DELARANEWS

DELARA at the ARC

It’s almost done!!

DELARA members have created a major, well-equipped ham station at the Delaware Chapter of the Red Cross - 380 Hills-Miller, Delaware, OH. This station is available for paid-up club members, and you don’t even have to travel there! A Yaesu FT-950 is available with full remote-control! The Old Timer At the center position is our tribute to great old times in radio! This is the Drake transceiver station. The Drake is all tubes, very powerful (200-400 watts) and remains one of the best older rigs around. If you like tuning/loading finals and figuring out what frequency you’re on- this is the rig for you! It’s wired right now for a hand CW key, the microphone is being looked after and repaired. The Icom In the other corner position is a donated estate HF rig that has also made its mark in amateur radio. the ICOM 745 is a solid state radio, capable of CW or SSB operation. It’s relatively easy to operate, great for someone getting started in HF! This radio does not interface directly to a PC, so if you’re contesting or logging you’ll have to enter everything manually- generally not a big deal. Too cold to travel? Dial up this rig on your PC! The FT-950 George Hafler, WD8KNC, has literally worked hours on making this radio a complete remote station! Using George’s remote software (the guy is a genius programmer) and Team Viewer, you can log in from any PC, select your band (and the antenna changes automatically! Thanks, Dale) and you’re on the air- either CW or SSB. The normal setup is a 160 inverted-L, 80 and 40 dipoles, and the beam. The only piece we can’t do remotely is rotate the beam. (Somehow I think that’s going to come!) The antennas are not locked into the 950- if you want to operate from the station on another radio, you can easily change a jumper and select your antenna. Simply return it when finished to the patch panel. The MESH Station At the first right position when you enter is another PC, dedicated to the ARES/DELARA MESH network. The computer shows the status of the network, and might be used for such things as video feeds, data transfers, WinLink email within the system and MESH Chat.

Here’s the latest! Dale Bauer, W8KTQ, has spearheaded the remodel of our amateur radio station located at the Red Cross. The results are nothing less than stunning! Our Emergency Application The station is designed to serve as an ARES County Control Station during emergency activations. In that phase, the station offers three dual-band VHF/UHF radios plus a DMR digital voice radio for local communications. The HF digital station can be used to send forms and messages digitally to the Ohio EOC or other counties. One or both of the HF stations can be pressed into service for the Ohio ARES Emergency Net and any other communication we need. Some of this function can be spread to our secondary emergency purpose as a backup station for the Red Cross Columbus offices. The Internet connection can be used to get email (arcstation@k8es.org) or other related information. The ARES radios are battery powered to accommodate short-term electric outages. Portable generators located in the barn can be brought in for extended periods. The shared printer can be used for messages or other documents. This desk (plus the other ARES positions) can be used for anchoring important public events such as Ironman and other occasions. We will use this to talk with the county EOC station. The Digital HF Station In one corner of the station is our HF digital station. Currently a Kenwood TS-120 (old but well proven radio!) attached to a PC and radio interface. This station is capable of operation FLDIGI/FLMSG to send and receive digital messages during events or emergencies, but that’s only half the fun! The station is easy to use if you’re interested in operating PSK-31, RTTY, CW, other digital modes or even the new FT-8! The power supply is direct to the 120, but if you want to power the FT-8800 above, you need to turn on the power supply. Most of all: PLEASE USE THE STATION!! IT’S THERE FOR ALL CLUB MEMBERS

DELARANews

DELARA at the

ARC

It’s almost done!!

DELARA members have created a major, well- equipped ham station at the Delaware Chapter of the Red Cross - 380 Hills-Miller, Delaware, OH. This station is available for paid-up club members, and you don’t even have to travel there! A Yaesu FT-950 is available with full remote-control! The Old Timer At the center position is our tribute to great old times in radio! This is the Drake transceiver station. The Drake is all tubes, very powerful (200-400 watts) and remains one of the best older rigs around. If you like tuning/loading finals and figuring out what frequency you’re on- this is the rig for you! It’s wired right now for a hand CW key, the microphone is being looked after and repaired. The Icom In the other corner position is a donated estate HF rig that has also made its mark in amateur radio. the ICOM 745 is a solid state radio, capable of CW or SSB operation. It’s relatively easy to operate, great for someone getting started in HF! This radio does not interface directly to a PC, so if you’re contesting or logging you’ll have to enter everything manually- generally not a big deal. Too cold to travel? Dial up this rig on your PC! The FT-950 George Hafler, WD8KNC, has literally worked hours on making this radio a complete remote station! Using George’s remote software (the guy is a genius programmer) and Team Viewer, you can log in from any PC, select your band (and the antenna changes automatically! Thanks, Dale) and you’re on the air- either CW or SSB. The normal setup is a 160 inverted-L, 80 and 40 dipoles, and the beam. The only piece we can’t do remotely is rotate the beam. (Somehow I think that’s going to come!) The antennas are not locked into the 950- if you want to operate from the station on another radio, you can easily change a jumper and select your antenna. Simply return it when finished to the patch panel. The MESH Station At the first right position when you enter is another PC, dedicated to the ARES/DELARA MESH network. The computer shows the status of the network, and might be used for such things as video feeds, data transfers, WinLink email within the system and MESH Chat.