Emergency-Communications

Department of Defense Exercise With Amateur Radio Participation, October 2020

by

MARS logoTom Kinahan, N1CPE, writes:

For almost the whole month of October, (now through October 26) the Department of Defense is conducting a series of exercises that will train the connection of MARS members to the Amateur Radio Service.

There are opportunities for hams to participate in this exercise.

1) Every day at noon local time, there will be a net on 60 meters channel 1 (5.3305 MHz USB) to have checkins from hams. The NCS will ask for your callsign, city and state. As the month moves on, there may be other unplanned requests.

2) Familiarize yourself with the METAR which is transmitted on VHF AM from all major and some less major airports as weather information for pilots. See if you can transcribe the weather information. They speak fast, and usually in mumbles. This is valuable information to the DoD in times of communication outage. Contact me for additional details.

3) There will be ICS-213 messages originating in MARS for certain ARRL and other local ham radio leaders refiled into the NTS system for delivery. NTS nets may carry these messages. Be ready to copy these messages and deliver them, by checking in to your local NTS net.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

 

[Tom Kinahan is the Army MARS Region 1 Executive Officer. He can be contacted at: tom.kinahan@verizon.net]

Northeast HamXposition Schedule, October 10-November 7, 2020

by

HamXposition logoFrom https://hamxposition.org:

New England ARES Academy

October 10-31, 2020

View the full schedule and sign up at
<https://hamxposition.org/2020/ne-ares-academy>

The first-ever New England Division ARES Academy, originally scheduled for the Division Convention in November, will instead be held over a period of several weeks in October via Zoom. There are five Basic Track classes for those just getting started, and more advanced classes and workshops for those who already have the basics. One-hour classes will be held on weeknights from 7:30 to 8:30 PM EDT, and two-hour workshop sessions will be held Saturday mornings from 9:00 to 11:00 AM EDT.

Just a few of the topics covered include:

* Go Kits
* Hardening Your Station or Repeater
* Expedient Training & Utilization of Volunteers
* Working with Served Agencies (Panel Discussion)

The NE-ARES Academy is an outgrowth of the successful NH-ARES Academy program that ran at the NH State Fire Academy for eight years. The program’s goal is to offer both basic and advanced skills training based in ARRL ARES training standards. Academy Instructors are all recognized experts in their subject area.

Event Details:

Date: October 10th to October 31st
Time: 7:30 to 8:30 PM EDT (weeknight courses), 9:00 to 11:00 AM EDT
(Saturday workshops)
Cost: Free

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

HamXposition Virtual Banquet

November 7, 2020, 7PM

Event registration at <https://hamxposition.org/register/register.php>

On Saturday, November 7th, the HamXposition Convention Committee will be hosting our very first Virtual Banquet! Order your favorite take-out or delivery, pull up a chair to your screen, and join your friends for an interesting presentation. The event will be emceed by our very own Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF, and featuring Keynote Speaker Gordon West, WB6NOA.

In addition, there will be a grand prize drawing of a Kenwood TM-V71A Transceiver, Astron Power Supply, and dual band mobile antenna, generously contributed by the Minuteman Repeater Association (MMRA) (must be present during prize drawing to win).

The event is free, but we ask that you please register using the link above. Instructions and a link to join the event will be delivered to your inbox a few days before the event.

Event Details:

Date: Saturday, November 7th
Time: 7:00 PM EST (UTC-05:00)
Location: Your computer or mobile device, anywhere!
Cost: Free

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ham Bootcamp

November 7, 2020, 10 AM

Sign up on the NARS website at <https://www.n1fd.org/ham-bootcamp/>

The Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS) will again be hosting their wildly successful Ham Bootcamp, recently featured on the cover of QST magazine, on Saturday, November 7th via Zoom.

Ham Bootcamp is a series of activities designed to help newly licensed Technician and General class license holders get on the air and use their amateur radio license, or for prospective hams who are interested in seeing what the hobby has to offer, including:

* Radio Programming Tutorials and Help
* Getting Started with EchoLink
* Joining a Repeater Net
* Putting together a Station for Repeaters
* Building an HF Station including simple HF Antennas
* Putting up an HF Antenna, Feedline, and Ground
* Getting started with WSJT-X and FT8 Digital

… and more!

Event Details:

Date: Saturday, November 7th
Time: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST (UTC-05:00)
Cost: Free

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

W1A Special Event Callsign

November 6-8, 2020

Operating schedule and sign up at
<https://hamxposition.org/2020/w1a-special-event-callsign>

The W1A special event callsign will operate from individual operator’s home stations during the weekend of the HamXposition Virtual Banquet. Yours could be one of these stations!

Event Details:

Start: Friday, November 6th 7:00 PM EST (UTC-05:00)
End: Sunday, November 8th 7:00 PM EST (UTC-05:00)
Location: Your shack!
Cost: Free

Connecticut ARES Conducting Simulated Emergency Test, October 2, 2020

by

Mike Walters, W8ZY, writes on announce@ct-ares.groups.io:

CT ARES SET 2020

Inject 1

Saturday October 03, 2020  09:00 Local

***THIS IS A DRILL***THIS IS A DRILL***THIS IS A DRILL***

OPERATION “Storm Zebra”

The National Weather Service, The Red Cross and The Department of Defense have asked the amateur community to mobilize and gather data on local conditions. At this time all local nets should activate and establish a NCS. Each net should note the number of stations on the net and if those stations are emergency power capable.

