************************
MDC Section News
Vol. 8 No. 5
May 15, 2013
************************

*  MDC SECTION-WIDE ECHOLINK NET MAY 17
*  UPCOMING HAMFESTS
*  QST QST FIELD DAY
*  APRIL, 2013 T-MARC NEWS
*  MDC SECTION ARES® REPORT
*  SECTION TRAFFIC MANAGER'S REPORT
*  FINALLY. . .



==>  MDC SECTION-WIDE ECHOLINK NET MAY 17

This month's MDC section-wide Echolink net will be held on Friday,
April 19th at 8:00 PM EDT on the Echolink WASH_DC node 6154.

If you would like to join in on RF, the following repeaters/IRLP
have linked in for previous Echolink nets:
 - KA2JAI-R
 - WB3GXW-R, 147.225(+), PL=156.7, located in Calverton, MD
 - N3HF-R, 443.45(+), PL=151.4,  located near Ocean City, MD
 - N3HF-R, 443.45(+), PL=156.7,  located near Silver Spring, MD
 - W3ICF-R, 146.73(-), PL=141.3, located near Frederick, MD
 - K3CAL-R, 146.985(-), PL=156.7, located near Sunderland, MD
 - W3SMR, 147.150 MHz(+), PL=114.8, Brandywine, MD
 - N3RO-L, 145.545, Simplex, Frederick Co
 - W3SMD-L, 147.51 Simplex, N. St Mary’s Co, covers much of Charles
and Calvert Co
 - K3BEQ-L. Node # 8421 on 147.555 MHz , Cheverly, MD

Everyone is encouraged to join in and give any updates on what is
going on in your part of the ARRL Maryland-DC Section.

If you don't have Echolink on your computer, you may download the
software, free-of-charge, from: <www.echolink.org>.

As always, we thank John Creel, WB3GXW, for making the WASH_DC
Echolink server as well as his WB3GXW-R repeater available for the
Echolink net.

Everyone is invited to stay connected to the WASH_DC server on
Echolink for the ARRL Audio ARES E-Letter and Amateur Radio
Newsline which immediately follows our net.



==>  UPCOMING HAMFESTS

You may view upcoming hamfests in the Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland-DC, West Virginia and Virginia area by clicking on
the ARRL MDC web page at <www.arrl-mdc.net/hamfest.htm>.

----------------------------

Maryland FM Association Memorial Day Hamfest
Sunday May 26, 2013
Sponsor: Maryland FM Association
Location: Howard County Fairgrounds
2210 Fairgrounds Road
West Friendship, MD 21794
Website: http://www.marylandfm.org
Talk-In: 146.76, 224.76, 444.00 (PL 107.2)
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Public Contact: John Elgin , WA3MNN
518 Copley Lane Silver Spring, MD 20904
Phone: 301-641-5313
Email: marylandfm@verizon.net

-----------------------------

Breeze Shooters Hamfest and Computer Show
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Breeze Shooters Hamfest and Computer Show
Breeze Shooters Amateur Radio Club
Website: <www.breezeshooters.org>
Location: Butler Farm Show Grounds
627 Evans City Road
Butler, PA
Talk-In: 147.300
Contact: Robert W. Benna, N3LWP
c/o Breezeshooter ARC
1010 Willow Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
Phone:  412-366-0488
Email: <N3LWP@verizon.net>

-----------------------------

Manassas Hamfest
Sunday June 9, 2013
Sponsor: Ole Virginia Hams ARC
Website: <W4OVH.COM/hamfest>
Prince William County Fairgrounds
10624 Dumfries Road
Manassas, VA
Talk-In: 146.970- (PL 100) 442.200- and D-STAR 442.5125-
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Talk-In: 146.97-/442.200-/442.5125+
Public Contact: Terry Erlacher, KC4DV
10855 Felicia Court, Manassas, VA 20110
Phone:  703-731-6629
Email: <terry.erlacher@verizon.net>

