THE SPARK GAP

A monthly publication of the Meridian Amateur Radio Club May 2014

 

 Bible Verse

Ephesians 2:8-9 / For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (NIV)

 

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Next MARC Business Meeting

The next business meeting will be held at the Checker Board Restaurant on Saturday, June 7th, 2014 beginning at 10 A.M. Come join us for breakfast, coffee and fellowship.

Note from Editor: This newsletter is larger than normal. I received a lot of input this past month. THANK YOU. Field Day 2014 is on Saturday June 28th and Sunday June 29th. Please be sure to read the details below.

 

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Presidents Report

In the next few months the Meridian Amateur Radio Club will be hosting its second ham fest. Many of you didn't know that we hosted one many years ago; even I was unaware of this until I was discussing it with one of the older hams in the community. He told me that the club held one many years before even he was a member but he remembers when they used to talk about it. Now as far as I know we don't have the notes from the meetings of those years but it would sure be nice if we did.

This year as I stated earlier we will be holding our second ham fest and it will be in the old Hooper Electronics building. We are doing this in conjunction with the Hoopers to help honor Clarence Hooper for the many years he helped provide parts and equipment to this area to further radio communications.

A date has not been set so far but it will be in the next few months because the building is being purchased by the county and they are planning to make a parking lot there. If you would like to help with this please notify us or if you like you can reserve a table if you have things you would like to sell.

73, Charlie KB5SZJ

 

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Field Day 2014

Field Day 2014 begins Saturday June 28th at 12:00 noon and continues thru Sunday June 29th 12:00 Noon. The Meridian area amateur radio operators will again have opportunities to visit and participate at two Field Day sites; The East Central Chapter of the American Red Cross and Archusa Water Park located south of Meridian in Quitman, MS.

East Central Chapter of the American Red Cross / KB4ARC

Red Cross chapters across the country will be participating in Field Day this year. Our local Red Cross is located at 1820 - 23rd Ave Meridian, MS. See map below.

Red Cross Map

 

 

Lauderdale-Clarke Counties Amateur Radio Emergency Service / WX5MEI

To all Amateur Radio Operators

As Emergency Coordinator of the Lauderdale-Clarke Counties Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), I am writing to cordially invite you to meet with fellow Amateur Radio operators of your community and members of ARES at Archusa Creek Water Park, 540 County Road 110, Quitman, MS , beginning on Saturday June 28th at 12:00 noon thru Sunday June 29th 12:00 Noon.

This is the National Field Day for Amateur Radio people. Throughout the country, ham radio operators will be setting up radio stations in unusual locations and making contact with others as a display of their emergency communications capabilities. This year we plan to power all communications equipment "off grid" by means of solar/battery and possibly wind. Archusa Creek Water Park will waive the entrance fee for ALL Amateur Radio Operators that present a copy of their valid FCC Amateur Radio License. Clarke County EMA, and Lauderdale County EMA will be present. Wayne County EMA may also be in attendance.

In the past year alone, ham radio’s people have made headlines with their work in the wildfires, floods, storms, tornadoes and other crises. The hams provide emergency communications for many government and civic organizations in disasters. In addition, they provide supplemental communications when normal systems are rendered inoperable or overloaded. Hams have been called (and correctly), “The people behind the curtain that made the heroes look good.”

Like most communities, East Central Mississippi doesn't expect a major emergency. But they happen, and losing communications quickly can turn an emergency into a real disaster.

We will be inviting the press to drop by, and will have brochures, information packets and other materials made available through the ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio, explaining our work.

I hope that you will be able to adjust your plans and look forward to your visiting, and operating this event. It should be fun and is also a validation to the hundreds of Amateur Radio volunteers who have spent thousands of hours providing emergency communications, public service work and other benefits throughout our community and region. If you need more information or would like to confirm your visit please contact us at one of the email addresses below.

If you would like to assist in the operations and/or setup please contact any of the Field Day Committee Members:

Richard Morefield <metoyik1@bellsouth.net>
Fred Gray <Billfred5@aol.com>
Gary White <garyrwhite@att.net>
John Bates <jbates@andersonregional.org>

  • From Meridian, MS > Get on US-45 from 22nd Ave and MS-145 S
  • Drive 5.2 miles
  • Merge onto US-45
  • Drive 19.1 miles
  • Take Co Rd 511/MS-511 W to Fallen Creek Rd in Quitman
  • Drive 1.6 miles
  • Turn right toward Co Rd 511/MS-511 W
  • Go 420 feet
  • Turn left onto Co Rd 511/MS-511 W
  • Drive 1.3 mi
  • Turn left onto Fallen Creek Rd
  • Destination will be on the right
    Archusa Creek Water Park
    540 County Road 110
    Quitman, MS 39355

 

Archusa Water Park

 

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NHC to Issue New Hurricane Storm Surge Maps to Improve Life-Saving Evacuations

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) will issue a new experimental map this hurricane season in hopes of improving decision-making for possible coastal evacuations from a storm. The storm surge forecast map will provide emergency management officials and the public with a better idea of where and how they could be affected by the surge brought by a hurricane.

