Amateur Radio Committee Meeting - 03.09.14

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Attendance

Events

  • As this is the first meeting of the DMS Amateur Radio Committee in a period of time, there are no previous minutes to review or discuss


  • Introductions / any projects that people want to share
  • Greg - General license - Interest in electronics and SDR
  • Pat - Guru and legend - Emergency communications services RACES / Skywarn
  • Ben - Recent acquisition of license - Enthusiastic about committee and reviving it


  • Wiki Page Update
  • Ben would like to remove the constraint that members have to have license
  • Part #97 of rules & regulations states that we have to have a minimum of 4 members with regular meetings and a roster
  • We decided to adjust Rule #1 of Amateur Radio Committee rules to state "includes Amateur Radio licensees"
  • This allows additional members who are unlicensed to participate


  • Should we transfer club call-sign KD5MS from the Pat Hykkonen to the Amateur Radio Committee head (Benjamin Groves)
  • We are able to change our leadership every 6 months, according to DMS bylaws
  • A license transfer every 6 months may be cumbersome and annoying
  • Trusteeship of the FCC Club License is who FCC comes looking for if there is an issue (the responsible party)
  • Pat has experience in handling these issues
  • In case of issue on site, Pat is easily accessible
  • DECISION : Leave trusteeship of the KD5MS Amateur Radio Club Call-Sign with Pat Hykkonen


  • An offer of a repeater parts donation from friends of Steve Adams
  • The repeater nice, but seems to be a future project in scope
  • Start small
  • DECISION : Decision to respectfully hold for now


  • Discovery of amateur radio masts in DMS storage
  • 6-8 sections originally donated
  • We got rid of 4 - (munged)
  • We kept 4 that are in decent shape


  • They are not heavy duty
  • Not a good idea to combine them all into one 40 foot section of tower
  • DECISION : Hang onto them till we get to the next Dallas Makerspace location
  • See what we can do with them with proper roof access


Upcoming Activities

  • Amateur Radio Technician class
  • It is on for April / May 2014


  • Civic Hacking - Amateur Radio Hackathon
  • Steve Wylie's request (in absentee)
  • Positive response
  • Maybe an opportunity for two committees meet together
  • Pat is interested as our efforts can help serve his spotters, people in the metroplex and radio in general


  • Field day is 3 months away
  • Past couple of years DMS Amateur Radio Committee has participated with Dallas Amateur Radio Club at Flagpole Hill
  • Dallas Amateur Radio Club - 100 years old now
  • They have expressed interest in continuing to work with DMS
  • Considered inviting them to DMS or us going to Flagpole Hill
  • We should go to flagpole hill, considering available space and impending move


Future Activity Discussion

  • Follow up with more Amateur Radio classes
  • General Class this summer
  • Or if interest, another tech class and a General Class
  • Study group for extra level this fall


  • Program your radio night
  • Hack your own RTLSDR seminar / class at the space
  • Working for mid-to late may
  • Radio is Receive only


  • Radio software followup to the RTLSDR seminar
  • Software as a part two of the thing
  • Software is complicated, hardware is not so complicated
  • Probably best to focus on the software aspect


  • ISS communication party
  • Timing - Line of sight above us
  • APRS as it goes over
  • 2-way communications is a rarity
  • Other ham radio satellites in orbit
  • FM repeaters in the sky
  • Maybe build an antenna to talk through these things


  • Lets build a proper shack in DMS
  • Flexible design
  • A portable unit is not really all that, we don't need to really work with this consideration in mind
  • Hold till next Dallas Makerspace location emerges


  • HF antenna setup
  • Wait till next DMS location


  • Balloon Launch (?)
  • High altitude balloon project
  • Dallas Makerspace may have equipment


  • APRS digipeater (?)
  • Not a bad idea
  • Will consider