Winter
/ Spring 2018
Volume
8, Issue 1
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WSSM Meetings on the Air
Saco,
ME
by
Tim Watson, KB1HNZ
Since
late December, the Wireless Society of Southern Maine has hosted three
Meetings on the Air, on the K1AAM repeater system, followed each time
by a 10 meter net. The nets have been well attended, and comments
afterwards have been positive.
An Educational Toy for Young and Old
Educational Products
by
Frank Krizan, KR1ZAN
For Christmas, my 12 year-old granddaughter asked for and received a
"toy" which she had played with at her cousins' house this past summer.
Specifically, it's called "Snap Circuits Pro 500 Experiments."
QSL
Corner
In
this issue, we'll take a look at some recent QSL's from shortwave
broadcast stations, including Radio Prague, Radio Slovakia
International, and Radio Romania International.
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Windham,
ME
by
Tim Watson, KB1HNZ
WINDHAM,
ME - On the weekend of January 27-28, the WSSM team participated in
their first Winter Field Day, setting up on Saturday morning and
operating for 24 hours, from the front yard of the Cumberland County
EMA, in Windham, ME.
DX News - 4S7NGK, Sri Lanka
CCEMA Bunker, Windham,
ME
by
Tim Watson, KB1HNZ
Nikolay,
LZ1NK will be active from Weligama, Sri Lanka, as 4S7NKG, during
March 1-5, 2018. We'll take a look at this DXPedition, and others, in DX News.
Tips for Taking Accurate Snowfall Measurements
for reporting to SKYWARN
by
Tim Watson, KB1HNZ
Measuring
snow seems simple at first. All you need to do is push a measuring
stick into the snow, then read the number on the stick and write it
down, right? Unfortunately, it's not that simple...
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March 8th - from
7PM-9PM at the CCEMA Bunker, 22 High Street, Windham, ME.
April 12th - from
7PM-9PM at the CCEMA Bunker, 22 High Street, Windham, ME.
May 10th -
from 7PM-9PM at the CCEMA Bunker, 22 High Street, Windham, ME
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Check
out the ads on page 2 to view items for sale, upcoming hamfests,
announcements, and wanted items.
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From
the Editor's Desk
For more news and
articles, between newsletters, click here to visit our blog.
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Is DMR the Mass Adoption Phase Winner in Digital Voice?
There
is no question that DMR technology for hams has moved past the
early-adopter phase and is now well into the mass adoption phase. The
combination of an open source protocol and the availability of
inexpensive, mass-produced Chinese DMR radios (in some cases for as low
as $109 with a color display and free programming software), has made
this possible. In addition to inexpensive new radios, there are a
number of used, first generation Motorola and Hytera DMR radios for
sale in flea markets. These radios perform just as well as the current
models, but have less memory.
D-STAR, Fusion, and to a lesser
extent NXDN, are all established digital voice modes, and are not going
away anytime soon, but in many areas they are not experiencing any
meaningful growth when compared to DMR. This is especially true for the
Northeast. In New England alone, there are close to 80 active DMR
repeaters, and this number is growing every day.
Because of
Yaesu offering repeaters for $500 for a period of time, there were a
few installed in the area (in most cases replacing existing FM
repeaters), but from my experience, it’s been extremely rare to find
anyone using C4FM, and in some cases these repeaters are operating in
just FM mode, so the digital part isn’t even an option. It’s hard to
say exactly why Fusion or D-STAR hasn’t taken off, (last time I checked
there were only 3 D-STAR repeaters in Maine), but it probably has a lot
to do with price. D-STAR and Fusion radios aren’t cheap, and without
some assurance that there will be a repeater within range to use them
on, it’s hard to justify the cost.
Unlike the other modes, there
is also something unforced and organic about DMR. Its cutting edge, and
yet, it still feels like ham radio. A lot of members of our club were
early adopters, and have also explored uses for DMR in both the EmComm
environment, and for SKYWARN. For SKYWARN, especially, the DMR-MARC
network has been an extremely useful tool to gather weather reports
from areas that are outside the range of typical FM repeaters.
For more information about DMR, click here to check out our DMR Intro web page.
Best wishes,
73'
Tim Watson
KB1HNZ
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