Can you help with the 2016 Rochester Hamfest?

I think most Upstate NY Hams will agree that the Rochester Amateur Radio Association (RARA) Hamfest is one of the better Hamfests around each year. Though in recent years it has had some ups and downs, its always one I try to catch. I thought the 2015 edition was pretty good and I like the Barnard Fireman's grounds location.


Fast forward to planning for the 2016 edition. I am a member of RARA and just received the latest club newsletter. In the Presidents column he mentions the hamfest challenges for 2016. The need for volunteers to help make it happen is pretty obvious. Can you help out in some way? The leadership is looking for ideas and help to keep this hamfest alive. If you can help, please attend the December RARA meeting on December 4th.

Read the RARA President's message in the December newsletter here: http://rags.rochesterham.org/e-RAGS/RAG_December_2015.pdf

SKYWARN Recognition Day Is Saturday, December 5

    
The 17th annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/hamradio/) on-the-air event is set for Saturday, December 5, from 0000 UTC to 2400 UTC. Cosponsored by ARRL and the National Weather Service, SKYWARN Recognition Day pays tribute to Amateur Radio operators for the vital public service they perform.

Update on QCWA 6 Meter NET - Tuesdays

In case anyone missed the previous announcements, the QCWA 6 meter net, Tuesdays at 7pm, will only be held on the Auburn 53.05 repeater until further notice, due to technical issues with the link to the Syracuse 53.67 machine. Thanks for your understanding and patience.

73 KB2VSN

ARRL - National Parks on-the-Air 2016

In 2016, the National Park Service (NPS) will celebrate its 100th anniversary, and radio amateurs will be able to help mark the occasion with the ARRL National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) event. The fun begins at 0000 UTC on January 1, 2016.

“As ARRL just celebrated our own Centennial, and Amateur Radio is often enjoyed in the great outdoors, it seemed fitting to devise a program to help NPS celebrate their own 100th birthday,” said ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X.

Winter SKYWARN Training

Winter SKYWARN Spotter Training Classes are coming!

The training will be held at various area locations and on-line. This class is for beginners or anybody that has a general interest in weather. These classes train volunteers how to accurately measure and report snowfall totals to the National Weather Service. The class is free and open to everyone; no age requirements, previous training, or equipment is required.

The SKYWARN program is a nationwide program that provides real-time severe weather reports to the National Weather Service. "Trained weather spotters provide valuable lifesaving information to the National Weather Service and we encourage those who have an interest in weather to participate in this critical program," said David Nicosia, Warning Coordination Meteorologist in Binghamton NY. "Despite all the technological advances, SKYWARN Spotter reports are still crucial to the National Weather Service in providing more accurate severe weather warnings," Nicosia continues.

See the full training schedules at:

Binghamton:  http://www.weather.gov/bgm/outreachSKYWARNtraining
Buffalo: http://www.weather.gov/buf/Skywarn
Albany: http://cstar.cestm.albany.edu/skywarn/Talks.htm

Learn more about SKYWARN and Amateur Radio at: http://www.upstateham.com/p/skywarn.html

My Favorite Marsh-Man (from AR Newsline)

11/19/15 -UPDATE from Steve on his day in the Marsh (and the pictures):
So the Marshes-on-the-air (MOTA) was a big success! Thanks to the local community for being so supportive . In total I made 57 contacts on four bands 40, 20, 10, and  6m in the 5 hours I was out. The weather  cooperated with just a few brief moments of drizzle . The furthest contact was Colorado which gave me a signal report of 44 as well as Florida where I received a 56/7 and to the northeast; Nova Scotia where I received a 56 as well . We hit various other states including Michigan , Virginia, New Jersey , Mass , New Hampshire and Maine. Overall we did very well with good signal reports from all . Again this was a lot of fun and I really appreciate all the local contacts and enthusiasm from everyone in the immediate ham community. I can't wait to get out and find some more interesting spots to activate in the future . One final note I wanted to thank my YL for being so supportive and being a good trooper putting up with my quirks with my hobby. This is the second expedition she has gone on with me (IOTA) and I give her a lot of credit for putting up with me and getting out in the field . youtube video of the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHHHgX7iIgI

