New!!! Proposed Meshtastic LoRa Mesh Network – The Amateur Radio Caravan Club is honored to have Aaron Estrada as our guest speaker at its May 10th club meeting. He will be discussing the purpose of his proposed Meshtastic LoRa mesh network experiment in the Sandia Crest repeater facility under sponsorship of the Amateur Radio Caravan Club. LoRa, (pronounced “Low-Rah”), is a pulse modulation scheme that spreads the signal over a broader bandwidth such that only your network node can receive and retransmit or decode the modulated information.
The discussion will explore what can be done with low transmission power in unlicensed bands as well as potentially higher transmit powers allowed to ARCC Licensed Ham operators which could open even more possibilities for mesh networking in amateur bands to see what ideas people in the Caravan Club might have for possible experiments in that sphere. The Meshtastic LoRa node hardware has a Ham mode so the internal software is already designed to help with those kinds of experiments. We look forward to this presentation. All are invited to come and learn.
We meet at the Heights Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 8600 Academy Rd NE (SE corner of Academy & Moon). We start gathering about 6:30 PM, start the meeting at 7 and must be out of there by 8:30ish so the night watchman can lock up the church. If you have never attended before, please park in the rear of the church, enter through the only single door back there, walk all the way down the hallway and you will hear us. We hope to see you there!
New!!! Radio Fun in the Park Resumes – The Amateur Radio Caravan Club will be resuming its Radio in the Park activity. Again, it will be held on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays (10 AM to “whenever”) throughout the spring, summer and into the fall…as long as our weather stays nice. In addition to hams getting on the air, club president John Mocho KC5QOC welcomes anyone with a new radio needing programming or instructions on how to use it or just has questions about our hobby to stop by for his help.
To kick off this activity, we will be meeting on Saturdays, May 11th and May 25th at Sister Cities Park (see attached map) located on the corner of McKinney Dr and Harper Dr NE. (we will be meeting on the Harper side of the park). The park is located just northeast of San Mateo Blvd and Academy Road NE. As in any field day environment, in addition to bringing a rig (if you can), please remember to bring your own chair, water, snacks, sunscreen, etc. There are lots of trees at this park so shade should not be a problem. There also are numerous restaurants available at the nearby San Mateo/Academy intersection for your convenience. Visitors are welcome! Hope to see you there! [Correction: Due to a prior commitment, John KC5QOC won’t be there on May 11th. If others want to come out that day and set up a rig, they are more than welcome. Otherwise, John will be there on Saturday, May 25th].
New !!! NM QSO Party Results – The Caravan Club met at the picnic area on the west side of the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque for the NM QSO Party on April 13, 2024. We had about a dozen members come out but only two set up their rigs. At first, both had trouble in getting their systems fine-tuned but with a little troubleshooting and help from others, both got on the air. Club president John Mocho on 20 meters successfully made one contact and John Gleason K5JVG made 3 contacts (Albuquerque, Washington State, Georgia). Our thanks to our Special Events Director John Gleason for arranging this activity.
Save the Date - The 2024 edition of the Duke City Hamfest and Convention is coming on September 20-22, 2024 at the UNM Continuing Education Center at 1634 University Blvd NE, just south of I-40. This two-and-a-half-day amateur radio get-together returns with full day training classes, seminar tracks, vendors, workshops, indoor and outdoor marketplaces, VE testing and more! Both the Friday night Mixer and Saturday night Banquet will be hosted at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, a 2-minute drive north of the UNM Continuing Education Center. Also, the Crown Plaza Hotel is offering a special room rate of $125 per night if you mention the DCHF. Finally, the Early-bird registration is now open. Please bookmark https://www.dukecityhamfest.org/ and check back often for further details.
As many know, the Duke City Hamfest has not been held since 2019 due to COVID-19 restrictions. Many things have changed in five years, so the 2024 Hamfest Planning Committee is having to view 2024 as a rebuilding year. Attached is a letter from Larry Goga, AE5CZ, president of the Hamfest, that explains our approach to rebuilding this event into what we all have learned to love and expect (Click Here).
###########################################################################################
Getting Started in Ham Radio - A page has been added to the Become a Ham tab titled Getting Started in Ham Radio. Thanks to Pete Stine for this write up to help those interested in becoming a licensed Amateur Radio Operator.
###########################################################################################
Please sign our log, explore our site, and consider joining our growing club. 73
Website Committee: Pete KE5WTM; Larry K5LRY, Mark W5MHG Site Last Updated: 30 April 2024 Copyright © 2024, Caravan Radio Club. All rights reserved.