Seminars

Saturday, January 17, 2026, 9:00 AM

Seminar Room Location: Scroll to the bottom of this page and find the “VE Testing and Presentations” entrance in the top left corner.

#APRSTHURSDAY Presentation Summary
Mike DiTurno KC8OWL
Duration: Approximately 60 minutes.

What started as 4 or 5 amateur operators trying to figure out how to send Automated Packet Reporting System (APRS) text messages to each other on their Yaesu handheld radios turned into a weekly APRS messaging net spanning 24 hours every Thursday and routinely drawing over 700 operators from around the world every week.

In this session Mike will explain how it all started, how APRS messaging works, how the net works, why it is 24 hours long, and the many ways that one can participate in this fun and very interactive net.

Mike is a General class operator, former ARES Emergency Coordinator, and has been active in amateur radio since becoming licensed in the year 2000. Mike also enjoys scanning the civilian and military air bands.

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Bio: Rick (W7RAP) has been a Radio Amateur since 1975  and holds an Amateur EXTRA class license. He retired as Missile Design Manager at Hughes/(Raytheon) in 2007.

He has served as ARRL Arizona Section Manager since 2017, as Assistant Section Manager from 2011 through 2017, and as a VE team coordinator since 1998.  He is a certified VE Team Lead with the ARRL, W5YI, and Laurel VECs, conducting test sessions at ARRL Conventions and Hamfests.

Rick has been mentoring young Arizona Hams,  and making ARRL presentations at hamfests and club activities since 2004.  He is an ARRL registered License Instructor as well as one of Gordon West’s (WB6NOA) certified Instructor/Elmers.  He participates with Gordo in making presentations at Arizona Hamfests.  

He is past President of the General Dynamics Ham Club and The Hughes Catalina Radio Club.  He is currently a member of several Amateur organizations:  CADXA, SARBA, CARBA, Kachina, Yavapai, Oro Valley, and the Cactus Intertie System.

Has been an AMSAT member, ARES qualified in 1990.   RACES certified in 1993,  and is an ARCA club coordination council representative.  He participates in Club coordination meetings.

He maintains a linked UHF Remote Base repeater, and a Repeater and APRS Digipeater on Greens Peak. He participates daily in HF Nets, ARRL Nets, UHF Nets and D-Star. Meet him on 3.933 MHz any evening at 5:30 PM.

Rick participates in the monthly ARRL TEAMS meetings with other Field Service Section Managers and ARRL Staff. He also supports the ARRL staff at the Dayton ARRL National Convention.