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Nevada Section News Archive 2008
December 27, 2008 UPDATEThe dome has been destroyed and the radar antenna damaged. See
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/rev/current/KRGXDomeFailure.pdf (bottom of the charts)
for details.December 21, 2008 - NWS Reno radar down - spotter help needed - The NWS Reno Office has lost use of the NEXRAD radar facility located on Virginia Peak. The reason? Wind gusts to over 140+ mph over this weekend. If you are interested in seeing the damage, please go to: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/rev/current/KRGXDomeFailure.pdf
In the meantime, Dee Arnold KA7LOZ, who is our liason to NWS Reno, would like us to know that the National Weather Service (NWS) will be monitoring the 147.210+ PL. 100 and 147.150+ PL. 123.0 linked system (Reno area) for spotter information. She said that "we will have to be their eyes for the time being until it can be repaired which could be some time after Christmas at the earliest". She or another volunteer will be at the NWS office to monitor on a 24/7 basis, so you may call the station with real-time information at WX7RNO. Thanks for you help. 73
Don Carlson - KQ6FM
NV Section EC / RACES Officer
December 15, 2008 - ARRL Nevada Section News -
This month has been one of preparation. Preparation for the Holiday
Season, preparation for SKYWARN Recognition Day, preparation for the
Pacific Divisoin Cabinet Meeting, and preparation for club holiday
parties. While on the way to California for Thanksgiving with our
daughter Jenny, KE7GIV, I got to have a quick meeting with
representatives of several clubs in the Reno area. We discussed
concerns that they wanted forwarded to our Pacific Division Director at
the upcoming Cabinet meeting. I also got to get a feel for the
personalities of the respective clubs. It's great to see leaders from
different organizations meet together for the common cause of advancing
Amateur Radio. I look forward to meeting with the various clubs in the
Las Vegas area in January.
In next month's summary, I will give a report on the Cabinet meeting which I attended in Livermore, CA.
One common theme from the clubs who were present was that we need to get better at recruiting and retaining new Amateur Radio Licensees. More on this next month.
73 de Joe N7JEH
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December 8, 2008 - ARES SEC Monthly Report for November 2008 -
November was a fairly quiet month as everyone gears up for the holiday season. We do however have some new blood coming to join our leadership team as you will discover in the NW District report. A new DEC and net manager coming in January, and a new EC in Pershing County (something that we ve never had for many years). Everyone around the state has been ramping up for Skywarn Recognition Day from 4pm Friday December 5 for 24 hours through Saturday December 6. All 3 districts having an NWS office will be participating again this year. Good luck to everyone. SM Joe Giraudo, N7JEH has been passing books from the League for distribution to clubs around the state. These will make great prizes at some of the club Christmas parties just around the corner. More coming soon I m sure. As an FYI, there will be NO IRLP NET on either Thursday December 25, or Thursday January 1, 2009 as we celebrate these holidays with family and friends. On that note, here s wishing you all A Merry Christmas to all and an exciting and Happy New Year ahead! Don Carlson, KQ6FM SEC.
SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORT (Glenn Hale, KB7REO, DEC Southern) - Comments: November 2008 DEC Monthly Report - Southern District Not much news regarding ARES in the past month. Had one weather observation for snow accumulation in Tonopah, which was phoned into Elko NWS office. Snow had accumulated to 4 inches one Sunday morning. The report was included on the NWS Winter Storm Advisory. It's a good reminder that any weather conditions that meet the SKYWARN reporting criteria should be called into your local office during any time of the year. Dave AK7DB was given a Net Manager Appointment for his efforts with Clark County ARES/RACES nets.
Clark County ARES/RACES Report by Charlie, EC AA5QJ Local Amateurs, including many ARES members supported two public service events in November. On November 8th and 9th the MS 150 ride had bike riders going from Las Vegas to Mesquite on Saturday and returning to Las Vegas on Sunday. Hams were posted at rest/aide stations and were also in support vehicles. Also on November 9th a Triathlon was conducted. Amateur operators were posted at rest/aide stations along the 112-mile bike course. This course is in the mountain area near Lake Mead. Neither cell phone coverage nor the park ranger radio system is available in many portions of the bike course. Vern, K0EGA has attended meetings with OEM and first responders planning for a tabletop exercise to be held on December 11th.There were 50 checkins to the GMRS Emergency Net in November.
Southern Nye County ARES Report by Jerry, EC KC6ILH - Did some training in message handling also our annual distribution of dinners to the shut in with Emergency Services and the Senior Center. Had a day of rain, no flooding, no SKYWARN, a day of stuffing, felt like a turkey. Hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving and a slow month also. Keep the batteries charged you never know when things happen.
Northern Nye County ARES Report by Randy, EC KB7TRI - Randy, KB7TRI and Dave, KE7LC participated in a meeting with the Nye County communications officer Fred Jones, as well as two members of the Southern Nye County ARES, including Jerry, the EV for S. Nye. The meeting was very productive and established a dialog between North and South Nye County and the County representative. The meeting lasted approximately 2 hours.
NORTHWEST DISTRICT REPORT (Don Carlson, KQ6FM Acting DEC) - Our NW District ARES net is growing! Following our move to the new time and repeater system, we are averaging more than 17 check-ins each week. As a reminder, the net operates at 7pm (1900 hours) over the WADG system of 147.150+ PL. 123.0 on Mt. Rose; 147.210+ PL. 100.0 on Peavine Peak and 147.030+ PL. 123.0 on Virginia Peak. This system covers most of the NW District. We may also have a new net manager for this one coming soon, so stay tuned. Please note that new Pershing County EC, Ed Maynard, KE7QHM files his first report this month. Ed is in the process of making served agency contacts and building relationships with them, and is putting together a new team in his county. Thank you Ed for hitting the ground running and the start of your building process. More exciting news is that effective January 1, 2009, Paul Beavers, NG1Q will become our new DEC for the district. Paul brings us a real treasure trove of experience not to mention his booming HF station based in Reno. Paul will be a most welcome addition to our team. Also, Tim O Shea, KY7Y (formerly K2RNO) has agreed to become net manager for the Tuesday night NW District ARES net. Thank you Paul and Tim for accepting these challenges, and I know that all of the ECs and members will enjoy working with you both. More on these additions next month.
A New ham forum will be held in Reno on Saturday December 13 at the REOC. This will give the newly licensed hams who have joined us to get a show and tell taste of all of the various aspects of the hobby.
Lyon County - EC Patti Polish, KE7JIV - LCARES has been working through our Section and Disrict Officers to finalize the MOU between Lyon County and ARES. All issues seem to have been resolved and we are in the signature mode. At our monthly meeting John Abrott, KD7NHC, gave a presentation on Echo Link, and by all accounts everyone was pleased. We will not be having a meeting in December, however, our next meeting will be on January 26th in Silver Springs at the Senior Center. All are welcomed.
Carson City/Douglas County - EC Shiela Clement, KA7AJQ - DCART members met Nov. 17th for our monthly training session at the Douglas County 911 Dispatch Center. Ron Sagen has been formally named 911 Manager. Ron is helping us coordinate county plans and resources to support our DCART 911 operations and equipment. Scott, kb1eea, briefed us on sms (text messaging) protocol and website addresses. During disasters like Katrina, people were able to get through by texting as the method takes less bandwidth than voice. Guess we will have to join the younger generation and learn to become proficient at this. This discussion led to preplanning for member emergency notification procedures. Ron noted he could help us use the reverse 911-notification process whereby our members may get an automated phone call announcing the emergency. Then, members would tune to one of our three valley repeaters (which are linked together unless actively de-linked). In the event those were not available we have a simplex frequency where we could meet. The first person on the repeaters (or simplex) would establish a net and document member availability, then check in the resources. This information would be passed on to those in charge. At the same time we could brief everyone with information regarding the emergency. Also during our training meeting, several members reviewed our packet radio operations and set up there at our corner in the 911 Dispatch Center. The training meeting helped us review our member resources and capabilities and see how we can plan for emergency operations there at the 911 Dispatch Center. We are also planning to acquire the ARRL self-study course on Digital Technology for Emergency Communications and make it a DCART study project.
WASHOE COUNTY - EC Bob Miller, WA6MTY - 11/01/08 at the ARES training session, Aaron Kenneston KE7GFF our Washoe County Emergency Manager was our guest speaker. Aaron gave us a brief presentation of the Emergency Management software WEBEOC and our part with data entry from the EOC Radio Room with input to the significant events. After the presentation we held a brief after action meeting of the Health Departments POD exercise.
11/14/08 Andy Munoz KD7ZEV and I attended the Inter Hospital Coordinating Council meeting and Andy did a presentation on the Hamlink portable message handling server software that he and Al Fallis K7BFD developed on the and portable Packet/Paclink server that Andy developed. Andy and Al put in over 300 man-hours developing this software.
