Utah is getting a major storm right now. Here are some links to good advice on what to do when the snow becomes a problem.
Blizzard Survival
http://www.fcgov.com/oem/blizzard-survival.php
How to Make a Blizzard Survival Kit
http://www.ehow.com/how_2068127_make-blizzard-survival-kit.html
How to Survive a Blizzard
http://weather.about.com/od/winterweather/a/winter_survival.htm
How to Build a Snow Cave
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Snow-Cave
Why are snow caves dangerous?
http://www.traditionalmountaineering.org/FAQ_Snowcaves.htm
It is recommended to have hand warmers and space blankets in the car even for short trips. Never leave home without a cell phone or ham radio or both.
To help others, monitor FRS/GMRS traffic for people calling for help.
There are some excellent tips in the web pages given above on what to do when the power goes out and/or the phones are down.
Above all else, keep warm and be sure to get food and water.
===Notes from the 12/15 and 12/22 nets===
KD7UM - BOX BUILT FROM 1/2 INCH PLYWOOD. 30 AMP PS - 2 TNC'S - MOBILES - HANDLES - FRONT & BACK OPEN FOR VENTILATION. REMOVABLE SHELVES (COTTER PINS) - 15X18X16 - BOX & SHELVES FROM ONE PIECE OF PLYWOOD.
ALL GENERATORS produce PURE sine waves from the coils. Most generators send the pure sine wave to a DC converter and then to an inverter to produce a sine wave which ranges from pure sine waves to badly modified sine/square waves.
The Honda 2000i models make very beautiful sine waves. Some generators including Honda put up to 24 volts on the 12 volt line!
Worst sine wave has flattened tops & bottoms, BUT the WORST part is the 0 volt gap between cycles. True sine waves got from cycle to cycle in one
continuous move with an almost instant crossing of the 0 line (x axis). Bad ones run along the 0 line for a ways before producing the other side of the wave. BAD, BAD NEWS, ESPECIALLY ON MOTORS. The only way to know for sure what you are getting out of your generator is to get together
with someone who has an oscilloscope.
When charging batteries with the 12 volt output of a generator, you MUST monitor the charging and disconnect the generator when the battery is charged or the battery will be destroyed.
If your generator has a 12 volt output, best bet is to get a solar regulator (that can handle 24 volts or more) and let it regulate the 12 volts and also monitor the battery charging and auto disconnect when the battery is charged.
KD7UM - 12 VOLT DC - SOME GENERATORS ARE FOR BATTERY CHARGING ONLY.
73s until next time. Havae fun shoveling snow.
N7OZH
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
MARA 10/08/2010 - APRS, Packet, W2ENY, CAT mode cables.
In SLC, the following frequencies are used for APRS (144.39) and Packet (145.05). Both modes should see high usage during any actual emergency and during most SET drills.
W2ENY has some interesting ham radio items on eBay. Just search on his call sign.
Another ham makes some amazing digital mode cables and they are less expensive than most other methods of getting into digital radio. You can find his stuff on eBay HERE. If that is not "clickable" in your browser, here is the actual address:
http://shop.ebay.com/sjgwilliam/m.html
He is in England, so there is a $9.99 shipping charge, but his stuff is well worth it. I have ordered one of his cables and will be reporting on it here by the end of the year.
-N7OZH-
W2ENY has some interesting ham radio items on eBay. Just search on his call sign.
Another ham makes some amazing digital mode cables and they are less expensive than most other methods of getting into digital radio. You can find his stuff on eBay HERE. If that is not "clickable" in your browser, here is the actual address:
http://shop.ebay.com/sjgwilliam/m.html
He is in England, so there is a $9.99 shipping charge, but his stuff is well worth it. I have ordered one of his cables and will be reporting on it here by the end of the year.
-N7OZH-
Thursday, December 02, 2010
MARA 12/01/2010 and APRS Info
Scroll down for some AMAZING info on APRS.
N7OVT Reports - FRIDAY December 3rd, 2010 - 5PM TO SAT 5PM Skywarn Recognition Day - PSK HF ECHOLINK PACKET - The NOAA weather station in Salt Lake City is located at 2200 West North Temple. VHF-449.425 (IRLP) and HF PSK on 14700
Rascal-II does do packet. The BuxCom sale is over. N7OVT bought the Rascall-II and reports that the construction is horrible and shoddy. He says it is worth the extra 20 or 30 bucks to get the Signalink unit.
The 6 PIN DIN Data connector on Icom, Kenwood, Yeasu radios is wired the same - one data cable for three brands of radios on packet/APRS/digital modes!
If you have an older radio, you may find that it looses its memory settings when powered off. There is a keep-alive battery inside and it has finally gone dead. These are usually button batteries about the size of a quarter with solder leads. Replacements are available on eBay and from other sources. You may be able to use Google to find out which keep alive battery your radio needs before you take it apart.
NOTE: Newer radios (last 5 years or so) do NOT have keep-alive batteries, they use NVRAM which does not require a keep-alive battery. [Thanks to Dave, KD7UM for this info]
There are battery eliminator devices for most handy talkies. They snap on in place of your regular battery and have a cord that plugs into your car cigarette lighter socket or other similar 12 volt source. In most cases they boost the power rating of your radio and are very handy in an emergency. These are available in many cases for radios that are 30+ years old right up through the most modern models. Check Ebay and Google for your radio model number and the word "eliminator" or "battery eliminator".
Be careful when buying after market chargers for your handy talkies. They are VERY handy and will NEVER overcharge your battery. Many HT batteries only have contacts where they connect to the radio. However, many of the after market chargers have contacts meant to mate with contact on the back, side, or bottom of the battery so that it can be charged while attached to the radio. Be sure you specify which one you need when ordering units like the Universal chargers with drop in replaceable charging cups.
NOTE: It is nice to have aftermarket chargers that can charge your HT battery OFF the radio, then you can have one battery on the radio and be using the radio while the other battery is charging.
APRS - APRS - APRS - http://www.aprs.org/ - APRS - APRS - APRS
The above web site has TONS of info on APRS. If you think APRS is only for tracking mobile radios as they drive around, you are in for a surprise. APRS is being used to announce ham radio events, weather warnings, hazardous info on roads with date, time and GPS coordinates, and lots, lots more. Check the APRS web site for even more info.
Dave, KD7UM has done lots with APRS and reports the following. You can get a used Garmin GPS5 for around $40.00 and it will connect to your APRS capable radios for APRS. Some good APRS programs are UView32 and APRS Point. If using a USB to Serial cable with a GPS, be careful, Dave only gets cables based on the FTDI chipset to work with GPS units.
Lots of USB things on USBGear.com.
Here is an interesting and very useful set up for APRS. If set up properly, your radio can "page" you when you are within simplex range of another APRS radio and you can then communicate (voice) with that station while continuing to monitor APRS data. This info (and TONS more) is from the APRS.ORG web page listed above.
The national simplex frequency for APRS is 144.39 and HF APRS is on 10.151 MHz LSB.
Anyone who has a mobile radio that can do APRS who is not using APRS is really missing out big time on some fascinating and VERY useful ham radio experiences. Of course, Packet, APRS and EchoLink will be very prominent in any actual emergency. If you plan to operate from home in an emergency you NEED to have one or more of those modes available.
That's all for now. -N7OZH-
N7OVT Reports - FRIDAY December 3rd, 2010 - 5PM TO SAT 5PM Skywarn Recognition Day - PSK HF ECHOLINK PACKET - The NOAA weather station in Salt Lake City is located at 2200 West North Temple. VHF-449.425 (IRLP) and HF PSK on 14700
Rascal-II does do packet. The BuxCom sale is over. N7OVT bought the Rascall-II and reports that the construction is horrible and shoddy. He says it is worth the extra 20 or 30 bucks to get the Signalink unit.
The 6 PIN DIN Data connector on Icom, Kenwood, Yeasu radios is wired the same - one data cable for three brands of radios on packet/APRS/digital modes!
If you have an older radio, you may find that it looses its memory settings when powered off. There is a keep-alive battery inside and it has finally gone dead. These are usually button batteries about the size of a quarter with solder leads. Replacements are available on eBay and from other sources. You may be able to use Google to find out which keep alive battery your radio needs before you take it apart.
NOTE: Newer radios (last 5 years or so) do NOT have keep-alive batteries, they use NVRAM which does not require a keep-alive battery. [Thanks to Dave, KD7UM for this info]
There are battery eliminator devices for most handy talkies. They snap on in place of your regular battery and have a cord that plugs into your car cigarette lighter socket or other similar 12 volt source. In most cases they boost the power rating of your radio and are very handy in an emergency. These are available in many cases for radios that are 30+ years old right up through the most modern models. Check Ebay and Google for your radio model number and the word "eliminator" or "battery eliminator".
Be careful when buying after market chargers for your handy talkies. They are VERY handy and will NEVER overcharge your battery. Many HT batteries only have contacts where they connect to the radio. However, many of the after market chargers have contacts meant to mate with contact on the back, side, or bottom of the battery so that it can be charged while attached to the radio. Be sure you specify which one you need when ordering units like the Universal chargers with drop in replaceable charging cups.
NOTE: It is nice to have aftermarket chargers that can charge your HT battery OFF the radio, then you can have one battery on the radio and be using the radio while the other battery is charging.
APRS - APRS - APRS - http://www.aprs.org/ - APRS - APRS - APRS
The above web site has TONS of info on APRS. If you think APRS is only for tracking mobile radios as they drive around, you are in for a surprise. APRS is being used to announce ham radio events, weather warnings, hazardous info on roads with date, time and GPS coordinates, and lots, lots more. Check the APRS web site for even more info.
Dave, KD7UM has done lots with APRS and reports the following. You can get a used Garmin GPS5 for around $40.00 and it will connect to your APRS capable radios for APRS. Some good APRS programs are UView32 and APRS Point. If using a USB to Serial cable with a GPS, be careful, Dave only gets cables based on the FTDI chipset to work with GPS units.
Lots of USB things on USBGear.com.
Here is an interesting and very useful set up for APRS. If set up properly, your radio can "page" you when you are within simplex range of another APRS radio and you can then communicate (voice) with that station while continuing to monitor APRS data. This info (and TONS more) is from the APRS.ORG web page listed above.
The national simplex frequency for APRS is 144.39 and HF APRS is on 10.151 MHz LSB.
Anyone who has a mobile radio that can do APRS who is not using APRS is really missing out big time on some fascinating and VERY useful ham radio experiences. Of course, Packet, APRS and EchoLink will be very prominent in any actual emergency. If you plan to operate from home in an emergency you NEED to have one or more of those modes available.
That's all for now. -N7OZH-
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Packet Radio
The need to get back into Packet radio has been made obvious by SET drills held in the past year. Here are some useful links.
By the way, most 2 Meter packet in Utah is on 145.05 simplex.
Complete Guide to Using and Building Packet Radio Networks
http://members.fortunecity.com/xe1bef/packet.htm
Talking to lots of hams, I can say that hands down the NUMBER ONE TNC on the market is the SIGNALINK USB TNC. It is on sale through the end of 2010 and it just works. There are units that cost more and units that cost less, but there are NONE better! The link is here.
The most amazing device I have seen for this is from BuxComm and the link is here.
UPDATE 12/01/2010 - N7OVT bought one of these units and says the construction is shoddy and the unit is not worth the asking price.
For a huge software list, visit this page and click on the PACKET link
http://www.ac6v.com/software.htm
Here's another huge listing of Packet programs"
http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Software/Packet/
Packet software by SV2AGW
http://www.sv2agw.com/downloads/default.htm
Want to do everything with your existing sound card? Sound Card Packet
http://www.kc2rlm.info/soundcardpacket/
Everything about Digital Radio Modes
http://www.g3vfp.org/download.html
Finally, Email over Ham Radio - WINMOR
http://www.winlink.org/ClientSoftware
Of course there is also Ham Radio Deluxe and DM780. Both are shareware and are top of the line programs.
There will also be lots of digital HF traffic in an actual emergency so you should also look into downloading some PSK31 software and becoming familiar with its operation. The digital modes are fun and get through when nothing else will. try it, you will like it!
