News and Happenings in 2001

Year 2001 saw NWA50 go on the air, IND get a facelift & a new antenna and then LIT also got a facelift and a refurb. SAR made it on the air, as well as SWA but probably from a temporary location. Then NWA got a new antenna as well as a properly vented battery supply, the FSM nodestack mushroomed overnight and MENA joined the network. There were numerous radio swaps and repairs that went on, as well as SPA got a new tower. The packet/e-mail emergency notification system went online at Conway and W5AUU got a new HF port. If I missed anything, it's because it was a BUSY year!


December 8, 2001 - Batteries at NWA moved to plastic enclosure vented to outside to prevent gassing into building. BBS computer was removed and taken to get new hard drive installed to hopefully get it running.

November 29, 2001 - HF port added to the W5AUU BBS. 3630 kHz - (connect to W5AUU, 300 baud)

November 10, 2001 - Rewired radio to TNC jack on IND495 radio and changed to discriminator audio. Determined radio only putting out 9 watts.

November 7, 2001 - FSM received new PA deck; now putting out 15 watts. Now just needs a lightning arrestor on the 6m feedline.

October 27, 2001 - SPA is back on the air! Equipment hooked back up after long awaited tower reconstruction; SPA50 still having antenna problems.

October 24, 2001 - NBO50 radio replaced; working fine now.

October 21, 2001 - FSM and FSM50 fixed and on the air.

October 20, 2001 - NBO50 failed just before SET; SET went well and the packet to e-mail gateway performed fine.

October 17, 2001 - NBO50 deviation pot cleaned to try and cure transmit problem.

October 7, 2001 - HRO nodestack went down sometime Thursday or Friday. Dave K5DEL went up and replaced a fuseholder that was broken. HRO is back on the air now.

October 3, 2001 - James KK5WM took the repaired micor back over to Des Arc and put it back in service. He reports that it is working fine.

September 29, 2001 - FSM nodestack installed. FSM495 on the air. FSM50 not receiving or transmitting; probably an antenna problem. FSM hearing fine, but transmit not being received at other nodes.

September 15, 2001 - CAREN hamfest. Lotsa meet and greet with APN folks. FSM495 micor, control head and TNC delivered.

September 14, 2001 - CON495 TNC had failing IC chip replaced. Repaired ECA59 micor and control head picked up.

September 8, 2001 - Mena hamfest. Kenwood commercial radio picked up for SWA node. Radio and TNC for FSM50 delivered.

September 7, 2001 - MENA node added to APN. Tuned up TNC, installed EPROM, put node on temporary antenna; old antenna damaged in last winter's ice storm.

September 2, 2001 - New IND495 radio preliminarily installed.

August 26, 2001 - HRO fuse holder temporarily fixed and back on the air.

August 25, 2001 - NWA gets a new antenna. HRO off air again; broken fuse holder.

August 15, 2001 - NBO experienced another power supply shut down.

July 21, 2001 - NWA495's micor lost finals, replaced with Uniden. -- NBO site had power supply reset after running batteries down.

July 8, 2001 - Effective demonstration of new packet to e-mail system at Conway and awards presented at packet luncheon before DEC meeting. -- New power supply at HRO and back on the air.

July 6, 2001 - HRO nodesite off air due to blown power supply TFN. -- LIT50-IND50 link setup.

July 5, 2001 - Micor picked up from ECA, Kenwood dual bander hooked up temporarily as node radio. -- HRO went off air during a thunderstorm.

June 26, 2001 - GP-15 antenna and triplexer ordered for NWA.

June 19, 2001 - Voltage regulator for batteries and the 2m micor installed at NWA. -- Discovered why HRO50 does not hear NWA50: observation tower in the path!

June 6, 2001 - Installed a cooling fan in the cabinet at IND495 to try and fixed the intermittant receive problem.

May 28, 2001 - LIT50 back in service. -- ECA59 appears to be down for unknown reasons.

May 25, 2001 - Changed out the chips at SPA, then swapped the TNCs around at Nebo to alleviate the NBO50 intermittant TX; also did upgrades to two of the TNCs there.

April 29, 2001 - New antenna and other equipment installed at IND site.

April 20, 2001 - ECA59 back on air with new micor, but battery has been charged dry and needs to be replaced.

April 15, 2001 - SAR now at Willisville site, but no 6m antenna yet. -- SWA nodestack set up for testing at KB5RYP's home.

April 12, 2001 - Set deviation on NWA495 but control cable not yet built; 2m antenna SWR quite high and power regulator not yet installed

April 7, 2001 - LIT59 back on the air, but LIT50 is deaf.

March 31, 2001 - Chips changed at Conway, 6m changed to discriminator audio and CON495 audio cable repaired. Set up clock speed on LIT59 TNC and set it's deviation to new radio as well as set deviation on new APRS setup for LTROCK.

March 29, 2001 - LIT59/LIT50 off the air for a refit.

March 25, 2001 - SAR is setup in a temporary location for testing, "official" packet lunch postponed.

March 21, 2001 - NWA has new batteries installed, but voltage is too high. Voltage regulator unit purchased.

March 8, 2001 - IND equipment installed in metal cabinet. Awaiting an antenna bracket to put up the new triband antenna.

March 7, 2001 - ECA59 went off air due to government equipment swap; working to secure a new radio.

March 4, 2001 - NWA50 radio is fixed, but now batteries have gone bad. VHF finals went out; determined not worth repairing. A set of rather large batteries have been located to replace old ones.

March 3, 2001 - Purchased feedline for IND antenna at Russellville hamfest. Gave a packet forum for about 20 people; went very well, very good reaction from those that attended. Was pleased to see that former packet users were so impressed with improvements we've made compared to the old packet network.

March 2, 2001 - Swapped EPROMs on NBO TNCs, checked SWR on antennas, fixed jumper cable problems. Removed a "daughter socket" on NBO495's EPROM, redid audio mod and set deviation. Changed NBO50 receive to discriminator audio, as well as cleaned and resoldered connections to try and fix intermittant transmit audio.

February 10, 2001 - Went to BAXTER to change EPROM and diagnose path problem to IND50. Accidently bumped a button and switched the TNC to HF tones, so it wasn't operative until days later when I could get back up there and fixed it. -- Antenna and lightning arrestor ordered for IND site.

January 17, 2001 - IND50 fixed! - Installed a new power supply as well as swapped IND495 chip. Changed the 6m radio over to discriminator receive audio and turned the power output back up.

January 15, 2001 - Problem at NWA50 determined to be fluctuating power output from radio. Unable to fix it at the time.

January 14, 2001 - CON495 discovered to have intermittant problem with the speaker connection on the radio. JNOS software updated and problem diagnosed with FBB multiserver. NBO495 problem determined to be radio toggling on and off each time power blinked; but a new radio is on it's way to the node. -- Raised money for improvements at IND by passing the hat at the DEC meeting and James Hutches KD5GOB of Searcy was appointed Assistant DEC Packet for APRS.

January 10, 2001 - Changed HRO495 EPROM and rewired 6m radio for discriminator receive audio. Also listened to NWA50 signal from there to try and diagnose problem.

January 6, 2001 - NWA50 is on air! Six meter antenna is up. -- NBO495 has gone deaf and dumb again.

January 4, 2001 - Found out that SPA tower had fallen due to ice storm. Click on the SPA/SPA50 site on the map for pictures.

January 3, 2001 - LIT went down due to problem with battery charging; problem resolved.

January 2, 2001 - IND power supply has failed again; IND50 off air 'til further notice.

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