Hello again.
This is announcement list for the Northwest APRS Summer Gathering, held annually, usually the weekend after Labor Day (September), at Valley Camp near North Bend, WA.
This is announcement list for the Northwest APRS Summer Gathering, held annually, usually the weekend after Labor Day (September), at Valley Camp near North Bend, WA.
Updates
It's now just over 8 weeks to the Northwest APRS Summer Gathering on:
Friday, September 9, 2016
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Sunday, September 11, 2016
at Valley Camp near North Bend, WA.
Theme(s)?
The Northwest APRS Summer Gathering has evolved to encompass more than just APRS over the past few years, and sometimes it helps when planning an event to develop a theme. There's a lot that has been going on in 2016 relating to digital / data communications in Amateur Radio. One that comes immediately to my mind are the incredible, and rapidly evolving capabilities of the "SDR receiver dongles" (there are many names - that's just a generic description). For under $100 - the price of the receiver dongle and a Raspberry Pi, you can have an incredible receiver dedicated to a single purpose, such as monitoring aircraft transponders and plotting them on a map.
Another advancement is the Raspberry Pi 3... what would be considered a supercomputer 20 years ago (literally - compare the MIPS available of a Raspberry Pi versus a Cray supercomputer of 20 years ago) and you have an amazing computer that you can afford to dedicate to a specific Amateur Radio task, such as monitoring one specific repeater, a packet radio system that can operate in a window of your primary computer, etc.
Those are just a couple of ideas for "themes" - I hope you have some ideas and I'll have more ideas for themes to share in the next few mailings.
Demonstration / Display Area - South Side
It's mentioned only in passing that the NW APRS Summer Gathering encourages "show and tell" by providing space (picnic tables) on the south side of the shelter for demonstrations. If you've got something notable to demonstrate, please do so. Remember that it's "first come, first served" for table space - no reservations. Also, please be considerate and don't take over a table in the demo area if you aren't actually demonstrating something.
Meals - Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
One change for the 2016 event is that on Saturday, in addition to providing Saturday breakfast and lunch, dinner will be provided for those that plan to stay overnight. As usual, there will be a Sunday breakfast provided for those that stayed overnight, or those few that come back for the Sunday sessions.
We've recruited a great cook - Tina Stroh KD7WSF to coordinate logistics of meals and manage the cooking. That frees up Curt Black WR5J to more closely manage the presentations and the overall event... and just generally have more fun as an attendee. If you'd like to help regarding the meals (logistics, cooking, etc. pleaseemail Tina KD7WSF.
As always, breakfast, lunch, and now dinner, isn't "mandatory" - you aren't expected. If you wish to not attend or bring your own food (such as RV owners), that's perfectly OK.
As the event gets closer, we'll ask for head counts for those that intend to stay for Saturday dinner to minimize wasted food and expense.
Also as always, there's no charge for meals - they're provided by various people (NOT Valley Camp*) donating the food for such a neat event. If you feel strongly about contributing (and we hope a number of you do), we ask that you contribute to Valley Camp to help keep this wonderful venue going.
* Valley Camp and Teena K9HAV do provide coffee and hot tea all weekend long, with help from Boyd's Coffee and we thank Teena and Boyd's Coffee.
Call for Presentations
Now that Curt Black WR5J doesn't have to worry about meals for 2016 NW APRS SG, as soon as he's done with communications for RAMROD (Ride Around Mt. Rainier in One Day), he'll start working on organizing the presentations for Saturday. If you have something you'd like to present, or there's a topic you'd like to see (someone else provides a presentation about), please email Curt. As noted, he's a bit busy at the moment, so you might not receive an immediate reply.
Friday, September 9, 2016
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Sunday, September 11, 2016
at Valley Camp near North Bend, WA.
Theme(s)?
The Northwest APRS Summer Gathering has evolved to encompass more than just APRS over the past few years, and sometimes it helps when planning an event to develop a theme. There's a lot that has been going on in 2016 relating to digital / data communications in Amateur Radio. One that comes immediately to my mind are the incredible, and rapidly evolving capabilities of the "SDR receiver dongles" (there are many names - that's just a generic description). For under $100 - the price of the receiver dongle and a Raspberry Pi, you can have an incredible receiver dedicated to a single purpose, such as monitoring aircraft transponders and plotting them on a map.
Another advancement is the Raspberry Pi 3... what would be considered a supercomputer 20 years ago (literally - compare the MIPS available of a Raspberry Pi versus a Cray supercomputer of 20 years ago) and you have an amazing computer that you can afford to dedicate to a specific Amateur Radio task, such as monitoring one specific repeater, a packet radio system that can operate in a window of your primary computer, etc.
