The Exciter - Denton County Amateur Radio Association
Contents
1. IH 3 i Se XK OK n z i Meeting called to order by VP Mike Carline at 1900L ARES Training 1930L County EOC Pledge of Allegiance Public Safety Day Denton Introductions VE Test Session 1500L see below DCARA Meeting 1900L County EOC Program presented by Mike Nelson on APRS OCT Motion by Mike Sundstrom to accept minutes of July meeting Belton Hamfest as printed in last newsletter NT Bike Rally Seconded by Jonathan Motion carried DCARA Board Meeting VE Test Session 1500L see below DCARA Meeting 1900L County EOC Komen Horse Ride Discussion of repeater upgrade project Mike Chittenden dis cussed the repeater upgrades status Plan is to purchase 4 new Kenwood repeaters TKR750 850 Motion from Mike Sundstrom to authorize 5000 00 for the purchase Jonathan Down seconded the motion The motion carried Gerald asked for approval to pay the annual liability insur ance premium of 320 Mike Sundstrom made the motion Jonathan Down seconded This motion carried Am ateu r te st session l l l By Jon N5JDG Mike Nelson discussed the upcoming events Oct 8 bike rally North Texas Bike Ride Oct 29 is the horse ride is Wise County Test Session for this month will be Turkey Roll is November 19th on Sunday 25 SEP The time is Next month program is D Star part 3 1500L and the place is the Denton County EOC which is located at Mike Chittenden continued the repeater report Rossto2. tured We are looking at what new model will perform best for our needs now and the future While we are reading about new repeaters the Roston site will get a new VHF antenna to replace the one that was de stroyed in a storm That antenna was removed Sunday the 17 from the NTU Stark site and will be installed at the 1700 foot level as soon as it can be scheduled That antenna will then become a master receive antenna for the two VHF repeaters up there The transmit antennas will be at the 1500 foot platform After that the Internet microwave link will be installed and aligned That should burn a day by itself Tech classes By Tom KSWTT In our fast changing and ever moving soci ety one thing that stays constant 1s the need for good people to share their skills with others through training The DCARA club is gearing up to instruct technician classes beginning this Spring We are looking at a quarterly single weekend format the same week ends that our VE testing team is at the EOC If you would like to be a part of this excitement please let M1 chael Sundstrom KB5UKT kbd5ukt arrl net or Tom Tackett KSWTT k5wtt tx gmail com know as soon as possible PAGE 6 THE EXCITER SEP 201 Continued from page 4 Alliance Airport This site shares the UHF link with Site 1 In order for both sites to share a common link fre quency the Justin voter receiver requires a 100 0 PL tone instead of the 110 9 t
3. fort by Brent Wilcox and myself We will be demon strating the data side of D STAR using D RATS Time permitting I will demonstrate the DVAP and linking and unlinking reflectors This month s meeting will be on September 26th 7pm at the Denton County EOC Area hamfests 10 01 2011 HamEXPO 2011 Location Belton TX Type ARRL Hamfest Sponsor Temple Amateur Radio Club Website http www beltonhamexpo org Other ARES news By Guy KC5GOI AAR6TP ARES MEMBERSHIP and BADGES The requirements to maintain Denton County ARES mem bership is to have attended a NWS Skywarn training ses sion anytime within the last two years In addition IS 100 and IS 700 are also a requirement for membership by end of 1st quarter 2012 After the 1st quarter of 2012 members not meeting the minimum requirements will become INACTIVE and eventually removed from Denton County ARES membership ICS training status of each ARES member will be posted on the ARES web site Please advise Gerald WBSNZV at wbdnzv gmail com of any corrections We have tried to get the training records up to date but there are bound to be things we have missed Please provide the date of your last Skywarn training session if you have attended the training in the last two years There will be a Skywarn training session during the 1st quarter of 2012 for those wishing to meet this requirement The exact date is to be determined The IS 100 b and IS 700 a training is
