RCARC's First Weekly Net... is in the can!

The Rusk County Amateur Radio Club held its first weekly net Thursday night (August 29). Sixteen amateurs, including net control, checked-in to the net. Hams from as far away as Pittsburg and Lake Palestine joined in on the conversation.

"I was very pleased with our first net," said Keith Ballow, the club's current president. "It was very successful." Keith also served as the net control for the on-air meeting.

The net was held on the club's repeater on 146.78 MHz, with an offset of -0.6 and a 131.8 PL tone. The club is planning to hold a net every Thursday evening at 7 p.m., except the fourth Thursday of each month, which is the night of the regular club meeting. All hams are welcome to check-in during the next net!

Repeater reaches new heights!

New Repeater Location

Thanks to Richard, Jon and Dudley for lending a hand Saturday (August 24th) morning to move the RCARC's repeater to the Rusk County Electric Association's tower, which is located off highway 43, just east of Henderson.  We also very much appreciate the Rusk County Electric Association for allowing us to place the repeater at their tower site.

The repeater's antenna is now located at the top of the REA tower at an elevation of approximately 410 feet, and we have already received several excellent signal reports from amateur stations in Jacksonville, Lake Port, Nacogdoches, and Tyler.

This site will allow Amateur Radio Operators in the area to be much more effective when responding to public service events such as SkyWarn (inclement weather reporting) and other emergencies that might arise in our area.

Back to the Mesh Nodes gentlemen!

A new version of the HSMM-Mesh node software has been released. And with the new release, comes a change in the name. The non-intuitive, albeit nice and short "HSMM-Mesh" has changed to a fairly cumbersome, but descriptive "Broadband-Hamnet" I'll leave it to you to determine if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

At any rate, the new software WILL NOT communicate with the old, so upgrading is an all or nothing proposition. Basically, if we upgrade one node, we'll have to upgrade them all. So let's get to it and flash some ROMs! Good luck and no bricks!

More details are available at: http://hsmm-mesh.org/

The repeater has a new home

UPDATED! Well, after more investigation, we discovered that the original coax appears to be connected to a small yagi antenna about two-thirds up the tower and not the 2-meter repeater antenna at the top. (Honestly, it's kind of hard to see when the sun is directly above the tower!) So, after cutting and splicing and reconnecting, the signal is GREATLY improved. Now the question is, again, how much coverage will it have. Feel free to add your reports in the comment section below. The more reports we have, the better idea we'll have of its capabilities.

The Future of the Repeater

by KN5G - Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and didn’t over indulge with too much good food or get too much sun!

Keith, KN5G

As most of you already know our Henderson repeater is experiencing some technical problems. We believe it is due to an issue in the feed line or the connection between the feed line and the antenna on top of the water tower.
The repeater, cavities and jumpers in the shack below the water tower have all been checked out a couple of times without an issue being found. Of course the access to the radio shack below the water tower is limited due to Homeland Security Regulations regarding public water supplies so it isn’t easy to gain access when the repeater is acting up. Also it isn’t easy to find someone with the required insurance to climb the tower and check on the feed line or connection to the antenna.

Boston highlights benefits of ham radio

There was a recent article highlighting the role that ham radio was able to play during the Boston bombings.

Fortunately, hams were already on the scene working to support the marathon when the explosions took place. They simply took on a new role when cell service shut down in the chaotic aftermath.

What a great reason to get an amateur radio license!

Rusk County hams featured in Henderson paper

A story about the new Rusk County Amateur Radio Club appeared in Monday's edition of the Henderson Daily News. Here's the link: Story.

The story talks about the beginning of the club and our plans to host a Field Day in June.

Broadband Amateur Newtorks

There is an exciting development going on to bring about the existence of a high-speed, broadband amateur network. Below in an video introducing the concept and how to get involved.

More information can be found on the Austin group's website: HSMM-Mesh.org including a link to a buying guide for WRT54G hardware. Other hardware may be supported, but this is currently the best list.

By registering with the site, you gain access to a few more links to information as well as updates when they happen. Also, check out the Yahoo Group: DAWG-HSMM which is made up, mostly, of mesh-net hams in the Dallas area.

2013 Field Day plans begin to take shape

Field Day is drawing near and plans for the Rusk County Amateur Radio Club's Field Day operations are starting to fall into place. Members of the RCARC discussed preliminary plans during the monthly meeting in March. The clubs hopes to operate at Lake Forest Park from noon, June 22 to noon, June 23.

The public will be invited to attend and several radios will be setup for use during the national event. Check back often, as we will be posting more details and they are planned.

Advanced Skywarn class held

Several Rusk County ARC hams, along with a handful of others interested in weather, attended an Advanced Skywarn class Thursday evening, April 4th. Attendees learned about the how cold fronts, warm fronts, highs and low combine to trigger severe weather. Students also learn how to better interpret radar and weather data to determine the most likely place dangerous tornados activity might take place.

The class was taught by a National Weather Service representative from Shreveport, Louisiana.