Central Missouri Radio Association
Official Site of the Central Missouri Radio Association
Field Day takes place each year on the fourth full weekend in June. This year the event was held on June 24-25.
CMRA met at Rock Bridge State Park.
Click here for details about this year’s event.
You can also find general Field Day info from the ARRL when you click here.
Field Day takes place each year on the fourth full weekend in June. This year the event will be held on June 25-26.
CMRA will meet at Rock Bridge State Park. Activity will take place at or near the shelter west of the log cabin. Home station operations are permitted again this year.
Watch this space for more details.
Click here for a local news item from KOMU TV 8 about this year’s Field Day.
Click here to view an article in the Columbia Missourian.
ARRL’s On the Air podcast #30 is a 20 minute Field Day primer. Click here for a brief description and to listen.
You can also find general Field Day info from the ARRL when you click here.
On Saturday, November 6, 2021, Boone County Missouri ARES (BCARES) held their Simulated Emergency Test (SET) in cooperation with the Boone County Missouri Office of Emergency Management (BCOEM), the University of Missouri office of Emergency Management and the University Health Care Emergency Response trailer, located at the hospital on the Columbia campus.
This exercise involved a dual approach, processing 12 points in the county and 8 points around the campus simultaneously in our 2-hour window.
The exercise scenario consisted of Boone County’s response to a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in the vicinity of Marston, MO. BCOEM was interested in local assessment, and response and coordination with the state response. There are likely damaged roads, bridges, cracked foundations, downed trees, toppled power lines, and much more in the area.
Click here to view the full report. (Right click to save.)
Field Day takes place each year on the fourth full weekend in June. This year the event was held on June 26-27.
CMRA met at Rock Bridge State Park. Home station operations were permitted as well.
Arrl had modified rules in place again this year due to COVID-19 considerations.
Click here for an overview of CMRA’s participation in Field Day 2021.
You can also find general Field Day info from the ARRL when you click here.
Field Day takes place each year on the fourth full weekend in June. This year the event was held on June 27-28.
Field Day was different due to COVID-19 considerations. Our club held a smaller event than normal at RockBridge State Park on Saturday, June 27th. Several hams also operated individually per ARRL’s special rules for 2020.
Click here to see a larger view of the report below or right click to download it.
Click here to view a feature story from KOMU-TV 8.
You can find general Field Day info from the ARRL when you click here.
At 9:00 AM, Saturday November 9, 2019, BCARES deployed 19 amateur radio operators in pursuit of the Information Packets that had been created and distributed to 29 Red Cross designated shelters throughout the county by the Boone County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) on the day before.
The Information Packets contained instructions and data for the creation of an ICS213 message to be sent from each of these shelters to the ECC. These shelters are located in the communities of Hartsburg, Ashland, Hallsville, Centralia, Sturgeon, Columbia, and the Red Cross office in Jefferson City.
The SET concluded at 12:00 PM with all stations being cleared off net by 12:15 PM. The SET was designed to strain the capabilities of BCARES to pass ICS213s from all ends of the county back to the ECC.
Click here to view the full report. (Right click to save.)
Field Day takes place each year on the fourth full weekend in June. This year the event took place on June 22nd and 23rd.
Bill (N0AXZ) compiled an excellent K0SI Field Day 2019 Summary. Click its title to view or save.
Click here to view CMRA’s Field Day 2019 results.
You can find general Field Day info from the ARRL when you click here.
This year’s local event received publicity from several sources.
Here’s a glimps of Field Day.
Boone County ARES (BCARES) in conjunction with Boone County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) held the Simulated Emergency Test (SET) on November 3, 2018. A number of our CMRA members participated in this event.
Seventeen operators participated in the exercise–thirteen Rovers, two Monitor Relay stations, and two at the Emergency Communications Center (ECC) as Net control operators.
OEM identified eighteen points across the 685 square mile county for the communication exercise. OEM placed surveyor’s flags and data packages at each drop point the day before the exercise.
Radio operators, after a roll-call check-in net, were assigned Tactical call signs and deployed to their assigned drop points. Instructions in each data package directed the radio operators to create and deliver test messages that had been created by OEM as a simulated natural disaster event.
