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ARRL Sacramento Valley Section (SV)Section Manager
Ronald D. Murdock, W6KJ 998 Bogue Rd Yuba City, CA 95991-9221 530-674-8533 w6kj@arrl.org |
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Monthly Summary for October 2008
News last updated: Fri, November 14, 2008 at 12:09 AM ET
October 2008 Summary
KIDS DAY. Sponsored by the Boring (Oregon) Amateur Radio Club, Kids Day is intended to encourage young people (licensed or not) to enjoy Amateur Radio. It can give young people on-the-air experiences they might develop an interest in pursuing a license in the future. It is intended to give hams a chance to share their station with children. Stations exchange first names, age, location and favorite color. Plan for this one day event which occurs 3 January 2009.
Suggested frequencies: 3.740 and 3.940 MHz, 7.240 MHz, 14.290 MHz, 18.140 MHz, 24.960 MHz, 28.390 MHz and 2 meter repeater frequencies (with permission from your area repeater sponsor). Observe third party traffic restrictions when making DX contacts. Awards: All participants are eligible to receive a colorful certificate (it becomes the child’s personalized sales brochure on ham radio). Please visit www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/kids-day-survey.html to complete a short survey and post your comments. You will then have access to download the certificate page. We are always looking for pictures of the kids operating your station so we can share them with others, so send them to kidsday@arrl.org. (from December QST)
On November 6, The ARRL VEC announced that as of January 1, 2009, the fee to take an ARRL Volunteer Examiner (VE)-administered Amateur Radio license exam will increase by $1, from $14 to $15. According to ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, ARRL VE teams may retain up to $7 of this fee to directly reimburse their teams out-of-pocket examination expenses; currently, VE teams keep $6. This is the first time in four years that the examination fee has been adjusted. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/11/06/10438/?nc=1
The 10th Annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) Special Event will take place Saturday, December 6, 2008, http://hamradio.noaa.gov/ . SRD is co-sponsored by the ARRL and the National Weather Service (NWS) as a way to recognize the commitment made by Amateur Radio operators in helping to keep their communities safe. According to SRD Coordinator David Floyd, N5DBZ, Amateur Radio operators can visit their local participating NWS office, http://www.crh.noaa.gov/hamradio/participating_offices.php , working as a team to contact other hams across the world throughout the 24 hour event. The idea for the first SRD took shape in the summer of 1999. Meteorologist-in-Charge of the Goodland, Kansas NWS office Scott Mentzer, N0QE, tried to find a way to recognize the valuable contributions storm spotters make to the National Weather Service. ‘Since many of those storm spotters were also hams,’ Floyd said, ‘it seemed like a natural fit for the recognition to be centered on Amateur Radio.’
Andy, W6AWS, says, ‘There is a new Ham/Communications Radio Store in the Auburn area that is open. I was up there a couple of weeks ago, and Dave NA6DF was just getting it put together. Here is the information: Radio Supply Company, 4055 Grass Valley Highway, Suite 105, Auburn, CA 95602. Contact Radio Supply Company at 530-888-8483 or on the Internet at www.radiosupplyco.com . The new enterprise is by Dave, NA6DF, and Renay, KC6FAP. While they can order anything, they really need consignments.
Art, K6ALC, Yuba and Sutter County EC reports, ‘On my way home from Davis last night at 10:30 PM I was coming around the bend home on Rices' Crossing and saw a van sideways in the road... it had run into a tree. HARD. Hit my flashers and went to see if anyone was hurt, looked like someone slumped over... turned out to be the airbag, but it was covered with blood and there was a big hole/dent in the windshield right in the middle...and there was no one there! So I grabbed my light, put on my new firefighting nomex coat with reflective tape (TG) and started looking around after calling it in. Could not find anyone, and then after a few minutes, before any emergency folks arrived a car came by to say that the person had been taken to a house nearby, I guess they thought he was not hurt too badly, but then realized he was, so we got that info to the 911 folks and then when the SO arrived passed him to the house, and also AMR to go pick him up. CDF came and took over traffic and cleanup , so I took off. 20 min later, heard a helicopter, and turned on my scanner, and sure nuf, it was a REACH helicopter and they were airlifting him to Roseville...have not heard anything more, but it sure took a while to get to sleep after that!! Sure glad I had my jacket with the reflective tape.’ Art adds, ‘I guess the message I would want to get out is simply that having a little extra gear in your car can go a looooong way when there is an emergency. I have been carrying my fire gear around all summer, and used it twice! I was thinking of taking it out of my truck since fire season is over, but now I am going to carry it around ALL THE TIME!’
