Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Proposed shutdown of funding for WWV



WWV and WWVH are on a list of proposed cuts in the White House's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST https://www.nist.gov/) Fiscal Year 2019 budget request. The proposed cuts, which only recently came to light, would also include the Atomic Clock signal from WWVB.
"It is important to note that no changes to NIST services have occurred, and if the proposal were to be implemented, public notice would be provided," NIST said this week.


According to the NIST Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget request the specific cut would come from the NIST Fundamental Measurement, Quantum Science, and Measurement Dissemination budget and would amount to $6.3 million.

"NIST has a long-standing history of providing time and frequency services through our radio stations and we appreciate that many people use these services," NIST said in a statement. "WWV is the longest continuously operating radio service in the US. At the same time, the proposed NIST budget for FY 2019 required difficult choices about budget priorities."

NIST said that it plans to eliminate "efforts that have been replaced by newer technologies, measurement science research that lies outside NIST's core mission space, and programs that can no longer be supported due to facility deterioration."

WWV and WWVH broadcast 24/7. Announcements include time announcements, standard time intervals, standard frequencies, UT1 time corrections, a BCD time code, geophysical alerts, and marine storm warnings. Transmissions are broadcast from separate transmitters on 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz. An experimental 25 MHz signal is also currently on the air. WWVB transmits standard Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) signals on 60 kHz to appropriately equipped devices
(from the ARRL Letter 8/23/18)

Two petitions have been started on the White House's "We the People" petition site calling for restoration of funding for these two essential radio stations. Each needs at least 100,000 electronic signatures by mid-September to generate a response from the White House. The petitions can be found at:

Sign both of the petitions here:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/maintain-funding-nist-stations-wwv-wwvh

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/proposed-shutdown-nists-wwv-and-wwvh-radio-stations

Very good articles from CQ News Room and others:
https://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2018/08/petition-drive-to-save-wwvwwvh-sept-15.html
https://w8edu.wordpress.com/save-wwv/
https://swling.com/blog/2018/08/nist-fy2019-budget-includes-request-to-shutdown-wwv-and-wwvh/



Monday, August 27, 2018

LARC Evaluation DMR Repeater is on the air!

LARC Evaluation DMR Repeater Available for Testing! (Facebook update from LARC on 8/27/18) 

LARC is pleased to announce the evaluation DMR repeater is available for testing. We would like to thank Len Signoretti, N2LEN, and Dennis Hudson, N2LBT, for their assistance to LARC in configuration of the repeater and integration into the larger NY DMR MARC C-Bridge network. For those knowledgeable in DMR code plug programming (radio programming) reference the following information for code plug modification
Network: DMR-MARC
Rx: 443.3MHz
Tx: 448.3MHz
Color Code: 1
Repeater Location: Cazenovia, NY

link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/larcw2cm/
Note: PARROT is currently unavailable due to issues on the DMR MARC network and the DMRX group is working to resolve.
If you have any issues with configurating your code plugs, please contact Ron Panetta (r o n at p a n m a n . u s). If you have questions and are not familiar with code plugs, feel free to send them to Ron and he will either answer them real time or batch them up for Q&A at the September meeting. Please be sure to include your phone number in any email as some issues will be easier and faster to work via telephone than via email. For those of you who have yet to obtain a DMR identification number, please go here and register. It usually takes a couple of hours to get your ID. We cannot program your radio without that ID number.
We recognize many of you are unfamiliar with code plug programming. Fear not, LARC will be assisting in HT radio programming along with meeting programs on the topic should the membership move forward with procurement of the system.
Note that the repeater is temporarily staged at our Cazenovia location, co-located with the 147.21 repeater and will remain there until we 1) ensure any programming issues are addressed and 2) the membership votes on purchase authorization at the September meeting. Pending closure on both items, we will relocate the DMR repeater to the Pompey, NY location which is where the 146.91 repeater is located and the location of the recently disabled 443.3MHz Fusion

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Roc City Hamfest hits a home run!

 Great Hamfest today! Hats off to K2ZX; Joe and the Roc City crew! Beautiful weather, great location and lots of tailgaters, along with Rich from the RW Antenna Store. We were impressed with the nice set up and with plenty of room for the large crowd. It was nice to chat with folks and run across quite a few friends that we hadn't seen in awhile. Can't wait until next year Joe!


Sunday, August 12, 2018

LARC proposes a new DMR repeater for Syracuse

Pretty cool news! The Liverpool Amateur Radio Club is investigating a a DMR repeater and providing DMR tech training sessions In Syracuse.



Press release from LARC on their DMR plans:


Liverpool Amateur Repeater Club (LARC) Plans for Digital Mobile Radio (DMR)
August 6, 2018

DMR has been a hot topic of late and the LARC Board of Directors (the “Board”) has engaged in many discussions on the topic over the last year.  At the August 6 board meeting, the Board passed a motion to bring to the membership at the September meeting a funding authorization, pending successful evaluation (see below), for the purchase, configuration and deployment of a LARC DMR repeater for the greater Syracuse area.  If one looks at some of the DMR footprints in Upstate NY, there is a very noticeable DMR void in the Syracuse area.  Repeaters exist both to the East and West of us.  The Board believes now is an opportune time to embrace the technology as it is clearly here to stay.

Monday, August 6, 2018

Bear Bait ClubTail gate fest - 9/22/18

Bear Bait radio club is having a Tailgate fest coming up on Saturday September 22, 2018 from 7am to 1pm.

Location: Clay Historical Park
4939 State Route 31, Clay NY 13041.

Admission $5.00 Tailgate/Venders:$5.00.


Saturday, August 4, 2018