----------------------------

MARYLAND HAMFEST AND COMPUTER FEST
Sunday July 21, 2013
Sponsor: Baltimore Radio Amateur Television Society (BRATS)
Location: Howard County Fairgrounds
2210 Fairground Road
West Friendship, MD 21794
Website: http://bratsatv.org/hamfest/
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Talk-In: 147.030+
Public Contact: Shane Longo , K2GZL
PO Box 5915 Baltimore, MD 21282
Phone: 814-429-9355
Email: hamfest@bratsatv.org

----------------------------

Maryland State Convention - CARAfest
Sunday October 6, 2013
Location: Howard County Fairgrounds
2210 Howard County Fair Road
West Friendship, MD 21794
Website: http://carafest.org
Sponsor: Columbia Amateur Radio Association
Type: ARRL Convention
Talk-In: 147.390 (PL 156.7)
Public Contact: David Prestel , W8AJR
10160 Tanfield Court Ellicott City, MD 21042
Phone:  443-812-4403
Email: dave.prestel@gmail.com

----------------------------

Delaware State Convention
(Delmarva Radio & Electronics EXPO)
HAMFEST/CONVENTION
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Sponsor: Sussex Amateur Radio Association
Location: Sussex Technical High School
17099 County Seat Highway (Route 9)
Georgetown, DE 19947
Website: <www.radioelectronicsexpo.com>
Talk-In: 147.090+ (PL 156.7)
Type: ARRL Convention
Public Contact: Bill Duveneck , KB3KYH
18628 Sunny Sky Blvd. Milton, DE 19968
Phone:  302-537-4755
Email: <kb3kyh@arrl.net>



==>  QST QST FIELD DAY

If your club is planning to operate during Field Day 2013, take a look
at <www.arrl.org/field-day> and make sure you have everything your club
needs.

Also, please add your site to the Field Day 2013 locator at:
<www.arrl.org/field-day-locator>.

I will be making Field Day 2013 visits this year with SEC Jim
Montgomery, WB3KAS.  We'll be planning this year's route based on
invitations and who has registered on the ARRL Field Day Locator site. 
If you are changing your site at the last minute, please let me know as
driving 25 miles at 3 am to a site that I didn't know has relocated
keeps me from visiting that site or another that could have been worked
in that may have been on the route.  We can usually get in 14-17 Field
Day sites depending on the route.  

Same old, same old can get boring.  So, to add another component to the
mix, we're asking that sites establish a Winlink2000 station
<http://www.arrl-mdc.net/Winlink/MDCWL2KOVwAM.htm> for two purposes.
You can send a piece of NTS traffic through NTSD to the SM and get 100
points. Or, put it on voice on the MEPN or BTN as usual.  I will be
checking my email (wi3n@winlink.org) via Winlink periodically as we
travel.  The other purpose for the station is to send a Winlink email
to the next site that Jim and I will be visiting to tell them our
estimated time of arrival.  This will accomplish two very important
things.  First, it will allow a demonstration of how Winlink works for
those at your site who are unfamiliar with it.  It can be accomplished
either on VHF on RMS Packet Nodes or via HF and Winmor, your choice. 
Second, it will let the receiving station know when they should have
refreshments ready for two weary travelers.    

As we're working in the MDC Section to get Winlink to be a major
component of our emergency communications, this provides a hands-on
opportunity for your Field Day operators and visiting governmental
officials to learn more about it and to see it work.  A great
opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities to government officials is
to send an email over a radio to the smart phone on their hip while
they're standing there.



==>  APRIL, 2013 T-MARC NEWS

TMARC Board
	
May 8 (7 days ago)
		
to N3ST
April 2013
Applications in Process:
DelMarVa Group -- Received application for CTCSS change and ERP
increase
for 448.8250- in Delaware City, Delaware. Waiting on adjacent channel
in
Pa. for test results.
 
Harford County RACES – Possible frequency for VHF narrow-band found.
Request test before coordination.
 
Network Engineers Repeater Assoc. – Waiting for clarification on
several
systems for modification of coordinations.
 
On Air Status Requests sent to:
443.0500       K3CRK          Smyrna, Delaware
145.2500       KK3L              Damascus, Md.
 
Coordinations Withdrawn / Cancelled:
146.8500-      Blossom Point ARC                        Blossom Point,
Md.
 