4. free and can be taken on line at this FEMA website http training fema gov is crslist asp page all If you are on the list published on the ARES website http www denton ares org you are now considered an ACTIVE ARES member If you are not on this list and believe you should be again please contact Gerald Badges are not a requirement to be an ARES member They are provided by the Denton County Office of Emer gency Management as method of identification when needed There is a problem with printing the ARES badges at this time This service is provided by the County and the sys tem they have been using is now off line while a new sys tem is put in place More than likely new badges will be made for all members once the new system comes on line The County has not provided us a date when this system will be online In other news The ARES SET will be on November 5th It will be a joint operation with Texas Army MARS All ARES members should have UHF capabilities in addi tion to VHF and be prepared to move to a UHF repeater if so directed by NET control APRS capability is highly recommended when performing mobile SKYWARN operations The applications for smart phones like IBCNU can be used if you do not have the tra ditional RF based APRS equipment APRS position report ing is a great asset for NET control to instantly determine where the spotters are located and not have to waste valu able air time asking for cu
5. 30L The topic for the training session will be NBEMS Narrow Band Emergency Message Software Information can be found ahead of time by visiting www arrl net nbems If you already use Fldigi for HF digital modes such as PSK31 you are ahead of the game We will be covering Fldigi Flmsg Flwrap and Flarq We will not be going into the details of how to configure Fldigi during the training session That is for another training net The deadline for obtaining your ICS 100 and ICS 700 has been extended to March 31 2012 This training will be offered again in house in addition to being available Continued on page 5 Operations By Mike KS5YX The next events are North Texas Bike Ride Oct 8 and the Komen ride for the cure horse ride Oct 22 als Walmart gt lt Save money Live better Jerrad Boyles Store Manager Store 217 801 West Main Street Lewisville TX 75067 T 972 436 3099 M 903 51 98 145 0100 none none 145 1700 600 110 9 145 2100 _ 600 110 9 145 2300 600 110 9 145 4000 600 110 9 145 4900 600 85 4 146 9200 600 110 9 W5NGU DCARA Denton K5LRK LAARK The Colony 441 3750 NETARC 444 0500 5NGU 444 2250 WI5J W5NGU W5FKN N5MJQ N5ER NETARC WD5U DCARA Digipeater DENTON DBCARA Denton County EOC Metrocrest ARA Carrollton ower Mound Grapevine Rosston Tower ma O O 444 7000 110 9 NETARC Southlake 444 8500 110 9 N5ERS Flower Mound 927 4125
6. 432 0 DMT Denton 927 6125 110 9 W5NGU DCARA Denton County EOC 927 8750 103 5 N5YEJ Flower Mound Ol Sl iz Zlel a TT 1253 6000 none W5NGU G DCARA EOC D Star 6 DCARA EOC D Star A DCARA EOC D Star B DCARA EOC D Star C CARA Rosston D Star G CARA Rosston D Star A CARA Rosston D Star B CARA Rosston D Star C W5NGU A W5NGU B W5NGU C KE5YAP G KE5YAP A KE5YAP B KE5YAP C none 1293 4000 20 0 none 442 9250 5 0 none 147 4500 1 0 none none none none none g 1259 2000 none 1293 2000 440 7125 147 4900 g 1 0 g DCARA information Denton ARES on line DCARA on line www dcara net www denton ares org Meetings Fourth Monday of each month except Dec at 1900L We are currently meeting at the new Denton County Emergency Opera tions Center EOC 9060 Teasley Lane Denton For more info on the Denton County Amateur Radio Association contact one of the indi viduals listed to the right Name Walt Mayfield Mike Carline Gerald Marchant Mike Nelson Mike Chittenden imal 940 368 4659 walt Mayfield7 com 972 347 5390 kd5zca fam2 com 940 387 2314 whb5nzv arrl net k5yx arrl net 214 924 8531 972 567 5498 mikec k104fm com SEP 2011 THE EXCITER PAGE 3 Meeting minutes 4 Coming events Minutes of DCARA Meeting August 22 2011 7pm
7. D Star stack of VHF UHF 1 2 voice and 1 2 data modules The internet connection is not in place yet therefore the data functions and linking are not operational at this time The Motorola Can opy system is under construction to provide the internet connection to the site The digital voice functions are working well Cover age has been reported as very good in the Dallas Ft Worth area and up in Madill Oklahoma Frequency Input Output KES5YAP C 147 4900 146 4900 KE5YAP B 440 7125 445 7125 KES5YAP A 1293 2000 1273 2000 KE5YAP G 1259 2000 1259 2000 Repeater update By Mike AE5IV Where are we on the new repeaters you ask To answer we have ordered the two VHF TKR 750 repeaters one for the 146 92 and the other for 145 17 When the repeat ers arrive they will be programmed with the frequencies and tested for compliance Then the controller will be added the 146 92 repeater and installed The other repeater 145 17 will be installed and set up for narrow band analog operation 12 5 KHz channel When the North Texas Patch is ready to imple ment the frequency will change to the closest 12 5KHz chan nel to the 145 17 we have now At the same time the VHF D Star repeater at Roston will be coordinated to it s new fre quency in the Patch range from 145 11 to 145 25 and out of the simplex part of the band The UHF repeaters have not been ordered yet There has been a model change as the TKR 850 is no longer manufac
