Kristen McIntyre K6WX Is New Pacific Division Director

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ARRL

Kristen McIntyre, K6WX, of San Jose, California, has assumed the office of ARRL Pacific Division Director following the recent vacancy in the office. The ARRL Articles of Association stipulate she will serve as Director for the remainder of the current term, which expires on December 31, 2022. She will join the ARRL Board which is comprised of the organization’s 15 Directors — each representing a geographical area. McIntyre was appointed as the Division’s Vice Director in 2018, and was unopposed as a candidate for the position in 2019. She was first licensed in the late 1970s while a student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She holds an Amateur Extra class license. She has served as ARRL Technical Coordinator for the East Bay Section, and is a member of the Palo Alto Amateur Radio Club. McIntyre also is licensed in Japan, her second home, as JI1IZZ. She is a senior software engineer at Apple. FacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditMore

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WB6TOU Readies For Launch

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Balloon

David Voit has sent along updates on the launch status of his new high altitude balloon which will carry along a 20 meter WSPR transmitter. The beacon has gone thru successful testing, and the balloon itself has been prepared for the task of carrying the WSPR transmitter along with the antenna made of litz wire. David and his launch crew are waiting for favorable winds that will gently carry the balloon aloft, more information will be made available as the launch progresses.

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ARRL Pacific Division Director Jim Tiemstra K6JAT, SK

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ARRL

ARRL Pacific Division Director Jim Tiemstra, K6JAT, of Oakland, California, died October 30. An ARRL Life Member, he was 65. “Jim was passionate about ham radio and a dedicated member of the ARRL Board of Directors,” ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, said. “He devoted himself to the members of his Division and always strove to do what was best for amateur radio and its future. His knowledge and leadership were significant and will be missed by the many who worked with him and had the pleasure to know him.” Tiemstra was ARRL Pacific Division Vice Director from 2009 through 2017, sitting on the Administration and Finance, and Programs and Services Committees of the Board. He became ARRL Pacific Division Director in January 2018. Currently, he was a member of the Administration and Finance Committee, the Legal Structure Review Committee, chair of the Legislative Advocacy Committee, and an advisor to the Amateur Radio Legal Defense and Assistance Committee, among other Board assignments. Licensed in 1970 as WN9ELU in Chicago, Tiemstra was the president of his high school radio club in Illinois. Early on, he built most of his own gear from Heathkits. In 1977, he married Lilah Greene, KE6EHD, and they moved to California, where Tiemstra became N6OIK, later choosing K6JAT as a vanity call sign. He’d also held V26JAT and 3D2TJ and had operated from Curacao and Hawaii. Primarily a contester and DXer, Tiemstra had been a DXpedition member and had long been involved in the public service aspects of the hobby. As a member of the Oakland Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) group, he was among those responding to the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 and the Oakland Hills firestorm in 1991, receiving a Certificate of Appreciation from the American Red Cross. He championed the Emergency Communication Ham Operation (ECHO) proposal to install amateur radio equipment in his city’s emergency operations center and in each of its 30 fire stations. Tiemstra worked with his ARES group to gain RACES recognition, wrote the RACES Operations Manual, and was instrumental in forging a formal Letter of Understanding with the City of Oakland. Jim served as Oakland’s RACES Radio Officer for more than 14 years, was on the mayor’s Emergency Management Council, and was ARRL East Bay Section Emergency Coordinator. In 2002, he was recognized by the Oakland Fire Department as Community Volunteer of the Year. In 1998, Tiemstra incorporated the Oakland Radio Communication Association (ORCA), an ARRL affiliated club, was a founding director, and became its first president. He served as trustee of the club’s call sign, WW6OR. Tiemstra retired in 2018 as a federal practitioner in the private practice of law. He was an ARRL Diamond Club and Maxim Society member. He and his wife have twin sons, Robert and Matthew, KI6IHP. FacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditMore

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Military Experts Say Radio Amateurs “highly knowledgeable asset in HF communications

