Zero Beat 04 2012

The April meeting will be at the Police Precinct at 6850 Whitten Bend Cove. Map and directions are on the web site.

Program

The program will be a short 20 minute vintage film on the assembly of radio communications units during World War II by ham radio operators. The second part of the meeting will be some final planning for FreeFest. We will update everyone and work out volunteer assignments.

Software Order

Randy is working on the software order and hopes to have it by early summer. We are no longer taking orders so if you didn’t get in on the order you are officially out of luck this year.

FreeFest 2012

FreeFest is April 14, this year. All notices have been sent out and we need for you to pass the word any way you can. We are also interested in getting some flyers and circulars to local venues like Radio Shack. I’ll bring some posters to the April meeting. My printer is slow so if we need more I will print them off and get them to you later.

There has been a little fluxing around but FreeFest remains 100% committed inside for this year. We have a few places still available outside so if you want one let me know pronto!!! Folks are still calling daily to get tables.

Ticket pre-sales are going very well and the prizes have created a lot of attention. Folks are actually asking about chances on the Ipads and TV. If you can sell tickets to folks who won’t be at the hamfest let me know and I’ll get you some tickets. You can bring money and ticket stubs to the meeting for tickets you have sold. You may also bring them to FreeFest on Saturday morning.

On Saturday night April 7 at 9 pm Dennis Foster and I will again be on WUMR (91.7) with David Saks talking about FreeFest. Tune in for some good jazz and the latest updates.

Friday night April 13, from 6:30 pm to 9 pm we will have a BBQ dinner at the clubhouse for vendors and our ARRL guests attending FreeFest. All those who work and volunteer in any capacity will be invited also. We will need a head count to properly order food. Leonard’s BBQ will cater the Spaghetti and BBQ dinner. If you have volunteered please drop me a note and let me know if you plan to attend. Spouses are welcome also.

6 Mtr Repeater Update

We have checked out the repeater and duplexer and they appear to be Ok. We won’t know for sure until we put the crystal units in and fire up the repeater. We have applied for a coordination on 52.03 MHz. As soon as we are cleared we will send the channel elements off to be re-crystaled. Special thanks to Alan McClain who sent us the ICOM (integrated circuit oscillator module) units. We’ll keep you posted on the status.

444.175 UHF Repeater Update.

The Motorola MSR2000 repeater on 44.175 MHz with tone 107.2 has been repaired and is on the air at my house in east Bartlett. It is on a 20 ft push up outside the shop so it has limited range. Eventually it will go back to WKNO to replace the Icom brand repeater that we have been using. If you are close by in Bartlett try hitting it. It is turned down so it is only putting about 20 watts to the antenna so the coverage is limited during this testing.