| NIHRAC (K3YGG) NIH Building 13 Room G-903 Bethesda, MD 20892 |
Emergency Communications Center NIH Building 11 Room 308 phone: 301 496-5311 |
NIHRAC Web site http://nihac.info.nih.gov/nihrac/k3ygghp.html
The next meeting will be held at noon on Thursday May 7, 1998 in the Emergency Communications Center (ECC) located on the third floor of Building 11. We will review our support of the Clinical Center power outage test held on April 4 and the April 24 Parklawn Classic.
The meeting was called to order by Vice President Larry Martin at 1205 p.m. The minutes of the March 5, 1998 meeting were accepted as distributed.
Members attending the meeting were Ernst Gehrels N3QX, Jim Hobbs AA3DN, Bill Hook W3QBC, Albert Lock KA3WCF, Larry Martin W3IBO, John Muller W3QF, Frank J. Nice, Frank Putnam N3ZPQ, Chuck Sherman N3WTO, Al Taylor KN3U, Bryan West K2BW and Tom Vegella K1FEX.
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On Tuesday evening March 10, John Muller and Harold Simon operated K3YGG and MEMA Unit 48 during the monthly communications exercise. Six messages were copied and receipted on 2 meters and 3 messages on the MEMA VHF frequency. For the April 14 exercise John asked for at least one additional volunteer plus a backup operator. This will be a good opportunity to become familiar with some of the communications equipment in the ECC.
No progress was reported in continuing the preinventory survey of NIHRAC equipment. Sandy Miller, AO for the Emergency Management Branch, did not visit as planned after the March 5 meeting to continue the survey.
On March 28 Jim Hobbs picked up NIHRAC's new TS-570D transceiver from the Maryland Radio Center and installed the accessory 500 Hz CW filter. The Astron SS25 continuous duty switching power supply was received on April 7 and both are now being tested in the ECC as part of the k3ygg packet-Internet system. The total cost for all items including tax was $1458.35 and was paid with funds from the NIHRAC treasury.
The Committee appointed to report on this project has agreed that the next step is to prepare a complete set of drawings and a parts list so that a precise estimate of costs can be made. Al Taylor has agreed to do this. After the documentation becomes available and when NIHRAC votes to fund the project, Al will purchase the needed items with the understanding that he will be repaid. Additional comments are sought on the Report that was attached to the March meeting minutes. Please send them to battery@k3ygg.ampr.org.
After last month's meeting, Jim Hobbs and Bill Hook inspected the KLM log periodic beam antenna and concluded that it would not be worthwhile for the Team to meet to do work as planned on Thursday March 12. This decision was reached after the preliminary inspection revealed the following
The crank-up tower is badly rusted and should be replaced. We need to do this as well as purchase an extra heavy-duty rotator. The purchase of a rotator should be delayed until a suitable tower is obtained. The present tower is too small to accept a rotator of the appropriate size. A crew of volunteers plan to bolt a donated 20 ft fixed tower in place during the summer. It was estimated that a heavy duty, worm-drive, locking rotator such as the M2 Orion will cost approximately $1050.
Meanwhile, the antenna needed to be immobilized to prevent its rotation and wrapping of feedline around the mast. Thus, Jim fabricated and installed a clamp to prevent the beam from turning in the wind. It's now fixed pointing west.
As of March 17, renewal forms had been received from 14 Affiliate and 14 Full members. A new membership roster with the names of new and renewing members will be distributed in May. In addition, an electronic version will be sent to those receiving meeting minutes by e-mail.
Plans for the power outage test to be held two days hence were discussed. Nine members indicated that they would be available and several others were expected to volunteer.
For this test, the usual frequency choices were changed so that we will use 447.925 MHz simplex as the primary channel and the NIHRAC's 145.290 MHz repeater will be used for talk-around and a VHF back-up. Ten Motorola JT-1000 UHF HTs belonging to the PHS-1 DMAT will be available for members to evaluate during the test.
Participants will meet at the B-1 level Building 10 cafeteria at 1230 p.m. Before the NIHRAC meeting the PHS-1 DMAT's Bendix- King 114 channel, 40 watt Model EMV UHF mobile transceiver was taken out of its box and set up for the first time. It will be used during the test at the NIHRAC ECC in Building 11 by "Net" (control). NIHRAC members who are also members of the PHS-1 DMAT were urged to participate in this test so that they might become familiar with their new equipment.
At the August 7, 1997 meeting we agreed to assist the Parklawn Amateur Radio Club in providing communication support for this event. Bryan West K2BW, President of the Parklawn Club provided details.
Bryan said there will be over 1250 participants and many spectators at the Classic. The radio volunteers will assist with logistical operations, such as reporting traffic blockages and need for water at various stations; and safety operations, such as reporting medical emergencies. Bryan will coordinate with Ross Merlin, OEP Communications, for some volunteers to use government-owned radios. Volunteers will check in at 900 a.m. on Friday April 24 and they will be given a free T-shirt and a catered lunch. A mandatory training session on Monday April 20 will be held prior to the actual event. Tom Vegella will obtain parking for NIH employees at the Twinbrook Center. Forms were provided for volunteers to fill out and return to Bryan. If there are questions please call Bryan at work (301-443-4686).
Brian West K2BW was elected to full membership and Ernst Gehrels N3QX was approved for affiliate membership. Both hold Extra Class licenses and are active on HF, VHF and UHF. We welcome them and their skills to NIHRAC.
Albert Lock and Frank Nice reported on a recent "mission of mercy" that Frank organized to provide medical assistance to the people of Leon, a small town located in a remote part of Haiti. Most of the volunteers were Public Health Service officers, including some from the PHS-1 DMAT. When not working at the clinic Albert had an opportunity to visit a 100 watt radio broadcasting station in Jerimi, a town located on the coast. Among its equipment was a HF transceiver (Yaesu FT50C) that was permanently set to only one (a non-amateur) frequency. It was used mainly to receive messages from Port Au Prince. Albert and Frank plan to help establish an Amateur Radio station in Leon.
The meeting was adjourned at 110 p.m. by Vice President Martin.
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