Central Pennsylvania Repeater Association Inc.

W3ND January 2009

NOTICE: the next general meeting will be at 7:00 PM Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at Tyco, 100 Amp Drive, Harrisburg.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT: From WA3CPO, Gary Blacksmith, MD

Blue Mountain Repeater upgrade progress:

145.47 excellent coverage, Pl on input Rec & Xmt coverage excellent, scratchy audio with Ice on antenna, Rare carrier drop Pending Controller update may improve operation 444.45 functions well, coax 1-5/8”, coverage to East Reduced due to tower shading of pattern Future antenna change to upper West UHF Collinear 10.369 Beacon driver failure, sent back to factory 145.29 IRLP operational, coverage excellent internet installed, 1500/1500 2nd Wireless internet to be relayed from PEMA 3480 ATV 7/8” coax installed , 10 GHz link needs video adj NASA dish needs relocated, camera not installed Xmtr in Beacon mode as needed 6 meter needs antennas installed on roof: rec & uhf xmtr 144.97 Packet out of service APRS to stay at Reeser’s Summit N3TWT APRS to be tested on VHF upper West ant 146.94 repeater off line during construction, looking for a New home: downtown vs Reeser’s Summit

Antenna Progress: Six antennas on WITF Standby Tower

1. 4-Bay VHF high on East side, Operational 7/8” Commscope continuous run 2. 4-Bay VHF Mid on East side, Operational New ½” Andrew with 50’ extension 3. Collinear UHF Mid on West side, Operational 1-5/8” Andrew continuous 4. ATV 3.4 GHz collinear, Operational, 7/8” Andrew, spliced 5. 4-Bay VHF high on West side Needs splice 7/8” to 1-5/8” 6. Collinear UHF high on West side, Needs splice 7/8” to 1- 5/8”

1 K & C has started to Complete coax installation of VHF & UHF antennas High on the West side.

Terry Phillips, KA3AAA, will be removing an unused coax from under the ice bridge and inspect the rubber roof as needed

Paul Coleman, KB3NFZ will be adding strut on the west side of the Building for a satellite antenna.

Rooftop Antennas

1. 10 GHz Beacon, sent out for repair 2. 10.4 GHz receive dish from White Rock, Operational 3. NASA receive dish from Dish Network, relocation 4. UHF omni for control receiver, Operational

Generator Status- None

Dauphin County has been approached about a 5 KW Propane generator that will be taken out of service. Our demand is less than 1000 watts. A separate room is available for this purpose.

Other Repeater Sites:

APRS Reeser’s Summit: Operational

146.94 Repeater Downtown: down due to relocation

145.11 & 448.075 repeaters at Ellendale: Operational

Misc. Topics and Information:

Has anyone seen the six meter Ringo antenna that was behind our new Shelter? We would like to use it on the roof of the shelter for the six meter receive antenna.

PEMA has agreed to host the wireless internet antenna. That would give us access to this donated source for the internet. We tried to receive it from the top of our new shelter but could not. Obstructions prevented us from receiving the signal from TV- 27s tower. PEMA would then have an alternate access to the internet. They also gave permission to install a 5.8 GHz Ethernet bridge from PEMA to our shelter on Blue Mountain. This 48 Mbps or higher would allow the internet to be relayed up to the mountain. It would also serve as a data connection from PEMA to an expanded eight county network. We could send the internet that is hard wired at our shelter down to PEMA over this link. That would give PEMA two additional sources to connect to the internet that are not on their fiber cable. I believe both ISPs are connected via T1s through Verizon in Summerdale and Myerstown. Installation of this link should occur over the next few weeks. The old Motorola Micor UHF

2 repeater may be relocated after testing and refurbishment to Lam’s Gap. The SMRA UHF repeater failed and replacing it was not justified based on the usage. An antenna, coax, and duplexer are still on site. The Lam’s Gap UHF repeater would be tied full time once equipment is available to the 444.45 MHz repeater at Blue Mountain. That would give portable coverage on the East shore and West Shore. The plan is to add a third UHF repeater at Reeser’s Summit and tie that full time into the other two repeaters. That would add portable coverage to South Harrisburg, TMI, and MDT. The Eight County exercise Wide Vigilance II demonstrated the lack of portable coverage at TMI and MDT.

The recent high winds caused damage to the support for the West side upper antennas. The mount rotated in toward the tower. The above photo is not a current view. The support to the 4-bay antenna in the lower right of the picture is just fine.

The meeting this month will be held on Thursday, January 15 th at 7:00 PM at M/A-Com (Tyco) 100 Amp drive, Harrisburg. John Jaminet, W3HMS will be speaking about his new moon bounce gear. The moon bounce hams even have their own DX cluster. This is a first for Cumberland County.

