Archives 2012

On Saturday March 10th members of the VARC met at VSU for the Azalea Festival 5 K run.  The weather was cool and very pleasant for the event.  As usually members were positioned in order to provide synchronized timing for the run.  Members were placed at the 1 and 2 mile locations with a time keeper.  A radio transmission on the 146.760 repeater was sent at the exact time that the run started in order for the time keepers to set their stop watches.  As runners would pass the mile markers they could keep up with their time.  VARC members reported runners as they passed their station locations.

The first runner to the finish line was a young boy who said that he was about to be first because he was able to take the inside line and beat out two other runners.  Everyone made it back to the finish line with no injuries.  After the run many members went over to the festival to enjoy the food and fun.  Once again the Parks and Recreation leadership expressed their gratitude to VARC members for their continued support of  events like the 5 K and the bike rides.

The March VARC club meeting was on Tuesday the 6th.  Members met at Applebee’s for supper and to enjoy socializing with each other.

A report was made for the Century bike ride which was held the previous Saturday during very dangerous weather conditions.  Amateur radio and VARC really shined during this event.  The severe weather really showed the need for members to have spotter and ARES training and to always be ready.

Other interesting discussions during and after the meeting were related to the new Navy electro-magnetic rail gun that can shoot 100 miles,  J-pole antennas, the Italians experimental work with vorticity radio wave technology, Aircraft navigation technology history, interesting information about Rommel’s 10 meter band tank to tank communications during World War II,  2M/440 Mobile antennas and how to install NMO mounts on vehicles, Physics and the latest developments on photon entanglement experiments and many other interesting subjects related to amateur radio, history and science.

Members were also reminded of the 5 K run coming up Saturday and the Hamcram session coming up in April.

Starting early at 6 AM VARC members met for a hearty breakfast before the 2012 Century Bike Ride.  The Valdosta/Lowndes Parks and Recreation usually puts on this event during the first weekend in March.  Several riders from all over the U.S. come to participate in one of the four routes.  The shorter routes are the 29 mile, 48 mile, and 77 mile.  The longest is of course is just over 100 miles.

VARC members support this yearly event by providing both voice communications and GPS tracking support.  Voice communications are carried out on one of the local repeaters. High tech GPS tracking is provided by APRS configured radios (radio-robots) that are temporary installed in the each of the routes “sag wagon” or the vehicle that follows behind the last rider.  Like some of their human counter parts these “radio-robots” can operate very dependably under various adverse conditions in order to carry out their mission.  A good part of this mission is to transmit GPS location data  to area digi-peaters as the sag wagon moves about. The GPS data is then funneled to a local iGATE station that is connected to the internet.  The data is then farther relayed via the web cloud to the www.APRS.fi website located in Finland.  Net control operators for the bike event can then view the GPS location data on a Google Earth interface which allows them to track the vehicle positions. They can also overlay real time weather information on the same map in order to support the riders and event personal with up to the minute weather data for the various routes.

Due to the severe weather present during this particular ride the weather information was highly important.  Safety of the rider is paramount for these type of events and the actions executed today by VARC members played a very vital role in its assurance.  As tornado watches, warnings, and other severe weather struck the bike route areas several mobile members and radio-robots along with control operators feverishly worked together to ensure voice and data information flowed to the correct locations and event leaders.  As a result of this heroic support effort of VARC team everyone made it through each route safely! The Parks and Recreation leadership once again expressed their appreciation to the VARC for its continued radio communications support and its dedication to the community at large.  Super work VARC team!

Saturday February 11th was the Orlando, FL hamfest or hamcation.  Attendance was fantastic with several traveling a least 6-8 hours to come !  There were several commercial vendors and hams selling in the tailgate area present.  There were no empty spaces left for vendors in any of the buildings.  There was lots of both new and used gear available for reasonable prices.

One of the reps at Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) reported that they were having some the best sales in the last few years.   Orlando is usually on of the better hamfest to attend for the year for hams who are from this area.  One of the others in the Stone Mountain  hamfest in November.  So mark you calendars…

This evening the old times restaurant was just full of hams!  We not talk about the pork variety either…  Being the first Tuesday of the month it was time for hams to gather for the VARC club meeting.  Many said the food was great but the company was even better because everyone got to enjoy what they like most and that is ham radio!   The discussions centered around the up coming bike ride and run,  new repeater room project, D-Star project, upcoming hamcram, emergency communications and many other items that were found to be interesting to those present.   Recent members received their membership certificates, others became members and one ham in particular was honored.  Greg KI4Roo was honored for his work as the VARC net control.  Greg has done and excellent job and the members wanted to thank him.  Remember that the first Tuesday of March will be the next meeting.

Today the technical team finished the electrical upgrades to the new equipment room.  The room now has AC power available for lighting and for the repeater equipment.  There is still more work to be done before it is ready for use.  More work days are to be scheduled.  Thank you to our technical team for their great work!

Again the technical team assembled early this Saturday morning in order to begin work on the new larger equipment room for both the analog and the new digital D-Star repeater systems.  They were able to install most of the AC power conduit, breakers, outlets etc. and other electrical equipment needed in order to operate the repeaters, D-Star and APRS equipment.

The room is cooler since it is inside of the water tank but the air will have to be conditioned in order to control the humidity levels.  Because there were large air gaps between the tank wall and the room walls the team had to use spray expansion foam in order to seal the room better from the rest of the tank itself.  The team still needs to finish the electrical, build a better entry door to keep the outside out, paint the concrete floor, and other miscellaneous work tasks.  Once the room is ready then the equipment will have to be moved and installed.  A lot of work has to be done in order to have the room ready before the Century Bike ride in March so the team plans to work the next few Saturdays until the work is done.

The old VARC equipment shelter was built almost 30 years ago and is made of wood materials.  The VARC was going to have to make critical decision in regards to its shelter because even though it is still serviceable it is not large enough to house the new D-Star equipment that the VARC received through a government grant last year.  Because of this the VARC technical team made a request of the city and was able to secure the new equipment room from with the help of one of the clubs emergency communications partners- Ashley Tye who is the director of  EMA.

The VARC is truly grateful to Ashley, the city, and our very own technical team for the help and support with this project.  The VARC also thanks those members and non-members who have contributed to the project financially but more funds are required in order to complete the project.  So please send your check today!

The Valdosta area amateur radio testing team met today to once again to test new hams and to upgrade older ones.  All of the ones testing today came from Florida.  Two of those testing passed their extra class and two passed their technician class license.

We want to congratulate those on their upgrades and new licenses.  We also want thank Larry, Gene and Frank for their great work in providing amateur radio testing for the area.  Keep up the great work!