Humbolt County - EC Ski Woytowicz, AF7NB - Our members in Humboldt are really shining. New members Charlie KE7VNX and Don KE7VNW have really been active. Both are studying for upgrade exams. Humboldt ARES will be sending five of our own and one new ham recruit (recruited by Joe - N6COA) to Elko on 20 December 2008 for their exams. Once the upgrade exams and our new recruit's exam are complete, we will have the horsepower to run our own exam team for the future. Dick - KD7MIO, Ed - KE7QHM, Joe - N6COA, and Ski - AF7NB held an Introduction to Amateur Radio presentation complete with VHF/UHF and HF equipment at McDermitt Combined School on 25 November 2008. The presentations were held throughout the school day with students attending ranging in age from 11 to 18, parents, and interested members of the community. Four new ham recruits were gleaned and a strong potential to grab an additional six new candidates exists. Mary Baird, Science Instructor at McDermitt School, was appointed AEC for the McDermitt area of Humboldt County by Humboldt ARES EC Ski Woytowicz - AF7NB. Thank you Mary for your energy and volunteer spirit. Another huge thank you goes to Richard Nendick - W7QWD for donating a Motorola Micor repeater (70 cm) to Humboldt ARES. After the repeater is overhauled, it will be used to facilitate communications and extend emergency communications capabilities in remote areas of northern Humboldt County. Finally, Ski (AF7NB) attended the latest Humboldt County LEPC (Local Emergency Planning Committee) meeting and together with Sheriff Ed Kilgore proposed that the existing ARES group be grandfathered in as the new Humboldt County RACES team. The LEPC will vote to make this official in the families and friends during this Christmas season and into the new year. -- AF7NB
Churchill County - EC Paul Wilcoxen, KE7CRZ - I would like to welcome Irv Beebe-K6DHN as our newest member. Rich Giebitz-KE6QK, Mark Beedle-KD7ZPP, Patrick McCartin-KC7ORU, Meta Brewster-KE7TXJ and I have been busy working at the Lahontan Tower site. The antenna and hard line have been installed at the Lahontan Tower site for the 145.350 back up repeater. The Yaesu repeater has been tested and both the repeater and controller should be operational within 2 weeks. This repeater will be an open repeater operating on 145.350 with a PL 100.0 and will back up the 145.350 PL 123.0 at Fairview Peak. This also gives the Silver Springs area access to the 145.350 through the Lahontan site. We have received authorization for the 449.500/444.500 frequencies for Lahontan through CARCON, so that project will be started very soon. We expect in the future to use this 449.500 as an IRLP repeater. In addition, we are planning a BBS station for the Lahontan site as well as TELNET access. Our next scheduled meeting will be January 17th, 2008, 10 A.M. at Round Table Pizza Restaurant in Fallon.
Pershing County - EC Ed Maynard, KE7QHM - We went with AF7NB to the High school at Mc Dermitt Nevada. We assisted in a presentation of How to start in Amateur Radio. We attended the HUMBOLDT ARES meeting in Winnemucca Nevada. I have talked with Pershing County commissioner Roger Mancebo and he is supportive and is going to call me so I can attend the next Pershing County Emergency Committee meeting.
NORTHEAST DISTRICT REPORT (Joe Giraudo, N7JEH DEC) - November was a very quiet month. Plans were laid for the upcoming SKYWARN Recognition Day event in early December. No news has been received regarding moving forward with the radio room for the Northeast Nevada Regional Medical Center. Propagation for the Saturday morning HF Section Net continues to be acceptable. Thanks to Jerry, KC6ILH for taking the helm while Joe - N7JEH was out of state. -de N7JEH
December 6, 2008 - WEB SITE NEWS -
Some of you may have noticed the this website (and the
EMCOMMWEST(R) website as well)
has been a trifle unstable the last couple of weeks. It turns out that both sites
were rehosted and a few things were broken during the move. Everything should be
back to normal now. Should you find anything still out of whack, please let me
know at
wb6w@arrl.net.
Also, the section event calender (seen by clicking on the "Calender" above) has been updated for 2009. I invite all clubs to have a look and let me know if club meeting dates are correct. If you're club meetings aren't on the calender, please send details to wb6w@arrl.net so your club meetings can be added to the calender. A link to your club website will be included if you send your club URL along. See the current calender for examples.
...de wb6w
November 13, 2008 - NEW HAM FORUM ON DECEMBER 13 -
Frank Walsh, KE7AJO writes:
With many new hams being licensed recently, the question of "how do we get them active?" looms once again. One answer is "THE NEW HAM FORUM". This is a "show and tell" session whereby newly licensed amateurs have the opportunity to check out various aspects of the hobby to give them a chance to see which
area(s) spark their interest. Therefore, the next New Ham Forum for the Northwest District area will be held on Saturday, December 13 starting at 0800 hours PST at the Regional Emergency Operations Center in Reno. If you are a new ham or know some people who are, THIS is the place for them to be!
We are once again looking for people to help give presentations on various subjects on our great hobby. This includes IRLP and Echolink, Packet radio, Emergency Communications (ARES), Amateur Television and Proper Operating Procedure, DXing and Contesting among others. If you would like to help with a presentation or be available during the day to help answer questions please feel free to contact me at KE7AJO@gbis.com.
Thank You, /s/Frank Walsh KE7AJO
November 11, 2008 - ARRL Nevada Section News -
(ARES report is the article following the section news)
Pacificon 2008 was attended by numerous Amateurs from the Nevada Section.
Once again it was a great event. The vendors were swamped with customers,
The technical sessions were well attended and the banquet was sold out! The
banquet speaker was Jill Tarter, SETI Director. Her talk described the new
radio telescope construction that is being undertaken in Northern California.
She also described all that is involved in the search for extra-terrestrial
intelligence. It was a very interesting presentation.
Two awards were garnered by Nevada Hams at the banquet. Dick Flanagan, K7VC was given an appreciation award by the Pacific Division Director, Bob Vallio for his service as Nevada Section Manager. The big surprize of the evening was the granting of the Pacific Division Amateur of the Year Award to Kent Johnson, W7AOR for his achievement in growing the use of IRLP through the Western Reflector and numerous linked repeaters throughout the State of Nevada.
FIELD DAY 2008! The results are in for Field Day 2008. They can be viewed at the "Members Only" area of the ARRL website. There were 8 participating stations in the Nevada Section that submitted results to the League. This year's BIG GUNS were the Reno QRP Group. Nevada Section scores are shown below:
November 11, 2008 - ARES SEC Monthly Report (October 2008) -
October was a very busy month with lots of different activities going on. First of all, Pacificon, our Pacific Division Convention was held in San Ramon, CA with some great forums, a tremendous turnout and a great time for all. I was a presenter this year, doing a forum on PIO's During Emergencies on behalf of the ARRL's Public Relations Committee. A new course is now being developed for PIO training. To me, the best highlight of the weekend was presentation of two awards of special interest to the Nevada Section at the Saturday night banquet. First was a special recognition award to Dick Flanagan, K7VC our outgoing SM for his many contributions to the section and to Amateur Radio over the past several years. While Dick was not able to attend this year, we all were moved at the tribute made by Pac. Division Director Bob Vallio, W6RGG. Bob also presented the Ham of the Year Award for 2008, which went to Section Technical Coordinator and NARRI chair, Kent Johnson W7AOR, for his contributions in the IRLP/Echolink arena. Kent was also unable to make Pacificon, so both awards were accepted by SM Joe Giraudo, N7JEH. I was given the honor of presenting the award to Kent personally on October 25 at the Clark County ARES/RACES meeting in Las Vegas. Kent was totally surprised and without words as we presented him with this well-deserved award.
(Dicks award was presented to him by yer editor in a private ceremony. Dick was uncharacteristicly speechless - de wb6w)
While on the subject, it was again a true pleasure to attend the Clark County meeting and meet with our team in the Southern District. They even held an H/T clinic and tested a ton of radios brought to the meeting for testing. Thanks guys for making me feel so welcome, and for the great job you all continue to do for us.
Statewide POD exercise with the NV State Health Department was also held on October 25, and included participation by Clark, Carson City, Douglas and Washoe Counties. Our served agency was thrilled with our performance and astounded as to how well we operated on a variety of modes. You'll read more in the NW District report. Thanks to everyone who participated and made this effort a tremendous success.
As a reminder, Skywarn Recognition Day is coming on Saturday Dec. 6. In the past, all 3 NWS stations around the Nevada Section have participated with great success. Hope to hear of plans next month from around the state as to what we re going to be up to this year. 73 Don Carlson, KQ6FM SEC.
SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORT - Glenn Hale, KB7REO, DEC - Fairly busy end of the month event. Don KQ6FM attended the Clark County ARES/RACES meeting bearing gifts from Joe N7JEH's trip to Newington, CN., including a Pacificon's Ham of the Year plaque for Kent W7AOR. I was busy assisting Cliff W9CRB with handling traffic for the Southern NV Health District POD exercise. The event co-insided with the Clark County meeting so I had to miss that meeting. I was able to handle traffic from Washoe County Health District with ease thanks to Bob W7WOW for his support as relay operator. The exercise ran from 9am to 11:30am that morning. Direct HF communications was established on 40M that morning after 75M began to fade.
