An ARRL Special Service Club RACES ARES

THE AIRWAVES December 2013 SIERRA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB An ARRL Special Service Club RACES ARES P O Box 1442 Ridgecrest California 93556-1442 BOARD President Hal Hazel N6HAL 371-3208 n6hal.ae@gmail.com First VP Paula Herr N6VGW 608-3176 n6vgw1@gmail.com OF Second VP Dave Aubin KJ6VRV aubindav@verizon.net Secretary Bill Burns WA6QYR 375-8566 bburns@mediacombb.net OFFICERS Treasurer Julie Stephens KI6YRA 446-3095 KI6YRA@webstephens.com SARC OWNED AND MAINTAINED REPEATERS Randsburg WA6YBN 145.34 MHz (-), PL 100.0 Hz, Wide Area, Emergency Power Ridgecrest WA6YBN 146.64 MHz (-), Translator, No Squelch Tail, Emergency Power Ridgecrest WA6YBN 147.00 MHz (+), PL 107.2 Hz, Local, Emergency Power SARC Committees Technical Assistance: Mike, WA6ARA 375-5324 Public Relations: Paula, N6VGW 608-3176 Program: Dave, KJ6VRV Airwaves Editor: Mike, WA6ARA 375-5324 RF Interference: Bill, WA6QYR 375-8566 Emergency: Hal, N6HAL 371-3208 Every Monday Night (except for club meeting nights) THE AIRWAVES CALENDAR 18 Jan Fire Mountain 30/50 Tammy, KG6YRA coordinating IWV Emergency Net 730pm WA6YBN 146.64MHz Visitors Welcomed! IWV 75 meter AM Rag Chew net 8pm 3905Kcs - AM only 09 Dec 7:00pm SARC Officers Meeting USO Building 09 Dec 7:30pm SARC General Meeting USO Building Keith Weisz W3ISZ - SDR and the Raspberri Pi Every Even Month, Second Saturday 14 Dec Volunteer License Exam Session Location: Guns 4 Us, basement classroom 417 East Ridgecrest Blvd, Ridgecrest CA No handicapped access Pre-reg by 9 December. Limited to 9 applicants. All must register at 9 AM Contact Elvy Hopkins NØLV 760-384-3589 E-mail <lvrh7589@iwvisp.com>

President's Shack Hi everyone. The holidays are here. Fresh snow in the Sierra s before Thanksgiving. Nice. Lots of rain in the Indian Wells Valley. My weather station recorded a whopping.89 inches of rain from the November storm. We re up to 3.09 inches of rain for the year. If you re interested in the weather in the Ridgecrest Heights area, check out http://www.qsl.net/n6hal/n6hal/vantagepro/current_vantage_pro.htm. More progress on the 147.000 repeater. Based on approval by the repeater trustee, John Andrus/KC6UWM, the SARC Repeater Committee and the SARC Board of Officers, Bob Pyke/KK6ECM has taken over maintenance of the 147.000 repeater controller. Not to put any pressure on Bob, but I suspect we ll start seeing some changes/fixes by the end of the year. If you haven t heard, we now have a weekly Amateur Radio Swap net. The net meets on Wednesday evenings at 1930 on the 146.64 repeater. Now s the chance to clear out your radio shack of all those unused radios, parts, and test equipment. Tune in to the net for instructions on how to list your items. December is the month that SARC elects the upcoming year s Board of Officers. On the slate this year is: President: Dave Aubin/KJ6VRV; First VP: Paula Herr/N6VGW; Second VP: Tammy Johnson/KG6VYA; Secretary: Bill Burns/WA6QYR; and Treasurer: Julie Stephens/KI6YRA. Be sure to attend the December 9 th meeting so you can cast your vote. We ll also be discussing the plans for the January Board of Officers installation dinner. Water. Did you know: Of all the water on the earth, only 1 percent is available for human consumption. The volume of water on earth today is the same as it was 3 billion years ago. That's it from the radio shack of N6HAL. Hope to see you at the club meeting Monday evening, December 9th. 73 Hal/N6HAL Treasure's Report Beg Balance $8,480 Income $112 Expense ($134) Balance $8,458 Reserve ($1,000) Available Cash $7,458 Julie Stephens SARC Treasurer KI6YRA

