At around 6:30 AM members of the VARC met at the  Burger King at exit 22.  The APRS team is responsible for installing APRS trackers in the sag-wagons that follow the last rider for each route.   After a quick breakfast the team went the Hahira skate park to install the equipment before the ride start at 8:00 AM.  The work was completed on time and the command center was setup and hams where dispatched to the various rest stops along the routes.

For the most part the day went very smooth but the great news is that no riders were hurt during any of  the four rides.   The weather worked out very well too.  There were not any of the tornadoes like those present in the area during the century bike ride this last spring.

The turn out from the ham community was very lite for the Honey Bee this year with only 6 hams present to work the ride and 1 visitor coming to their show support.  A big thanks to KC4VLJ, KD4VLG, KI4ROO, and KF4GTA for their work and support again.  A big thanks to KK4JJH for coming by to lend moral support.

Due to fewer and fewer hams making themselves available for events like the Honey Bee or Century Bike ride in the spring it has become very important to rely on technology such as APRS robots to complete tasks once done by human operators.  It must be said that if the current trend continues within the ham radio ranks it may become necessary for the VARC to consider ending support of these type of events.  So hams reading this post please make the effort and point to come out and show your support. Please also encourage other hams in our community to do likewise because your efforts really provide a big benefit to both ham radio and the our community.

Despite the the low turn out the Parks and Recreation leadership still recognized those who did by presenting each person with a nice Honey Bee bike ride shirt.   The event leadership once again strongly noted that the support the hams give is very much needed and that it is greatly appreciated by their organization.   It is their greatest wish that the area hams will have the desire to continue to do what they do best which is provide communications support that cell phones will never be able to do.

Thumbs up for Ham Radio!

On Saturday evening the VARC held its September club meeting. The meeting started with everyone present enjoying a meal and then a very informative session on the clubs progress for the year and upcoming events.  The club also gained three new members K4HVR, KK4LOC and KK4JJH.  The following is the agenda for items discussed at the meeting.

Valdosta Amateur Radio Club

Agenda for September 29, 2012 Club Meeting

Meeting Place – Airport Church of Christ Annex

Start meeting with finger foods/meal and fellowship – 6:30 PM

Start Meeting 7:00 PM

1. Club financial report
2. September Disaster Preparedness Month
3. October 6^th  Honey Festival Planning/support
4. October 20^th  Boy Scout  JOTA Planning/support
5. October 27^th  Moody Appreciation Day – Recruiting New Hams
6. New repeater room report – Complete by end of year!
7. Hamcram report and results for 2012
8. VARC community support projects report for 2012
9. Amateur Radio Exam Sessions Report for 2012
10. D-Star/Allstar/Ecohlink projects report for 2012
11. Online dues/donations payment – Complete by end of 2012
12. Lowndes County Emergency Management – Request
13.  Club Officers for 2013 – Nominating committee
14. VARC Projects for 2013:
    1.  Growth: Youth and Amateur Radio
    2. Development: learning and training sessions
    3. Design and Install Amateur Radio station at EOC
    4. Century and Honeybee bike rides and Field Day
    5.  Other Ideas presented from members

Other Comments – End of Meeting 8:15 PM – Thank you for your support – Time to Socialize

On Tuesday September 25th members of the VARC attended a free presentation provided by the Science Cafe’ at the Thomas University Hawk’s Nest in Thomasville.  This month’s speaker was Sir Harold Kroto the director of the chemistry department at FSU.  Sir Kroto’s presentation was on the accomplishments of leading scientists through history and the importance of language of math for one to really appreciate the beautiful mysteries of the universe.   The presentation was very informative and entertaining.  For more information on Professor Kroto and his work go to google.com and conduct a search.

Since ICOM revealed the new IC-7100 transceiver there’s been much speculation on price.

Given that it’s an updated replacement to the IC-7000, and that it includes D-STAR, we know that the street price in the US will exceed the $1300 price tag on the 7000. But the question remains, how much more?

There are few clues.

One source in the Far East has put the price at 158,000 yen which equates to about $2000 US. That seems more than reasonable for a brand new HF/6M/VHF/UHF and D-STAR transceiver in this class.

We don’t yet know when it will be approved by the FCC for sale in the US, but when it is, I imagine it will be in hot demand at $1,899.

How about you, what do you think the price tag will say when it finally becomes available?

