2009 Capital City Hamfest
January 30 & 31, 2009
Due to scheduling by the Mississippi Fair Commission the 2009 Capital City Hamfest has been moved to the last weekend in January. Mark your calendars for January 30 & 31, 2009 as the dates for the 2009 Capital City Hamfest. All of our dealers from last year and a couple that had to miss last year's Hamfest have indicated that they will be returning this year. We hope to see everyone in Jackson.
For information concerning the 2009 Capital City Hamfest please contact us via email at hamfest@msham.org or by snail mail at Capital City Hamfest 2009, P. O. Box 55643, Jackson, MS 39296-5643
Rush Health Systems Partners with
Lauderdale Emergency Management Agency
to sponsor FCC Amateur Radio Technician Licensing Class
The Meridian Amateur Radio Club (MARC) has scheduled a Technician licensing class to be held in “The Window Seat,” private dinning room, on the top (3rd) floor by the Cafeteria at Rush Hospital Ambulatory Building, located on 19th Avenue in Meridian, MS. The class will be held in two (2) eight (8) hour sessions on the Saturdays of the 10th and the 17th of January 2009 from 9:00am to 6:00pm. There will be a test session after the conclusion of the class for all class licenses. There is a fee of $15 for the ARRL-VE FCC examination payable by check or money order to ARRL-VE. No cash please.
Pre- registration will be required for the class and the test session. Please include your name, phone number, e-mail address, or any point of contact information we may need.
To prepare for the Technician License classes, you will need the latest copy of "The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual.” You can obtain the manual directly from the ARRL (item #9639/ISBN 0-87259-963-9) at www.arrl.org/catalog/. The manual is a good reference guide for future use. The normal price for the book is $24.95 plus shipping and handling. The Meridian Amateur Radio Club does not charge any fee for the class but we highly recommend that you purchase the manual. A local bookstore may be able to order the manual for you if they are not in stock.
If you agree to be a volunteer Emergency Communications (EMCOM) Operator with Rush Hospital, you may be eligible for "The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual.” and the ARRL-VE FCC examination at no cost to you. To be eligible for the no cost manual and test fee, registration must be made by the 23rd of December 2008
Call / e-mail for questions or to register for the class.
Richard Morefield, AE5FE
Meridian Amateur Radio Club
AE5FE@arrl.net
601-632-4104
D-Star comes to the Pinebelt
Posted by: aa5sg
Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:27 am (PST)
Well... It's on. We're off and running.
I now have my D-Star repeater and gateway on the air at Ellisville.
I am still doing some testing and evaluation. However, plans are to move this up to the repeater site up on the hill come summertime and after the 100-foot 25g tower and antenna is erected up there.
For now, listen on 441.8125-MHz for the "W5NRU B" GMSK signal. Perhaps, once it is up on the hill at the repeater site, I can add a 2- meter voice-module to the system.
Should you have D-Star user equipment and are not yet registered on the gateway system, drop me a line and we'll get you setup on the gateway.
73 for now... Steve, AA5SG :-)
HoSARC SOS
Dear Fellow Amateur, The Hall of Science Amateur Radio Club- WB2JSM is putting out an SOS (save our station) call for your help. The Hall of Science Amateur Radio Club has been demonstrating amateur radio to the visiting public for over 35 years as an independent exhibit at the New York Hall of Science Children's Museum located in Queens, New York. The museum is undergoing a major renovation project and wants us out for good. We have started a petition, which we want you to sign and circulate for us in order to help preserve a great ham radio asset by showing officials at the museum that you value what we do. Please visit http://tinyurl.com/6ljost to read more about our plight and sign our petition. We have logged over 10,000 contacts from the station and even if you're not in our log your help will let us continue to talk up amateur radio and create the next generation of ham radio operators.
Respectfully Submitted Rob Smith – AB2UV Chairman of the Board
www. hosarc. org (the Hall of Science Amateur Radio Club)
www. nyhallsci. org (the Hall of Science museum
All I Want for Christmas Is....
When I was a kid, we had an album (remember records on vinyl?) that had a bunch of Christmas songs for kids. The song I remember most goes:
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, my two front teeth.
Gee, if I could only have my two front teeth, then I could wish you Merry Chrith-math (sang with a lisp).
Seeing as how I've had my two front teeth for nearly 50 years now, and I pretty much have everything I want, I got to thinking about what I want for ham radio for Christmas this year. Here's what I've come up with so far. In no particular order, I want:
- MORE SUNSPOTS!
- the median age for ham radio operators to actually decrease this year. This means not only recruiting kids, but also younger adults.
- the pessimists who are continually talking down ham radio to find new joy in the hobby and begin working to make it great.
- the FCC to appoint someone as effective as Riley Hollingsworth to take over as the enforcer of the amateur radio service regulations.
- the FCC to pay a little more attention to amateur radio regulations and not treat them as an afterthought.
- the silliness on 75m phone and 14.275 MHz to go QRT.
- the ARRL to work harder on making itself truly the "national association for amateur radio" and on increasing the percentage of licensed hams that are ARRL members.
- to be able to brag about all of ham radio's "purposes," not only providing emergency and public service communications. According to Part 97, these are:
* advancing the state of the radio art;
* improving our technical and operating skills;
* expanding the number of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts; and
* enhancing international goodwill.
- ham radio clubs to grow and thrive even in these tough economic times.
When I asked this question on Twitter, I got a couple of answers that were versions of a couple of wishes above, but I also got a few more:
- WORMT wants "all of us to get on the air more and act as good ambassadors for the hobby," and
- NT7S wants the hearts of ham grinches to grow a couple of sizes.
- N! WBV wants redesigns for most ham radio web sites.
I pretty much agree with all three. Happy New Year!
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When not waiting for Santa to decide if he's been naughty or nice, Dan, KB6NU, teaches ham classes and blogs about ham radio (www. kb6nu. com)
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