SARC 2014 Dues! It's that time again, dues time. SARC runs it's dues year to year, so, beginning in January 2014, the 2014 dues are due. Included with this newsletter is a membership form, please fill it out with your dues and send it in or better bring it to the January 2014 dinner meeting. Minutes from SARC November 2013 meeting Board meeting - Mike WA6ARA or Paula N6VGW will be looking into cost of a catered meat for the January pot luck meeting. Dave KJ6VRV has a preliminary design for the SARC t shirt. He will be going back to the artist to get some color changes and finalize the artwork. The SARC web site needs some updating and Ed KI6PSP is too busy to do it. So need to find a club member to do it. General Meeting - Robert Oberfell from the base gave a talk on Improvised explosive devices. One needs to be aware of your surroundings. Being prepared at home includes 7 days worth of food and water and 30 days worth of medications. Thanks to Tammy KG6VYA for supplying the snacks. Our visitors were Dennis W6DQ, and Stephen KK6WX. Treasurer Julie, KI6YRA indicated having $8416.70 funds available with $1000 budgeted for repeater repair. Repeater work done by Hal N6HAL and Mike, WA6ARA included replacing the 147.00 machine s computer power supply with a DC-DC one which will allow the whole repeater to run on 12v. The repeater has back up batteries so now it will run for 12 hours without AC power. This gives us a long time to determine if power is going to come on soon or if we need to get one of the RACES generators on line to supply AC. Bob, KK6ECM was designated as software maintenance person for the 147.00 machine. ARES/RACES will be getting a van in the Ridgecrest Police yard for the storage of RACES equipment. Public events support- Tammy, KG6VYA reported that the Man vs. Horse ride was successfully covered and went off just fine. The October 19 Jamboree On The Air at Saint Ann s had plenty of support from members. The October 26 horse ride had enough people to man all the stations and the event went off just fine. Hal, N6HAL reported that the Ridgecrest 50 th year birthday party had a SARC booth and a number of people came by and signed up for the technician class. Mike, WA6ARA reported that OTHTC will be having a race on 1 December where there are 5 sites to man. The January Fire Mountain 50 mile horse ride is coming up and will need some support from the club. DX report was by Mike, WA6ARA, who indicated that 10 meters had been open. Mike, WA6ARA Indicated that the 16 November T-hunt will be city wide on 146.565 MHz and is open to all.

There was general agreement that meeting programs on other topics than amateur radio were fine. Show and tell - Steve, N6MVX had a new repeater handbook and a radio shack 12v dc power supply. Hal, N6HAL had made some power pole pliers for the assembly and dis-assembly of the side by side parts. Sandy KJ6VRW of the nomination committee reported that a slate of officers was ready for election at the December meeting. President Dave, KJ6VRV; 1 st vice president Paula N6VGW; 2 nd vice president Tammy KG6VRY; Secretary Bill WA6QYR; and Treasurer Julie KI6YRA were on the list for voting upon. Paula, N6VGW indicated that she and Mike, WA6ARA will be looking in to having the meat for the January dinner catered. The dinner location was to be decided also if other than the Historical USO building. There is budgeted some $650 for prizes at the dinner. The door prize of an HT antenna was won by Jim, KI6PTA. The 50/50 $10 prize was won by Dave, AI6S. There was last minute discussion of a local swap net at 730 on Wednesday night using the 146.64 machine. Submitted by Bill, WA6QYR SARC Secretary. SARC December Program This month presentation will be by Keith Weisz, W3ISZ, on integrating a SRD radio with the Raspberri Pi computer. Keith has done some incredible things with this set up, and gives you a good thing to do with that Raspberri Pi computer and SDR dongle you bought! SARC T- Hunt The next T-Hunt would normally be 18 January, but this will conflict with the Fire Mountain ride. So we will need to discuss if we can move the T-Hunt to a different weekend.

