Comm-Center Report as of May 8th, 2008
Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 14:17:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jay Nugent
Reply-To: ARROW-RedCross@yahoogroups.com
To: ARROW-Red Cross
Subject: [ARROW-RedCross] Comm-Center status update (as of May 8th 2008)
Greetings all,
I spent a few hours in the Red Cross Comm-Center yesterday and did the
following:
o Corey delivered 2 *VERY* nice chairs with wheels that fit the room
MUCH better than those old very large chairs. THANK YOU Corey!!
o Removed my loaner packet TNC and 2-meter rig. Replaced it with the
QMN box's TNC and 2-meter rig.
- The QMN box's 12v power cord is directly wired to the Astron
supply and does *NOT* have Anderson Power-Pole connectors.
This should be improved in the future.
- The 12v cord is also too short to place the QMN box near the
JNOS PC. So a longer serial cable was run from the JNOS PC to
reach the QMN box as a temporary measure.
- There is documentation inside the QMN box indicationg what
settings are needed to use the KPC-3 TNC with JNOS in KISS mode,
o Corey delivered 4 rapid-chargers and one 47.42 HT (which has a bad
squelch that randomly decides to remain open, but is otherwise
usable).
- Three of the four rapid-chargers have been placed on the shelf
with the 47.42 Base radio so that HT's can be charged and
available when needed. This placement kept all 47.42 gear in
one location in the room.
o The Win-XP PC on the brown desk is behaving FAR better now that all
Microsoft updates have been applied.
- Tested the "radio1@wc-redcross.org" email account via Outlook
and it performs as it should with the Red Cross Exchange server.
o Brought in a donated 15" CRT monitor for the "ARROW-Linux" PC.
- Performed 172 software updates to the Kubuntu 7.04 system.
- Configured ETH0 to use DHCP to get its configuration from the
Red Cross DHCP server.
- Configured ETH1 to be connected to the JNOS ethernet (future).
o Placed the donated waste-paper baskets in the room (Thanks GEO).
o Placed the donated crowbar in the ARROW toolbox (Thanks GEO).
o Noted that the donated Digital Volt Meter has a dead 9v battery
- Removed the battery and added it to the "Wish List"
o Noted the condition of the two 6volt lantern flashlights
- One has a weak battery that should be replace soon
- One had a dead and corroded battery that has been removed and
discarded. Both have been added to the "Wish List"
o Generated a "Wish List" of items we would like to find for the Comm
Center. I will publish this list under seperate cover. Perhaps
*some* items can be found inexpensively at the Dayton Hamvention next
week (hint hint).
MAJOR ITEMS STILL NEEDING ATTENTION:
====================================
- Get the SOU signed
- Fix the 75-meter dipole
- Backup battery for the Astron 12v supply
NOTE: This is the Astron RM-35-M and we would like to investigate
a modification kit to upgrade it to a "-BB" Battery Backup
version. This would provide a built-in battery maintenance
charger and automatic cutover during a power failure.
- UPS backup for the PC's
- Emergency lighting (automatic)
- Remote the 47.42 MHz Base radio to Corey's office
- Plan the installation of 5 additional coax runs, installation of the
rotor, and installation of the tri-band beam.
- Swipe/Proxitity access cards to W8SGZ and N8CBW
o Would still like to test our abilities by staging a Shelter
deployment test exercise perhaps the 3rd or 4th weekend in July and
exchange formal traffic (via HF & Packet) with other Red Cross
chapters. I will send out a possible scenario under seperate cover.
- Install a printer (perhaps shared) on whatever PC will be handling
most formal message traffic (Radiogram and/or Packet).
Thanks!
--- Jay Nugent WB8TKL
o ARROW/RedCross Liasion & Station Manager