-N7OZH-
By the way, most 2 Meter packet in Utah is on 145.05 simplex.
Complete Guide to Using and Building Packet Radio Networks
http://members.fortunecity.com/xe1bef/packet.htm
Talking to lots of hams, I can say that hands down the NUMBER ONE TNC on the market is the SIGNALINK USB TNC. It is on sale through the end of 2010 and it just works. There are units that cost more and units that cost less, but there are NONE better! The link is here.
The most amazing device I have seen for this is from BuxComm and the link is here.
UPDATE 12/01/2010 - N7OVT bought one of these units and says the construction is shoddy and the unit is not worth the asking price.
For a huge software list, visit this page and click on the PACKET link
http://www.ac6v.com/software.htm
Here's another huge listing of Packet programs"
http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Software/Packet/
Packet software by SV2AGW
http://www.sv2agw.com/downloads/default.htm
Want to do everything with your existing sound card? Sound Card Packet
http://www.kc2rlm.info/soundcardpacket/
Everything about Digital Radio Modes
http://www.g3vfp.org/download.html
Finally, Email over Ham Radio - WINMOR
http://www.winlink.org/ClientSoftware
Of course there is also Ham Radio Deluxe and DM780. Both are shareware and are top of the line programs.
There will also be lots of digital HF traffic in an actual emergency so you should also look into downloading some PSK31 software and becoming familiar with its operation. The digital modes are fun and get through when nothing else will. try it, you will like it!
-N7OZH-
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
MARA Net 10/13/2010 More info on FRS/GMRS FCC changes.
The following links will give a good overview of the situation with the FCC and FRS/GMRS radios.
Side Note: Midland G-11 and Cobra PR2000WX GMRS radios have removable antennas ;-). They are very hard to find, though.
FCC Proposes major changes in GMRS and other Part95 rules/services
http://www.twowayradioforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1106
Availability of FCC Rules and Interpretative Information
http://home.provide.net/~prsg/rules.htm
FCC Proposes Radical Changes to GMRS!
http://home.provide.net/~prsg/
Scott said that he could not get the link to work that shows hams in your zip code. It seems to be temporarily down. It worked fine yesterday evening and I hope it will soon be back online. Here is the link again:
To see the distribution of hams in any ZIP code, use the URL http://www.arrl.org/fcc/hamszip.html?zip=XXXXX, where XXXXX is the ZIP code for which you want to see a map of licensed Amateurs. NOTE: put the zip code in BEFORE you click the link.
Here is another one that IS online. There is a site -- N4MC’s Vanity HQ -- that has been available for several years that allows you to plot hams in a specific ZIP Code. Just click on the “N4MC's Ham Locator” link in the left sidebar of the home page to get to it.
There are other FCC links that also may be of interest: for example, the “FCC Registered Antenna Towers” link.
Question - which HT's have built-in TNC's???
There is a new VX-8GR, it's a 2M/440 handheld with built-in GPS/TNC.
The Kenwood D7 is discontinued and will be replaced by the D72 with built in GPS and TNC. It uses a standard mini USB cable to connect to your computer. Available sometime in 2010 once FCC approval is complete.
The 448.10 MHZ repeater power supply has been repaired. We are now just wating on the two repeater trustees to get to the site at the same time to finish the job.
CHALLENGE: Do you know hams personally who do not participate in the nets? They are going to be of very limited use in an actual emergency. Try to get them to participate in one or more nets so that they can get trained.
-N7OZH-
Side Note: Midland G-11 and Cobra PR2000WX GMRS radios have removable antennas ;-). They are very hard to find, though.
FCC Proposes major changes in GMRS and other Part95 rules/services
http://www.twowayradioforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1106
Availability of FCC Rules and Interpretative Information
http://home.provide.net/~prsg/rules.htm
FCC Proposes Radical Changes to GMRS!
http://home.provide.net/~prsg/
Scott said that he could not get the link to work that shows hams in your zip code. It seems to be temporarily down. It worked fine yesterday evening and I hope it will soon be back online. Here is the link again:
To see the distribution of hams in any ZIP code, use the URL http://www.arrl.org/fcc/hamszip.html?zip=XXXXX, where XXXXX is the ZIP code for which you want to see a map of licensed Amateurs. NOTE: put the zip code in BEFORE you click the link.
Here is another one that IS online. There is a site -- N4MC’s Vanity HQ -- that has been available for several years that allows you to plot hams in a specific ZIP Code. Just click on the “N4MC's Ham Locator” link in the left sidebar of the home page to get to it.
There are other FCC links that also may be of interest: for example, the “FCC Registered Antenna Towers” link.
Question - which HT's have built-in TNC's???
There is a new VX-8GR, it's a 2M/440 handheld with built-in GPS/TNC.
The Kenwood D7 is discontinued and will be replaced by the D72 with built in GPS and TNC. It uses a standard mini USB cable to connect to your computer. Available sometime in 2010 once FCC approval is complete.
The 448.10 MHZ repeater power supply has been repaired. We are now just wating on the two repeater trustees to get to the site at the same time to finish the job.
CHALLENGE: Do you know hams personally who do not participate in the nets? They are going to be of very limited use in an actual emergency. Try to get them to participate in one or more nets so that they can get trained.
-N7OZH-
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
ERC 10/12/2010 Suggestions and Ham Links & Ham Resources
There was a lot discussed tonight, both on the net and after the net. Here are the highlights.
SUGGESTIONS
1. Repeater list in your PDA or phone.
2. Cell phone list for your ward for ERC operators.
3. LED flashlights EVERYWHERE. (Vehicles & Home & Office)
4. Twitter & Facebook accounts using your Call Sign
5. Ward Emergency operators should have a ward phone list.
A CHALLENGE
How to get ham radio operators active in the nets and other activities.
In order to get them active in the nets, you have to know who they are. Here is an easy way to find ALL the hams in your zip code.
To see the distribution of hams in any ZIP code, use the URL http://www.arrl.org/fcc/hamszip.html?zip=XXXXX, where XXXXX is the ZIP code for which you want to see a map of licensed Amateurs.
You will be surprised how many there are and might even find that some people you know are also licensed hams. The more of these "inactive" hams that we can get into the nets and clubs, the more we will have available when the disaster hits. Untrained Ham Radio operators are not nearly as capable as trained ones.
GENERAL INFO
There was a HUGE discussion on using FRS/GMRS radios for emergency communications to augment Ham Radio.
The October 2010 issue of Communications Magazine has info on FRS/GMRS proposed changes & other topics - available at Barnes & Noble.
Part 97 business band radios with 5 Watts or less can be used on GMRS - available cheaply on eBay.
There is a Cobra FRS/GMRS radio with removable antenna - model #MRHH425LIVP - costs over $100.00.
HAM RADIO REPAIR
Don Woods - Centerville exit - Precision Electronics - Business Radio Svc -call before you drop by, he is sometimes out of the office on business or community service. Just look up Precision Electronics in the phone book. Referred by KC7GMN - RICK SHAW.
TONS OF USEFUL HAM RADIO LINKS
http://www.ldshams.com/
www.gigaparts.com (Win a free HF Radio)
www.ac6v.com/ (HUGE list of ham radio links & info)
http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/ (Ham magazine)
http://utahvhfs.org/ (Best Utah repeater list)
http://utahvhfs.org/linklist.html (Utah VHF Society links)
http://www.powerwerx.com/ (Excellent source for cables, adapters, connectors, etc. for Emergency use)
http://www.qsl.net/k/kd7rto//utah/hamrptr.htm (Another repeater list)
http://www.levinecentral.com/repeaters/google_mapping.php (Google map of repeaters for utah)
That should do for now. More next time.
73 de N7OZH
SUGGESTIONS
1. Repeater list in your PDA or phone.
2. Cell phone list for your ward for ERC operators.
3. LED flashlights EVERYWHERE. (Vehicles & Home & Office)
4. Twitter & Facebook accounts using your Call Sign
5. Ward Emergency operators should have a ward phone list.
A CHALLENGE
How to get ham radio operators active in the nets and other activities.
In order to get them active in the nets, you have to know who they are. Here is an easy way to find ALL the hams in your zip code.
To see the distribution of hams in any ZIP code, use the URL http://www.arrl.org/fcc/hamszip.html?zip=XXXXX, where XXXXX is the ZIP code for which you want to see a map of licensed Amateurs.
You will be surprised how many there are and might even find that some people you know are also licensed hams. The more of these "inactive" hams that we can get into the nets and clubs, the more we will have available when the disaster hits. Untrained Ham Radio operators are not nearly as capable as trained ones.
GENERAL INFO
There was a HUGE discussion on using FRS/GMRS radios for emergency communications to augment Ham Radio.
The October 2010 issue of Communications Magazine has info on FRS/GMRS proposed changes & other topics - available at Barnes & Noble.
Part 97 business band radios with 5 Watts or less can be used on GMRS - available cheaply on eBay.
There is a Cobra FRS/GMRS radio with removable antenna - model #MRHH425LIVP - costs over $100.00.
HAM RADIO REPAIR
Don Woods - Centerville exit - Precision Electronics - Business Radio Svc -call before you drop by, he is sometimes out of the office on business or community service. Just look up Precision Electronics in the phone book. Referred by KC7GMN - RICK SHAW.
TONS OF USEFUL HAM RADIO LINKS
http://www.ldshams.com/
www.gigaparts.com (Win a free HF Radio)
www.ac6v.com/ (HUGE list of ham radio links & info)
http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/ (Ham magazine)
http://utahvhfs.org/ (Best Utah repeater list)
http://utahvhfs.org/linklist.html (Utah VHF Society links)
http://www.powerwerx.com/ (Excellent source for cables, adapters, connectors, etc. for Emergency use)
http://www.qsl.net/k/kd7rto//utah/hamrptr.htm (Another repeater list)
http://www.levinecentral.com/repeaters/google_mapping.php (Google map of repeaters for utah)
That should do for now. More next time.
73 de N7OZH
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
ProWords for Ham Radio
Ham radio ProWords are very useful for exchanging information in a quick and efficient way. Unfortunately there are variations such as with the ProWord "BREAK". In most of northern Utah, BREAK means that there will be a pause in your transmission followed by more information. In southern Utah (starting in Provo) "BREAK" means "EMERGENCY". In some other states, "BREAK, BREAK" means emergency and if a few places the emergency call is "BREAK, BREAK, BREAK". In Provo, using "break" to mean that you want to join the conversation will get you chewed out for making a fake emergency call. I don't know why we don't just all standardize on "EMERGENCY" to mean "emergency" and get rid of the confusion.
On repeaters, if you are available for a conversation (QSO) then you simply say "This Is" followed by your call sign followed by "MONITORING" or "LISTENING". On HF we call "CQ" three or more times followed by our call sign in order to stretch out the information so as to have a better chance of being heard by someone who is turning the tuning control looking for a CQ call. On a repeater, you are on a fixed frequency and there are either people on that frequency or not. No long drawn out call is needed to get their attention, hence the much shorter "MONITORING" or "LISTENING".
There are other ProWords that are peculiar to SKYWARN, SAR (Search And Rescue), CAP (Civil Air Patrol) and the Salvation Army net known as SATERN. You can find all of these using Google.
For a treat not even related to ham radio, check out the very last URL link given below. Also, be sure to check out HAM RADIO ON YOUR PC, by HamSphere, which is the next to last URL link given.
Q Codes
http://www.qsl.net/w5www/qcode.html
Ashland CERT ProWords
http://sites.google.com/site/ashlandcert/Home/ham-radio-communications/prowords
Wake County ARES - Standardized ProWords
http://www.wakeares.org/?page_id=38
WikiPedia - Procedure Word
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedure_word
WikiPedia 10 Codes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-code
Ten-codes are generally avoided in services such as amateur radio where other existing standards (Q code and prosigns for Morse code) are already long established. Aviation and marine radio is better served by Q-codes, as the ten-code phrase lists were designed primarily for local police tasks while Q-code provides specific abbreviations for concepts related to aviation, shipping, RTTY, radiotelegraph and amateur radio. In radiotelegraph operation, a Q code is often shorter (as ten-codes require transmission of three prefix characters: 1, 0, hyphen) and provides standardization of codes, essential in international and shortwave communication.