OTHTC Ultra Marathon Support Report Wow! We had incredible support for the OTHTC Ultra Marathon on December 1. It went very smoothly, had to track down a couple of runners and check on if some had indeed gone through all the sports. This is the first year we have been able to man all 9 stops. We got thanks from all on how smooth it ran and helpful we were to the organization. Those supporting were Paula, N6VGW, Dave, KJ6VRV, Sandy, KJ6VRW; Jim, KI6PTA; John, AD6NR; Keith, W6KRF; (John and Keith came down from Lone Pine / Bishop to help out, many thanks to them!)julie, KI6YRA; Harry, K6HLS; Tim, NH2BV; Mark, N0BLM; Tom, W1ERG and Mike, WA6ARA. A special thanks goes out to Harry and Julie for setting up and taking down the portable repeater. Thank you all for making this all happen! Nomination Committee Report The proposed slate of officers for 2014 are: President: Dave Aubin, KJ6VRV 1st Vice President: Paula Herr, N6VGW 2nd Vice President Tammy Johnson, KG6VRY Secretary: Bill Burns, WA6QYR Treasurer: Julie Stephans, KI6YRA

2014 Technician Class Yes, there is going to be a Technician Class in 2014. The proposed date will be start on Thursday, 20 February and be weekly, on Thursdays, until 10 April. The location is not fixed yet. This is an excellent class to go from zero to your Technician class amateur radio license. So if you know someone who might be interested, please have them email me, wa6ara@gmail.com for further information. 75 Meter AM Net Now that the nights are dark and cool, it is time once again to start up the 75 meter AM net. The net will be at 8pm Mondays, after the IWV Emergency net. The frequency is 3905Kcs, plus or minus QRM and AM only. Come join us in the fun. Eastern Kern County ARES/RACES (EKCAR) Update: The Eastern Kern County ARES/RACES organization received a Wells Cargo cargo trailer from the Kern County Fire Department. The trailer was obtained using grant money and will be used to as a central storage site for most of the equipment that belongs to ARES/RACES. When not in use during an exercise or disaster, the trailer will be stored at the Ridgecrest Police Department. At the November Indian Wells Valley Emergency Services Committee meeting, I gave a presentation on the WINLINK 2000 system using one of the ARES/RACES Portable Packet Stations. After explaining how the system worked, I sent some emails to several of the attendee s cell phones. Everyone was very impressed with the simplicity of the client software, the portable station and the speed at which the attendees received the emails. Thanks to Rick/WA6RIC in helping me set up the portable station, projector and screen for the demonstration. What should you do if you come upon an accident scene involving hazardous materials (HAZMAT)? The DOT requires that all freight containers, trucks and rail cars transporting HAZMAT material display placards identifying the hazard class or classes of the materials they are carrying. The placards are diamond-shaped, 10 inches on a side, color-coded and show an icon or graphic symbol depicting the hazard class. They are displayed on the ends and sides of transport vehicles. A fourdigit identification number may be displayed on the placard or on an adjacent rectangular orange panel. So, what should you do? Approach the scene cautiously from uphill and upwind. If you have binoculars, use them! Try to identify the material by any one of the following: The four-digit number on a placard or orange panel. The four-digit number (Preceded by the initials UN/NA ) on a shipping paper or package. The name of the material on the shipping paper, placard or package. Call for help immediately and let the experts handle the situation. Do not attempt to take any action beyond your level of training. Know what you are capable of doing. Don t become a victim.

As always, we are looking for more members. For more information, check out: http://www.qsl.net/wa6ybn/areacommunicationgroups.html or send an email to me. 73 de ARES ONE / N6HAL n6hal@arrl.net Upcoming SARC Support Opportunity Fire Mountain 30/50 The Fire Mountain 30 / 50 will be on 18 of January, 2014. There is a need for radio operators to help out with communications with the ride. Tammy, KG6VYA, is the coordinator for the event. Please contact her to volunteer at kg6vya@arrl.net For Sale 24 hour clock 12 inches diameter $10 8 watt 5 GHz TWTs with power supply $50 each Majestic tripods with Az/el head $50 each 75 ft extension cord 3/#12 wire free 50 ft extension cord 3/#14 wire free. HP 410B multimeter with RF probe and manual free. Copper wire enamel coated #14 many feet coils $10 each. Bencher BY-1 Iambic paddle key new in box was $135 now $90 Logikey K-3 Keyer was $100 now $50 1 reel of 3 twisted #12 copper coated steel cable about 500 feet free 7 inch Reflecting telescope with tripod was $100 now $80 Bill WA6QYR 247 Rebel Road 375-8566 bburns@mediacombb.net www.qsl.net/wa6ybn/