Other:
Received 1Notice of Proposed Coordination for UHF link from South East
            Repeater Association.
Received 1 Notice of Proposed Coordinations for 6 meter pair from
Western Pa.
Repeater Council.
Received 5 Notice of Proposed Coordinations for VHF pairs from Western
Pa.
Repeater Council.
Received 1 Notice of Proposed Coordinations for 220 MHz pair from
Western Pa.
Repeater Council.
Received 1 Notice of Proposed Coordinations for 440 MHz pair from
Western Pa.
Repeater Council.


T-MARC
The Mid-Atlantic Repeater Council
www.tmarc.org



==>  MDC SECTION ARES® REPORT

Monthly Section Emergency Coordinator Report to ARRL Headquarters
__________________________________________________________
ARRL Section: Maryland-DC   Month: April      Year: 2013
__________________________________________________________
 
AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE
Total number of ARES members: 638
Change since last month: 0
Number of DECs/ECs reporting this month: 3
Number of ARES nets active: 14
Number with NTS liaison: 6
 
Calls of DECs/ECs reporting: N3SEO, KB3FMJ, WB3KAS.
 
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 13    
Person hours:  222
Number of public service events this month: 2                         
Person hours:     78
Number of emergency operations this month: 0                       
Person hours:     0
Total number of ARES operations this month: 15                    
Total Person hours:   300
 
Section Emergency Coordinator WB3KAS:
 
Three entries this month, down much from the previous month.  I
encourage the remaining ECs to drop us a line and let us know what
great things you are doing in your county and served agencies.
 
There are still two vacant DEC slots in the Section; Central and
Eastern.  If you are interested, and up to the challenge, please
contact me or the Section Manager, WI3N for more information.
 
April 13:  Frank, N3SEO invited us to speak to the ANAR ARES group and
allowed me to present "Interoperability and Winlink 2000."

Wanda, KA3AHI, and I continue to schedule visit to as many ARES groups
as possible.  We have two presentations I think would be worth your
while to hear.  One on Section Interoperability 

and the other is the Section Hospital EmComm Program.  We have done
ALLE, ANAR, CALV, GARR, STMA, TALB, WICO so far.  We even got invited
back to these places.  Imagine that!  Immediate 

plans are in the works for visits to CARR on May 13 and WASH in June,
date TBD.   If you have interest in this, and have room on your meeting
agenda for us, please contact me.
 
Comments from around the Section:
 

ANAR County N3SEO:
 
Cherry Pit: KB3KWT, N3WOF, KA2JAI, KB3UDP, KC5VCF, K3TED, WA5VHU,
N3YSA, N2IQT, N3HKJ, N6GSE & N3SEO.
 
Triathalon: K8JW, WJ3K, AC4SS, WA5VHU & K3TED.
 

GARR County KB3FMJ:
 
On Monday April 8th the monthly Garrett County ARES meeting was held.
Bill Shomo (KB3FMJ) presented a progress report on a joint meetings
held with the Garrett County Hospital, Health 

Department and Emergency Management Services. The topic of the joint
meeting was the deployment plans for the WinLink 2000 system at the
respective agencies. Also the group reviewed the agenda and plans for
the 2013 GCARES activities.

The Garrett County ARES (GCARES) monthly meetings will be held at the
Garrett County Southern Rescue Squad located on route 135 east of
Oakland Maryland. The next meeting will be Monday May 

13th at 7:00 PM.
 
The GCARES net is held weekly on Sunday evenings at 8:00 PM on the
146.805 repeater, dup PL 123 and is linked to the WAN and Target Link
Repeater Systems. All traffic is FM voice
 
 
PRGE County WB3KAS:
 
PRGE ARES Web Page: http://www.pgares.org
 
PRGE ARES Internet Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PG-AresRaces/
 
Nets: Held four regularly scheduled training VHF nets on 146.61MHz on
Tuesdays at 1930L. The monthly HF Hospital Net is held the Wednesday
following the third Monday of the month on 3820KHz at 1930L.
 
Meetings: Monthly meeting held the 3rd Monday of the month at the Fire
Services Building, 6820 Webster St, Landover Hills, MD at 1930. Eyeball
QSOs at 1900.
 
