Category Archives: ECOMM

2024 Hurricane Season Underway: Are You Prepared?

Posted on June 3, 2024 by robert

NOAA has announced a much greater than normal Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook with 17 to 25 named storms and 4-7 major ones. With this in mind, are you ready for this year’s hurricane season?  Do you have a plan for … Continue reading →

Posted in ECOMM, NOAA, Weather | 2 Comments

Don’t Forget To TEST Your Settings!

Posted on February 26, 2024 by robert

I run a WinLink VHF Gateway using VARA FM (WB4SON-10 on 145.050).  It is incredibly stable, except when Windows forces an update (even though I have Auto Updates disabled, apparently some updates are so critical they overrides that setting).  Sometimes … Continue reading →

Posted in ECOMM, VARA_FM, VARA_HF, Winlink | Leave a comment

How much gas for a Field Day using a Honda EU2000i

Posted on June 25, 2018 by robert

My club borrowed my EU2000i generator for Field Day.  It gave me a chance to try out my new extended run tank (based on a 20L NATO gas can, with a custom cap for the generator, some J30R10 submersible fuel line, … Continue reading →

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The Little Generator That Could

Posted on March 17, 2018 by robert

We’ve had a string of winter storms (3 in two weeks and a 4th on the way), and in each storm we have lost power, the last one for a little over a day.  When we have a power failure, … Continue reading →

Posted in ECOMM, Gear | Leave a comment

AUXCOM Certificate

Posted on January 2, 2016 by robert

The certificates for the AUXCOM class at the end of September were mailed out to the students this week.

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A Surprise From the ARRL

Posted on December 6, 2015 by robert

A large envelope from the ARRL arrived this weekend.  It look suspiciously like the kind they send out awards for states or sections in various contests, but I didn’t recall submitting a log recently.  I was pleasantly surprised to find … Continue reading →

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Auspicious Day for AUXCOM Completion

Posted on September 27, 2015 by robert

I attended a two day, 20 hour, AUXCOM training class this weekend.  It was sponsored by RIEMA (Thanks Gil Woodside and Tom Guthlein), and taught by two subject matter experts (Thanks Jim Millsap and Hank Koebler).  We had 23 students … Continue reading →

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A Documentation Solution for Shelter Radios?

Posted on May 18, 2015 by robert

One of the hats I wear as a volunteer is supporting RI’s Red Cross communication (part of what ARC calls “DST” or Disaster Services Technology).  During a particularly bad winter storm, one of our shelter comms operators contacted me at the … Continue reading →

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Digital Go Box

Posted on August 31, 2013 by robert

I attended a American Red Cross Regional Disaster Institute two weeks ago, and had the pleasure of meeting Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O.  Frank’s a busy guy, deeply involved with ARES and the ARC.  His passion is putting together various “Go-Boxes” to … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Mode, ECOMM, From the OM, Gear, Public Service | 1 Comment

HSMM-MESH WB4SON-AP1 Ready for Duty

Posted on July 27, 2013 by robert

I setup and configured a Linksys WRT54GS v2.0 Router today to run HSMM-Mesh software version 0.4.3.  Unfortunately there are no nodes in my area yet, and only two others registered in RI, but eventually this might become a high speed … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Mode, ECOMM, From the OM, Gear | Leave a comment