Hi all,
I am off to Asia for the next week, but we’ve put a number of articles on the blog for distribution during all of next week (almost every day, as usual). Going to Singapore to do a progress check on a project I have there with the national airline, as well as Manila for the major telephone company in the country. Will be back on Sunday the 8th. If you guys have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact Doug or Phil – they should be able to help you with virtually anything that I would have done while here. I will have my DVAP with me, so don’t be surprised to hear me on D-STAR from Singapore or Manila. I’ll also have my computer, so D-STAR registrations will get approved in a timely, albeit slightly delayed manner.
In the meantime, you can expect a number of things to happen in the week that I’m gone:
- The JAX Beach D-Star system should be operational – frequency will be on 444.975+ and the call sign will be KJ4RYI-B. Those of you who have been using the Daytona Beach UHF D-Star system will recognize that the frequency is the same – and for good reason – there is no other repeater on the air within better than 50 miles with that frequency pair. Steve Finger (KB4DNQ) is the “ring-leader” for the install there – and it is using the Satoshi Hotspot in Full-Duplex Mode, along with an internet connection for connection to other repeaters and reflectors. We’ll probably have this connected to REF034C most of the time, so that JAX folks can have direct conversations via the gateway to St. Johns, Flager and Volusia users. Steve already has the HotSpot and the two radios, and I have tuned-up a UHF repeater duplexer and assembled the interfacing cables so that the installation should be very straightforward. We received the Rack-shelves that we ordered (4 of them) to be able to mount hotspot repeater radios, as well as Gateway computers as necessary.
- The antenna installation for “Big JAX” should be happening while I’m overseas – this will be a DB-224E antenna that will be positioned at about 500-ft on the 1,000 foot tower. Coordinations are already in place – and this repeater call sign will be KJ4RYG-C. Electronics will not be installed while I’m gone, but we will prep the most difficult parts – the antenna and feed-line. Eddie, Phil and Doug have access to my storage facility where we have the 900+ foot spool of VXL7 Heliax hardline (1-5/8″), as well as the connectors, cable hangers and the antenna, so my attendance at the antenna party is completely un-necessary.
- Progress on MS-150 planning continues under the expert guidance of folks like Doug (N4FPS), Robbie (KG4HUF), Pete (KC1SS), Frank (KB4T), Rick (KC2HFL) and Phil (K5BBC), with Eddie’s (KJ4LRB) continual support on the admin side of the house. I know that they are planning for the first Group Exercise – scheduled for August-21. Please reserve the date, if you haven’t already. Also reserve September 18th and pencil-in September 11 as a possible table-top exercise.
