Puget Sound Repeater Group

Update: The next PSRG Board Meeting is on Saturday, April 11, 2020 at 1:30 PM at the Salmon Bay Cafe, 5109 Shilshole Ave NW, Seattle.

The Board Meeting will be online-only at the following link (Corrected 4/11/20):  http://zoom.us/join. Then copy and paste the meeting ID into the box: 569 469 454. Then you can click the link that says “Join By Web.”

Note, there is no password required, but participants will enter a virtual Waiting Room until allowed in.

Attendees will not need to download anything to join.

Your input to the discussions is always encouraged, although only board members will vote.

Weekly Simplex Voice and WinLink Peer-to-Peer Nets are happening on Saturday Nights at 8 PM or 2000 Pacific Time.

The Simplex Voice net is hosted by Vince KD7PVY on 146.550.

The Simplex P2P Winlink net is hosted by Charles KJ7GKQ on 445.550.

Come give them a try!

The next PSRG Educational Meeting is on March 14, 2020. This meeting will be held ONLINE at the following link:  Meeting Link

We now have a confirmed speaker for the upcoming Educational Meeting of March 14th : none other than our very own Tim WT1IM.

Tim will be speaking about grounding and bonding, a session entitled “You’re Grounded! (At Least, We Hope So)”.

The next PSRG Board Meeting is on Saturday, February 8, 2020 at 1:30 PM at the Salmon Bay Cafe, 5109 Shilshole Ave NW, Seattle. Your input to the discussions is always encouraged, although only board members will vote.

2020 PSRG Annual Meeting will be held at the Seattle Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
105 5th Ave S. Suite 300, Seattle

Sunday, January 26th, 2020
1pm – 4pm

You do not have to be a member to attend.

We’ll have light snacks, coffee and soft drinks.

(Street parking is available and free on Sundays, arrive early to secure a good spot)

Guest Speaker
Quentin Caudron, K7DRQ (“Dr. Q”)

Fractal Antennas

Most of the antennas we hams are around are large things, built from long pieces of mostly straight, conductors. However, the antenna inside your cell phone is quite different — it’s curled up on itself, winding in zigzags or spiral patterns. This is a fractal antenna : an antenna that draws inspiration from the concepts of self-similarity and space-filling to be smaller and more broadband than the old, straight, retractable antenna your old cell had. Fractal antennas aren’t terribly well-known in the amateur radio world, so let’s discover them together. We’ll talk about some properties of fractal antennas, and then I’ll share my attempts at designing them.

Important! Three board positions are up for election at the Annual Meeting. The Board is looking for people who wish to run for those slots. Doug (KD7DK) has announced that he will run again for President, but Jack (KI7RMU) plans to step down as Secretary and Theresa (KG7AII) plans to step down as Treasurer. If you are interested in running for ANY of the positions, Please let the board know ahead of the Annual Meeting. You can email board@psrg.net.

PSRG By-laws

The owner of the IRLP system, has decided to disable the keys for all IRLP systems that are using IRLP via the Allstar system software.  This is impacting lots of repeater with dual connectivity, and there does not appear to be an amicable solution. Since PSRG’s repeater control software and the voting system it provides use Allstar, so we have no intention to retreat from our use of Allstar so we have no option but to remove IRLP support from our repeater.  Practically, this will have virtually no impact on our users as virtually all our internet connectivity is via Allstar and Echolink, both of which are unaffected.

For those interested in in the background and politics, you can read more on the arm-allstar-irlp email group: http://lists.hamvoip.org/pipermail/arm-allstar-irlp/2020-January/thread.html.

Update

Annual Dinner Signup Live! (Signups Closed)

We are now taking reservations for the PSRG Annual Dinner–please sign up at the link provided! One response per person is needed, so if you’re part of a party of multiple folks, you’ll need to post a response per person.

Dinner: Saturday, January 11, 2020
Time: Social hour 6PM, Dinner at 7

Cost: $30/person. Pay at the door.
Cash bar for social hour (and through the event)

Location: The Egg & Us
4609 14th Ave NW #108
Seattle, WA 98107

Choice of prime rib, salmon, or vegetarian
Dessert is apple or pumpkin pie

Note: for vegetarian or other needs, please include your preferences in the comments section of the sign-up form.

You do not have to be a member to attend.

The last PSRG Board Meeting of 2019 is on December 14, 2019 at 1:30 PM at the Salmon Bay Cafe, 5109 Shilshole Ave NW, Seattle. Your input to the discussions is always encouraged, although only board members will vote.