Dec 2020 Virtual Monthly Meeting: DMR, ARES in TN, Winter FD, POTA and Shack Tour!

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Our EC, Ed WB4RHQ reported we had a record 63 attendees for this, the final Virtual Monthly Meeting of 2020 and he wished all a happy and safe holiday season. Thanks to everyone who took the time to join in for a great set of presentations.

DMR in Williamson Co. – Hilton Dean, W4GHD

Williamson Co. will be adding 2 DMR nodes on Tuesday, December 22, 2020:

  • Trinity site(*)
  • Century Court where the WCARES 444.025MHz hub is located

Thanks to Bill Jorgenson and the Office of Public Safety and also to Andrew Gossett, AK4FA who got the boards programmed. Look for upcoming e-mail with more details.
* The WC4EOC-9 UHF antenna will be used for the Trinity site DMR so WC4EOC-9 will be offline until another antenna can be added to this tower, likely in 2021.

Winter Field Day – Cliff Batson (N4CCB)

  • We are very fortunate that the Winter Field Day organizers will allow aggregation of scores like the ARRL did for Field Day in June. So everyone who includes the same group name will get their scores aggregated for a combined group score. You’ll need to decide how adventurous you want to be. Running off mains from inside your house with 100W on SSB and getting 100 QSOs would get you 200 points; running outside on batteries or a generator would get you 3200 points for those same QSOs. Something to think about! Cliff will have much more to say in the January meeting.

Presentations & Shack Tour!

The State of ARES in TN – Jim Snyder, AJ4NO, Tennessee Section Emergency Coordinator

https://youtu.be/ANNPMG9LBG0

Jim generously provided a copy of his presentation as well; you can read the PDF version here.

Parks On The Air – Tom Suggs N4MTE

https://youtu.be/brnt8Zpshto

and Tom generously provided a copy of his presentation so check this out as well:

Parks on the Air – WCARES Presentation by Tom, N4MTE

Virtual Shack Tour – Doug Miller (W4DML)

https://youtu.be/7edSXoYbwjQ

You can find videos of past meetings on the WCARES Media channel on Youtube .

Santa Net – Christmas Eve 2020

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Tony, KF4KFQ will be presenting the Santa Net again this year on Christmas Eve, December 24th at 7PM CST.

This year the Santa Net will be once again be soaring through the skies of
Middle Tennessee. Each year Tony, KF4KFQ, presents the “Santa Net”
bringing Santa across Middle Tennessee. Amateur radio operators will be
able to contact Santa during his rounds on the 146.415 simplex and
simulcast on 446.415 simplex.

For those heading out of the area or for our non-ham listeners, the Santa
Net will be simulcast on YouTube and on Zoom.

See the PDF linked below for all the details including frequencies, schedule, Youtube and Zoom links and login information.

PDF: https://wcares.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/KF4KFQ2020SantaNetInfo.pdf

Nov. 2020 Virtual Monthly Meeting: What’s in a bag, FT8 & FT4, Shack Tour!

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(RJ’s tour video has been updated.)

This month Kevin, KO4HPE has a presentation on planning and building an effective go-bag, Hilton, W4GHD gives a Technical Presentation on digital modes FT8 and FT4 and RJ, KC4LRR takes us on a tour of his radio shack and laboratory!

What’s in a bag: Preparedness
By Kevin Fitch (KO4HPE)

https://youtu.be/64WfO0iPGeQ

FT8 & FT4
By Hilton Dean (W4GHD)

https://youtu.be/RtQXbVEqcP0

RJ Virtual Shack Tour
By RJ (KC4LRR)

https://youtu.be/TLCaljEq2FQ

Update on Hamvention 2021

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From DX Engineering’s “Tuesdays with Tim and Jeff” an update on the status of Hamvention 2021:

https://youtu.be/SeqrR1WdXGw

From the Hamvention website:

We are looking forward to seeing all our friends at the 2021 Hamvention. Of course, 2020 has turned out to be the year of the COVID-19 pandemic and that has caused us to deal with new stresses and visitor concerns regarding Hamvention.

As we move forward toward the 2021 Hamvention, we are keeping our eye on government policy and ensuring good protection for our guests. As someone trained in Public Health, I am especially interested in making sure all our guests will be able to enjoy the Gathering at Hamvention without unnecessary risk to themselves.

Many things need to happen between now and May of 2021 for Hamvention to be a success. Some are in our control, and some are not. But all of us in the Hamvention Volunteer Corps are working full speed and at full throttle toward the success we hope Hamvention 2021 will be.

Rick Allnutt, MD, WS8G, 2021 Hamvention General Chair

Field Day 2020 Results are in!

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As you read in a recent WCARES Notes, our EC Ed Hudgens, WB4RHQ had exciting news:

“The results are in the Dec QST and WCARES wound up 5th in the country with 26.7K points. The winner, not that it was a contest, had over 45K. The others were slightly above us.”

