Zombie Squad ARC Status?

[Medic77]

I just came upon and was reading the threads in the Zombie Squad Amateur Radio Club forum and am really interested in this club. Through all the posts I wasn't able to tell if the club was officially formed or not although I kinda got the impression that it was still in limbo.

Are there any updates on the status of the radio club? Frequencies?

I have been tossing around paying my $15 and if there was a formal radio club I think I would be more inclined to become a member.

[Rivera]

what exactly do they do in the arc?

[Noven]

Nothing really. I talked to one of the club officers a while back and they are still trying to figure out how to make it work. Right now it does nothing.

[Medic77]

What are they having trouble figuring out?

[lexmedic157]

Heck I'd just like to have an HF rig so I can talk to the ZSARC

[kyle]

The goal of the club will be to:

1) Promote/educate disaster communication to those interested in the ZS community
2) Organize radio communication related events both on and off the air (radio nets, ham fests, field days, etc)
3) Help chapter officers/members do the same in their areas on a local basis

I hoped to get this going and hand the reigns to someone else but it appears I'm not able to make the time to do it.

If there are individuals who are experienced with the technology and are willing to put in the time to get this club off the ground again, let me know. I can be reached at kyle@zombiehunters.org

I have some contact info of a few others who have expressed interest in getting this going as well. I am happy to put you in contact with each other. Someone needs to take up the leadership role to make sure it happens. I'm currently the point of contact for ZS-HQ and I will be happy to work with any folks who are up for it.

A good way to promote radio comms will be to stimulate discussion on the forum and to put together articles for our upcoming ZS Blog (Jan/Feb 2011). If you would like to submit an article let me know.

[Medic77]

I would love to see this radio club get off the ground and am willing to devote time to helping in anyway that I can. I'm new to the forum so I am not totally up to speed on the groundwork that has already been laid.

Where has the process halted and what are some of the obstacles that need worked out to make the club happen? Please let me know and I am more than willing to help get this project in motion again.

[kyle]

I would love to see this radio club get off the ground and am willing to devote time to helping in anyway that I can. I'm new to the forum so I am not totally up to speed on the groundwork that has already been laid.

Where has the process halted and what are some of the obstacles that need worked out to make the club happen? Please let me know and I am more than willing to help get this project in motion again.

Most of the info about the club is in the ZSARC section of the forum here:

I think the main obstacles were:
1) The original officers of the club sort of fell out
2) me - I wanted to make sure we have a better sound team of volunteers to make sure it actually happens this time. I got in the way by not getting to that recruitment process and giving them a starting point for planning projects to satisfy the club's mission.

I would love to delegate this to someone who can put the time into getting a team of 3-5 "Officers" to head the project who are willing to work together.

Once I see a decent team with an agenda and a plan, I will be super happy to bring the ZSARC back out of retirement. I'll be happy to help in anyway I can, but unfortunately, they will have to be limited to advice and some help with direction because I don't have a lot of free time at the moment.

ZS has a lot of tools to promote the club and make it a success once it gets going. We just need some motivated people to kick start it again.

I'm going to move this discussion over from "Communications" to the "Zombie Squad Radio Club" forum. I'll leave a link to it in here though.

[buxyrk]

Well, Im in.

I figure the first thing to do is see how many people would be willing to participate. I figure the best way to do this is just ask and see how many would be willing to join in on a weekly net. Ill go ahead and post the question in the commo forum because i think it may get more attention there, though mods feel free to move it here if you want.

[kyle]

The permissions for this forum section were set to "members-only" but I have changed that for now.

[Medic77]

To get some speed behind getting this off the ground why don't we draft a document that will serve as the blue print for the ZS ARC? The draft document would specify the groups official name, purpose, mission, membership requirements, officers, radio nets and net operating procedures, emergency call frequencies, event "talk-in" and activity operating frequencies, and whatever else the forum membership would like to see in the draft document.

Once the draft document is completed and people can actually read something solid, we can then begin to revise it until we get a final document that can be used to govern the group.

I am willing to put the leg work into this if the majority feel it is a good approach. Given that this is going to be a National communications group, most if not all collaboration is going to have to take place online which is cool. Is it possible for the forum to incorporate a chat feature where we could talk as a group in real-time?

Also, instead of using the word "club", could we use "group" instead? For example, something like "Zombie Squad Amateur Communications Group" or something similar. I think the name should be reflective of progression and not maintain the status quo of the old school Ham radio clubs that many on the forum have stated is a partial reason for them not being as active as they would like to be in the world of Amateur Radio. It sounds like we have a demographic at our disposal that we can utilize to promote the radio group and garner increased interests with the generation of today and those to come.

Are there any national amateur radio groups in operation? Most seem to be state or regional only. So we could try our hand at maybe something new.

Just wanted to throw those thoughts and ideas out there. Please let me know what u all think.

[Medic77]

Anybody interested?

[buxyrk]

I think actually getting a document together would be a great step forward for the club/group. I am willing to help out, let me know what you need me to do. and I like the idea of doing this differently from other clubs. Most nets I have heard sound more like a board meeting than anything else. I understand the need for structure, but does it have to be boring?

I just found out I am about to deploy, so I can't do much for organizing this after this next month.

I think what we really need right now is some temporary leadership positions until the actual formation of the club/group happens. No voting, just volunteer yourself, its only temporary.


