The June 2021 WCARES Monthly Meeting was in-person at the EOC.
Cliff Batson (N4CCB) gave a presentation on the final plan for the WCARES Field Day 2021 event:
and Jack Cox (KA4OTB) gave a tour of the Auxiliary Communications room inside the Williamson County Public Safety Center:
Field Day initial discussion
With six weeks until Field Day 2021, it’s too soon to have a comprehensive presentation… but it’s not too early to begin making Field Day plans. This video gives viewers an overview of Field Day and presents a list of things to consider when planning their Field Day event. A more thorough presentation will be made during the June 2021 WCARES monthly meeting.
WSPR Experiment
In this video, Rob, KN4RHI experiments with WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter) with his HCLW-20* antenna.
*Highly Compromised Long Wire antenna is Rob’s tongue-in-cheek designation of this makeshift antenna located only 10′ off the ground.
Virtual Shack Tour
Paul, KM4PT takes us on a virtual tour of his ham shack and also shares his love of portable ops.
Presentations & Shack Tour!
ARES & Public Service: Father Raphael Ortiz (W4RAO), Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator for Eastern Tennessee, talked about the ARES response to the Puerto Rico deployment for Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Tech Topic: Krissy Hurley (Warning Coordination Meteorologist, NWS) gave a presentation on Identifying Severe Weather Features.
Virtual Shack Tour: Dave Matthews (KI4PSR)
Presentations & Shack Tour!
N0AX – Grounding and Bonding
Ward Silver (N0AX)
(Note that this is a link to his presentation on another channel… not the WCARES Media YouTube channel)
ARES and Public Service: Boston Marathon
Jeff Schwartz (KC1DWP)
Virtual Ham Shack Tour
Tim Kreth (AD4CJ)
This month RJ, KC4LRR has a presentation on Anderson Powerpoles, Andrew, AK4FA gives a Technical Presentation on DMR and Scott, KD4VVC takes us on a tour of his radio shack including a look at the tower, antenna switching, lightning protection and grounding!
Update: PDFs of RJ KC4LRR’s Powerpoles and Andrew, AK4FA’s DMR presentations have been added under:
Library & Special Interests --> Presentations
Videos
Anderson Powerpoles: RJ (KC4LRR)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbhEZSsD568
Digital Mobile Radio (DMR): Andrew Gossett (AK4FA)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zgms8Ko-pg
Virtual Shack Tour: Scott Gray (KD4VVC)
Winter Field Day 2021 is done! A number of people took part in the N3FJP setup that built the live stats web page. Here is the list of claimed scores – well done all!
| WCARES-TN Total Score = 18,857 | |||||
| Call | Score | QSOs | 20 Min | 60 Min | Frequency |
| AK4FA | 5,915 | 845 | 6 | 2 | |
| N4CCB | 4,810 | 245 | 30 | 28 | 7.03450 |
| WB5WAJ | 2,284 | 570 | 72 | 60 | |
| KA5WMF | 1,386 | 194 | 0 | 3 | 14.07800 |
| K4ARC | 832 | 208 | 3 | 9 | 7.18700 |
| KA4OTB | 792 | 183 | 9 | 17 | 3.75751 |
| WB4RHQ | 762 | 127 | 9 | 9 | |
| K4COM | 754 | 377 | 12 | 62 | |
| KN4RHI | 282 | 43 | 0 | 0 | |
| K8GNG | 240 | 40 | 0 | 4 | |
| KC1DWP | 189 | 63 | 3 | 7 | 14.29700 |
| KK4AIZ | 180 | 60 | 0 | 3 | 14.29570 |
| W4BJB | 174 | 58 | 9 | 8 | 7.21501 |
| N4YOU | 99 | 33 | 0 | 2 | 7.22300 |
| KM4SOA | 54 | 27 | 6 | 3 | 7.24350 |
| W4BAX | 44 | 44 | 3 | 9 | |
| KN4RHF | 30 | 30 | 6 | 5 | |
| N4BAX | 30 | 15 | 0 | 0 | |
| KO4DCO | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| NM4N | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.20200 |
Check out Cliff’s recent WCARES e-mail for all the details.
From Cliff, N4CCB:
“When is it?
The event officially begins at 1pm Central time on Saturday, January 30th, 2021.
It runs for 24 hours, ending at 1pm on Sunday, January 31st, 2021
Setup
You can begin setup 24 hours before the event.
You are allowed a total of 12 hours of setup time.
Introduction
Given that it’s currently considered unwise to gather together to conduct our normal WCARES Winter Field Day event, the question we must ask ourselves is:
How can we make the best of the situation?
