Icrcweb

Klondike Derby

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:39:22 -0500

It's that time of the year again: Rick N1JGR is looking for hams ready and willing to help out at this years Klondike Derby. Come lend a helping hand, and test your preparedness. For more information Contact Rick at N1JGR@snet.net. More details to follow

This Month�s Meeting

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:17:16 -0500

This month�s meeting will be held on Friday, December 21st at 7:30 P.M. at the American Red Cross, 209 Farmington Ave. (Rte. 4), Farmington, CT. All are welcome. Bring a friend.

Election of Officers/Board Members

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:15:20 -0500

The following were elected at the November meeting: Executive Board President: Larry K1HEJ Admin. VP: Dan W1ZFG Tech. VP: Rick N1JGR Secretary: Rick N1WGK Treasurer: Chuck K1DFS Board of Directors Andrews, Les KA1KRP Castrogiovanni, Rick N1JGR Motes, Chuck K1DFS Johnson, Rick N1WGK Paradis, Pete KB1KZC Gerke, Al N1JWF Ayers, Chuck N1KGY West, John N1IWT Buck, Larry K1HEJ West, Anne K1STM Johnson, Roy N1IKM Carbonell, George N1RMF Wall, Dan W1ZFG Lisitano, Alan W1LOZ Reyor, Bill KB1KNV Dan Wall � W1ZFG Chairman � Nominating Committee For

Field Day 2007

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:40:39 -0400

June 24th is Field Day and we at the ICRC will be setup at Winding Trails in Farmington. We'll be working the 80, 40, and 20 meter bands, along with 2M and 70CM sideband. If you're interested in participated please join us at our June 15 meeting at the American Red Cross in Farmington, CT.

FCC ELIMINATES MORSE CODE EXAM REQUIREMENTS

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 08:55:00 -0500

FCC MODIFIES AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE RULES, ELIMINATING MORSE CODE EXAM REQUIREMENTS AND ADDRESSING ARRL PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION From: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-269012A1.pdf Washington, D.C. � Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration (Order) that modifies the rules for the Amateur Radio Service by revising the examination requirements for obtaining a General Class or Amateur Extra Class amateur radio operator license and revising the operating privileges for Technician Class licensees. In addition, the Order resolves a petition filed by the American Radio Relay League, Inc. (ARRL) for partial reconsideration of an FCC Order onamateur service rules released on October 10, 2006.The current amateur service operator license structure contains three classes of amateur radio operator licenses: Technician Class, General Class, and Amateur Extra Class. General Class and Amateur Extra Class licensees are permitted to operate in Amateur bands below 30 MHz, while the introductory Technician Class licensees are only permitted to operate in bands above 30 MHz. Prior to today�s action, the FCC, in accordance with international radio regulations, required applicants for General Class and Amateur Extra Class operator licenses to pass a five words-per-minute Morse code examination. Today�s Order eliminates that requirement for General and Amateur Extra licensees. This change reflects revisions to international radio regulations made at the International Telecommunication Union�s 2003 World Radio Conference (WRC-03), which authorized each country to determine whether to require that individuals demonstrate Morse code proficiency in order to qualify for an amateur radio license with transmitting privileges on frequencies below 30 MHz. This change eliminates an unnecessary regulatory burden that may discourage current amateur radio operators from advancing their skills and participating more fully in the benefits of amateur radio. Today�s Order also revises the operating privileges for Technician Class licensees by eliminating a disparity in the operating privileges for the Technician Class and Technician Plus Class licensees. Technician Class licensees are authorized operating privileges on all amateur frequencies above 30 MHz. The Technician Plus Class license, which is an operator license class that existed prior the FCC�s simplification of the amateur license structure in 1999 and was grandfathered after that time, authorized operating privileges on all amateur frequencies above 30 MHz, as well as frequency segments in four HF bands (below 30 MHz) after the successful completion of a Morse code examination. With today�s elimination of the Morse code exam requirements, the FCC concluded that the disparity between the operating privileges of Technician Class licensees and Technician Plus Class licensees should not be retained. Therefore, the FCC, in today�s action, afforded Technician and Technician Plus licensees identical operating privileges. Finally, today�s Order resolved a petition filed by the ARRL for partial reconsideration of an FCC Order released on October 10, 2006 (FCC 06-149). In this Order, the FCC authorized amateur stations to transmit voice communications on additional frequencies in certain amateur service bands, including the 75 meter (m) band, which is authorized only for certain wideband voice and image communications. The ARRL argued that the 75 m band should not have been expanded below 3635 kHz, in order to protect automatically controlled digital stations operating in the 3620-3635 kHz portion of the 80 m band. The FCC concluded that these stations can be protected by providing alternate spectrum in the 3585-3600 kHz frequency segment. Action by the Commission on December 15, 2006, by Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration. Chairman Martin and Commissioners Copps, Adelstein, Tate, and McDowell. For additional information, contact William Cross at (202) 418-0691 or William.Cross@fcc.gov. WT Docket Nos. 04-140 and 05-235.

