The Asterisk Amateur Radio Network - Madison/Huntsville, Alabama Group (AARN-MHAL) had its first meeting on Thursday 10 July 2008. For more information visit the AARN-MHAL page.

Just like other living things there are good and bad times for dynamic paths that are taken.

One can opt to be static yet knowing dynamic paths will move you.

What does this mean to those that work in the area of emergency response?

Be flexible with the methods that are used, yet maintain the basic standards that allow a incident operation to be conducted safely. Standards which remain static can be used as a basis for operation integrity and also represent a road map to a successful mission.

Standard Operation Procedures provide the static portion for operational planning yet they should also be dynamic so that when new methods are presented they can be placed into the Standard Operation Procedures as soon as possible.

Every situation, every incident is different, thus the need for being dynamic in operational style. At times incidents will take place that are not amongst the normal operational situations. This indeed is one of the times that we need to be dynamic in readiness and response.

Flexibility is a key ingredient to readiness and the “all hazard” approach to emergency response and planning.

As a organization which path are you opting for: static or dynamic flexibility?

Quick comments for ARMAD, We had 45 HF contacts all made by AI4PJ, Karl using the Drake State Technical College Call sign N4DTC. He was pretty dog gone good. We tried to take his seat so he could get some rest but no contacts were made until Mr. big (AKA) AI4PJ came back. Most of the contacts were made out of Florida and Texas; we had a few from New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio, Virginia and yes also from Canada. I was only able to make two contacts using the famous Asterisk Bridge Link (ABL) gateway to echolink. The VFW post there in Wichita, KS and the state of Iowa. Mark (W4FMX) was the advisor; advise all to keep the contacts rolling. He didn’t let any of us take a brake and making sure all links and repeater systems were up for the task. We had Lee (KI4BZY) the senior amateur radio operator on site, a retired Korean war army veteran cheering us all on and giving the Air force retirees a run for their money. hi hi. We also had for the first time a special helper, Mr. Roosevelt Thurman who volunteered to help us setup. Being a retired Army soldier this was like taking candy from a baby. He jumped right in and helped us make our on air time operations a success. The Madison/Huntsville ARMAD team had a great time setting up, operating and breaking down. Next year we will be ready to go at it again. 73, Will / W4WWM

ARMAD is an annual NON - POLITICAL Amateur Radio Public Service project that stands for Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day. We work with National Military Appreciation Month during the Month of May.

We ask Amateur Radio Operators from around the world to team up during this effort to allow the people from our communities to gather at public locations such as shopping centers, parks, VA hospitals, and sporting events to express verbal positive support “LIVE” over two way radio for members of the Military, Veterans, Reserves, National Guard, Retired, Coalition Forces, First Responders, and Military Support Groups.

Many of us have friends, relatives, and neighbors that are active duty, and past members of the armed forces. ARMAD gives us the chance to support one another, and to express our thanks and appreciation to those that sacrifice and serve in the Armed Forces.

For more information about ARMAD visit http://www.armad.net/

ARMAD is an annual NON - POLITICAL Amateur Radio Public Service project that stands for Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day. We work with National Military Appreciation Month during the Month of May.

We ask Amateur Radio Operators from around the world to team up during this effort to allow the people from our communities to gather at public locations such as shopping centers, parks, VA hospitals, and sporting events to express verbal positive support “LIVE” over two way radio for members of the Military, Veterans, Reserves, National Guard, Retired, Coalition Forces, First Responders, and Military Support Groups.

Many of us have friends, relatives, and neighbors that are active duty, and past members of the armed forces. ARMAD gives us the chance to support one another, and to express our thanks and appreciation to those that sacrifice and serve in the Armed Forces.

For more information about ARMAD visit http://www.armad.net/

ARMAD is an annual NON - POLITICAL Amateur Radio Public Service project that stands for Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day. We work with National Military Appreciation Month during the Month of May.

We ask Amateur Radio Operators from around the world to team up during this effort to allow the people from our communities to gather at public locations such as shopping centers, parks, VA hospitals, and sporting events to express verbal positive support “LIVE” over two way radio for members of the Military, Veterans, Reserves, National Guard, Retired, Coalition Forces, First Responders, and Military Support Groups.

Many of us have friends, relatives, and neighbors that are active duty, and past members of the armed forces. ARMAD gives us the chance to support one another, and to express our thanks and appreciation to those that sacrifice and serve in the Armed Forces.

For more information about ARMAD visit http://www.armad.net/

In the 1800s there was the frontier of West. Today we have digital frontiers to explore. The digital frontiers may not always be digital voice or data that appears within this new frontier.

Some may remember the days of 1200 baud packet that was quite popular in the 1990s. This technology is now present in APRS, with even a hint of low-speed data showing up within the VHF and UHF bands via D-STAR enabled radios as well as telemetry.

For those that have radios such as the Icom ID-1 it is possible to have 100kbps data from the Internet available in your vehicle. In order to do this a base station with a ID-1 or a D-STAR 1.2GHz data repeater is required.

Most of us have some form of a wireless network in our home or business that operates via the 802.11 standards. Did you know that this same equipment can be used in Amateur Radio with higher RF power and higher gain antennas? Within Amateur Radio this technology is known as High Speed Multi Media or HSMM. The primary bands for HSMM are 2400, 3300 and 5800 MHz. The 902 MHz band can also be used for high speed data. One of the key advantages to HSMM is in its nature of being able to take a “off-the-shelf” wireless network adapter and access point add a higher gain antenna to them, and for longer range RF amplifiers can be added under FCC Part 97 rules.

Imagine having access to high speed video, IP-phone and Data Connectivity in your vehicle,or during special events and emergency incidents being able to provide data, video and voice to the agencies served. As well as providing “last mile” coverage into a disaster area.

Did we mention telephone service? With the development of Internet telephone services as well as telephone servers such as Asterisk which provide flexible interoperability between PSTN, Internet Phone and Radio dial tone can be presented along with the last mile capabilities of High Speed Multi Media create a resource that can be highly beneficial to the community and the nation.

What is next in the Digital Frontiers? As it was in the 1800s with the migration West the same is occurring with the digital migration. With networks such as Asterisk the migration is made easier as analog and digital technology is made one. On the Internet you can find more information about Asterisk and HSMM at http://www.asteriskradio.net.