Wikipedia - Prosigns for Morse code
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosigns_for_Morse_code
Wikipedia - Morse code mnemonics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code_mnemonics
Scroll down and see the morse chart (Visual Mnemonic), it is the most original morse chart I have EVER seen.
Lots of general and useful ham radio information
http://www.oharts.org/
THE SALVATION ARMY TEAM EMERGENCY RADIO NETWORK - SATERN
http://www.satern.org/ecom.html
http://www.satern.org/
Another ProWord List
http://www.qsl.net/k/kf4uel//lingo.htm
Ham Radio in your PC
http://www.hamsphere.com/?gclid=CJDd7urRiKQCFRhaiAodejOjHw
And now for something completely different
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39100951/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1
73 de N7OZH until next time.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Oct to Dec - SET Drills!
SERVICE PROJECT
SEP 18TH SERVICE ACTIVITY - MULTIPLE LOCATIONS - HAMS NEEDED
Contact Eugene at 801-541-1871 or N7OVT@ARRL.NET
0800 PARKVIEW ELEMENTARY - 15 different areas (locations) of service - hams needed for all. Free continental breakfast before and free lunch after!
---------------------
There are lots of local and national SET (Simulated Emergency Test) drills coming up. Quoting from the latest issue of QST - The 2010 ARRL SET is just around the corner. October 2-3 is the focal point weekend but RACES, ARES and other local nets can conduct their drills anytime September through December. Contact your ARRL section manager for more details (www.arrl.org/sections/). Or, click HERE.
ERC is doing a SET drill on November 6th on 147.56 Simplex. Any repeater traffic that they need to pass will be on the MARA 146.74 repeater. More info will follow. MARA has been invited to participate in this drill with ERC, and it is a great learning oppportunity. This is ERCs entry in the Utah State SET drill.
---------------------
The state of Utah is doing a Mega-SET drill this year. More info can be found at www.utahset2010.org. This one is an everything-at-once scenario. A record breaking snow storm all over the state of Utah with accumulations up to 65 inches in the higher elevations plus 4 earthquakes. The one at Antelope Island will cause 6 foot waves that will leave downtown SLC in water two feet deep. All power lines and phone lines will be down. The power outages will trigger failsafe devices that will knock out power in all surrounding states, so we get no outside help.
The state would like ALL ham radio operators to participate. All local groups are asked to communicate on all their regular and alternate frequencies. The state will try to contact all counties and all relief organizations and each county will be trying to contact all their local relief agencies plus other counties plus the state.
They want to see how the system handles a major overload. One really original part of the scenario is that organizations and individuals with generators are to assume that the only fuel they will get is what they have on hand. The roads are so torn up that fuel trucks cannot get through. They also assume that every single overpass is down and that I-15 and I-80 are closed all over the state. Of course, they will also toss in some additional challenges that are not in the documentation.
This is going to be FUN! Please go to the web site and download the forms and plan to participate.
One other thing about the forms, they are excellent for your use in an actual emergency. Both the message forms as well as the details for the Post Incident Review.
If you know of other drills, please let us know so that we can monitor them or even participate if there are openings for hams from "outside" the group.
We can all learn from these drills and we can all improve our operating techniques and procedures and readiness. Hope to see you there!
---------------------
MARA will have an exercise on Nov 6th as part of the State SET drill. Our participation will be timed to NOT conflict with the ERC net that day.
---------------------
For additional info, visit the DCARC web page at http://www.dcarc.net/go/ or just click HERE.
---------------------
DCARC CLUB SWAP MEET- Saturday 9/18/10
This is the DCARC Annual Swap Meet on September 18th at 8:00 am till 10 am. We are inviting UARC and OARC to join with us. This year it will be at the Bountiful City Park (same place as last year) which is at 100 West and 400 North in Bountiful. You can find it on Google Maps by clicking HERE.
---------------------
The annual ARES/RACES Conference will be held on Saturday, November 13th, 2010, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. This will be held at the Red Lion Hotel in Salt Lake City. This is a great opportunity to receive training and also meet with fellow communication specialists from across the state.
You do need to pre-register for the conference. In order to do this you will need to utilize the U-Train system which is found at https://www.utah.train.org. Once at the website, the first thing you need to do is set up an account in U-Train as a new user (if you have not already done so previously). Once your U-Train account registration is completed you will then proceed to log in and then either do a course search for the keyword(s) ARES or RACES or on the right side of the home page key in the actual course number, which is 1011069 for the ARES/RACES Conference. Once you have the course listed on the screen, click on that to bring you to the registration/information page and click on the registration tab to register. The system will indicate that your request has been submitted and has to be approved. U-Train notifies the State Training Staff and they will acknowledge by email that you are signed up for the ARES/RACES Conference.
-N7OZH-
SEP 18TH SERVICE ACTIVITY - MULTIPLE LOCATIONS - HAMS NEEDED
Contact Eugene at 801-541-1871 or N7OVT@ARRL.NET
0800 PARKVIEW ELEMENTARY - 15 different areas (locations) of service - hams needed for all. Free continental breakfast before and free lunch after!
---------------------
There are lots of local and national SET (Simulated Emergency Test) drills coming up. Quoting from the latest issue of QST - The 2010 ARRL SET is just around the corner. October 2-3 is the focal point weekend but RACES, ARES and other local nets can conduct their drills anytime September through December. Contact your ARRL section manager for more details (www.arrl.org/sections/). Or, click HERE.
ERC is doing a SET drill on November 6th on 147.56 Simplex. Any repeater traffic that they need to pass will be on the MARA 146.74 repeater. More info will follow. MARA has been invited to participate in this drill with ERC, and it is a great learning oppportunity. This is ERCs entry in the Utah State SET drill.
---------------------
The state of Utah is doing a Mega-SET drill this year. More info can be found at www.utahset2010.org. This one is an everything-at-once scenario. A record breaking snow storm all over the state of Utah with accumulations up to 65 inches in the higher elevations plus 4 earthquakes. The one at Antelope Island will cause 6 foot waves that will leave downtown SLC in water two feet deep. All power lines and phone lines will be down. The power outages will trigger failsafe devices that will knock out power in all surrounding states, so we get no outside help.
The state would like ALL ham radio operators to participate. All local groups are asked to communicate on all their regular and alternate frequencies. The state will try to contact all counties and all relief organizations and each county will be trying to contact all their local relief agencies plus other counties plus the state.
They want to see how the system handles a major overload. One really original part of the scenario is that organizations and individuals with generators are to assume that the only fuel they will get is what they have on hand. The roads are so torn up that fuel trucks cannot get through. They also assume that every single overpass is down and that I-15 and I-80 are closed all over the state. Of course, they will also toss in some additional challenges that are not in the documentation.
This is going to be FUN! Please go to the web site and download the forms and plan to participate.
One other thing about the forms, they are excellent for your use in an actual emergency. Both the message forms as well as the details for the Post Incident Review.
If you know of other drills, please let us know so that we can monitor them or even participate if there are openings for hams from "outside" the group.
We can all learn from these drills and we can all improve our operating techniques and procedures and readiness. Hope to see you there!
---------------------
MARA will have an exercise on Nov 6th as part of the State SET drill. Our participation will be timed to NOT conflict with the ERC net that day.
---------------------
For additional info, visit the DCARC web page at http://www.dcarc.net/go/ or just click HERE.
---------------------
DCARC CLUB SWAP MEET- Saturday 9/18/10
This is the DCARC Annual Swap Meet on September 18th at 8:00 am till 10 am. We are inviting UARC and OARC to join with us. This year it will be at the Bountiful City Park (same place as last year) which is at 100 West and 400 North in Bountiful. You can find it on Google Maps by clicking HERE.
---------------------
The annual ARES/RACES Conference will be held on Saturday, November 13th, 2010, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. This will be held at the Red Lion Hotel in Salt Lake City. This is a great opportunity to receive training and also meet with fellow communication specialists from across the state.
You do need to pre-register for the conference. In order to do this you will need to utilize the U-Train system which is found at https://www.utah.train.org. Once at the website, the first thing you need to do is set up an account in U-Train as a new user (if you have not already done so previously). Once your U-Train account registration is completed you will then proceed to log in and then either do a course search for the keyword(s) ARES or RACES or on the right side of the home page key in the actual course number, which is 1011069 for the ARES/RACES Conference. Once you have the course listed on the screen, click on that to bring you to the registration/information page and click on the registration tab to register. The system will indicate that your request has been submitted and has to be approved. U-Train notifies the State Training Staff and they will acknowledge by email that you are signed up for the ARES/RACES Conference.
-N7OZH-
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Info from the web
http://www.totalradioservice.com/
They list a Dual Band HT for $129.00. The charger uses 12 volts and it is computer programmable. Sounds like a good deal for someone who has a limited budget.
GOOGLE "n3jt station grounding" to read one of the very best articles I have ever seen on station grounding. He unhooked ALL this antennas and still had major lightning damage.
GOOGLE "The Portable Omni Box WB8VGE" A fascinating little utility. A more complete article on this is in the July issue of QST magazine.
GOOGLE "KH6TY sound card interface"
http://kh6ty.home.comcast.net/~kh6ty/JuneQST.pdf
(Above is June 2009 article)
An expanded article is in the July 2010 issue of QST magazine. If you EVER get into digital modes, this article contains the BEST info I have ever seen on what settings to use on your PC to get it to work right. The 2009 article referenced above mentions using digital modes with your HT on 2 meters for EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS. This gets a cleaner signal, improves your range at any given power setting, and keeps a complete log of all message traffic during the session. WOW! I think this is the perfect way to handle emergency communications in areas where HT traffic has trouble getting through or covering the entire affected area.
Go to www.powerwerx.com to see some of the neat accessory cables, connectors, and adaptors that are available. You can buy the parts and build these yourself for less money, or you can let somebody else do the work and pay just a little more.
The previous post was about lightning. Here are some excellent notes and links sent in by Scott, W7OXZ.
It may be interesting to note that the National Lightning Safety Institute does not consider the current involved in a lightning strike to be DC but rather high frequency AC, making it true that skin effect plays an important role in lightning projection. it is the reason that people in a car are protected. It is not the insulation provided by the tires. I saw what happened to the tires of a small rubber tired tractor when it came in contact with a 12 KV power line - small piles of smoking carbon under scorched metal rims. The operator tried to climb off the tractor and never made it. What is a few inches of rubber to the mega voltage of a lightning bolt!
"Electrically speaking, at lightning's higher frequencies, currents are carried mostly on the outside of conducting objects. A thick copper wire or a hollow-wall metal pipe will carry most of the lightning on outer surfaces. This phenomenon is called "skin effect." The same holds true for lightning when it strikes metal vehicles: the outer surface carries most of the electricity."
"Rubber tires provide zero safety from lightning. After all, lightning has traveled for miles through the sky: four or five inches of rubber is no insulation whatsoever."
The URL for the page on vehicles is http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/vehicle_strike.html or click HERE.
Scott / W7OXZ
73 until next time -N7OZH-
They list a Dual Band HT for $129.00. The charger uses 12 volts and it is computer programmable. Sounds like a good deal for someone who has a limited budget.
GOOGLE "n3jt station grounding" to read one of the very best articles I have ever seen on station grounding. He unhooked ALL this antennas and still had major lightning damage.
GOOGLE "The Portable Omni Box WB8VGE" A fascinating little utility. A more complete article on this is in the July issue of QST magazine.
GOOGLE "KH6TY sound card interface"
http://kh6ty.home.comcast.net/~kh6ty/JuneQST.pdf
(Above is June 2009 article)
An expanded article is in the July 2010 issue of QST magazine. If you EVER get into digital modes, this article contains the BEST info I have ever seen on what settings to use on your PC to get it to work right. The 2009 article referenced above mentions using digital modes with your HT on 2 meters for EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS. This gets a cleaner signal, improves your range at any given power setting, and keeps a complete log of all message traffic during the session. WOW! I think this is the perfect way to handle emergency communications in areas where HT traffic has trouble getting through or covering the entire affected area.