Connecticut Yankee Digital Net

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 21:04:41 -0500

[UPDATE]
The Connecticut Yankee Digital Net has been meeting on Sunday nights at 8:30 PM on the .88 machine for several months now. Though participation has been sparse, the few die-hards that show up each week have had an enjoyable time conversing on AMTOR FEC mode. The purpose of this net is to experiment with the latest digital modes using sound card based software. At this point, the net is more of an informal training net where people can get practice setting up and using the software and have any questions they might have answered by our �resident experts�. Eventually the net will transition to more of a traditional traffic net, with the intent of practicing the passing of emergency traffic using digital modes.If you are at all interested, come and join us! You need not have any elaborate interface equipment to participate. Simply download the software you like (readily available on the Internet), connect the audio output of your radio, HT, or scanner to the audio input of your sound card and you will be able to �read the mail�. In order to transmit, you will need a sound card to radio interface. There are many simple home brew circuits available on the Internet, or commercially made units are available from Buxcomm and West Mountain Radio.

The ICRC will begin one of it's first digital nets starting weekly on our 146.88(-) repeater. The net will meet weekly officially begining at 8:30PM sunday. Be sure to check in ahead of time to verify which digital mode we'll be using. Currently we are using Amtor FEC to conduct the net but we soon may change to MT63.

If you wish to participate but do not have the equipment we recommend the following for ease of operating.

1. VHF radio to Sound Card Interface (Rigblaster nomic or similar will suffice)
2. Software capable of decoding and transmitting via soundcard - We recommend mixW
3. Any radio transciever capable of transmitting on VHF on a split receive/transmit.

As always we welcome all visitors to our meetings which are held the third friday of the month at the American Red Cross in farmington. We're happy to help you get licenced, get on the air, and get digital.

A Winding Trails Reminder

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:24:00 -0400

A reminder to all that are participating in winding trails 6th Annual Smashing Pumpkins Mountain Bike Race: We will be meeting at the winding trails gate at 7:30AM sunday September 24th. It's recommended that you bring two radio's on this course, one for the main net where we'll be passing information to and from officails, and the other for ragchew durring the event. Details: Where: 50 Winding Trails Drive Farmington, CT 06032 When: Sunday September 24th 7:30am until the race ends (5:00PM latest) How: We'll be supporting this event by strategicly staging stations though out the course, each station will report into the net. What: Bring a 2m rig (HT or mobile)(Second radio optional). Rain gear, food, and something to drink, and a camera. From Winding Trails: "This event is #15 of the 2006 Root 66 Northeast XC Mountain Bike Series. The Winding Trails Smashing Pumpkins racecourse is approximately 5 miles of wide, cross-country ski trails combining long stretches of flat terrain with hills and curves. Several sections of single track on the course total approximately a half mile. Please note: This is a very fast race course!" For any additional information please contact myself me at kb1knv [at] icrcweb.org

A message from Brian Fernandez K1BRF

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 15:36:00 -0400

If you would like to join ARES for the SET(Simulated Emergency Test), or just want to find out more about ARES, please contact your local Emergency Coordinator or the District Emergency Coordinator for your area: * Area 1 - Southwestern CT - Allan Valeo - NN1H@arrl.net * Area 2 - South Central CT - Art Fregeau - K1WMQ@arrl.net * Area 3 - North Central CT - Jonathan Hardy - KB1KIX@arrl.net * Area 4 - Eastern CT - Wayne Gronlund - N1CLV@arrl.net * Area 5 - Northwestern CT - Dave Hyatt - K1DAV@arrl.net For any additional information regarding A.R.E.S Please visit http://ctares.org/

What is MT63

Mon, 29 May 2006 09:59:33 -0400

From Wikipedia:By encoding the data to transmit (what you type on the keyboard) in a complex way, using 64 different modulated tones, the MT63 developer Pawel Jalocha SP9VRC has been able to include a large amount of extra data in the transmission of each character, so that the receiving equipment can work out, without any doubt, which character was sent, even if 25% of the character is obliterated.
MT63 has the facility for a secondary channel running simultaneously alongside the main channel. This can be put to a variety of uses, such as the generation of a continuous identification or beacon.
The secondary channel is not a prime function of the mode and therefore some software provides for it and others do not. The option to transfer binary files, such as higher-level documents or spreadsheets, is similarly at the whim of the programmer.
MT63 is perhaps the most elaborate user of error correction techniques. It uses a Walsh function that spreads the data bits of each character across all 64 of the tones of the signal spectrum and simultaneously repeats the information over a period of 64 symbols within any one tone. This takes 6.4 seconds.
The combination results in superb impulse noise rejection. At the same time, in the frequency domain, significant portions of the signal can be masked by unwanted noise or other transmissions without any noticeable effect on successful reception.
Transmission speed is good because there are so many individual tones to describe the information, while the individual symbol rate per tone can remain slow (which is good protection against ionospheric disturbances).

Tuning of MT63 modes is not all that critical. This is because the mode can use Forward Error Correction techniques to examine different combinations of the 64 tones that calculate the correct location within the spectrum. As an example, MT63-1K will still work if the decoder is off tune by as much as 100Hz. MT63-2K is even less exacting, with an error of 250Hz being tolerated.

For information on MT63 See the wikipedia entry.

Field Day

Fri, 26 May 2006 12:57:56 -0400

The ICRC is in the process of planning a full site to work all bands for the ARRL annual field dayt. We currently are equipped for all HF bands, 6m,2m, and 70cm for true multi-mode operation on SSB, AM, FM, CW, PSK31, Amtor fec, MT63, and RTTY, and AX.25 packet.. We also have DX spotter and receive stations. If you�re interested in helping, working a station, or learning more about ham radio field operations be at our June meeting 6/16/06 7:30PM at the American Red Cross in Farmington, CT