CLUB MEETING:

The May Meeting will be held at the Sacajawea Middle School  May 3rd.

The meeting starts at 7 PM.

 

Presidents Column

Jim Hall, AA8Y

This column is a bit short this month as I am getting ready leave for my annual trip East to see my mother and sons and their families and visit with cousins and of course take in the Dayton Hamvention along the way.

I hope to get be able to get the June newsletter out while I am on the road. Fingers crossed….hi hi.

I'm not sure where Field Day will be held yet but I am sure that we will be having Field Day again.

Take care and I will see everyone in June and will bring back a few tales to tell.

Minutes of April 5, 2001 Meeting

submitted by KD7FVR, Ron

The April meeting was held at Sacajawea Middle School. President Jim AA8Y called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 27 members were in attendance.

Minutes of the March 2001 meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter.

PRESENTATION

Al Zoller N7UB and Andy Olson N7ZC from Tele-Tech presented an informative program on APRS. APRS is basically a GPS Receiver combined with a transceiver that can report your position. Al was operating WinAPRS software, which can display a map on the computer screen and pinpoint the location of the transceiver. The commonly used frequencies for APRS are 144.39 and 147.59. For those who would like to learn more about APRS, "APRS Tracks, Maps, & Mobiles" is an ARRL publication.

 

TREASURER'S REPORT

Harley KI7XF reported that the club balance is approximately $1300.00. Treasurer's report was accepted by unanimous vote.

 

OLD BUSINESS

Don KC7EWZ received a letter of thanks from the Gallatin County Commission for the work on moving the EOC equipment.

 

Ham Fest

Don KC7EWZ will chair the Ham Fest Committee. The Ham Fest will be held Saturday October 13, 2001. Setup will begin at 9:00 AM; doors open at 10:00. Vivian K7CUB has reserved Sacajawea Middle School for the event. Programs will run from 11:00 – 2:00. Exam session begins at 2:00. Budget for prizes will be $600.00. Steve AB7MV will arrange the prizes. Jack N7ODN will organize the exam session. Ron KD7FVR will schedule programs. Todd WA7U will prepare signs. Don N7FLT will be in charge of the club consignment table. John W7OIQ will handle talk-in.

 

Field Day

Field Day is scheduled June 23-24, 2001. Don N7FLT will check with Jack Harper regarding use of Hyalite Youth Camp. If the camp is not available, the club will consider Hyalite Campgrounds as an alternative location.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Lewis and Clark Run organizers have contacted Don KC7EWZ. The marathon is requesting ham involvement for the next run in September.

Vivian K7CUB said the Olympic Ski trials will be at Bohart Jan.3-13, 2002.

Don KI7OJ said that the Big Sky Engine Academy will have a need for approximately nine amateur operators. The academy begins on Saturday, June 9.

Jack N7ODN announced that the new tapes are not yet available. He is planning on waiting until tapes are available to schedule the General class. The June exam session has been moved a week later, to June 16, so as to not conflict with the Big Sky Engine Academy.

The meeting adjourned at 8:34 PM.

Upgrade Honor Roll

This column honors all who receive or upgrade their license through the GHRC in 2001

Congratulations to all who upgraded.

 

Technician Class

Karen Cremer KD7MFC

Robert Grupe KD7MFD

John Hiscock KD7MFE

William Hiscock KD7MFF

George Hunyadi KD7MFG

Steven Jepsen KD7MFH

Charles Klankelborg KD7MFI

David Klunpar KD7MFJ

Brian Larsen KD7MFK

James Lenard KD7MFL

William Michno KD7MFM

Brad Norman KC0KAO

Michael Obland KD7MFN

Gerald Schaefer KD7MFO

Avinash Shantaram KD7MFP

 

General Class

Robert Solomon K7HLN

 

Extra Class

Pat Sands N7SVI

The next exam session is June 16th Rather than the usual first Saturday after the club meeting due to SW Engine Fire Academy which will be held the weekend of the 9th and 10th of June and some of us are planning to attend, helping with communications. Normal examination schedules will resume with the September Exams

Please note the above change

VE Test Sessions

Test sessions are held at 9 am in room 632 at Cobleigh Hall on the MSU Campus the first Saturday AFTER the first Thursday during the following months: December, March, June, September. This schedule may be revised. Make sure to check your newsletter each month for any changes to the VE Testing Schedule.