Go to www.powerwerx.com to see some of the neat accessory cables, connectors, and adaptors that are available. You can buy the parts and build these yourself for less money, or you can let somebody else do the work and pay just a little more.
The previous post was about lightning. Here are some excellent notes and links sent in by Scott, W7OXZ.
It may be interesting to note that the National Lightning Safety Institute does not consider the current involved in a lightning strike to be DC but rather high frequency AC, making it true that skin effect plays an important role in lightning projection. it is the reason that people in a car are protected. It is not the insulation provided by the tires. I saw what happened to the tires of a small rubber tired tractor when it came in contact with a 12 KV power line - small piles of smoking carbon under scorched metal rims. The operator tried to climb off the tractor and never made it. What is a few inches of rubber to the mega voltage of a lightning bolt!
"Electrically speaking, at lightning's higher frequencies, currents are carried mostly on the outside of conducting objects. A thick copper wire or a hollow-wall metal pipe will carry most of the lightning on outer surfaces. This phenomenon is called "skin effect." The same holds true for lightning when it strikes metal vehicles: the outer surface carries most of the electricity."
"Rubber tires provide zero safety from lightning. After all, lightning has traveled for miles through the sky: four or five inches of rubber is no insulation whatsoever."
The URL for the page on vehicles is http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/vehicle_strike.html or click HERE.
Scott / W7OXZ
73 until next time -N7OZH-
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Slim Jim Antenna and Emergency Reminder Card
The slim jim antenna (sold by N9TAX on eBay) has generated a lot of interest in our group. It offers up to 6db of gain on 70cm and makes an amazing emergency antenna. There is also the Arrow Antenna dual band J-Pole. The Arrow antenna works better sitting on the ground in my basement than an HT antenna outside! Last I checked it was only $39.95 and it is very portable.
Later this year we will have pictures of an easy to set up mount for emergency antennas.
EMERGENCY REMINDER CARD.
As a part of my grab & go kit, I have a Reminder Card. The following things are written on it.
1. Circle of Influence
2. Personal Safety
3. Best Antenna
4. Lowest Power Drain
5. Prosigns and 10 codes
6. ID every 10
7. WRITE IT DOWN!
8. Scanner
9. PDA Freqs.
Numbers 1 and 2 are closely related. The circle of influence is the radius of danger around any potential hazard. A service station with a large propane tank, for example, could be a hazard for up to 10 blocks in all directions. Any closer, and you are within the danger zone. Personal safety simply means that I will not operate under unsafe or unsanitary conditions and neither should you.
#3 - If you have an antenna with gain (like the slim jim or Arrow) you can operate with lower power and extend the life of your batteries.
#4 - A mobile radio on its lowest power setting draws a LOT more power than an HT on its highest power setting. Minimizing battery drain is CRUCIAL in an emergency situation.
#5 - It takes less time (and power) to say "QSL?" than it does to say "Did you copy that? Please acknowlege and everybody else stand by until he does.". Remember battery drain. Also, the shorter QSL or 10-4 gets you off the air quicker so that you can hear other stations calling you.
#6 - The FCC required that we ID every 10 minutes. I even use this card for normal training nets and traffic nets or else I will forget to ID.
#7 - DO NOT depend on your brain to remember all the traffic, help requests, help offers, and other things that come in. WRITE IT DOWN. A scribe is a BIG help in this case. With a scribe you can spend ALL your time communicating and the scribe can do all the writing. Using a standard yellow pad, write the time of the message in the left most column and a VERY brief description to the right. Brief means something like "N7ABC has 20 blankets to share". Why put the time on that? If someone needs blankets in the next hour or two, N7ABC is probably your guy. If a request for blankets comes in 6 hours later, he is probably all out.
#8 - I consider a scanner to be a crucial part of my communications setup. This allows me to keep up on the traffic on other frequencies without putting my radio in scan mode. This way I can hear if someone is calling me and I can also monitor other situations and opportunities. Having "scanner" on the list reminds me to toss the scanner in the grab and go bag if it is not already there.
#9 - I have lots of frequency info in my phone/pda. If you get a call asking for the PL tone for a given repeater, you do not have to change frequencies on your radio to find out that information. You can continue to monitor your main frequency while looking up the needed info in the PDA.
That's it for this week, more next week. Special training coming the second Wednesday in September. It will be repeated here on the blog.
72 de N7OZH
Later this year we will have pictures of an easy to set up mount for emergency antennas.
EMERGENCY REMINDER CARD.
As a part of my grab & go kit, I have a Reminder Card. The following things are written on it.
1. Circle of Influence
2. Personal Safety
3. Best Antenna
4. Lowest Power Drain
5. Prosigns and 10 codes
6. ID every 10
7. WRITE IT DOWN!
8. Scanner
9. PDA Freqs.
Numbers 1 and 2 are closely related. The circle of influence is the radius of danger around any potential hazard. A service station with a large propane tank, for example, could be a hazard for up to 10 blocks in all directions. Any closer, and you are within the danger zone. Personal safety simply means that I will not operate under unsafe or unsanitary conditions and neither should you.
#3 - If you have an antenna with gain (like the slim jim or Arrow) you can operate with lower power and extend the life of your batteries.
#4 - A mobile radio on its lowest power setting draws a LOT more power than an HT on its highest power setting. Minimizing battery drain is CRUCIAL in an emergency situation.
#5 - It takes less time (and power) to say "QSL?" than it does to say "Did you copy that? Please acknowlege and everybody else stand by until he does.". Remember battery drain. Also, the shorter QSL or 10-4 gets you off the air quicker so that you can hear other stations calling you.
#6 - The FCC required that we ID every 10 minutes. I even use this card for normal training nets and traffic nets or else I will forget to ID.
#7 - DO NOT depend on your brain to remember all the traffic, help requests, help offers, and other things that come in. WRITE IT DOWN. A scribe is a BIG help in this case. With a scribe you can spend ALL your time communicating and the scribe can do all the writing. Using a standard yellow pad, write the time of the message in the left most column and a VERY brief description to the right. Brief means something like "N7ABC has 20 blankets to share". Why put the time on that? If someone needs blankets in the next hour or two, N7ABC is probably your guy. If a request for blankets comes in 6 hours later, he is probably all out.
#8 - I consider a scanner to be a crucial part of my communications setup. This allows me to keep up on the traffic on other frequencies without putting my radio in scan mode. This way I can hear if someone is calling me and I can also monitor other situations and opportunities. Having "scanner" on the list reminds me to toss the scanner in the grab and go bag if it is not already there.
#9 - I have lots of frequency info in my phone/pda. If you get a call asking for the PL tone for a given repeater, you do not have to change frequencies on your radio to find out that information. You can continue to monitor your main frequency while looking up the needed info in the PDA.
That's it for this week, more next week. Special training coming the second Wednesday in September. It will be repeated here on the blog.
72 de N7OZH
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Personal Emergency Prep - Ham Radio Insurance
HAM RADIO INSURANCE
Two things right up front. 1) Your home owner's insurance will NOT cover your ham gear unless you pay extra for it. 2) Your automobile insurance will NOT cover your ham radio gear in your vehicle unless you pay extra for it.
The solution? There are two (and only two as far as I can tell) ham radio insurance companies that are specifically geared toward insuring ham radio gear. The two are more alike than different and the rates are competitive.
Below is some basic info on the two companies and a link to reviews on the two companies from eham.com.
ARRL Ham Radio Insurance
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Membership/Ham%20Radio%20Equipment%20Insurance%20Plan.pdf
OR
http://tinyurl.com/28g249b
$1.50 per $100 of replacement value. ALL items must be listed with serial numbers.
HRIA Ham Radio Insurance
http://hamradioinsurance.com/index.htm
To purchase "All Risk" radio and computer equipment coverage (no towers, antennas or rotors) simply choose from a table the amount of coverage necessary to replace all of your equipment at today's prices and the corresponding annual EZ-PREMIUM. No need to list items and serial numbers.
$2,000 of coverage = $30/Year or $40/Year to include Mechanical Breakdown
$5,000 coverage = $75/Year or $100/Year with mechanical breakdown coverage.
No need to list items or serial numbers UNLESS tower/antenna/rotor coverage is desired. Then you have to list ALL covered equipment with serial numbers.
CLAIMS
Deductible is just $50 for each claim with both companies.
If I have a loss, will this Plan pay full replacement costs? Yes! You will receive the replacement cost or equivalent value of the equipment that is covered - not a depreciated value - as long as your equipment is insured for full replacement cost.
ARRL - If your claim is due to theft, send a police report to the Claims Administrator at once. Sales receipts for the replaced equipment are required before payment is made unless waived. For repair claims, an estimate of damage must be submitted. Claims resulting from theft or damage to newly acquired property must include a proof of purchase.
HRIA - Equipment damaged by lightning must be sent to HRIA before a check will be issued. There are exceptions.
Reviews by hams who have the insurance including some who have filed claims.
http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/63
NOTE: Some reviews are very old and no longer apply. Both of the two providers have changed underwriters in the past couple of years. This means that older complaints are most likely no longer applicable. Both companies are responsive to their customers and work to correct deficiencies.
I have included links to both companies. You will have to decide for yourself which one is best for your situation.
It does not take a disaster to cause you to need ham radio insurance. About 10 years ago the Salt Lake City hams were providing radio communications for a Jordan River clean up project when one ham accidentally dropped his HT in the river! The repairs were very expensive. Ham Radio Insurance would have covered the repairs.
Don't just think earthquake, flood, fire, lightning, wind, theft, etc. Think kid with soda pop and peanut butter sandwich, think fumble fingers and a four foot drop onto the concrete driveway, think teenager running over HT in driveway, think radio in fish bowl, etc.
Think about it...
N7OZH - until next time.
Two things right up front. 1) Your home owner's insurance will NOT cover your ham gear unless you pay extra for it. 2) Your automobile insurance will NOT cover your ham radio gear in your vehicle unless you pay extra for it.
The solution? There are two (and only two as far as I can tell) ham radio insurance companies that are specifically geared toward insuring ham radio gear. The two are more alike than different and the rates are competitive.
Below is some basic info on the two companies and a link to reviews on the two companies from eham.com.
ARRL Ham Radio Insurance
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Membership/Ham%20Radio%20Equipment%20Insurance%20Plan.pdf
OR
http://tinyurl.com/28g249b
$1.50 per $100 of replacement value. ALL items must be listed with serial numbers.
HRIA Ham Radio Insurance
http://hamradioinsurance.com/index.htm
To purchase "All Risk" radio and computer equipment coverage (no towers, antennas or rotors) simply choose from a table the amount of coverage necessary to replace all of your equipment at today's prices and the corresponding annual EZ-PREMIUM. No need to list items and serial numbers.
$2,000 of coverage = $30/Year or $40/Year to include Mechanical Breakdown
$5,000 coverage = $75/Year or $100/Year with mechanical breakdown coverage.
No need to list items or serial numbers UNLESS tower/antenna/rotor coverage is desired. Then you have to list ALL covered equipment with serial numbers.
CLAIMS
Deductible is just $50 for each claim with both companies.
If I have a loss, will this Plan pay full replacement costs? Yes! You will receive the replacement cost or equivalent value of the equipment that is covered - not a depreciated value - as long as your equipment is insured for full replacement cost.
ARRL - If your claim is due to theft, send a police report to the Claims Administrator at once. Sales receipts for the replaced equipment are required before payment is made unless waived. For repair claims, an estimate of damage must be submitted. Claims resulting from theft or damage to newly acquired property must include a proof of purchase.
HRIA - Equipment damaged by lightning must be sent to HRIA before a check will be issued. There are exceptions.
Reviews by hams who have the insurance including some who have filed claims.
http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/63
NOTE: Some reviews are very old and no longer apply. Both of the two providers have changed underwriters in the past couple of years. This means that older complaints are most likely no longer applicable. Both companies are responsive to their customers and work to correct deficiencies.
