Works for me.  I just got one of my old stoves running, so coffee and hot chocolate, that should warm you up a bit.  Anybody want to bring chili?

Oh, I will bring my ft-817 kit.

Ralph

WD6BGN

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Tablet

------ Original message------

From: Bill McFarland

Date: Fri, Jan 11, 2019 8:09 PM

To: Central Missouri Radio Association;BCARES Group;

Subject:[bcares] January and February exercises

Group,
No better time while we are getting 7 - 12" of snow, than to remind you (announced at the last two club meetings) of the Winter Field Day (WFD) January 26 1:00 PM on-the-air time. I went out to Cosmo park yesterday morning about 10:00 when it was 22 degrees and it was too cold, even with a nice sun and not much wind. Went back about 12:00 when it was over 32 degrees and I think we can handle that. So since we are having our snow this weekend we will plan to JUST DO IT. But with a temp go-no-go threshold or 32 F.

So come with your HF go kits, including power and antennas, or come to see and play with others' toys in the winter time OUTDOORS. We will be on the South West corner of Cosmo Park. Go in the main entrance, go 270 degrees around the round-about and follow the road to the SW end. Don't forget a chair and your own snacks (maybe enough to share). No alcohol in city parks. I'll be there about 10:00 to get some stuff set up. We won't operate after dark, too DARK. (Can you operate your radio with gloves on? I couldn't push the power button on my HT until I took off one glove!)

Please email me back if you can plan to participate, so that if there no more than me not smart enough to come in out of the cold, I will not have to go out there either!

Then, in February we will try a new exercise called the COMO White-OUT, kind of like tonight, except we will pretend that we have all lost commercial power, and OEM needs some first hand reports on how bad it is around the county. You will need to use your emergency power backup for VHF/UHF operation with out commercial power. We would also like to see pictures! This all from your own home, or where ever you might want to do it, I just won't ask you to go to a particular place and report. There will be too much pretend ice and snow to ask you to get out. BUT YOU CAN'T PLAY IF YOU ARE NOT ON EMERGENCY POWER (EP). HTs and mobiles count as EP, if you can't get a storage battery or generator going by test time. We will use the 61 repeater which has an EP by generator (it won't really be on that generator, but it could be!), and the Airport UHF repeater, since it may have some battery back up, and maybe it is far enough out of town, that it could have not lost Commercial power.

So the objectives of the exercise are:
1. A little pressure to get you to go ahead and get EP going for your home/shack. Or at least an outside antenna for your HT!
2. Think about sending pictures by radio. Some suggestions are MMSSTV, attaching files to a Winlink message. (a little pressure to get you on Winlink from home!). maybe MESH networks, and what you might think of and work out before February BCARES meeting. How will you get the picture from your camera (smart phone) to the PC, or radio? Do you have an USB camera for your PC. Can you get that outside to take a picture of the fallen trees and downed power lines?

We will hold this exercise on February 16 at 10:00 AM. More details at the club meetings in February and by email as we go.

Let me know if you are in for the White-out.


I JUST REALLY LOST POWER AT MY HOUSE!! FINISHED ON MY IPHONE!!
--
Bill N0AXZ

--
Bill -- N0AXZ

BCARES -- EC ???

Thanks John, Very. Interested. Corey

On Tuesday, January 8, 2019, 10:24 PM, John Beatty <jebeatty@...> wrote:

This is pretty amazing stuff. 
https://hackaday.com/2019/01/05/google-assistant-now-available-on-ham-radio/

John - NO0I

A counterpoise always helps a little,  but a mobile antenna out the window or in the attic might make all the difference in the world for you.
4 or 5 watts out with a good antenna that has 3db to 6db gain and getting walls and trees out of the way can get you to the horizon 22 miles away with only about 30 to 50 bucks invested.

Mike-Kc0pah

Thanks Gary for the update.  I also listened on reverse but no joy there either.  If you want to try a “rat tail”  on your current ht antenna I have one you can try.  I’ve discovered that my body is a Rf sponge with my ht :). It’s a challenge sometimes with HTs.  

On Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 8:44 AM Gary Vaught - W9TIG <gdv.pops@...> wrote:

Just an FYI for the net controllers, and John Beatty in particular, I was apparently strong enough to trigger the repeater on Wednesday night, but not strong enough for my phone to be received.  I tried on 3 separate occasions to check in and each time John noted that "someone" was there but he was getting no signal.  And this was one of my concerns with my new QTH.  Now I know that a 5W HT won't cut it, even though I'm a couple of miles closer.  Just reinforced my understanding that elevation and clear line-of-sight can overcome some hardware shortcomings.

Merry Christmas and 73 to all!

--

Just an FYI for the net controllers, and John Beatty in particular, I was apparently strong enough to trigger the repeater on Wednesday night, but not strong enough for my phone to be received.  I tried on 3 separate occasions to check in and each time John noted that "someone" was there but he was getting no signal.  And this was one of my concerns with my new QTH.  Now I know that a 5W HT won't cut it, even though I'm a couple of miles closer.  Just reinforced my understanding that elevation and clear line-of-sight can overcome some hardware shortcomings.

Merry Christmas and 73 to all!

After my "premature" request to find out what BB-HAMNET interest might be palpable, I found out that a very active and productive group splintered out and formed The Amateur Radio Emergency Digital Network. Check them out at https://www.arednmesh.org/ . Andre introduces AREDN at https://youtu.be/fkl5Nbnz24Y .The new group have their own free firmware using in-production reasonably priced hardware, to provide a digital network on amateur frequencies. Yes we do have an allocation in the 2.3 gHz spectrum just below the unlicensed wifi frequencies, as well as 900, 3500 and 5800 bands. I am working with three pieces (as the delivery service finds my QTH) to get a basic AREDN node functioning locally for less than $100. I have plans to provide 130 MB/s of ethernet connectivity with a Raspberry Pi 3 B loaded with Asterisk to provide a wireless VOIP server across the network ($70). You will notice that I did not use the term Internet in any discussion here, as providing encrypted communications across an amateur radio is prohibited (such as the https link I posted above). Think of it as an TCP/IP alternative, when the net is not operable. Providing a high speed connection for computer networks with the bonus of a VOIP telephone system for the cost of a wireless access point and mesh radio. Or controlling your station from a remote location, complete with the tower, antenna, feedline and rig you are accustomed to using! Using a common logging program at all of the computers during field day - wirelessly!

I would like to gauge and foster an interest in the group(s) and possibly offer to present a 10-15 minute presentation this winter if this might be of interest. I'm back to studying networking topologies.

You thoughts?

After my "premature" request to find out what BB-HAMNET interest might be palpable, I found out that a very active and productive group splintered out and formed The Amateur Radio Emergency Digital Network. Check them out at https://www.arednmesh.org/ . Andre introduces AREDN at https://youtu.be/fkl5Nbnz24Y .The new group have their own free firmware using in-production reasonably priced hardware, to provide a digital network on amateur frequencies. Yes we do have an allocation in the 2.3 gHz spectrum just below the unlicensed wifi frequencies, as well as 900, 3500 and 5800 bands. I am working with three pieces (as the delivery service finds my QTH) to get a basic AREDN node functioning locally for less than $100. I have plans to provide 130 MB/s of ethernet connectivity with a Raspberry Pi 3 B loaded with Asterisk to provide a wireless VOIP server across the network ($70). You will notice that I did not use the term Internet in any discussion here, as providing encrypted communications across an amateur radio is prohibited (such as the https link I posted above). Think of it as an TCP/IP alternative, when the net is not operable. Providing a high speed connection for computer networks with the bonus of a VOIP telephone system for the cost of a wireless access point and mesh radio. Or controlling your station from a remote location, complete with the tower, antenna, feedline and rig you are accustomed to using! Using a common logging program at all of the computers during field day - wirelessly!

I would like to gauge and foster an interest in the group(s) and possibly offer to present a 10-15 minute presentation this winter if this might be of interest. I'm back to studying networking topologies.

You thoughts?