Click here to view the full report. (Right click to save.)
Gary Vaught, W9TIG, invited CMRA to attend the local homeschool cooperative fair on August 23 at the Columbia American Legion Post facility. Attending for CMRA were Myron Kern, W0ZH; Roy Parker, AA0B; and John Beatty, NO0I.
The fair is held each year at this time as homeschool parents and students begin the school year. Its purpose is to invite individuals and organizations that may be of interest to homeschool participants, such as STEM, Sports, and Educational providers. Our goal was to provide information about ham radio as an enrichment subject for homeschooled students.
A table was setup with introductory hand-out material about Amateur Radio, license requirements, HF, QRP and VHF equipment, and CMRA info. Dee BERGSTRAND, KC0DEO, provided sample adventure books on our table to read about Amateur Radio and encourage and inspire the hobby.
Roy provided a portable long wire antenna, which was connected to the club’s HF radio and setup by Myron for live copy over the air. Roy also brought his QRP radio and his $100 HF transceiver. Kids were attracted to the CW paddle and amplifier and enjoyed trying it out.
We also demoed a UHF simplex contact with John’s HTs.
We collected a list of parents that would like further information and will contact them to see how we can help them. The upcoming fall Tech class was mentioned frequently, and hopefully there will be some kids and parents attending.
CMRA has a DMR repeater at 444.425. The analog repeater formerly on this frequency is off the air as the DMR repeater has taken its place. Our initial coverage tests with a portable went very well, and we expect coverage to be as good as or even better than the previous analog coverage.
This repeater is a cooperative project between the Backyard Repeater Group (BYRG) and CMRA.
Our K0SI DMR repeater is now connected to the Brandmeister Network on the Internet. Here are some important tips to keep in mind:
Time Slot #2 is for the BYRG and KC Skywarn talk groups only. Please do not attempt to bring up any other talk groups on Time Slot #2. This is part of our agreement with BYRG so it is important we honor this request.
Time Slot #1 normally has the following Talk Groups statically connected. (this means they are always available)
Time Slot #1 is also available if you want to bring up another talk group. Just program your radio appropriately and key it up. These dynamic talk groups will stay active for 10 minutes after you unkey. (each time you re-key, the talk group time is reset)
Most of the DMR radios available have the ability to digitally monitor all talk groups, so please be sure you transmit on the correct time slot and talk group. Using this digital monitor mode, it is easy to be able to hear all the ongoing conversations, but if you do not have the proper talk groups programmed in, they won’t hear you when you respond.
Here are the guidelines from BYRG to operate the BYRG repeaters.
For programming, you can find the appropriate code plugs on the BYRG website (http://byrg.net) when you click the Codeplug ALA Carte Menu at the top of their homepage.
Remember to register for your DMR ID if you don’t have one already. If you don’t know whether you have an ID, you can check the database at www.radioid.net to see if your callsign is already registered. If you don’t have an ID yet, you can register there. Please remember, you must have your own ID number and program it into your radio before you can use the DMR repeater.
For programming an Anytone portable radio, we recommend using the latest software and firmware available on the BridgeComSystems website (https://www.bridgecomsystems.com/pages/support). They have the firmware and CPS software all rolled into one zip file for you. Scroll to the bottom, and download the latest there.
Please read your radio and save your current code plug, then upgrade your firmware as soon as possible. Updating the firmware will wipe your code plug so be sure and save it first! Using the latest firmware will ensure you are using the latest features on the Anytone.
Also, we highly recommend using the N0GSG contact manager software to build your code plug from the a la carte code plugs on the BYRG website. You can find the N0GSG Contact Manager here: (http://n0gsg.com/contact-manager/).
You’ll find plenty of help documents available on the BYRG website to help you, so just look around there when you get stuck.
We’ll be glad to help you get started and answer your questions, but please try to find the answers yourself if you can. Otherwise, when you have questions you can’t find an answer to, please ask. We probably don’t have all the answers but we can help you find them 🙂
We would like to express a special Thank You to iZones LLC for donating the internet connection used for our DMR repeater!
iZones, LLC
1301 Vandiver Dr., Suite K
Columbia, MO 65202
573-4iZones (573/449-6637)
www.izones.net