Zero Beat Feb 2013

Meeting Location Change

The police precinct is in use this month and we will meet at Dennis' Church.

Ellendale United Methodist Church

7217 Centralia Rd. Ellendale TN

In the parking lot on the right side facing the church use the door toward the back to access the basement meeting room down stairs.

Meeting Topic

Program will be short overview of the SDR radio and then we will hand out the Dongle, BNC adapter, software discs., and some hard copy notes. Bring your checkbook. Club policy is “In God We Trust – Everyone Else Pays Cash”

Repeater Update

Repeater Antennas continue to get squirrely. The 147.030 Stationmaster antenna went south. It shows open circuit from ground via meter and TDR. It also has very high SWR indicating open circuit. Nothing visible from ground but could be break or lightening peck only visible close up. We need to plan climbing party when better weather and less wind are present – probably April. In the interim we have put the 147.03 on the dual band antenna which is at 150 feet on the south east side of the tower. Coverage will be slightly different. We have temporarily shut down the 145.210 which was on the 150 ft. antenna.

Elmer Net on 147.030

We need some net control stations to step up and help with the Elmer Net on Sunday night. This was a great net but we have lost several control stations with conflicts. It is an easy net to call and not real “hard core”. It is a great starter net to get some experience. Give it a try and you can help a lot of the group improve their knowledge of electronics and radio. Contact Dennis Foster if you can help.

Jackson Hamfest

Jackson hamfest was great!!! Junk level in garage was getting dangerously low so was able to get level back up to standard. Bought VHF Engineering 20 amp continuous power supply with meters for $20 and Icom T2H 2 meter HT for $10. Both work perfectly. Club sold old VHF radio system for $150 and then bought commercial 6 meter antenna for new repeater for $50. Jackass who sold it cut matching line on antenna not knowing what it was. Have rebuilt it so we will have 3dB gain extra stout antenna. Thanks to Dennis Foster who spotted 6 meter antenna and Pat Lane who donated a piece of RG-11[75 ohm] to make new matching section.

FreeFest Update

Going great!!! Picked up several folks at Jackson and confirmed that MFJ is coming. Will get more info out in next couple weeks as I begin layout.

Dues and Membership Cards

Please pay your dues. We need your support to fund club activities such as Field Day and FreeFest. Get with John Parish at the meeting if you haven’t already paid for this year. Dues are $15 per person or $20 for a family. Also, please update your information, particularly you email and phone data.

John has membership cards ready for those who have paid. Pick them up at the next meeting. We run them in batches as it is easier and cheaper. After March we will run them when we get a large enough batch. If you have paid or will pay by March 1^st then you will get the card at the march meeting.