Each net is asked to designate at least one station capable of sending messages by Winlink. The more stations capable of Winlink the better.

Stand by for information requests.

Mike Walters, W8ZY

CT ARES SEC

***THIS IS A DRILL***THIS IS A DRILL***THIS IS A DRILL***

Winlink Catching On in New Hampshire

by

ARES logoWinlink Global Email is catching on in New Hampshire, according to Jay Taft, K1EHZ.

“We encourage more NH ARES members to become engaged so every ARES group has Winlink capability. Here’s how:

  • If you have the equipment for FLdigi you have the equipment for Winlink.
  • Contact Jay Taft K1EHZ at k1ehz@arrl.net for assistance getting started.
    • Individual coaching over the phone to download, install and configure free software.
    • Zoom coaching sessions for small groups.
    • On-air message practice using Winlink gateways and peer-to-peer connections.
  • Participate in the ARES Academy – Winlink Workshop – October 17th, 0900-1100.
  • Join the Wednesday Winlink Net on the radio or over the internet.
  • Establish a local Winlink internet gateway, or a digital repeater to the Bedford gateway.
    • Some equipment is available for long-term loan.

 

NCS Aeronautical Mobile for RI ARES Simplex Net

by

ARES logoSean McGrath, W1SMM, writes in the “RI ARES” Facebook group:

Thank you to all who participated in tonight’s RI ARES Simplex Net. It was a first for me operating a Simplex Net Control Station, Air Mobile.

In the plane was myself, W1SMM as W1RIA NCS, W1PJS Paul working NetLogger and KC1AQQ Stephen paper logging by county/town.

The plane is a Cirrus SR22 flown at 1500 feet MSL around 115-120 knots. The radio was a handheld Anytone 878 w/bluetooth to the aircraft headset.

I have an audio recording from my home QTH in Cumberland I will upload when I figure out how 

These are the check-ins we have recorded. If there are any stations missing or any errors please let me know and I will fix the logs.
W1SMM W1PJS KC1AQQ WA1RHS K1DOC N1ZO KB1YHF W1YTF AA1PQ KC1MZA KC1EPX KC1KWB KC1NMD KA1KML K1BCM N1GKE KC1KMJ K1JST K1EWG N1JMA WX1X K1DAB KA1BNO WA1VIN KB1UZD KC1NEU KC1NEK K1NPT KB1USF KB1EKN

119171206_3697978980215279_322197004924409190_n
119621766_3697978710215306_1289568790707347265_o
119426352_3697994903547020_992917083223761850_o
119217383_3697992740213903_7442899282182158153_o

Annual Cape Cod ARES Summer Communications Exercise: “Operation Windbreaker,” August 8, 2020

by

Cape Cod ARES logoASEC Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O, writes on Facebook:

Cape and Islands conducted its annual summer field communications exercise on Saturday, August 8, 2020. Exercise #68 “Operation Windbreaker” had three primary field sites, several individual field ops and several home stations. The main sites were: outside the Sandwich Human Services Building, outside of Falmouth Hospital, and in Eastham near Larry, K1LRJ, home area.

VHF signals were excellent. The HF voice operation went quite well with our Cape/Islands stations as well as the off-Cape stations that hosted a 75-meter net over 75 miles away in another part of MA. Digital modes on HF had mixed results due to some glitches, but a couple of stations did well.

In Sandwich we had a crew of five including a couple of our new folks, Jermy, KC1NGL, from Sandwich Fire; Dennis, N1RDN, from Sandwich CERT; and Jason, KC1MLQ, from Yarmouth. Our 440 MHz simplex backchannel (was diplexed off our main dual band antenna to two radios) with the Falmouth field site worked even better than expected.

My thanks to all of our people who participated and special thanks to those off Cape stations that conducted the net, as well as stations that contacted us from various locations.

117608193_10217477026452680_4144324766018450406_o
117009304_10217477029492756_8553587761451727816_o
117303436_10217477029732762_3469080335312324875_o
117036418_10217477028252725_7430027067090998070_o
116879685_10217477028012719_8677308868635647359_o
116881136_10217477028332727_7505962753928665203_o
117340660_10217477025932667_7366366155544676719_o
116808953_10217477024972643_129072345903879261_o
117402536_10217477026092671_5698352785610624015_o

MARS Announces HF Skills Exercise

by

MARS logoFrom wma.arrl.org:

As part of a Nationwide HF Skills Exercise for MARS Members and Amateur Radio Operators the Chief of ARMY MARS and the Chief of Air force MARS have announced an exercise for July 20-24, 2020.

Amateur Radio Operators are encouraged to participate in Daily 60 Meter Nets on Channel 1 (5330.5 KHz USB Dial) at 1200 and 2000 local times (Noon and 8pm Eastern time).

Amateur Radio stations will be asked for real life Infrastructure failure issues, and possibly other information to be relayed to MARS stations on that channel. Reports of no issues are just as important as reports of any issues. Be prepared to provide information to help the MARS station determine your FIPS code. Your Zip code is the easiest way to communicate that.

Please join us, and have some fun!

See the ARRL Website story on this for more details:
http://www.arrl.org/news/mars-announces-hf-skills-exercise

Tom Kinahan N1CPE
ARMY MARS Region One Executive Officer-Software/Automation Officer