The next meeting in 2009 will be Thursday, February 19th at M/A-com (Tyco). We will discuss the growth of the high speed data link from CPRA, Inc. Likely links include: Cornwall, Dauphin Co RACES room, Reeser’s Summit, Cumberland Co RACES room. Cornwall could then build a link to the Lebanon Co RACES room and to Lancaster Co Emergency Management. The link at Reeser’s Summit can be connected to the W3HZU club house. From W3HZU the York Co RACES room and the Adams Co RACES room can be added to the network. Outside funding has not been requested yet. The links are rather inexpensive and could be funded by amateurs in each county. The initial link from PEMA to the CPRA location on Blue

3 Mountain needs to be evaluated and the concept proven. On paper it looks very good.

ARES AND RACES: From Your Editor, Roger, W3HUP

PEMA NETS AND FREQUENCIES:

Central Area meets on 3993.5 kHz every Sunday at 8:30 AM Local Eastern Area meets on 3987.5 kHz every Sunday morning at 9:00 AM Local Western Area meets on 3990.5 every Sunday morning at 9:00 AM Local

Our PA State Net meets the FIRST SUNDAY of every month on 3993.5 kHz at 8:00 AM Local. This net is usually called by John Kruk, K3KR, Lock Haven; at which time he calls Eastern, Central and Western Area Stations in that order. The New York State net usually meets on 3993.5 kHz at 9:00 AM right after our Central Area net.....

Central Area PEMA frequencies are:

3993.5 kHz - Primary 3984.5 kHz - Alternate 3999.5 kHz - Alternate 7248.5 kHz - Alternate 7250.5 kHz - Alternate

ON-LINE OPERATOR TRAINING COURSE AVAILABILITY:

You need the content of both FEMA and ARRL training courses. Follow the link below to get to the FEMA training web site for all the FEMA stuff you might be interested in…PEMA also offers many of the same courses. The Emergency Management Institute (EMI) offers a broad range of NIMS related training. www.training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/crslist.asp Minimum training requirements are the ICS 100 and 700 certifications which can be completed in a day or two each on-line at your own pace. They are needed for both ARES and RACES operators; we are all one pool of operators. These classes cover what you will need in emergency situations to work with any agency. They cover the National Incident Management System (how emergency management is organized and how volunteers such as us fit in to the process). You will also need the Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course Level 1 (preferably Level 2 as well), available from the ARRL, which cover Amateur Radio emergency operating procedures. And…listen to how the nets operate! While you don’t have to get all this stuff at once, you should be working on it now so you will have it by April in time for the TMI Drill.

PINNACLE HEALTH SYSTEM ID CARDS: Your Editor, Roger, W3HUP

Repeat announcement: Here is your opportunity to help out with emergency communications during the time of need. All the hospitals now have amateur radio equipment installed in them. Most hospitals will need operators as well.

4 If you want to help out at Pinnacle Health System, you will need one of their ID cards to access their ham radio equipment. If you are interested please contact Ms. Patte Shambaugh at 717-782-3347 to make an appointment for your ID Card. Photos can be taken daily from 7:30 until 4:00. Pinnacle Health will require you to fill out some paperwork for the hospital system. If you get an ID card for Pinnacle, please let your VP know, Terry Phillips, KA3AAA so he can put you down as an operator for the hospitals in the Harrisburg area. But don’t forget the need for ARES and RACES operator training as discussed above

AMATEUR RADIO WORK GROUP (ARWG) INFO: From WA3CPO, Gary Blacksmith, MD

January Technical Committee Meeting Agenda :

ARWG Meeting On Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 6:30 PM

1. Call to order by Gary Blacksmith, WA3CPO at Carlisle Country Club Please do not wear jeans in the club, Bring cash to pay for food & drink 2. Introductions 3. Review of Minutes sent by email, secretary needed 4. Repeater Grant Progress: all installed except Franklin: equipment received, may seek a new VHF freq PEMA: equipment received, to be completed by Feb 1, 2009 5. Status of installation of radios in hospitals Cumberland: Holy Spirit Dauphin County: 6. Amateur repeaters list and radio programming results Rodney Gallagher, KB3OTY in process 7. Recommendation to ARWG needed to improve coverage of 145.47 HEARS Repeater in Franklin County Milt Engle, N3LTQ: 8. Digital Update Hospital FRED system backup needed? FRED system network needs defined PEMA wireless link and 48 Mbs link to Blue Mountain: Bullet5 Start of High speed Backbone by Technical Committee Location and frequency of nodes Primary purpose to link RACES rooms in each EOC with E-Mail Via router and access point Digital Committee to work on last mile for mobile use Data plan recommendation needed to forward to ARWG 9. Linking between counties: Tactical system needed for mobile and portable coverage in key areas such as TMI, MDT Harrisburg to have three full time linked UHF repeaters for Portable coverage, then expand to other counties 10. Go-Kits: KO1D to provide direction 11. Funding requests for next year: 12. ARWG meeting:

5 13. Next Technical Committee meeting:

November Technical Committee Meeting Minutes:

ARWG Meeting On Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 6:30 PM

1. Call to order by Gary Blacksmith, WA3CPO at Carlisle Country Club 2. Attendance: WA3CPO, N3LTQ, WA3USG, KB3OTY, KO1D, K3SRZ 3. Review of Minutes: No additions or corrections 4. Repeater Grant Progress: all installed except Franklin: equipment received, may seek a new VHF freq PEMA: equipment received, waiting for climbers 5. Status of installation of radios in hospitals Cumberland: Holy Spirit internal cabling 90% done Dauphin County: No report 6. Amateur repeaters list and radio programming results Rodney Gallagher, KB3OTY in process 7. Recommendation to ARWG needed to improve coverage of 145.47 HEARS Repeater in Franklin County Milt Engle, N3LTQ: Further study needed 8. Digital Update Hospital FRED system backup needed FRED system network needs defined PEMA wireless link and 48 Mbs link to Blue Mountain Start of High speed Backbone by Technical Committee Digital Committee to work on last mile 9. Linking between counties: Tactical system needed for mobile coverage and portable coverage in key areas such as TMI, MDT Harrisburg to have three full time linked UHF repeaters for Portable coverage, then expand to other counties 10. Go-Kits: KO1D to provide direction 11. Funding requests for next year: none at this time 12. ARWG meeting Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 6:30 PM Tyco (M/A-Com), 100 Amp Drive, Harrisburg, Pa 13. Next Technical Committee meeting Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 6:30 PM, Carlisle Country Club

ATV REPORT: From WA3CPO, Gary Blacksmith, MD

Winter time has made antenna improvements difficult. Interest is starting to be shown by the group at SPARC in Lancaster County.

SPARC has a 3480 MHz receive dish on their tower. It has been operational now for several years. They have had no activity with their 900 MHz ATV beacon. They are trying to decide how to proceed. Contact W3FEY for more info.

6 White Rock has switched back to the on-site camera between NASA shuttle missions. The transmitter output is nominal.

The WITF ATV transmitter is in the Beacon mode with a test pattern as needed. The NASA satellite dish is being relocated on the building.

York will be installing a new 3480 MHz omni antenna once they finish with other projects.

If you are interested in any of the ATV projects come to a meeting to discuss it further.

TREASURER’S REPORT: By Dave Hoffman, N3PRO

IRLP:

IRLP is back. Just a few comments and reminders.

 You are using VOIP, even though it may not seem like it there is a delay in the conversion of the analog to digital, out through the internet then back from digital to analog. All that means is key your mic and pause before you begin speaking or the recipient will loose your first few syllables.

 You do not need to call CQ 5 times and identify 5 times when trying to make a connection! Different modes require different operating practices. This technique is used on HF to allow people to tune there receivers into your transmit frequency. There is no tuning on IRLP or repeaters so your call sign and “looking for contact” or “is there anyone around for a qso” is fine.

 Wait about three seconds between transmissions to allow someone else to join in. This applies whether IRLP, repeaters or simplex. GIVE OTHERS A CHANCE!

ELECTIONS:

It is that time again, if you are interested in running for a position on the board please let me [email protected] or Gary [email protected]. Dues are due in April.

BABBLE:

Thank you again to K3JJK, K3SZH, and K3DRE who continue to help many people in the area. These guys are a great example of what Amateur Radio truly is. Whether programming a radio, installing and antenna, or giving an antenna to a new HAM – THIS IS WHAT THE HOBBY IS ABOUT! Action speaks louder then words.

As I work part time for the Patriot-News who is making big cuts and just heard today

7 that Detroit Free Press is going to a 3-day a week printed paper this might be the last year we can afford to send out the ballot and renewals at a price of $85.00. GBPPR Tech Bulletin #1 - Waterproofing RF Connectors Forwarded by WA3CPO, Gary Blacksmith, MD

