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Click [ here ] for the museum web site which contains detailed driving directions and other information where our meetings are held |
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President's Welcome: Thank you for visiting our Web Site! We would be delighted if you would like to know more about the oldest, continuously operating amateur radio club (established in 1956) in the Southern Maryland area. The St. Mary's County Amateur Radio Association is a general interest group whose goal is to advance the state of the art of and get others interested in the greatest hobby in the world. If you would like to learn more about amateur radio in general or perhaps find out what some of our specific activities are, come to the next meeting (see date/time above). At each meeting, we attempt to have a special guest speaker scheduled to provide an overview of a specific interesting facet of the hobby. Please feel free to join us at one of our monthly meetings! If you can't make it to a meeting, give me a call at 301-862-2214 or fill out the membership application available (below) on this web site.
73 and have fun in ham radio this month!
Pete Butt, WA3UMY President, St. Mary's County Amateur Radio Association Updated: Sunday, 29 June 2008
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Another GREAT Event... Thank you to everyone who supported the BEST SMCARA Field Day event in our history! See pictures of our just-completed 'FIELD DAY' by clicking [ HERE ] |
Large turn-out for the May 22nd SMCARA
meeting - attendees hear talks/demonstration of new technologies:
*** D-STAR digital radios ***
Pete (WA3UMY) gave a talk on his recent experiences with amateur radio VHF/UHF digital voice operations using the new D-STAR (Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio) equipment, manufactured by ICOM. Dave (KB3QOP) and Pete demonstrated how it works at the meeting by using two new ICOM IC-92AD digital hand-held radios to show off the various modes. D-STAR equipment provides the capability for hams to easily talk clearly using digital voice while simultaneously sending text messages. Click on the link (below) to learn more about this amazing new technology.
Dave (KB3QOP) talks to WA3UMY to demonstrate the new ICOM IC-92AD D-STAR radio
Click [ HERE ] to get more information about this new technology, view a number of videos, and give us your thoughts on whether this might be a good club project to pursue for the benefit of the entire membership
*** Portable Digital Modem ***
Tom (W4OKW) showed off his latest project, building a portable digital modem capability using the new AmQRP (American QRP Club) NUE-PSK Digital Modem (click [ HERE ] for more information). This tiny device, which can be either built from a kit or purchased fully-assembled, is a complete PSK-31 digital modem usable in the field without a computer! He plans to finish integrating the modem, along with a $1 mini-keyboard, and power supply into a small carry case that he hopes to use at the SMCARA 'Field Day' demonstration in June.
Tom (W4OKW) showing off his new AmQRP digital PSK modem
*** Someone got rich! ***
Julia Forest (KB3DEU) reads the winning ticket for the 50-50 raffle at the end of the meeting
MD/DC Section Public
Information Officer visits SMCARA April meeting:
We were fortunate to have Ken Greenhouse (KB3IIE) as a visitor at our 24 April club meeting. Ken traveled down to provide us with an overview of the planned First Annual National Preparedness Month Amateur Radio Showcase and Picnic to be held on Saturday, 20 September 2008. This new event, sponsored by the Prince George's County, Maryland Office of Homeland Security, will be held at the Baden Volunteer Fire Department, 16608 Brandywine Road, Brandywine, Maryland 20613. The fire station social hall and all of the outside grounds will be used to host a catered lunch, amateur radio displays, emergency preparedness displays, a mini-hamfest, and talks/discussions. Ken has asked us to represent St. Mary's County at this event and he would be delighted if we could put together a club-sponsored demonstration or display on the grounds. We will be talking more about this at subsequent club meetings over the summer but the membership voted that they would support this endeavor.
Thanks for coming all the way down from up north Ken to visit us!
Picture taken at the 8 March 2008 Amateur Radio Exam Session held at the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum:
Getting ready for the exam, Nathan
Lindgren gets
his materials together to take his Technician exam
Thanks to all who took the exam and also to the Volunteer Examiners that helped make this a successful session. We had 11 applicants during this examination session. See you next time. 73 DE N3UH
Visit our club-sponsored
K3NHK museum display pageclick [ HERE
]
Visit our club-sponsored
click [ HERE ] - updated on 6 May 2008 with new pictures!
Southern Maryland Ham Shack Pictures
Too many to fit on this page!
Click [ HERE ] to see them all...
Interested in seeing how the SMCARA gets involved with emergency preparedness? Here is a short movie that we made to give you an idea of what we do. Double click on the play (►) button below the video screen to see a short movie about our Field Day activities. If you can NOT see the flash video player, your firewall setting for Active X is too stringent and you are incorrectly blocking web media you should be able to see. You can adjust the sound level using the slider below the screen...
NOTE: This video is 6.3 Mbytes in size and is best viewed using a Broad-band (Cable, DSL) Internet connection. Dial-up users can view the video if they wait for it to load (may take a few minutes). Load status can be viewed by watching the data bar located just above the video player controls.
The ARRL launched a new web site dedicated to emergency communications. Click [ here ] to take a look. Thanks to J.D. (W1JD) for alerting us to this new feature.
