Calling All Hams
Do you have a lot of knowledge about a specific area of ham radio? Do you have unique experiences to share? Do you have specialized skills? Are you a homebrew enthusiast? If you answered yes to any of these questions we would like to hear from you. FARC is always looking for someone to give a presetation at one of our meetings. Send us an email or add a comment and give us your contact information with some information about your area of knowledge. Â This is open to members and non-members alike. Share your knowledge and help expand the hobby.
73
Brian AB3RW
March 3, 2014
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ab3rw · 
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Congratulations
We would like to send congratulations to recent addition to the club Tom Kline on his newly minted Tech license and the callsign KC3CEC. Welcome to the hobby there is always room for one more! Â Hope to see you on the bands soon.
73
Brian AB3RW
February 27, 2014
· ab3rw · One Comment
Tags: membership · Posted in: Uncategorized
February Meeting Notes
At the February meeting plans were finalized for the March 21 Tabletop/Tailgate event at the Independent Hose Company Social Hall 310 Baughmans Lane in Frederick. Setup begins at 6:00 and doors open at 6:30. Table space is free to all FARC members and a $10 donation is asked of non-members. Spread the word and help make this a great event.
The club is planning to have a quarterly dinner meeting at the Golden Corral on Spectrum Dr. in Frederick. The first meeting will be held April 21 at 7:00. Everyone is invited to come out for some good food and fellowship.
Members discussed the possibility of having a regular rag chew net on the 146.640 repeater. We would like to give some experience to new hams, provide an opportunity for members to socialize, and better utilize the club repeater. No date or time have been set and we would appreciate some input from our members. Do we have anyone interested in participating and when is a good time? Feel free to add comments to this post or send us an email through the contact page to let us know how you feel.
For quite some time there have been discussions about holding a Ham Cram session. This would be a day long event where non-licensed individuals could study for the Technician exam. At the end of the day the participants would have the opportunity to take the Technician exam. Anyone interested in helping out please let us know via comments or email. We could use a few people who are VEs to help with the testing process. Get involved and help new people experience the hobby we all love.
Our meeting concluded with a fantastic presentation by Keith Elkin KB3TCB on HSMM-Mesh. He explained the necessary equipment, discussed the possibilities for emergency communication, and he talked about how this developing technology can change the future of Ham radio. For anyone who missed it or would like to find out a little more about this fascinating subject the notes from his presentation can be found on his website http://remoteamatuer.com/ .
73
Brian AB3RW
February 25, 2014
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Tags: Monthly Meeting · Posted in: Uncategorized
MDC Section-wide Net-Update
Due to a miscalculation on the part of the MDC section the Echolink net will be held again on 2/21. The regularly scheduled net is the third Friday of the month. For anyone intested you an log in to the link Wash_DC 6251. There are also several repeaters that fequently link into the network including:
KA2JAI-R on the KB3CMA repeater 442.300(+), PL=107.2 in
> Annapolis, MD
> – WB3GXW-R, 147.225(+), PL=156.7, located in Calverton, MD
> – N3HF-L, 443.45(+), PL=151.4, located near Ocean City, MD
> – N3HF-R, 443.45(+), PL=156.7, located near Silver Spring, MD
> – W3ICF-R, 146.73(-), PL=141.3, located near Frederick, MD
> – K3CAL-R, 146.985(-), PL=156.7, located near Sunderland, MD
> – W3SMR, 147.150 MHz(+), PL=114.8, Brandywine, MD
> – N3RO-L, 145.545, Simplex, Frederick Co
> – W3SMD-L, 147.51 Simplex, N. St Mary’s Co
> – K3GMR-R 146.61, No PL, Cheverly, MD
All hams are encouraged to join in and  feel free to share any of the latest news from your neck of the woods.
February 14, 2014
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Monthly Meeting
Don’t forget our regularly scheduled monthly meeting is Monday Feb. 17 at the Social Hall in the Independent Hose Fire Company building 310 Baughmans Ln. in Frederick. The meeting starts at 7:00 pm so make plans to be in attendence.
February 13, 2014
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Calendar of Events
Be sure to check out our recently updated calendar for activities of interest to hams in the Frederick area and send us an email if you have anything you would like add.
73 Brian AB3RW
February 11, 2014
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The Latest News
Do you have some old gear you would like to get rid of? Are you looking for another piece to add to your shack? Then we have the event for you. We will be holding a tabletop/tailgate event on Monday March 17. The event runs from 6:30- 9:00 pm and setu starts at 6:00. Table space is free to all members and available to non-members for a suggested donation of $10. The event takes place in the Social Hall at Station #1 Independant Hose Company 310 Baughmans Lane in Frederick. Admission is free so come one come all.
