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.

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!
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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.
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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!
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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.
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For additional info, visit the DCARC web page at http://www.dcarc.net/go/ or just click HERE.
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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.
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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-

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-

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

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.

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.”
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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.
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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.

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!

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

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
===================

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

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

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

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.

Two VERY handy Computer Programs

I promised that this week I would share the two most amazing computer utilities with you that I have ever found.

The first is called BelArc. Just run it and prepare to be amazed. Here's just ONE thing it does. When you run it, you will get a list of all the software on your computer that has a registration code WITH THE CODES LISTED!

I'll bet you have lost the registration codes to 90% of your purchased and free software. BelArc will recover it for you in a blink! BelArc also does a few dozen other amazing things. This will become one of your most valuable utilities! Here is the link.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html or, just click HERE.

Next is a neat little program called Everest. I take this one with me everywhere on a flash drive. Want to know what is in your computer? Just run Everest. to test CPU speed, see how much memory you have and how it is being used. Get a listing of physical and logical hard drives, etc. An amazing utility which you can download at this link:

http://majorgeeks.com/download4181.html Or just click HERE.

Now, best of all, you are going to want to bookmark that web site, MajorGeeks. It is loaded with 2 or 3 or 20 gazillion computer utilities. Most are freeware, some are shareware, all are virus checked. I have CDs FULL of programs I have downloaded from MajorGeeks. One of my favorites is a utility called "Ultimate Boot CD". Got a computer that won't boot? Just boot from the Ultimate Boot CD and recover your files from the hard drives. Looking for boot floppy images? They are in there! Trying to boot any flavor of DOS, Windows or Linux? Ultimate Boot CD can do the job!

Just browse around MajorGeeks and see what all they have. You will be like a kid in a candy store. Can't find a single thing on there that you can use? Then you will get a write up in Ripley's Believe It Or Not as the only human being on the planet who couldn't find a "Gotta Have It" utility or 50 or so on there. Enjoy!

Next week - More goodies.

N7OZH.

Emergency Preparedness Links

Two new links to some really handy Emergency Preparedness Documents.

The first link is will allow you to download a ZIP file containing a number of Microsoft Word documents (in DOC format) having to do with personal and family emergency preparedness. The link is here.

Emergency Preparedness Personal Documents

The second set of links deal with Amateur Radio Emergency Communications. These documents were presented at the National RACES Convention in Salt Lake City. These are PDF documents that you can print out and use. There is also an excellent discussion on traffic handling. One of the documents will introduce you to a Google Application that can be used to build forms for Net Checkins or Emergency Information Forms. You can even have net members check in on Google Notes while others check in via the repeater. Pretty Slick. The link is here.

RACES Forms and Training

Both of these links will allow you to download a ZIP file that contains the actual documents. Feel free to share the links with friends and family members and to print out the Emergency Preparedness Personal Documents for those family members who may not have internet access.

Next week, the two handiest computer utilities I have. Not Ham Radio related, but essential for anyone who has and uses a computer.

Here are those links in text form so you can copy them and share them with others.

http://tinyurl.com/yc27gbb - Family Forms

http://tinyurl.com/ygyweyy - RACES Forms

N7OZH

New Emergency Sources

There are a number of excellent internet resources for Emergency Preparedness. The LDS Church maintains a great site at http://www.providentliving.org
On the left side of the page, click on "Emergency Preparedness and Response".

This is neat, go to This Site and put in your zip code. The result is a list of hams living in or near your zip code. If some of these are not on your list of emergency communicators, now you can contact them and invite them to participate.

The annual CSEPP/RACES conference will be Nov. 7 at the Red Lion, according to the web site. Sign-in starts at 8:00 AM, and the meeting wraps at about 4:00 PM. The web site is https://www.utah.train.org/. You must create an account and sign in; then the top page will have a link to the ARES/RACES Conference. Follow the link and you can request to attend. The UTRAIN web site is mainly used by the Utah Public Health Dept., but DHS sort of hitchhikes on the system, I gather. (Thanks to Doug Davis, AD7LO for this info!)

If the State or Federal government declares a disaster in your area, you will not be allowed to participate unless you have registered with RACES. You can go HERE to download the .pdf RACES application form.

Finally, Google the phrase "Emergency Preparedness" for a TON of ideas for training and your own personal preparedness.

73 until next time.
O. D. Williams, N7OZH

Emergency Firestarters

I've been researching Emergency Fire Starters. The most reliable and weatherproof are the Magnesium Fire Starters. You can actually get these for just $2.99 (plus shipping) from SurplusComputers.com. The part number for the mag fire starter is PN# CES11615.

Once you have your fire starter, there is the question of good kindling. I have two. Here are the links for videos that show how to make and use them and also how to use the $2.99 Magnesium Fire Starters.

Kindling = cotton balls soaked with petroleum jelly HERE

There is another kindling made from old cotton clothing items (socks, shirts, etc) and an Altoids tin. You can see how to make it HERE.

Either of these kindlings can be easily started with a Magnesium fire starter and will get larger kindling going quickly and easily.

Enjoy!

N7OZH
O. D. Williams

MUST HAVES for Emergency Ham Radio

In order to be an effective and useful communicator in an emergency situation, there are a few things you need in addition to a radio.

The first thing is emergency batteries. Now, your radio (HT) may or may not have an optional battery case that allows using standard AA batteries from the grocery store. If it does, you should have one of those. However, for long term emergency communications you need something with a lot more "oomph". That something is an external Gel Cell battery.

These can be had in units as small at 12 Volts and 4 Amp Hours. The largest one you can easily carry around in an emergency is likely to be 12 volts at 7 Amp Hours. Larger units are available, but they are no fun to lug around.

