Hello fellow club members. I hope everyone is doing well. I really do not have a lot to report this month, so this will be a short President’s Corner. I want to let everyone know what is going on with the repeaters.
If you missed the last meeting we talked a little bit about the new changes. As you know we tried to make our repeaters full duplex. After doing so we really did not notice much of a difference. We also started having many other issues that were not there before. After a lot of time and work, we discovered that the Arcom controller was giving us problems after a software update. Arcom did not provide much help so we decided to remove it and use AllStarLink to control the repeaters. Many clubs around the country are doing this so we thought we would give it a try.
This is going to be a little bit of a project to get up and going but the Tech team thinks this is a good fix. Basically we will put a AllStarLink node on each repeater and link the sites via the internet. This is just the first phase to get the repeaters linked. The second phase will be to add the RF link back. If things go like they should, if the internet ever goes down, the sites will still be linked and vice versa. We are hoping for a redundant link between the two sites. Third phase is to go full duplex using a second set of radios on that RF link.
One of our major issues right now is the fact that there is no internet available at the Stone Castle site. We may go with a wifi hot spot there temporarily until the RF link is established. So hang in there. I think we will have a good system when all is done.
Remember that our biggest club fundraiser is the Superstition ARC SuperFest in December. That is only four months away and we need help. If you could give a half hour to one hour of your time on the day of the event it will help more than you know. We always have the same people running this huge event and they need a break. If you can help out please let someone on the Ham Fest committee know. It is appreciated.
This event seems to be growing more and more each year and our SuperFest is now one of the biggest in the area. The ARRL would like us to become a convention however, we had to turn it down because of the lack of volunteers. Please help out.
Our meetings are now back at the Charles K. Luster building at 640 N Mesa Dr in Mesa. Meetings start at 7pm and go to 9pm. The next meeting is September 17th and we will be in the first room on the left as you walk in. I hope to see all of you there.
73 for now and I will catch you on the air.