July 2020 Virtual Monthly Meeting (Update) – Field Day, GRLevel3 and more

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This past Saturday, Cliff, N4CCB hosted the WCARES Virtual Monthly Meeting. The agenda was:

ARES Task Book – member progress update by Ed Hudgens (WB4RHQ)
Field Day recap by Cliff Batson (N4CCB)
GRLevel3 Presentation by Adam DeLand (W8IFG)
First Virtual Ham Shack Tour by Cliff Batson (N4CCB)

ARES Task Book & Field Day Recap: https://youtu.be/kdIGymaG0jg

Ed provided an update on the progress of members who are pursuing the ARES Task Book and Cliff and provided a recap of this year’s unique Field Day event that saw WCARES members participating while social distancing. The ARRL introduced waivers for this year allowing home stations (Class D) to work other home stations and to allow for aggregating individual scores as a “club score”.

Adam’s GRLevel3 presentation to WCARES: https://youtu.be/yoTVI9PhvUc

Adam, W8IFG gave a detailed presentation on GRLevel3 http://grlevelx.com/grlevel3_2/, with particular emphasis on expanded functionality using shapefiles and placefiles. Adam demonstrated various use cases like adding route and rest stop information to the map for a cycling event like Jack and Back and adding more detailed local street layers or feeds of dynamic information such as APRS beacons for weather spotters. Adam has another longer presentation and demonstration done last year for DCARES: https://youtu.be/knHRLZQ_N78 .

Virtual Ham Shack Tour by N4CCB: https://youtu.be/UqUdav1yp4Y

Cliff wrapped up the meeting with the first virtual shack tour, giving us a tour of his second floor radio shack. Cliff talked about his limited but effective HF antenna situation, his solutions for running coax from the shack and what gear he has set up on his radio desk. Cliff enjoys operating portable and likes using a simple wire antenna such as those from SOTABEAMS ( https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/antennas/ ). During the discussion Tim, AD4CJ recommended the https://www.sotamaps.org/extras HF Linked Dipole Antenna Designer tool.

Cliff also talked about his mag-mount VHF/UHF antenna on a filing cabinet and this led to some discussion of VHF/UHF antenna solutions, particularly those which can be used indoors or in antenna-restricted environments. Bob, AK4RO and Mark, KA4BKA both like the PVC or the rollup versions of Ed Fong WB6IQN’s antennas ( https://edsantennas.weebly.com/ ) while Paul, WD9IOK has some ingenious solutions for antennas in the attic of his house. As Paul pointed out, there is no wind load in your attic and he used 1 1/4″ or 1 1/2″ pipe threaded into a flange mounted on a 1×10 x 32″ board and anchored to the attic beams to make a small platform. And Tim mentioned the Ventenna solution from https://www.ventenna.com/ .

Ed will be doing the Virtual Shack tour next month with tours by other WCARES members to follow.

Some of Paul’s attic setup:

Ed, WB4RHQ presentation on Task Book, training and WCARES membership requirements

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Our EC, Ed Hudgens, WB4RHQ did a presentation on the Task Book, training and WCARES membership requirements during the June Virtual Monthly Meeting. You can find a copy of Ed’s presentation here:

https://wcares.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/WCARES-Task-Book-and-Training-Requirements.pdf

Cliff gave a detailed overview of the plans for Field Day – look for details in the WCARES Notes e-mails.

Maximize your signal reception – a presentation by Tim, AD4CJ

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Tim, AD4CJ talks about how to get the most out the sensitive receivers in most modern HF transceivers.

https://youtu.be/8cUUvxnGM4w

In this video, Tim covers:

  • how to fine tune
  • how to zero-beat phone and cw signals
  • automatic gain control (AGC)
  • the RF-gain control
  • pre-amps and attenuators
  • noise-reducer and noise-blanker circuits

Jeff, WB5WAJ presents the ARRL ARES Task Book

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From the ARRL Task Book introduction…

The Task Book is a working document that enable those ARES communicators electing to participate in the ARRL training plan, to track and document their training plan elements as they are completed toward the various levels of increasing proficiency.

As an ARES organization, WCARES will be using the Task Book for members who wish to advance their knowledge of emergency communications.

Jeff’s presentation has been added to the WCARES Youtube Channel – thanks Cliff, N4CCB:

https://youtu.be/ROomm5vKax0

To download the Task Book used by WCARES see the ARRL ARES Task Book – WCARES under

Join Us -> ARRL ARES Task Book – WCARES

 

WCARES Virtual Monthly Meeting April 2020

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WCARES held its first Virtual Monthly Meeting this morning via the ZOOM platform. There were 54 attendees!

