CARS EM-COMM TRAILER

Call for volunteers on CARS em-comm trailer.

Chuck, W6AJW, our CARS president, recently took me on a tour of one of the club’s current endeavors, the em-comm trailer.  The trailer was donated to the club and is located at Chuck’s QTH in San Andreas. For the most part the trailer has been cleared inside allowing for the construction of radio operating positions and equipment shelving. One vhf/uhf port on the roof has been established and HF is planned for.
Presently a butternut vertical is inside awaiting it’s light of day opportunity along with vhf/uhf antennas. A generator mount is present at the trailer’s rear. Chuck reports that he has all the tools needed for the trailer completion and that any assistance to the project will be welcomed
. Contact Chuck at (209) 304-3475

73, MARK, N6IV, PIO




Emergency Traffic Control

Here is a communication from our fellow CARS member Chad Cossey, KM6MG. He is also
the Emergency Services Coordinator at Calaveras County OEM San Andreas. In that capacity he has forwarded a website that deals with traffic control especially during emergency situations. Many of us engage in emergency services as ham operators and sometime are called on to fulfill other rolls other than working the radio. Here is your opportunity to learn about handling real traffic. For those interested:

https://www.respondersafety.com/Resources/Roadway-Safety-Teaching-Topic-Packages-For-Instructors.aspx




*** PACIFICON 2019 ***

https://sites.google.com/a/mdarc.org/pacificon2019/home




HAM CRAM OCT. 19th

Sam, WS6P, announcing another opportunity to get a HAM license.




CARS MEMBER KB6USJ ACHIEVES THE “HOLY GRAIL”

\”Here is W1AW, QRL? QRL?”
Mike, KB6USJ, looking mighty happy!

For the past several
decades I have been an avid reader of QST and seen photos of W1AW,
casually thinking someday I would visit the league. Because of the distance
needed to travel , again the notion was at the bottom of my bucket list.

An invitation from a relative for a 50th wedding anniversary celebration plus my eldest son’s career being a pilot at Southwest Airlines, I found myself in Providence Rhode Island a mere 90 miles from Newington CT. I set my sights on a visit to HQ.

The staff at the
league was gracious and accommodating as I proceeded to take a
tour of several departments of ARRL. I viewed areas where the staff works to
produce the monthly magazine plus meeting technicians in the radio lab where
products are tested.

The finale was a short
walk over to W1AW.  I viewed banks of
radios positioned in cabinets with the job of sending daily
bulletins broadcasting from HQ. The staff asked for my radio license and
then positioned me in front of a Yaesu-5000 rig and rotated the 20 meter
5 element mono band beam. With the Yaesu amp set at 800 watts my cue for
my phone transmission was set.

If you would ask me “Mike,
did you pinch yourself”? Yes, I was at awe I had operated W1AW. I worked a
pile up of stations on 20 meters from North to Southern United States. A
notable QSO was with a 97 year old ham from west of Green Bay, Wisconsin, his
first QSO with W1AW.  We both completed a
check mark on the old bucket list. Thank You again to the whole staff of the
American Radio Relay League for a very memorable day.

     
                     
           Mike G kb6usj




When all else fails – ham radio doesn’t




Field Day, Monitor Pass, 8,314 ft

View of Leviathan Peak to the north from campsite.
Lousey photo of me at my typical Field Day setup.

The club did not sponsor a Field Day this year so I thought I would share my personal experience this weekend with you. (Please send in your reports to share with the club)

Weekend began Friday morning with the 2.5 hr drive up through Markleeville to the campsite at Monitor Pass off highway 89, just south of Leviathan peak. Full blown aspen forest. I’ve wanted to camp here for 19 years. Sent my wife to visit a friend in Lemoore, Ca. with the dog, and I took off.
Arrived Fri at 11:30am, set up camp, tent, antenna( cf zepp), radio station, etc. A few casual qsos were made on cw fri pm to check equipment. Wow, really high qrn on 40m.. must be band condx.

Next morning 27degF… burr. FD start time 1800z. Wow, really high qrn, S7- S9. Fiddled with my Ft 857 for an hour, checking generator, antenna, equipment, etc. No go!. Pulled out my trusty 25yo. Ts570 and problem solved. Great band conditions. Weird. (Either the ft857 is not good for crowded bands or I am not fully adept at working that machine). Worked as 1B SV on 15, 20, and 40m casually hunting and pouncing all day into early evening. Nice. Made my 100 contacts.

Sunday morning, 30F,  but warmed to 73F later. During 6:30 am breakfast I heard strange noise to my southeast. With coffee cup in hand went to investigate. BIG black bear raised it’s head over the brush looking at ME. Having read bear protocol I shouted and waved my arms.  After the second time the bear did a 180, crashing through the forest and did not return :). Ate breakfast and FD continued. Made another 25 qsos and packed it up by 12pm. Home in one piece at 2pm. Overall, best FD ever!!. 

Yes,  lots of work and planning but this year I did not cook in Calaveras county. ( Alas, missed Fred, WB6QVI, my FD partner for many, many years who did not accompany me this time)

Will submit my score to ARRL. Hope not alot of dupes.
73
Mark, N6IV




FM Class-A Radio Station Site Request

 

FM Class-A Radio Station Site Request: Brad Johnson, KO6KL, is looking for a location for a new FM non-commercial radio station. (see attached letter) Contact Brad at (209) 545-4227 or jhill_81@yahoo.com

FM Radio Station Site




ARESconnect Update

From Sam, WS6P:

Effective 12/25 The filling out of the FSD-98 is no longer needed, after registering in the ARESConnect system.

The ARRL is expected to discontinue the form in 2019.




ARES CONNECT

Greetings from West Point,

As I mentioned in the past; the ARRL has been revamping the ARES program over the past 18 months. Some of the things that I have seen, I feel, do not benefit the program, and some do. I am going to address just one that benefits us as a team. The creation of the ARESConnect system will allow me and the Asst. EC’s to better track members time and ARES events.

As you know we have several events we support each year, they are: Mr. Frog’s Wild Ride, Central Calaveras Fire & Rescue Mud Run, Ride and Walk for Art and ARRL Field Day. These events help tune our communication skills for an emergency, like the Point Fire and others.

At the present time we have 36 ARES members, out of those we have 8 that moved out of the area or asked to be removed from ARES, leaving 28 members. Out of these 28 we have 8 that are questionable leaving 20 ARES members to cover the county in an emergency.

Our Section EC asks that current ARES members register in the ARESConnect system by Dec 31. We are doing well, all of the Asst. EC’s, our RACES Radio officer and myself have registered and 8 ARES members, leaving 7 ARES members that need to register. Once we get our current members in the system we can begin adding new members.

 The place to register is at https://arrl.volunteerhub.com/lp/sjv/ , the section also requests that you use your call sign as your username. If you are having issues with registering please let me know, I may be able help you get into the system. Also let me know that you have completed the registration so I can make sure that you are added to our ARES team.

The ARRL is planning a User Webinar for the ARESConnect system and it should happen before the end of the year, I’ll pass on the information once I receive it.

Be safe,
Sam – WS6P
Emergency Coordinator – Calaveras County
West Point, Wilseyville, Glencoe, Mokelumne Hill areas
(209) 293-4010
W6WPT Repeater 440.100 + T100
WIRES-X node 33432