Tech Classes Nov ‘09 at AMRE
The following is the text of an email I sent to ARRL-VEs and past instructors for the Technician License classes in Whatcom County.
Hello VE’s and Instructors!
This morning N7BA, AE6K and I met with representatives of the American Museum of Radio & Electricity in Bellingham to work out the details of their offer to host classes and exams for new Technician Licensees. The following is a summary of our plans.
+The classes will be the same format as we have done in the past- Two consecutive Saturdays of question drill PowerPoint presentation followed by the ARRL-VE exam immediately on the second Saturday (at 3 pm).
+Instructors will be local volunteers from the Amateur community (usual folks and/or new folks- join the fun!)
+Registration and payment for the class/books will be handled by the Museum staff. Payment for the exam will be handled by the Exam Coordinator (probably me but the job is yours if you ask nice 
The exams will be open to all (not just the Tech students).
+The cost will be $30 for the class and book (W5YI as we have used in the past). No separate museum admission or membership is required to take the class. The exam fee is $15 as dictated by the FCC/ARRL. Books are available in the Museum library if the student can’t afford the cost.
The first of hopefully many regularly scheduled class/exams will be 9am-3pm NOVEMBER 14 & 21 with the exam time at 3PM on the 21st. You may register in person, by email, or by telephone with Anne at the AMRE 360-738-3886 Anne@AMRE.US
WHY are we doing this???????????????
1) We all love to teach and share our enthusiasm for the Amateur Radio hobby but dealing with payments and book orders is a CHORE. I am happy to pass that off to the folks at the AMRE.
2) The Museum will have books in stock so interested parties can stop by and buy one any time.
3) The American Museum of Radio and Electricity is an amazing resource that we are lucky to have in Bellingham. A relationship between the Amateur Radio community and the museum is really a “no-brainer” that can only benefit both groups. We are looking forward to more joint activities.
4) The facility has lots of room and will give us the ability to physically separate the exam graders from the examinees. People who completed the exam will have a lot of neat stuff to look at instead of hanging around (and distracting) the remaining examinees.
5) There is a complete working HF station, VHF/UHF station, and more visual aids and doo-dads than you could possibly haul to any other class location.
6) Lunch options have always been miles away from our other class sites- there are several choices within a block of the museum.
- The only negative I can think of might be the parking. The meters are NOT used on Saturdays so parking is free, but spaces might be limited- I don’t know how busy it is on Saturday before 9 am so I hope it won’t be too troublesome.
We are limiting the class to 25 participants to make sure we are not overwhelmed. I am sure we will fill that number and be in need of every VE that can attend on Nov. 21st so please mark your calendar now and come down to the Museum at about 1430 on that date.
Thank you for your help and 73,
Brian / KNØN
N3QQ Trip Notes
by Yuri Sushkin, N3QQ
Our 35' Vessel "Julia Anne"
My passion is travel to remote places + radio = DXpeditions.
It takes good amount of planning, but sometimes all stars just “align right”.
This year our trip started on June 7th, when me and Johnny KE7V met Yuri Zaruba UA9OBA at Sea-Tac airport and flown to Adak, Alaska. 2938 nautical miles from Seattle.
Upon arrival in Adak we learned our planned vessel is out of commission and shipment with most of equipment/supplies will not arrive till June 11th.
Adak is ex military base with housing and infrastructure for > 4000 families now occupied by ~50 people. Scary town at night. Local only bar’s name is “COLD ROCK CAFE”.
Johnny KE7V - Bad WX!
But people extremely nice and on a minute’s notice we found new vessel and missing equipment.
It was much more risky: 35′ vs 100′ vessel, 100 nautical miles West on the border of Pacific Ocean/ Bering Sea (so called birthplace of weather).
We just couldn’t wait for another week for mechanic to fly in from Anchorage, try to fix bigger boat.
Missing foods from shipment has been purchased at local store in Adak. For about $120 “Seattle prices” foods our total was $537. Milk is $18/gallon. Still do not know what we paid for potatoes, may be $10/lb, unknown.
