The Weekend Session on Sunday, October 11, was filled with conversation, mentoring, sharing, and fun. That’s just what the bi-monthly gatherings are designed for. Here’s a quick summary of the afternoon.
Prior to the session, Jeff KA1DBE had hidden a “fox” (transmitter) for the hunters, Barbara KC1SSY and Marion W1GRL, to find. Armed with a handheld radio, the women searched the wide area around Meadow View Apartments with success, zeroing in on the basic location. They needed a little bit of assistance to find the exact location of the fox. It was great fun on a crisp, fall day!
Stan W1BOY and Mark W1ABY worked with Dick W1KRP to get WSJT-X fine-tuned for FT8 operating. They also worked on setting up GridTracker. There were some tricky settings to figure out regarding the audio, but the team was successful! Also, in the bottom photo, Mel W1MEB was waiting for another ham to arrive, carefully guarding his box of goodies.
Tracey AC1UN, Jeff KA1DBE, and Barbara KC1SSY set up the APRS system that will be used in the upcoming MDI Marathon. They were able to check that the system was working properly and show the system to Stan W1BOY and Mel W1MEB, who are on the Net Control Team for the Marathon.
Finally, Marion W1GRL shared with Barbara KC1SSY a website-based training program she uses to practice hearing voice callsigns and accurately typing them into a logging program. The practice site, Callsign Training Platform (cw4ever.eu), is a free, no-account-needed webpage that announces callsigns for the user to type. When finished, the program will give the percentage correct and a chance to see where mistakes were made. The program can also announce voice calls in a pileup, as well as CW callsigns individually or in a pileup.
Every weekend session is unique. You never know what equipment, software, or conversation topics will appear. Knowing the space is available twice a month, hams will often arrange to meet to work on equipment and software issues. Occasionally there are small meetings discussing things that would otherwise take extra time at club meetings. The next session is scheduled for Sunday, October 25. You can find the location and the upcoming dates on our Regular Events page (here).
Written by Marion W1GRL
