Texas Adventist Emergency Communications

ARRL News

Bob Schroeder, N2HX, Awarded 2009 Bill Orr, W6SAI, Technical Writing Award
H. Robert "Bob" Schroeder, N2HX, of Ewing, New Jersey, has been named the winner of the ARRL Foundation's 2009 Bill Orr, W6SAI, Technical Writing Award for his article "Electromagnetic Pulse and Its Implications for EmComm" that appeared in November 2009 issue of QST. The editorial staff commented on Schroeder's article, saying that "the topic of nuclear EMP is somewhat esoteric by itself, let alone discussing its impact on Amateur Radio, yet the author did an outstanding job of making the subject matter understandable even to the relatively non-technical ham. His writing is clear and to the point, offering practical advice not only for EMP mitigation as it applies to the unlikely event of a nuclear burst, but also extending the same principles to mitigation for lightning damage."

Hamvention® Awards Deadline Is March 15
There are only a few days left to nominate individuals and clubs for the 2010 Dayton Hamvention® awards. While the Special Achievement Award, Technical Excellence Award and Amateur of the Year Award have been given for many years, Hamvention Awards Chairman Frank Beafore, WS8B, told the ARRL that in 2010, the Hamvention Awards Committee will also present a special award to the Amateur Radio Club of the Year. That award is tied to this year’s Hamvention theme, Amateur Radio Clubs Worldwide: The Lifeline. March 15 is the deadline for nominations for all four awards; winners will be notified in April and publicly honored at the 2010 Dayton Hamvention in May. Information on how to nominate a person or club for these awards is available at on the Dayton Hamvention Web site. Take this opportunity to recognize a special individual or club for their efforts on behalf of Amateur Radio.

The ARRL Second Homebrew Challenge -- And the Winners Are...
We had a good response to the Second ARRL Homebrew Challenge -- here's a quick summary.

Radio Club de Chile Lists Emergency Frequencies, E-mail Address
Radio Club de Chile (RCCH) President Dr Galdino Besomi, CE3PG, reports that the situation in Chile is “very complex” as the country suffers aftershocks registering 6.0 or higher after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Chile on February 27. “Red Chilena Nor Austral de Servicio (RECNA) and RCCH networks are working in coordination whit the Army of Chile, handling information about people localization, condition of roads and support for the emergency administration,” IARU Region 2 (Area G) Emergency Coordinator Jorge Sierra, LU1AS, told he ARRL. He has asked the amateur community to keep the following frequencies free from non-essential, emergency traffic: 14.200, 7.050, 7.095 and 3.738 MHz. “Other frequencies could be in use, especially on 40 meters. Before using any frequency it is very important to make sure it’s free,” he advised. The RCCH has set up an e-mail address where people can request information concerning people affected by the earthquakes.

News

Recent Changes

One major thing that has happened in the past month that some of you may or may not be aware of is, our fearless leader and president and finally retired at Emergency Management Coordinator for Johnson County after 5 years of service. When he started this job five years ago, the department wasn’t much to speak of; He has brought it a long ways in those five years. Now it is a department that does a lot. The EMC is responsible for running the City Readiness Initiative program that some of you have helped on, acting as liaison between the county and state officials and our Skywarn team. It works with all the agencies in Johnson County (Law Enforcement, Fire, volunteer, etc) and many other things.

As Gerald steps down from that responsibility to hopefully take a little more time to enjoy life and complete the many projects that he has started over the past few years that he has yet to finish, someone else steps in to take his place. This person I hope will be able to reflect good on the relationships that Gerald has already built and be able to take what the EOC department is now and run with it. Who is it that is taking over as EMC, you ask? Well as much as I would love to say that it is me, I can’t. I applied for it, but it was given to a guy out of Crowley. He will be starting after the 17th. Unfortunately, this means that all the things that our president has worked so hard on over the past five years for the amateur radio community might end up being for naught. As we come to the beginning of our storm season just a few weeks away, we are forced to take down our APRS network. The biggest lose is that all the trackers that we had are going to be sitting now collecting dust until such a time that the new EMC learns enough to know what they are and puts them to use again. The other thing that we are loosing though is the digipeater at the EOC. As it stands right now, we don’t have a digipeater that is up in the county, so the only APRS coverage that we have is up in the northern part of the county where those digipeaters in Ft Worth cover and in the extreme eastern part where the Waxahachie digipeater covers.

K5CLM on February 07 2010 01:26:37 ·

Club Update...

Howdy everybody! I know that it has been a while since I posted something on our website as far as how things are going. For that, Im sorry, Im falling down on the job, shame on me. Ill try and do better, I promise...:)

We just had the Keene 4th of July parade this last weekend. I think it went over well. The time of day was changed to evening time so that there could be a fireworks display a short while afterwards. We will be doing a debriefing on it at the club meeting at the meeting on the 19th.

The 2 meter repeater is up and running as it says in my last update, however, we still haven't got the antenna changed, but hopefully we can rectify that here in the near future.

I have joined a yahoo group for ham radio club leadership in the NTX ARRL Region and have been networking with other club leaders in the area and have been checking out other club websites to see if there is anything that other clubs do, that we can use to help grow our club again. I hope to have a nice discussion about it at the next club meeting.

K5CLM on July 10 2009 02:02:24
0 Comments · 169 Reads ·

Repeater Update

As I said in my last article, we have the 440 machine back up in its permanent location and it seams to be doing good. We have had reports from north Ft. Worth, N Dallas with marginal signal strength and at hwy 377 and cherry lane in SW Ft. Worth and Hillsboro with good signal strength. That puts our effective good signal strength area at about 30 miles, which covers the entire county and then some. We are continuing to monitor it for any anomalies.

As far as the 2 meter repeater goes, we have finally found one that will work. After a lengthy search and about $1800 we have located and ordered a brand new Motorola Digital/Analog repeater. It was ordered early last week, 07/14 - 07/15, and should be in by the first part of next month. We are hoping that it will have an even better range than the 440 machine does.

K5CLM on July 22 2008 20:07:07
0 Comments · 2119 Reads ·