QST...

We had a special guest speaker to start 2008. January 9th, 2008 at 7:00 pm, EGARA, the East Greenbush Amateur Radio Club, was honored to have John Fritze, K2QY as our guest speaker. John was talking about and demonstrating his GoBox that is the coolest thing we have seen in a long time. It is a portable self powered HF/VHF communications station that is capable of supporting APRS, packet, SSTV, Pactor, etc. in the field. This GoBox is NOT just a couple of radios installed in a box. John has done a first class job of building this unit that can be rapidly deployed to serve in an emergency as well as being useful at home, in the field, or even on his sailboat.

John also talked about the portable repeater he is building and how he builds very tiny, self-contained portable APRS trackers that can be used for Search and Rescue missions as well as keeping track of assets in the field.

We had an excellent turnout of members, friends and RACES members, all taking advantage of this opportunity to learn more about portable and emergency communication.

EGARA is looking for some donations toward the purchase of a tower and radio equipment for our field day program. We were given a Mosley tri band beam and now we need something to get it up in the air. Tom, KC2FCP is investigating a surplus crank up type and will return next month with facts and figures. Early estimates are around $500.00. Anyone who would like to contribute please contact donations@w2egb.org