The 2008 Alabama College Association Annual Conference will be held November 23rd through 25th at the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel and Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center in Mobile Alabama. This year’s conference theme is “The Alabama Community College System: Developing Champions.”
Amateur Radio will be the featured for the first time at this year’s Conference, with a workshop presentation and an actual working Amateur Radio Communications station!
Amateur or HAM Radio is carving a unique niche in the Alabama College System. Amateur Radio Communications stations including equipment and curriculum currently exist in two Alabama colleges, J. F. Drake State Technical College [...] Continue Reading…

It has become an increasing trend in large cities for club-owned repeaters to be closed repeaters, with club members being given individual access codes; a certain general code can be programed to allow for travelers or emergency traffic to access the repeater, but if that “guest” code is abused, the club will contact the offender and strongly request that person to either join the club or cease using the repeater.

The repeaters owned and operated by The Mobile Amateur Radio Club, Inc. are all currently open repeaters — but we ask those who use them on a regular basis to [...] Continue Reading…

Did you know that The Mobile Amateur Radio Club, Inc. owns and operates 6 repeaters?  146.82, 147.225, 147.345, 6 meter repeater, ATV repeater, D-STAR repeater.   We also have a ham station set up at the Mobile office of the National Weather Service, for use in times of severe weather.  This equipment and its up-keep is made possible by MARC’s members.  THANK YOU, MEMBERS!

If you use any W4IAX repeater on a regular basis, or wish to support the public service provided by the club, please consider joining our membership.  Use the Membership tab to view your options, and pay online, if you wish.

 November 7 – General Membership Meeting (nominations for 2009 Board)
 November 28 – Board Meeting CANCELLED due to the Thanksgiving weekend
 December 12 – General Membership Meeting moved to the 2nd Friday
  Held at Creekwood Church of Christ  
  After a brief meeting including election of 2009 Board, we will enjoy our Christmas Party
 December 26 – Board Meeting CANCELLED due to the Christmas holidays
 January 2, 2009 – General Membership Meeting

A W4IAX Special Event Station will be set up at the AL Pecan Festival, at the Tillmans Corner Community Center, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, Gary McDuffie, KC4MIX, coordinating.  (Gary will not be present on Sun. Nov. 2 – if you wish to operate then, please contact him.)  All are invited to come by and operate.  Visit the many vendors, food booths, and enjoy the free musical entertainment.

www.alabamapecanfestival.com

You are invited to check in to the ALABAMA D-STAR Net on
*Tuesday night at 8:30 pm (CDT) *

El Erby, K4DJL, will be net control this week.

Plan on checking in with the Alabama D-STAR net each Tuesday night.
This net is intended to promote D-STAR in Alabama and surrounding
states. Join us and see what is going as the technology expands. If
you have questions, throw them out and someone will help..

During recent nets we have had the Birmingham (K4DSO), Tuscaloosa
(W4KCQ), Montgomery (W4AP), Huntsville (KI4PPF), Magnolia Springs
(KI4SAZ), Atlanta (WX4GPB) and others [...] Continue Reading…

We’ve only 6 days from SOB VI launch!  Everything is green and GO for launch.

When: Saturday, Oct 11, 2008 7:00 AM

Where: KV4AC launch site

What: SOB VI - 1500g balloon - amateur radio payload

APRS & telemetry callsign & frequency - W4SPA-11 - 144.990 (please don’t transmit here, turn UI digis off!)

Internet: http://findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=W4SPA-11

Simplex repeater callsign & frequency: W4SPA - 446.375 - 141.3 PL - Net control: N4CIO

Repeater use protocol:

Wait for net control to call for check-ins.
Wait for CW-ID.
Transmit your callsign, name, location (city and state) - keep total keydown time to [...] Continue Reading…

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Staffing requests for amateur radio operators are beginning to come in
from the South Texas (STX) Section. The ARRL is requesting that nearby
sections, including Alabama assemble a list of volunteers who are
willing and able to deploy to the affected area. Suitable candidates
should be licensed amateur radio operators, in good physical condition,
who are able to travel to Texas for a minimum of five (5) days.

There is no reimbursement for travel expenses. No amateur radio
operator should deploy to the affected area until receiving orders to
do so by their Section Emergency Coordinator. If you are already
deploying to the affected area [...] Continue Reading…

Dear MARC Members,

As of this evening (Tues.), as far as we know, the Thursday Drill is a NO
GO.  We will keep everyone posted if we learn of a new date. Thank You to
all those who volunteered to help.
Also A BIG Thank You to everyone who helped during Fay & Gustav.
Gerald Jones, KD4DLJ

If you are interested in helping ARES with future emergency communications,
contact Gerald.  He would also appreciate more ARES net controls.
If you would like to work at the NWS office during Skywarn activation, or
help with a Skywarn net from your home, contact Gary [...] Continue Reading…

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From: Scott Poole [mailto:swpoole@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 6:42 AM
Subject: SOB V signal reports

All,

I am requesting SOB V signal reports.  If you heard the SOB V  signal, please reply to this e-mail and let me know.

Did you hear the VHF APRS data, or the UFH CW ID or both?
Where were you located?
What kind of radio setup?
Mobile, fixed, portable?
What kind of antenna?
What was the signal strength?
How long could you hear the signal?
If you recorded anything, I’d like a copy of the file please.

Any other details you’d like to provide would be most [...] Continue Reading…