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GARC Members: * CLUB MEETING: Tuesday October 5th at 7:00 pm (TBD/Club station) * ANTENNA INSPECTION: Saturday 9:30 am at the club station * TS JEANNE REPORT * STATION NIGHT THURSDAYS 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm We had the last meeting a week late so the next meeting comes around a bit earlier so it seems! The meeting is planned for Tuesday October 5th at 7:00 pm. Meet at the club station if you don't hear otherwise. ANTENNA INSPECTION: Saturday 9:30 at D11-27 Dental Bldg (Club station) After two tropical storms, the antennas on the Dental Building rooftop may have experienced some damage. PPD did some repairs to their equipment after Frances, and the EMWIN antenna was repaired as well. But, we have yet to inspect up on the roof following Jeanne. The antenna inspection will just be a rooftop visit and lookaround. We can check the coax feedlines and the SWR for all the antennas to make sure everything still works ok. If time allows, we can put the G5RV back up. There is also a 6-meter Ringo antenna that could be assembled and installed. And finally we might take a look at the satellite array (UHF/VHF oscar antennas) and see if they work or can be salvaged or if it would be worthwhile to do so. TS JEANNE REPORT: The weather station reported that the maximum wind speed was 75 mph on Sunday 9/26/2004 at 4:19 PM. Pressure dropped to 982.8 mb on Sunday at 8:39 pm. The 8PM report from the National Weather Service put the storm 30 miles SW of Gainesville with a minimum pressure of 978 mb. The physics weather station recorded 29.08" between 7pm and 9pm with a minimum reading of 29.06" which equals 984 mb. Monday the highest gust recorded was 58 mph. Again the roof inside the station leaked, but thanks to Rhett and Amy, a bucket was placed under the leak and emptied frequently to prevent any damage caused by minor flooding. Other parts of the Dental Building leaked too, especially near the elevators. The new window did not leak, but provided an interesting vantage point to observe how well the antennas held up and the turbulent winds produced along the building. Sometimes the rain move sideways, othertimes it was blown vertically over the roof. No wonder the rain gauge only measured about 3.5" of rain. Thanks to GARC operators KE4VEM, KI4FWX, KI4FWY, KI4CVJ, for assisting at shelters and at the W4DFU station during the emergency. Also WA4FOX operated with me at the Alachua County Emergency Operations Center running net control as N4QYS. Additional operators volunteered for standby duty but were not needed as the positions were not activated. In total, GARC put in about 200 hours of volunteer radio communications service over the course of 3 days. STATION NIGHT EVERY THURSDAY 7-10 pm As GARC has done in the past, the regular "THURSDAY NIGHT STATION NIGHT" will continue this semester. This is the one evening a week that the station will be open so that if you do not have a key, or if you are not familiar with operating the equipment, you can come by and learn how to do so. The station night is also a time to work on special projects, conduct repairs, inspect equipment, check the mail, and other miscellaneous activities. The APRS DIGI is still not configured properly and is not digipeating. If anyone has expertise with packet or APRS digipeaters, the club could use your help in getting the APRS DIGI functioning properly. Jeff W4UFL ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your email address, join, or unsubscribe from the list, please follow instructions located at: http://www.w4dfu.ufl.edu/maillist.html http://grove.ufl.edu/~garc W4DFU Gator Amateur Radio Club (352)846-0239