From:
Clifford H. Brommer
[mailto:wd4pic@infionline.net]
The following
VE Test dates for the
Lincoln County
Volunteer Communications
Group RACES/ARES are
submitted for listing on
the ARRL Web Site. Our VE
examinations will be
administered at the
Lincoln County Rescue
Squad Life Saving
Crew Hall, 322 North
Academy Street ,
Lincolnton , NC 28092
, Telephone
704 735-3660.
Registration will begin
at 9:00 AM. My contact
information: Clifford H.
Brommer, WD4PIC, HP: 704
483-7291, Cell: 704
634-4004 and Email:
wd4pic@infionline.net.
TEST DATES
Saturday 13 February
2010
Saturday 29 May 2010
Saturday 14 August 2010
Saturday 9 October 2010
Thanks as always for
your continued
outstanding service and
best regards.
73 Cliff Brommer
Lincoln County EC and VE
Liaison
12/23/09
Look's like that I missed this addition.
New EC of Burke County.
Coleman Earwood KJ4HEO of Morganton.
Third Saturday of each month/except for hamfest days) –
Alternating between Gaston and Cleveland County
February 20th foxhunt will be in Cleveland County.
We will meet for breakfast at
Mountain View Restaurant in Kings Mountain, NC on
Business 74 (100 W. King Street) at 8:30am.
The fox will transmit on 146.535 and the hunters will use
146.880 to communicate with each other. The fox will begin
transmitting at 10am.
2010
Charlotte Hamfest
March 13 - 14, 2010
Saturday - 8:30AM to 5:00PM
Sunday - 9:00AM to 1:00PM
Tickets at the door $10.00
Advance Tickets $7.00
Order Now
Go take a look at what is
going on with this
New Site.
1/26/10
Amateur Radio Operators are invited
to learnhow
to employ Depiction before and during emergencies to
enhance their planning and response capabilities. David
Friedman, KE7GOY, an Amateur Radio Operator and emergency
response volunteer, and retired Navy Captain Kim Buike of
Depiction, Inc., will demonstrate how Friedman used
Depiction to coordinate rescue operations during 2008
winter floods in the Seattle area,
as described in the November 2009 edition of QST magazine.
They will also show how Amateur Radio Operators can use the
latest version of the software to do the same.
1/27/10
Hello all,
I
just received a phone call from a person identifying themselves
as with "Consumer Rewards" telling me my phone number had been
selected to receive $400.00 in
Wal-Mart
gift cards. He assured me there was no catch, all I had to do
was pay $3.95 Shipping and Handling. Of course then he wanted
my credit or debit card number. He already had my name,
address, and phone number.
This is obviously a scam. DO NOT GIVE OUT ANY FINANCIAL
INFORMATION TO ANYONE CALLING YOU WITH SUCH OFFERS. Remember,
if it seems too good to be true it probably is.
This is for real, it just happened to me. Pass this
along to let others know that this scam is out there.
Peace and 73
Adam WK4P
1/21/10
NEW NC SECTION MANAGER
ELECTED
My four years as your ARRL Section Manager have been the most
rewarding experience of my 33 years in Amateur Radio. But
expanding work responsibilities and a couple of over-active kids
make it hard for me to devote enough time to the important work
we've doing in the North Carolina section. But the section will
be in good hands when my term expires. On December 10, Bill
Morine, N2COP, our current Section Public Information
Coordinator was declared the next NC Section Manager, running
unopposed in the election. Bill's term begins
April 1.
Bill was first licensed in 1970 as WN1NOP and got his General
and his current call of N2COP in 1981 while living in New
Jersey. Bill became an Extra in 2001. Bill is a life member of
ARRL and QCWA. He and XYL Pam have two sons: Reid, W4RSM, and
Grant, W4GHM, who was named Young Ham Of The Year in 2007. Bill
became an ARRL Public Information Officer (PIO) in 2000, was
named section Public Information Coordinator (PIC) in 2004, and
became a member of ARRL's national Public Relations Committee in
2005. Bill has served as chairman of the national PR committee
since 2008. He is an Assistant EC in New Hanover County
(Wilmington) and is also an ARRL and W4VEC Volunteer Examiner.