I have included links to both companies. You will have to decide for yourself which one is best for your situation.
It does not take a disaster to cause you to need ham radio insurance. About 10 years ago the Salt Lake City hams were providing radio communications for a Jordan River clean up project when one ham accidentally dropped his HT in the river! The repairs were very expensive. Ham Radio Insurance would have covered the repairs.
Don't just think earthquake, flood, fire, lightning, wind, theft, etc. Think kid with soda pop and peanut butter sandwich, think fumble fingers and a four foot drop onto the concrete driveway, think teenager running over HT in driveway, think radio in fish bowl, etc.
Think about it...
N7OZH - until next time.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Food Supplies for your Grab & Go Kit & Field Day
Field Day June 26,27 2010 - purpose = Radio Emergency Preparedness
ERC, MARA, RACES, ARES and many LOCAL NETS all exist to further Emergency Radio Preparedness. The ultimate ham radio emergency drill is called FIELD DAY.
More info is found at www.arrl.org including a field day station locator. Some (most) field day setups include a GOTA station. GOTA = Get On The Air. a GOTA station is a radio at the Field Day site that is reserved exclusively for people with NO ham license! There is always a dedicated Control Operator next to the radio, but this is a chance for your non-ham family members and friends to talk on HF to people all over the country and even the world!
NO ONE gets bored at field day stations. Come see the excitement, enjoy the refreshments (bring some if you like), help out where you can, and leave with new memories.
ARRL FIELD DAY IS ON TWITTER
The account for ARRL’s Field Day actions with Twitter is ARRL_FD. Sign up to create your own Twitter account -- it’s free -- and follow ARRL_FD. If you already have a Twitter account, just follow us.
Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets, text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers (who are known as followers). You can send these short messages by computer or even via text with your cell phone. When you receive a tweet, you can also relay it on to your own followers (called a retweet). Your followers can in turn relay it even further, getting your message spread around, growing and going.
For posts with #FIELDDAY (the # sign must be included) in with the message, Twitter will keep track of it: “If there is enough traffic with #FIELDDAY in the text, then major blogs and news take note of it. So by taking part in this experiment, tweeting and using the #FIELDDAY insert in with your message -- called a hashtag -- will help bring all of Field Day to the media’s attention. Social networking is new to a lot of us, but I found it is really not hard at all to learn and do. The more people we get on, the more tweeting we do, the better opportunity we have to expose Amateur Radio to a new audience.”
==========
Today I held a mini-emergency drill using my Harbor Freight 1.5 Watt Solar Charger. In direct sunlight it can produce 25 Volts with no load. Under load it produces 12 Volts at 1/8 amp for 1.5 watts. The test today was to be able to use it indoors about 6PM to charge a battery. Since my neighbor's house blocked three windows from receiving direct sunlight, I used the only window getting direct sunlight, the frosted glass window in the bathroom. I measured 22.4 volts with no load! Plenty for charging Gel Cells and other emergency batteries.
These things are not very expensive and are great to have around to keep your Gel Cells topped off without running up the electric bill. Some modifications are required to work the unit with a battery. The standard plug is a cigarette lighter plug since the unit was designed for us in cars to keep the battery topped off.
Two way to reverse that. 1) get a female cigarette lighter socket and wire it for attachment to a battery with alligator clips or other connectors. 2) there is a standard automotive "offset" connector in the middle of the cable. These can be purchased at auto parts houses and then you can make your own cable with Anderson Power poles to connect to LOTS of things.
=============
On Monday June 7th, the Deseret News Front Page had an article titled, "Down Economy puts food storage in focus". They mentioned two local emergency food storage places, Emergency Essentials and Survival Solutions. Both can be found with Google Maps or MapQuest.
The article got me to thinking about the food in my Ham Radio Grab & Go Kit. It is about time to replace some items in there. You have to rotate the food items in there or prepare to be grossed out when you open the kit next time.
In addition to water, three excellent items to keep in there are MRE's, Food Bars, and hard candy.
If you do not have experience with MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), ask before you buy. Eating all the wrong ones can either bind you up or give you the runs. You need the right mixture. It is a good idea to try various ones before deciding to make them a part of your Grab & Go Kit.
Food bars are great and last a really long time, but require more water than do MREs. You can buy bulk granola bars at Costco, Sam's Club, and Wal-Mart.
Hard candy will keep your mouth moist and quell your appetite. In a true emergency situation lasting several hours, you will do a LOT of talking as a radio operator and will need some way to conserve your water supply while keeping your mouth moist. Hard candy works great for this.
If you can get the individually wrapped candies, so much the better. People used to recommend Life Savers. Experience has shown that time and/or heat will turn your package of Life Savers into just ONE long piece of candy that is mostly just a sugar lump. Individually wrapped hard candies are exempt from this phenomenon.
A great suggestion from Allan, W7WSQ, try to use standardized message forms and train your operators to give only the data, not the labels. For example, a neighborhood post-earthquake inventory form might start like this.
STREET = 2200 block of Downington Ave
Houses = 24
Deaths = 3
Injuries = 21
Resources =
Fires =
Broken water mains =
etc.
When reporting in, you do not read off the labels (Street, Houses, etc.) just the data. "2200 block of Downington Ave, 24, 3, 21 skip (or 0), none" and so on.
This makes collecting the data easier and faster, gets to the next report sooner, and makes totaling the data for upstream reporting much easier. It also helps to cut down on unnecessary chatter by overly "wordy" operators. Remember the TV commercial that describes a lady who could take an hour to tell a five minute story? We don't need long wordy descriptions when succinct facts from a standard form will do just fine.
We will have a special training subject on the second Tuesday in September on the ERC Stake Net on 145.45 at 9PM. Hope to see all of you there.
73 de N7OZH - O. D. Williams - Salt Lake City, Utah.
ERC, MARA, RACES, ARES and many LOCAL NETS all exist to further Emergency Radio Preparedness. The ultimate ham radio emergency drill is called FIELD DAY.
More info is found at www.arrl.org including a field day station locator. Some (most) field day setups include a GOTA station. GOTA = Get On The Air. a GOTA station is a radio at the Field Day site that is reserved exclusively for people with NO ham license! There is always a dedicated Control Operator next to the radio, but this is a chance for your non-ham family members and friends to talk on HF to people all over the country and even the world!
NO ONE gets bored at field day stations. Come see the excitement, enjoy the refreshments (bring some if you like), help out where you can, and leave with new memories.
ARRL FIELD DAY IS ON TWITTER
The account for ARRL’s Field Day actions with Twitter is ARRL_FD. Sign up to create your own Twitter account -- it’s free -- and follow ARRL_FD. If you already have a Twitter account, just follow us.
Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets, text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers (who are known as followers). You can send these short messages by computer or even via text with your cell phone. When you receive a tweet, you can also relay it on to your own followers (called a retweet). Your followers can in turn relay it even further, getting your message spread around, growing and going.
For posts with #FIELDDAY (the # sign must be included) in with the message, Twitter will keep track of it: “If there is enough traffic with #FIELDDAY in the text, then major blogs and news take note of it. So by taking part in this experiment, tweeting and using the #FIELDDAY insert in with your message -- called a hashtag -- will help bring all of Field Day to the media’s attention. Social networking is new to a lot of us, but I found it is really not hard at all to learn and do. The more people we get on, the more tweeting we do, the better opportunity we have to expose Amateur Radio to a new audience.”
==========
Today I held a mini-emergency drill using my Harbor Freight 1.5 Watt Solar Charger. In direct sunlight it can produce 25 Volts with no load. Under load it produces 12 Volts at 1/8 amp for 1.5 watts. The test today was to be able to use it indoors about 6PM to charge a battery. Since my neighbor's house blocked three windows from receiving direct sunlight, I used the only window getting direct sunlight, the frosted glass window in the bathroom. I measured 22.4 volts with no load! Plenty for charging Gel Cells and other emergency batteries.
These things are not very expensive and are great to have around to keep your Gel Cells topped off without running up the electric bill. Some modifications are required to work the unit with a battery. The standard plug is a cigarette lighter plug since the unit was designed for us in cars to keep the battery topped off.
Two way to reverse that. 1) get a female cigarette lighter socket and wire it for attachment to a battery with alligator clips or other connectors. 2) there is a standard automotive "offset" connector in the middle of the cable. These can be purchased at auto parts houses and then you can make your own cable with Anderson Power poles to connect to LOTS of things.
=============
On Monday June 7th, the Deseret News Front Page had an article titled, "Down Economy puts food storage in focus". They mentioned two local emergency food storage places, Emergency Essentials and Survival Solutions. Both can be found with Google Maps or MapQuest.
The article got me to thinking about the food in my Ham Radio Grab & Go Kit. It is about time to replace some items in there. You have to rotate the food items in there or prepare to be grossed out when you open the kit next time.
In addition to water, three excellent items to keep in there are MRE's, Food Bars, and hard candy.
If you do not have experience with MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), ask before you buy. Eating all the wrong ones can either bind you up or give you the runs. You need the right mixture. It is a good idea to try various ones before deciding to make them a part of your Grab & Go Kit.
Food bars are great and last a really long time, but require more water than do MREs. You can buy bulk granola bars at Costco, Sam's Club, and Wal-Mart.
Hard candy will keep your mouth moist and quell your appetite. In a true emergency situation lasting several hours, you will do a LOT of talking as a radio operator and will need some way to conserve your water supply while keeping your mouth moist. Hard candy works great for this.
If you can get the individually wrapped candies, so much the better. People used to recommend Life Savers. Experience has shown that time and/or heat will turn your package of Life Savers into just ONE long piece of candy that is mostly just a sugar lump. Individually wrapped hard candies are exempt from this phenomenon.
A great suggestion from Allan, W7WSQ, try to use standardized message forms and train your operators to give only the data, not the labels. For example, a neighborhood post-earthquake inventory form might start like this.
STREET = 2200 block of Downington Ave
Houses = 24
Deaths = 3
Injuries = 21
Resources =
Fires =
Broken water mains =
etc.
When reporting in, you do not read off the labels (Street, Houses, etc.) just the data. "2200 block of Downington Ave, 24, 3, 21 skip (or 0), none" and so on.
This makes collecting the data easier and faster, gets to the next report sooner, and makes totaling the data for upstream reporting much easier. It also helps to cut down on unnecessary chatter by overly "wordy" operators. Remember the TV commercial that describes a lady who could take an hour to tell a five minute story? We don't need long wordy descriptions when succinct facts from a standard form will do just fine.
We will have a special training subject on the second Tuesday in September on the ERC Stake Net on 145.45 at 9PM. Hope to see all of you there.
73 de N7OZH - O. D. Williams - Salt Lake City, Utah.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
MARA NET - 2/Jun/2010 2100 Hrs UTC
And now, The Disaster Continues
(The Disaster started in 1974 and ran weekly for decades. It now is a monthly feature on the first Wednesday of each month on the MARA net on 146.74 Mhz in Salt Lake City, Utah)
After the earthquake, you are asked to assess damage in your neighborhood. You are assigned a 4 block area and asked to report on EVERY house/building in that area. Some of the other hams are reporting their findings on 6 Meters or 1.25 Mhz or 33 cm in order to avoid simplex crowding. The Net Control Station has radios to handle all those frequencies. You are then asked to become the NCS station. The current NCS operator is going to leave 15 minutes after you arrive (for another assignment)and he will take his radios with him. What do you do?
I would use those 15 minutes to find out if any of the hams reporting in on 2 Meters and 70 centimeters can also do 6 meters or 1.25 Meters or 33 centimeters. If so, they could relay messages (both ways) as time permits.
If that fails, I would see which of the current frequencies my radio would receive (but not transmit) and notify the stations on those frequencies that I would monitor their transmission, but not be able to reply or ask for clarification. If possible, I would have those stations move to the 2 Meters or 70 cm frequencies in spite of the crowding so that two way traffic can be maintained.
