Summer Gathering 2013 - Sept 6 through Sept 8

Details here soon on the Northwest APRS Summer Gathering...

Also coming soon in our region:

• 9/20-22/2013 - Digital Communications Convention at Cedarbrook Lodge - http://tapr.org/dcc.html
• 9/28/2013 - Spokane Hamfest - http://spokanehamfest.com/
• 10/12-13/2013 - Pacific Northwest VHF Society conference - http://pnwvhfs.org/

Re-sending invitations to the new NWAPRS Google Group

A significant number of members of the old NWAPRS mailing list group never responded to the first round of invites to join to the new mailing list.  I'm working through them now with a 'second' invite.

73
Bill, WA7NWP
 

Please Stop any PCSAT Transmissions

Please QRT all transmissions to PCsat to save power for COMMANDing.

PCSAT (W3ADO-1) is entering its 3 day RECOVERY window this year starting 31 Jan.

Today we got logged on for commanding twice, but both times user packets killed the bird.

At best PCSAT can usually only save up enough power for 2 or 3 solid packets per pass  and we need 3  successfully for command and recover.  One user packet in the middle of that and we lose it for the pass.

MY fault for not making this announcement earlier.  Not their fault.  But if you see this email and you are transmitting to PCsat, please QRT for the next several days.

Commanding is being done from the East and West coast of the USA and over Germany.

WB4APR, Bob
USNA Command Station

New EMail Reflector for NWAPRS

Update 12/6/2012 - The list of email addresses has been collected and invites will be be sent starting today. There is a large number of participants and it remains to be seen how Google handles a process like this.   Yahoo had a limit on the number of invites per day and we may seem something similar with Google.

There is no way to differentiate on the types of email addresses.  Some were digests and others were no-mail.  As a result everybody will be sent the same simple invitation and you can adjust your settings accordingly.

This new system should be more maintainable and with a richer selection of other tools.  It will keep us going as we build an even better portal.

73
Bill

----

We're tentatively going with the NWAPRS Google Groups forum as a replacement for the NWAPRSSIG mailing list.

  https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/nwaprs

Members of the old list will be sent invites but you can sign up directly at any time.    As before, the Yahoo group will be used as a message archive.

73
Bill - WA7NWP

www.nwaprs update

Stay tuned.   The static website is back.  We have a link to the blog.   I'll upload a blog posting today with a summary of the 2012 Summer Gathering presentations.   Then over the next couple days we'll get the email and email list back on line.

In the future -- lets work towards a full cloud based wordpress portal for the community...

73
Bill - WA7NWP

2012 Summer Gathering - Presentations - preliminary

Friday September 7th:

• 5:00pm grill going – Cook something!

Saturday September 8th: 

• 7:00am to 8:45 Breakfast hosted by the West Seattle Amateur Radio Club
• 9:00am Introductions in the Pavilion including identifying any topic or issue anyone needs assistance with this weekend & Overview of Your 15th Annual Summer Gathering - Curt Black, WR5J
• xx am  Packet Radio calling channel by Brian
• HSMM-Mesh use by Bryan/KY9K
• Microwave Amateur Radio network by Bart/AE7xx
• Lunch - hambergers by Bryan/KY9K and many others
• APRSISCE by Ann/WA7ROS
• APRS-Messenger overview by Bill/WA7NWP
• Low Cost Computing and Net-44 update by John/K7VE
• Missed Subjects:
• Other Packet in the NWAPRS region:
• P9 (Packet Plan 9) update
• Dinner
• Bats by Curt/WU7J
• Movie - Star Crash

Sunday Sept 9th:

• Summer Gathering Review, Future Plans, making APRS Better
• Brian ..  volunteered

2012 Summer Gathering - Approximate Schedule

Friday September 7th: Objective: Socialize/Try Things Out/FUN!

Participants Arrive/ Demo Stations Setup on South Side of the Pavilion
3:00pm Free Beer for Trying Each New Digital Mode Chest Opens
5:00pm grill going – Cook something!

Saturday September 8th: Objective: Informative Talks with Time for Q&A/Discussion/Flexibility/FUN!

7:00am to 8:45 Breakfast hosted by the West Seattle Amateur Radio Club
9:00am Introductions in the Pavilion including identifying any topic or issue anyone needs assistance with this weekend & Overview of Your 15th Annual Summer Gathering - Curt Black, WR5J
9:30 Morning Technical Sessions (not to exceed 66% duty cycle - that is, we build in time for discussion and exploration)
12:00 LUNCH BREAK Social/Technical Demos and Discussion/
12:50pm Reconvene for GROUP PHOTO
1:00pm Afternoon Technical Sessions
5:00pm Open Discussion of APRS Applications and Hardware / Digital Radios Setups Demos

Dinner BREAK Dinner/Social/Technical Demos/Play Radio and Open Discussions

7:30pm Optional Talk – What Northwest Digital Hams Might Want to Know About Northwest Bats
8:30 – Movies and Popcorn – Buckaroo Banzai/Last Star Fighter/Who Killed the Electric Car? What Else?

Sunday, September 9th: Objective – Making APRS Better / Planning for Future Summer Gatherings / More Fun!

7:30am to 9:30 Breakfast hosted by the West Seattle Amateur Radio Club if you didn't eat it all on Saturday

Thanks and See you at the Summer Gathering near North Bend!

Curt Black