We will participate fully in Winter Field Day as individuals while working together for an aggregate score AND by staying in touch (virtually) throughout the weekend.
Giving credit where credit is due, there are two sources for this interesting concept of how we’re planning to carry out this event:
The Winter Field Day folks decided to do the same for WFD 2021.
My hope is you’ll choose to participate in this WCARES event and will use the guidelines in this document to make the most of our virtual weekend together.
The Big Picture
There are 3 things that are unique to our 2021 Winter Field Day experience:
Playing as Individuals but working toward a common goal…
The Winter Field Day folks announced that people submitting WFD logs as individuals could also specify a club name – and all of the logs that bear the same club name will be aggregated for a total club score. This will allow us to compete as individuals but adds the fun of working together for the good of the group score.
Seeing each other’s progress and our combined score…
Having our computers networked together during previous WCARES Field Days, we took advantage of the N3FJP logging software’s ability to show our combined score in real-time. While we won’t be networked together this year, the N3FJP logging software has another trick up its sleeve that WILL allow us to see each other’s progress and our combined score! This is pretty cool. Here’s how it works…
When configuring the N3FJP logging software, there is a “Settings Menu” choice called Web Upload Contest Status. (Detailed configuration instructions are found later in this document.) You can configure N3FJP to upload your contact statistics to the internet every few minutes. Then, a separate N3FJP program (running at my house) looks at all of the cloud files and builds a custom web page showing our total club score AND the statistics of each participating station! By simply keeping a web browser open all weekend to that special web page, we’ll all be able to see each other’s progress and keep track of our combined score.
Live chat all weekend…
Another way to hang out together is through a live chat room where we can type messages to each other, post photos, etc.
I’ve set up a WCARES “server” with the Discord online service. By creating your free account on Discord.com, you can then click a special link that will grant you access to our “server”/chat area.
Everybody should read the official Winter Field Day rules.
Read them online in a web browser here: Winter Field Day
Read them in a PDF, suitable for printing here:
https://a2a53e2b-2285-4083-9cff-c99fe5ba1658.filesusr.com/ugd/1c7085_2445ed4b22f74e048fe9bd41c8dba103.pdf
If you want to maximize the points you earn in the contest, you will need to read the official rules and take note of the scoring calculation “multipliers” and the four 1,500 bonus points that are the key to boosting your score.
In a nutshell, you’ll score the most points if you do the following:
That is how WCARES achieved the #1 EOC and Top 10 (#9) Overall score in the country during the 2018 ARRL Field Day event.
Even though you will score the most points that way, you naturally won’t make as many contacts at 5 watts as you will at 100 watts. As much as I love QRP for my everyday ham radio fun, I enjoy running 100 watts during most contests so that I can “run a frequency” (park on a frequency and call CQ instead of “searching and pouncing” up and down the band).”
Again, be sure to check out Cliff’s recent WCARES e-mail for all the details.
Cliff gave an overview of this years WCARES Winter Field Day at the January Virtual Monthly Meeting (Saturday, January 16, 2021). You can find this presentation under the January, 2021 Virtual Monthly Meeting presentations on the presentations page:
Library & Special Interests --> Presentations
or here:
(* This event counts towards WCARES participation requirements )
Our EC, Ed WB4RHQ dropped in briefly before travelling to the all-day ARRL Board Meeting – virtually on the other computer.
Presentations & Shack Tour!
Today Trey, KI4ZIN gave a presentation on the Hospital Net, discussing the organizations and people involved along with how and when the net is conducted. The net takes place primarily on the MTEARS UHF linked repeater system and provides backup communications options for facilities and primary communications in the event of an emergency. Trey also mentioned they are always looking for new volunteers to help out. Get in touch with Trey or use the Contact form on the website if you are interested in getting involved.
Cliff, N4CCB ran through a more detailed overview of Winter Field Day this year – expect to hear more from Cliff in future WCARES Notes e-mails and keep an eye on the Event Calender:
https://wcares.org/events/event/winter-field-day-2021/
Garry, W9WHF gave us a Virtual Shack Tour of his vacation setup and discussed the antennas, the radio gear and the challenge of salt coating pretty much everything. As this is a temporary spot he needed to be sure to leave it better than he found it which required some creative solutions, particularly with 4 radios and 4 antennas! The discussion about low power supply voltage at the radio due to corrosion will be of interest to anyone, even without the salt air.
