W4AP - Montgomery Amateur Radio Club

2008 Technician Class Graduation

Please join Mark, WB5NMZ and I, W4SPA, in congratulating the MARC Technician Class of 2008.

This year's class members are:

Ken Kohnke, KJ4CJP, Ken earned his technician ticket a couple of weeks before the class began. He attended in order to gain some additional practical knowledge. James Morris, KJ4ALV, James was previously licensed as a technician also, he attended to gain some practical knowledge and to support his wife Barbara. Barbara Morris, KJ4DHK, Barbara tested with CAVEC just before our class ended and as now a technician. Les Amidon, Callsign Pending, Les passed his element 2 examination and is waiting for his technician grant. Randy Crowder, KJ4DVS, Randy tested with the ARRL team in April and earned the technician ticket. He also passed element 3 last Thursday and is now a General class licensee pending license grant. Anida Wishnietsky, KJ4DVT, Anida also tested with the ARRL VE team in April and passed both elements 2 and 3 at the session. She's now a General class licensee. Michael Ford, Callsign Pending, Mike passed his element 2 examination and is waiting for his technician license grant. Stephens E. Wiggins, Callsign Pending, Steve passed his element 2 examination and is waiting for his technician license grant. Jerry Vogel, Callsign Pending, Jerry passed both elements 2 and 3 examinations and is waiting for his General class license grant. Robert Whatley, Callsign Pending, Robert passed his element 2 examination and is awaiting his license grant.

To say the class was a success is an understatement. The fact is everyone passed their element 2 examinations and 3 of them have earned their general class licenses.

So, congratulations again to the members of the MARC 2008 Technician Class!

Scott Poole, W4SPA

Alabama A.R.E.S. April Update Published!

Mike Watkins, WX4AL has published this months Alabama ARES Update. Here it is in PDF format.

Happy Birthday Pete!

On 10 April 2008, our most senior member, Pete Sides (W4AUP), celebrated his centennial. A special party to commemorate this milestone was sponsored by the Alabama Historical Radio Society and held on 12 April in the Alabama Power Building here in Montgomery. This top-notch affair was attended by his son and over 50 of Pete's closest friends. Many pieces of historical radio equipment (including a spark gap transmitter) -- all built by Pete -- were on display. Besides the usual birthday cake, he received special recognition from the ARRL for 72 continuous years of membership, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Montgomery Amateur Radio Club.

Contgratulations!

You Might be a Ham Operator if�

- A friend remarks that you have a lot of CBs in your vehicle, and it turns into an hour-long rant on how ham radio is not CB.
- Your cell phone ring tone is a Morse code message of some kind.
- You have accidentally said your Amateur Radio call sign at the end of a telephone conversation.
- The local city council doesn't like you.
- You actually think towers look good.
- Your HF amplifier puts out more power than the local AM radio station.
- You refer to your children as your "harmonics".
- You have pictures of your radio equipment as wallpaper on your computer�s desktop.
- Every family vacation includes a stop at a Ham radio store.
- The first question you ask the new car dealer is: "What is the alternator�s current output"?
- You buy a brand new car based on the radio mounting locations and antenna mounting possibilities.
- You have tapped out Morse code on your car�s horn.
- You always park on the top floor of the parking deck, just in case you might have to wait in the car later.
- When house hunting, you look for the best room for a radio shack, scan the property for possible tower placement and check for CCRs.
- The real estate agent scratches his head when you ask if the soil conductivity is high, medium, or low.
- You have Ham radio magazines in the bathroom.
You have found yourself whistling "CQ" using Morse code.
- You really start to miss people that you've never met.
- You walk through the plumbing section at the hardware store and see antenna parts.

...Author Unknown

MARC ARES presentation from February Club Meeting

We have finally gotten the documents uploaded from Chris Hall and Mark Wintersole's excellent presentation at the club meeting this past month.

Here is the presentation in PDF form.

And here is the presentation in its native PowerPoint form.

SkyWarn Provides Critical Support During 17 Feb Storms

On 17 February the Central Alabama SkyWarn Net was activated for over 7 hours handling critical, time sensitive storm reports and damage assessment for the National Weather Service. During this period, 46 trained spotters provided 16 on-scene storm reports (including 2 tornados) and myriad damage reports. While the line of storms affected our entire served area, the most severe damage occurred in Prattville where numerous homes and buildings were destroyed, trees uprooted, power lines downed, and a major gas leak erupted.

I wish to again extend my personal thanks to our trained spotters for their continued support. Kudos!

Mark Wintersole, WB5NMZ

'ARES UPDATE ' published.

Mike Watkins, WX4AL, Alabama Update Editor, has published the Feburary edition of the Alabama ARESUpdate.

It is available in both Word and Adobe formats.

Here is the Word .doc version.
Here i s the Adobe .pdf version.

Technician License Class Rescheduled

The Technician Class originally slated for 14 Feb has been delayed until 20 March. This entry-level class will again be taught by Scott Poole and Mark Wintersole and runs from 6-8 pm for six Thursday evenings in a row. Location will be Classroom A at the Montgomery Red Cross (same room we hold our meetings). Cost is $50/person and includes a license manual and coupon valid for taking the ARRL/VEC-administered test afterwards. If you know of anyone interested in this course, please have them contact either Scott (w4spa@arrl.net) or Mark (wb5nmz@arrl.net).

MARC in the News

MARC Club President, Mark Wintersole was recently interviewed by the Troy University Public Radio station (FM 89.9) for their Noon Report. We have been able to secure a copy of the audio file from that interview and have it hosted here for your enjoyment. Click here to listen. File size is 9.6MB and runtime is approximately 15 minutes.

Interested in a lower budget version of D-STAR?

It has been a long time coming, but Robin Cutshaw - AA4RC in Atlanta has finally brought it to market. Yup, it's the DV Dongle! If your PC has a microphone, speakers, and a USB port, you can communicate over D-STAR Gateways!

I met Robin last spring at the Orlando HamCation. He had SO many ideas he was bursting at the seams. Rather than just talking like so many of us do, Robin took the digital bull by the horns and has built hardware and created software that has increased the functionality of this great mode.

Robin has written several applications that run on the gateway server. One allows full interrogation of the data streams between the repeaters and controllers, as well as the gateway. Another early app allowed users to put an "E" in the 8th position of the repeater callsign and have the server record the transmission, then play it back over the air, a common function of repeaters that was overlooked by manufacturer Icom. There are many MANY more, too many to mention here!

AA4RC had contributed more to D-Star than anyone I know and I commend him on his accomplishments.

For more information on the DV Dongle, please visit the DV Dongle page.

-- KG4PNL