THE SPARK GAP

A monthly publication of the Meridian Amateur Radio Club September 2002

  Bible Verse

Matthew 10:32-33
Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him
will I confess also before My Father which is in
heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him
will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. (KJV)

President’s Comments

Another year is almost gone. Sure good to fellowship with you fellow hams. Was so good to see everyone at our business meeting Saturday, Sept 7th. Sure was good to see our out of town guests from Laurel and Waynesboro.

Had a good meeting and talked about fox hunting. Maybe we can have one soon. Maybe the weather will cool off soon and then we can complain about cold weather. Thomas from Laurel said they had a Repeater on 53.450 if any one has 6 meter cap.

Remember ARRL day at Starksville Oct 4-5 and our next business meeting will be Oct 12th. I will be on the road but our vice president W5MAV will do a good job conducting our business. Our disasters have been low this year. We can thank our Lord for all this. Let us hope the rest of the year goes well. Let us give a hand of fellowship to all our hams that are not with us anymore and look out for new prospects. Hope all a good fall and happy hamming. And to some happy fishing too. 73's to all W5OQY CP

 

Vice President’s Comments

Thank all of you that showed up for the business meeting on September 7th. Attendance was much better at this meeting than the previous 2 meetings. Our October business meeting has been moved to the second Saturday due to the ARRL Day in the Park being held on the first Saturday. Several of us will be attending this yearly event. Please see the attached announcement for all the details.

Please make a note on your calendar: Our next business meeting will be held on October 12th. CP will be out of town that weekend. While the cat is away the mouse will play. Look forward to seeing you at Queen City Truck Stop.

Have a good month! May God’s many blessings be with each of you. 73, W5MAV

 

  

Upcoming Events

TAILGATING EVENT IN LIBERTY, MS
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
ETHYL VANCE PARK
8 A.M. TO 2 P.M.

Join us in Southwest Mississippi
Southwest Mississippi Amateur Radio Club
http://www.swmarc.cjb.net/
Contact: Homer Richardson
Phone: 601-833-4126
Fax: 601-833-2659
Email:
hrichardson@tislink.com


The 2002 Mississippi Simulated Emergency Test

(SET) will be conducted September 28 beginning at 8:00 AM on 3862 KHz. Local 2 emergency nets will activate at the same time to deal with local emergency scenarios prepared by their ECs. The major thrust of Field Day was to learn to operate away from our shacks under unfamiliar conditions. The SET is the second part of our annual emergency preparedness training and emphasizes coordination with served agencies and working together through nets.


Central MS SKYWARN LINKING TEST Report

A reminder to everyone that the SKYWARN LINKING TEST takes place on the last Sunday of each month (local net) at 8:30 pm on the 146.700/R and the link check in on 146.970/R at 8:45 pm.


ARRL Mississippi Section “Day in the Park”

Click Here for full details
October 4 & 5, 2002


 

Northern California Contest Club (NCCC)
Announcing
California QSO Party (CQP) 2002
1600Z October 5, 2002 until 2200Z
October 6, 2002

Start your contest season with a bang and compete for our new club award!

I'd like to personally invite you and your club (MERIDIAN ARC) to participate in the California QSO Party (CQP). This year we have a new plaque for the highest scoring entry in "Top Club, non-California".

Obviously we would appreciate it if you would advertise the CQP in your club newsletter and your club email reflector (even if you decide to not enter the CQP contest as a club).

All California QSO Party rules, results, county abbreviations, and free logging software are available at: http://www.cqp.org/

 

 

PRESS RELEASE
News of Interest to Radio Amateurs
Ham Test Online

Thursday, August 29, 2002

Boston, MA - J. Cunningham & Assoc. announces the launch of a new web site, www.hamtestonline.com, which helps both new and experienced ham radio enthusiasts prepare for U.S. amateur radio written exams. This is the first Web site to bring computer-based training (CBT) technology online for the amateur radio tests.

Unlike other test preparation web sites, HamTestOnline takes on the role of your personal trainer. It keeps track in its database of which questions you have seen, which ones you have learned, and which ones you get right and wrong. It asks you questions based on your own personal needs, concentrating on the areas where you are weak. Even if it has been weeks since your last session, HamTestOnline's database remembers your history and continues where you left off.

Other ham test Web sites give you questions at random, so you spend too much time answering questions you have already learned, and too little time on your weak areas. With 1,572 questions in the question pools, you can take 100 randomly generated, simulated tests and still not see all the questions!

HamTestOnline does not try to simulate a test. In a simulated test you spend 15 minutes guessing at the answers and learning nothing, and then 2 minutes reviewing your answers and actually learning. Only a small fraction of your time is spent learning! With HamTestOnline, your entire study session is devoted to learning.

HamTestOnline operates entirely online - there is no software to download or install. It is easy to use - one click records your answer, provides feedback, and presents the next question.

The Web site includes all questions from the latest Technician, General, and Amateur Extra question pools. The site offers a free trial, which includes 20% of the questions from each question pool. A paid subscription of $19.95 provides access to all questions in all three question pools for a period of 2 years. The site offers a money-back guarantee if you are dissatisfied for any reason.

J. Cunningham & Assoc. is a small software development and consulting firm located on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts. They can be contacted via e-mail at webmaster@hamtestonline.com.

 

Communications Terror Plan Adopted

Editor’s Comment: All of the below sounds really great. However, I believe that amateur radio is going to play an even more important roll in filling in the communications gaps. I encourage all operators to be prepared to help out when the need arises.

September 13, 7:47 PM (ET)
By DAVID HO

WASHINGTON (AP) - Communication industry officials adopted emergency procedures Friday intended to help maintain the nation's telephone, cable and Internet networks in case of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

The plans would help companies in a crisis contact and work with partner firms or competitors to keep services running for customers.

The procedures were developed by a council of more than 50 industry officials formed by the Federal Communications Commission in January to recommend ways to strengthen communications networks to resist attack. The group is called the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council.

"When a disaster happens or the nation is under attack and the telecommunications infrastructure is threatened, chances are pretty high it's going to be more than one service provider that will be affected," said Jeff Goldthorp, chief of the FCC's network technology division. "There's a need for these companies to get in touch with each other quickly, and in an emergency like that every second counts."

The new procedures will allow company officials to call a central directory of emergency contact numbers so they can reach their peers without getting bogged down in voice mail or other delays, Goldthorp said. For example, a telephone company whose services are knocked out could get help from a rival carrier to reroute signals and let customer calls go through.

The council also created a "mutual aid agreement" that companies can sign in advance or during emergencies. The agreement lays out the business and legal details of helping another company, to allow for a faster response.

"The last thing you want to do is get attorneys on the phone in the middle of a crisis," Goldthorp said.

Four companies - AT&T Corp., BellSouth, SBC and Qwest Communications - already have signed the agreement, and others are expected to follow, said Pamela Stegora-Axberg, a Qwest vice president and a member of the council.

The council plans to address the engineering aspects of strengthening communications networks later this year.

Cellular phone use overwhelmed wireless networks in the hours after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington and prevented police and officials from making critical calls.

In New York, many cell phones stopped working, in part because the transmission towers were destroyed along with the twin towers. One Verizon switching office was destroyed, and another, which handled about 300,000 telephone lines, was badly damaged.

The destruction of the World Trade Center also demolished television transmitters serving all seven local New York television stations. Only WCBS stayed on the air because it had a backup transmitter on the Empire State Building.

A separate industry council is examining how to strengthen radio and broadcast television systems.


 

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