ARES Group Meeting with DSTAR Presentation on 2/14/19

The ARES group will meet the second Thursday of the month at the Bay County EOC at 7 PM. The February 14th meeting will have a presentation on D-STAR by Bob Dunkin WB4BLX. All hams are welcome to attend.

New Venue and Schedule for Amateur Radio License Testing

Testing will now be at the EOC, in room 101, the first Wednesday of the month from 1800 - 1900 before the club's business meeting until we get back into the clubhouse.  In addition, the ARES meeting will now be at the EOC on the second Thursday of every month starting at 1900 in room 101 for now on.

Those wishing to take an exam should be present by 6:00 PM CT to complete the necessary paperwork. Bring a photo ID and $14 exam fee. Other days and times can be arranged. For more information about testing, contact Gary at aj4ky@arrl.net

Volunteer Examiner (VE) assistance will be greatly appreciated. 

Gary Bills AJ4KY
VE Coordinator

PCARC Business Meetings are at the Bay County EOC for Now.

We have permission to use classroom 101 at the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) for the Business Meetings at 7 PM on the 1st Wednesday of the month until further notice. The clubhouse in Millville is currently out of service. The ARES group will meet the second Thursday of the month at the Bay County EOC at 7 PM.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Panama City Amateur Radio Club!

The story behind the video and the live version below.

ARES Net Starting in Northwest Florida

An Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) net is being established in Northwest Florida. The net will be on Thursdays at 1900 CST except for the second Thursday of the month. The net will be on the AC4QB repeater 145.330 pl 100. This will be a directed net run by Mark Cantrell KD4IMA. Note the first net will be on 12/4/2018 at 1900 CST. After that, it will be on Thursdays. This info was provided by the Bay County Emergency Coordinator Matt Kenedy W9NDN.

Panama City ARC Post Michael Update

The Panama City ARC clubhouse sustained roof damage and the tower failed during Hurricane Michael. Until further notice, meetings at the clubhouse will be limited to business meetings on the first Wednesday of the month. Checking into the Monday night 7 PM two-meter net on the W4RYZ repeater 145.210 is a good way to get the latest status on the club. Gary Bills AJ4KY says arrangements can be made for license testing on the weekends.

Thanks to the volunteers who put a tarp on the clubhouse roof, cleaned up the fallen ceiling tiles and disassembled the club tower. Bob Leasko WB8PAF, our club president, is leading the recovery. Members, please give Bob WB8PAF and the other officers your support to return the clubhouse to full service.

Have fun with Packet Radio in Bay County, Florida

Packet Radio has started up again here in Bay County, Florida. Bob KK4DIV has a Bulletin Board System BBS at his home in Lynn Haven. The frequency is 145.050 on 2 Meter FM.  Connect to KK4DIV-1 for the BBS. Also, check out the chat server at KK4DIV-2. An introduction to Packet Radio is here.

The traditional way to do packet radio is using a hardware Terminal Node Controller (TNC). They are many TNCs for sale on EBay.  Most of them have a serial interface to the computer. You will need a USB to Serial Converter. There are some new ones for sale that have a USB interface like the Timewave PK-96 TNC available ar HRO. The radio to TNC interface can be homemade or purchased from BuxComm. If you like, do research on sound card TNCs and try them out. I have not tried a KISS TNC so I am unsure how well they will work.

Packet radio is an alternative way for hams to communicate locally. The more who participate the more fun it will be. Bob KK4DIV is experimenting with forwarding messages to the WinLink system via HF. Personally, I want to use packet to send Field Day messages for the bonus points. I am on packet radio as N4KGL and my Personal Mail Drop is at N4KGL-1

73

Greg N4KGL