Here is a link to a recording of the video: https://youtu.be/PXWY7x_6jnk

Contents:
0:05 Greeting

0:48 Announcements
– Every Tuesday morning on-the-air meetup
9am 6m: 50.125 MHz
10am 17m: 18.150 MHz
11am 800: 3.980 MHz
– This coming Monday night: 6m Alter-Net
– Mike Lee – SK (Obituary: https://williamsonsource.com/obituary-michael-joseph-lee/)
– 2019 ARRL CW Sweepstakes – N4FR 1st place Delta Division

2:50 Presentation by Ed Hudgens – How WCARES Assists the Williamson County EMA

10:04 Presentation by Laura Marler – The WCARES SKYWARN Net

38:08 Field Day 2020
Plans are up-in-the-air but we have several options…

WCARES holds a FD competition among its members
We work FD by remoting into the EOC radios
We work FD as normal, with members screened for health beforehand

Ed Hudgens will make a decision next month on how WCARES will conduct Field Day 2020

Stay Safe,
Cliff (N4CCB)

Canceled events and sources of information

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Updated Friday March 27, 2020

Canceled WCARES and related events

Due to concerns over the potential risk of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) infection spread by group gatherings, our EC, Ed Hudgens, WB4RHQ has made the decision to cancel the March 21st monthly meeting.

Self-isolation is currently considered a best-practice for reducing the risk of infection and may be key in slowing the virus so as not to overwhelm our medical infrastructure.

This may be a good time to stay in touch with each other using our local repeater system. If anyone becomes ill and needs groceries or other items dropped off at your doorstep, please reach out. We’re all in this together.

Please also note that the informal weekly Chew & Chat has been canceled until further notice and that the Hamvention Executive Committee has decided to cancel Hamvention for 2020.

Sources of information:

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has established the COVID-19 Unified Command Hub to streamline coordination across the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), Tennessee Department of Health and Tennessee Department of Military. This page provides information, maps and resources about the coronavirus response in Tennessee, symptoms and recommendations:

https://www.tn.gov/unifiedcommand.html

Williamson Co. COVID-19 Related Closures, Resources & Procedures:

https://www.williamsoncounty-tn.gov/1876/Covid-19-County-Closures-Procedures

Williamson Co. Office of Public Safety status:

http://www.williamsonready.org/266/Coronavirus-Disease

Tennessee Department of Health information related to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) can be found here:

https://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov.html

See the CDC for more information on the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19):

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/

and steps to prevent illness, to protect yourself and others:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention.html

How do antenna tuners work?

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Dave, KI4PSR gave the Technical talk at the February Monthly Meeting with the first in a series of presentations on antenna tuners.

In this first installment Dave covered the basics of antenna tuners and dispelled some myths (a tuner does not improve the radiation efficieny of the antenna.) An overview of reactance concepts, reactive matching and an introduction to L-network tuner configurations were next followed up with a brief demonstration.

Dave says this presentation was inspired by the work of Davide, IZ2UUF

https://www.iz2uuf.net/wp/index.php/2019/03/22/how-does-a-tuner-tune/

and provided a link to one of IZ2UUF’s youtube videos on tuner losses:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmVMQbXmaHA .

Dave’s presentation is here:

https://wcares.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KI4PSR_HOW_DOES_AN_ANTENNA_TUNER_WORK.pdf

along with pictures of his demonstration setup:

Delta Division – a presentation by WCARES EC

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WCARES EC Ed Hudgens, WB4RHQ gave the ARES Presentation at February’s Monthly Meeting.

The Tennessee Section of the ARRL is one of 71 sections in the United States and is part of the Delta Division which also includes Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Ed gave an overview of the ARRL Divisions and Sections, the Delta Division and spoke about Division and Section nets, how the Sections coordinate during emergency events.

Ed announced a new division initiative to promote amateur radio through local libraries. Outreach to Williamson County libraries will include donations of ARRL book packages such as handbooks, license manuals and related materials and offers to host meetings about amateur radio and WCARES.

Ed’s Delta Division presentation includes more information (PDF)

Ed also talked about a recent presentation he gave at a meeting of the Cumberland Plateau Amateur Radio Club, CPARC. Dudley Pitts, KM4IYQ, past member of WCARES is now the CPARC club president. Ed spoke about WCARES and the Williamson Co. EMA, how the ARRL sees ARES evolving and some of the initiatives Ed has started during his tenure as WCARES Emergency Coordinator (EC).

Ed’s presentation to the CPARC meeting (PDF)

ARES – an introduction by WB5WAJ

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At the January Monthly Meeting, Jeff Standifer, WB5WAJ (WCARES EC Jan 2016 – Dec 2017) gave a presentation on ARES, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service and how it applies to WCARES.

Jeff’s presentation included an overview of ARES along with some discussion about how WCARES is organized and what training WCARES members should be completing.

Cliff, N4CCB recorded a video of the presentation. You can find this and a copy of the presentation at the links below:

Video of the presentation

Presentation PDF