In doing your four block assessment, you will report on damage, injuries, deaths, needs, and resources. In the case of needs, you will need to report immediate needs such as bandages, first aid, medical assistance, etc. You will also need to gather and report information regarding people who will have a pressing or life threatening need in the near future as follows:
Household assessments
Level I - Within 24 hours
Level II - Within 48 hours
Level III - Within 72 hours
These would include people who need oxygen, insulin or other medical supplies once their own reserve runs out. There are state agencies and Red Cross divisions that will assist in providing the needed items IF they know of the need.
Infection Control
Wash your hands before and after EVERYTHING! Carry disinfecting wipes and/or hand cleaner with you. Rubber gloves are a great help. If you are doing rescue work and moving objects and debris, work gloves are a necessity.
After an earthquake, there will be lots and lots of dust in the air. Some of it will be carrying infectious organisms. The hospital masks that are passed out at ALL hospitals and nursing homes are effective against most airborne germs. They are NOT effective against chemical agents and gasses.
There is also the matter of conflicting priorities. Some of us belong to several ham radio groups. Which one will you serve with? If you are CERT trained, will you be doing CERT work, Ham Radio work or both? (A ham radio could certainly make it easy to know where you are needed when you finish your current task!)
Just serve wherever you can do the most good. Most if not all of us will have many different assignment during the course of the disaster before things settle down into a routine. If you are no longer needed where you are, find out where you CAN serve!
N7OZH - until next time!
(The Disaster started in 1974 and ran weekly for decades. It now is a monthly feature on the first Wednesday of each month on the MARA net on 146.74 Mhz in Salt Lake City, Utah)
After the earthquake, you are asked to assess damage in your neighborhood. You are assigned a 4 block area and asked to report on EVERY house/building in that area. Some of the other hams are reporting their findings on 6 Meters or 1.25 Mhz or 33 cm in order to avoid simplex crowding. The Net Control Station has radios to handle all those frequencies. You are then asked to become the NCS station. The current NCS operator is going to leave 15 minutes after you arrive (for another assignment)and he will take his radios with him. What do you do?
I would use those 15 minutes to find out if any of the hams reporting in on 2 Meters and 70 centimeters can also do 6 meters or 1.25 Meters or 33 centimeters. If so, they could relay messages (both ways) as time permits.
If that fails, I would see which of the current frequencies my radio would receive (but not transmit) and notify the stations on those frequencies that I would monitor their transmission, but not be able to reply or ask for clarification. If possible, I would have those stations move to the 2 Meters or 70 cm frequencies in spite of the crowding so that two way traffic can be maintained.
In doing your four block assessment, you will report on damage, injuries, deaths, needs, and resources. In the case of needs, you will need to report immediate needs such as bandages, first aid, medical assistance, etc. You will also need to gather and report information regarding people who will have a pressing or life threatening need in the near future as follows:
Household assessments
Level I - Within 24 hours
Level II - Within 48 hours
Level III - Within 72 hours
These would include people who need oxygen, insulin or other medical supplies once their own reserve runs out. There are state agencies and Red Cross divisions that will assist in providing the needed items IF they know of the need.
Infection Control
Wash your hands before and after EVERYTHING! Carry disinfecting wipes and/or hand cleaner with you. Rubber gloves are a great help. If you are doing rescue work and moving objects and debris, work gloves are a necessity.
After an earthquake, there will be lots and lots of dust in the air. Some of it will be carrying infectious organisms. The hospital masks that are passed out at ALL hospitals and nursing homes are effective against most airborne germs. They are NOT effective against chemical agents and gasses.
There is also the matter of conflicting priorities. Some of us belong to several ham radio groups. Which one will you serve with? If you are CERT trained, will you be doing CERT work, Ham Radio work or both? (A ham radio could certainly make it easy to know where you are needed when you finish your current task!)
Just serve wherever you can do the most good. Most if not all of us will have many different assignment during the course of the disaster before things settle down into a routine. If you are no longer needed where you are, find out where you CAN serve!
N7OZH - until next time!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Emergency Features On Your Radio
We all have our radios set up to work our favorite nets and friends. How useful are those settings in an emergency?
There are two main considerations for emergency configurations of your radios.
1. Power consumption.
2. Useful emergency-only features.
Your Handi-Talky radio turns on with NO illumination on the display. This is to conserve power. Your mobile rig turns on with the display brightly illuminated. Not a problem in your car on the way to work, big problem in an emergency situation.
What about operating modes? The ARRL has put a big push behind WINLINK for use in emergencies. EchoLink and MT63 have also been found to be useful in certain situations. Some mobile rigs are now EchoLink capable right out of the box.
In an actual emergency, there will be lots of traffic on the FRS & GMRS frequencies. Our ham radios can monitor that traffic, but not transmit on those frequencies. Since most newer radios have hundreds or thousands of memory channels, it makes sense to program in the FRS & GMRS frequencies so that you can listen for people calling for help in an emergency. One of the very best and most complete listings I have ever seen of those frequencies is located at
http://ba-marc.org/writeups/gmrs-frs-freq.htm
The information given there will also let you know which modes are allowed on which channels and which frequencies are GMRS repeater inputs.
Another group of useful frequencies to place in your radio are the aircraft frequencies. Fun to listen to when you have spare time, very informative during an emergency. The Salt Lake City listings are found at
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=2958
By going to the home page of that site (http://www.radioreference.com), you can get the frequencies for any city and also find a wealth of ham radio information for all types of services.
The one feature that could be more useful than any other in an emergency is IRLP. If you haven't tried it, jump in and learn how it works. You may need it when the problem strikes. All you have to do is tune to your local IRLP frequency and (if there is no traffic) simply announce your call sign and the word "Listening" or "Monitoring". I've had fascinating conversations on IRLP by announcing that I was interested in discussing Ham Radio Emergency Communications. Try it, you'll be hooked!
Two very handy optional features for your HT radio are a battery pack that takes AA size batteries and a Speaker-Microphone. AAs are plentiful and a great reserve battery. You can put a pack of 48 of them (Costco) in your Grab And Go pack and operate for a long time without recharging anything. The Speaker-Mic makes emergency operation so much easier because you can have both hands free most of the time and you do not have to hold the radio, which can become very hot during extended QSO's. This is especially true of the newer mini or "pocket size" radios that have a much smaller chassis to dissipate the heat.
That's all for now.
N7OZH
There are two main considerations for emergency configurations of your radios.
1. Power consumption.
2. Useful emergency-only features.
Your Handi-Talky radio turns on with NO illumination on the display. This is to conserve power. Your mobile rig turns on with the display brightly illuminated. Not a problem in your car on the way to work, big problem in an emergency situation.
What about operating modes? The ARRL has put a big push behind WINLINK for use in emergencies. EchoLink and MT63 have also been found to be useful in certain situations. Some mobile rigs are now EchoLink capable right out of the box.
In an actual emergency, there will be lots of traffic on the FRS & GMRS frequencies. Our ham radios can monitor that traffic, but not transmit on those frequencies. Since most newer radios have hundreds or thousands of memory channels, it makes sense to program in the FRS & GMRS frequencies so that you can listen for people calling for help in an emergency. One of the very best and most complete listings I have ever seen of those frequencies is located at
http://ba-marc.org/writeups/gmrs-frs-freq.htm
The information given there will also let you know which modes are allowed on which channels and which frequencies are GMRS repeater inputs.
Another group of useful frequencies to place in your radio are the aircraft frequencies. Fun to listen to when you have spare time, very informative during an emergency. The Salt Lake City listings are found at
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=2958
By going to the home page of that site (http://www.radioreference.com), you can get the frequencies for any city and also find a wealth of ham radio information for all types of services.
The one feature that could be more useful than any other in an emergency is IRLP. If you haven't tried it, jump in and learn how it works. You may need it when the problem strikes. All you have to do is tune to your local IRLP frequency and (if there is no traffic) simply announce your call sign and the word "Listening" or "Monitoring". I've had fascinating conversations on IRLP by announcing that I was interested in discussing Ham Radio Emergency Communications. Try it, you'll be hooked!
Two very handy optional features for your HT radio are a battery pack that takes AA size batteries and a Speaker-Microphone. AAs are plentiful and a great reserve battery. You can put a pack of 48 of them (Costco) in your Grab And Go pack and operate for a long time without recharging anything. The Speaker-Mic makes emergency operation so much easier because you can have both hands free most of the time and you do not have to hold the radio, which can become very hot during extended QSO's. This is especially true of the newer mini or "pocket size" radios that have a much smaller chassis to dissipate the heat.
That's all for now.
N7OZH
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Ham Radio Emergency Batteries
The following are my notes from the MARA net on 05/05/2010 where the topic was Ham Radio Emergency Batteries. I will revise this later to put in more of the net dialogue. This is being rushed in for those who wanted/needed the links. If you have a favorite battery or charger that is not listed here, please leave a comment with additional information that all might benefit. -O. D. N7OZH-
MARA NET TRAINING NOTES 5/May/2010 14:35
Ham Radio Batteries
http://www.qsl.net/caret/htm/BATTERY.HTM
http://tinyurl.com/2bkzfqk
2/4/6 Amp Smart Battery Charger
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6018
http://tinyurl.com/28cf9x2
http://www.vectormfg.com/
In March, 2006, Black & Decker purchased Vector Products, Inc. Since the acquisition, Black & Decker has assumed the manufacturing of all Vector products. For customer service and warranty information for Vector products, please contact Black & Decker Customer Service.
Black & Decker also manufactures a complete line of automotive products under the Black & Decker brand. For information about Black & Decker’s full line, click on the links below:
***************8
Batteries for Radio Amateur Emergency Use
http://www.californiaamateurradioservice.com/BatteriesForAmateurRadioEmergencyService.html
http://tinyurl.com/2eolfzz
*****************
My Simple Solar Battery Charger
http://www.k7su.com/solarpanelpage.html
http://tinyurl.com/28kj3uu
================
My Ham Log
http://www.k7su.com/logpage.html
==================
HamRadioWiki : LithiumIronBatteries
http://www.hsfdg.org/wiki/LithiumIronBatteries
http://tinyurl.com/23ymhx3
===================
MARA NET TRAINING NOTES 5/May/2010 14:35
Ham Radio Batteries
http://www.qsl.net/caret/htm/BATTERY.HTM
http://tinyurl.com/2bkzfqk
2/4/6 Amp Smart Battery Charger
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6018
http://tinyurl.com/28cf9x2
http://www.vectormfg.com/
In March, 2006, Black & Decker purchased Vector Products, Inc. Since the acquisition, Black & Decker has assumed the manufacturing of all Vector products. For customer service and warranty information for Vector products, please contact Black & Decker Customer Service.
Black & Decker also manufactures a complete line of automotive products under the Black & Decker brand. For information about Black & Decker’s full line, click on the links below:
***************8
Batteries for Radio Amateur Emergency Use
http://www.californiaamateurradioservice.com/BatteriesForAmateurRadioEmergencyService.html
http://tinyurl.com/2eolfzz
*****************
My Simple Solar Battery Charger
http://www.k7su.com/solarpanelpage.html
http://tinyurl.com/28kj3uu
================
My Ham Log
http://www.k7su.com/logpage.html
==================
HamRadioWiki : LithiumIronBatteries
http://www.hsfdg.org/wiki/LithiumIronBatteries
http://tinyurl.com/23ymhx3
===================
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
More on Chile Earthquake and other stuff
Here are the three links I promised on the net.
The Chile earthquake info podcast is at http://disaster.salvationarmyusa.org/EmergencyDisasterServicesPodCast.php,
then click on "Field Report: Chile Earthquake Operations". (Thanks to AD7LO for the info).
Folks who live near the ocean say that earthquakes are really Tsunami Warnings. After an earthquake, the residents head for high ground while the tourists say, "That was interesting, we just had an earthquake". If you are ever near the ocean and there is an earthquake, move to high ground as fast as you can.
There is a fascinating web site where you can listen to live audio from various public agencies or ham repeaters. You can select the items you are interested in by State or City. Here is the link.
http://www.radioreference.com/
The ARRL's W1AW radio station is due for an update. If you want to help with this endeavor, you can donate to W1AW at the following URL:
www.arrl.org/arrl-donation-form
W1AW publishes propagation reports and transmits radio bulletins and code practice sessions on a daily basis. The schedule is in every issue of QST or online at www.arrl.org.