For more info: Contact Jack, N7ODN

2001 Schedule

March 3rd

June 16th

September 8th

December 8th

Happenings Page

Schedule of Events

bulletMay 1st – 146.88 net at 8 PM
bulletMay 3rd – Club Meeting 7PM at Sacajawea Middle school
bulletMay 5th – Ham and eggs at 4 corners café.
bulletMay 8th – 146.88 net at 8 PM
bulletMay 12th – Ham and eggs at 4 corners café.
bulletMay 15th – 146.88 net at 8 PM
bulletMay 19th – Ham and eggs at 4 corners café.
bulletMay 22nd – 146.88 net at 8 PM
bulletMay 26th – Ham and eggs at 4 corners café.
bulletMay 29th – 146.88 net at 8 PM

May 2001

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

1 146.88 net

2

3 Club

Meeting

4

5 Ham &

Eggs @ 4 -

Corners

6

7

8 146.88 net

9

10

11

12 Ham &

Eggs @ 4 -

Corners

13

14

15 146.88 net

16

17

18

19 Ham &

Eggs @ 4 –

Corners

20

21

22 146.88 net

23

24

25

26 Ham &

Eggs @ 4 -

Corners

27

28

29 146.88 net

30

31

 

 

Hamfests & National Amateur Radio

Events

CONTESTS

 

Field Day

June 23rd and 24th See pg 112-113, June QST

2001 ARRL June VHF party , see pg 114. June QST

Hamfests

GHRC Hamfest, Saturday, October 13,

Sacajawea Middle School, Bozeman Montana

 

NET CONTROL

May 1 N7ODN

May 8 KC7EWZ             PLEASE HELP OUT

May 15 KC7BLO           BY VOLUNTEERING

May 22 N7ODN              TO TAKE THE NETS

May 29 KD7FVR


June 5 K7CUB
June 12 KC7BLO
June 19 KC7EWZ

June 26 W70IQ

July 5 AA8Y

July 12 KC7BLO.

July 19 KC7EWZ

If you have not signed up as a net control operator yet. Please do so!  As members of the GHRC, each of us should take a half an hour from time to time to run the net. This is a small sacrifice in time which greatly enhances the quality of our net and our club.

If you have never run a net, contact Don, KC7EWZ for information on running the net. It’s really easy! Running the net is a great experience which will help prepare you for participating in emergency communications.

The net meets every Tuesday evening at 8 PM 0n 146.88

NORTHERN ROCKIES WEAK

SIGNAL GROUP

 

TUESDAY EVENING AT 8:30PM ON 144.200 USB.

FORMAT IS CASUAL ROUND TABLE.

NET CONTROL IS BOB N7CZ AND JIM N7YO IN GREAT FALLS.

 

GPS NOTES – 3

Waypoints, GOTO’s & Routes

Last month’s article talked about the importance of having waypoints of locations in your area stored in your GPS. In addition to that, we talked about the value of prominent waypoints on hikes in case of emergency.

There is often more than one way to enter a waypoint into your GPS receiver. To illustrate that, I would like to describe different ways of entering waypoints In a Garmin GPS III+. Check your manual for similarities.

All receivers will have a way to record your present position as a waypoint with a minimum of effort. Before you mark your present position make sure you have a valid 3-D position as described before. On the III+ you simple press and hold the ENTER/MARK key. The display changes to the waypoint page and a three-digit number is assigned as the name of the waypoint. If you don’t have time to change the name, you can just hit enter and the waypoint is saved. As mentioned before it is easy to forget the purpose of a numbered waypoint unless you keep a notebook. It is easy to change the number to a name by using the rocker pad to change the numbers to letters.