[ribbon toplink=”true”]Current view of Valdosta, GA looking southwest[/ribbon]

[ribbon toplink=”true”]Current view of Valdosta, GA looking southeast[/ribbon]

[ribbon toplink=”true”]Current view of Valdosta, GA looking north[/ribbon]

[ribbon toplink=”true”]Past Webcam Events of Interest[/ribbon]

[heading h=”2″]October 6, 2012[/heading]

[heading h=”2″]Tropical Storm Isaac Timelapse Video over Valdosta, GA[/heading]

The club met this evening at Steak N Shake for fellowship and to enjoy food, ice cream or a cool drink on this very hot of a day.  The turn out was surprisingly good for the summer months as many are out of town traveling.  It was very nice to see two familiar faces -Gina W4GNA and Larry K3LB present to join in the fun.  At the meeting many ham radio topics were discussed which ranged from antennas, the latest Apple technology, updates from what the various other clubs are doing in the South Georgia and North Florida area etc.  One of the biggest topics discussed was the upcoming ham cram that will hopefully be scheduled for the end of August if a meeting place can be located.  So if anyone knows of anyone interested in becoming a ham to please contact him as soon as possible. Gina W4GNA who is from the Madison Florida area indicated that she would like to help the VARC with the their ham crams.  It was everyone’s opinion that if we want to see ham radio grow in the area then Hamcrams are going to be a important part of the effort.  Thank you to everyone who came to the meeting and to those who have been checking in to the VARC Monday night net.

The repeater team met today to install the cable tray in the new equipment room.   The tray itself  was custom built from materials purchased from Home Depot.  It took most of the day to mount everything but the project is coming together as the various work projects are completed.  Some the last major items to be done is to now finish the grounding and bonding of the equipment and custom building of the RF cables from the repeater equipment to the polyphaser or lightning protection rack.  The team really appreciates everyone’s financial support and those who have given their time to the project.   If you would like to help out or would like a project tour please contact the repeater committee.

In today’s economy everyone is looking to pinch a penny.  Hams are notorious for being penny pinchers when it comes to equipment.  As everyone knows there are deals to be found on ebay for used equipment but here is a deal on brand new ham radio equipment.

So if your a ham and your in the market for a new HT for use on the club VHF and UHF repeaters then consider the Baofeng UV-5 dual band VHF/UHF  handheld radio.  Where are these radios manufactured for such a low price? Well in China of course!

This brand new unit comes fully loaded with features that were considered luxurious only until recently.  The best part is that this radio can be purchased for less than $50 including shipping off ebay right now!

If you are a new ham or you have a friend or family member who is getting their license you might consider one of these as present for their efforts.  This radio would be a great low cost way for anyone to get started!

As many of you already know the D-Star project has been under way.  It was last month that the UHF D-Star (443.7125 MHz) repeater was placed on the air for testing.  It has been linked to systems all over the world and many contacts have been made by local stations who are D-Star capable.

After programming and testing VARC members turned up the (1299.200 MHz) data channel.  So now users who have a Icom ID-1 radios can now access the internet via their radio.  The RF connection is not as fast as DSL but it is usable for emergency communications.

The next part of the D-Star project is to bring up the 1.2 GHz voice module.  In order to move forward a special duplexer will have to be purchased for the system.

If you are interested in D-Star please contact KF4GTA.

If you missed Field Day 2012 then you missed one of the best field day ever!  Starting early Saturday morning several members gathered to prepare for field day operations.  For starters KI4ROO brought his military communications truck and generator trailer which is just a awesome sight to behold.  Everyone pitched in to prepare the trucks generators and to install the 50′ military portable mast system.  The group then built and installed a 40/80 meter inverted V antenna on the mast system.  There were some technical and tune issues but they were quickly worked out and KE4HKO’s Alinco HF station was on the air inside of KI4ROO military truck by the 2:00 PM start time.

KF4GTA set up his Yaesu HF station and operated the 20/15/10 bands with the tri-band beam which is mounted on a 65 foot tower. Kenwood HF station equipment was used on the 80 and 40 meter bands using a 80/40 inverted V and 510′ horizontal loop.  Once all of the equipment was setup and operational the stations were pressed into service as 3E Georgia.  As far as the overall results go the VARC team did fairly well by generating just over 400 contacts during the 24 hour event.

3E stands for 3 separate stations operating under E for emergency power.   Even thought gas generators where available to operate the stations there was a far more “greener”power source was available…. solar power!   Yes… 6.6 KW of solar panels to charge batteries and to power the equipment.  There was plenty of power!

The members would like to recognize KK4DBU for his superb skills at the grill…. they were some super tasty burgers!   It was super to see K4VLD and KE4HTH bring both there families.  It seems that they had a great time feeding and catching fish in the pond!  KI4ROO thanks for bringing your awesome mobile radio shack!  It was great to see K4ADY, AB4HQ, KD4ZYP, and the many others that stopped by to say hello, help out and offer moral support.  Thanks to those who either called or emailed to say that they would have loved to come but they had other obligations this weekend.  There is next year… remember field day is the last full weekend in June!

Overall Field Day was lot of fun for everyone who came.  Everyone’s morale or spirits where high with there being a lot of good food, fellowship and laughing going on.  It was great to spend time with friends and family to relax and to just enjoy amateur radio with them.