S.A.R.S.          

Newsletter of the Silverado Amateur Radio Society

W6CO

An ARRL Special Service Club

Updated 8/25

 

This is the inaugural issue of the Silverado Amateur Radio Society (SARS) online newsletter. We hope to provide you with the latest happening in the Club and in Amateur Radio in general in a timely manner. Our objective is to provide a "live" newsletter that will be updated throughout the month as events occur.

All contributions (news, not monetary) will be gladly accepted. Submit your offerings via email to: n6xn@arrl.net

Do you have a photograph you'd like to share? An item you want to sell? An announcement of an upcoming event? We like to hear about it. Naturally, we prefer Ham Radio oriented material, but other genres might be considered.

 

David Whalin KG6YRY as been appointed as the SARS Public Service Coordinator. He will be helping Coordinate events like Tour De Cure and the Napa Valley Marathon and the like as well as some NEW events designed to help get amateur radio in the local spotlight.

NEW ITEM: Evidence continues to mount that sunspot cycle 24 has begun. An article appeared in QRZ.com on August 18th reporting the discovery of a "backward" sunspot. After a brief period of hoots and jeers the Amateur community has begun to pay attention. Get the full story on: Spaceweather The implications of this are clear. If you haven't been active on the HF bands because of a lack of propagation this is encouraging news; things are going to change pretty rapidly. Historically, the rise in a cycle produces improvements fairly rapidly and opening will begin to occur with increasing regularity. Now's the time to get ready. Upgrade your license! Get your antenna systems back in shape. Find your operating manual. The show will be starting soon.

NEW ITEM: The annual Waves to Wine Bicycle Ride, sponsored by Genentech for the "Champions against MS" will be held on September 9th and 10th . The ride will run from Napa to the Alexander Valley and then to Santa Rosa. Volunteer operators are needed to provide support. Contact Craig, K6XLT if you are interested in helping out with this event. See complete details of the ride at:

NorCal MS Bike Tours

Craig K6XLT's email

NEW ITEM: RACES Drill, August 31 See details at:

EARTHQUAKE!!!

Calendar of Coming Events

The next meeting of SARS will be on August 15th, 7:30 PM in the Lee Lounge, at the Veterans Home in Yountville. Bring a friend.

Informal Breakfast get-togethers:

Nets:

 

Minutes of the July Meeting

Meeting called to order by president Mark KE6O and he asked for introductions.

Rich KO6FR gave Treasure report and gave fieldday points report 4020.

Arnie N6APA gave fox hunt report..First ones to find him were Misty and Mark.

Ken WB6IVK gave VIP report, no VIP'S working.

RACES report none.

John N6XN gave repeater report and said no interference heard on 441.900 so far, let him know if you here another repeater.

Mark KE6O said Tech.-class to be held Sept.23 and 24 at Napa Senior Center on Jefferson St. Testing to be on Sept. 24.

Mark asked for net controllers.

No old business.

New business, we need to start newsletter again.

Rich will send John minutes of meeting and he will put on WEB site. (napasars.org)

Mark said he was contacted for event coverage, on Sept 10th

And Sept. 24th. Which is testing date.

John N6XN gave presentation on CW field day 2005 compared to CW field day 2006. He said areas he was able to contact in 2005 were same areas he was able to contact in this year (even though) sun-spot (activity) is at its lowest and new cycle begins next year.

(CW contacts for last two years have been greater than phone)

Meeting adjourned and donation drawing held.

73

Rich

 

New Officers for 2006

President:

Mark Evans, KE6O

Vice President:

Josh Knoell,

KG6NEZ

Secretary/Treasurer

Rich Rau,

KO6FR

Fox Hunting

Fox Hunting can be a "feature rich" experience. At times we must appear to the public to be unhinged, running about waving metal rods and listening to voices in our heads.

At a hunt last year I was at the end of Riverside Drive trying to get a fix on the fox's signal which appeared to be coming from the College campus. A Napa police officer drove up intending to give his dog a rest break and naturally my strange looking antenna attracted his attention. It took a bit of time to convince him that what I was doing was harmless. I'm not sure that he fully understood what I had explained to him so I took the time to write the following, which I carry in my glove compartment, for the next encounter (and there is sure to be one)!

Foxhunting is a form of radiosport performed by Amateur Radio Operators worldwide.

The purpose of foxhunting is to provide training and practice for radio direction finding. This valuable skill is used in locating ELT beacons (emergency landing transponders) from aircraft and other sources. It is also used in locating harmful interference to local radio services such as police and fire radio systems as well as the amateur radio bands. search and rescue teams also make use of direction finding as more and more citizens are using ELT-Like transponders to summon help in emergencies.

The silverado amateur radio society conducts a foxhunt every other tuesday (subject to change) in the city of napa and all amateur radio operators and other interested parties are welcome to attend. usually one ham operator hides the transmitter (the fox) and all other participants attempt to locate it in a two hour period. the first one to find the fox becomes the foxmaster on the next exercise. no license is required to hunt but a radio receiver capable of receiving uhf signals in the amateur bands is necessary. only licensed hams are permitted to be foxmasters.

Here's a picture of my fox hunting antenna:

See why he was curious?

Repeaters

The W6CO repeater system operates on multiple frequencies from 147 mHz to 2.4 gHz. All of the operating frequencies are coordinated through the Northern Amateur Relay Council of California. (NARCC) which is the coordinating body recognized by the FCC.

In our area the repeater spectrum is fully occupied. From time to time, operators searching for a place to establish their own repeater will appear on a coordinated frequency to "test the water". It is important that all users be alert to strange signals and report such to the NARCC ORGREP. That's me! If you hear what sounds like another repeater or remote base on any of our repeater frequencies please make a note of the time, frequency and any callsigns heard and get it to me. My email is n6xn@arrl.net

p.s. If you hear a stranger, give him a call and say hello.

WA6BIS, owner/trustee of the W6CO system has finished a control system where users can link up numerous other repeaters and simplex frequencies using their DTMF pads. The link list currently includes repeaters in Solano, Lake, and Sonoma counties as well as 147.54, and 146.52 Simplex. Ron has also enabled the linking to be accomplished from the VHF side on 147.18 which can be really handy for certain parties living in the boonies! For the complete list click on the following link.

W6CO LINKING CODES

For a complete explanation and demonstration of the use of these codes attend the next meeting.

NEW ITEM: The codes work for now but don’t have ‘em laminated.  Ron’s got more tricks up his sleeve. Details at the September meeting.

EMCOMM

One problem facing Amateur Radio Operators interested in public service communications, or Emergency Communications (EMCOMM) is a lack of a common understanding of just what is meant by the term. What's involved? How much of a commitment is required? Naturally the answers to those questions are varied depending on whom you ask. Jerry Boyd N7WR writes a regular column in WorldRadio and can be pretty controversial. Here is his take on what's required after a real emergency. His words are based on the Hurricane Katrina disaster. If you read this keep in mind that it's just one man's opinion.

WorldRadio Article