Brian, K1BJ (with the assistance of W7RE) has just installed an RMS gateway at his QTH and is looking for testers.  I changed my packet gear around and my Winlink client is down but I can connect and get a full scale signal here.

K1BJ-10    144.420 Mhz     1200 baud

I am testing the Internet/RF link built in to D-RATS.  basically this is a software repeater that will connect a D-RATS user on the internet with other users on the WC7SO repeater.  Because this is an RF transmission, you must be licensed (Technician or higher) to participate.  You do NOT have to own a radio, however.  All you need is a Linux/Apple/Windows PC with D-RATS software.  Because this is a live RF link I am requiring you to use a password to access.  Send me an email with your callsign and I will return a password for you to use, and the server address/port.   Access is subject to change as I use this computer for other tasks as well.

The D-RATS software link (scroll down and get the latest BETA)

The “How to access a RATflector” link

Be sure and read all of the FAQ and manual info on the root page if you are new to D-RATS.

Time to buy your seats for the annual MBARC Christmas dinner.  This year it will be at our regular meeting place at the regular December meeting time (Tuesday, December 8 at 6:30pm at the Tilicum House at Pioneer Park in Ferndale.  A chicken dinner will be catered by Kelly’s Odeli in Ferndale.  Bring $12.50 per person to the November meeting for Roy to take your reservation.  More info on the club website.

I gave this one the once over and filed it when it came through my email last week, but the recent storm of postings and comments elsewhere got me to look it over again.  On October 20th the FCC issued Public Notice DA 09-2259 warning that no one in a paid emergency services position may operate on the ham bands during drills or other non-emergency operations.  While the lawyers will have to argue over the definition of “pecuniary interests”, the FCC is sending a clear message that they see Amateur Radio as a hobby, not an emergency communications service.  We talked about this issue in past classes where dispatchers and other government employees received their ham licenses.  We assumed that it was ok for these folks to use amateur radio on shift, as long as it was not their primary job responsibility.   DA 09-2259 says we were wrong.  If you are an emergency services employee you can not use the ham bands for drills or other related activities while you are on the clock unless there is a bona-fide emergency, OR you have received a dispensation from the FCC.  Keep an eye on this one.

Buildathons, such as those pioneered by Steve G0FUW, are now being copied around the world. A recent report describes how they are being used in New Zealand.

The report described as ‘A Model to Lift the Profile of Amateur Radio & Attract New Amateurs’ was submitted to the 14th IARU regional conference in New Zealand and highlighted the Buildathons held in United Kingdom by Steve Hartley, G0FUW.

Read the IARU report (.doc)

The 3rd Bath Buildathon

“The Buildathon will allow those with limited soldering experience to develop their skills under the watchful eye of some very experienced homebrewers. The kit chosen [...] has been specifically designed for the newcomer so you can be confident that you will go home with a working 80m voice transceiver.”

(from southgatearc.org)

from southgatearc.org:

Computerworld has published an article on Ham Radio.

The article says “Abundant spectrum resources and an engaged research community are drawing wireless experimenters back into a hobby that many had forgotten.”

Read the full article at
http://tinyurl.com/ComputerWorldHamRadio

Thanks to Steve NU5D for spotting this item

Show and tell night at the Digital Group.  I plan on showing two toys I recently acquired:

The Ruckus Metroflex AP/Gateway

The Ubiquiti Airview 2 Ghz Spectrum Analyzer

I bought them both from Pasadena Networks for about $70 ea.  My Airview has the external antenna- the self-contained model is only $39.

EDIT – Meeting notes are posted here – go take a look! <ac7ky>

This looks like an interesting development.  I expect someone will loan me a Dongle so I can try this out or maybe they will take the plunge themselves.  Here is a snippet from the readme file from the FILES section of the Open Source D STAR Software group on Yahoo.  In short: If you have a computer / soundcard interface on a VHF/UHF radio all you add is a dongle (for the CODEC) and this software to create a D-STAR radio.  Not only that, but your station can act as a gateway node to the D-STAR world.  No iCOM gear in sight.  Neat stuff in-deed.

DESCRIPTION
===========
dstar HOT POINT software converts your radio station to a dstar RF gateway.
It uses your d-star dongle, an analog base radio and a radio interface like a rigblaster,
VA3TO, or ULI, signalLink or WB2REM or any USB interface board or RASCAL,...

The software will use  RTS or DTR to key up the BASE radio.
For COS, the software will try to detect CTS or DSR or CD.
(Instead of COS, you can use VOX with the VOX threshold).

The basic setup is, you will have a analog base radio at your QTH
attached to your computer(Linux or Windows) thru the
radio interface(rigblaster,ULI board, signalLink,WB2REM,VA3TO,USB-based adapter).
Any local RF user tuned to your base radio's frequency will access
the dstar network, because the dstar_hot_point software will
open a connection to a remote dstar node.
You will be able to control the dstar_hot_point software
and command it to disconnect or connect to any remote
dstar node you want, by using DTMF tones on your HT.

Also, the dstar_hot_point software allows you to use
the computer MIC and speakers if you do not want to use a radio.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED
==================
--- a dongle.
    We use the dongle, because other devices, adapters are not ready for prime time
    and suffer from a lot of problems.

--- An analog radio as your base radio attached to the computer
    thru a radio interface(VA3TO, or ULI, signalLink or WB2REM or rigblaster or
    any USB radio interface or RASCAL, or...) using the Mic input and speaker output of the radio.

--- This software(dstar_hot_point)

--- A Linux or Windows machine.

“Ham Spots” is a web page for digital mode enthusiasts to set up skeds and report  current on air activities and “spots”.  Internet sites such as this one, and Andy (K3UK)’s site are very nice way to sort out all the modes and QSO searching.

Ron W7RE in Maple Falls has his new RMS packet Gateway up and running on 147.420 at W7RE-10 running 1200 baud.  A list of the Whatcom County digital stations (that I am aware of) can be found at the MBARC Digital Group Stations page.  If there is any local digital service missing from the list, let me know.