The December QST ( http://www.arrl.org/qst ) should be in your hands now and includes a summary of the scores starting on page 69 (the digital edition of QST and the ARRL Field Day Page at http://field-day.arrl.org have the full listings.)

You can find a list of WCARES entries at http://field-day.arrl.org/fdentriesrcvd.php under

Williamson County (TN) ARES

Try Sort by Club Name to seem them grouped togther and be sure to check out the Soapbox section http://field-day.arrl.org/fdsoapbox.php to see comments and photographs from the day, including by our own Jeff, WB5WAJ!

Updated – Oct. 2020 Virtual Monthly Meeting – USGS Did You Feel It, Certificate Chasing, Shack tour

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Update: Jeff’s presentation PDF has been added (find the link below)

ARRL ARES Presentation

This month a presentation by Oliver Dully, K6OLI on the use of Winlink in the USGS Did You Feel It? earthquake reporting program. Oliver is the District Emergency Coordinator for the ARES LAX Northeast District. Our EC, Ed WB4RHQ is planning to schedule a WCARES DYFI exercise.

https://youtu.be/sENkcx-21Ik

The Oliver’s video links:
DYFI introduction:
https://youtu.be/VgLhWqZIxNQ
Hands-on training:
https://youtu.be/-uqL_z_fG2w

Certificate Chasing

Jeff, WB5WAJ gave a talk on Certificate Chasing which included examples of the kinds of certificate programs out there and how to take part.

https://youtu.be/R0OuPpwb2ec

and Jeff’s presentation is here:

Certificate_Chasing_Oct2020_WB5WAJ.pdf

Virtual Ham Shack Tour #4 – KA4OTB

Jack Cox takes us on a virtual tour of his impressive shack.

https://youtu.be/rfr81mk1gyI

Updated – Red Cross Winlink Drill – November 14

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Update – the folks who run the Florida Winlink Net have posted a FAQ answering questions like:

  • Solo or Team?
  • How many modes should I use?
  • What is the format of the tactical address to send to?
  • etc.

You can find this FAQ here:

https://johnsails.com/RADIO/w4akhnet/redcrossFAQ.pdf

From Mike Walters, W8ZY CT ARES SEC via W4WTN and AuxComm of TN.

There will be a Red Cross drill using Winlink on November 14th.

The purpose of this drill is to encourage more operators to learn about Winlink messaging and how to use the template for preformatted messages. The weekly practice has gone very well and more operators are participating.

The linked PDF below gives an overview of the drill and specific instructions on how to create and post the messages.

PDF: Drill_Instructions_IAP_-_11-14-2020.pdf

The drill is open to all operators and I encourage all ARES groups to offer this as a training exercise.

 

 

Sept. 2020 Virtual Monthly Meeting – TN Section Manager, Net Operations, Shack tour

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ARRL ARES Presentation

David Thomas (KM4NYI)

David is the ARRL Section Manager for Tennessee

He had to appear at the Severiville, TN hamfest today so he recorded this video for us to play at the meeting.

https://youtu.be/aoIShoprYOU

WCARES Weekly Net

Laura Marler (N4CLO)

Laura gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into calling the WCARES Monday night training net.

https://youtu.be/uYwskYfKaVY

Virtual Ham Shack Tour #3 – WB5WAJ

Jeff Standifer takes us on a virtual tour of his impressive shack.

https://youtu.be/vsS1Om1WvWM

Dickson Co. offering General licensing classes in October

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Dickson Co. Amateur Radio Club will be offering General licensing classes in person and via Zoom in October.

From Suzanne Bennett, N4JSB

“I am secretary of the Dickson County Amateur Radio Club & wanted to share some info if you have any members interested. We will be having a free General licensing class October 3, 10 & 17th. We will have the class in person with a virtual (Zoom) option for any interested. The class will run 9 AM – 5 PM the 3rd & 10th & 9 AM until complete on the 17th ( earlier than 5). It will be held at the Dickson County Emergency Operations Center at 284 Cowan Road, Dickson. We will be using the Gordon West book. Any one attending will need to purchase their own book and pre-study some before the class. A link to sign up is on the home page of our club website http://www.wc4dc.org/ and on our facebook page.”

Updated – Getting Started with Logbook of the World – LOTW

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Don’t know where to start with logging your contacts? Need help getting LOTW up and running?

The LOTW New User Guide written by Gary, ZL2iFB has reached version 1.0.

You can find more information about LOTW at the ARRL here:

http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world

A copy of the current version of Gary’s guide will be kept under the Library -> User Guides section of the WCARES website – here:

https://wcares.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/LoTW_New_User_Guide.pdf

and the definitive URL for the current English version is:

https://www.g4ifb.com/LoTW_New_User_Guide.pdf