I've been researching the new HT radios for emergency use and I am saddened by what I have found.
Only about half of the available models can take a 12 volt input for operation or charging.
Most have SMA antenna connectors which are not designed for that type of application and which break off easily. Adapters to convert SMA to BNC or PL239 are rare and hard to find. BNC is the ham radio standard for good reason.
All the "pocket" size radios have poor heat dissapation capability and would be almost worthless as an emergency radio where traffic would be virtually constant.
About the only thing the newer HTs are good for is to use on low power to input a signal into a mobile radio operating in Cross Band or Locked Band Repeater mode.
Mobile radios are currently the ONLY ham radios suitable for emergency use where you can expect to be doing a huge amount of transmitting.
Contrary opinions are welcome, but be prepared to back it up!
Harbor Freight in Salt Lake City has the 12 volt trickle chargers on sale for a great price. They also are selling a package of two LED flashlights with batteries (9 LEDS in each flashlight) for $3.99. If you are on their mailing list, you might have a certificate for $2.99 for the same package of two or you might even have a certificate for a FREE 9 LED flashlight with batteries.
In Google, if you type in the phrase "AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY", and then scroll to the bottom of the resulting page, you will find live links to all of the following:
ARES ham radio
ARRL ham radio
SKYWARN ham radio
ham radio disaster
Homeland Security amateur radio
RACES ham radio
ham radio nets
ham radio clubs
That's a LOT of information for emergency preparedness or emergency training.
Some of you have asked questions about Utah repeaters and emergency frequencies. The best and most reliable source for this information is on the Utah VHF Society home page. Just Google Utah VHF Society and then click on the repeater list link. They also publish a book with similar information and a map of the Intermountain Intertie system and the Cactus system.
Until next time, 73s from N7OZH, O. D. Williams
The Chile earthquake info podcast is at http://disaster.salvationarmyusa.org/EmergencyDisasterServicesPodCast.php,
then click on "Field Report: Chile Earthquake Operations". (Thanks to AD7LO for the info).
Folks who live near the ocean say that earthquakes are really Tsunami Warnings. After an earthquake, the residents head for high ground while the tourists say, "That was interesting, we just had an earthquake". If you are ever near the ocean and there is an earthquake, move to high ground as fast as you can.
There is a fascinating web site where you can listen to live audio from various public agencies or ham repeaters. You can select the items you are interested in by State or City. Here is the link.
http://www.radioreference.com/
The ARRL's W1AW radio station is due for an update. If you want to help with this endeavor, you can donate to W1AW at the following URL:
www.arrl.org/arrl-donation-form
W1AW publishes propagation reports and transmits radio bulletins and code practice sessions on a daily basis. The schedule is in every issue of QST or online at www.arrl.org.
I've been researching the new HT radios for emergency use and I am saddened by what I have found.
Only about half of the available models can take a 12 volt input for operation or charging.
Most have SMA antenna connectors which are not designed for that type of application and which break off easily. Adapters to convert SMA to BNC or PL239 are rare and hard to find. BNC is the ham radio standard for good reason.
All the "pocket" size radios have poor heat dissapation capability and would be almost worthless as an emergency radio where traffic would be virtually constant.
About the only thing the newer HTs are good for is to use on low power to input a signal into a mobile radio operating in Cross Band or Locked Band Repeater mode.
Mobile radios are currently the ONLY ham radios suitable for emergency use where you can expect to be doing a huge amount of transmitting.
Contrary opinions are welcome, but be prepared to back it up!
Harbor Freight in Salt Lake City has the 12 volt trickle chargers on sale for a great price. They also are selling a package of two LED flashlights with batteries (9 LEDS in each flashlight) for $3.99. If you are on their mailing list, you might have a certificate for $2.99 for the same package of two or you might even have a certificate for a FREE 9 LED flashlight with batteries.
In Google, if you type in the phrase "AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY", and then scroll to the bottom of the resulting page, you will find live links to all of the following:
ARES ham radio
ARRL ham radio
SKYWARN ham radio
ham radio disaster
Homeland Security amateur radio
RACES ham radio
ham radio nets
ham radio clubs
That's a LOT of information for emergency preparedness or emergency training.
Some of you have asked questions about Utah repeaters and emergency frequencies. The best and most reliable source for this information is on the Utah VHF Society home page. Just Google Utah VHF Society and then click on the repeater list link. They also publish a book with similar information and a map of the Intermountain Intertie system and the Cactus system.
Until next time, 73s from N7OZH, O. D. Williams
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Chile Earthquake Lessons + TIPS
Sorry I haven't been here in a while, I had surgery on my knee and was out of touch for a while.
Two major lessons from the Chile Haiti earthquakes.
1. Survivors were found after the "official" search was called off. It seems that is always the case. A little further along I'm going to reveal how you can increase your chances of being rescued from a collapsed building or home by 10 to 100 times the odds for people who do NOT do this one little thing.
It was heart wrenching to see people trying to tunnel into collapsed building with their bare hands. Heavy machinery was scarce and was generally reserved for the government office until other bulldozers could be flown in. When you try to move earthquake rubble with your bare hands you invariably get cuts on your hands. Now you have increased risk of infection.
2. Radio Operator KF7ADW (Joe) was in Hawaii when the announcement was made that there would be a tsunami from the Chile earthquake. His experience was most enlightening. People were told to evacuate the beachfront hotels and move to higher ground. The problem is that over 90% of the people in the hotel had no car! You fly into Hawaii and a shuttle takes you to your hotel. From there you can walk to most attractions and there are shuttles and taxis to take you to the more remote spots of interest.
It quickly became obvious that there were not enough shuttles to evacuate the hotels in time. The suggestion was made to move to higher floors in the hotels and remain there until the tsunami passed. It was a scary time.
Since I teach Emergency Preparedness, I have been in the habit for many years of checking out evacuation routes whenever I arrive in another town. I usually have a car available, but not always. I also look for alternate less popular routes. For example, here in Salt Lake City, during rush hour, State street is very crowded. Move over one block to Main street and you will often be doing 35 miles an hour while the folks on State street are averaging 5 MPH.
In Las Vegas I've been caught in traffic jams on the main drag for over 45 minutes trying to go just 12 miles. I learned to move over just one block to Industrial Boulevard and cruise along at the full speed limit.
A fast escape route can be the difference between life and death.
Earlier I said I would give you a tip on how to GREATLY increase your chances of being rescued when trapped in a building. It is so simple. Have a plastic whistle. Those used to cost 25 cents, I see them now for $2.95 to $4.95. I'm trying to buy a hundred or so from a manufacturer and if successful, I will put up a link where they can be bought for about 30 or 40 cents apiece.
Why a whistle?
1. The sound carries a LOT further than the human voice.
2. The sound penetrates walls and debris better than the human voice.
3. With time, your voice will become weaker and weaker. The amount of air needed to blow a whistle is a tiny fraction of that needed to yell for help.
4. The effects of dehydration are identical to those of a stroke or heart attack, minus the chest pain. Your speech becomes slurred. One side of your mouth will not work right. You become confused and don't make much sense. I recently saw all this in an acquantance who was rushed to the hospital with dehydration and we told the doctor that she seemed to have had a stroke or heart attack. He agreed. Until after he ran the test and decided she was only dehydrated.
Get whistles. Put them in your car, your office, your house, your grab and go kit, your camping supplies and take them with you on vacations and business trips.
When this training was given on a net someone asked what do we need the most to be better prepared. I listed four things.
1. Gloves
2. A Crowbar
3. An LED light that can be worn on your head (Harbor Freight, $2.99 to $7.99).
4. Plastic whistle.
Harbor Freight has Work Gloves in bags of six pairs for $7.99. I have them in the cars, garage, office, house, etc.
Other suggestions that came in from the net members included a Hard Hat, some hard candy, and of course, water. Water ALWAYS.
For years I have put hard candy in every desk at the office. Every desk. If you are sitting at someone else's desk and the building collapses, you need a candy supply close by. It helps to generate saliva and is actually an emergency food. I use individually wrapped pieces because they last longer and do not stick together to form an amorphous blob of sugar. You can buy it in the store in bulk. Costco sells a HUGE bag of hard candy, all individually wrapped, for under $10. Halloween and Christmas are excellent times to stock up on bulk hard candy. Sometimes even Valentines.
Think safety and preparedness. Always plan ahead.
More next time, thanks for visiting.
N7OZH
Two major lessons from the Chile Haiti earthquakes.
1. Survivors were found after the "official" search was called off. It seems that is always the case. A little further along I'm going to reveal how you can increase your chances of being rescued from a collapsed building or home by 10 to 100 times the odds for people who do NOT do this one little thing.
It was heart wrenching to see people trying to tunnel into collapsed building with their bare hands. Heavy machinery was scarce and was generally reserved for the government office until other bulldozers could be flown in. When you try to move earthquake rubble with your bare hands you invariably get cuts on your hands. Now you have increased risk of infection.
2. Radio Operator KF7ADW (Joe) was in Hawaii when the announcement was made that there would be a tsunami from the Chile earthquake. His experience was most enlightening. People were told to evacuate the beachfront hotels and move to higher ground. The problem is that over 90% of the people in the hotel had no car! You fly into Hawaii and a shuttle takes you to your hotel. From there you can walk to most attractions and there are shuttles and taxis to take you to the more remote spots of interest.
It quickly became obvious that there were not enough shuttles to evacuate the hotels in time. The suggestion was made to move to higher floors in the hotels and remain there until the tsunami passed. It was a scary time.
Since I teach Emergency Preparedness, I have been in the habit for many years of checking out evacuation routes whenever I arrive in another town. I usually have a car available, but not always. I also look for alternate less popular routes. For example, here in Salt Lake City, during rush hour, State street is very crowded. Move over one block to Main street and you will often be doing 35 miles an hour while the folks on State street are averaging 5 MPH.
In Las Vegas I've been caught in traffic jams on the main drag for over 45 minutes trying to go just 12 miles. I learned to move over just one block to Industrial Boulevard and cruise along at the full speed limit.
A fast escape route can be the difference between life and death.
Earlier I said I would give you a tip on how to GREATLY increase your chances of being rescued when trapped in a building. It is so simple. Have a plastic whistle. Those used to cost 25 cents, I see them now for $2.95 to $4.95. I'm trying to buy a hundred or so from a manufacturer and if successful, I will put up a link where they can be bought for about 30 or 40 cents apiece.
Why a whistle?
1. The sound carries a LOT further than the human voice.
2. The sound penetrates walls and debris better than the human voice.
3. With time, your voice will become weaker and weaker. The amount of air needed to blow a whistle is a tiny fraction of that needed to yell for help.
4. The effects of dehydration are identical to those of a stroke or heart attack, minus the chest pain. Your speech becomes slurred. One side of your mouth will not work right. You become confused and don't make much sense. I recently saw all this in an acquantance who was rushed to the hospital with dehydration and we told the doctor that she seemed to have had a stroke or heart attack. He agreed. Until after he ran the test and decided she was only dehydrated.
Get whistles. Put them in your car, your office, your house, your grab and go kit, your camping supplies and take them with you on vacations and business trips.
When this training was given on a net someone asked what do we need the most to be better prepared. I listed four things.
1. Gloves
2. A Crowbar
3. An LED light that can be worn on your head (Harbor Freight, $2.99 to $7.99).
4. Plastic whistle.
Harbor Freight has Work Gloves in bags of six pairs for $7.99. I have them in the cars, garage, office, house, etc.
Other suggestions that came in from the net members included a Hard Hat, some hard candy, and of course, water. Water ALWAYS.
For years I have put hard candy in every desk at the office. Every desk. If you are sitting at someone else's desk and the building collapses, you need a candy supply close by. It helps to generate saliva and is actually an emergency food. I use individually wrapped pieces because they last longer and do not stick together to form an amorphous blob of sugar. You can buy it in the store in bulk. Costco sells a HUGE bag of hard candy, all individually wrapped, for under $10. Halloween and Christmas are excellent times to stock up on bulk hard candy. Sometimes even Valentines.