8. Denton County Amateur Radio Association The Exciter Dy EE Meeting Monday 26 SEP 1900L Denton County EOC a SEP 2011 Denton Texas EDITOR Don KG6LE lt callsign peoplepc com gt 817 49 1 9472 MEMBERSHIP Gerald WB5NZV lt WB5NZV ARRL NET gt 940 387 23 4 President s podium By Walt KE5SOO INSIDE THIS ISSUE Can you believe it is already the end of September I sure can t I am certainly enjoying j the cooler weather ARES RACES Minutes QSL cards Voter system The month of September is Emergency preparedness month I encourage each of you to check your smoke detectors inventory your go bags and dust off the emergency plan for your family If you don t have any of the previously mentioned stuff there are a lot of websites that can assist you in building a go bag and creating an emergency plan A good place to start 1s www ready gov and www knowhat2do com X mas dinner D STAR Tech class Repeater ARES New repeaters This is also a time when we recognize are emergency responders and their dedication Texas patch Continued on page 6 On Sunday afternoon 18 Sep several 3 The EXCITER amp Is published each month for the pur pose of informing DCARA members of current events and issues of inter est to amateur ra dio Articles and Suggestions are always welcome Articles that appear in this publication may be reproduced provided credit is given to The EX CIT
9. ER and to the original source Operations By Mike KS5YX Hope everyone had a great summer It has been a couple of months since the last operations event October brings us two events one a bike ride and the other a horse ride These are both great events with plenty of opportunities for radio operators of all skill levels These are also great opportu nities to gain experience as net control Our mission for these events is safety and welfare communications The North Texas Bicycle Rally is October 8 starting in the Roanoke area It goes around Alliance Airport through Westlake Keller and the far North part of Fort Worth There are three courses from 15 to 50 miles Radio opera Continued on page 4 members removed some unused antennae from Stark Hall Since the antennae are too long to fit in the elevator it was over the side of the building for them In the top picture Guy KC5GOI and Stewart KE5UT are lowering one of the antennae to the ground crew Brent KD5WYU and Mike AESIV Jay W5GM Greg NSAOR and Don KG6LE worked the high steel dismounting the antennae and Gerald WB5NZV identified coax runs and over saw the project SEP meeting speakers Brent KD5WYU amp Walt KE5SOO Topic APRS PAGE 2 THE EXCITER SEP 201 ARES RACES By Guy KC5GOIl Area repeaters The September 2011 ARES training net will be at the Denton County EOC on Thursday 22 Sep from 1930L to 20
10. Walt suggested the Prairie House in Roanoke Continued on page 5 Proposing December 8th Thursday Approved by members present PAGE 4 Outgoing QSLs By Don KG6LE This is the month to get your QSL N 7N cards submitted for the outgoing ARRL Ft bureau Bring your cards to the meet ing Monday night and I will mail them off during the following day This is a free service pro vided by the ARRL and DCARA for members of both organizations Sort your cards as described in the ARRL bureau web page and include a copy of your latest QST magazine mailing label as proof of ARRL membership I will then combine the cards and sort them package them up and mail them to the outgoing bureau The DCARA will pay the outgoing bureau fee Voter system By Gerald WB5NZV For those of you that may not know of the voter system that is on the 146 920 repeater here is a brief descrip tion There are three regular receive sites that are lis tening on the 146 320 110 9 receive frequency of the repeater They are basically cross band repeaters The signals heard on 146 32 are retransmitted on a UHF link back to the primary site at TWU s Guinn Hall building Each site has its own UHF link frequency Site 1 1s located at KE5UT s station near Celina in the north east side of the county Site 2 1s located at KC5DPC s station in north east Wise County Site 3 is located near Lake Grapevine dam on W5GM s repeater site tower At t