Thanks
 KD2ETP; Steve

(This story from the Nov. 6th AR Newsline Broadcast - hear it on Monday Night Ham News this Monday on the KD2SL & KC2VER Repeaters in Syracuse)

 The Hamlin Marsh Wildlife Management Area in New York's Adirondack(?) region holds many things in its vast acreage of wetland: aquatic birds, frogs, deer and various grasses. But it holds something even more for one Syracuse area ham: endless radio possibilities. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, has the details:

Since earlier this year, Steven Mussi, KD2ETP, has believed he could enter the upstate New York wetland known as Clay Marsh and find solid footing for a QRP adventure. So Sunday, Nov. 8, will find Mussi canoeing out across the swampy landscape, climbing ashore on some hospitable patch of land, and setting up his Elekraft KX3 and his two antennas.

Communications Exercise - You can help Nov. 8th

Onondaga County ARES, RACES, OCREC and the amateur community are requested to participate in a national exercise scheduled for the upcoming weekend. This training exercise
simulates a national Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) and Geo-Magnetic storm.




All amateur operators are invited to attend. There are no deployment requirements for this exercise so it is a great opportunity for everyone to participate; including our operators who find it difficult to get out into the field...we have a need for your participation in our emergency plans. We welcome operators of ALL skills and physical abilities. Details below:

MOTA event November 8th

Steve; KD2ETP has announced an upcoming portable HF QRP excursion. "Marshes-on-the-air"; MOTA, is to be held in the Hamlin Marsh (also known as the Clay Marsh) on Sunday November 8th. Steve will be spending the day working QRP on the HF bands from his canoe in the marsh. You will remember his past local QRP events; "Frozen-Lakes-on-the Air"; FLOTA and "Islands-on-the-air"; IOTA, earlier this year.

Catch him on his HT on the KD2SL 146.67 repeater for details.
HF frequencies listed below:
- (so far) 7.210 mhz
- more to come?

Stay tuned here for more details on times and frequencies as they become available!

Store Fest at RW Antenna Store

 Store Fest 

Fri-Sat-Sunday. 10/23-25, 8-5pm Fri-Sat, 10am- 2pm Sunday.

10-70% off New and used Amateur Radio, CB, Scanner, Shortwave  Gear. Large inventory of accessories, antennas, rotors, towers, cable, connectors, power supplies, and more.

RW Antenna Store has been a great supporter of  the Upstate NY Amateur Radio community and can be found at most of our Upstate NY Hamfests.

RW Antenna Store,
6150 Crosby Rd., Lockport, NY 14094 (716-434-9216)
www.rwantennastore.com

NY QSO Party - October 17th

                            2015 New York QSO Party            
     
Set aside the date: Saturday, October 17th, 10:00 AM ET

Phone – CW – RTTY/Digital

Since 2009 Rochester has been the home of the NY QSO Party. This is a great opportunity to be a station that everyone wants to work. All stations work only NY'ers!

All the information you need such as rules, FAQ's and awards are just a click
away... www.NYQP.org.
                                         
"But my station isn't good enough."  WRONG!

There is lots of activity on 40 and 80 meters so signals (yours and theirs) will be strong. QRP stations have made almost 600 QSO's in the NYQP. Activity on the upper bands grows every year.

Work a few, work a bunch. Operate from home or grab a friend and mobile a number of Counties (only if you can deal with being very popular). Can you work all 62 NY Counties? The fun is there waiting to happen!

If you expect to be operating mobile from a number of counties please post your plans to the NYQP website. More contacts, more fun! CQ NYQP!

More information and rules at: http://www.nyqp.org/

Thanks to the NYQSO Team for forwarding this notice on to us!

Send us your event info to post on UpstateHam.com at UpstateHam@gmail.com

Ham Radio Exams Saturday, October 17th

 Syracuse VE Exam Team - Ham Radio Exams 
Saturday, October 17th, 2015

All exams available: Tech, General, Extra

- registration noon to 1 p.m. at Liverpool Public Library in the Sargent Room.

Bring: copy of current license if you hold one.
2 forms of ID are needed - one with your picture
Exam fee $14 in cash or M.O.
Last exam scheduled  for 2015

Please Email any Questions to: VEexams@hotmail.com

The Syracuse VE Team has been doing these exams for 31 years!
They were also the 2nd exam team in New York state to begin under the volunteer system. 
Thanks to them and all the upstate groups that conduct training and exams!

