meeting program

[Bruce Helbert]

Hello all.  Well back online here after a few connection issues.

First let me apologize for any confusion concerning the program schedule.  As I had left it, and assuming everything was setup, was my last message to Barry Hansen K7BWH on this group was to give him the program for November. (October 13 2025).  I thought this was pretty clear.  Apparently, it was not and some confusion resulted.  As for the "other" commitment, my recollection is different.  I will leave it at that.     Again, my apologies for the confusion.

As for the "communication" issues, I can only repeat this is nothing new.  Let me explain a bit.  (Longer version).  I have lived in this same location for 35 years now....really.  We are in Sammamish but we might as well be on the back side of the moon considering our access issues.  Cable is not available.    Even land line reliability is often questionable.  Online access has ALWAYS been an issue.  First it was dial-up.  Slow but somewhat reliable.  Next was TELCO DSL.  Disaster from day one.  Reliability sucked.  Speeds were hugely variable, and overall considering the price charged dismal.  So currently, signed up for the T-Mobile hotspot program.  Works pretty well.  At least until the power goes out.

Well, the power was out for 3 days last week and also this last Tuesday until mid-Wednesday (about 30 hours).  I was too lazy to move the generator up (guilty).  So, what happens is my connection point Hot-Spot (5G) is supposed to have a couple days battery backup.  Well, it doesn't.  Power goes out and it's dead.  When it wakes up it again needs to be reset and reconfigured.  I also managed to lose my seemingly one and only CAT5? cable, so that slowed things up.  Got it back up Thursday.  So that's the Wi-Fi around here.  I access it with my office computer or iPad.  Apparently for whatever reason MSN will not allow access from my iPhone15 (AOL as well), go figure.  So, no Wi-Fi no email.  Complicating this I missed the meeting as well. 

Again, my communications issues are nothing new and I tried to explain this when I took the office.  Well clearly things have not worked out.  If is frustrating to be on the end of a conflict and find out about it after the fact.  Joe's Stacy's email was interesting.  I double checked and neither of the messages he references made it into either my Inbox or Junk folder.  All my group messages come in with the [IARC] header.   These did not.  I can't tell if these were group messages or back-channel???

Again, my apologies for the confusion and loss of what looked to be a great program.   I will offer my help to Lara for the December meeting and then my term as Vice-President will end.

Thank You

Bruce, KG7OI 

[Paul Butzi]

Well, the power was out for 3 days last week and also this last Tuesday until mid-Wednesday (about 30 hours).  I was too lazy to move the generator up (guilty).  So, what happens is my connection point Hot-Spot (5G) is supposed to have a couple days battery backup.  Well, it doesn't.  Power goes out and it's dead.  When it wakes up it again needs to be reset and reconfigured.  I also managed to lose my seemingly one and only CAT5? cable, so that slowed things up.  Got it back up Thursday.  So that's the Wi-Fi around here.  I access it with my office computer or iPad.  Apparently for whatever reason MSN will not allow access from my iPhone15 (AOL as well), go figure.  So, no Wi-Fi no email.  Complicating this I missed the meeting as well. 

I also live in an area where connectivity is difficult (Tolt Highlands, NE of Carnation about 3 miles.  

We’re currently using Starlink.  Reliability has been very good - two very brief outages in not quite three years.  Performance is excellent.  It’s considerably more reliable than ATT cell service in my location, and all our phones use wifi calling when we’re at home.

Starlink needs a fairly clear view of the sky with an emphasis to the north.

I recently acquired a Starlink Mini (recently as in the box arrived yesterday evening).  Once I have that figured out I’d be delighted to visit folks QTHs, set it up, and we might thus get some idea of what Starlink performance might be for you.

-Paul Butzi W7PFB

[Joe Stacy]

Re my comments - I pulled a snippet from the minutes taken at the prior meeting. Nothing directly mentioned in any email from me before that, so there were no emails from me that you missed. Just wanted to clarify.

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[Jeffrey Lipsen]

I have a question is there a frequency that local area is hams are hanging  out on?

Jeffrey J. Lipsen

jeffl...@me.com

425.647.4399

On Nov 8, 2025, at 6:45 AM, Paul Butzi <paulf...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[ba...@k7bwh.com]

I have the same question. It would be nice to keep in touch on the air and be ready to have backup communication “when all else fails”.  Some alternatives come to mind:

• Mountlake Terrace 443.725 WA7DEM tone 103.5 (I’m always listening here anyway)
• Snohomish Valley ARC 441.825 KE7GFZ tone 103.5
• Lake Washington Repeater 145.490 K7LWH tone 103.5
• Mike & Key Repeater 146.820 K7LED tone 103.5
• Cougar Mtn Repeater (which one, of several?)

Suggestions? Other ones? Or do we have a defacto repeater already?

73 Barry K7BWH “Barry With Hats”

PS, I borrowed a Starlink Mini for some rover trips and it’s amazingly good. We enjoyed 100 Mbps while out in the Texas desert on the Mexican border. Great for arranging contacts and streaming movies in one of the most remote places on the continent. The aiming sounds fussy but it worked just fine while driving over washboards with the panel bouncing around the dashboard.

[Paul Butzi]

Any of the Cougar repeaters would be a good choice but I’d suggest that the SNOVARC KE7GFZ repeater on 441.825 + 103.5.

TNX for encouraging news about Starlink Mini.  I have it set up in my courtyard on a speaker stand, it’s working well.

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[John MacDuff]

IARC traditionally has used 146.56 MHz simplex as a talk-in frequency. It is listed on the back page of SquakBox. However, it has fallen into disuse over the years.

John KA7TTY 

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[joe.d...@gmail.com]

Hello Bruce,

 

I remember differently from the October meeting.

I walked out of that meeting understanding that we wanted to hear about the Internet in November.

 

OTOH: mistakes happen and communication sometimes fails.

I should look for the message of October 13^th, which I somehow missed.

 

Thanks for your service in various club leadership positions, including current VP.

(I was VP myself for 4 years.)  We need others to step up.

 

73

 

Joe Decuir, KF7BMD

Issaquah CERT

M: 425-985-1562

E: jde...@ieee.org

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