Think safety and preparedness. Always plan ahead.
More next time, thanks for visiting.
N7OZH
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Ham Radio Haiti Frequencies
So many hams have asked for frequencies to monitor the situation in Haiti that I have provided the following article from the ARES E-Letter. This should answer all your questions.
===============
The View from Flagler County
The ARES E-Letter
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
The almost-incomprehensible Haitian earthquake destruction is among the worst I've seen in my three decades of association with ARRL and disaster management/Amateur Radio communications. I monitored the SATERN Net on 14.265 MHz, and the Maritime Mobile Service Net on 14.300 MHz, where a Flagler County amateur Bill Sturridge, KI4MMZ, was performing a fine job relaying communications with Jean-Robert Gaillard, HH2JR, and others. I heard HH2JR, who had a good signal, say he was OK and didn't need anything at the moment, but had no power and no phone. The 14.300 MHz frequency is one of the three global "center of activity" disaster frequencies set aside by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). (For more on this plan, see the lead story below).
I also followed developments on the ARRL Web site, and the IARU Region 2 Web site. The IARU Region 2 Area C (which includes Haiti) Emergency Coordinator is long-time friend and emcomm veteran expert Arnie Coro, CO2KK, who requested amateurs to keep 3720 kHz and 7045 kHz frequencies clear for emergency communication until further notice. The overall IARU Region 2 Emergency Communications Coordinator (EMCOR) is Dr. Cesar Pio Santos, HR2P. I also found SITREPs on the VoIP SKYWARN/Hurricane Net Support Site.
A post to the Region 2 Web site reported this: "After arriving to Port au Prince an HI8RCD/HH team had to abort their mission due to the present insecurity. The eight member team arrived safely back to Jimani, Dominican Republic. The team installed a VHF repeater that covers both Port au Prince and Santo Domingo (DR) and is in use for the Red Cross and the Civil Defense.
"Victor Baez, HI8VB, Secretary of the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) reported that the RCD with UDRA, the Unin Dominicana de Radio Aficionados, had prepared to go to Port au Prince last Friday to install the emergency station HI8RCD/HH and a mobile station. Victor has a blog [in Spanish], which hopefully he will update with more news from Haiti. The IARU Web site also suggested hams follow the news of the support radio amateurs are providing in Haiti on Twitter here."
The ARRL encouraged US amateurs to be aware of emergency operations on the following frequencies: 7.045 and 3.720 MHz (IARU Region 2 nets), 14.265, 7.265 and 3.977 MHz (SATERN nets), and 14.300 MHz (Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net); the International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node 278173.
ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, stated "The ARRL has been in contact with communications leaders of the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, as well as other key Amateur Radio operators throughout the region. As teams from the hundreds of responding agencies worldwide are formed for deployment, many will have Amateur Radio components. ARRL is committed to providing communications aid to our served agencies and working with the international community in this time of crisis. At this time there are no known requests from agencies for amateurs to travel to Haiti, but this can change. If it develops that there are ARES assignments for a deployment in Haiti, these will be vetted and processed through each Section's Section Emergency Coordinators."
I wanted to be involved, but listened only, and did not transmit on any of the emergency frequencies as there was nothing I could contribute. Actually, when you think about it, not transmitting is a de facto contribution. I did make a donation to Doctors Without Borders, and that made me feel part of the relief effort.
==============
"Center of Activity" Frequencies for Disaster Communications
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Administrative Council (AC) held its annual meeting in mid-October, 2009, in Christchurch, New Zealand. There has been a movement in the last several years to try to identify "centers of activity" frequencies across all three IARU regions that can be used in disaster relief operations. It has at times been difficult to arrive at a consensus on what frequencies should be used. The IARU Administrative Council noted that all three regions have now reached consensus on three global Center of Activity (CoA) frequencies for use in the event of emergencies: 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz. When no emergency operations are being conducted, these frequencies are open for normal amateur usage. However, GAREC-09 calls upon IARU member-societies, among others, "whenever emergency communications are being conducted on frequencies that propagate internationally, to use any available real-time communications channels, including but not limited to e-mail bulletins, web-sites, social networking and DX-clusters to draw the attention of the largest possible number of Amateur Radio operators to on-going emergency communications, in order to avoid interference with emergency traffic." Member-societies are being encouraged to develop an effective method of notifying amateurs within their own country of any such emergency traffic being handled on the CoA frequencies, or elsewhere in the amateur bands. - IARU Electronic Newsletter, November 2009
===============
The ARES E-Letter is published on the third Wednesday of each month. ARRL members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data Page as described at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/. Or click HERE.
Copyright © 2010 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved
===============
The View from Flagler County
The ARES E-Letter
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
The almost-incomprehensible Haitian earthquake destruction is among the worst I've seen in my three decades of association with ARRL and disaster management/Amateur Radio communications. I monitored the SATERN Net on 14.265 MHz, and the Maritime Mobile Service Net on 14.300 MHz, where a Flagler County amateur Bill Sturridge, KI4MMZ, was performing a fine job relaying communications with Jean-Robert Gaillard, HH2JR, and others. I heard HH2JR, who had a good signal, say he was OK and didn't need anything at the moment, but had no power and no phone. The 14.300 MHz frequency is one of the three global "center of activity" disaster frequencies set aside by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). (For more on this plan, see the lead story below).
I also followed developments on the ARRL Web site, and the IARU Region 2 Web site. The IARU Region 2 Area C (which includes Haiti) Emergency Coordinator is long-time friend and emcomm veteran expert Arnie Coro, CO2KK, who requested amateurs to keep 3720 kHz and 7045 kHz frequencies clear for emergency communication until further notice. The overall IARU Region 2 Emergency Communications Coordinator (EMCOR) is Dr. Cesar Pio Santos, HR2P. I also found SITREPs on the VoIP SKYWARN/Hurricane Net Support Site.
A post to the Region 2 Web site reported this: "After arriving to Port au Prince an HI8RCD/HH team had to abort their mission due to the present insecurity. The eight member team arrived safely back to Jimani, Dominican Republic. The team installed a VHF repeater that covers both Port au Prince and Santo Domingo (DR) and is in use for the Red Cross and the Civil Defense.
"Victor Baez, HI8VB, Secretary of the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) reported that the RCD with UDRA, the Unin Dominicana de Radio Aficionados, had prepared to go to Port au Prince last Friday to install the emergency station HI8RCD/HH and a mobile station. Victor has a blog [in Spanish], which hopefully he will update with more news from Haiti. The IARU Web site also suggested hams follow the news of the support radio amateurs are providing in Haiti on Twitter here."
The ARRL encouraged US amateurs to be aware of emergency operations on the following frequencies: 7.045 and 3.720 MHz (IARU Region 2 nets), 14.265, 7.265 and 3.977 MHz (SATERN nets), and 14.300 MHz (Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net); the International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node 278173.
ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, stated "The ARRL has been in contact with communications leaders of the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, as well as other key Amateur Radio operators throughout the region. As teams from the hundreds of responding agencies worldwide are formed for deployment, many will have Amateur Radio components. ARRL is committed to providing communications aid to our served agencies and working with the international community in this time of crisis. At this time there are no known requests from agencies for amateurs to travel to Haiti, but this can change. If it develops that there are ARES assignments for a deployment in Haiti, these will be vetted and processed through each Section's Section Emergency Coordinators."
I wanted to be involved, but listened only, and did not transmit on any of the emergency frequencies as there was nothing I could contribute. Actually, when you think about it, not transmitting is a de facto contribution. I did make a donation to Doctors Without Borders, and that made me feel part of the relief effort.
==============
"Center of Activity" Frequencies for Disaster Communications
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Administrative Council (AC) held its annual meeting in mid-October, 2009, in Christchurch, New Zealand. There has been a movement in the last several years to try to identify "centers of activity" frequencies across all three IARU regions that can be used in disaster relief operations. It has at times been difficult to arrive at a consensus on what frequencies should be used. The IARU Administrative Council noted that all three regions have now reached consensus on three global Center of Activity (CoA) frequencies for use in the event of emergencies: 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz. When no emergency operations are being conducted, these frequencies are open for normal amateur usage. However, GAREC-09 calls upon IARU member-societies, among others, "whenever emergency communications are being conducted on frequencies that propagate internationally, to use any available real-time communications channels, including but not limited to e-mail bulletins, web-sites, social networking and DX-clusters to draw the attention of the largest possible number of Amateur Radio operators to on-going emergency communications, in order to avoid interference with emergency traffic." Member-societies are being encouraged to develop an effective method of notifying amateurs within their own country of any such emergency traffic being handled on the CoA frequencies, or elsewhere in the amateur bands. - IARU Electronic Newsletter, November 2009
===============
The ARES E-Letter is published on the third Wednesday of each month. ARRL members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data Page as described at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/. Or click HERE.
Copyright © 2010 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Earthquake Preparedness
Tonight's Net Training was on earthquakes and was inspired by an article in the Deseret News. You can read the article by clicking here. Or here http://tinyurl.com/ybcjmm7.
Here are some more informative sites.
Utah Magnitude 7 Earthquake map
http://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/hazards/eqfault/index.htm
http://tinyurl.com/ydulpnd
Recent Utah Earthquakes
http://www.seis.utah.edu/recenteqs/
http://www.seis.utah.edu/
For Utah liquifaction maps, try the following sites:
INFO
http://www.pwpds.slco.org/zoning/pdf/geologichazards/AppBliqbrochure.pdf
MAPS
http://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/hazards/liquefy.htm
http://www.quake.utah.edu/lqthreat/liquefaction.shtml
Where is the best place to put your grab and go kit? Probably in your car. We do spend most of our time at home, but if we are anywhere else when the quake hits, having that equipment in the car will be valuable.
With a little Google searching you can find other hazards in your area such as gas stations, propane tanks, chemical storage, storage shed facilities (contents unknown) and other hazards.
The most important thing is to be ready to take care of your own family/co-workers for the first 72 hours and even up to 10 days.
In a magnitude 7 Utah quake, here are some estimates from the DesNews article.
Expect all cell phones and landline phones to go down initially.
The power going to go down. That's going to be for eight to 12 hours. And then when it does come back, it's going to be spotty.
80 percent of areas should have power restored within 30 days — a time frame that should be similar for restoring telephone systems.
Water systems will take longer. Some areas could be without water for three months. Sewer systems take even longer. They expect natural gas to perform a little better because of upgrades to pipes and systems recently.
Personal preparedness is the key.
Here are some more informative sites.
Utah Magnitude 7 Earthquake map
http://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/hazards/eqfault/index.htm
http://tinyurl.com/ydulpnd
Recent Utah Earthquakes
http://www.seis.utah.edu/recenteqs/
http://www.seis.utah.edu/
For Utah liquifaction maps, try the following sites:
INFO
http://www.pwpds.slco.org/zoning/pdf/geologichazards/AppBliqbrochure.pdf
MAPS
http://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/hazards/liquefy.htm
http://www.quake.utah.edu/lqthreat/liquefaction.shtml
Where is the best place to put your grab and go kit? Probably in your car. We do spend most of our time at home, but if we are anywhere else when the quake hits, having that equipment in the car will be valuable.
With a little Google searching you can find other hazards in your area such as gas stations, propane tanks, chemical storage, storage shed facilities (contents unknown) and other hazards.
The most important thing is to be ready to take care of your own family/co-workers for the first 72 hours and even up to 10 days.
In a magnitude 7 Utah quake, here are some estimates from the DesNews article.
Expect all cell phones and landline phones to go down initially.
The power going to go down. That's going to be for eight to 12 hours. And then when it does come back, it's going to be spotty.
80 percent of areas should have power restored within 30 days — a time frame that should be similar for restoring telephone systems.
Water systems will take longer. Some areas could be without water for three months. Sewer systems take even longer. They expect natural gas to perform a little better because of upgrades to pipes and systems recently.
Personal preparedness is the key.
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