Bill has worked extensively with Boy Scouts, and served on the
staff of K2BSA at the 2001 and 2005 National Jamborees. He has
helped over 1,800 Boy Scouts earn the Radio Merit badge, and has
helped over 300 Scouts and Scout leaders nationally and in North
Carolina get licensed. He served as the first chairman of CARES,
the Carolinas Amateur Radio Emergency Services, from 2001 to
2006, implementing a 220 MHz network in southeastern North
Carolina dedicated to public health traffic in disasters. Since
2008, he has served as head of communications for the Beach 2
Battleship triathlon, the only full iron distance (140.6 miles
over 17 hours) triathlon in the Roanoke Division. Bill and his
wife run an independent financial planning practice in
Wilmington.
The North Carolina Section is fortunate to have so many
strong leaders like Bill and I know you will join me in
supporting him as he assumes his new and challenging
responsibilities.
WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, CW WORKS!
Running our section SSB nets has been a big challenge since
we returned to standard time. The band frequently goes long soon
after sunset and while Midwest stations boom in, it's hard to
hear others in North Carolina. There have been several Tarheel
nets with NO check-ins because of poor band conditions. So I've
been occasionally checking into our section CW nets to get my
"net fix" and polish my rusty fist. I've been amazed at how
often I've listened to a struggling SSB net only to move to the
CW frequencies to find a full net with perfectly readable
stations from all over the state. It's a reminder of the
effectiveness of CW even in poor conditions.
Joel Hallas, W1ZR, wrote an interesting article about CW for
the May, 2007 QST. According to Joel, CW has major advantages
over voice and other modes. CW has much lower bandwidth than SSB.
How well we can receive a signal is specified by its signal to
noise ratio (SNR). If we change our receive filter from 2.5kHz
for voice to 250Hz for CW we reduce the received noise power by
a factor of 10. That's equivalent to 2 S-units improvement in
SNR. To gain the same SNR improvement with SSB we would need to
increase the transmit power from 100w to 1000w! With a higher
SNR for CW, it's much easier to detect a weak CW signal than a
weak voice signal. A good CW operator can copy code at or below
the noise level. To copy voice it takes a minimum of 3-5 dB SNR.
Because of the narrower bandwidth, five or more CW stations can
fit into the space one SSB signal can fit. But what's this all
mean? It means your CW signal can usually get through when your
voice signal cannot. Your 100w CW transmitter can get to places
that your neighbor's 2000w voice transmitter can't!
So try one of our CW nets some night when you're struggling
to copy the net control for an SSB net. A great place to start
is with the Carolina Slow Net, which meets nightly at 8pm on
3.571MHz. Helpful info on the net can be found at
http://bellsouthpwp2.net/r/g/rg_burns/index.htm.
Status: Not activated. THEN
is currently on regular schedule at 7:30
pm tonight on winter frequency of
1.943 MHz.
Breaking News: Check back
often for updates.
News Updates:November
15, 2009
Tar Heel Emergency Net winter
shift to to 160 m. Band conditions
at our home frequency of 3.923 have
deteriorated through the Fall,
especially with the time change. So, Tar
Heel Emergency Net will make a seasonal
shift to 160m band for the regular
evening Net, beginning November 8. Same
time, different frequency.
The
160m is a quite band, and there is
plenty of room - so if we find the
frequency in use, start at 1.943, then
move up by 10 kHz increments - 1.953,
1.963, 1.973, 1.983,
1.993. Please stay with us as we
try to find a frequency that will allow
us to stay on the air. Watch this page
for updates on the frequency plans.
If you do not have a
160m antenna, then go ahead and put one
up. Or maybe you can tune that 80m G5RV
to transmit. Or drop some verticals from
each end of your 80m dipole. Tune a
random wire. Be creative - there are
many cheap, easy antenna designs that
can be fun to experiment. Treat this as
a drill - what would you do if your
regular antenna was damaged by high
winds?
Special thanks to
those who served as Net Control Station
last month!
K4BNP, WA4MOK, W9EF, KD4IMA, K8SKX,
N4IB, KG4OPM, W4YBQ, KG4GPJ
Remember, we are always
looking for volunteers to serve as Net
Control station. So step up and gain
some valuable experience.