Listening to Digital Voice communications

I recently have had several inquiries from folks interested in listening to digital voice modes. So this week I came across this interesting article that does a pretty good job of answering some of those questions. The article explains the equipment required to continue listening to many digital Amateur and public service radio transmissions. It covers most of the digital voice modes and the basic functionality of each mode. Though written from the perspective of a Canadian Ham/SWL, it is very applicable to what is happening around the world.

from Scanner Digest #72 (Summer 2015)
CANADA Report - John Leonardelli - VE3IPS

ve3ips@gmail.com

Buzz Buzz Bzzzzrrrp - The Short Guide to Digital Radio

The world of scanning is changing as we move from an

analog world to a digital one. Each digital mode has

different characteristics in how the analog voice is

converted to and decoded from digital. Linking methods

vary across each mode and inter-operability is lacking

between them. Many local amateur radio club nets that

offered interesting listening are now moving to the digital

modes. However, many ARES/RACES groups continue to

offer analog and digital mode nets to test out the

communication readiness.

Signalink and Other USB Digital Interfaces - Bug Fix for Amateur Radio Digital Modes

Huge Windows bug ruining your receive performance on all digital modes, fix discovered

https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/3eytah/huge_windows_bug_ruining_your_receive_performance/

There's a bug with the USB audio chipset used in many ham radio sound interfaces that occurs in Windows Vista and later. The affected chipset is the TI PCM2900 series PCM2904 and below, pre-C revisions.
A non-exhaustive list of devices using this chip and therefore have the bug guaranteed:
All Icoms with built in USB Audio
All Kenwoods with built in USB Audio
All Yaesus with built in USB Audio, as well as the SCU-17 Interface
All Signalink USB's

If you have one of these devices, and are on Windows Vista or later, your performance is reduced due to this bug even if you think it's working fine. Wait until you see your performance afterwards! This is confirmed by Texas Instruments, who never recommended this chipset for use on Windows Vista and later in the first place, and also tested with more than 70 hams who gained massive receive performance after the fix.

Pumpkin Patrol 2015

The Liverpool Amateur Radio Club (LARC), the Amateur Radio community and The New York State Police (Troop T) are again pleased to sponsor the 2015 Pumpkin Patrol. (Most counties across NY have Ham radio groups participating)

This is a two night public service event to be held on October 30th and 31st from 19:00 to 21:00 hours. The chairman is seeking Amateur Radio Operators who can dedicate one or both evenings. Operators are encouraged to work in pairs and non-ham friends, family or pets are encouraged to accompany them. Teams will operate from their vehicles (no walking or standing required) and repeater coverage is generally okay for handheld use although mobile units are encouraged.

Binghamton area repeaters

A few folks have asked for news on active Binghamton Area Amateur Repeaters.

Check out our list below:

146.730 - 100.0 Binghamton K2TDV (Ingraham Hill) Linked to Ithaca 146.895 K2ZG
146.865 - 146.2 Maine  WA2QEL (E.A. Link Field)
146.820 – 146.2 Vestal WA2QEL (Kopernik Obs) Linked to 146.865
147.345 + 146.2 Hancock WA2QEL Liked to 146.865
147.120 + 100.0 Vestal K2ZG
147.075 +  CSQ  K2VQ Not Sure of the Location
145.470 – CSQ  W2EWM Town of Binghamton near the PA border.
147.255 + 100.0 WA2VCS Endicott
145.390 – 123.0 N2YR Endicott
146.760 – CSQ  W2VDX Owego
147.300 + 91.5 K2OQ  Candor
147.390 + 91.5 K2OQ Owego
145.430 + 77.0 N3KZ Elk Mt. PA I-81 Good Signal From Binghamton South

444.100 + 146.2 WA2QEL Vestal Linked to 146.865
444.300 + 173.8 N2YOW Endicott Linked to WA2VCS 147.255
444.700 + 131.8 N3KZ University of Penn. Linked 70CM -currently down.

Thanks to KD2GIV; Kris for his list of observations from the Southern Tier (7/8/15)