April 1, 2010 by kb3ljm.

From Kurt Fritsch WA3TOY

Well this certainly has been an interesting winter. In December we had a snow storm on the 20th which brought us up to 24 inches of snow. During this event, WA3TOY served as net control operator for the Skywarn net. During the course of the net we received fourteen reports ranging from 9 inches in St. Leonard, MD to 24” in Edgewater, MD.
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October 28, 2009 by kb3ljm.

The response to last week’s webinars was fantastic. Hundreds of Amateur Radio Operators attended and learned how Depiction mapping software filled their disaster response and planning needs. One person, who attended both webinars, wrote during the webinar “Thank you for making the webinar interesting enough for me to participate both days, and expect to review them from your archive again. Each time I take away more valuable information.”

The response has been so impressive, that Kim Buike and I will be presenting the webinar again, live, TOMORROW, Thursday, October 29 at 2 PM EDT/11 AM PDT. In fact, we’re turning this into an entire webinar series that we will be presenting weekly. You can read the news release (pdf) for more information.

We hope that you and the members of your club will find this information valuable. Additionally, if your club would be interested in a custom regional webinar to see how you could make use of Depiction, please contact me.

Thanks for your time,

David Friedman, KE7GOY
Monroe, WA
206 390-9461 cell
47.8432 -122.9574
CN97au

October 29 Webinar: http://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/884309433

Webinar Series: http://www.preparednesswebinars.org/2009/10/amateur-radio-preparedness-webinar/

News Release: http://www.preparednesswebinars.org/depictionrelease1028.pdf

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October 7, 2009 by kb3ljm.

From K3DUA

Dear Local ARC,

G and G Electronics of Maryland is having a “yard sale” this coming Sunday, October 11th at out store location in Gaithersburg, MD. (Hours are 10am to 5pm)

Over the past 30 years of being in business, you all have seen our displays at the various Washington area hamfests, but there is a store (warehouse) too. We are downsizing the business and plan to move out of the warehouse, so the idea is to reduce the inventory ASAP.

We will have all the goodies available that we can’t physically transport to hamfest , such as 1,000’s of tubes, transformers, air-variable caps, crystals etc. We’ll also have our normal hamfest stuff there in case you want some of these items as well.

Please announce this special sale on your club’s email distribution list, your newsletter, at you club meeting, or possibly on your repeater.

Thanks and 73,

Jeff Goldman, K3DUA
G and G Electronics of Maryland
8524 Dakota Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20877

PHONE 301-258-7373
FAX 301-977-5378

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September 28, 2009 by kb3ljm.

From Pat Kilroy, N8PK

The SimSat-4 high-altitude balloon experiment launch was scrubbed this past Saturday morning due to weather. It was rescheduled to this coming Saturday morning, October 3.

It features the PICetSat II module, flying a microcontroller similar to that originally designed by our own Rich Mitchell N3III and Steve Beckman N3SB.

You are invited to check it out!

For more insight on the mission or the scrub, go to http://simsat.net under SimSat-4.
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September 17, 2009 by kb3ljm.

From Tom Baxter K3MOV

This note is being sent to you and members of various other Amateur Radio Clubs in and around the Ellicott City, MD area. If you don’t mind, can you please pass along the below announcement regarding our Boy Scout presentation to some or all of the members of your club:

John King, WB3WK, and I are preparing to give a brief Amateur Radio presentation to an Ellicott City Scout Troop. The presentation is going to take place on Thursday, September 24 @ 7:00 EDT. We will probably begin calling CQ at approximately 7:30 EDT at or around 14.240 Mhz. I would really appreciate some of you marking your calendars with that date, time and frequency, and giving a listen to improve our chances of establishing a contact in front of our audience.

We will be running 100 watts from a TS 480SAT to a 12′ Outbacker antenna on an Alpha Delta tripod mount (and hopefully a G5RV). At this point, we are not exactly sure where the antenna will be located or how much coax we will be using. With rapidly deteriorating night time conditions on 20 meters, we are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Tnx es 73, Tom Baxter K3MOV (410 960 4170)

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May 8, 2009 by kb3ljm.

Jim Horton, N3KTV, from the Field Day gang has arranged to have team T shirts printed this year. If you are interested in having one, please respond to me with the size(s) and number(s) of shirts. The proposed design is attached.

The color will be a light desert tan. The cost will be $13 per shirt.

Dave, W8AJR

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February 23, 2009 by kb3ljm.

The ATV repeater is working fine. We need more BRATS members to use the repeater. The repeateris working fine! Please check in to the nets (see back page for schedule) and use the repeater!

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December 11, 2008 by kb3ljm.

Hamilton, KD0FNR, has developed online practice tests for the Tech, General, and Extra exams.

“Within the practice tests, online study resources, (Wikipedia, NASA, ARRL, etc…), are provided for many of the questions. The list of resources available for each question is constantly growing because users can add their own favorite links to the study materials. Users can also track their test scores over time and see which subelements are giving them the most trouble.”

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November 11, 2008 by kb3ljm.

After two-plus years of few sunspots, even fewer solar flares, and a generally eerie calm, the sun is finally showing signs of life.

“I think solar minimum is behind us,” says sunspot forecaster David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

His statement is prompted by an October flurry of sunspots. “Last month we counted five sunspot groups,” he says. That may not sound like much, but in a year with record-low numbers of sunspots and long stretches of utter spotlessness, five is significant. “This represents a real increase in solar activity.”
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November 10, 2008 by kb3ljm.

Article from “Space Weather”

Space Weather News for Nov. 6, 2008
http://spaceweather.com

TAURID METEOR SHOWER: The annual Taurid meteor shower is underway and it could be a good show. 2008 is a “swarm year” for the Taurids. Between Nov. 5th and 12th, Earth is due to pass through an unusually dense swarm of gritty debris from parent comet 2P/Encke. When a similar encounter happened in 2005, sky watchers observed a slow drizzle of midnight fireballs for nearly two weeks. Whether 2008 will be as good as 2005, however, remains to be seen. In 2005, the swarm encounter was more central; Earth passed through the middle of the cloud. In 2008, forecasters believe we are closer to the outskirts. How much this will affect the shower, no one knows. The best time to look is during the hours around midnight when the constellation Taurus is high in the sky.

Visit http://spaceweather.com for sky maps and photos of the ongoing shower.

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