11. ater pairs for narrow band service At the spacing of 20KHz we get five pairs per 100KHz of spectrum At 12 5 KHz we get eight pairs The reason the 12 5 KHz was chosen was the fact that most repeaters and user radios will not program 10 KHz splits The first step was to reband the 145 23 repeater 110 8 Pl That was done two months ago This repeater is linked full time to 444 85 110 8 PL and 927 875 103 5 Pl The 145 23 Repeater is a Kenwood TKR 750 Testing of narrow band signals worked out well The repeater also passed wide band signals with a little distortion of the audio As a side note a wide band user radio will receive a nar row band signal the audio will sound low in level A nar row band radio transmitting to a wide band repeater will also be low in audio level on the repeater output Not all radios will be able to be programmed for narrow band service Most new radios can be programmed for narrow band service Some can do this per each channel while other can only do it narrow band on the whole radio Your radio user manual should let you know if the radio will program for 12 5 KHz channels The next step in testing narrow band channels is being done now A new repeater is being coordinated at Frisco next to the 145 23 channel It is 145 24 with a Pl to be announced This is being done to test co channel interference issues If this works out the final step is to realign the repeaters to 12 5KHz spacing instead
12. ect a cold solder joint that allows the transmit power to exceed the DStar Brent and Gerald E O A aeoreae once 100 watt design limit occasionally 200 server site for dcara and ares sites Apparel Vendor standardized vest for events Walt has vendor lined up tabled for now ICOM BC 35 HT drop in charger for the IC 2AT IC O2AT style Video of meetings Jonathon working on battery packs 40 equipment to do this We will trial run this at the next meeting HRIG brought up by Walt Review at www dfwhrig org Walt would like to see it adopted eventually Future events discussed by Mike Nelson N TX Bike Ride 10 8 and Komen Horse Ride 10 29 Walt wants to talk about club bylaws at the next officer s meeting Contact Don KG6LE callsign peoplepc com
13. hat all the other sites require If you are in the Justin area or the southwest portion of the county you can simply change your transmit PL tone to 100 0 and that site will link you back into the 92 repeater Note that this is on the ICE plan as 83 During events special voters may be placed on line from eComm 701 or other locations as needed Technical details and use of these voters will be provided with the event in structions Continued from page 1 especially those who lost their lives during the attacks on 9 11 This is one of my favorite times of year cool weather Hamfests and usually pretty good conditions for HF This weekend is the Texas QSO party I will be operat ing a good bit on voice and PSK especially using NVIS Hope to hear some of you this weekend As far as Ham fest s go Belton is Oct 1st It is one of my favorites There are always a lot of good deals there The Hamarama in Ardmore OK is Oct 21 st and 22nd It is another really good Hamfest We have confirmed plans for Christmas Dinner I have reserved the location for December Please read my article later in the newsletter for more info I want to thank everyone who has done work on the repeaters or donated money to those efforts You will see that we are moving forward on making improve ments on our existing repeater systems There has been a lot of time and effort put into these efforts The September meeting presentation will be a joint ef
14. he primary repeater site there are three UHF re ceivers that receive the signal from each site The audio from these receivers is then fed into a four channel Doug Hall Voter System The 4th channel of the voter is fed by the repeater s main receiver This voter system samples all four of these signals for the best signal to noise ratio and votes the best channel to be fed to the repeater s transmitter So if you are located in the southern part of the county it is very likely that your signal is being picked up by the Grapevine Lake site and being voted as the best signal for retransmission on the repeater Majority of the time the primary site receiver is voted but if you drop into a low spot it is likely that one of the voters will pick you up This is almost seamless if the levels are properly set but you may hear some tone difference when the signals switch back and forth There is another voter the Justin voter which is actu ally now located on the American Airlines hanger at Continued on page 6 THE EXCITER SEP 2011 Continued from page 1 tors are needed in net control at rest stops mobile as rovers and to trail the last riders tail Last year was the first year that the Denton County club participated in this event The event organizers were impressed and pleased with our work and asked us to take part again this year The Susan G Komen Ride for the Cure is October 29 This horse ride is
