ARCARS

June 2008

Meeting Minutes

The meeting was called to order on June 1, 2008 with 23 members and guests present.

MINUTES: Motion to accept the May minutes by Russ (KD8FRE), seconded by Mike (M8MIC) approved.

DISASTER REPORT: ARCARS was dispatched to the scene of a fire in Port Huron that destroyed a furniture store on May 13^th. A power line fell during efforts to extinguish the fire and destroyed one of the fire trucks. ARCARS was sent to assist in evacuation and shelter efforts for the effected residents as well as aiding in canteen deployment. A month earlier ARCARS responded to a toxic spill on Interstate 94. The lessons learned; the use of tactical orders and terms aid in communications, and our chapter of the Red Cross has elected to include ARCARS members in all the Red Cross vehicles that are deployed to assure constant communications with the command center. We also observed that during long term events lasting several hours would be smoother with additional shifts of relief volunteer radio operators to allow the first responders to rest.

NET REPORT: Edgar (KC8VLV) reported that attendance has been steady since the net operations have moved to the chapter house. The introduction of new topics of interest has also helped. If you have a topic that you would like discussed on the net please contact Edgar via email eds2@advnet.net. Please make note to participate Tuesday evenings at 8pm, on 146.800MHz.

SPECIAL EVENTS: An event involving amateur radio operators is planned for June 7^th and 8^th at the Huron Lightship. This is a special event honoring museum ships. Also on that weekend Port Huron is holding its "be a tourist in you home town" event.

CLUB STATION: We are still short a 2 meter radio at the station. The power supply for the 2 meter packet station has an intermittent problem. NA8I said he can repair it.

NEWSLETTER: Our newsletter and web page is available at www.qsl.net/arcars, www.bandopening.org/arcars. Andrew has established a couple of new sites that contain additional information. Please visit www.arcars.org as well as www.sccradioclass.org. If you have any information you would like posted on the website, contact Mark (N8EGJ). We have a wealth of archived information available on the website as well as on the RSS feed.

CLUB PROJECT: Gene reported that a new antenna for the 146.800 repeater should be installed soon. The truck that was donated by the Detroit Free Press / News is undergoing repairs. The work planned includes; fender work, painting rims, fabricating a bumper, as well as break work. Coax replacement is still planned to run from the command center to the tower.

OLD BUSINESS: Skywarn 147.320MHz repeater. Mike (AA8K) informed the group that the repeater has been temporarily moved to the county building awaiting grant monies and permanent location designation. So far the bids are larger than the available grants. In response, a decision was made to utilize as much existing equipment and parts as possible to help afford its re-deployment.

NEW BUSINESS: Andrew (KC8SPD) presented certificates and pins commemorating 15 years of service as volunteers of the American Red Cross to many of the members.

DX SPOTS/ SPECIAL EVENTS: Tom (W8TRC) provided us with a solar conditions report. DX conditions remain quiet with the solar flux below 70 all month. Projections indicate slight improvement to a solar flux at 72 by mid month. He reported hearing an Iranian station on 20 meters while observing gray line propagation. Paul (KG8OU) noted that recently 40 meters has covered three states at about 8pm. Jim (N8LUV) made mention of a 2 meter side band net that is being held Monday evenings at 8pm on 144.250MHz. This net will be added to the announcement section of the newsletter.

MOTION TO ADJOURN: by Kip (KB8WWH) seconded by Edgar (KC8VLV)

Interesting observations during the meeting: Victor (WD8DWR) reminded us that working through cooperation has made our group successful and recognized JD (KD8HTG) for his assistance in a recent project. Mark (N8EGJ) encouraged us to be mindful of weather events, and urged everyone to inspect their cloths dryer vents for possible fire hazards. He noted that this year is already showing indications of wide spread severe events. BE READY!

ANNOUNCEMENTS and other info:

The ARCARS & International Traders Net is held every Tuesday evening at 8pm on the 146.800 NA8I repeater.

The International Friendship Net is held every Thursday at 9pm on the 145.370-VA3SAR repeater

The Thumb / Mid Michigan Nets are held Monday thru Saturday at 9:30pm on the 147.300 repeater.

The Michigan SSB Net – 144.250MHz USB, is held every Monday at 8pm.

HF: The Great Lakes Emergency and Traffic Net is held nightly at 8pm on 3.932 kHz

The AC8W DX Cluster on 144.790 MHz is available. Check it for HF activity.

Swap list provided by Frank (VE3FBH)

The opinions expressed below, as well as the accuracy of the content of the information belongs to Dan KB6NU,
and are not those of ARCARS or any of its affiliates.

Ham Cram, or the One-Day Tech Class

by Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

I used to be skeptical of one-day ham radio classes, sometimes called "Ham

Cram" classes. After teaching a couple of these classes over the past year,

however, I've become a supporter of this method of teaching, at least for

the Technician Class license test.

One reason I'm an advocate of the one-day class is that I think a lot of

people "learn by doing." I'm not an expert on pedagogy, but my guess is

that more people learn by doing than learn by reading or by listening. That

being the case, isn't it a good thing that new hams get their licenses

quickly so that they can begin doing--thereby learning--more quickly?

Second, people are busy. Tell them that the class is going to eat up one

evening a week for six to eight weeks and a lot of them will tell you that

they just don't have the time to do it. Squeezing in six to eight hours on

a Saturday is, however, something that they can do.

Critics of the one-day classes say that if people just cram for the test,

they may learn enough for just long enough to pass the test, but they

really don't know enough to be "good hams," whatever that may be. There's

some truth to this. It's important not to abandon them once they get their

tickets. I encourage all of the students to join a ham radio club and make

myself available to answer any questions they may have as they get started

in ham radio.

Critics also say that releasing this horde on the amateur bands will create

nothing but chaos. Fortunately, I've personally seen no evidence that the

hundreds of folks that have taken these classes across the country have

created said chaos.

Make Your Next Class a One-Day Class

I would encourage you to give this a try. Make your next Tech class a

one-day class. You don't conduct Tech classes? Well, get started! Another

benefit of the one-day class format is that it's easier to find teachers

since it takes less time for them, too.

As I mentioned previously, over the past year, I've taught two "ham cram"

classes. We've learned a few things along the way.

Perhaps the most important thing is to stress that students should study

the material before coming to class. The study guide we use is one that

I've written. You can find the KB6NU No-Nonsense Study Guide online at

http://www.kb6nu.com. You can also purchase a pre-printed version of the

study guide at www.booklocker.com/books/3408.html.

Another key is to not get bogged down on a particular topic. Our class runs

from 9 am to 3 pm, at which time, the VEs come in and give the test. To

cover all of the material, you have to keep one eye on the clock and keep

plowing ahead. To help you do this, a set of Power Point slides for teachers

of Ham Cram Tech classes is available at http://w9pe.us/.

We conducted our first class last August. Nine out of twelve passed the

test that day; the remaining three passed on their second attempt. In early

May, we taught our second one-day class. This time, eleven out of twelve

passed.

I am encouraged by these results, and I am planning to make these one-day

classes a regularly-scheduled event here in Ann Arbor. Time will tell if

these people become active, life-long hams, but so far, so good. If you

have any questions about our experience with the one-day class, please

e-mail me at cwgeek@kb6nu.com.

By: Dan KB6NU |