Digital Group Meeting TONIGHT Tuesday 2021-01-18

[Steve Stroh]

All:

Apologies for the late notice. As Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) said once:

The days are just PACKED!

The Mount Baker Amateur Radio Club (MBARC) Digital Group (DG) will
meet on Zoom for the first time in 2022. We meet to discuss all things
digital (mostly data) in Amateur Radio. Of particular interest to the
MBARC DG is the WB7FHC / AG7GN Nexus DR-X units
(http://wb7fhc.com/intro.html) and AREDN microwave networking
(https://www.arednmesh.org), and all other forms of data
communications over Amateur Radio here in Whatcom County.

MBARC DG meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 19:00 Pacific.
Some of us gather early for casual chatting. The Zoom link will be
active by 18:30 for those wishing to join early. NOTE - tonight the
Zoom link at 18:30 will be used for some interactive troubleshooting,
so please be patient and defer to that activity in lieu of the usual
casual chatting.

Zoom Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84786930504?pwd=YTlsZEs4dGRIMEdKUzVnckhodVNFdz09
(The meeting will be recorded.) The DG thanks Budd Churchward WB7FHC
for the use of his Zoom account to host this meeting.

One last reminder about 2022 Digital Group dues. DG dues are $10 /
year, due first of year. The DG treasurer requests that you fill out
the Application / Renewal form (download at
https://mbarc.groups.io/g/main/files/Applications/MBARC%20Digital%20Group%20Application.pdf),
and (paper mail) the form with your check. It's not stated on the
form, but it's acceptable to pay ahead for multiple years to avoid the
hassle of renewing every year. With the healthy DG treasury in 2021,
the DG bought a Kenwood TM-V71A radio to assist in software
development, and made a significant financial contribution to HamWAN
(http://hamwan.org).

Topics for this meeting include:
* Introductions of those new to Amateur Radio and/or the Digital
Group, including non DG guests. Question for the intros is "What is
your big Amateur Radio project for 2022"?
* Show and tell of any projects or activities that you've done that
are "Amateur Radio Digital".
* Digital Group Treasurer's Report.
* Update from Steve AG7GN about migrating the Nexus DR-X software to
the new Raspberry Pi OS "Bullseye". I've installed it and it's working
fine.
* Discussion of the ARRL Foundation's announcement of a streamlined
grants program for Amateur Radio Clubs; is there interest from the DG
for any projects? Announcement of this new program -
http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-foundation-to-create-club-grants-program.
General information about ARRLF grants -
http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-grants.
* Linuxfest Northwest is scheduled to be virtual on Friday 2022-04-22
through Sunday 2022-04-24. I'm still contemplating doing a
presentation on a few open source projects in Amateur Radio as an
example of having fun with Amateur Radio. Essentially, I'm recruiting
amongst the local Linux techies for those interested in Amateur Radio.

These were on the agenda for the December 2021 meeting and I don't
recall if they were discussed (I was absent for that meeting):
* Discussion of two new data radio projects:
- Icom (https://www.icomjapan.com/lp/shf/)
- ÖVSV (Austria’s national Amateur Radio organization) and Vienna
University of Technology
(https://www-oevsv-at.translate.goog/oevsv/aktuelles/Neue-WRAN-Hardware-7W-144-433-und-10W-52MHz/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=nui).
* Discussion of the new Yaesu FTM-6000R – 50W VHF/UHF Dual Band
FM Mobile Transceiver that is apparently a capable "data" radio with
the inclusion of the standard 6-pin MiniDIN "data" connector (via an
adapter cable).
https://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=106&encProdID=3BEE472B7584ACA7C6A71F41B8ADCEC9&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0
* Discussion about different times / days for the weekday evening data
net on the Mt. Constitution 146.740 repeater. Wednesdays at 08:00
overlap with the San Juan County voice net on the 224.480 repeater.

We are always looking for interesting topics to discuss about Amateur
Radio data communications. Please let me know of topics (and speakers)
that you'd like to see at a future DG Meeting.

Administrivia:
The Digital Group (DG) is a technically oriented subsidiary group of
the Mount Baker Amateur Radio Club (MBARC) in Bellingham, Whatcom
County, Washington that is focused on data communications in Amateur
Radio. The goal of the DG is to help DG members and especially
newcomers to Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio Operators new to data
modes, understand and use Amateur Radio data communications modes
effectively. Most of the DG’s usage of Data Communications occurs on
the Amateur Radio VHF and UHF bands within Whatcom County and
surrounding areas. Information about the Digital Group can be found at
https://mbarc.groups.io/g/main/wiki/28088.

Joining the DG
Membership in the Digital Group is an add-on to MBARC membership. DG
membership dues are $10 / year (in addition to MBARC membership dues).
DG dues are used to support various projects relating to the focus of
the DG, such as building Amateur Radio data communications
infrastructure such as digipeaters. To pay your dues, either send a
check to
MBARC Digital Group
PO Box 981
Bellingham, WA 98227

DG Email Discussion List
Currently, the DG uses Google Groups for its email list for
discussions and meeting notifications. If you're not currently a
member of the group, you can view (and search) the discussions to
date:
https://groups.google.com/g/nwwdigi

If you're a Gmail user, you can browse to
https://groups.google.com/g/nwwdigi
and click subscribe.

If you're not a Gmail user, to subscribe to the DG email list, send an
email (no subject or body text) to
nwwdigi+...@googlegroups.com

The DG meets on the third Tuesday of each month, beginning at 18:30
Pacific for casual chatting and 19:00 for the "formal" meeting via
Zoom videoconference. The link for the Zoom videoconference is
published on the DG’s email list prior to the meeting. You do not have
to be a member of the DG to attend the virtual meetings.

Sometime in 2022, the Digital Group will eventually migrate its
electronic discussions from Google Groups to groups.io. If you haven't
already done so, please go to
https://mbarc.groups.io/g/digital
To add yourself via email, send an email to:
digital+...@mbarc.groups.io

You do not have to be a member of the DG to subscribe to the DG email
list. Requests to join the DG email list are moderated to attempt to
minimize spammers and spamming.

Thanks,

Steve Stroh N8GNJ
MBARC Digital Group President 2021-2022


--
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Editor
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