2013 Holiday Party

The KCRA's 2013 holiday party will be held on Sunday, December 15th 2013 3:00 PM at:

Hibachi Grill

1501 Forest Ave. Staten Island, NY 10302

Cost: $20.00 per person, includes food, soda, desert, tax, tip, and 1 KCRA raffle ticket.

Additional raffle tickets are $5.00

Click here to RSVP

The November 19th meeting of the Kings County Repeater Association will be held starting at 7:00 PM (Coffee & Cake social time at 6:30), all meetings are held at: The Guild For Exceptional Children 260 68th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11220. Limited off street parking is available. The closest subway is the "R" line "Bay Ridge Ave" station, just a block and a half away! All are welcome, this meeting is open to both members and non-members. Remember, this is our last general meeting of 2013, our holiday party is held in December.

Very Special Guest

Gordon West, WB6NOA

Bring your membership card!

This meetings membership giveaway is a BRAND NEW HT RADIO!

Please be advised that nominations for all offices of the Kings County Repeater Association Inc., a New York State nonprofit corporation, need to be received by the October 15th meeting.

All full members in good standing are eligible to run for any office of the KCRA. If you are interested in running for office, or would like to nominate someone, please send an email to info@kcra.org, or voice your matter at the October 15th meeting. If no challenger for an office is received by the October meeting, the incumbent (should they choose to accept) shall be deemed re-elected to serve 2014 as a officer/board member of the Kings County Repeater Association, Inc. at the November meeting. If two or more members are running for the same office, a paper ballot election will be held during the November meeting. This notice shall remain posted until election results are available.

The current offices, and the incumbents are:

You may wonder what the club does with your $35 annual membership dues and other funds we raise. If you haven’t renewed or joined yet, perhaps this will give you some incentive to do so.

As a non-profit corporation, the KCRA uses its funds in various ways, both for the benefit of its members, and for furthering the radio art. By the time 2013 is over the club should have:

Sponsored several FREE licensing classes, helping to bring about 100 new people into the hobby. One class has completed, another is underway with yet a third in the planning stages.

Sponsored two EC-001 Emergency Communications classes, one exclusively for NY Guard soldiers. These classes are free, with a $15.00 test fee for the ARRL certificate.

Sponsored six totally FREE licensing exam sessions, held at the Guild for Exceptional Children every other month. That’s right, with our LARC team, you can upgrade or take the technician exam without any fee whatsoever.

Repeater improvements galore! This extensive, multi-year refurbishment plan to both our 2m analog and 70cm D-Star systems are nearing completion. Once complete, both repeaters will consist of completely new (NOT used) flexible and modern equipment that should last many, many years, at a cost of many thousands of dollars, and much hard work.

Let’s not forget the cost of insuring this equipment, our liability insurance, activates such as Field Day, Light House Weekend, Elmer 101, Hands on Labs, our regular meeting activities, and the donations we make to retain our meeting facility.

Of course this is not a complete list of what the club does, but as you can see, we stretch every dollar as far as possible.

If you’re not already a member, or have not renewed, please consider doing so today!

   For each remaining meeting of 2013 you could win an electronic device from the KC2UHA (SK) collection. We have all sorts of great stuff to give away, one item per meeting. Simply present your KCRA membership card to Don, W2DON (the KCRA Membership Chairperson) at the beginning of every meeting. During the meeting break, Don will pick a winner from the cards presented and award the prize.

   This contest is open only to members of the KCRA physically present at a club meeting who present their current and valid membership card. Didn't get your 2013 membership card? Simply pick one up at the next meeting! Not a member of the KCRA? Click here to join.

The Big Apple Traffic Net can once again be heard on the KC2RA repeater system!

The net is held each Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 8:00 PM. The repeater will automatically join the appropriate IRLP reflector at 7:45PM, and will automatically disconnect at 8:45 PM, the net may also be heard on the following repeaters: KC2LEB (440.550, +5, PL 141.3). KC2GOW (445.125, -5, PL 141.3), K2CJP (145.410, -.6, PL 114.8), and of course KC2RA (146.430, +1, PL 136.5). Echolink access to the net is via node 132967 (KC2LEB/R).

If you would like to participate as a net control operator, or for more information on the Big Apple Traffic Net, please visit WWW.BIGAPPLETRAFFICNET.ORG.

Chances are the mobile radio you are currently using is made in China, it’s just not designed, developed, tested and marketed by a Chinese company. That’s about to change.

Chinese Amateur Radio brands such as Wouxun (however you wish to pronounce it), Baofeng, and TYT have quickly become known brands in the ham community due to the relatively low prices and features of their handheld HT radios and accessories. A good percentage of our club members own and use a radio such as the Wouxun KG-UVD1P, KG-UV6D, or the Baofeng UV-3R. While cost certainly is an influence (you don’t cry as much if you destroy a $50-$100 radio), these HT’s actually have some innovative features not found in the leading Japanese brands. The Wouxun KG-UV series for example, is available in a 2m/1.25cm (144/220) configuration and features a voice synthesizer that reads menus, frequency, and settings aloud to the user in English or Chinese (while some find this vastly annoying, it is invaluable to many visually impaired hams, and those wanting to learn a little Chinese), the Baofeng UV-3R (and UV-3RmkII) features a single chip DSP design and insanely inexpensive batteries.

Will similar innovations be found in their mobile counterparts? As my paws have yet to touch one of these mobiles it’s hard to tell. What follows is several weeks of research in my spare time scrounging various websites aided with Google translate. I gathered specs, pictures, and estimated prices and availability wherever possible. As such while reading the next several pages, please remember things change, some of these radios may never see the light of day, and prices are my best guess. Additionally, remember this website is for a radio club, we do NOT sell radios and will be unable to help you find one! The usual disclaimers apply, this is not an endorsement of any brand or product, use your own judgment if you decide to purchase one, some features or the radios themselves may not even be legal for use in the amateur radio service.

I recently acquired a Baofeng UV-3R dual band sub miniature HT as in import from China for about $50.00. This radio is made by Vero Telcom as a custom label product (watch out for their dual band mobile) and marketed by BaoFeng Electron Co, LTD, it is also available under several other names such as Magiksun. This radio is readily available to purchase from many online retailers, all ship from China (this article will not cover the legalities of importing your own radio or its lack of certification, please seek advice and reach your own conclusion) and will take two to three weeks to arrive.

This review is based on my opinions, observations, and specifications of the radio as I lack the necessary equipment to perform a lab analysis. I will also rely on the work of others by embedding various videos and other references that have already been accomplished. In short, this review is not meant to be gospel, and is not entirely original work.

At first look, this radio may seem like a clone of the Yaesu VX-3R. Remember the adage, never judge a book by its cover, looks can be deceiving.