November 2020 Meeting

Once again we meet via Zoom. This month Jess, W6CKC opened the meeting with club president Clark, K3NI. After introductions Bob, KI0G from his winter home in Moab, reported on how hams supported the Moab 240 Endurance Run, which is an annual meeting of insane people who attempt to run as fast as they can for 240 miles in less than 112 hours. These folks actually pay money to do this sort of thing. Then Clark updated the group on the status of the new Marble repeater link, which will add greatly to the range and reach of the ’88 repeaters. Yours truly gave a quick show-n-tell of my new station backup batteries, the Valence U1-12RT. These are pulls from medical equipment and have most of their life remaining.

Receiving Weather Satellite Images

Bryan N0THY – did an excellent job of receiving (recent) Satellite Images from Hurricane Laura – making landfall over Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Unfortunately – Byran did not say “how he did it”.  Just (Click On) any of the above images below to enlarge them.

So…in the meantime I’m going to take a guess and link (below) to an article that shows you (how to do it?) with a $50.00 RTL-SDR dongle and some free software.  73s  N0ECT, Pensacola.

(Click Here)   Receive Weather Satellite Images

Field Day Primer

Zoom video recording off Bob’s (KI0G) Field Day for noobs. Bob does an excellent job of explaining the mechanics of operating during the annual Field Day “not a contest.” Go out and get on the air, it’s a whole lot of fun and a great chance to get your feet wet.

https://youtu.be/rHIbdZ1Fz2E

January 2020 meeting

New year, new venue! We met on 01/12 at the Glenwood Springs branch of the Garfield County library. Nice big room with (as we discovered at the end of the meeting) a PA system and high resolution projector.

Don Moore, W0CTX showed off his CommRadio CTX-10. And when I say “his radio” I mean it is actually a radio he designed and manufactures here in Colorado! The CTX-10 is a 10 Watt extremely portable 80-10 Meter all mode transceiver. Designed for simple operation, it includes an internal tuner, internal LiPO batteries (off the shelf 18650 cells), OLED display and only 8 controls. Don tells us the story of how he got into the radio business and his design goals.

QST review of the CommRadio CR-1a HF receiver

Eham.net review of CommRadio CTX-10

What is that New I-70 Antenna?

by N0ECT and K0LWC

QTH:  I-70 Eastbound – St. Patrick’s Day – Just west of Dowd Junction and the Vail Exits.

Just a standard I-70 overhead road sign and associated WebCam…HOWEVER there is a newly installed Antenna…for CDOT/Panasonic’s new V2X prototype system.

This is a CDOT/Panasonic Prototype System vehicle-to-everything V2X technology.  Purportedly for Traffic Safety reasons.  This new radio system is designed for 2-Way communication between Vehicle and CDOT broadcast safety notifications.  In the future…likely use for driverless vehicle’s if/when that ever comes to pass on our Interstate roads.

To learn more about this Prototype (Click On) the CDOT News graphic below.

Special Thanks to young Matt – K0LWC who was the first to “ID” this new Radio system!

Matt “hangs out” on BrandMeister TalkGroup 3171 – NoCO DMR, Loveland-Ft. Collins, Colorado    73s  N0ECT

SCARC Makes CQ Magazine – GREAT AGAIN!

How to make CQ Magazine Great Again?

Get the Ski County ARC involved!  That’s How!

Current HF Band Conditions not difficult enough for you?  CQ’s “QRP Special” will make it about 20 times more difficult operating at 5W or below – instead of the usual 100W on HF.

“Can you hear me now?”  Indeed.

(Click Here) to download the PDF file of the February 2019 edition of CQ Magazine.

Merry Christmas 2018 from the top of Vail Mountain!

From Thanksgiving to Christmas – the Snow and Skiing conditions in and around the Mightly .61 is improving each day!

Mighty – .61 on Vail Mountain – ThanksGiving 2018

Sounding Better than it has in Decades…The Mighty – .61 on Vail Mountain in Colorado is taking FULL ADVANTAGE of the Analog Repeater Linking capabilities of Allstar.  Giving Thanks (this ThanksGiving 2018) to Doug Crompton WA3DSP and his SW Development team – whose Raspberry Pi 3 – SW is now powering 61’s connection to the UHF Link Radio – connecting the rest of the Ski Country ARC Analog Repeater system.    .61  [ 146.61 (-)   PL 107.2 ]   (Below – .61 Tallest Vertical – UHF Link Yagi Antenna can be seen – directly below pointed West from Vail Mountain).  K3NI is about to experience what WA3DSP’s RPi 3 software – really can do!

DMR Aficionados can listen (and transmit) into the SCARC Analog Repeater System – by using the BrandMeister TalkGroup 31085.  Your DMR Audio uses our DMR<—>Allstar Gateway Function – so you’ll be heard on Vail Mountain, Aspen, Beaver Creek and SunLight Ski Resorts – all over the Western Slope of Colorado.  Key up (with or without your Skis on) and enjoy a new Colorado Ski Country QSO!

73s  N0ECT – Happy ThanksGiving to all!

N0THY – Decoding Satellite Weather Images

by  N0THY

Looking for a Winter Ham Radio project?  Check with N0THY for tips on decoding NOAA Satellite Weather images by building your own Satellite Weather Image Receiver.  (scroll down to see Bryan’s images)

 

Name(required)

Email(required)

Message(required)

Submit

Δ

Here are the weather satellite pics (screenshots) taken of some of the hurricanes this summer with N0THY’s LEO (low earth orbiting) satellite receiver setup.