Welcome to the Frederick Amateur Radio Club!

Frederick Amateur Radio Club will meet this Monday, August 19th at 7PM at the Independent Hose Company social hall.  This is located at 310 Baughmans Lane in Frederick.  The social hall and parking are in the rear of the building.  This month, we’ll have a presentation by Steve W3ATN, discussing: programming Pi-Star HS for DMR, YSF, D-Star Operation.  Discuss challenges of getting all three working at once.  Use of Pi-Star Admin page to select TGs, REFs, etc. and linking/unlinking.  Challenges with radio programming (e.g., D-Star Duplex/Simplex programming of radios).  Meetings are open to ANY community member with even a slight inkling of interest in amateur radio. If you’re curious, we’ll gladly fill in the blanks.

While we hope that you can join us in person, sometimes that’s just not possible.  Second best option is to join via Zoom via this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86031809702?pwd=bkFCM0pYL0g1RndpZVNjd01rN2FYQT09

If you join via Zoom, PLEASE either include your call sign or your name in your Zoom profile.  This will help identify you as a human and not a bot. Thanks!

Please let me know if there are questions.

73!
Mike K3MMM

The Antietam Radio Association, our neighbors in Washington County will sponsor their annual Tailgate Fest on Saturday September 7th.  Doors open to visitors at 8am. Let’s go support the neighbors!  See all of the details here:  https://antietamradio.org/posts/tailgatefest-2024

The Montgomery Amateur Radio Club (https://marcclub.org/) is looking for radio operators for the 2024 Parks Half Marathon on Sunday, September 8th.

The Montgomery County Road Runners Club (MCRRC) will be sponsoring the Parks Half-Marathon on September 8, 2024, and has requested MARC provide amateur radio support.  This event starts at the Shady Grove Metro and runs down Rock Creek Trail to Beech Drive and Rockville Pike near the Beltway.  The Parks Half Marathon web site (https://www.parkshalfmarathon.com/) has additional details on the race and the course.

MARC’s primary functions for this event will be to:  provide a communications link between the MCRRC race officials and the County police, Fire & Rescue, and other government agencies; provide a link between the race director and the three course section chiefs, six water stops, and medical coordinator to ensure that all course locations are properly manned and equipped; and provide any other communications requested by race officials and County government officials.  A few bicycle mobile operators will be helpful for this event.

We will use the MARC 2-meter repeater (146.955) as the primary operating frequency for this event.  Most of the operating positions can use an HT.  A couple positions may need a short mast or more power to effectively hit the repeater.

The race will run rain or shine.  Fixed stations must be in their assigned locations and be set by 6:15 am to avoid problems with road closures.  Net operation will begin at 6:15am.  Operators shadowing a race official should coordinate a meeting place and time with that official.  This may be earlier than the net begins operation.  The race will start at 6:45 and should finish at 10:15 am.  Radio operators will be released when their location has been officially closed by MCRRC.

If you simply want to observe what goes on before you commit to working an event, contact us and we will arrange for you to work with an experienced volunteer to observe and understand what is involved in working a public service event.  Don’t have a radio but want to participate?  MARC has appropriate equipment you can use to participate in an event.

If you would like to help with radio communications, logistics, or planning and administration for this event, please email Paul via his call sign (N3RQV) @arrl.net.

Hello Everyone!  Please join us for the July edition of Frederick Amateur Radio Club meeting, coming this Monday July 15th at 7pm.  We meet in the social hall of the Independent Hose Company, located at 310 Baughmans Lane in Frederick.  Parking and entrance to the social hall is in the rear.  Our presentation this month is from Mike K3MMM: Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) basics.  Feel free to bring your APRS radio along.  If you need assistance getting APRS set up, come early and we’ll see if we can get it configured (assuming it can be configured from front panel).  If you’re good at configuring APRS, come early to help others.

We invite all members of the greater community to join us – no need to be a member or a licensed amateur; a vague interest in radio communications is good enough!

While it’s best to join in person, sometime that’s not possible.  Next best is to join via Zoom using this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86031809702?pwd=bkFCM0pYL0g1RndpZVNjd01rN2FYQT09

If you join via Zoom, PLEASE either include your call sign or your name.  We’ve had a many access requests from what appear to be bots.  Thanks!

We hope to see you there!