Hospital Net – Trey Spain, KI4ZIN
Winter Field Day 2021 – Cliff Batson, N4CCB
Virtual Ham Shack Tour # 7 – Garry Decker, W9WHF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK1MFQR81mI
These and other presentations will now always be listed under the new:
Library & Special Interests --> Presentations
section of the website.
ARRL ARES Volunteers Standing By to Assist if Needed in Wake of Nashville Blast
12/26/2020
ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers remain ready to deploy in Williamson County, Tennessee, in the aftermath of an apparently intentional explosion early on Christmas morning in downtown Nashville. In addition to injuring at least three people and possibly killing one, damaging more than 40 buildings, and causing multiple water main breaks, the blast disrupted telecommunication systems. The explosion occurred in front of an AT&T switching facility. Nashville’s mayor has declared a civil emergency and imposed a curfew through December 27. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee called the damage “shocking” and has requested a federal emergency declaration. ARRL Vice Director and Williamson County Emergency Coordinator Ed Hudgens, WB4RHQ, who lives in Nashville, is monitoring the situation.
“Here in Nashville and the surrounding counties things are a bit of a mess still. The explosion did a lot more damage than was originally thought. AT&T now has about 30 mobile cell units deployed throughout the area.
“Since about 0730 yesterday, we have had monitoring nets up and running on the local analog repeaters and DMR repeaters. We have mainly been answering questions as best we can considering the limited information coming out from AT&T. My ARES group is ready to deploy to the Williamson County PSC to assist with communications for various county offices when the call comes.
“MTEARS [Middle Tennessee Emergency Amateur Repeater System] is holding nets on our DMR repeater system several times a day. The main repeater at the TEMA [Tennessee Emergency Management Agency] site is affected by the outage and fortunately we just last week got two DMR repeaters online in Williamson County, and all communications is going through them.
“WCARES is holding a continuous net on our five-repeater linked system to assist hams as needed. We are relaying news updates from AT&T and county governments and assisting callers on AT&T to implement wireless calling on their phones. In the future we may start taking traffic and routing it to the state nets.” The monitoring net on the linked system will remain u p until AT&T systems begin to come back online, he added.
Hudgens said that a net is active in Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, in addition to the WCARES net. “The MTEARS system is active and providing similar information. Our DMR repeater system is also up and running. The main repeater at TEMA is down because of the AT&T outage, but just last week we got two new DMR repeaters up in Williamson county and all DMR traffic is running through them,” Hudgens said.
ARRL Headquarters has reached out to Tennessee Section Manager David Thomas, KM4NYI, to offer any possible assistance.
A public address system on the RV broadcast continuous warning messages, counting down from 15 minutes. Police called to the site after reports of gunfire quickly evacuated residents. According to FEMA, outages with patient-tracking systems were reported, but there is no anticipated impact on patient care. Air traffic at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is on hold due to a communication outage, FEMA said. Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the only Level I trauma center serving the region.
AT&T is experiencing service outages across middle Tennessee and Kentucky, including with local 911 systems, cable TV, telephone, and internet customers. The Tennessee Emergency Operations Center is at partial activation, experiencing telephone and internet outages. The FBI is heading up the investigation. FEMA reports it’s received no requests for assistance.
From Hilton, W4GHD
I announced yesterday during the WCARES monthly meeting that Williamson County EMA will install two new DMR repeaters on Tuesday, Dec 22 2020 for use of WCARES and the entire Amateur Radio Community.
One repeater will be located at the Trinity/Nolensville Tower off Clovercroft Road (440.6875 +5); the second on the Tower just above Century Court (440.5875 +5) near downtown Franklin where the WCARES hub (444.025) is also located.
The Trinity/Nolensville Tower did not have an immediately available UHF antenna for the new DMR Repeater. So, we agreed to take WC4EOC-9 off the air temporarily to free up an antenna for the DMR repeater.
WC4EOC-8 will continue on the air at 145.050 with VARA FM 1200 and 1200 Packet to serve Winlink users.
Hopefully an additional UHF antenna will be installed at the Tower in the not too distant future and allow the UHF node to resume operations.
I know you will all join me in thanking Bill Jorgensen, K4COM and Director of the Williamson County Office of Public Safety and all the people at WCEMA and thank them for all they do for WCARES.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Hilton
W4GHD
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:
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)
Presentations & Shack Tour!
The State of ARES in TN – Jim Snyder, AJ4NO, Tennessee Section Emergency Coordinator
Jim generously provided a copy of his presentation as well; you can read the PDF version here.
Parks On The Air – Tom Suggs N4MTE
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)
You can find videos of past meetings on the WCARES Media channel on Youtube .