You can usually toss a 12V 4AH battery in a fanny pack or specially made battery carrier.

For charging, these units are easily kept ready to go with a trickle charger like the ones sold at Harbor Freight for under $10.00.

The second thing you absolutely must have is a better antenna than the one that came with your HT. I often refer to the antenna that comes with HTs as a "rubber attentuator". It is supposed to work over a wide range of frequencies and usually on two or more bands.

The problem is, it doesn't work as well as you think it does. Better antennas come in two classes, small ones that attach to your radio in place of the one that came with the radio and external ones that hang from a tree limb or door frame or window frame.

To see antennas in the first category, go to a web site such as http://www.aesham.com and search on HT antennas. Look for ones that are LONGER than the one that came with your radio and for ones that also advertise some level of GAIN.

For the second category, MUCH longer antennas that REALLY get out and can pull in VERY weak signals, you can build those yourself. They are called Twin Lead J-Poles. Here are two links to plans for building your own.

http://www.qsl.net/wb3gck/jpole.htm
http://www.hamuniverse.com/2meter300ohmslimjim.html

You can also buy these from places like aesham.com or eBay or others. Use Google to search for Twin Lead Ham Antennas.

Once you have these two ESSENTIAL items, you are a better prepared emegency communicator than ANYONE who does not have these items.

Now you can begin to work on other items such as Grab And Go bags, portable emergency food supplies, FRS/GMRS radios for communication with others who are not hams, etc.

By the way, if you plan to get FRS/GMRS radios, look for ones with a SCAN feature. The scan feature can be a lifesaver (theirs, not yours) if you are asked to go through a neighborhood looking for survivors. I'll explain why in next month's post.

M7OZH

Emergency Ham Radio in Tehran, Iran

Tehran, Iran is putting together a disaster response plan for natural disasters. The web site referenced here is put up by a fellow who has discovered Ham Radio and some of its potential in disaster communications.

He is asking for more info on how others have used Ham Radio in emergencies so that he can pass that information on to the decision makers.

You can access his blog HERE and leave a comment for him. Here is a chance to "Pay The Dues" without even hitting the Push To Talk button.

You can also just click on the Title of this story and you will get to the same place. If you are using theh latest version of Internet Explorer, then if you hold down the Control key while clicking on the link, then his page will open in a new tabbed window. With older versions of explorer, the Control-Click trick will open a whole new browser window.

Either way, you will have one window with this site still active.

73s
N7OZH

Ham Radio Hints and Tips for 08/13/2008

Radio Hints

[NOTE: If you are using Internet Explorer, hold the Control key down while clicking the links. This will cause the link to open in a new window and your main screen will still be in this page. If that does not work, you can cut and paste the links into a new browser window to get the same result.]

Some things that Ham Radio operators need to have or know in operating during a disaster.

You need the manual for your rig in case somebody declares the use of a mode that you do not remember how to program into your computer. Xeroxing the original manual is tedious and not very neat. Rig "Summary" cards and spiral bound summary operating manuals are available from Nifty Accessories. They also sell a really great HT stand that keeps your radio upright without you having to hold it. HTs get really, REALLY hot during prolonged operating and can cause 3rd degree burns if your hand comes into contact with the back of the HT (which is its heat sink).

Summary Manuals, HT stands, etc.
http://www.niftyaccessories.com

We are all expected to use Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) during ALL operations. First you have to know the standards. The following links will take you to some EXCELLENT SOP manuals that you can print out and put in your own three ring binder Operating Manual.

Calgary Standard Operating Procedures
http://caraham.org/ontheair/sop.php


ARES Standard Operating Procedures (Canada)
http://lloydminster.org/sarc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=62

2007 Races SOP
http://www.n2ty.org/rcraces/NYS_RACES/2007_RACES_SOP.pdf

We have all seen pictures on the news of homes after major disasters. Most had strange red markings on the front with a bit "X" in the middle. If you are assigned to walk a neighborhood and report status back to command central, knowing the meaning of those markings can save you a LOT of time and frustration. They are designed to convey a lot of important information in a very small space and they prevent you from checking out a building that has already been checked. You can see a copy of the markings with explanations at the following link. The graphic was hard to readon my screen, but was very easy to read once I printed it out. This should go into your emergency operating manual for your grab and go kit.

Red Cross Markings
http://www.ushero.org/ushero/docs/es/nfpa/1670/nfpa1670_files/image002.jpg

During and/or after some disasters (volcano eruption, earthquake, tornado, etc) the weather is going to be a major concern. If there is a NOAA weather station in your area, you should have that frequency in your radio. Scann the NOAA web site to find your local frequency. There are only 4 or 5 frequencies natiowide and your area will use one of those.

If you have a computer connected to your radio, you can get some excellent weather info, with pictures and explanations at SkyWarn. You will need SkyWarn software, but you can get that for FREE at the following lihk:

SkyWarn Software
http://www.starsradio.org/skywarn/software.php

Morse Code Practice/Training
The greatest morse code program I have ever seen. Characters are always sent at 20 WPM speed, but the overall message can be sent at any speed from 2 WPM to about 35WPM. You constantly improve your speed, but you only learn the sound of the characters ONCE. With most software you learn the characters at 7WPM with 5 WPM spacing, then characters at 12 WPM with 10 WPM spacing and finally characters and message at 20 WPM. Vastly superior to anything else out there and it is entirely FREE! The software is written by G4FON, Ray Goff. You can get it here:
G4FON Koch Trainer
http://www.g4fon.net/