Clark County ARES/RACES Report by Charlie, EC AA5QJ No report - net numbers provided by net manager Dave AK7DB
Southern Nye County ARES Report by Jerry, EC KC6ILH - SET finished for this year. Did an earthquake exercise and had people located all over the local area. Beatty, Armagosa and Pahrump. We simulated crystal, Tacopa and Shoshone. This year we had operational our new EOC as well and exercised its abilities as well as our own. Finished it all off with a hot wash and BBQ. Finishing the HF work on the EOC and will be trying to come up on the Saturday NV ARES/RACES net in the near future.
Northern Nye County ARES Report by Randy, EC KB7TRI N. Nye County ARES participated in the Nevada SET with 3 members present on nets for a total of 12 man-hours. Bob, W7WOW did a fantastic job acting as a relay between Clark and Washoe Counties and ended up doing a lot of traffic relaying. Great job Bob! Dave, KE7LC was also able to relay some traffic. Randy, KB7TRI participated in two ARES HF Nets during the month with Dave, KE7LC participating in one that I know of.
NORTHWEST DISTRICT REPORT - Don Carlson, KQ6FM Acting DEC - First off, we have moved our NW District ARES/RACES Net on Tuesday nights. It is now conducted one hour earlier at 1900 (7pm) to accommodate more people. The difference in the number of check-ins is remarkable. We have also changed systems from the 147.180 Virginia Peak repeater to the Wide Area Data Group s linked system. The repeaters which now carry the net are: 147.150+ PL. 123.0 on Mt. Rose; 147.210+ PL. 100.0 on Peavine Peak and 147.030+ PL. 123.0 on Virginia Peak. You can access the net from any of these repeaters, which gives us optimum coverage for the bulk of the district. Thank you WADG for allowing us to use the system for our net. We will be doing some mini-drills as part of the net, so please check in and join us.
POD exercise held on Saturday October 25 based in Washoe County in service to the State Health Department. This was a point of dispensing whereby doses of flu vaccine were administered to the hundreds who showed up. We passed traffic from one end of the state to the other and from what I heard, it sounded great. Many kudos from the Health Department, so thanks to all who participated, especially to Bob Miller, WA6MTY who coordinated the effort. Great job everyone!
Another ham cram and VE testing session coming up on November 8 at the REOC in Reno. Contact Bob for more information and to volunteer time, as he needs us to help put this event on. -Don Carlson, KQ6FM - Acting NW DEC.
Lyon County Patti Polish, KE7JIV - I am pleased to report that we have two prospective members, Jason Roche,KE7VQE, and Mike Detullio, KE7GFS. This report reflects the activites for September and October. The team had a booth set up at the 20th Annual Dayton Valley Days on September 20th & 21st. I wish to thank Brian Freitag, KE7JIO, Tom Tabacco, KE7NCJ and our PIO, Leonard Mithchell, KC7PET, for the work they did during the weekend. Great Job! At our monthly meeting in October, Gina McGuire of the National Weather Service gave the members a presentation on the weather spotter training. Gina was able to sign up 5 new spotters from the team. Next month our monthly meeting will be in Yerington at 7:00 PM at the Pizza Factory. Anyone interested in Emergency Communications is invited.
Carson City/Douglas County Shiela Clement, KA7AJQ EC: DCART members supported and staffed the State Health Division s POD/flu shot Exercise Oct. 25th with radio operators located at the State Health Division in Carson City, Douglas High School (POD site), and the Douglas 911 Dispatch Center/EOC. Scott Donovan, kb1eea and site coordinator; Dick Young, kd7jmr; Otto Tune, kv7j; and Cynthia Bagley, kb7bze, staffed the State Health Division in Carson City. They used several modes such as packet, VHF, UHF and HF. Mark Foxen, kb7mf, the State Health Information and Communication Team and Public Health Preparedness person coordinated the State Health site and statewide exercise efforts for all modes of communication. Of course ham radio was our part and discussion is on going about permanent radio facilities. LeRoy Clement, ka7uis, and site coordinator; Ed Goldberg, ke7eaa; JD Fowler, ad7cd; Herb Klemme, aa7mr; Robert Winkleman, ki6cpw, Rick Martin, ke7vqa, staffed the Douglas High School POD using UHF simplex to the operators at the Douglas County 911 Dispatch Center. The operators at the 911 Center then reported the statistics to the State Health Division in Carson City on the VHF repeater, 147.270+ pl 123. Dick Creley, kj7uk, and site coordinator; Nanci Lemburg, ke7oer; Sheila Clement, ka7ajq; and Dale Anderson, kv7s, DCART technical advisor, staffed the Douglas County 911 Dispatch Center in coordination with the 911 Center acting manager, Ron Sagen. We used the opportunity to practice simplex operations to receive the POD information and become familiar with the station s VHF and UHF radios and other Center resources. Sheila Clement, ka7ajq, Douglas County EC.
WASHOE COUNTY Bob Miller, WA6MTY: Please welcome our newest WCARES member, Dr. Randy Todd KE7QHN of the WC Health Department. Frank KE7ZJO AEC Washoe County moderated the training session. Dan KE7HLR did a presentation on Rapid Damage Assessment and I talked about the POD exercise. October 25th the WC ARES participation in the Nevada Statewide POD exercise. Setup started at 0700 where Andy setup the PACKET/PACLINK Station in the remote server capacity with a laptop connected using wifi to send packet traffic to the WC Health via the VA Medical Center PBBS. Andy also sent out email status reports to various Health Department desktop email addresses as well as several officials Blackberry s. I setup the POD net control station with a J-pole antenna in the library where the Incident Command Post was so we would have good simplex communications within the high school. Also manning the POD was Doug KA7FOO as POD net control and Tim K2RNO as communications between the POD and WC Health Department. In the medical area shooters where the shots were given was Jacque KE7NMJ, in the education area was Leif W7RNV, at the front entrance was Ruth KD7ZPO and Parking lot communications was Dan N2RDO. The POD opened at 0900 and ARES provided communication between all areas providing status of the people entering and traversing the POD for their flu shots. Every 100th person entering the building carried a flag with a number on it. The number 1 was for person 100, 2 indicated person 200 and so on. Therefore we provided a status of when each flag entered and exited each area. That way POD Incident Command personnel were able to estimate the approximate number of people with in the building at any one time.
At approximately 1000 it was determined that the FRS radios used by POD personnel were inadequate, therefore we were requested to provide shadow operators for the POD commander, Operations Section Chief and Liaison officer. So Tim K2RNO, Ray W7TAP and I took on that responsibility. We could have used another five radio operators to provide more adequate communications.
At 1025 a little 6 year old boy decided to pull the fire alarm, and this was not a drill. It took approximately 23 minutes to completely evacuate the high school, wait for the fire department to appear, be informed what had happened and return to the building and continue with the POD exercise. The POD processed just under 2500 flu shots in four hours. Andy KD7ZEV processed 72 packet and Paclink messages. The WC Health Department was manned by Frank KE7AJO providing communications between the POD and WC Health Department, Dan KE7HLR did communications between the WC Health Department and the NV State Health Department. Steve KE7HLS sent packet communications to the NVSHD, while Joe WA6RKN made HF communications with the State and Clark County.
The WCARES ATV team Joe WA6DDF, Jon WA7DDF, OT WA0DDF and Bill AA7WB had successfully transmitted live video tests during the day before the POD exercise. They used the VHF/UHF antenna on the roof that was to be used for voice and packet communications during the exercise. Without an additional rooftop antenna, they were unable to transmit live video of POD activities during the exercise. The ATV team also had the problem of not enough people to help with the communications. We will have to move forward to locate a site and funding for an ATV repeater.
Humbolt County Ski Woytowicz, AF7NB: KH6QAI (Michelle) and KH6QAJ (Karen) have completed USAF MARS training and are regular affiliates. N6ZEM (Pat) has our fledgling website up at www.hcares.net . Kevin Chatfield N7WGC was able to break away from rodeo to attend our last meeting and received a hearty welcome aboard. Tom Bunch (WO7I) is maritime mobile in Hawaii at the moment!! Ed Maynard (KE7QHM) has completed the first ARRL emergency communications course! Congratulations Ed! He will soon become EC for Pershing County, but will still maintain membership with Humboldt County ARES. The monthly meeting was held at Las Margaritas restaurant and was well attended. The restaurant staff liked us so much that we have booked the restaurant as our home base for the remainder of this year and through 2009. Our 2 meter machine 146.73 (PL88.5) should be operational in the next 2-3 weeks. The IRLP machine is being sent back to W7AOR for more extensive troubleshooting.
