The RAGNAR relay is a foot race that will start in Blaine at 8 am on the 26th and will wind south through Whatcom County during the day. WC RACES will be providing communications at checkpoints along the route and several more volunteers are needed. Please contact KC7UHN or KC7GX to sign up. Blaine ACS is covering the start and north checkpoints. The race continues through Skagit and Island Counties. Comms will probably be on Mt Constitution 2 meter repeater.
Yuri Shushkin N3QQ of Bellingham, member of the Sudden Valley ARC, will jointhree other Amateurs on a DXpedition to Chuginadak Island (KL7) from July 21 to July 27. Their website includes details on their trip and planned operations. Good luck Yuri!
The Mount Baker ARC operated Field Day 2008 at Berthusen Park northwest of Lynden, WA this year. The group operated as class 3A with a CW Station, SSB, and Digital positions. AC7UM also set-up and manned a V/UHF satellite station. An estimated 40 club members participated in the event over the three days of June 27 - June 29 from set-up to tear-down. Pictured at right is Mert, AC7KY operating in PSK-31 mode at the MBARC Digital Group tent.
The SSB and Digital operators were hearing a lot of stations but had difficulty being heard. Perhaps our antennas were not performing up to snuff. Everyone struggled with the 90 degree heat on Saturday and during tear-down on Sunday.
Despite the heat and the mosquitoes at dusk, I think every one had a good time. We learned a bit more about the radio and antenna gear, and that the big generator does not have an alternator and has to have a battery charger applied to avoid conking out at 0600. There were many non-ham visitors during the event- I would estimate 20 or more, many of whom were interesting in getting licensed.
As part of the planned activities, the Digital Group tested some CW decoding software to copy the Field Day Bulletin as sent by the ARRL. The Multi-PSK program proved very adept. KA0WFI made contacts on VHF Winlink2000 and on HF using Pactor 3. KN0N tried briefly to raise a QSO on D-Star simplex but got no returns.
The Mount Baker Amateur Radio Club will be participating in the ARRL “Field Day” exercise from Saturday June 28 at 11 am until Sunday June 29 at 11 am. Complete details, operator sign-up, and a map to Berthusen Park (Northwwest of Lynden) can be found on the MBARC site. We will be operating THREE stations for the duration of the event- Side-Band (Voice), CW (Morse code), and digital/misc modes. Members/non-members, visiting hams, and the general public are invited to observe and participate. Please see the MBARC site for sign up details if you want to reserve an operating mode/time. For liability reasons, ONLY MBARC members are allowed on site for set-up and tear-down.
Set-up will begin on site at 4 PM Friday June 27 for MBARC members only.
Operations will run for 24 hours starting at 11 AM Saturday June 28. The general public and visiting hams who are not club members are welcome to visit during this time. VIP tours will be given Saturday afternoon.
Break-down of the site will begin at 11 AM Sunday June 29 for MBARC members only.
Thank you W7RE for compiling all of the paper work and to all of the hams in Whatcom County that participated in the Simulated Emergency Test (SET) September 29. While “points don’t matter” in disaster exercises, it is one measure of the level of participation. Whatcom area amateurs should be proud of their contribution and performance. -KN0N
From Jim Pace’s email bulletin:
The 2007 SET results were posted in QST for July.Congratulations to the Western Washington ARES program, which finished in the top ten in the Nation.The various Counties participating finished as follows:
1.Pacific County
2.Whatcom County
3.Kitsap County
4.Thurston County
5.Clalam County
6.Lewis County
7.Island County
8.Grays Harbor County
9.San Jaun County
I’m sure that these and other Counties will ‘kick it up a notch ‘ for this coming SET.Let’s see if we can get into the top 5.
Many thanks to SEC Ken Dahl K7TAG, for his leadership in the 2007 SET.
Bob WA7ZWG is organizing the Amateur Radio volunteers for the 2008 Ski to Sea race on May 25, 2008. If you would like to participate and have not already done so, you need to contact him ASAP as the volunteer list has to be turned in shortly. Planned operations will be on VHF/UHF voice and VHF packet. There will be NO Amateur Radio ops for the Junior race on the 17th.
TO: ALL RADIO AMATEURS FROM: W7RRL - WORLD RADIO RELAY LEAGUE HQ DATE/TIME: MAY 14 2008 1600 UTC SUBJECT: CHINA DISASTER REFERENCE: MESSAGES BELOW
PLEASE PASS THIS BULLETIN TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS ASAP: Please do not use 14.270 MHz for the time being. It is being used for relief efforts in China.
——— Forwarded Message ———- A Magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Sichuan, China on Monday, May 12, 2008 at 06:28:04 UTC. Casualties and loss unknown up to now. According to Chinese Radio Sports Association, 14.270, 7.050 and 7.060 MHz are reserved for amateur radio emergency service in the rescue.
A group of radio amateurs is now transmitting from Wenchuan, the center of quake. Their signal is reported to be very weak. They tried to keep communication with BY8AA in Chengdu, seeking for all resources needed. During a contact finished a few minutes ago, they were asking for raincoats, water, tents, and outdoor living facilities. Please spread this message as far as you can and keep the frequencies clear for emergency use. Thank you.
The Friday Bellingham Herald ran a story about the disaster drill that will run from 8-5 this coming Tuesday May 6th. RACES participation will be coordinated on Mt Constitution UHF repeater; 444.050 t103.5
February is history and so is the MBARC 2008 QRP contest. For the newbies to ham radio, QRP means low power- generally considered to be 5 watts or less output. Be sure to look at the NWQRP blog for a rundown on the activities. Stan (N7OC) delivered a herculean effort this year and made over 300 QSO’s! I plan to take the trophy for lowest score- shouldn’t a low score be GOOD in a QRP contest? huh? The important thing is we had fun, and you can too. There is no need to wait until next February to get started in the low power sub-hobby, just dust off the Morse key, cut the power on your big rig, and start listening around 40 KC up from the bottom of the bands. CW (Morse code) operators are the most considerate and patient people in ham radio, and the QRP crowd are the cream of that crop.
Some places for more information on QRP and using Morse code:
http://www.fists.org/ This a large club that promotes the use of CW. I am a member but I personally disagree with their lamentation over the removal of the code requirement for Amateur Licensees.
http://www.skccgroup.com/ Very nice bunch of folks that promote the use of the “straight key” - i.e. not using electronic keyers. I usually use a keyer because it is a lot less fatiguing, but “brass pounding” is how it all started, and it’s good to stay in practice.
http://www.smallwonderlabs.com/ - Source of the venerable RockMite QRP kits that many of us have built. Very easy to build and inexpensive.
http://www.elecraft.com/ - The Cadillac (Lexus?) of QRP rigs. They are expensive but worth it. Very well written assembly manuals that harken to the good old days of Heathkit. I built/own the KX-1 wth 30 meter kit and auto tuner- a lot of radio in the space of a box of kitchen matches.
