THE SPARK
GAP
April 2000
Hello all. On March 23 a very successful VE
session produced five upgrades.
KB5VE - Dale Hankins - Passed Extra Class theory
KD5GWM - Donna Harrison - Passed General Class Theory
KD5JRE - Jared Wright - Passed General Class theory
KD5JYJ - Debbie Hover - Passed Technician Class Theory
KD5JYK - Brenda Stevenson - Passed Technician Class
Theory
They must have had good instructors! If you haven't congratulated
these folks give them a shout next time you hear them on the MARC
repeater.
Recently, I had the pleasure of attending advanced Skywarn
training in Tupelo Ms. The session lasted from 9:00 AM until 3:30
PM. I highly recommend this training to anyone who is involved in
weather related activities.
One of the most interesting aspects of this course was learning
about EMWIN technology. EMWIN is an acronym for Emergency
Management Wireless Information Network. EMWIN was developed by
the National Weather Service to provide a low cost means of
transferring weather and emergency data from a central point to an
unlimited number of interested parties in range of the data
signals. Recently, it has also been made available on the Internet
for customers who are not in range of a wireless broadcast.
It is possible to intercept the EMWIN satellite transmission and
retransmit on a local VHF radio frequency to allow reception using
a scanner or receiver and a demodulator. These local area
rebroadcast stations can tailor the data stream to provide
localized information that fits the needs of their emergency
managers and local citizens.
The National Weather Service provides the signal down-link from
two GOES satellites, and rebroadcast of the down-link signal
becomes a local area effort.
If you would like to experiment with the EMWIN data stream on the
Internet, you will have to download Weather Node at the following
URL: <http://www.weathernode.com>.
Be warned, Weather Node is a whopping 11 meg program. Be prepared
for a two hour wait if you have a slow connection. If you do not
have software that decompresses zip files, you can download a 30
day free trial of NetZip <http://www.netzip.com>
. Weather Node is free of charge!
You will be amazed at the information available on EMWIN. There
are over 40,000 pages of text alone down linked from the satellite
daily plus tons of jpg. animation's and gifs. Weather related
warnings appear on your screen just seconds after being issued by
The National Weather Service.
On Thursday, March 30 2000 there was a demonstration EMWIN at
Threefoot Internet Services in Meridian. We set up five lightning
quick computers in the Threefoot Cyber Cafe and had a group
participation, hands on session.
We are getting plenty of inquiries from around the state about
EMWIN. As a result, we are looking into the possibilities of
getting the direct down link from GOES8 and broadcasting the data
stream on VHF.
Pictures
If you do not have your picture posted on the MARC
<http://www.meridianarc.org>
web site, contact me or W5MAV. My new e-mail address is
k5xc@aol.com
73 K5XC
Gary Galloway
Our beloved President left me in charge
again this month. I would only like to mention that while
campaigning for this highly paid office position, promises were
made that I would not have to chair any meetings or make any
decisions. Noting that, let’s move on to the only real
business that was discussed.
Field Day preparations are under way. Antennas were discussed,
cautions about the children which might be playing in the area,
where chow would be obtained, and finally the manner in which
operators would be secured for the efforts that will finally end
Don Quixote’s reign as local FD points leader.
The next meeting will be held on the last Saturday of April due to
the many folks in the club that will attend the Birmingham
Hamfest. WB5OCD
Seems like the spring weather is running
late this year. Unseasonably warm yet we are still having temps
near 30 at night. Lots of potentially bad WX moving this way as
the Jet Stream pushes south and it’s leading edge picks up
moisture from the Gulf. Bill Gray, hurricane forecaster, predicts
the Atlantic will spawn 11 named storms, seven of which will be
hurricanes, three of these are supposed to be intense storms.
La Nina is supposed to continue to play a part due to the cold
water in the eastern equatorial tropical Pacific. This season will
be slightly less active than last. My family just hopes that Bill
is correct and that the storms stay in the Atlantic. With the Gulf
waters being very warm (due to the warm winter) storms that enter
this area could increase in intensity before the hit our beaches.