15. in the LBJ Grassland National Park in Wise County This is another event that we worked for the first time last year and were asked back to help again We will take the club trailer eComm701 and generator out to the park and place operators at points along the trails where they cross roads and easily accessible locations Cell Phone coverage 1s very sparse in the area and our presence along the course is greatly appreciated by the event organizers and participants The Grasslands is a beautiful place that you will enjoy As always announcements of events and the call for opera tors is put out through the DCARA Operations Yahoo group That is also where event documentation and assignments are posted prior to each event If you are not already a mem ber of the Yahoo group and wish to receive notices of upcom ing events you can follow the link on the DCARA home page to join the Yahoo group Thank you all for helping out this year and I look forward to some more great operations the rest of the year Christmas dinner By Walt KE5SOO This year s DCARA Christmas Dinner is going to be at the Prairie House in Roanoke Please note that it is not the same place as last year The Dinner will be on December 8th at 7p The main course will be prime rib cowboy potatoes green beans and salad We will have peach and apple cobbler for desert The Prairie House in Roanoke has a private room so we will be away from the regular guests The cos
16. n 9060 Teasley Lane FM 2181 south D Star turned up but with no internet access at this time Dr of Denton For licensed amateurs talk in is on the Knights WD5U repeater is moved back to 145 490 88 4 pl Denton 146 92 minus 110 9 repeater And Jay s repeater on 145 23 has been converted to narrow l band operation Tests will normally be conducted on the fourth Sun day of every month All test participants you must Brent presented D Star status bring your picture ID and 15 00 If applicable ie upgrading also bring your FCC License a COPY of Gerald covered ARES report for Guy your FCC License your CSCE and a COPY of your ICS training status of each ARES member will be posted on CSCE For more information please contact Jon the APES website Gumfory N5JDG at 940 300 0243 or The ARES SET will be November 5th It will be a joint op lt ndjdg cebridge net gt eration with Tx ARMY MARS APRS capability is highly reeommended when doing mobile SKYWARN operations The applications for smart phones like IBCNU can be used Board meeting minutes All ARES members should have UHF capabilities in addition to VHF and be prepared to move to a UHF repeater if so di Summary minutes of the DCARA Officer s Meeting rected by NET control September 14 2011 1900L Gerald presented the financial report Will publish summary of Officer s Meeting minutes on General fund 2700 web newsletter Repeater fund 5500 Christmas dinner
17. of 20KHz spacing What will this do for the Denton County Club you ask First the Rosston VHF D Star repeater will find a new home out of the simplex part on 2 meters Second our 145 17 repeater will be on the cutting edge of narrow banded repeaters Third there will be space for future narrow band technology repeaters in North Texas where now we have no space or openings This is the very first step to realign our entire 2 meter band a process that will take decades to complete DENTON COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION P O BOX 50433 DENTON TX 76206 SEP 2011 contact Larry _f As long as this section does not get too crowded will Tom training did not get hold of Allan f accept sale or wanted notices for personal equipment Tom will work on setting up with Allan or i LE from members or non members Priority will be given to Mike Sundstrom Possibly on Oct 29th E members Editor Insurance Have new quote from new ARRL l l provider for 200 Go with this ICOM IC 271H 2 meter all mode base with IC HM12 hand mic UNT safety preparedness fair Sept 20th 10 power cable and user manual This is a solid state radio with CTCSS to 2pm tone encode that I bought in the late 1980s I used it for several years Newsletter by Walt Get articles in by 20th until I found a newer model Gene Elmer corner Officer minutes Mike Note This radio has an intermittent transmit power problem I sus Carline p