April 2: Held our Second Quarterly Hospital Drill with 32 operators
representing CALV, CHAS, FRED, PRGE and TALB.  If interested in joining
us in the July drill, send your intentions to 

Wanda, ka3ahi@aol.com.
 
April 13: Held the first 2013 Field Day planning meeting at the Fire
Services Building.
 
April 21: Visited the Field Day site to scope out HF dipole locations
for the five HF bands.
 

Signature: Jim Montgomery
Call sign: WB3KAS
Maryland-DC SEC
Email: wb3kas@aol.com



==>  SECTION TRAFFIC MANAGER'S REPORT

MDC NTS NETS:

MEPN 1304 W3YVQ QND/30 QNI/370 QTC/133 MINS/953
BTN 1304 KB3MXM QND/30 QNI/311 QTC/19 MINS/499
MDD 1304 AA3SB QND/60 QNI/366 QTC/141 MINS 637
MSN 1304 W8CPG QND/30 QNI/148 QTC/82 MINS/923

PSHR: KK3F 140, W3CB 136, W3YVQ 135, KB3LNM 100,
AA3SB 100, WB4FDT 100, K3IN 90, N3ZOC 90, WB3FTQ 77,
KB3LFG 75;

TFC: KK3F 2491, WB3FTQ 236, WB4FDT 99, KB3LNM 96,
N3HFC 82, AA3SB 81, N3ZOC 69, W3YVQ 67, K3IN 59,
W3CB 40, KC3Y 7

==========

NEW HAMS
We encourage involving more local amateurs in each
of our jurisdictions to work with our NTS/NTSD operators,
clubs, and VECs, to use the opportunity presented by
NTS new ham welcome messages to contact newcomers.
This could help expand our outreach and give the new
amateurs a hand up in getting started in ham radio.
Stations who wish to help with this may establish an
account on Radio-email, or send a liaison to one of the
MDC Section or Local NTS nets, and advise me that you
are willing to accept such traffic for delivery to new hams.

PICNIC
Members of any of our NTS affiliated nets who might be
interested in having a joint net picnic should contact me
on the nets or by email during May. If there is sufficient
interest we could begin a search for a convenient central
location to use, and poll for a good date for everyone
sometime in mid or late summer.

NETS
The devoted MDC NTS team is maintaining daily operations
on MEPN, BTN, MSN and MDD, including liaisons between
those nets and our connections to Region and Area NTS
on Cycles 2 and 4, plus our digital links. Many of our
operators perform duties on multiple nets and days. They
could certainly use some help with traffic handling and NCS
and liaison duties on both voice and CW on many days of
the week. These nets provide umbrella messaging and
coordination services for all our county and city jurisdictions,
served agencies, and for liaison with other Sections in
addition to handling public welfare traffic nation-wide.

NTSD, Radio-email
Both new and experienced operators are encouraged to join
us on the NTSD Radiogram and the Radio-email networks.

Don, WB3FTQ, and Pam, N3HFC, have established daily
HF PacTor connections for MEPN with the NTSD Radiogram
service and with the national Radio-email service. These
stations provide us with infrastructure-independent digital
links for both network layers. Daily connections are made
with the Third Region and/or Eastern Area NTSD MBOs, and
with the Radio-email layer via WL2K or NTSD peer-to-peer
Radio-email forwarding.

N7NMS in Cumberland has established a WL2K RMS HF
WINMOR Gateway here in MDC, and there are numerous RMS
Gateways providing access to WL2K via packet radio. Both
RMS-Express and AirMail WL2K clients can also transfer
Radio-email peer-to-peer.

What do you do when your internet, phone, or other wireless
services fail? The NTS has now provided guidance on how to
use nation-wide Radio-email to permit us to augment or
replace those services with modern email-formatted messaging
over radio - including the ability to connect with the public
internet for email. NTS, NTSD, and ARES(r), have moved into
the modern IT world. Join us in that effort. Software is free.
Training will be provided for operators interested in helping.
If you would like to join us in this important messaging service
roll, contact the respective Net Managers or me and we will
provide the details. These are skills which must be learned
before emergency communications situations arise.

