April 18 ARES Meeting

Posted on April 17, 2017 by N4EMA — Leave a comment

This month we discuss sending email over HF Radio. Hope to see you there.

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ISS Packet System is Back on VHF

Posted on April 16, 2017 by N4EMA — Leave a comment

4/14/2017
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) packet digipeater system is again operating on VHF — 145.825 MHz. Follow this link to ARRL for the full story.

http://www.arrl.org/news/iss-packet-system-is-back-on-vhf

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About Amateur Radio

Posted on April 5, 2017 by N4EMA — Leave a comment

W5YI – VEC Test Session Scheduled Every 3rd Thursday monthly at the EOC at 7pm Central. 75 S. Davis Ln. DeFuniak Springs, FL 32435
We now have the ability to submit License applications electronically to expedite the process. New and Upgrades could be issued as quick as Friday by 4pm.
Contact: John Blaisdell by email – w4cjb@arrl.net

What can I do with a Ham License?

There are so many things, it’s a difficult question to answer, but here’s some ideas:

Talk to people in foreign countries. DX’ing is a favorite of many hams!
Talk to people (both local and far away) on your drive to work
Help in emergencies and natural disasters by providing communications.
Provide communications in parades or walkathons and other public service events.
Help other people become hams. (We call it “Elmering.”)
Hook your computer to your radio and communicate “computer-to-computer.” Hams use radio modems.
Collect QSL cards (cards from other hams) from all over the United States and foreign countries and receive awards.
Participate in contests or Field Day events.
Provide radio communication services to your local Civil Defense organization through ARES (the Amateur Radio Emergency Service) or RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) …or even FEMA, (the Federal Emergency Management Agency.)
Aid members of the U.S. military by joining the Army, Air Force or Navy/Marine MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System). See our Links section
Participate in transmitter hunt games and maybe build your own direction-finding equipment.
Have someone to talk to on those sleepless nights at home.
Receive weather pictures via satellites.
Build radios, antennas, learn some electronics and radio theory.
Talk to astronauts in space, or use the moon to bounce signals back to people on the Earth.
Experiment with Amateur TV (ATV), Slow-Scan TV (SSTV), or send still-frame pictures by facsimile.
Lash your ham radio to the public telephone system and call your friends toll free. (Auto patching)
Communicate through orbiting satellites. (There are many in ham satellites in orbit that are owned and operated by the amateur community! And you can use them without any cost whatsoever!)

…and this is only the beginning! You are limited only by your imagination and ingenuity.

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Walton County ARES DSTAR Stack

Posted on March 30, 2017 by N4EMA — 1 Comment

Walton County ARES DSTAR Repeaters Stack

This is the new DSTAR Repeater Stack for Walton County ARES located at the EOC Operated by Walton County EARS – N4EMA. We hope to have the new N4EMA DStar Repeaters on the air this weekend. There is still lots to do to complete this project. In the end we’ll have a great system to assist our served agencies with EMComm when needed.

Special thanks to Jeff Goldburg at the Walton County Emergency Management for securing the grant to fund this system.
Special thanks to Sharon Joyce – KJ4TPQ for all the admin work on the gateway, Rebuilding the computer system and rescuing the registrants orphaned by the lightning strike that took out the previous WF4X stack in Freeport.

73 John W4CJB

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ARES Meeting March 21st

Posted on March 20, 2017 by N4EMA — Leave a comment

Just a reminder. Our next ARES meeting is tomorrow night at 7pm at the Walton County EOC. 75 S Davis Ln. DeFuniak Springs, FL 32435

Please bring your laptop. We’ll be setting up 4 mock deployments using the “Go Boxes”. The plan is to setup and run Drats on the ICOM ID-880H and TX into a dummy load.

All Hams interested in Emergency Service are encouraged and welcome to join us. If you’re not already licensed but interested in becoming licensed you’re welcome to stop by and check out what we’re up to.

73, John W4CJB

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W5YI-VEC test session Thursday March 16th 7pm

Posted on March 13, 2017 by N4EMA — Leave a comment

The local W5YI-VEC Team has a test session scheduled for 7pm Thursday March 16th at the EOC. That’s 75 S Davis Ln, DeFuniak Springs, FL 32435.

Please bring a photo ID and a signed copy of your existing license if you’re upgrading. Testing fee is $14.00

We’ll see you there and good luck.

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D-STAR Live

Posted on March 4, 2017 by N4EMA — Leave a comment

D-STAR Live

About D-STAR Live
Please join D-STAR Info, broadcasting live from George Gwinnett College! The D-STAR panel of experts will be discussing various aspects of the D-STAR System, including updating/programing your radio, different D-STAR devices and more! Click the Pic for the link.

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Outpost Packet Message Manager

Posted on March 2, 2017 by N4EMA — Leave a comment

Walton County ARES is now using Outpost PMM as a backup to DSTAR and DRATS. There are still Hams who don’t have DSTAR radios and Outpost another way to connect by packet, bbs or keyboard to keyboard. Here’s the link. Check it out. http://www.outpostpm.org/index.php

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ARES Meeting Feb 21, 2017

Posted on February 24, 2017 by N4EMA — Leave a comment

The main topic of this months meeting was receiving NOAA weather data using cheap a SDR receiver and the excellent software provided by WXtoImg. Come join us and see what we’re up to next month.

wxtoimg

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D-STAR Live

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