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The next Rochester Amateur Radio Club (RARC) monthly
meeting is at 7 p.m. this coming Tuesday March 10th in
Room SH 210, Singley Hall, at the UCR/RCTC Campus, in
Rochester.
RARC March Meeting 3/10
It's RARC meeting time again -- next Tuesday, March 10, 7pm in room SH210, RCTC
(our new room). The program will be a discussion of plans for Field Day.
It's also time to start thinking about tornados, and Skywarn. The Skywarn
training will be March 16, 6:30pm, out at the Event Center next to the airport.
Somewhat related, the Star Tribune is looking for weather observers:
check out www.startribune.com/weatherwatchers,
and if you are interested email
leah.betancourt@startribune.com.
For the April meeting, Robert sends the following:
It is almost SkyWarn time again. This year they are encouraging club
members that do field spotting to have an APRS transmitter to allow for
accurate location information. This allows the EOC and NWS to know
exactly where you are making your reports from as well as allowing them to
warn you if there is immediate danger in your location. In order to assist
with this, we have decided to have a kit build night to build an APRS tracker.
For the April Meeting, the program will be this kit building night. The kit
we are going to be building is the Byonics TinyTrak3+. This is the
controller between a GPS unit and a radio for APRS location reporting. The
kits include the tracker parts and case only for $33. For the kit and a
GPS receiver, the cost is $98. This kit does require soldering skills. If
you would like to order this pre-assembled and tested, the costs are $42 or
$107 with GPS. You can also use your existing GPS unit if it sends
NMEA-0183 compatible serial data. With either choice, you will need a set
of cables that match your radio. Cables cost $19 each
(see
http://www.byonics.com/cables/tinytrak3.php
for part numbers).
The club will be placing one order to save on shipping costs. Add $1 per
item ordered for shipping. This order will be placed following the March
meeting. Only items that have been prepaid will ordered. Please list the
exact item you need ordered. For example, for the cables we need to know
the part such as M2P or HT1 to get the correct item for your radio’s
interface. If you would like to order any item from Byonics
(http://www.byonics.com) such as the All-In-One MicroTrak or external
antennas, feel free to get in on this group order for reduced shipping rates.
If you miss the group order, feel free to order your own and bring it to the
meeting for assembly.
You will need to bring a soldering iron and solder with you to the meeting.
If you would like to see the assembly ahead of your purchase, download the
ZIP file at http://www.byonics.com/tinytrak/tinytrak3plus.zip and look
page 4 of the included TinyTrak3Plus.pdf file.
At this time, there are no other programs scheduled. Club members have expressed
interest in Packet Radio, High Altitude Ballooning with ham radio, receive antennas,
SDR, amplifier kits, and Desecheo. If you are interested in presenting any of
these topics or know someone who might, or have other topics you would like to
present or see presented, please contact the club VP Robert KØRDA at
robert@robertandrews.com.
Peter N8MHD
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