Spinning & GrinningSince July I have been attending the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) here at Ft. Leavenworth, KS. SAMS is a 10 month course that “educates the future leaders of our Armed Forces, our Allies, and the Interagency at the graduate level to be agile and adaptive leaders who think critically at the strategic and [...]
For me the past few days have been busy with amateur radio activity of one kind or another. I spent some time last weekend fine tuning my horizontal loop antenna; spreading it out the loop a bit and raising it higher. I am still impressed by the antenna’s performance and look forward to using it [...]
I am nearing the end of my master’s degree program in international relations. Although the Army’s Command and General Staff College (CGSC) program for us majors is a graduate-level program it does not grant a degree (unlike the Navy, Air Force, and USMC). Apparently this is actually written into the Congressional statue that provides for [...]
I enjoyed AB9RF and KE9Vs recent postings concerning the ending of the “era of the communicator” – I am a big fan of both blogs. Kelly (AB9RF) argues that to continue to attract new hams, we need to focus the image of ham radio not as a means to talk to far away place (as [...]
Scouts: received my Radio Merit Badge pamphlet in the mail today. Between the pamphlet and web resources, I want to put together a course package for the merit badge. One of the gentlemen I work with has a son who is interested in pursuing the Radio Merit Badge… so I need to get crackin’. Army [...]
This site is dedicated to the people providing emergency and backup communications in VA using Amateur Radio Digital modes. This is done by amateur radio operators on their own time and at their own expense as a public service to their communities and the state. VDEN supports both ARES and RACES operations. The primary 1200 [...]
December 04,2005 BY JANNETTE PIPPIN View stories by reporter DAILY NEWS STAFF NEWPORT – When the National Weather Service opened its office in Newport 12 years ago, head meteorologist Tom Kriehn was quick to get to know the area’s amateur radio operators. Kriehn knew they would be a valuable asset in providing severe weather information [...]
As amateurs involved with emergency communications we typically think of a go kit as one containing the essentials we need to set up a mobile field station. In light of the events of the past week I thought I would preach to the choir. When preparing your communication go kit also prepare a utility kit [...]
I tried running PocketAPRS from the office without any luck. I’m in the middle of a second floor, not close to a window – and my building is surrounded by other brick buildings… so no real good line of sight. But all the fiddling around took its toll on the battery. After work I set [...]
Tonight I attended a class to become a National Weather Service storm spotter under the SKYWARN program. The training was held at the Newport News Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Joe Safranek, K4JJS, helped coordinate with the NWS to get one of their meteorologist from the Wakefield, VA office to conduct the class. There were a [...]