McDermitt Combined School has applied for an ARRL ETP grant with the full support of Humboldt County ARES (HCARES). If approved, the League will provide a radio station for the school. HCARES is scheduled to present an all day program on amateur radio at McDermitt school before Thanksgiving. During the presentation which will include radio demonstrations, new students will be signed up for the upcoming "KRAM" to be held in January 2009 in McDermitt. HCARES will provide support and mentoring during the "winter study period" to help our new budding ham class make a successful entry into ham radio. We are planning to field an exam team there after the "KRAM". More next month ... 73 from AF7NB
Churchill County Paul Wilcoxen, KE7CRZ: On October 15, 2008, the Churchill County Emergency Manager, Mert Mickelson-N7HVS, became a silent key. Mert's dedication to the job has been responsible for the success of the ARES/RACES group in Churchill County. He will be missed! Our newest member is David Enteles-WA7OZT, welcome aboard Dave! Casey Forsch-AD7RW, Command Master Chief at NAS Fallon will be leaving the area in December for sea duty aboard the USS John C. Stennis. Casey has been an asset to the ARES group and we will miss his contributions and we all wish him luck in his new assignment. We are still in the process of setting up a back up repeater system for the 145.35 on Fairview Peak. In the future we plan to deploy a 70CM repeater north of Fallon. All of our technical projects would not be possible without the dedication of Rich Giebitz-KE6QK, who has designed and engineered all of our repeater and network projects.
NORTHEAST DISTRICT REPORT - Joe Giraudo, N7JEH DEC - Repeater maintenance was the focus of the month. The 146.96 machine in Wells was relocated into another location including its tower-mounted antenna. Unfortunately there was no SET participation in the District this year. The local hospital was not dialed into the Washoe and Clark County POD scenarios. Hf net participation was good through the month. Thanks to Jerry, KC6ILH for covering for Joe on two of the weekends that he was out of State.
November 11, 2008 - ARRL Nevada NTS Traffic Report
October 14, 2008 - New FEMA EMCOMM Course -
Many of you may already be aware of this course, or have taken it. Nevertheless, here is information on a relatively new FEMA online independent study course that presents the concepts of Emergency Support Function #2-Communications (ESF-2). For those that have heard Dennis Dura's presentations around the country, he strongly encourages integrating ARES in the local, county, regional or state government emergency operations plan. This presents a variety of mission options, not beholding to any one specific group, and we become more aligned with the emergency management structure.
The course, available at
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS802.asp
will take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
October 14, 2008 - ARRL Nevada Section News Summary -
ARES SEC Monthly Report (September 2008) - We are preparing for the
2008 SET which will encompass much of the state including counties of:
Washoe, Clark, Douglas and Carson City. I plan on being in Clark County for
the quarterly ARES/RACES meeting on that same day, Oct. 25. Don t forget
that Pacificon is coming the weekend of October 17-19 in San Ramon, CA, so
make plans if you are able, to attend. Info available at www.pacificon.org,
including link for hotel reservations at the San Ramon Marriott.
SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORT- Glenn Hale, KB7REO, DEC Southern: - We've had a few attempts to test local HF coverage across the Las Vegas valley after the Clark County ARES/RACES nets. Some discussion remains on how to improve HF communications across the State under poor propagation conditions. Clark County ARES/RACES Report by Charlie, EC AA5QJ: Charlie AA5QJ, EC, participated in Clark County-Specific Integrated Emergency Management Course at the FEMA Training Center in Emmitsburg MD, with 74 other management personnel. Vern K0EGA, AEC Ops/Training attended the Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting on Sep 30.
Southern Nye County ARES Report by Jerry, EC KC6ILH: Early mornings saw us doing two public service events. The annual Pony Express ride and the Fall Festival Parade. We support these every year. This year the SET will be on its own the first weekend of October. Northern Nye County ARES Report by Randy, EC KB7TRI: Dave, KE7LC did extra PR work for Skywarn this month (5 Hours).
NORTHWEST DISTRICT REPORT Don Carlson, KQ6FM Acting DEC- Our new IRLP repeater on Ophir Peak is working like a champ. Many thanks to Kent, W7AOR and NARRI, along with Steve Kometz, N7KP and SNARS for hosting this great new ARES resource. Joe, N7JEH reported hearing it as far away as Lovelock along I-80 to our east.
Churchill County Paul Wilcoxen - KE7CRZ: Lots of positive things happening in Churchill County lately. We have installed the computer at the Churchill County EOC and we now have the capabilities for several sound card digital modes on our HF system. The equipment for our packet station has arrived consisting of a KAM TNC, VHF antenna and power supply and coax cable. We plan on having an antenna party soon to mount the antenna on the tower at the EOC. We should have the radio in place soon and the BBS will be operational. In addition a second radio is planned for the NAS Fallon radio room and a packet station will be established there also. The ailing SGC-2000 HF radio at Fallon P.D. has been replaced with a modified ICOM-718 at the Fallon P.D. dispatch. In addition, Fallon P.D. has just purchased a YAESU FT-60R dual band handheld which. Our next monthly meeting will be held on Saturday, October 18th, 10 A.M. at Round Table Pizza Restaurant in Fallon.
Carson City/Douglas County - Shiela Clement, KA7AJQ EC: Membership roster had 28 members and we lost 2 for a total of 26. We had two State Health communications exercises in preparation for the October 25th POD/flu shots event.
WASHOE COUNTY Bob Miller, WA6MTY September 4th, Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe had their Emergency Management meeting and Tahoe Amateur Radio Association took their communications van to show and tell after the meeting. Paul WA6EWV contacted me a few days before the meeting and asked if we could provide a brief communications test between SLT and the Regional EOC. I opened the radio room at the REOC and provided a ommunications and packet test. September 6th was the WC-ARES training session where we continued planning the Health Department POD Exercise. Andy KD7ZEV unveiled the ARES Radiogram/Radio Email program that he and Al K7BFD developed to allow Red Cross Shelter volunteers and CERT volunteers to generate resource and Health/Welfare message traffic.
On the 24th we helped with the second communications tests with the Health Department in preparation for the October 25th POD exercise. I did COMM tests between the POD location and the health department. September 27th, was the first test of the Radiogram software described above in a Simulated Red Cross Shelter Communications Exercise. Approximately 12-15 Red Cross and CERT volunteers came in to help us with the tests by generating test messages. Al K7BFD, Andy KD7ZEV and Michela KE7GFA set up all the ARES computers and coordinated the exercise, Frank KE7AJO, Jacque KE7NMJ and Dan N2RDO processed the messages, Rob KI6TRK and I manned the Simulated Red Cross Chapter across the room and responded to the messages, Kevin KE7BQX and Mark KE7FPR did some video taping of the activities during the exercise. The ATV team transmitted video between Geiger Grade and Galena High school and projected the video on the wall during the exercise. Thanks to Joe WA6DDF, OT WA0DDF and JON WA7DDF.
Humbolt County Ski Woytowicz, AF7NB N6ZEM (Pat Henigin) has established a website for Humboldt County ARES at: www.poshpets.com/hcares. Pat will migrate the site to another website for Humboldt ARES when the URL can be registered. KH6QAJ has been conducting a local swapnet after our weekly UHF net. We are conducting simplex testing to assess our capabilities if/when a repeater failure could occur. WO7I (Tom Bunch), AF7NB (Ski Woytowicz), and N6COA (Joe Woytowicz) have been prepping the new 2 meter repeater for its debut on Winnemucca mountain. WO7I and AF7NB have also been testing the IRLP machine with W7AOR (Kent Johnson). The IRLP machine has issues and Tom & Ski will be bench testing the equipment to isolate the trouble. We expect it to be online by the end of October 2008. The IRLP machine will be networked with the 2 meter repeater on 146.73 (PL88.5). The Humboldt Sun released a major article in the Community News section of the paper detailing our "Ham Kram" and solicited new hams. This article was written by AF7NB and published as a "special contribution" without byline in the paper. This was the third article this year in the Humboldt Sun for Humboldt County ARES.
NORTHEAST DISTRICT REPORT (Joe Giraudo, N7JEH DEC) - The Phil Cheety, WB7BTS reports that the Elko County Ham Operators have successfully linked their Blue Star repeater to their Swales Mtn. site, improving communication in northern Eureka County. Greg Barker, K7CWL and Joe Giraudo, N7JEH met with personnel from the Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital regarding Amateur Radio as an emergency communication option. The hospital has been in contact with the Nevada Hospital Association and is willing to allocate a small room for radio operations adjacent to one of their classrooms which doubles as their Emergency Operations Center. They are modifying this room to include it on their emergency generator circuit. Technical discussions are continuing regarding antenna locations, coax runs and equipment desired. Participation in the Section HF ARES net continues at its average level. Net counts were 16-18 over the month. Propagation is still waining during the latter portion of the net between northern and southern Districts.
September 12, 2008 - Pacifcon'08 is coming! -
Pacificon'08 will be held October 17 - 19 at San Ramon Marriott Hotel
in San Ramon, California. See the
Pacificon'08 Website
for details and for registration. See you there!
