 October 2022
In this issue...
A Note from Jon
Hi, I’m Jon Kemper, KA6NVY, ARDC’s new Director of Technology. I’m excited to join ARDC and I am looking forward to the road ahead. I’ll be working with our team of developers and community on various project initiatives, including open source efforts and improvements to the 44Net portal. Please feel free to reach out to me with your ideas or concerns: contact@ardc.net. You can read a little bit more about me below. ARDC Welcomes Technical Director Jon Kemper, KA6NVYARDC is pleased to announce that Jon Kemper (KA6NVY) has joined our staff as Director of Technology. In his role, he will be working with the foundation, volunteers and community members to lead the assessment, development, and implementation of new technology initiatives, manage open source projects, and improve the operational efficiency of both 44Net and the grantmaking side of the house. Jon brings a wealth of experience managing global engineering teams using software development methodologies. Notable projects include: remotely-operated vehicles (including underwater vehicles), Internet of things (IoT) sensors, and embedded control systems. His amateur radio activities include the building of 70 cm repeaters that link together via RF and VoIP and design of a flat audio board used to equalize and route discriminator audio. For more information about Jon, see our blog post. Work Cut out for the Grants Advisory CommitteeThe final deadline for submitting grant proposals for 2022 was October 1. According to Chelsea Párraga, our Grants Manager, we received 61 grant proposals, meaning that our Grants Advisory Committee really has their work cut out for them. If your proposal is in this batch, please be patient. It typically takes 60-120 days to review all the applications. We will get back to you if we need more information about your proposal and when the review process is complete. The next deadline for grant proposals is February 1, 2023, but you can submit a proposal at any time. For more information on how to apply for a grant, go to https://www.ampr.org/apply/. Grants Advisory Committee Openings - Apply Now!Speaking of the Grants Advisory Committee (GAC), we’re looking for some new members. These are volunteer positions, with a term of one year (January to December 2023). The GAC usually meets twice a month for at least an hour, but may meet more often when there are more grants to review than expected. In addition, volunteers are expected to spend additional time reviewing proposals and email correspondence that happen between meetings. Estimated time commitment is about 2-5 hours/week. An amateur radio license OR a technical degree OR experience in digital communications is necessary to be able to review project proposals. We are looking for volunteers with a broad range of experience to join the GAC. People with experience in K-12 education, university academics, research and development, or nonprofits are especially encouraged to apply. We are also interested in volunteers who are located outside of the United States. To participate effectively, volunteers outside the U.S. need to have a good command of the English language and be flexible when it comes to meeting times. The deadline for applying for these positions is November 12, 2022. For more information, go to https://www.ampr.org/now-accepting-applications-for-grants-advisory-committee/. Portal Specification Ready for Comments
We are really proud of the results and would like to share this document with you and to request comments. You’ll find the specification at https://www.ampr.org/wp-content/uploads/2022-09-Portal-Features-Requirement. To view the current comments on the specification, go to the thread Comments and questions welcome: Portal Features Requirements Document on the 44Net mailing list. To comment on the specification, sign up for the mailing list and add your comment to thread. You can also email your comment to contact@ardc.net. Visit ARDC at Pacificon, HackaDay SuperconARDC will be on the road again, attending the following conferences:
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For quite some time, ARDC has been working on improving the 44Net portal. In doing so, we realized that it was a much larger project than we first thought. So, we decided to take a step back and write a specification describing the new portal’s features. The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) took on this task, and it has been the bulk of their work so far this year.