Pacificon 2008 is history. Presented each year in San Ramon by the Mt. Diablo ARC, this year’s event was even better than those of previous years. There were lots of events in which to participate, a full slate of forums with informative, knowledgeable speakers, and things to gawk at or buy. The weather was perfect and the turnout was very good. Back in 1988, I won the main banquet prize…could not get to sleep that night. In any event with that as a history I don’t worry about the prizes. They are plentiful and I know there were lots of happy winners.
At the November 10 meeting of the Nevada County Amateur Radio Club, Jim, K9JM, our Section Net/ Traffic Manager, will give a presentation on the EZNEC software, using the G5RV as the modeled antenna, and explain what the beam plot results tell us. He will also compare the G5RV to other antennas. NCARC’s annual meeting starts at 7 PM at the Salvation Army Building at 10725 Alta Street in Grass Valley. NCARC also is teaching a technician class with eight students currently enrolled.
Yuba Sutter ARC’s VE group tested 23 candidates on Saturday, 1 November. Herb, W6HBU, VE liaison for the Yuba Sutter ARC/VE group reports: 'Element 2; 19 passed, 4 failed for a total of 23 administered. Element 3; 3 passed, 1 failed for a total of 4 administered. No element 4 tests were given. New licenses; 18 technicians and 1 General. Upgrades; 2 Generals. We had a total of 23 candidates, 2 of whom did not upgrade or earn a new license. One candidate took both Element 2 and Element 3. He passed both, earning a new General license.' The group had eight examiners testing in two separate rooms and started at 9 AM. By noon, most of the action was complete with just paperwork to sort out. The new hams had licenses show up on the Internet on Wednesday, 5 November. Congratulations to all.
On Wednesday, October 22, the FCC notified the ARRL that they would immediately begin making direct contact with owners or trustees of approximately 40 repeaters. The US Air Force identified these repeaters earlier this year as contributors to the harmful interference affecting the Beale Air Force Base PAVE PAWS radar installation near Sacramento, California. ‘ARRL understands that contact with individual amateurs will be made from the DFCC's San Francisco office,’ said ARRL Regulatory Information Branch Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND. ‘The owners of these newly identified repeaters will be provided the operating parameters determined by the Air Force engineering unit's testing to be necessary to mitigate the interference. The owners will be requested to meet signal strength limits as soon as possible. The ARRL Lab and staff are available to answer specific questions for the owners of these newly identified repeaters and to provide technical information to assist them in implementing the mitigation.’Henderson said that as the Amateur Radio Service is a secondary user on the 70 cm band, ‘It is important for amateurs to remember that it is 100 percent our responsibility to eliminate harmful interference to the primary user. While we realize that this is and will continue to be an ongoing process, this third round of mitigation should mean that each of the known repeaters in the affected area have been tested at least once. How the FCC will address approximately 50 repeaters previously identified as interference contributors -- but which have not apparently completed the required modifications -- still remains. Nor is it clear when a process by which new situation.’ Thanks, ARRL Letter.
The Eastern Panhandle Amateur Radio Club, in association with the Distinguished American Tribute Radio Club, is sponsoring what is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. In recognition of the 90th anniversary of the armistice of World War I on November 11, 2008, a special event station will operate from the home of the last surviving American veteran of that war: Frank Woodruff Buckles of Charles Town, West Virginia. The call sign WW1FWB has been issued for this very special event. Please visit the WW1FWB special event web page at http://k8ep.net/ww1fwb/ for up-to-date information. Thanks to Stu Benner, W3STU, Secretary, Eastern Panhandle Amateur Radio Club, K8EP.
Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, took off for the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, October 12, becoming the sixth private citizen to fly with the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA) for a short-term mission on the ISS. Not two hours after he arrived on the ISS on October 14, Garriott was making ham radio contacts, just as his father, Owen Garriott, W5LFL --the first ham to make QSOs from space -- did in 1983. Richard was scheduled to return to Earth on Thursday, October 23.
In response to the October 20 ARRL Petition for Modification or Cancellation of Experimental Authorization (Petition) concerning an experimental license issued to Digital Aurora Radio Technologies (DART) station WE2XRH, the FCC issued an amended license that redefines one of the station's frequency ranges to eliminate conflict with the Amateur Radio Service. This revision addresses ARRL's concern that the original 7.10 to 7.60 MHz range would cause unacceptable interference to Amateur Radio operations in the 40 meter band. DART was going to use most of the 40 meter band for a test of their commercial broadcasting service for Alaskan listeners. WE2XRH will be testing a proposed domestic broadcast service using a 20 kHz bandwidth digital emission at a transmitter output power of 100 kW and an ERP of 660 kW within a radius of 1500 kilometers of Delta Junction, Alaska. According to the amended license, the transmissions will take place in the frequency ranges 4.4 to5.1 MHz, 7.3 to 7.6 MHz and 9.25 to 9.95 MHz.‘We are delighted that the FCC acted so promptly to correct this error and are pleased that the matter has been resolved,’ said ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ.
ARES NEWS: Richard, WO6P, our SEC reports: ‘On 1 November, John Sloane, KC7AGI, was appointed as “Tahoe Basin” EC, which is part of El Dorado County. John is an active member and officer in the Tahoe Amateur Radio Association, an ARRL affiliated club. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you aboard and to thank you for taking on this added responsibility. Al Pena, KQ6YW, Shasta/Tehama EC appointed Carl Seguin, KJ6C as Associate EC for their group. Al is President of the STARES, Inc., and needed a little additional support with his EC duties. Carl is no newcomer to responsibility he is the former DEC for districts 1 and 2, glad to see him back in the saddle. Happily, there is competition for the vacant DEC 4 position. I anticipate that the position will be filled before the end of the year. There are still two counties in SV that do not have an EC. We are working on this and anticipate that a workable solution will be made in the very near future. On several EMCOMM websites and on this weeks 'news line' it was reported that regional ARES groups rose to the occasion during the Southern California complex of fires and provided professional service when and where they were placed into service, makes for good reading and listening.'
Our SV EC and DEC report: Trinity County – Vicki Riley, KF6OAH, (acting) The public service “event” was helping a hunter who had car problems out on a forest service road and needed a tow. There wasn’t any cell service available. Fortunately, he was a HAM from Arcata, and had his HT, and was able to call for help that way. He needed AAA tow, and guiding one to him in his remote location was a bit of a problem. Nevada County – Wm Lewis, KG6BAJ Nevada County ARES now having members comply with FEMA regulations regarding mandatory ICS training this includes working with Nevada County OES to ensure operators are qualified per FEMA standards for disaster service workers. Sacramento County – Lawrence Sutter, WD6FXR Participated in the “Princess Promenade” event and CERT hospital drills. Butte/Glenn Counties – Tim Wells, W6TWI Quiet month – met with Feather River Hospital staff as to the role of ARES with them. Discussed where the antenna drop will go in their, soon to be newer building. Mike, KG6HMJ, will be talking with Butte County public health to see of ARES can be of help there. Steve, N6NPN, EC, is doing better, and has been approved to do a little more activity. Plumas County – Bob Nelson, KA6NSN Several members helped pre-stage an ARES/RACES HF/VHF station in Seneca Hospital (Chester, CA). OES supplied antennas and the Plumas Amateur Radio Club supplied packet radio equipment and a power supply. ARES/RACES members will use their own HF/VHF radios for voice messages. An HF net was held after the first Plumas VHF Wednesday net with 6 members checking in. El Dorado County – Donald Brooks, KG6YST October 6, information table/booth and demo at Youth Expo in Garden Valley. October 24, participated in State Wide Disaster Drill with Marshall Hospital.
73, Ron Murdock, W6KJ ARRL Sacramento Valley Section Manager
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