Here is what I am thinking is needed. Just my 2 cents.

President - Vacant
Drafting the Documents - Medic77 (you spoke up about it, so I figured you might not be opposed to heading it up, if so just say so.)
Echolink Net - Buxyrk (As soon as someone is willing to take this from me, please do as I am deploying soon)
HF Net - Vacant (I started some work on this, but I really don't have the time or experience to really set this up, someone take over.)
Net control volunteers - Multiple Vacancies

[Cybrludite]

Here's a link to the club constitution we worked out the last time we had a go at this. Unfortunately the minutes I jotted down were two hard drives and one failed backup ago.

[kyle]

Something to get you guys started, we could use a web page on the ZS website with info about ham radio. I'll love to get that up because we get a lot of hits to the site from ham radio website.

Stuff like "What is ham radio" and links to how to get licensed and links to useful pages in the ZS forum would be a good start. Keeping it short, informative and simple is the best bet - just an basic intro.

Just tossing that out there for you guys to chew on. Let me know if I can help in anyway. I'd love to see this radio club pick up!

[BEar667]

I'm down. I just need to get an HF rig, or if we could get on echolink that would be wicked cool. I am currently a Tech Ticket holder and am therefore restricted to 28.300 to 28.500 on ten Meters.

[ke4yqd]

I'm down. I just need to get an HF rig, or if we could get on echolink that would be wicked cool. I am currently a Tech Ticket holder and am therefore restricted to 28.300 to 28.500 on ten Meters.

How are the meetings going to be held?

I since a disturbance in the force, when it comes to the HF net. I have a good setup for HF here and am running a 1/4 wave vertical that is 30 feet agl on 80m and another on 40. Those two bands I can run rather well. I also have a wicked 20 and 10 meter setup. However, with conditions as they are, HF nets on 20 up would need to be mid day, and 40 down would need to be night time. Mid day is hard as most people are at work / school. Night is better but requires bigger better antennas.

So if there is going to be a HF net for ZSARC, count me in.

If it is going to be held on ECHOLINK make sure to include my echolink node. It's under my call, ke4yqd-l. It also ties into our local repeater system. I also run backup power to the computer, internet, and radio, and have a direct link to the repeater. So it is always on! It also ties into radioreference so non-hams can listen in.

On the topic of the constitution, two things.

1. Have net coordination be part of one of the club officers descriptions. Not that they have to run the net, just make sure it is being run IAW ZSARC.

2. Being the president of the club here (and a ham since the early 90's), I would suggest an amendment to the constitution, removing the requirement for affiliation with the ARRL. Unless you are trying to become an ARRL affiliated club, that is a seemingly pointless requirement for the club, which provides no benefit for this organization as it is not group in a single local. And if there are events, individual members can post that information to the ARRL website anyway. Plus requiring a member overseas to affiliate with the ARRL would be pointless. This is global, not local.

I am an arrl member, as is the majority of our club. However in SWIARC (south west iowa), we dropped that requirement, as it really serves no purpose in the local governing of the club activities.

[kyle]

That is a good point about the ARRL membership requirement. The way clubs are set up, we would have to pick a specific location. That doesn't work with our community.

So, any volunteers for chapter offers? As I've said, I'm here to serve. If anyone is willing to take on the reigns of getting this club going I will be more than happy to help you guys get it going.

I also have an HF rig set up and would be happy to join in any net that get organized.

[stubsdad]

I agree with the Zombie Squad Amateur Radio Group (ZSARG). Considering the problems getting anything this large organized, ARG seems very appropriate to me.

I am a General licenced operator and willing to help.

[Trout_Of_Death]

Just passed my tech exam yesterday. I have a 2 band HT. Looking to get a tri band mobile in the distant future. Let me know if I can help.

-KJ6MSE

[ke4yqd]

@ Trout_Of_Death CONGRATULATIONS!!! Now keep studying and get on HF!!

So, any volunteers for chapter offers? As I've said, I'm here to serve. If anyone is willing to take on the reigns of getting this club going I will be more than happy to help you guys get it going.

I also have an HF rig set up and would be happy to join in any net that get organized.

I can handle Omaha / metro area. I am one of the more active hams in this area to begin with. But I haven't seen a chapter here in Omaha for ZS. Is there one, and I'm just not smart enough to find it?

Anyway. Hows’ about we just start TXing in the evenings. If you have a good 10M setup you can find our usual ragchew group on 28.305 every night around 1900z - 0200z. And there are some guys there with some BIG setups. But they are friendly and like hearing other stations!

From that we can move to another freq.

Again with the net talk. I'll take that conversation to the net thread!

[44Dave]

So... have we moved forward on organizing the group?

[NoAm]

We have started hamming on Echolink Sunday evenings 19:00 EST
Here is a link to the ZS ARC Forum http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=27049&start=264

Echolink software can be downloaded here http://www.echolink.org/
If this is your first time on Echolink, you will have to go through the validation process. (It will take a little time, not long through) If you can't validate by phone (with the home # listed on your license registration), you will have to scan/email a copy of your license for validation.

PM me, if you are just installing Echolink. We can get on and test/check settings, etc. so you will be ready to join us on Sunday.

[KJ4VOV]

NoAm, you need to change that link now that were back at the right domain.