September 9, 2008 - ARRL Nevada Section News Summary -
Dick Flanagan, K7VC resigned his position as Section Manager effective August
15, 2008. Dick has done much to bring the Section closer together by
attending club meetings around the State, participating in club Yahoo Groups,
checking into HF and VHF nets, and making it a point to meet members in the
southern portion of the State either personally or by sending Don Carlson,
KQ6FM on a quarterly basis. One of Dick's many accomplishments is the
formation of EMCOMMWEST, an ARRL Special Convention which has grown by leaps
and bounds over the past 5 years. League HQ officials have attended as well
as Amateurs and League leadership from around the Nation. Dick has also
formalized the Section Cabinet, a body of Section Leadership personnel who
advise the Section Manager on all manner of items affecting the Section.
Please join me in thanking Dick for his years of dedication. I know I will
rely heavily on him for guidance as we move forward.
Amateur operators from the Elko Amateur Radio Club (EARC) provided public safety communication for the Pony Express High Speed Road Race from Battle Mtn. to Austin Nevada on Sunday, August 24. Communications were provided on a linked commercial repeater system with backup emergency communication being held on a portable linked Amateur system. Reliable communication was provided between all points along the course which traverses several valleys and the narrow Reece River Canyon. The Director of the Nevada Department of Transportation personally visited the net control station and was impressed with both the technology and professionalism made available by the group. Approximately 75 racers drove the course at speeds exceeding 200 mph with no accidents or mishaps.
EARC members also assisted with public safety communication for the ElkoVelo, Lamoille Canyon Hill Climb on Saturday, August 9. Approximately 45 cyclists braved the 3,500 foot climb in Lamoille Canyon with automobile traffic. No injuries or medical cases were reported. The Amateurs provided communication up and down the course and were also stationed with an Elko County Ambulance should the need have arisen for medical care.
Brian Chapman, NB9E reports that he and Phil Cheety , WB7BTS have expanded their "Snow Bowl" repeater system by making it the hub of their linked repeater system in the Elko area using a technique referred to as PL on COR. The system is on the air and operational with the exception of 10 meters which will be operational in a few weeks when they complete the antenna installation. The system PL is 100.0 Hz. as are most others in the area. The link repeater system includes an IRLP node and all bands from 10 meters through 1.2 GHz.
The repeater frequencies are as follows:
| 10m | 29.680/29.580 MHz | |
| 6m | 53.01/52.01 MHz | |
| 2m | 146.940/146.340 MHz | |
| 1.25m | 224.140/222.540 MHz | |
| 70 cm | 443.375/448.375 MHz | |
| 33 cm | 927.4875/902.4875 MHz | |
| 23 cm | 1283.100/1271.100 MHz |
Their 2m repeater may not always be linked in, as it has a steerable UHF link radio that allows it to link it to several different UHF repeaters. Brian hopes to catch some DX on six and ten and have beacon ID's enabled to attract DXers. The system call sign is KE7LKO which is the Club call for the Elko County Ham Operators.
Clark County ARES participated in a Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) communications test. The office of the SNHD communications room was used. HF communications to Reno/Carson City was ineffective, however it was confirmed that the station at SNHD was operating properly. Communications were established using IRLP Western Reflector 9258. Charlie AA5QJ, Vern K0EGA and Cliff W9CRB participated in the hour-long test.
The relocation of the Sparks IRLP repeater to Ophir Peak was completed this month. Its coverage is amazing with full-scale signal reports from Fallon and great coverage to Reno-Sparks, Douglas County and most of Carson City. Joe N7JEH even reported a good signal into South Lake Tahoe. Many thanks go to Kent, W7AOR and the NARRI group, "Tech Guru" Steve Kometz, N7KP and SNARS for hosting our new ARES tool. This repeater is locked in full time to channel 8 of the Western Reflector (9258) and Echolink via NV-gate #152566. Several weekly nets are to be found there including the Thursday 1900 ARES/RACES VoIP net, Sunday 1800 ARC Net, Disaster Communicators Net, Wednesday 1900 NOAA weather net and a newly initiated Thursday 2000 SATERN Net as well. We now have almost all of the state dialed in with a new Winnemucca node coming soon. Again, many thanks to all who made this project possible.
Several Amateurs throughout the Section are active in the National Traffic System. Currently, there is no HF traffic net in the Nevada Section, but these operators routinely check into various nets in Arizona and California. They bring NTS traffic into the Section for delivery and also deliver outgoing message to the nets as well. The traffic count for August is as follows:
| Bruce | N7CPP: | 26 total | |
| Fred | N7SWI: | 58 total |
Ham Cram sessions and examination activity have continued at a good pace in August. Sessions have been held in most of the population centers as well as in some of the rural communities such as Winnemucca.
Who is this new Section Manager N7JEH? I thought I'd give you a short bio since many folks in the Section may not know who I am. My name is Joe Giraudo, I moved to Nevada in 1972 where I attended the University of Nevada, Mackay School of Mines. I married in 1974 to Lynn, N7URF and have two children, Jenny, KE7GIV and Patrick. After moving to Elko in 1985, I got my license in 1987, but was interested in Amateur Radio much earlier and just couldn't get it together to take the exams. Since being licensed, I have tried a little of everything including VHF / UHF phone and packet, HF phone, CW, and digital modes too numerous to name. I was a member of the Army MARS and SHARES for 15 years. I currently assist the Red Cross as a disaster instructor and perform disaster response in the northeast portion of the State of Nevada. I am a Registered Professional Engineer and Certified Environmental Manager in the State of Nevada and work at a large gold mine in the Elko area and log most of my air time during my daily commute of 1˝ hours each way. I can be contacted by telephone, e-mail, Winlink 2000 (N7JEH), or on my IRLP node at the house (Node # 3227). I can also be found on many nets on HF and VHF / UHF throughout the month.
How do I view my job a Section Manager? My job is to see that the Field Organization adequately serves the ARRL membership in Nevada. I am also the point of contact for members who have questions about the League, and a liaison with our Pacific Division Director. Got a question or gripe? Fire away and I'll do my best to address it.
Until next month, DE N7JEH...73 K
August 1, 2008 - ARRL Nevada Section Manager Resigns -
K&VC writes-
I have submitted my resignation as ARRL Nevada Section Manager to be effective Friday, August 15, 2008. My reasons are health related.
ARRL Membership and Volunteer Programs Manager Dave Patton NN1N has appointed ARRL Nevada Assistant Section Manager Joe Giraudo N7JEH to serve the remainder of my term.
Joe Giraudo N7JEH is a Professional Engineer graduate of the University of Nevada, an experienced licensing instructor and ARRL Volunteer Examiner, and active on VHF and HF. Experience as Nevada Section and District Emergency Coordinators and as veteran Net Manager for the long-running section-wide ARES HF net have all combined to make him a well-respected leader throughout the section.
Joe can be reached in several ways:
Postal mail:
Joe Giraudo N7JEH
720 Holyoke Drive
Spring Creek, NV 89815
E-mail: n7jeh@arrl.org
Home: 1-775-738-7110
Work: 1-775-778-8140
Cell: 1-775-777-4798
I ask that everyone please give Joe their fullest cooperation as he assumes his Section Manager responsibilities on the 15th.
73, Dick Flanagan K7VC NV SM
July 6, 2008 - Field Day'08 in Pahrump -
The ARES/RACES group in Pahrump had themselves quite a Field Day this year. Their story, with pictures, can be found
here. Thanks to Carol Bird,
PIO for
South Nye County
ARES/RACES for this. If you'd like to see your clubs Field Day effort given this type of treatment, please send me (Glenn Thomas wb6w@arrl.net) your pictures and descriptions.
June 24, 2008 - Field Day'08 -
Earn your Field Day site bonus points for special NTS traffic!!!
Part 1: Send our section manager, Dick Flanagan, K7VC, or Don Carlson, KQ6FM SEC, a message from your site to get 100 points. The message does not have to be delivered to either of them during Field Day but it must be relayed off your Field Day site to another station during Field Day.
Part 2: Earn 10 pts for each additional message you send, receive, or deliver, for a maximum of 100 additional points. Messages may be sent via any radio mode, including packet. Let's say you receive 5 messages for Dick Flanagan from other Field Day stations, then relay those to another station, that's 100 more points. You could also send 10 messages from your Field Day site to friends/family/anyone, to earn that second 100 points.
Sample Message to Section Manager or SEC (100 pts):
101 R C W7TA 20 Reno NV 1800PDT JUN 27 Don Carlson KQ6FM ARRL SECTION EMERGENCY COORDINATOR NV SECTION 5591 Barcelona Ct. Sparks, NV 89436 775 354-2636 GREETINGS FROM SNARS FIELD DAY AT REOC RENO NV XRAY OPERATING 3A WITH 25 PEOPLE INCLUDING 15 ARES MEMBERS W7TASample indicates club, location, how many A stations, how many people there so far, how many ARES members so far. "C" after the R for Routine in message header means confirm delivery with a return message. Use club call sign as Station of Origin.
