Amateur Radio Society at Tech

General meeting: Amateur radio high altitude ballooning info session Fri Dec 2 at 5:30pm

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:37:51 +0000

A presentation will be given covering all basic aspects of amateur radio high altitude ballooning, in preparation for payload creation and a launch in the spring. Topics include lift vehicle configuration, payload contents, flight path prediction, and balloon launch, tracking, and recovery. Everyone is invited, and those who attend will be better prepared to function in a chase crew for the spring launch.

The meeting will be in Electrical Engineering 217 (Seacat room) on Friday, December 2nd at 5:30pm.

This is a professional points opportunity for those in project labs (1 point). You can also become a member for $5, which is an additional professional point. Refreshments will be provided. See facebook.com/k5ttu for pictures from past launches and more info.

First general meeting of the semester tomorrow, Wednesday Sept 28 at 5:30pm

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:19:42 +0000

Gerry Grant (WB5R), chairman of the board for the Lubbock Amateur Radio Club, will give a presentation on introductory topics in amateur radio. Previous talks have included topics like communication with the International Space Station and moon bounce (EME).

There will be free refreshments, professional points, and general camaraderie. We will also briefly introduce what ARSAT is for new students and talk about upcoming events.

A new semester and repeater progress

Jonathan Bender — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 02:41:56 +0000

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table at the Engineering Kick-Off last week, and to Casey, Chong, Dr. Helm, and Mr. Naugher for holding down the tent. For those who couldn’t make it, we have a good membership base this semester, and are looking at several possible avenues for club activities.

We have several officer openings this semester; Secretary, Vice President, and SORC Representative. Contact if you are interested.

We plan on having our first general meeting in the next few weeks, so be sure to ‘Like’ our Facebook page, facebook.com/k5ttu.

K5TTU has also been registered on Echolink, and we are exploring a remote-link setup to the Coleman repeater, so keep an ear on 444.1, as it may go live as part of a Echolink network soon.

Spring 2011 Antenna Design Contest and Fox Hunt

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 03:01:47 +0000

It’s that time of the semester again… time for the Spring 2011 Antenna Design Contest and Fox Hunt! This semester it will be held on Saturday, April 30th in the same location as the fall, just south of the ECE building. It will be in the afternoon on Demo Day, so those who had projects in the morning can attend, whether entering an antenna or just observing and then participating in the fox hunt. Those who are going to enter an antenna should sign up on the sheet on Dr. Michael Helm’s office door (EE 210, by Seacat) as soon as possible. See the event page for more details, and keep checking the Facebook page for updates!

The K5TTU repeater is back on the air!

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 02:55:09 +0000

After a brief hiatus and some hardware changes, the repeater located on top of Coleman Hall is now operational. It is transmitting at roughly 40W, 444.1+ PL 146.2. How to set your radio to use the repeater:

Radio receive: 444.1 MHz
Radio transmit: 449.1 MHz
Radio access tone: 146.2 Hz

The repeater is in the UHF ’70cm’ band (420-450 MHz), which is accessible for all license levels. Initial reports indicate the signal reaches most of Lubbock county, and there have been several contacts made with pilots in the area as well. If you make any contacts on K5TTU, let us know on the Facebook page.

Second general meeting with guest speaker Dr. Thomas Trost

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:44:49 +0000

ARSAT is holding its second general meeting of the semester in EE 217 (Seacat Lecture Hall) at 5:30pm on Thursday, March 31st. Dr. Thomas Trost will be giving a presentation on antenna design, which will be very helpful for the upcoming Antenna Design Competition that will be announced at this meeting as well. There will be pizza and refreshments provided, and it is also a professional points opportunity. Dr. Trost was instrumental in setting up the testing procedures for the Fall 2010 Antenna Design Contest and Fox Hunt, and is involved with the Microwave Lab in Electrical Engineering. All are invited; the first meeting this semester was packed, so be sure to come on time!

Keep an eye on the calendar to the right for upcoming events (days in BOLD have an event associated with them). You can also follow the event calendar on our Facebook page, and look for fliers the week of events in the ECE building.

ARSAT in the news

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:06:58 +0000

An article about ARSAT written by Hallie Davis was published the other week in the Daily Toreador (TTU’s student newspaper), in which several members were quoted about the organization. You can check it out here, and stay tuned for upcoming meeting dates, along with some new site content.

Thursday’s meeting location update

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:14:52 +0000

A quick reminder that Thursday’s meeting is in EE 222, which is just down the hall from the original location. See you all there at 5:30pm!

First general meeting with guest speaker Gerry Grant (WB5R)

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 02:30:12 +0000

ARSAT is holding its first general meeting of the semester in EE 222, and we will have local radio operator Gerry Grant (WB5R) giving a presentation. There will be pizza and refreshments provided, and it is also a professional points opportunity. Mr. Grant’s presentation last semester included a general amateur radio overview, along with some projects he has been involved in, such as moon bounce (earth-moon-earth) communications. The presentation will start shortly after 5:30pm; the lecture hall was almost full last semester, so be sure to come on time. If you’ve never been to an ARSAT meeting or don’t know much about amateur radio, this is a great opportunity to learn (and get dinner)!

New semester, new officer, new event page

Jonathan Bender — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 19:19:46 +0000

It’s early in 2011, but ARSAT already has some fun events planned for the spring semester. Aside from an antenna design contest and fox hunt, we are also looking into a trip to the Midland Hamfest, along with other informational and social events throughout the semester.

Thanks go out to Dr. Helm, who generously donated the proceeds from his Project Lab 3 book to ARSAT!

Welcome to the new ARSAT secretary, graduate student Allison Mcmahon.

We also have posted the event recap from the fall antenna design contest and fox hunt. Take a look back and start thinking about your designs for the spring contest! Also keep an eye out in the ECE building for fliers on upcoming meetings, and a display case with some of the antennas from the fall event.