General Admission and Vendor Bundle tickets (i.e. a flea market table and vendor admission) are on sale now in the RRRA online box office.
Your advance purchase gets you to the bargains faster at the Dakota Division’s biggest hamfest.
Don’t waste time in the ticket table line ‼️
RRRA Members who were not able to attend the Jan TRG-AUXCOMM workshop hosted by the club in January 2016, might like to view the Auxcomm … Explained HamRadioNow episode (HRN 330, EmComm Extra #13, June 21 2017) for an introduction to AUXCOMM and read the AUXCOMM—Intense Training for Serious Disasters QST article for a review of an OEC TRG-AUXCOMM course conducted in Orlando, Florida, during February 2016.
In Board Meeting Motions To Consider ARRL Dakota Division Director Matt Holden (K0BBC) writes:
On January first, I began serving as your Dakota Division Director. I want to thank Kent Olson KA0LDG for the serving as our Division Director, Vice Director and North Dakota Section Manager. He has been a great role model for me as I learned the ropes as your 2016-2017 Vice Director. The past eleven days have gone by quickly as 2018 Vice Director Lynn Nelson and me prepare for next week’s ARRL Board of Directors meeting in Connecticut. I have completed my review of the motions being proposed to date, which have been posted to the Division web site so you can form your own opinions. 1
Director Holden goes on to discuss his positions concerning the various motions and requests member feedback.
ARRL Dakota Divison members are encouraged review the following documents and contact Director Holden (K0BBC) before the January 19th board meeting about the various motions which will be presented.
ARRL leadership policy and governance actions taken over the last two years—along the actions planned to be formalized at the Board meeting in January 19, 2018, in Newington—have become a source of concern, among some members, about the future of the League. Enough concern was raised that, “in December 2017, a small group of passionate, long-time supporters of ARRL [including Life Members, Maxim Society Members, Legacy Circle Members, Past Vice-Directors, and Volunteer Counsel] … banded together as myARRLvoice to better understand the issues, to educate the community and to advocate for positive change.” 1
Subsequent to the formation of myARRLvoice a Facebook Group and Twitter Feed were established to provide venues for discussion about, and to raise awareness of, these issues.
Purchasing an AREDN compatible radio and antenna is only the first step in assembling a useful, deployable, personal node.
Additional parts and equipment to support planned network capabilities—including provisions for portable power—must be purchased and then packaged in a manner which allows for safe and reliable operation.
Trevor Paskett (K7FPV), a member of the AREDN project, has designed a a portable mesh node to support his local mesh network’s mission while meeting served agency policy restrictions which prohibit permanent installation of equipment in their buildings.
Incident and event net traffic falls into two categories: formal message traffic and tactical traffic.
Tactical traffic consists of ad hoc messages about what is happening during an incident or event. And the purpose of a tactical traffic net is to enable all participating stations to pass traffic while it is still relevant.
Efficient tactical traffic nets engage in succinct and unambiguous communication through the disciplined use of a well practiced protocol which eliminates over identification and avoids the introduction of extraneous words.
One such tactical traffic net protocol is illustrated in a Tactical Communications Exercise conducted during an AEN-MAR net. In this recording you will hear net participants practicing their tactical communication protocol as they check-in, submit their reports, and engage in discussion.
Channel bandwidth is a precious commodity on a tactical net. Remember, a tactical net intends to move “right-now” messages while they’re still relevant. Extraneous words—especially when everybody starts adding them out of habit—add up quickly to limit how much message traffic can move across the net. They especially add up during check-ins or when Net Control polls stations for reports. [The AEN-MAR Tactical Communications Exercise net activity focuses] on and exercise[s] how to hit your message and move on. Say more, clearly, with fewer words so others can get their traffic passed, too 1