Read more at: http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/nhc-to-issue-new-hurricane-sto/26684773

AE5FE

 

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First Transmission of Live Video via Amateur Radio Broadband in Mississippi

Dear Digital Amateur Radio Operators,

I am happy to report the first transmission of live video via Amateur Radio Broadband in Mississippi

On Saturday, May 3rd, the Scott County ARES Team and the Scott County Amateur Radio Club were the first in the state of Mississippi to transmit live video via Amateur Radio Broadband.

Live color video of the start and finish line of the Morton Day in the Park Bike Race was transmitted over a quarter of a mile away and projected onto a screen at the club’s demonstration booth. Festival goers enjoyed being able to view the race from the convenience of our booth.

The Scott County Amateur Radio Club plans to provide this service to other bike and foot races around the state as a means of keeping our video over amateur radio skills sharp for emcomm purposes. As an EmComm focused club, our primary goal for Live Broadband Video is to be trained, ready, and capable of deploying to emergency and disaster areas for transmitting live video of disaster scenes and staging areas back to viewing screens at Incident Command Posts and Emergency Operations Centers. If a picture is worth a thousand words then live video is worth ten thousand words, especially during an emergency.

In addition to establishing deployable broadband video capabilities, the Scott County ARES Team has established the first official Broadband HamNet in the state of Mississippi. The Scott County Broadband HamNet is a high speed, self discovering, self configuring, fault tolerant, wireless computer network that can run for days from a fully charged car battery, or indefinitely with the addition of a modest solar array or other supplemental power source.

Our focus is on providing emergency communications to our served agencies and team members by linking their computers via amateur radio during emergencies or disasters which knock out normal communications. Every computer connected by amateur radio to our MESH is able to do everything a computer in a standard office computer network can do, except we do it over a very large area: send and receive network wide email, host chat rooms, instant messaging, view and edit network wide web-pages, send forms, documents, photographs and video, share files and peripheral devices, and talk on the phone with each other using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP).

In addition to establishing nodes in Scott County, the Scott County ARES Team has also been establishing linking nodes in other counties in order to create a direct network link from the Scott County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency’s State Emergency Operations Center (MEMA’s EOC).

The Scott County ARES Team and Scott County Amateur Radio Club owe their success in establishing the Scott County Broadband HamNet to Dr. Frank Howell (K4FMH), Assistant Director of the ARRL Delta Division, for his vision, mentoring, instructing, and donation of equipment. Without Dr. Frank there would be no Scott County Broadband HamNet.

If you would like to have the Scott County ARES Team deploy Live Broadband Video at a race, parade, festival, or other public service event which your club works, please contact us. Also contact us you are interested in serving on our Live Broadband Video Team or helping us establish one or more Broadband HamNets in your area.

Blessings and 73, Rez

Rez Johnson, K1REZ
ARES District Emergency Coordinator
District Six (East Central Mississippi)
K1REZ@ARRL.Net

 

Live Broadband Video Camera

Photo Above: This is our Live Broadband Video camera set up near the bike race finish line. 
The tripod has a video camera, amateur radio, and antenna. we used solar  power and a battery for continuous power.

Projector Live Video

Photo Above: This is the projector with live video of a police car at the race finish line over a quarter of a mile away. The photograph of the image on the screen appears washed out due to the sun shining on the screen. It was much better in person, and pristine on the computer screen.  We plan to use a large computer monitor next time in addition to the projector screen. Plus place side panels on the booth to block stray light.

 

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Guys, I had a nice visit with Rez Johnson and the Scott County Amateur Radio Club. From the visit I got a lot of ideas about our upcoming Field Day. Attached is one of many of the photos I took Saturday.

Gary KF5MWE
AEC Clarke County, MS

 

Scott County Amateur Radio Club

 

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Upcoming Events

Atlanta Hamfest / Saturday June 7, 2014 www.atlantahamfest.org

Huntsville Hamfest / August 16 and 17th, 2014 / http://www.hamfest.org/

 

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Carbonite

 

Have a great month

 

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