Category: news



September Basic Starts Soon

The team has reached healthy strength and is ready to start the September Basic course as planned on September 10. The instructor team chose to offer the course online to overcome COVID-19 concerns and potential class size considerations (more than 20 people).

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Making Field Day 2022 for Members

A dedicated core crew now guides the work, and we have approval to move to Oak Park to use the DSA Power Pack for Field Day 2022. Parks Board Events granted our request to share Oak Park with another booking. We are moving forward with a broader planning meeting on June 8.

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APRS and Messaging with LoRa

We use APRS tracking to help keep volunteers safe in major events. Members need to carry VECTOR radios to do so. What if we could give members small trackers and let you use your own radio?

A small, low-power tracker may make our civic events work easier. LoRa (Long Range) is a proprietary modulation that uses chirp spread spectrum to achieve long ranges with low power use and high immunity to interference. We intend to use the 433 MHz version to test APRS, telemetry, and short messaging.

We need two to four people to help field test mini-trackers in June and July. Anthony VE7XAK has offered to lead the project and set up all the gear.

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Planning Field Day 2022

Once we rally a core set of volunteers to guide the work, we have approval to use Queen Elizabeth Park for Field Day 2022. Parks Board Events granted our conditional permit for using the usual place to set up a Field Day event. We need 5 volunteers who will guide VECTOR’s 2022 Field Day, though.

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