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2003 Amateur Radio Field Day
plcurechax writes "The 2003 ARRL Field Day is this weekend, June 28-29. Beginning 1800 UTC Saturday and ending at 2100 UTC Sunday.
Originally started in 1933 as a test of portable amateur radio operating, it has become an annual event that is a mix of contest, emergency prepareness, and a public relations activity.
Any geeks interested in learning more about amateur (ham) radio, should find out if there is a local club (in Canada)that will be particulating. Most clubs in USA and Canada will have a station on the air.
Visitors welcome."
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(And now, here is some filler text to avoid the lameness filter. You really don't need to read this as this means nothing at all.)
Over the past few years the FCC has changed some of the rules and have simplified the code requirements. Check it out at http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/amateur/.
Accentuate the positive, don't waste your mod points on the negative.
Ham Radio is actually one of the origional
forms of electronics hacking. It is a great
way for geeks to get involved in the community
and use some of their own expertice in a great
service. All you have to do to get a license
is pass a 35 question test, and you will get a
callsign from the FCC. If you are not already
involved, take a look!
73, DE KG4QXK
Ham radio can be a good time. I will be using my ICOM 28H this weekend in Youngstown, OH. If you are in the area my call sign is KC8UFF. I can always find a nearby repeater when my cell phone can't reach a tower!
Many people have also used their ham radio's to contact the police when a tornado or other disaster wipes out other means of communication.
http://tomgould.com/
Press release
Members of the Phil-Mont Mobile Radio Club will put their emergency communication skills to the test when they participate in "Field Day" June 28 and 29. The annual preparedness exercise brings together Amateur Radio operators from throughout North and South America who are committed to assisting their communities in the event of a natural or man-made disaster. Field Day is sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the national association for Amateur Radio.
"Amateur Radio is a lot of fun, but the serious side can't be stressed enough," says Maggie Leber, editor of the PMRC newsletter "The Blurb" and webmistress of the club website at www.phil-mont.org.
"We can play a vital communications role during emergencies, and events such as Field Day ensure that we're ready to handle any type of disaster. We will provide our own electrical power and operate all kinds of radio communications, everything from Morse code to amateur television and amateur satellite radio. We'll be in direct digital communications with the Montgomerty County Emergency Operations center, and will be able to transmit e-mail and other text message through facilities located there."
Field Day is designed to test operators' abilities to set up and operate stations in the field under emergency conditions, such as the loss of commercial electricity. During the weekend, radio operators try to contact as many other Field Day stations as possible, simulating the fast on-air skills needed to assist town officials and served agencies during an emergency. Approximately 35,000 Amateur Radio operators across the country participated in last year's event. The first Field Day was held in 1933.
Ham radio operators typically help with communication during weather-related emergencies such as the devastating tornadoes in the Midwest earlier this spring. But, the need for their services doesn't stop there. A federal grant awarded for emergency communications training in 2002 emphasizes support for ham radio's role in homeland defense.
PMRC will set up its Field Day stations in Lot #4 at Fort Washington State Park, and will be operating from 2pm Staurday until 2pm Sunday. "We hope that the public will come out and see firsthand what this event--and Amateur Radio--is all about," says Ms. Leber, whose amateur callsign is K3XS.
Today there are nearly 700,000 Amateur Radio operators in the United States and more than 2.5 million worldwide. Information on how to become involved in Amateur Radio is available from ARRL -- the national association for Amateur Radio, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 or by calling 1-800-32-NEW HAM. Visit ARRL on the Web at www.arrl.org.
-=Maggie Leber=-
CQiNet - Open Source implementation of Voice over IP (VoIP) software specifically for Ham Radio. Currently there are three popular VoIP packages used by Ham Radio operators, IRLP, ILink and EchoLink. Since none of these packages are open source it is difficult to contribute to the their development and learn from them by studying their source code. Let's face it for many of us Ham Radio is more about playing with technology than it is about yacking on the radio or Internet. (Hmmm... maybe some folks on Slashdot could learn something....)
Hamsoft - A great HAM/Linux database. (not to be confused with GNU/Linux)
TAPR! - These geeks will whoop yer ass in a second! A lot of them are commited to open source. They actually help fund HARDWARE projects (we could learn something). Check out their LINUX sig.
Flex-Radio - An open source software defined radio!
GnuRadio - Signal Processing in oepn source software
Heil Sig! -Rob