FADCA Activities at the 2005 Orlando Hamcation
FADCA TABLE AT ORLANDO HAMCATION 2005
Subtitle - You need to be ready for almost anything - even a fox.
John Green WB4MOZ and Doug Welker WB4KGY arrived at the Hamcation Campground Wednesday and set up a Paclink station in their motor home. It worked only fair to the W8EHH-7 Telpac node in Winter Garden, but much better after they set up a cross-band (UHF/VHF) repeater in order to use a better suited antenna on VHF to reach the Telpac node.
Thursday morning Charlie Crook N3PPC and bud Thompson N0IA set up the E-mail Over Ham Radio in Support of EMCOMMs table in the swap building and tested the antenna. Paclink packet operations on the Orlando LAN (145.07) were targeted to several Telpac nodes on the LAN and one on the DeLand LAN (144.91.) Since the Orlando FPAC switch is temporarily located in Deltona, more than 20 miles distant, it was not possible to connect directly to/through the switch with the Hamcation antenna 20 ft off the ground. Testing using the AEOC digipeater at the Altamont Springs EOC worked excellent and all four Telpac nodes on the two LANs could be used reliably. Charlie and bud left Hamcation grounds at 1100hrs confident of being able to make good demonstrations for the Hamcation crowd.
[Unbeknown to Charlie and bud was the plan to move the AEOC digipeater Thursday afternoon because of major remodeling at the Altamont EOC.]
Friday morning Charlie and bud returned to the FADCA table at Hamcation and set up the wire/wireless router HAM RADIO E-MAIL LAN (802.11(b)(g), the Paclink AGW E-mail server laptop, two client laptops with wireless cards, the KPC-3 TNC, and the Kenwood TM-V7 radio. Mike Mulligan, W8EHH had set UP his laptop with wireless card at his swap table about 100 ft away in the building and joined on the Ham Radio E-Mail LAN. They were ready to really show off E-mail Over Ham Radio in Support of EMCOMMs to the world!
Testing . . . testing . . . testing . . . no AEOC digipeater!
After a few minutes of panic, they tried the MCO/KA0OXH-7 node/digi which was even stronger at the Hamcation site than AEOC had been earlier. MCO could work AEOC at its new location and also the Orlando FPAC switch in Deltona! Links to Telpacs KE4ZIO-7 at the Seminole County EOC, N3PPC-7, W8EHH-7, and N0IA-7 (off the Deland LAN on 144.91), were useable.
The demonstrations went very smoothly and many people stopped by the booth to observe the free-running MS Power Point shows on the three laptops. Several took time to sit down to send themselves or friends an e-mail to read when they arrive home.
As with any large hamfest, there is a good possibility of intermod, especially on VHF. There was some such interference on 145.07, but not enough to hamper the links. But then, late Saturday afternoon the Hamfest-sponsored Fox Hunt started - and so far as could be told at the FADCA table, the Fox was on 147.065!
73,
bud N0IA
FADCA FORUM REPORT
ORLANDO HAMCATION 2005
FEBRUARY 12, 2005 1330-1530 HRS
'bud' Thompson, N0IA, District 3 Director chaired the meeting.
Those present were asked to identify themselves and also sign the attendance register. A total of 39 signed the register.
N0IA announced that a computer-to-large screen projector was not available so the planned MS Power Point presentation could not be presented. He invited all to visit the FADCA table to see the short self-running Power Point shows. He then gave a short over-view of the basics of the WL2K EMCOMMs E-mail Over Ham Radio in Support of EMCOMMs system and how the Florida Network is used for local and LAN-to-LAN operations.
Rick Meuthing, KN6KB, co-author of the WL2K programs, presented an explanation of the new soundcard-based SCAMP program which shows much promise for HF as well as VHF communications for supporting E-mail Over Ham Radio.
The current status of and on-going projects for the Florida Layered Packet Network was presented by N0IA and John Green, WB4MOZ.
N0IA announced he and Charlie Crook would be presenting the program on E-mail Over Ham Radio in Support of EMCOMMs for two radio clubs in a combined meeting at Sun City Center at 2PM on March 2nd.
There were good Q&A sessions throughout the presentations.
The large number attending the Forum, the on-going Q&A sessions, and the people who visited the FADCA table where the system was being demonstrated Friday and Saturday indicate a high level of interest in these topics.