For those of you who are interested in Skywarn training there are three upcoming sessions for the Skywarn Basics I class. The first is on Thursday February 27 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm  at the Shepherdstown Fire Department 8052 Martinsburg Pike Shepherdstown, WV. To register contact Terri Mehling at (301) 728-3329 or tmehling@jeffersoncountywv.org.
A second session is being held Saturday March 1 from 1:30-4:30 pm at Martin Hall room 1202 on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park, MD. To register for this class go to http://www.atmos.umd.edu/~gcm/events/6/skywarn-basics1/. Questions about this session should be directed to Austin Hope ahope@atmos.umd.edu.
The final session is scheduled for Thursday March 13 from 6:00-9:00 pm  in the Fire Services Building 6820 Webster St. Landover Hills, MD. To register contact http://pgskywarn.eventbrite.com. For further information contact Paul Bowling paul@W4ATN.com or (443) 924-1355.
73 Brian AB3RW
February 6, 2014
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December 2013 – Meeting / Christmas Dinner
Just a reminder that the December Meeting will not be held this year as usual as it is customary to have the Christmas get together at the Golden Corral.
And this is also a reminder that it will not be on the customary third monday, but rather Thursday, 19 Dec 2013 at 6:30PM.
Forwarded from Mark Whitmore
Subject: FARC Holiday Dinner
Could not get a reservation for the 16th at the Golden Coral. They are closing early for their own Holiday party.
Thursday the 19th of December is available so I have made a reservation for that date at 6:30.
The Golden Coral is located at 5621 Spectrum Dr, Frederick, MD 21703.
All current members, former members, friends and associates of members are invited to enjoy some good food and fellowship.
We will be dining in the room to your right as you enter the restaurant. We will not exchange gifts this year.
73′s
Mark (AB3KS)
December 15, 2013
· KB3WHX · No Comments
Posted in: Meeting, Membership, News
November 2013 – Meeting Synopsis
At the last meeting on Monday, 18 NOV 2013 quite a few things were covered. Here is a short synopsis:
The club voted to provide $200.00 to MADXRA to help offset some of the recent expense that they have had to get the 147.060 repeater back up and operational, as we make a good use of it.
The next meeting will be the annual Christmas Party get together, at the Golden Corral on Spectrum Drive. More information to follow on that I am sure.
Curtis Campbell, KB3WHX, may be moving shortly, so now eveyone is aware of that. Nominations of officers was completed, with Brian Rozelle, AB3RW being nominated for President, and Emmett Bonner, WA4UWD being nominated for Secretary. Mark Whitmore, AB3KS is willing to stay on as Treasurer, and Ben Nardi was not at the meeting, but we assume he’ll continue on as the VP.
The vote will be at the first regular meeting in January.
I will still stay on as a member, and help to keep the web site running, and train others to do so.
Keith Elkin, KB3TCB noted the HSMM-MESH activity around the Ham Sphere, and provided the informational link below.
That’s all for now,
Curtis – KB3WHX
November 20, 2013
· KB3WHX · No Comments
Posted in: Meeting
ARES Simulated Emergency Test – 05 Oct 2013
Look out, here comes “Chessie”!
This year’s statewide Simulated Emergency Test (SET) will be held next Saturday, Oct. 5th, from noon until about 1330.
Hurricane “Chessie” will be tracking through the region with hurricane force winds, widespread power outages, and heavy rain. All radio operators in Frederick County will be asked to provide reports on the probable conditions that might occur in their neighborhoods. These reports might include power outages, wind damage (trees down, roofs off, possible tornadoes, etc.), flooding of nearby creeks and streams with roads impassable, etc.
We will begin the scenario using the FARG 146.730 repeater, but will switch to 146.580 simplex later in the exercise as the repeater antenna is knocked down and some report relays will probably be needed. In a normal Skywarn activation we would be using the MADXRA 147.060 in stand-alone mode, but this machine will be used to relay messages from Western Maryland via the Target system.
Emergency power is encouraged and this is a great opportunity to test your systems. If you have a Skywarn spotter number, let us know, but this and/or ARES membership is not a requirement to participate. Put the word out to your ham buddies who might not otherwise hear about this and copy this message to other local reflectors.
Disasters don’t discriminate – all hams are welcome. The net will begin at 1200 on 146.730 operating from the K3ERM ARES station at Red Cross in Walkersville.
Let’s have some fun with this!
73,
Jeff Fishman KB3FIO Fred. ARES Emergency Coordinator
October 1, 2013
· KB3WHX · No Comments
Posted in: ARES, ARES Scheduled Event