Waterproofing RF connectors is a concept amateur radio operators fail to recognize. When you're dealing with weak signals or a repeater system with a dynamic range of 140 dB, that Radio Shack education just doesn't cut it. There are a lot of different ways to protect and waterproof your RF connections, some actually work! Just because you've been doing something wrong for 30 years doesn't mean it's right! All GBPPR members are required to follow this bulletin. If you put CoaxSeal directly on a RF connector, I will hunt you down and shoot you. 1. Wrap the entire connection once (or twice) with 3M Scotch Super 88 or 88T PVC electrical tape. Super 88 is recommended over Super 33 or the other crap because of its ideal temperature characteristics and the fact it's 20% thicker. Be sure to allow a significant overlap of each turn. It's also to best to wrap the tape up to connector, or the opposite way of intended water flow. This is done to prevent the electrical tape from wicking water in. You'll want to do this for each tape layer, if possible. Also, on the last turn, don't pull the tape hard, just leave it loose and press it down. This will help prevent it from unwrapping. 2. Make sure there are no air cavities or openings in the tape! Where there is air, there will be water. 3. Next, wrap the entire connection once (or twice) with 3M Scotch 2242 rubber electrical tape. Pull the tape so hard that it turns from black to gray, and wrap it tightly around the entire area previously covered with Super 88 electrical tape. 4. Wrap the the entire connection once (or twice) again with a layer of Super 88 electrical tape, just like in step one. 5. That's it! A fully waterproof seal, with the ability to remove the tape layers using nothing but a utility knife. 6. If you put CoaxSeal directly on a RF connector, I will hunt you down and shoot you. 7. If you put CoaxSeal directly on a RF connector, I will hunt you down and shoot you. 8. If you put CoaxSeal directly on a RF connector, I will hunt you down and shoot you.

8 “ BOILER PLATE”: From your editor, W3HUP Officers, Board, and Committee Members

President: WA3CPO Gary Blacksmith, MD V. President KA3AAA Terry Phillips Secretary N3NZI Marty Ginter Treasurer: N3PRO Dave Hoffman Past President: K3SZX Alan Abt Trustee: W3ND KA3AAA Terry Phillips Member at large: WA3MMD Bob Kurtinecz Member at large: N3JQM Neil Shatto Member at large: AA3T Nick Rylatt Alternates: KA0JQO Kevin Maglouglin N3FUD Chip Kroh Web Master WB3DRT Lee Schwan IRLP Committee WA3HDP Ken Sutton WB3CKW Gerard Whisler WA3MMD Bob Kurtinecz RACES team WB3BKN Terry Snyder, RACES R/O K3JJK Lee Ash, and N3JQM Neil Shatto Public Relations W3KB Keith Beebe Recruitment KZ3J Curtis Zell News Letter Editor W3HUP Roger Urban Facilities with the CPRA club call sign W3ND: 144.39 APRS node from Reeser’s Summit. 144.97 NetRom Node Digipeater 145.11- Dauphin County RACES repeater, CTCSS 123.0 Hz 145.29- IRLP node 7060 Blue Mtn. IRLP CTCSS 88.5Hz 145.47- Med coverage, Blue Mtn, auto patch ** ##, CTCSS 123.0Hz 146.94- In-town/in-building coverage. 444.45+ Medium coverage from Blue Mountain 448.075- Dauphin County RACES repeater. CTCSS 123.0 Hz 53.01- On the air with some RX sensitivity problems. Monthly Ham Radio Lunch: at the Old Country Buffet in east Harrisburg the last Thursday of each month at noon unless it is a major holiday. This restaurant is located on route 22 in Colonial Park in the vicinity of Value City Furniture, K-Mart and Home Depot. Good way to meet some new people!

Club Web Site: http://cpra.home.att.net

9 Pay it a visit…we have links to various services, general information and the current and back issues of the Newsletter. Also, note there are some changes on the Board of Directors this year!

Dues: are $20/yr for a single membership and $35/yr for a family membership, which includes all licensed amateurs living in one household.

USE THE REVISED MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION BELOW.

Thanks! Please make your check payable to: Central Pennsylvania Repeater Association, Inc. 2130 Cedar Lane, Enola, PA 17025-3319 DO NOT SEND CASH!

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP IN CPRA □ New member □ Renewal □ Family □ Updating Information □ Donation ______□ Other ______

Total amount enclosed $ ______

Prorated April to April payment schedule, please follow below.

April – October $ 20.00 Family $ 35.00 November – March $ 10.00 Family $ 15.00

Name:______Call(s)______

Address: ______City: ______

State: ______Zip code ______License class: ______

Email address for newsletters: ______Phone: ______□ Listed □ Unlisted Are you an ARRL member? □ Yes □ No Are you a member of WITF □ Yes □ No EMERENCY RACES VOLUNTEER INFORMATION

This information will only be used in the event of an emergency. This information will only be given to the emergency RACES coordinator and will not be distributed for general information in any form!

Work number including extension: ______

10 Cell Phone: ______

Email address: ______

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