Thanks to all the MDC NTS Net NCS stations and Net
Managers for timely reports of monthly activity. Well done.
Remember that NCS Net Reports are due in the hands
of the Net Manager within 48 hours of the net session;
NM Net reports and SAR/PSHR reports are due in the
hands of the STM by midnight of the 6th of the following
month.

See the MDC Section web page at: www.arrl-mdc.net
The NTS Nets tab and individual net tabs are near the top
of the page. Also scroll down to General Information for the
tutorials on Basic Traffic Handling, Voice and CW, and the
WL2K tutorial.

---
MEPN: The MEPN meets on 3820 kHz; summer: 1800L
EDST (Pre-net 1730L); winter, if required by propagation:
1730L EST (Pre-net 1700L). The net may become directed
during the pre-net as soon as traffic is posted for handling.
Liaison stations will monitor the Echolink WB3GXW-L node
connection (or the *WASH_DC* conference bridge backup)
for check-ins on Echolink during the net. MEPN listed traffic
may be pushed directly to county Target Stations on WL2K,
outbound traffic to W3YVQ, Section Primary Target Station,
in Batch File format (see the WL2K tutorial).

ECHOLINK: John, WB3GXW, provides an Echolink service
on WB3GXW-L (node link list), with backup on *WASH_DC*
(node conference bridge list) as needed, for the MDC NTS.
The MEPN assigns a liaison to this service daily to provide
access to the NTS for stations not able to QNI the regular
nets. Representatives from MEPN, BTN, MSN, MDD, all
ARES® jurisdictions, and other amateurs are welcome.
Echolink is an internet-dependent function and an off-air
function for traffic counting unless accessed via linked
repeaters.

WL2K: The Winlink 2000 (WL2K) network provides for Radio-
email messaging in the standard email format between served
agencies, ARES(r) and NTS/NTSD. It is also used to carry
attachments, such as ICS-213 messaging, Radiogram welfare
traffic, and provides a protected gateway to addressees on the
public internet for both agency traffic and the public at shelters.
WL2K may be accessed via the internet, via packet radio, and
via HF PacTor or HF WINMOR Gateway stations. WL2K is an
on-air function for traffic counting when accessed via packet
and HF, an off-air function if accessed via telnet/internet. (See
the General Information, WL2K tutorial, at www.arrl-mdc.net.)

OTHER NETS:
The WVA Net meets on 3811; summer 1800L EDST, winter
1700L EST if required by propagation. Liaisons to WVA from
MEPN will need to be there promptly at the start of their net,
assigned at the start of the MEPN pre-net or the previous
night. The WVA net has also used 3810 kHz on occasion.

The DE net (DTN) is scheduled at 1830L on 3905 kHz.,
Monday through Saturday, the DELMARVA Net on Sunday.

The EPA Net is operating at 6:00 PM daily for the summer,
5:30 PM winter, on 3905 kHz.

==========

Thank you for your continued support of MDC integrated
ARES/NTS/NTSD operations.

73, W3YVQ, MDC ASM, STM
w3yvq atsign arrl dot net



==>  FINALLY. . .

We'd like to thank Bill Tucker, K3UEZ, for his six plus years as ARRL
ARES Emergency Coordinator in Allegany County and welcome Shawn Wolfe,
W8SJW, as the new EC there.

Also, welcome to Bob Davidson, KB3KOW, who will be the ARRL ARES
Emergency Coordinator for Charles County.

Please check the list of repeaters and IRLP stations who generally link
in to the monthly MDC Echolink net.  If you aren't Echolink capable from
your computer, check out the frequencies listed there and see if you can
access one via our wonderful old fashioned radio service.  We are
generally able to welcome a number of RF check-ins via repeaters and
links.  I think it's really neat to be able to merge technologies. 

Thanks to ASM Wanda Montgomery's, KA3AHI, persistence in visiting
hospitals, Health Departments and for the cooperation of local ECs in a
successful effort to establish Amateur Radio stations in hospitals and
Health Departments to build a robust interoperable Amateur Radio
presence.  Equipment is currently on order in Garrett County. 

73, Jim Cross WI3N
SM MDC
Chairman ARRL ECAC