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Article QRZ

Titled Electronic Warfare in the Suwalki Gap – Facing the Russian “Accompli Attack”. The authors include Col. Steve Hamilton, @KJ5HY, Maj. Matthew Sherburne, @KF4WZB, and Jan Kalberg, an IEEE member and former commander in the armed forces of Sweden. “The vast majority of the world’s modern armies’ ability to employ high-frequency HF radio systems has atrophied significantly since the Cold War as NATO, and numerous other countries transitioned to counterinsurgency operations.” … “In a combat environment where communication systems will be intermittent, we have sought alternative solutions to ensure that the JTAC communication goes through even if SATCOM and VHT/UHF fails, where theater-wide HF NVIS was presented as an alternative route. If HF NVIS fails, the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) could fill a new modern role where JTAC and other tactical information using other than NVIS frequencies propagates out of theater and is received by MARS, which relays the information to the appropriate receiver. The approach is nontraditional, but numerous MARS-enrolled radio amateurs comprise a highly knowledgeable asset in HF communication” These ideas are futher promoted in another paper by the same authors titled, Resiliency by Retrograded Communication – The Revival of Shortwave as a Military Communication Channel. This goes into more historical and evolutionary detail regarding military communication technology and puts forth the proposition that the militaries of the USA and allies, which in past conflicts effectively used narrow-band radiotelegraphy, today suffer from “The Bandwidth Addiction”. “The notion that current operations need megabits per second in available bandwidth is a sign that today’s armies, coast guard, homeland security, and emergency management have grown accustomed to having access to high bandwidth and adjusted the processes to require these digital streams.” It concludes, “In the last three decades, the great powers have become increasingly dependent on satellite communication (SATCOM), very high frequency (VHF), and ultra-high frequency (UHF), providing high bandwidth line of sight (LOS) communications. These military communication channels lack resilience because an EW campaign can affect both VHF and SATCOM simultaneously. The 1940s preferred spectrum, HF, with its different propagation pattern, offers an opportunity for military communication resiliency in the 21st century.” A third unofficial publication describes the radio amateurs role in MARS as an important testing and training element for the active military – Tactical Employment Considerations of HF Radios in the Cavalry Squadron. The authors include two Brigadier Generals, a Lt. Col, and Major Matthew Sherburne, aka @KF4WZB The essay published in The Cyber Defense Review scholarly journal underlines MARS usefulness in training and verification of proficiency and readiness through OTA exercises, including annual Field Day-like RADIO CONTESTS called QRPX. 😎 It also encourages interested soldiers to earn an FCC Amateur Radio license.

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Oct 25-27th PSPS Final

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Emergency Services

Hello XCA ARES members, Looks like the power has been restored to a lot of the County, just some around the Big Trees area and some around Mt. Ranch. Thank you to everyone that logging into ARES Connect and attached yourself to this event. I can enter your time if you are unable too. I will keep you informed on the upcoming CADS exercise on Nov 21. 73, Sam – WS6P ARES Emergency Coordinator – Calaveras County RACES Radio Officer – Calaveras County Hm: (209) 293-4010 1st Net Cell: (209) 418-9207 W6WPT Repeater 440.100 + T100 WIRES-X node 33432

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Community Centers Are Open

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To Look for your local Center go to pg&e.com for information and hours. Centers do have water and light snacks wifi and charging stations. Morning hours now are cooler so many Centers will have blankets. Search the website for other services that may be available during the PSPS event. Hopefully you can stay warm and safe!

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PSPS Starts Today 10/25/20

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Sam WS6P

Emergency Services

PSPS Event 10/25/20: 38 counties impacted Counties impacted: Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo, Yuba NOTE: Typically, only part of a county is affected by a PSPS, not the entire county. Affected tribal communities and tribal lands In addition to the cities and counties displayed in the table, the following tribal communities have been notified of potential impact on tribal lands: Big Sandy Rancheria, Chicken Ranch Rancheria, Cold Springs Rancheria of Mono Indians, Cortina Rancheria, Dry Creek Rancheria, Greenville Rancheria, Grindstone Rancheria, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Hopland Reservation, Jackson Rancheria, Karuk Tribe, Middletown Rancheria, Mooretown Rancheria, North Fork Rancheria, Picayune Rancheria, Pit River Tribe (Montgomery Creek Rancheria, Roaring Creek Rancheria), Robinson Rancheria, Shingle Springs Rancheria, Stewarts Point Rancheria (Kashaya Pomo), Tuolumne Rancheria, Upper Lake Rancheria, Yurok Tribe Select a county to view shutoff details Calaveras Download a list of all counties Calaveras is affected by (1) PSPS Events. psps event icon PSPS Event 10/25/2020 Calaveras Overview Estimated shutoff start date 10/25/2020 Estimated shutoff start time 3:00PM-6:00PM Est restoration date 10/27/2020 Est restoration time 10:00PM Est customers impacted 15688 Customers Restored To Be Announced Medical Baseline Customers 729 Show original message image002 .png 174B To CC BCC Show Original Message Saved WS6P – Sam samtheham@flojobrew.com (209) 418-9207 + Add to contacts

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ARES/RACES

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The AREDN 2020 Conference is tomorrow! October 24th, 2020, starting at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Conference Information Zoom URL: https://se-industry-pa.zoom.us/j/97785771017?pwd=aEZzOFVRdUVCYzRuMkpjOXhaS1ovQT09 Webinar ID: 977 8577 1017 Webinar Passcode: 117977 This is a Zoom webinar, which is different than a regular Zoom conference. Attendees can view, but can’t talk or send video unless allowed. You can ask a question in the Q&A room, and it will be answered by someone. Conference Agenda 1. Opening Remarks by Andre Hansen, K6AH 2. AREDN Overview: Amateur Radio’s Premier High-Speed Digital Communications Mode The Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network project grew from the foundations of the earliest high-speed multimedia mesh network efforts. Over the past five years, AREDN has dramatically increased the range of affordable supported devices to include over 70 units from 4 manufacturers. Radio link speeds of up to 144 MB/s and distances of over 60 miles are in use on currently installed networks. Learn about the features of AREDN open-source firmware, considerations for your deployment and what you can do with a 21st century amateur radio network. Randy WU2S 2. Amateur Radio and Encryption There is a strong case for the use of encryption in parts of the Amateur Radio Service. It is already permitted in the amateur satellite service (Part 97.211) in the HF, VHF, UHF and microwave bands.

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