Here is a way to get an additional 100 bonus points. HANDLE (i.e., send, receive/deliver) 10 messages in addition to the one to their Section Manager. Messages may be delivered after Field Day but must be SENT and RECEIVED during Field Day to get credit.
Don't forget to log all your messages, sent and received/delivered. Note times sent, received and delivered, from or to whom, on what frequency, etc.
Hope this helps everyone and that you all have an exciting, fun and successful Field Day 2008!
Don Carlson - KQ6FM
NV Section EC / RACES Officer
Public Information coordinator/ARRL National PR Committee
June 10, 2008 - ARES Monthly Report for May'08 - SEC Summary -
Emcommwest, May 2-4 was an overwhelming success this year. With more than 360 attendees, it was the best year ever!
Riley Hollingsworth sent his video presentation,
in which he thanked amateur radio emergency communicators for all it gives to the community and nation.
We so appreciate Riley taking the time to share with us.
He would like to join us in person next year, which is already in the works.
Dennis Dura, W2DCD came from ARRL HQ to deliver the keynote address, and fielded questions from many of us,
as we sought to learn more about how to better serve.
Gordon West, WB6NOA was a real hit at the banquet this year, with one of his famous presentations.
He's just got to stay away from the swap meet though.
A wonderful meal was enjoyed by all, with thanks to Circus Circus for giving us an evening to remember.
Many of the forums were packed with attendees from near and far, and a great time was had by all.
Looking to an even bigger and better conference next year.
Many folks around the section are now gearing up for the "Vigilant Guard" exercise and Field Day,
both coming in June.
We were able to hold an NV Section ARES meeting which was well attended.
All DECs and many ECs were on hand to share with each other and become better acquainted.
This was great getting everyone together at the same place.
This will become an annual event, so plan now to join us for EMCOMMWEST 2009! 73 de Don Carlson, KQ6FM SEC.
SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORT- Glenn Hale, KB7REO, DEC Southern - There has been some coordination with Washoe Co. EC, Bob WA6MTY on the upcoming exercise for June. Bob wanted to include the State with some traffic messages sent via WinLink. I've been "testing" HF coverage on 10M and 15M SSB. The objective is to find a band that will have adequate simplex range without the use of repeaters.
Esmeralda Co. EC Report by Ron WB5KLJ - I check into the Region 7 traffic net on 7268.5 most week days
Lincoln Co. EC Report by Lee K7NKH - I think that AD7OY Charles Reifsnyder will soon be named as Lincoln Co. RACES officer. Would you please send him anything that would be in his interest His E-mail is ad7oy@arrl.net. Thanks North Nye Co. EC Report by Randy KB7TRI - May 27th - SKYWARN Activation via NWS Reno. Two operators were activated locally for the duration and relayed real time weather information to NWS Reno.
South Nye Co. EC Report by Jerry KC6ILH - On the 17th we participated in a drill put on by our Emergency Operations people. We took part as observers, safety personnel and what ever else was needed. It was good to be on the giving out end of an exercise instead of the receiving end. Got a chance to see what can really be involved in doing one. Looking forward to exercises now with a different attitude and a better respect for those putting us through our paces. If you get the chance to assist, please do so. Training is training no matter what side of the exercise you are on. We still communicated in a different way then what we normally did. However it gave us a chance to utilize our equipment. You never know how you may have to us it.
Clark County EC Report by Charlie AA5QJ - John Fay K7FAY has been appointed AEC for Boulder City, and is working to get more hams involved in ARES/RACES in the area. We thank Dave Floyd W9MPD, for manning this position since Mar 06. Several members, working with other organizations, supported the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure on May 3 in downtown Las Vegas, and the Silver State Nevada Open Road Challenge road race from Lund to Hiko on May 18. Charlie AA5QJ EC, and Dan Starr AA7I AEC RACES attended the Clark County Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting on May 21. Charlie briefed the attendees on current ARES/RACES activities. There were 41 checkins to the GMRS Emergency Net in May.
NORTHWEST DISTRICT REPORT (Don Carlson, KQ6FM Acting DEC)May was a great month full of activity. Things started here in Reno with EMCOMMWEST as you have already read. Then the NW District took part in a district-wide exercise called Broken Wing , which is held every 3 years. Great participation by many from all over the district, with several different modes of operation were used. WA6MTY Bob Miller's Washoe County report gives details. Thank you Bob for doing an outstanding job spearheading the efforts. We got some great reviews and kudos for our participation. We are working on ways to work close together as a district to help each other and prepare should mutual aid ever be requested or needed by anyone. Thanks to Ski, AF7NB and Paul, KE7CRZ for working hard to shore up their groups and do some well needed recruiting of new members. You guys are great! Thanks also to Bob Miller, WA6MTY who is working tirelessly on helping put together training exercises and drills coming up this year. The efforts by our EC's are deeply appreciated. Memorial Day weekend was anything but summer-like. Lots of rain in NW Nevada, and on Tuesday & Wednesday, 5/27 & 28, NWS Reno activated Skywarn. Thanks to Dee KA7LOZ for manning the NWS station as spotters from all over the district submitted constant reports. We also thank Dave, KE7LC from Tonopah for keeping us updated.
Churchill County Paul Wilcoxen - KE7CRZ: We are putting the finishing touches on things for the Vigilant Guard Exercise on June 13th. We will have county wide communications testing on June 12, 2008, the day prior to our actual exercise. Our monthly meeting, regularly scheduled for the third Saturday of the month, has been re-scheduled to June 7th for this month only.
Lyon County Patti Polish, KE7JIV: Several members attended EMCOMMWEST. And I would like to thank John Abrott (KD7NHC) and Brian Freitag (KE7JIO) for assisting with the Emergency Communications display on Saturday. John brought his ATV and we set up our portable station with it. Brian showed off our Communications Van. Several people took pictures and a host of questions were answered. The Lyon County Amateur Radio Emergency Services (LCARES) Group assisted the Lyon County Sheriff's Search and Rescue (LCSSAR) over Memorial Weekend at Lake Lahontan. LCARES provided communication for the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) group, and the four wheel drive (4wd) group. We concentrated on terminology and message handling. In addition we spent some time on Sunday evening trying to contact our friends and members in Oregon, Harry (KC7HVM) and Gayanne (KD7KAY) Bryant on 40 and 80 meters. We could hear Harry but he could not hear us. It was the first time the group had used the new radio and antennas in the Command Post. We learned a valuable lesson due to the fact that we forgot to purchase a step ladder to install the antennas. There was no meeting this month due to the Memorial Day weekend. We hope that Bob Freeman (KE7ATZ) is recovering from his root canal. Our next monthly meeting will be held on Monday June 30th Leonard Mithcell KC7PET is our new Public Information Officer. Leonard has researched the responsibilities associated with the position and took the PIO class offered at EMCOMMWEST. Congratulations Leonard. We are looking forward to participating in Vigilant Guard this month.
Carson City/Douglas County Acting EC, Dick Creley, KJ7UK: This was a very slow month but we are gearing up for an active summer with more drills and the fire season. Many of the DCART members are active in the bikes held in the area and much very good training on molble site and NCS can be had.
WASHOE COUNTY Bob Miller, WA6MTY EC: Well we survived EMCOMM West where Kevin KE7BQX did a fantastic job coordinating an event that was bigger and better than ever. The Reno-Tahoe Airport exercise Broken-Wing finally came and went, and the ARES part was very successful. This was the first exercise with five local hospitals where we provided communications between the hospitals and the airport family assistant center. This was the first packet team exercise that went with just a few glitches that we need to work on. All in all the exercise went well, great training. Even though they would never be allowed near an air disaster, the ATV team shot live video from the incident to the Regional EOC as well as the airport EOC. Our Emergency Manager, Aaron Kenneston was very pleased with the results as it show ARES has the capability to shoot damage assessment video directly to the EOC. I attended the workshop on the Red Cross response to Aviation disasters, and also a two-day workshop on managing evacuation shelters. On Thursday May 29th, Tahoe Forrest Hospital in Truckee held a Pandemic Rob KI6TRK and Barry K6ST provide ARES support for the hospital. They asked if I would provide a link to the Reno area in the event they would ever need local hospital when the real thing happens. Since the hospital belongs to the local Inter Hospital Coordinating Council, I felt it important to participate. Therefore I activated the REOC radio room and asked Bill AA7WB to activate the VA Medical Center Radio. Reports are the Hospital officials were very impressed with our communications. Still preparing for Vigilant Guard earthquake exercise coming up on June 12-19th.