Good WX Ops
Weather was great and we made 12 hour journey to Ogliuga island from Adak June 9th.
First few days we even got sun burns! Yuri’s Zaruba girlfriend may have questions, where he actually been in Alaska or Mexico? Hi Hi
During this break we saw Gareloi volcano which is located 10 miles North from us, made few pictures, now they added to historical file for Gareloi and published on Alaska Volcano Observatory website:
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/volcimage.php?volcname=Gareloi
Yuri UA9OBA
Our camp was located right on the beach, tent was protected ~180 degrees from wind.
Then real Aleutian’s weather kicked in with strong winds and 24 hours/day rain. Our radio operating position was outside of tent, just a tarp on top protecting equipment/operator from elements.
Ogliuga island during WW2 was an emergency airfield, we walked to “cabins” on the map, only parts of foundations now remain. Right next to our landing spot we almost stepped on a live mortar. Location is marked and US Corps Of Engineers will take care of it coming August.
Speaking of radio, HF propagation was excellent, total about 6200 contacts during week long expedition. We even had an opening on 6 meters and worked about 50 Japan stations.
Yuri N3QQ Metal Detecting - WW2 Mortar
Pile-ups has been enormous. Most disciplined stations and pleasure to work with are from US and Japan. Let’s point a finger, Italians even took me off the chair, I had to say “Tea break, 73″ and take headphones off for 20-30 minutes. They where still calling when I came back!
Our return boat was rescheduled several times because of bad weather. We had no direct contact with Adak and asked Dick N7RO over HF radio to call Captain’s friend. Captain does not have a phone, he does not need it in Adak!
Our “stockpiles” of food/water have been exhausted, no sugar or butter for few days, water ended ~24 hours upon vessel’s arrival. Vodka? We had one bottle for whole expedition which was gone in ~15 minutes after landing.
On a positive note, our team worked as a team for one goal, maximum possible contacts, to give opportunity to everyone contact this new-one IOTA island NA-233. No one knows when next DXpedition will go to NA-233, and we worked very hard for each and every weak call, unless it is received in full, no other contacts has been made.
How Sudden Valley may have any connections to Adak?
L to R UA9OBA, Capt. Ridgley, N3QQ, KE7V @ Adak Airport
I was surprised, In Valley Market, someone saw Yuri Zaruba’s hat with Aleutean Islands/Akaska, it was a descendant of Shelikhov, (big name from Russian American Company times ~1780s or so), we had a nice chat and he lives here in Sudden Valley.
Also my younger son’s friend Christina’s babysitter Barb was raised in Adak!
Please visit for pictures and more details www.na-233.ucoz.com
If you remember Sierra On-line games, founder of this company, Ken Williams and team just arrived in Adak today. They have a “wrong way guys” A.K.A. officially “Great Siberian Sushi Run” on 3 pleasure boats from Seattle to Japan.
Here is a link to his blog:
http://www.kensblog.com/aspx/blob2/blobpage.aspx?msgid=463430&beid=31996
73,
Yuri Sushkin
N3QQ
WC7SO Ratflector QRV
One of the aspects of the D-RATS communications program that makes it so versatile is the ability to use it over any form of TCP/IP (computer) connection as well as DSTAR radio. Tonight I installed the D-RATS package on the WC7SO Gateway machine and will be leaving it running to allow anyone who wants to try D-RATS “off air” to do so. D-RATS DOES NOT REQUIRE A RADIO. Not a D-Star radio, or ANY radio. The software is free, and will run on about any PC, Apple, or Linux box.
Step 1: Go to http://d-rats.com/download/beta/ and install the NEWEST version of the software. The EXE file is easiest to install on Windows.
Step 2: Run the D-Rats program that will be in the /program files/d-rats directory and select FILE / PREFERENCES.
