MicroHAMS Club Meeting Notes - September 2014

MicroHAMS Club Meeting
Tuesday, September 16th at 6:00 PM

Participants
Phil N2EO
Art N7CC
Scott Slack KD7VBS
Kenny KU7M
Tim KK7TM
Wayne K7ETW
Greg KE7YWZ
David Wyatt KG7LVL
Peter K4PNG
Scott Honaker N7SS
Dave Gaines KG7LGS
David Jenni W7CF
Terence KE7SFF
Lee Burton N6UDP
Michael Schulz K5TRI
Dave Wickert AE7TD
Don KC7YZW

Notes
1. Introductions

2. Announcements & Events
a. Burien Hamfest was OK
b. Salmon Fest – WWA is this weekend
c. Tech license tests on the Eastside!
§ for 2-3 months on 2nd Saturday each month
§ tests start after the club meeting at 11 AM
§ see: http://lakewashingtonhamclub.org

d. Kenny – TAPR Digital Communications Conference
§ It was in Austin, Texas a couple weeks ago.
§ Kind words about MHDC: “Yours is every bit as good as this.”
§ HamRadioNow recorded everything.
§ Master Thesis on Bell 202 Standard was cool and well-presented.
§ SDR Flex guys came to talk
§ SDR protocol definition is underway
§ Workshop on how to program FPGAs
§ Definitely coming back to Seattle in a few years

e. JARRL published new standard for D-STAR
§ but it’s in Japanese
§ Kickstarter project to translate it to English either by TAPR or MicroHAMS
§ Try to get Icom as corporate sponsor.

3. Review Survey Data
a. Projects are of interest to many
§ Antenna Rotator
§ Make Antennas
§ TNC-Pi by Coastal chip works
§ TNC-X ditto

4. Speaker – N7SS – Scott Honaker
a. How to Install a Mobile Rig
§ Do a really great job like car audio pros, not sloppy QST stuff
§ See http://www.k0bg.com for a great guide to mobile installations
§ Use Blue Sea ST-Blade for power distribution block http://www.bluesea.com
§ ProClip has custom mounting plates for your car http://www.proclipusa.com

b. Mobile Antennas
§ Drill, baby, drill! (Get over it.)
§ Use NMO antenna mounts, not the PL-259 kind