WB5OCD
ARES OPS
March was a very busy month. We had a storm
come through that caused major damage in parts of Lauderdale
County. The aircraft in the photo below was flipped by the high
winds that passed through the Meridian Airport. Rumor has it that
this bird belongs/ed to a ham. My dogs house ended up in the same
position about 12 miles away from the airport. Thanks to all of
you that stayed around for this event and provided us with the
information that the NWS needed.
The tower work is a little closer to being completed at the LEMA
building. The six meter antenna was removed from its mount and
repaired. The two meter packet antenna has been attached to the
arms that will hold it on the tower and tuned. Both of these
antennas are ready to be affixed to the tower at our first
opportunity. If you are interested in helping let us know.
WB5OCD
Key Field - Meridian,
MS
Ham
University
Ham University is the premiere Windows
program for studying for your FCC Exams. The latest version,
2.001, lets you study and practice with the latest Question Pools
due to go into effect April 15th -- as well as helping you learn
Morse code.
You can test yourself on written questions that are giving you a
problem or you can take a mock exam to see how you would do. In
addition to a formal series of CW lessons, HamU contains a wealth
of practice exercises and the popular game, PentodeÆ,
designed to make learning the code fun.
Ham University is sold over the Internet by the author (Michael
Crick) and in retail stores by Timewave Inc. - currently under the
name Morse University. This new release is a free upgrade for
owners of version 2.000 and is half price to owners of earlier
versions of Ham University.
You can learn more about Ham University at our web site (at
http://crick.com/Hamu) or you can check out a fully featured demo
copy for a week by going to the following URL:
http://crick.com/hamu/download.html.
Michael F. C. Crick (mica@crick.com) at MICA
MICA is a family company located at 2845 - 140th Avenue NE,
Seattle WA whose main products are Ham University and WordZap (The
Action Word Game!). Michael Crick is a veteran programmer who
previously worked on the development of Microsoft Windows, Word,
Help, Access, Encarta, and the Internet -- and also authored
several popular computer games
"Thanks in part to Ham University, I passed Element 4B (aced it, I
think). With the new licensing, 4B and my 13 wpm will get me Extra
on April 15. I will talk up your program! It helped me with both
Advanced and Extra. -- William P. Arnold (KD4TOR) (unsolicited --
quoted with permission)
April 15 Test session
There were 4 people at the exam session.
C.P. passed his Extra (W5OQY) Brenda (KD5JYK) passed her GENERAL
written. And a couple of fellers who I can't remember their names,
One from Jackson and one from New Hebron passed there GENERAL.
There were 16 people at the paperwork session. 11 went to General
and 5 went to Extra.
CONGRATULATIONS to ALL. 73
M3L
Upcoming Events
6-7 May 2000
Alabama Section Convention
Birmingham ARC
http://www.bro.net/barc/fest.html
Contact:
Glenn Glass, KE4YZK
8368 Country Circle
Pinson, AL 35126
Phone: 205-681-5019
Email: ke4yzk@bellsouth.net
Birmingham,
AL
WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY, DENNIS?
Ham moviegoers report seeing previews for the new movie Frequency,
starring Dennis Quaid and directed by Gregory Hoblit, that's set
for an April release. The ARRL was consulted in the interests of
accuracy and came up with an unused W2 call sign for the movie's
protagonist to use. The movie also recently got a plug on
Entertainment Tonight.
Frequency is billed as a sci-fi thriller, but boat anchor fans may
believe the movie was made just for them. The gist of it is that a
long-dead father and his adult son meet up on the airwaves via ham
radio (during the mother of all sunspot cycles), and the son tries
to prevent his father's death by altering the past. Both also
attempt to prevent a murder. It reportedly winds off into the
ozone after that, but we don't want to spoil it for anyone.
According to someone who caught one of the trailers, the son
(Quaid) uses an old Heathkit sans cabinet. "I guess the idea is to
nail down the point that this is an old radio because you can see
all the tubes glowing right out in the open," said Avery Comarow,
W3AVE, who caught the preview. Information on Frequency is
available at http://www.frequencymovie.com
Visit the International Movie Database at http://us.imdb.com/Title?0186151
for additional details and a look at the trailer.--thanks to Mark
G Ewell, KC5IZN and Avery Comarow, W3AVE (via John Dilks,
K2TQN)
ARRL Newsletter
Have a great month