Those are just a couple of ideas for "themes" - I hope you have some ideas and I'll have more ideas for themes to share in the next few mailings.
Demonstration / Display Area - South Side
It's mentioned only in passing that the NW APRS Summer Gathering encourages "show and tell" by providing space (picnic tables) on the south side of the shelter for demonstrations. If you've got something notable to demonstrate, please do so. Remember that it's "first come, first served" for table space - no reservations. Also, please be considerate and don't take over a table in the demo area if you aren't actually demonstrating something.
Meals - Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
One change for the 2016 event is that on Saturday, in addition to providing Saturday breakfast and lunch, dinner will be provided for those that plan to stay overnight. As usual, there will be a Sunday breakfast provided for those that stayed overnight, or those few that come back for the Sunday sessions.
We've recruited a great cook - Tina Stroh KD7WSF to coordinate logistics of meals and manage the cooking. That frees up Curt Black WR5J to more closely manage the presentations and the overall event... and just generally have more fun as an attendee. If you'd like to help regarding the meals (logistics, cooking, etc. pleaseemail Tina KD7WSF.
As always, breakfast, lunch, and now dinner, isn't "mandatory" - you aren't expected. If you wish to not attend or bring your own food (such as RV owners), that's perfectly OK.
As the event gets closer, we'll ask for head counts for those that intend to stay for Saturday dinner to minimize wasted food and expense.
Also as always, there's no charge for meals - they're provided by various people (NOT Valley Camp*) donating the food for such a neat event. If you feel strongly about contributing (and we hope a number of you do), we ask that you contribute to Valley Camp to help keep this wonderful venue going.
* Valley Camp and Teena K9HAV do provide coffee and hot tea all weekend long, with help from Boyd's Coffee and we thank Teena and Boyd's Coffee.
Call for Presentations
Now that Curt Black WR5J doesn't have to worry about meals for 2016 NW APRS SG, as soon as he's done with communications for RAMROD (Ride Around Mt. Rainier in One Day), he'll start working on organizing the presentations for Saturday. If you have something you'd like to present, or there's a topic you'd like to see (someone else provides a presentation about), please email Curt. As noted, he's a bit busy at the moment, so you might not receive an immediate reply.
Administrivia
If you plan to attend the 2016 NWAPRSSG, please email Thom K7FZO at Valley Camp that you plan to attend. This helps gauge interest and otherwise plan the event. If you plan to stay at Valley Camp for the 2016 NWAPRSSG - bunking, renting, or camping, please email Teena K9HAV at Valley Camp that you'd like to discuss staying over.
There is no one (web) place for info on the NWAPRSSG, but given that it evolved out of the NW APRS group, the NWAPRS Blog and the NWAPRS Wiki are probably the best web pages for info on the NW APRS SG (as soon as they're update with info on the 2016 event).
Although I started this list, and I'll likely continue to manage it, I don't intend to be the exclusive person to post to it. If you'd like to post to this list to provide information about the NWAPRSSG, drop me an email and I'll explain how to do so.
This list is an "announce-only" list - any replies you make won't be posted back to the list, but go to me as the list administrator.
Feel free to post this link to any other appropriate list of Amateur Radio Operators that might be interested in attending the 2016 NW APRS Summer Gathering, or forward this link via email:
http://tinyletter.com/nwaprssg
Please let me know if you'd like to be taken off this email list, or your email address changed, etc.; email me.
Thanks,
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
listmeister for the Northwest APRS Summer Gathering
2016 event: September 9-11, 2016
There is no one (web) place for info on the NWAPRSSG, but given that it evolved out of the NW APRS group, the NWAPRS Blog and the NWAPRS Wiki are probably the best web pages for info on the NW APRS SG (as soon as they're update with info on the 2016 event).
Although I started this list, and I'll likely continue to manage it, I don't intend to be the exclusive person to post to it. If you'd like to post to this list to provide information about the NWAPRSSG, drop me an email and I'll explain how to do so.
This list is an "announce-only" list - any replies you make won't be posted back to the list, but go to me as the list administrator.
Feel free to post this link to any other appropriate list of Amateur Radio Operators that might be interested in attending the 2016 NW APRS Summer Gathering, or forward this link via email:
http://tinyletter.com/nwaprssg
Please let me know if you'd like to be taken off this email list, or your email address changed, etc.; email me.
Thanks,
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
listmeister for the Northwest APRS Summer Gathering
2016 event: September 9-11, 2016