Step 3: Go ahead and fill your name, call, QTH info on the open screen, then click RADIO in the left sidebar. This is where you set up D-RATS connections to the outside world via serial port to a radio, or Internet connection
Step 4: If you have a DSTAR radio and cable you can enter the serial port info here by pressing ADD. The Internet connection is special. Click ADD and a small window will open with COM1 highlighted. TYPE RIGHT OVER THIS THE FOLLOWING-
net:wc7so.ham-radio-op.net:9000
(You can even copy and paste from here if you like) Leave the baud at 9600 and give it a name of your choice “WC7SO-Wire” or similar
Step 5: Be sure the ENABLED box is checked, and SAVE the window.
That is it. You are connected to the WC7SO “Rat-flector” (D-RATS reflector). The WC7SO computer will act exactly like a DSTAR RF repeater, but it is not going out over the air. I might in the future activate an RF connection allowing Internet users to link to radio users; kind of like a “DV-Dongle for data”.
It’s going to be kind of lonely on the Ratflector unless someone else is connected at the same time, so have some one else install D-RATS and communicate with you. Set up a sked. The address will work from anywhere in the world that there is Internet. Please limit access to licensed Amateurs in case we link this to RF in the future when a license will be required (Technician or above).
http://www.d-rats.com/wiki/is the main page for D-RATS info. Dan (the programmer) prefers writing code to writing manuals, so look at exploring the software as an adventure
Weather Report for Winter ‘08
Roy, KC7IJH and I attended the annual Winter Storm/Flood Control meeting this morning in Everson, WA on behalf of Whatcom County RACES. Some of the info relayed at the meeting included the following points:
- Puget Sound Energy will be providing a near real-time map of outage areas on their website at PSE.COM – It is in beta test now and no time was given for regular operation. PSE reps talked about their approach to dealing with outages and their command and response structure.
- Bob Jacobson, retired from the National Weather Service and now Whatcom County CERT coordinator at DEM provided some info from NOAA/NWS:
- Severe weather events will now be announced on the EAS (Emergency Alert System) and utilize the K7PP repeater system on 147.20 MHz
- New products from the NWS include FLARE, a desktop/kiosk type all-in-one display of weather data for a specific area; and NWS Mobile, a forecasting and conditions product for web-able cellphones and small display devices.
The most important information conveyed, is the long range forecast for the fall/winter months in Northwest Washington. We are now in a transitional phase between the El Nino and La Nina effects. Percipitation is expected to be “normal” and temperatures slightly warmer than normal. This combination can lead to snow-melt and flooding. Bob said that most severe flooding events historically occurred during these transitional periods that we are expecting this season. Be prepared.
-KNØN
SET 2008
The SET (Simulated Emergency Test) drill sponsored by the ARRL was held in Whatcom County and most of Western Washington on Saturday October 4 from 1000 local to about 1245. My sincere thanks go to my crew at the SAR Radio Room:
KC7UHN – VHF/UHF net control
WA7OGC – VHF/UHF Traffic/messaging
KC5DTU – HF Net and Traffic/Relay
W7CDC – Logging
KNØN – VHF Winlink system Traffic/Messaging
Also thank you KC7GX and WA7ZWG who manned the W7SJH station at the Hospital, and W7RE who organized the drill and compiled the reports.
We had record participation this year, with 68 staff and check-ins…. That is fantastic! Additional thanks to everyone who checked in, including the crew at Sudden Valley ARC who operated a simplex net in support of the county. W7RE reports that the final score for Whatcom County was 480.
-KNØN
Chuginadak Island Wrap-up
Yuri Sushkin, N3QQ of Sudden Valley has returned from his DXpedition to the Aleutian Isles. Below is a link to a well produced video about their trip. The web site for further information about the operation is http://www.na-234.com/
Events- Technician Classes 900-1600When: Sat Nov 14, 2009 9am to Sat Nov 14, 2009 4pm PST Where: Bellingham Museum of Radio Event Status: confirmed
- Digital Group Meeting 7pm-8:45pmWhen: Tue Nov 17, 2009 Event Status: confirmed
- Blaine ACS 7pm-8pmWhen: Wed Nov 18, 2009 Event Status: confirmed
- Sudden Valley ARC at SV FirehallWhen: Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:30pm to 8pm PST Where: SV Firehall Event Status: confirmed
- Technician Classes 900-1600
