Metrocrest Amateur Radio Society
News
President’s Corner
March 2020
Spring is about to be sprung, and a young man’s fancy turns to – REPEATERS!
On Saturday, March 7, the Irving Amateur Radio Club awarded MARS over $1,000 from their micro-grant program. This will enable us to convert the 444.075 repeater to a Yaesu System Fusion (YSF). That digital mode enables sending pictures from properly-equipped Yaesu radios, using wide-band high-quality voice as well as narrowband voice, and using various position reporting and SAR features. This is our first truly digital repeater, and I’m very excited to kick off this important project. We’ll schedule a Play Day to talk about all things Fusion, and you can bring your Fusion radios!
I was going to say that if you encounter someone from Irving give them a hug, but in light of the current situation maybe a fist-bump or elbow bump will do.
Irving ARC President Ken Hansen, N2VIP, presented the grant check to Kevin Grantham, N5KRG, at the March Hamfest.
I’m also ecstatic to announce that MARS will be building two repeaters in a joint project with the Plano Amateur Radio Klub (PARK). This will consist of one of our VHF repeaters and N5ZW Jerry Mabray’s UHF repeater along with trustee management, the repeater frequency pairs and important items such as duplexers. PARK has secured two sites in southwest Collin County and will be responsible for antennas, feedlines, cabinets, power supplies and related items.
These repeaters will be interconnected with other Collin County repeaters using AllStarLink to form a county-wide ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) network that will also overcome a number of problems that have hampered their effective participation in the National Weather Service Skywarn program.
I hope you are as pleased as I am that MARS can help another club build up their capabilities to better serve their communities. This is the spirit of amateur radio service, and I am very proud of our club for stepping up. It mirrors my personal philosophy summarized by “A rising tide floats all boats.”
Thank you for being a MARS member. See you at the meeting!
73 Kevin N5KRG