BRATS The Milliwatt ARRL
The award-winning monthly publication of
The Baltimore Radio Amateur Television Society
P.O.Box 5915 Baltimore, MD 21282-5915

February, 2006

SILENT KEY
Gene P. Knapp, Sr.
W3BAB
January 10, 2006
We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Gene, W3BAB. Gene was an avid DXer and ATVer. He came to all meetings, helped with the hamfest and was a valued club member. We will miss him.

BRATS HAMFEST SCHEDULED for JULY 23

The Famous BRATS Hamfest and Computer Fest has been scheduled for Sunday, July 23rd at the Howard County Fairgrounds, Route 144 in West Friendship, Maryland. Mark the 4th Sunday in July on your calendar. More information as the date draws closer.

FCC zips through vanity application backlog

Once the FCC resumed processing Amateur Radio vanity call sign applications earlier this month, its Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) blazed through the backlog. A total of 990 vanity applications piled up in the queue after the FCC suspended vanity processing September 23. An initial batch of 121 grants Friday, January 6, was followed by 195 more the next day. Apparently confident by then that the system was working okay, the FCC let loose the remaining 674 vanity grants Tuesday, January 10.. FCC spokesman Tracy Simmons told ARRL today that the WTB now is processing current vanity call sign receipts. It typically takes approximately three weeks from the time a vanity application is submitted until a call sign is issued.

Winlink 2000, APRS join forces with APRSLink

Following the Amateur Radio response to some recent disasters, Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, proposed using his Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) to enable mobile and remote APRS users to access their Winlink 2000 e-mail accounts under emergency or unusual conditions. In response, the Winlink 2000 development team came up with APRSLink. APRSLink monitors all APRS traffic gated to the Internet and watches for special commands that allow APRS users to read or send short e-mail messages to and from other Winlink 2000 users, perform e-mail maintenance, receive notices of pending Winlink 2000 e-mail via APRS and query the APRSLink server for information on the closest Telpac gateway or Winlink participating station. Details are on the APRSLink Web page.

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