NC Radio Emergency
Service email" <ncares-admin@rtpnet.org>
-As I mentioned on the ARES
net last night, the old
Levels 2 and 3 of the ARECC
EmComm series are being
replaced. I received an
update thru my association
as an ARRL
Instructor/Mentor. Below is
more info, including the new
FEMA courses. If you're
interested, here are the
courses, as you may have
some free time during the
upcoming holidays. Have fun
with a whole new boatload of
FEMA classes.
Bob K4RLC
"As we have said previously,
the former Level 2 and Level
3 Emergency Communications
courses are being updated
and combined into one new
course. The new course will
focus on emergency
communications training for
leaders and managers. The
title of the new course is
Public Service and
Emergency Communications
Management for Radio
Amateurs. We anticipate
launching this new course in
January 2010.
Requirements for Course
Completion:
The new course requires that
the student has previously
completed the Level 1/Basic
course, certain FEMA courses
and has some experience with
Amateur Radio and emergency
communications. Those who
desire to receive a
course completion
certificate for this
new course (which we refer
to in shorthand as “Advanced
EmComm”) will first need to
document that they have
satisfied a list of
prerequisites.
The course prerequisites to
be verified include:
An Amateur Radio license,
Completion of ARRL’s Level
1/Basic course, and
Completion of FEMA courses
that are background for this
course.
FEMA prerequisites:
ICS-100 (basic ICS)
ICS-200 (supervisory)
ICS (NIMS)-700
ICS-300, a classroom course,
is also highly recommended,
but not required
Candidates for the course
completion certificate will
also be required to document
completion of additional
FEMA courses that are
integrated into the Advanced
EmComm course curriculum.
These include:
+ Three Killed While Erecting Antenna
At
approximately 8:40 PM on October 12, a man, woman
and their 15 year old son were killed while trying
to erect a 50 foot vertical antenna at the home of
the man's mother, Barbara Tenn, KJ4KFF, in Palm Bay,
Florida. The deceased were not licensed amateurs.
According to police reports, Melville Braham, 55,
Anna Braham, 49, and their 15 year old son Anthony
were putting up an antenna -- Tenn's second -- at
night when they lost control of the antenna and it
crashed into nearby overhead power lines. The impact
sent 13,000 volts of electricity through the pole
that the three were holding. A family friend, a 17
year old boy, was on the roof at the time of the
accident. He and the couple's daughter, who was in
the house at the time, were not injured. Click
here for more information.
I just wanted to drop a quick line to the clubs in North
Carolina to let them know about a couple of things that are
going on with us at The SERA Repeater Journal.
FIRST--- we’re excited to have Tom Forrest,
N4GVK, aboard as our new North Carolina columnist.
Tom is in Greensboro, but has also lived in the eastern part of
the state. I’ve attached his intro from the August issue, in
case you missed it. He’ll start his regular column with the
November 2009 issue…..in the meanwhile, please send any
newsletters, press clippings, or quick news items to him at
<n4gvk@sera.org> or 4994 Heritage Woods Dr; Greensboro, NC
27407.
THE OTHER item is our upcoming February Hamfest Round-Up. The
quick news here is…..to get in on this, you MUST have sent a
hamfest announcement to the
Repeater Journal’s HAMFEST EDITOR at
<hamfest@sera.org>. While it’s very nice to hear from you,
if you sent notice to me at
<editor@sera.org> or some other way, that will not get you
on the list---- when you send hamfest material to me (including
advertising!), it gets mixed in with literally tons of other
stuff; if I took the time to sift through and find all the
hamfest stuff, I wouldn’t have time to do the Round-Up: it’s
that simple. If you’d like, there is a simple facility to submit
hamfest info at <www.RepeaterJournal.org/hamfest>
. DO NOT ASSUME THAT WE HAVE YOUR HAMFEST E-MAIL ADDRESS SIMPLY
BECAUSE WE HAVE YOUR HAMFEST LISTED IN THE HAMFEST CALENDAR!!!
Also, while you’re there, download and start filling out the
Round-Up worksheet---- we’ll be taking the info on-line only
this year between November 15 and December 15.
Well, that’s it for now.
73,
Tom Gallagher, N4IOZ
Editor, The SERA Repeater Journal
Have
you been to the Doctor lately? You or one of the family
may have the "Nack"..
Play this.
