed greatly. The Fourth Quarterly Hospital Drill encompassed three components: a 2-m net, a 440 net, and airmail. It involved hospital radio operator teams, a "shelter" and the Internet capable Health Department. The mission was to pass email messages from the hospitals to the shelter to the Health Department with copies of all airmail traffic to AEC KA3AHI representing the served agency. Two Meter Net Conducted on 146.61 Repeater. NCS located at Southern Maryland Hospital Center
Time of net: 7:30 EDT Number of Check-ins: 21 Checkins listed:
WI3N Jim SM -- Laurel Hospital Two meter net closed at 8:22 PM EDT. All participants were encouraged to shift to the 440 Linking System.
The 440 Net Conducted on the 440 Linking System.
Net Control Station: Jim WB3KAS, Prince George's Hospital began the net at 8:30 PM EDT. Net Control Station: Wanda KA3AHI Prince George's Hospital (assuming NCS from Jim WB3KAS) Number of Check-ins: 14 Checkins listed:
W9WNH Hugh -- Bowie Hospital Center Net ended at 9:18 PM EDT The purpose of including the 440 Linking System in our training nets was two fold.
One, it offered a backup system for use should the 146.61 repeater fail and Even though the drill was not 100% successful, as planned, it was successful. The Health Department was not able to receive the airmail messages to be forwarded via Telnet due to technical difficulties. Four airmail operators, W3CB Cliff, WB3KAS Jim, KD3JA Jim and N3USP Glenn, demonstrated ARES airmail capabilities by provided numerous emails to the AEC - Hospital Project as a substitute for the Health Department. All airmail communications were received by AEC Wanda Montgomery, KA3AHI, from the Shelter site via ka3ahi AT winlink.org on her home computer which in a real emergency would have then been sent to the Health Department clients, thus completing the drill cycle. Additional support during the drill was from N3USP who provided several customized, up to date, weather reports via airmail. This was the first time this had been included in a quarterly hospital drill and certainly would be of great value in a real emergency situation. The "impromptu" hospital drill not only included ARES members and guests, mobile stations, the hospital team radio operators, but also reflected specialized positions within ARES, i.e., Section Manager Jim WI3N, ARES Emergency Coordinator Dan KA8YPY, NTS Liaison Cliff W3CB, and five AECs Operations, Jim N3XKJ, Logistics Jim WB3KAS, Administration Nick N3CK, Training Jesse WB2IFS and Hospital Project Wanda KA3AHI. And, as we all know, it will take each and every one of us in every position, and many more resources and expertise, working together, to meet the demands brought about by a "real incident." Yes, there was confusion in this "impromptu" drill. This is to be expected especially during the first two hours of an incident, and should be planned for. No real life incident ever goes by the book. That is why we practice, practice and practice. We will do another drill in January 2010.
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==> MONTHLY ARES REPORT
Monthly Section Emergency Coordinator Report to ARRL Headquarters
ARRL Section: Maryland-DC Month: October Year: 2009 AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE
Total number of ARES members: 648
Number of DECs/ECs reporting this month: 9 Calls of DECs/ECs reporting: KB3ENU, N3QHC, K3UEZ, KB3LJB, W3JCT, KB3FMJ, N3SEO, KB3FIO, and N3SB.
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 15
Number of public service events this month: 13
Number of emergency operations this month: 0
Total number of ARES operations this month: 28 Comments: Kent County: On October 3rd, KARS tested five (5) students from the Tech class resulting in four new Techs and one Extra. The Extra student passed all three tests with flying colors. KARS had a drill on October 20th with Heron Point Assisted Living in Chestertown, Md. Four members participated, using our 2 meter repeater and Telpac mode for Winlink to send and receive messages. Held a demo for some of the citizens that live at Heron Point. All went well. The drill was used for 2009 SET. On Saturday, October 17, three KARS members participated in the Boy Scouts Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) at Dover, DE; they utilized a HF station and also demonstrated Echolink, involving the Scout's operating hands-on in the various modes. Allegany County: The October 13 ARES net included MT-63 digital tests with acoustic interface from W3YMW at EOC with our first piece of traffic generated by an EM official. We used the W3YMW 146.88 repeater for this test with four stations participating. (fldigi program) Wicomico County: Drill: Joint Wicomico County Race/ARES COMMEX Drill October 13, 2009 at Wicomico County EOC. Delmarva Emergency Net: Sundays at 6:30 pm using 3.905 MHz - Primarily stations on the Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware Eastern Shore. Bill Duveneck,KB3KYH, Net Control, Sussex County Emergency Coordinator, Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Local Net: Delmarva Amateur Radio Enhancement Net every Monday night at 9:00 p.m. The DAR Net is sponsored by the Delmarva Amateur Radio Club which is now an ARRL Affiliated group operating a repeater on 146.820 MHz PL 156.7 Hz. American Red Cross October 14 - Lower Shore Chapter of the American Red Cross attended their monthly meeting. Delmarva Amateur Radio Club (DARC) October 28,2009 Attended the monthly meeting of the DARC to update the executive board on the status of Wicomico County RACES/ARES. Coming Events: November 10, 2009: MEMA CommEx, Wicomico RACES/ARES participation starting at 7:00 pm at the Wicomico EOC on Naylor Mill Road. November 11, 2009: Lower Shore Chapter of the American Red Cross monthly meeting. Garrett County: Last month member Mark Moynaham (K3EE) held a presentation on DX radio transmissions. The presentation covered many aspects of DX work such as contesting, finding DX stations, and QSL card usage. The Garrett County ARES net is held weekly on Sunday evenings at 8:00 PM, on the Outback Repeater System (primary repeaters 146.805 and 145.33 dup PL 123). All traffic is FM voice. Our monthly meetings are held on the 2nd Monday of the month at 7:00 PM Anne Arundel County: Members KA2JAI, KB3KWT, KA3ZPE, N3WOF, N3PPJ, K3TED, KB3CWQ, KB3LDM, N3MAW, N3VAR, N3HU, K3RUP, & N3HKJ supported the Metric Marathon. Members N3SEO, K3TED, WA3TOY, KB3DCA, & KA2JAI supported the Trick-N-Trot event. Frederick County: Frederick ARES assisted the Frederick County Health Dept. with their Mass Inoculation 09 Drill as part of the annual county-wide flu clinic operation on Oct. 16. Eight ARES operators provided site to site tactical communications between the Health Dept. HQ and three county high schools. Frederick ARES also used an H1N1 county-wide flu epidemic as the scenario for SET on October 3. Carroll County: A meeting was held with the Emergency Management of Carroll Hospital Center to make plans for installation and setup of radio equipment and antennas the CHC has procured. Plans are also being made to activate the CHC equipment during the monthly drills to insure the equipment is operational.
Signature: /s/Steve Beckman
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==> SECTION TRAFFIC MANAGER REPORT
MDC NTS NETS:
MEPN 0910 W3YVQ QND/31 QNI/350 QTC/74 MINS/723
SET 09 OCT 3 JURISDICTIONS: PSHR: W3YVQ 160, KK3F 140, W3CB 132, AA3SB 120, KB3LNM 105, WB4FDT 100, K3IN 90, N3ZOC 90, KB3MXM 85, KB3LFG 62; 0909 KB3MXM 80; TFC: KK3F 1101, AA3SB 127, WB4FDT 110, W3YVQ 101, KB3LNM 87, K3IN 64, N3ZOC 63, W3CB 44, KB3MXM 30, KC3Y 13, KA3KID 10, KB3LFG 4; 0909 KB3MXM 41.
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MEPN: The alternate 160 meter frequency of 1920 ± may also be used. We will announce a shift to that band on the regular 3820-3821 frequency, but, if you check in late and hear nothing on 80, check the 1920 kHz ± frequency before going to Echolink. The default fallback for failure of both bands will continue to be the Echolink WASH DC conference bridge with traffic passed on WL2K. That bridge is scheduled for use on Tuesdays at 7:20 PM, but we may announce on any given night to move there under extremely poor HF conditions if the bridge is available. Alternatively, traffic may be pushed directly to county Target Stations on WL2K, outbound traffic to W3YVQ.
MDD:
73, W3YVQ, MDC STM |
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==> FINALLY. . .
The MDC Section Staff would like to wish you and yours a safe and highly enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday. If you send me a short write up on your JOTA activities and some pictures, ASM Al Brown, KZ3AB, will post them on the ARRL Section webpage, www.arrl.org/sections/MDC.html. We look forward to hearing what's going on around the MDC Section on the upcoming Echolink Net.
73, |
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The MDC Section News is published monthly, 12 times each
year, by James E Cross, III, WI3N, ARRL Maryland-DC
Section Manager, 16013 Dorset Rd, Laurel, MD 20707; tel
301-725-6829; e-mail WI3N@ARRL.ORG.
The MDC Section News offers a monthly e-mail digest of essential and general news of interest to amateur radio operators.
Visit the MDC Section web page, www.arrl-mdc.net, and the ARRL MDC Section News and Alerts web page, www.arrl.org/sections/MDC.html, for the latest MDC Section news, links and updates.
Material from the MDC Section News may be republished
or reproduced, in whole or in part in any form, without
additional permission. Credit must be given to the
MDC Section News or the original author of submission.
========================================================
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