Humbolt County EC - Ski Woytowicz, AF7NB: KH6QAI - Michelle appointed to AEC for Training & Development. KD7MIO - Dick appointed to AEC for organizational liaison. Harry Bell appointed PIO for our group. 2 meter machine to be online by late June or early July (146.73). Field exercise scheduled for 14 June 2008 in Veterans Park, Winnemucca (Vigilant Guard/ Pre-Field Day prep). WO7I will host IRLP repeater from NARRI. New tech class planned for July in Winnemucca. KD7MIO, KE7QHM, AF7NB attended EMCOMM. WO7I to enter USAF MARS program. Humboldt group investigating forming a 503c corporation. 73 -- AF7NB.
NORTHEAST DISTRICT REPORT (Joe Giraudo, N7JEH DEC) - May was another month of planning. Upcoming events include Field Day and an open road race from Wendover to Laggies Junction on US 93 Alt. This race will be held in June and is the first of three races to be held in northeast Nevada. Communications support is paramount at these races and is not taken lightly by the race organization or regulatory agencies. These events also provide critital under-fire training for emergency communication. HF propagation has suffered as it does every summer. The NV Section ARES HF Net on Saturday morning is experimenting with the utilization of an IRLP liaison station to relay stations from the IRLP Western Reflector who are encountering difficulty hearing or being heard on the HF net. In the next few months an additional experiment will involve patching the HF net to the Western Reflector so it can be simulcast on bith circuits. Stay tuned for developments! 73
May 10, 2008 - EMCOMMWEST'08 a great success -
This was the best EMCOMMWEST ever! Everyone enjoyed the
event there were more attendees than any ECW
ever!
If you'd like to see pictures of EMCOMMWEST, take a look at the EMCOMMWEST website at http://emcommwest.org.
April 10, 2008 - ARES Monthly Report for March'08 SEC Summary - March has been pretty quiet, but much on the horizon. A couple of major training exercise events are being planned for May and June this year. Please see Washoe County EC report in NW District Report for some of the details.
The first weekend of April will find ASEC/Douglas Co. EC Dick Creley, KJ7UK and I heading out on a road trip. We will meet with Ski, AB7FB Humbolt County EC in Winnemucca and our NE DEC Joe Giraudo, N7JEH and his team in Elko. Then on April 11-13 I will head to Las Vegas to attend the Clark County ARES/RACES team meeting. Looking forward to seeing everyone down south again. Report on these trips coming next month.
With the recent earthquake in Wells and recent swarm of small quakes near Reno, please remember to be prepared as these shakers can strike at any time without notice or forecast. We just need to keep these things in mind as we plan to protect our homes, families and communities. 73 Don Carlson, KQ6FM SEC.
SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORT - Glenn Hale, KB7REO, DEC Southern: Not much news from here this past month. Bruce AL7LS has coordinated with Jack K6JAC of central CA to set up an auto-forwarding messaging service. The Packet messages are routed through an HF Packet link to K6JAC. Messages from there can be routed to the Reno/Carson City area through various VHF packet ports. The network supplements the WinLink network.
South Nye Co. EC Report by Jerry KC6ILH - Picked up more members from the HAM-cram class and testing. Starting with some training for new people and getting ready for the B2V run and field day. Had a great Easter as I hope you all did. See you next month
Clark County EC Report by Charlie AA5QJ - Quiet month - no activities other than nets, and no meetings! There were 65 check-ins to the GMRS Emergency Net in March.
NORTHWEST DISTRICT REPORT (Don Carlson, KQ6FM Acting DEC: March has been a fairly quiet month, with no callouts or major events which involved amateur radio. More planning continues for EMCOMMWEST which is getting ever closer, with the scheduled dates of May 2-4 at Circus Circus in Reno. If you have not registered for the conference and/or the banquet, please do so as quickly as possible. Check online at the website at www.emcommwest.org. New items are being added all the time, so check frequently.
Finally, from our SM Dick Flanagan K7VC the following: It is with extreme sadness that I announce the passing of two local and well-loved hams. Both Al Bertone W1LVN and Jack Jones KC7OCB became Silent Keys this morning (3/30). Al and Jack were frequent contributors to club activities in the area and were always available to help a ham in need. There will not be any services for Al and any arrangements for Jack are not known at this time. Please keep Al and Jack's friends and families in your prayers.
Churchill County Paul Wilcoxen - KE7CRZ: We are still without the 145.35 repeater on Fairview Peak and it has been sent in for needed repairs. We are monitoring 145.35 simplex until the repeater is back in operation.
I am still trying to deal with the programming of simplex frequencies which seems to be difficult on some radios. Mark Beadle-KD7ZPP and I have been working on the Fallon Police Department's SGC 2000 HF radio. It would seem that the antenna tuner at the P.D. has a problem and that will be addressed soon. The SGC 2000 at the Churchill County EOC was tested on Tuesday April 1st and is now operational.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alan Fallis-KE7BFD, for his valuable help in programming and repairing the Motorola radios for us. Al worked hard to do this for us and we really owe him big time. Thanks Al!
Lyon County Patti Polish, KE7JIV - Not much to report this month as things have been relatively quiet. We are currently developing a manual of definitions for words used by some of the agencies we have served. We felt that we can pass on information better if we understand what it is we are "repeating." We are reviewing procedures in anticipation of "Vigilant Guard" and discussed what will be expected of us during this exercise. We also discussed the assistance we will be providing Search and Rescue during Memorial Weekend at Lake Lahontan. Our next meeting will be April 28th at the Silver Stage High School Library at 1900 hours.
Carson City/Douglas County Acting EC, Dick Creley, KJ7UK: Training was held at Douglas Co. training room, subject was Helo recovery and launch. The varied aspects of this type of work due to our mountains valleys and the safety of personnel were covered. Easter Sunday a crew of 3 members of DCART, Sheila and Leroy Clement working with Dick Young (landing control officer) actually recovered and launched a CareFlite Helo for demo at the Jacks Valley Vol. FD Easter egg hunt. There were about 50 adults and kids present. It was well recieved event as the Easter Bunny was the passinger of the Helo.
Washoe County Bob Miller, WA6MTY EC: ARES TRAINING SESSION - With 18 members in attendance. I presented more detailed information regarding Broken Wing and Vigilant Guard and ARES participation in both. Bill AA7WB (Hospital AEC) and I attended the Inner Hospital Coordinating Council Meeting, some discussion about Broken Wing. I did an ARES presentation for Red Cross Shelter Managers. I met with Cheryl Curtis at Airport REOC to discuss the details of ARES goals for Broken Wing. I continue to attend the Vigilant Guard Exercise and Broken Wing planning meetings.
Humbolt County Ski Woytowicz, AB6FD
- Monthly meeting (mixer) - 3 hours on 15 March 2008. Six members in attendence.
- Conducting VHF nets on Wednesdays at 1900 hours. Average net length is 0.5 hours. Using WO7I repeater on 442.825 (PL141.3). Also conduct simultaneous HF check-in during scheduled net time.
- Mapped repeater coverage to the south. WO7I machine from Winnemucca has good copy along I-80 from Winnemucca to Mile Marker 134. Copyable at Exit 129 (Rye Patch - Humboldt River Ranch) depending on antenna orientation (very weak). Test conducted by AF7NB, KH6QAI, KH6QAJ, and KE7QHM.
- KH6QAI & KH6QAJ expressed desire to enter USAF MARS to gain interoperability skills. Getting more info for them.
- KE7QHM acquired new linear amp. Good copy into Humboldt from Pershing County.
- Tested 10 meter copy. Marginal within county on simplex. No copy from Humboldt into Pershing County.
- 10 meter repeater proposal being considered.
- KG6JOF acquired new dual band handheld.
- No reply yet from National Guard concerning IRLP repeater installation.
- One NTS message (#1179) handled by AF7NB from the Nevada Section ARES HF Net for Winnemucca. Service message provided back to originator, Loren, N1IQI. Time invested not included in this report. If counted, add approximately one hour for delivery attempts, research, and follow-up service message. CC copies to N7JEH and KQ6FM.
- As a result of item #9 (above), new owner of property where ham had lived, was impressed with efforts taken to deliver radio message. She and her husband will try to attend Humboldt ARES Field Day event to view in person how traffic is processed. They may become hams.
- Training classes are in planning stage. Want to start ham class for new Technician class hams. Still in planning stage. Time seems to be an issue. Most candidates want to do a one day class. A weekend class was recommended. Training for new hams will obviously still be under further consideration/discussion.
- Two new candidates accrued for planned training class. Potential for more prospective hams is definitely there from American Red Cross youth group and Humboldt County Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
- Members reminded to attend EMCOMMWEST in May in Reno and the Field Day event at WalMart.
- Next Humboldt ARES meeting will be at 1300 hours on 19 April 2008 at the American Red Cross Office on Traders Way in Winnemucca.
NORTHEAST DISTRICT REPORT (Joe Giraudo, N7JEH DEC). Winter weather is still slowing field activities such as mountain-top repeater maintenance. Seismic aftershocks continue to rock the City of Wells, some in excess of magnitude 5 on the Richter Scale. Additional seismic activity has also been felt near Carlin, approximately 70 miles west of Wells. Recovery efforts continue but no communication support has been needed.