The packet node in Albemarle is now a KA-Node using a
KPC-9612 vhf port only. The call used to link to is K4OGB-7 and
the digi call is ALB. The radio is an IC-281H
running 50 watts. No change in the antenna. K4OGB mailbox is
still at the courthouse and can be linked to from K4OGB-7.
Please let me know how you are receiving the node if you hear it
direct. Let others in your county know of this change.
Thanks and 73.
Carl W4EAT
Sysop K4OGB-7
6/3/09
MAY NC SECTION NEWS
TARHEEL NET WEB PAGE
Tarheel Net Manager Mark Cantrell, KD4IMA, and our web
manager Susan Langley-Jone, WA4AKB have created a new web page
for the Tarheel Emergency Net.
The page has important information about our state ARES net,
which is held nightly at 7:30pm local time on 3.923MHz.
Check-ins are always welcome and Mark is also looking for help
from folks willing to help as a regular or backup net control
operator. Contact Mark at kd4ima@arrl.net.
KB4C AWARD NOMINATIONS SOUGHT - Tommy Queen, K4BNP, Area 14
DEC
We are seeking nominations for the 2009 KB4C Award. The award
is named in honor of Miriam Smith, KB4C, who became a silent key
in July 1995. Miriam was well known in western North Carolina
for her strong commitment to emergency and public service
communications. She held an extra class license, received the
A-1 Operators Award and was ARES Emergency Coordinator/RACES
Radio officer for Buncombe County in the 1970's. Miriam was
responsible for the earliest draft of the Buncombe County
Emergency Response Plan. She was someone willing to do whatever
was asked to help our community. The award will be selected from
nominations submitted from anyone in Areas 14 and 15 (the
western North Carolina counties, old area F). The selection will
be named by a panel appointed by the area 14 DEC. The criteria
for this recognition include active, licensed radio amateurs
within area 14 or 15 who have demonstrated a long term
commitment to emergency and public service communications
through ARES/RACES. The recipient does not have to belong to any
specific group. They must simply demonstrate an active
commitment to the job we are asked to do. The award will be
presented at the WCARS Hamfest on July 25th, 2009. Please submit
your nominations for this award in writing to k4bnp@aol.com.
Nominations must be received no later than July 1, 2009.
New Area-13 Website
Hi Area 13 EC's
Hi
everyone, I threw together a website for Area 13. Let me
know if you'd like to see something on it or see something
different. It has a link to the Monthly Report.
If you don't like the way Anderson Power Poles pull apart SO
easily, here are some solutions BESIDES tying the wires in a
sqare knot...
PowerWerx
sells a plastic retention clip that goes into the holes where
the roll pin was originally intended to go. No good if you have
filled that hole with glue, as I have...
"Retention Clips for PP15/30/45 Powerpole Connectors, Bag of
five."
<http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson%2Dpowerpoles%2Daccessories/individual%2Dhousings%2Dcontacts%2Droll%2Dpins/>
if that URL is too long, go to powerwerx.com (the home page) and
click on the "Individual Housings, Contacts & Roll Pins" text.
There is another brand of connector to use, that still is
compatible:
This note is from Eric, N3EF, swiped off of the Elecraft
reflector discussion:
"Trouble with Power Pole connectors
for those of you that have an issue with the way Anderson's
"lock" together, you might want to give these a try. I get mine
from Mouser.
http://www.mouser.com/catalog/632/1186.PDF
I have been getting away from using Anderson Powerpole
connectors, and now
I am relying on Tyco Electronics - AMP Power Lock Connectors.
Essentially the same thing as Anderson PP, but much higher
quality. They will mate with the Anderson line so there is no
problem [with compatability] there. A lot of people have
complained at how easily the powerpoles come apart. I did some
testing and found that it takes about 3 lbs of force
to pull two powerpoles apart, while it takes 8 lbs for the AMP
connectors.
With an AMP mated to Anderson, it takes 6 lbs. With the AMP
connectors, it
takes considerably more force to mate them and there is a
distinct
snap/click sound when they go together. The pins are thicker and
they have
"wings" on them so they don't flop around in the housing like
the Anderson
ones do. Also, they don't require a roll pin to lock them
together. There is a little tab on the housing that locks one
half of the connector to the
other. They do cost more but your getting a higher quality
product in my
opinion. Anyway, for those of you that have an issue with the
way Anderson's "lock" together, you might want to give these a
try.