Jamestown Amateur Radio Club
Meeting Minutes
April 9th, 2019 ~ 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Attendance: Jerry Bergquist, Bill Ockert ND0B, Jeff Gunderson ND0JG, Tom Simpson ND0TS, Eric Woodard KE0IGK, Lyle Bollinger N0HNM, Warren Tobin W0WT, Jason Linz KC0GCJ, Michelle Linz KC0LAC and Amber Linz
Treasurer’s Report: $2148.28
New/Old/New Business:
Guest Speaker Bill Ockert (ND0B ~ Cathay, ND)
- Superlink ~ Most equipment is 50 +/- Years old
- IRLP node, Carrington is active
- 2 years ago attempted to replace Superlink
- East Superlink: Alexandria & St. Cloud are gone due to lightning strikes.
- Norm in Barnesville would like to get Barnesville up.
- Goal is to save small repeaters
- Idea 1: Hot Link Repeaters
- Idea 2: Use IRLP to help with missing pieces
- Wing to Hawksnest, Wing was down then back up for about a month and back down again.
- Superlink: Bismarck West is working.
- Jamestown/Cleveland could hook to Carrington; Where do we go from here?
- Bismarck is doing an upgrade on their 85 repeater
- What remains of superlink, hook into others.
- Hotlink now is Minot, Carrington, Devils Lake and Maddock.
- Grand Forks is wanting to hook into the Hotlink as well.
- IRLP is older technology [Internet Repeater Linking Project], hooking computers together, uses VOIP (voice over internet protocol), or Repeater to Reflector, can connect multiple repeaters
- Hook in, talk, disconnect
- Minot has a node, not continuously hooked to reflector.
- Reflector pushes out to all 4 nodes.
- Disconnect and then hook into Minot.
- Some nodes want to be independent.
- Stanley has also been interested in hooking in.
- Hawksnest is using a point to point for their Internet connection.
What would JARC need to do to be able to use this form of communication?
- Internet Connection on site needed, can be a low end connection.
- IRLP node Computer is needed. [Bill can build one with software needed for around $400.00. IRLP sells for around $800.00]
Voting vs. IRLP:
IRLP must use PL tone.
Warren spoke about how he has three handhelds and is not always successfully able to use the club repeater without issues. Warren mentioned Talk Groups utilizing DMR radio.
There was some discussion about Fusion Wires X, split frequencies, etc.
Warren also mentioned as an example that Arizona, has a set frequency for Skywarn and other event groups.
There is a need to get the second set of radios active again for the voter system. In order to do that, the club will need to purchase a new power supply.
APRS:
- Resolved Coax to Antenna issue, replaced the end.
- Digipeter programming was lost due to the button cell battery being dead in the equipment.
- Going to replace the battery as soon as possible and get the equipment back online at the tower site.
W0FX QSL Cards:
250 cards were printed, the cost was $80.25, Warren moved to pay the bill for the QSL card printing, Jerry seconded, motion carried.
Next Club Meeting:
June 11th, 2019