The Elko Amateur Radio Club is planning for the upcoming Field Day activities in June as well as communication support for the open road races held in this area. The Section HF Net continued through the month. Propagation between the southern and northern halves of the State continues to decline on 75 meters. Communications are decaying around 8:15 AM. Participation continues with visitor station from surrounding States checking in.
April 7, 2008 - CA Hands Free Law - We are not out of the woods yet -
Our esteemed ARRL Vice Director Andy Oppel N6AJO, passes this along. It looks like California strikes again!
I noticed a number of bulletins have passed around this link http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/dl208_03cell_phone.pdf as proof positive that the hands-free driving law that will go into effect July 1st does not apply to amateur radio. And in fact, when this page first went up on the DMV site, I recall passing it on to you as an indication that the matter was settled. Unfortunately, there has been a turn of events that gives me pause.
At the time the page cited above was put up by the DMV, it was linked from this page http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/ (the link was named something on the order of "FAQs about the new hands-free laws" and if you searched on the DMV site you would find both pages. Sometime subsequent to that, the FAQs were placed directly on page http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/ and the link to the old page (http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/dl208_03cell_phone.pdf) was removed. The text now on the main page says nothing about an exclusion for two-way radio use except for specific exclusion "for those operating a commercial motor truck or truck tractor (excluding pickups), implements of husbandry, farm vehicle or tow truck, to use a two-way radio operated by a “push-to-talk” feature". The page we have seen passed around is ***not*** linked to or from any other page on the DMV site and it does not show up when you search the DMV site (there is a search tool anchored in the upper right corner of every DMV page). And the text on the published page reads to me like anything with a push-to-talk switch cannot be operated by the driver of a vehicle except for the exclusions for emergency workers, tow truck drivers, commercial truckers, and so forth.
So what happened?
* Did a web developer at the DMV attempt to merge the two pages and inadvertently put the old text on the main page, and leave the old pdf out there for us to find (assuming we know the exact URL)?
* Was there an official change of interpretation and the result is this republication of the FAQs on the main page with the example that excluded two-way radios deliberately removed?
We don't know! And so far our attempts to find out have not yielded an answer.
The root of the problem is the law uses the term "wireless telephone" without defining it. This leaves the definition up to the DMV and CHP and eventually to the courts when someone gets cited and starts the process of challenging it. Changing the law is a 2 to 3 year process, so that's not an immediate remedy. Asking legal authorities such as the State Attorney General for a definition of "wireless telephone" is risky because there is no assurance we would get a favorable definition, and thus might get stuck with the unfavorable one.
We're working the issue with our contacts in Sacramento. In the meantime, I strongly advise against making any statements that the issue is resolved or pointing people to what amounts to an orphan document on the DMV web site. It's too bad, because this was so promising -- now we just don't know. Bob and I will update you the minute we hear anything official. And if you happen upon any developments, please share them with all of us.
73, Andy Oppel, N6AJO
Vice Director, Pacific Division
American Radio Relay League (ARRL)
The National Association for Amateur Radio
March 30, 2008 - 2008 VoIP Technical Forum in Las Vegas Saturday April 12, 2008 -
Since 2002 Nevada Amateur Radio Repeaters, Inc. (NARRI) has sponsored a
public VoIP conference every Spring . Up until this year the meeting focused
mostly on IRLP, and featured the system designer of IRLP, now the meeting
is of a broader scope including all the major VoIP systems in use by the
amateur radio community, i.e., IRLP, Echo link, EchoIRLP, All Star and
D-Star.
This year's meeting plans have been finalized with Circus-Circus being chosen as the meeting location. Here is a summary of details:
| Place: | Las Vegas Circus-Circus | |
| Date: | Saturday April 12, 2008 | |
| Time: | 9am to 3pm | |
| Program: | the various VoIP systems with demonstrations. | |
| Venue: | Topical Conference plus Continental Breakfast and buffet style Deli Lunch | |
| Cost: | $55 per person, no exceptions. | |
| Hotel Rooms: | Find your own sleeping rooms. | |
| Registration: | Please send your check to NARRI, c/o Kent Johnson, 395 Peaceful Street, Las Vegas, NV 89110 ASAP or $60 if PayPay at www.narri.org. |
March 24, 2008 - Reno QRP Club meeting -
The March Reno QRP Club meeting, at IHOP in Sparks, was a fun experience. We had a quiet room with booths and tables to ourselves. The windows provided sufficient natural light. The service was excellent.
Please welcome new Ham, Steve Jackson, KE7RTV.
Gary Grant, K7VY, spoke of his days with Collins Radio and his contribution to the first manned space flight. This was accompanied by photos and teletypes; even to Air Force 1.
Bruce, W7JBB, gave away the book Test Equipment for the Radio Amateur by RSGB to whomever might have use of it. Carl, K5HK, passed out an article on the new software, "CW Skimmer" by VE3NEA. Gary, K7VY, showed off his Heathkit SB610 monitor scope. Swede, K7UAL, passed around ARRL: The Radio Amateur's Handbook 33rd edition from 1956. Other attendees were Ray, W7TAP; Bill, AA7WB; Tim, W7YQ; Van, W7EIX; Craig, AE7I; Steve, NU7T and Ed, WD7Y.
Craig, AE7I, has downloaded "CW Skimmer" for use with his Flex 5000 SDR. A cursory inspection of the new software illistrated to Craig it will complement his operations.
Carl, K5HK, is exploring the possibility of a booth at EMCOMM West again this year. If you are interested, contact him at: k5hk at clearwire dot net.
The next luncheon will be April 21, 2008 at IHOP, 80 E. Victorian in Sparks.
Steve, NU7T
Correspondence Secretary, Pro Tem
(thanks Steve! - de wb6w)
February 5, 2008 - New Ham Forum in Reno planned for February 23, 2008 -
The amateur radio community will be hosting a New Ham Forum to acquaint newly licensed hams to the endless aspects of our hobby. There will be displays from local radio clubs in the area and information on how new hams can join. The forum will be held on Saturday, February 23, 2008 at the Regional Emergency Operations Center (REOC), 5195 Spectrum Blvd, from 8:30 am to 12:30pm.
The New Hams Net is now on the Pond Peak repeater 146.76 minus (-) pl 123.0, every Sunday, Jan 13 at 1300 hours local.
Please contact Frank Walsh at (775) 742-9072 or email ke7ajo@gbis.com for information on the New Ham Forum.
February 4, 2008 - New Official Observer Coordinator Appointed -
The Nevada section has a new Official Observer Coordinator (OOC), Glenn Thomas WB6W. Glenn was Santa Clara Valley Section Manager before moving to Nevada and has just been appointed Nevada OOC. Questions concerning the ARRL official observer program as well as the FCC Amateur Auxillary should be directed to him at
wb6w@arrl.net.
We thank Paul Cavnar K7IN the previous OOC. He did a wonderful job before other responsibilites starting taking more time than he had. Paul continues as the Nevada section Bulletin Manager.
January 27, 2008 - NWS Skywarn Recognition Day results -
NWS Skywarn Recognition Day results are now available at
here.
SKYWARN Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League. It celebrates the contributions that volunteer SKYWARN radio operators make to the National Weather Service.
Nevada stations did well this year. I dunno what happened to Reno WX7RNO. The results for Elko and Las Vegas are:
| Rank/91 | Call Sign | Location | QSOs | States | NWS Offices |
| 9 | WX7LKN | Elko | 493 | 47 | 46 |
| 78 | WX7LAS | Las Vegas | 35 | 18 | 35 |
January 18, 2008 - ARES After Action Report from the Fernley Floods -
The
ARES/RACES After Action Report
(a PDF file) from the Fernly Floods of January 5, 2008 has been released. It's available
here.
Apart from reading about how Amateur radio served the public interest, convienence or necessity,
the report provides critical information about what we could've done better.
Knowing this is how we avoid makeing the same mistakes again, thus enabling us to find brand new
mistakes to make next time! There's nothing wrong with making new mistakes, That's how we learn.
However it's unwise (at best!) to repeat mistakes we've already made.
January 12, 2008 - Changes to ARRL NV Website -
The ARRL Nevada Section webpage has a slightly changed look. Primarily, the "bingoboard" at the top
of the page has been rearranged, with some links deleted and some new ones added. Also, the site was designed
for a screen that is 800 pixels wide. Unfortunately the older version was slightly wider, something that apparently caused
problems for some folks. Accordingly, the page has been made slightly narrower!
- 73 de Glenn WB6W NV webmaster
January 12, 2008 - New Hams Net QSY's -
The New Hams Net in the Reno area is moving to the Pond Peak repeater 146.76
minus (-) pl 123.0.
The New Hams Net meets every Sunday at 1300 hours local.
(tnx to Steve KE7HLS for this)