SARC OWNED AND MAINTAINED REPEATERS Click the Freqs for Coverage Map of Repeater Status Location Call Freq in MHz Tone Notes Distance Up Randsburg WA6YBN 145.340 (-) CT 100.0 Wide Area, Emergency Power S 18.6 Mi Up Ridgecrest WA6YBN 146.640 (-) - Translator, No Squelch Tail, Emergency Power S 2.5 Mi Up Ridgecrest WA6YBN 147.000 (+) CT 107.2 W 2.5 Mi Up Ridgecrest YBNBBS WA6YBN 145.050 - Bulletin Board, 1200 Baud Open Area Repeaters Status Location Call Freq in MHz Tone Notes Distance UP Randsburg WA6YBN 145.340 (-) 100.0 Wide Area, Emergency Power S 18.6 Mi UP Ridgecrest WA6YBN 146.640 (-) Translator, No Squelch Tail, Emergency Power IWV Emergency Net Mondays @ 7:30 PM S 2.5 Mi UP Ridgecrest WA6YBN 147.000 (+) 107.2 Allstar #27178, Echolink #518309, Info *510 ARRL Audio News on Mondays @ 7 PM W 2.5 Mi Standby Ridgecrest WA6YBN 147.060 (+) 100.0 Club Portable Repeater, used only for events SW 1 Mi UP Randsburg N6BKL 52.680 (-) 82.5 Linked to other 6m repeaters in SoCal. Net S 18.6 Mi Thursdays @ 6:30 PM UP El Paso Pk WI6RE-2 145.050 Packet Node (ELPASO) S 10 Mi Ridgecrest WA6YBN-10 145.05 RMS Packet - WINLINK 2000 S 2 Mi Ridgecrest AI6S-10 145.05 RMS Packet - WINLINK 2000 S 2 Mi Calif City KG6COM-10 145.05 RMS Packet - WINLINK 2000 UP El Paso Pk WI6RE 144.390 APRS W1 Digi, iwvaprs.net KI6PSP@gmail.com S 10 Mi UP El Paso Pk WI6RE 147.975 (-) 100.0 Allstar Node usually on WINSYSTEM S 10 Mi UP RF Linked to 447.020. 6m Remote Base on FM E 15.9 Mi Trona K6YYJ 146.970 (-) 123.0 call frequency 52.525 MHz - Controls: Rx 61, Tx 62, Off 63 UP Little Lake W6TD 147.210 (+) RF Linked to Mazourka Peak NW 24.9 Mi UP Bird Springs KF6FM 146.085 (+) 141.3 Wide coverage of Indian Wells Valley - swrrc.org WSW 27 Mi UP Mazourka Pk W6TD 146.760 (-) RF Linked to Little Lake N 96.5 Mi UP Hauser Pk K6OX 146.730 (-) 100.0 Near Palmdale, Wide coverage of Antelope Valley SSW 80 Mi UP Keller Pk KE6RYZ 146.385 (+) 146.2 kpra.net - Near Big Bear, Wide SoCal Coverage SSE 104 Mi UP Ridgecrest W5HMV 447.020 (-) 123.0 RF Linked to 146.970. Input is about -4 KHz off. SE 2.6 Mi UP Ridgecrest WI6RE 446.500 100.0 IRLP-3741, contact tiplerek@iwvisp.com for codes W 2.8 Mi UP El Paso Pk WI6RE 448.800 (-) 100.0 IRLP-3877 - WinSystem.org S 10 Mi UP Ridgecrest NC9RS 927.0125 (-) 88.5 Input: 902.0125 Linked to others - NC9RS SW 2.0 Mi Email to wa6ybn@gmail.com to report invalid data. Last Update: Feb 11th 2013