Would you like to be a ham radio operator?
First, you need to learn a little about the hobby and find out how to get a license!
Click [ HERE ] to link to a special section of the ARRL (The National Association for AMATEUR RADIO) called "Hello"... Celebrating 100 years of Voice over Radio Worldwide. There, you will find everything you will need to understand what this hobby is all about and where to get information about licensing.
Of course, when you are done, come back here to our site and we will help you with everything you will need to participate in ham radio activities here in Southern Maryland.
If the video player is visible (below),
double click on the play ( ►) button to watch a short, 4-minute movie. If you can NOT see the flash video player, your firewall setting for Active X is too stringent and you are incorrectly blocking web media you should be able to see.So, What are you waiting for! GET CONNECTED with Amateur Radio today!
NOTE: This video is 2.4 Mbytes in size and is best viewed using a Broad-band (Cable, DSL) Internet connection. Dial-up users can view the video if they wait for it to load (may take a few minutes). Load status can be viewed by watching the data bar located just above the video player controls.
Southern Maryland Amateur Radio VHF/UHF Repeater Status
(as of 6 May 2008):
| Repeater Callsign/Location | Frequency/Offset | Operational Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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2 M (144 MHz Repeaters): |
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| KA3TQD Waldorf, MD (See note 2) |
145.350 MHz (-), PL 156.7 Hz |
 Up
(operational) |
No reported problems |
| W3ZO Hughesville, MD |
145.390 MHz (+), PL 186.2 Hz |
Up
(operational) |
No reported problems |
| W3SMD/L Golden Beach, MD (See note 1) |
146.535 simplex, PL 186.2 Hz |
Up(operational) |
Echolink status:
Up |
| K3HKI Lexington Park, MD (SMCARA Club Repeater) Click [ HERE ] for more information |
146.640 MHz (-), carrier access |
Up
(operational) |
No reported problems
|
| N3HRT Patuxent River, MD |
146.775 MHz (-), PL 156.7 Hz |
 Down |
Waiting for site relocation |
| K3CAL Sunderland, MD (northern Calvert County) |
146.985 MHz (-), PL 156.7 Hz |
Up
(operational) |
No reported problems |
| W3SMR Brandywine, MD (See note 2) |
147.150 MHz (+), PL 114.8 Hz |
Up
(operational) |
No reported problems |
| N3PX Hollywood, MD (See note 2) |
147.195 (+), PL 156.7 Hz |
Up
(operational) |
No reported problems |
| N3PX Prince Frederick, MD (See note 2) |
147.255 (+), PL 146.2 Hz |
Up
(operational) |
No reported problems |
|
N3NO Lexington Park, MD (See note 2) |
147.390 (+), PL 146.2 Hz |
Up
(operational) |
No reported problems |
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1.25 M (220 MHz Repeaters): |
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| WA3UMY Lexington Park, MD |
223.900 MHz (-), carrier access |
Down |
Getting ready to relocate the repeater! |
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70 CM (440 MHz Repeaters): |
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| WA3UMY Lexington Park, MD Remote Base System (See note 3) |
443.050 MHz (+) |
Up
(operational)
|
IRLP status:
Remote Base status:
Up
10 Meters: Available |
| N3PX Lusby, MD (See note 2) |
443.300 MHz (+), PL 156.7 Hz |
Up
(operational) |
No reported problems |
| N3NO Leonardtown, MD (See note 2) |
444.350 MHz (+), PL 156.7 Hz |
Up
(operational) |
No reported problems |
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NOTE 1: This simplex repeater can be connected via user command to the Echolink Internet Linking System. A clickable user guide will be posted shortly containing complete information on how to access this network. NOTE 2: These repeaters are linked together full-time as part of the Southern Maryland Link System (SMLS). All of these linked repeaters provide access to the Echolink Internet Linking System (Node # 345591) and the Internet Repeater Linking Project (Node # 4879). Click [ HERE ] to see a briefing about the linked system. NOTE 3: This repeater can be connected via user command to the Internet Repeater Linking Project (Node # 4820). Click [ HERE ] for operating instructions on using the remote bases and the IRLP node. |
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PRINT OUT the chart shown above as a handy 2-page guide for your car or ham shack (Microsoft Word document). Simply right-click your mouse [ HERE ] then 'save target as...' to download to your computer! |
Club Resources:
]
(fill out on your computer,
then print out and mail to Garner Hayden, W3SI at the address shown.
Thanks to J. R. Smullen, WJ3R for making the form)
or [ Microsoft Word/RTF format ]
--
Privacy Policy.. the
information that you send on this membership form will not be sold,
nor shared, with any outside agency. The information will be
given only to the Board of Directors for purposes of contacting you
about the club and future activities. If you choose to join
the club, upon receiving your dues, selected information will be
added to the General Membership Roster, accessible by clicking on
the 'Member list' link above. Thank you. Featured Links:
"Promoting Amateur Radio for Kids"
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Solar X-rays: |
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Our intentions are to provide a useful repository of information about our club on the Net. If you have any ideas for page content or other suggestions, email them to the
SMCARA Webmaster.