18. rrent location NET control can see where spotters need to be sent or warn them to get out of harm s way SEP 2011 THE EXCITER PAGE 7 New repeaters By Mike AE5IV North Texas patch By Mike AE5IV Where are we on the new repeaters you ask To answer we have ordered the two VHF TKR 750 re peaters one for the 146 92 and the other for 145 17 When the repeaters arrive they will be programmed with the frequencies and tested for compliance Then the controller will be added to the 146 92 repeater and installed The other repeater 145 17 will be installed and set up for narrow band analog operation 12 5 KHz channel When the North Texas Patch is ready to implement the fre quency will change to the closest 12 5KHz channel to the 145 17 we have now At the same time the VHF D Star repeater at Rosston will be coordinated to it s new fre quency in the Patch range from 145 11 to 145 25 and out of the simplex part of the band The UHF repeaters have not been ordered yet There has been a model change as the TKR 850 is no longer manu factured We are looking at what new model will perform best for our needs now and the future While we are reading about new repeaters the Rosston site will get a new VHF antenna to replace the one that was destroyed in a storm That antenna was removed Sunday the 17t from the TWU site and will be installed at the 1700 foot level as soon as it can be scheduled That an
19. t will be 25 per person which includes gratuity You will be able to pay via Pay Pal or at the September October and November meetings A PayPal link will be available via the web site All atten dees must pay for their meal by December 1st As always we will have a drawing with prizes I will send out direc tions and parking information closer to the time of the Dinner SEP 2011 THE EXCITER PAGE 5 Continued from page 3 Jonathan fund raiser report Mentioned that we are non profit He asked that members consider donating to the repeater fund There is a link on the web site for that General announcements Sara Ann said the Red Cross net is no longer being done Remember the Monday night information nets on 146 920 at 8pm Next Sunday is the next test session Batteries Plus gives good discount to DCARA mem bers Lewisville Wal Mart gives donations regularly Meeting was adjourned at 2055 Continued from page 2 online from FEMA You may take the online courses at you leisure Be watching the Denton Co ARES web site for in formation on the October SET The October Set is the 1st and 2nd of October Our objective is to work both HF and VHF traffic including Winlink mes saging D STAR update By Gerald WB5NZV DCARA s new D Star repeater system is now in stalled and on the air on the Rosston tower at 1500 ft AGL The repeater call is KE5YAP and is running a full ICOM
20. tenna will then become a master receive antenna for the two VHF repeaters up there The transmit antennas will be at the 1500 foot platform After that the Internet microwave link will be installed and aligned That should burn a day by itself Motion to charge 25 for dinner from Walt Seconded by Mike Ch Motion carried Financial report from Gerald Balance is 8874 97 Rptr fund is 5500 00 Sept 24 is safety fair Mike Carline is setting it up eCOMM to be there Mike Chittenden will help Gerald clean it up this Sunday Mike Carline purchased flag for meetings We will start all meetings with the pledge Repeater fund Gerald would like to see some way to con tinue the donations Gerald be sure to bring blank receipts to club meeting Lifetime membership for officers Six years as a member with 3 of those as officer This is tabled Two nominations to be presented at the next club meeting for approval Gerald gave report on purchase of repeaters Gerald asked what we should do with the 900 on Stark Walt gave brief history of this repeater We need to get Larry to sign an MOU Walt made motion to allow Larry to own and operate un der DCARA guidelines and sign MOU Seconded by Mike Chittenden Motion carried Walt will The North Texas Patch is not a quilt It is an agreement of repeater trusties to reband their repeaters to narrow band spacing The frequencies start at 145 11 and end at 145 25 The advantages are more repe
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