Most receivers today have a graphical display page that shows your position relative to other waypoints. This page can be a "handheld map" of your surroundings IF you have created additional waypoints to use as reference points. Using this display it is possible to "point and shoot" at any map position to create a new waypoint. This is done by entering a given distance and azimuth from your present position to the desired waypoint. This is useful in "triangulating" a waypoint, which will be described next month.

The third method of entering a waypoint is by using text entry. Using text entry, a waypoint may be created by manually entering the position’s coordinates or by entering the azimuth and distance from an existing waypoint (or present position). These two methods of entering a waypoint are very important for entering waypoints from a map, or if someone has radioed their position to you and you need to enter their position so you can calculate their distance and azimuth from you. I encourage you to read through these methods in your manual and practice entering these until you are proficient.

The Use of GOTO

The use of GOTO on the GPS receiver is the easiest way to get directions to a destination. A GOTO is really nothing more than a straight-line course from your present position to the destination you’ve selected. This function is the most basic navigation feature of the GPS receiver.

The modern GPS receiver has a wide variety of data fields available to help you navigate to the next position. Most units have user selectable data fields. The following are the fields available in a GIII+ and what they mean.

Altitude – Height above mean sea level

Avg Speed – The average of all second-by-second speed readings since last reset

Bearing – The compass direction from your present position to a destination waypoint.

Course – The desired course between the active ‘from’ and ‘to’. (marine/air)

Dist to Dest – The "great circle" distance from present position to a destination waypoint

Dist to Next – The "great circle" distance from present position to a GOTO destination, or the next waypoint in a route

ETA at Dest – Estimate Time of Arrival.

ETA at Next – The estimated time you will reach a GOTO destination, or the next waypoint in a route.

Max Speed – The maximum second-by-second speed recorded since last reset.

Off Course – The distance you are off a desired course in either direction, left or right. Also referred to as ‘cross-track error’ or "course error’. (marine/air)

Pointer – An arrow which points to the destination.

Speed – The current velocity at which you are traveling, relative to a ground position.

Time of Day -

Time to dest -

Time to Next – The estimated time required to reach a GOTO destination, or the next waypoint in a route.

To Course – The recommended direction to steer in order to reduce course error or stay on course. (marine/air)

Track – The direction of movement relative to a ground position.

Trip Odom – A running tally of distance traveled since last reset

Trip Timer – A running tally of elapsed time since last reset

Turn – The angle difference between the bearing to your destination and your current track. "l" indicates you should turn left, "R" indicates you should turn right.

User Timer – Lets you select a count up or count down timer. For a count down timer you may also specify the count down duration.

VMG – Velocity Made Good. The speed you are closing in on a destination along a desired course.

Wpt (dest)

Wpt (next)

As you can see from the list of navigation functions, the modern GPS is a very proficient navigation calculator. As a matter of fact the use of the receiver as a navigation calculator should not be overlooked.

Most receivers allow the user to select a waypoint to "GOTO" in a variety of ways. For example the III+ allows selection from a list of "recent" waypoints, "nearest" waypoints or all available using "spell and find". A handy feature is to designate a GOTO from the map. This is especially useful if you have a base map of roads built into your receiver. You just move the pointer to the desired location and press the GOTO key. In the III+, by pressing and holding the GOTO key for a couple of seconds activates the MOB function. This stands for "man overboard". The obvious function of this is from marine times when someone falls overboard. This causes the receiver to create a waypoint called MOB and begins immediate navigation back to that waypoint. One could do all their navigation from one waypoint to another by using the technique of "GOTO". However if you are going to go through a series of known waypoints there is an easier way.

The Use of Routes

Route navigation allows you to manually create a sequence of intermediate waypoints, which lead you to your final destination. Different receivers allow different numbers of waypoints in each route and different numbers of routes. The GPSIII+ will allow 20 routes with 30 waypoints per route. This is about average for modern receivers. By using route navigation your receiver will guide you from one waypoint to the next automatically. When you reach your destination you can simply "reverse your route" to return to the point of beginning.

Next month we will discuss how to use your receiver to find the coordinates of a feature you can see but not get to. In the meantime, keep practicing the use of your GPS. Practice by trying to find a geocache using the GOTO function. (www.geocaching.com)