Hamfest April 5th, 2014 @VFW Post DRUMLINS Amateur Radio Club LTD February 2014 Volume 4, Issue 2 Inside this issue Drumlins’ Rumblins RACES-ARES continued................2 Calendar of Events ......................2 Upcoming Hamfests ....................2 Meeting Minutes .........................3 Program Info ...............................4 RACES-ARES February 2014 Upcoming Public Service .............4 Welcome .....................................4 Okay! Who ever has the voodoo doll of KB2KBY, you can stop pricking the doll with pins! I am only kidding but since the past January newsletter I have been under the weather with the shingles. I have had to cloister myself like a monk from family and friends, only better just recently this past week. Kidding-ly it is how I feel. In the middle of this time period I had minor surgery with an ingrown toe nail. All of this on the left side—my chin, neck and shoulder with the shingles and my left foot with the minor surgery-it was getting infected. In an e-mail to my oldest brother and younger older sister, I told them I felt like it was the old Army Sergeants of Ft Dix and Ft Devens, reminding me of my “...your left, your left...” 49 years ago as I type. You got to rationalize it some how other than the body going to h-- in a hand basket. Right? Hi! Plus my poor gray cells have been numbed so much with the shingles post neurological pains, I am very late getting this month's article to N2ZVP. Sorry, Walter. (I did send him a packet I'd be a good boy and get it done ASAP.) At the moment you may not even recognize me. My face and neck are so sensitive I have that Ernest Hemingway look with the whiskers. Hi. ********************************************* MARCH 29th, SATURDAY, save the date! This the date for the FOUR COUNTY EXERCISE: Monroe, Ontario, Oswego and Wayne counties. Time slot :9AM-NOON. More info coming. RACES Events ..............................4 From the desk of the President ...5 Meeting Minutes continued ........5 RACES-ARES February 2014 continued This will be an exercise for EmComm dealing with the four counties. The whole scenario is still being worked up by Ross, KC2LOC, my ARES counterpart in Monroe County who has checked into our WARECS net often. To give us more time for this exercise, this will NOT be affiliated with RACES or ARES. It is planned to be inter-county, using various frequencies and modes. The most important item is to make sure you save the time slot. Try to commit as much time as you can. I realize it is a good piece of time involved but this is an event as you know we have been mentioning this exercise for quite some time. Since time for us is free, gratis and is zero pay it certainly is a lot to ask of you. For EmComm and being ready when we WILL be needed is just a matter of time, so this exercise IS NEEDED and thus very important. NCS and ANCS stations will be activated. Most would be at home QTHs but County EMOs may be used as well. It is all in the planning stage naturally but the plan is to involve counties that all have responsibility in a natural or man made disaster-when all heck has broken loose. Like any exercise not all 'ops' will be on the air 100% of the time. That is why we have NCS to keep order and keep the proper protocol. There could be a 'super' NCS as well. The plans are being worked out. You know 'the drill' and your part will be sketched out. At the present time I know about as much as you. Hi! No kidding. One of my ventures out in the post shingles pain stage was to help our club member Andy, KC2SIN, at the EMO. George Bastedo, the County EMO Director, got the new Comet HF vertical in replacing the vertical that got bent in the wind this past year. Thank you, George! Andy wanted to make sure everything was okay before leaving by checking the SWR on the bands. It is an amazing antenna! The worst SWR was 1:1.3 on the lowest band but 1:1 on everything else. Andy thought the height on top of the building and winds going through the valley may have contributed to the bend. The antenna is suppose to survive 95 mph winds. Who knows. Andy is going to take the bent guy home and see if a replacement tube could be found and give us a vertical spare antenna. George said it is ours! Andy is with the company that does the County antenna work. He most likely will be installing the HF dipole. It was nice to catch up talking with Andy. Another “harmonic” is in the works in the KC2SIN QTH. Andy's oldest “harmonic” is into 'radios' like his Dad. You never know. Maybe he'll start bring his harmonics to DARC meetings like N2THV did with his harmonics and got their tickets. Ham families are great! Okay! Guess that is it for this month. Time for “Shingles” Dave to close his trap and get this emailed to N2ZVP. Remember March 29th if you remember anything. Thanks for the 'gab' and taking the time to read this month's article. Calendar of Events Feb 19 Drumlin’s VE Testing 7:00 PM Wayne County EOC 7336 Rt. 31, Lyons, NY Feb 19 Drumlin’s Meeting - 7:30 PM Wayne County EOC 7336 Rt. 31, Lyons, NY Feb 23 WARES Net - 8:45 PM 146.685 Feb 27 ARES Meeting - Monroe County Red Cross, 50 Prince St. Mar 2 WARES Net - 8:45 PM 146.685 Mar 5 Rumblins Deadline Mar 9 WARES Net - 8:45 PM 146.685 Mar 16 WARES Net - 8:45 PM 146.685 Mar 19 Drumlin’s Meeting - 7:30 PM Wayne County EOC 7336 Rt. 31, Lyons, NY Mar 23 WARES Net - 8:45 PM 146.685 Mar 29 Multi-County Drill 8:30 AM Wayne County EOC 7336 Rt. 31, Lyons, NY Upcoming Hamfests April 5th 2014 Drumlins VFW Post Palmyra NY 2014 February Winterfest Saturday February 22, 2014 National Guard Armory, 128 Colonial Dr., Horseheads, N.Y. 73, Dave KB2KBY Wayne County RO/EC 2 Previous Meeting Minutes Attention DRUMLINS AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, LTD. - MEETING AGENDA Date: 1/15/14 Call to Order: 19:30 Welcome Members/Guests: Phillip Lundy, kb2kby,kc2tcm, wd2stk, n2rus, n9sby, ka2jrd, k2mpe, Brenda Cook, kc2tnj, Trista Hamill, w1yx, n2cma, w2evu, kd2dfs,, n2izv, kd2bvs Previous meeting Minutes - Approved: KC2TCM 2nd: KA2JRD Treasurers Report: Gannett and Pumpkin Patrol both gave us money for participation in the events. Greatly appreciated. Approved by: KC2TCM 2nd by: guy next to me Repeaters: Phone line for the 745 repeater was never moved from the old to the new location. To replace the line we will look into getting a Straight Talk phone service. Unlimited USA calling via AT&T’s cell towers, not sure what coverage it is using. The cellular network is a lot more robust then it used to be. Internet link could also be used. It would have a brand new number. We would love for the straight talk phone to be 12 VDC. We need to drop the old Verizon line, it’s no longer active. There are thoughts on replacing the 745 repeater. We want to replace the hardware side (radios) before replacing the controllers. Antennas and controller will need to be replaced. The antennas will also need to be mounted. RF amps will also need to be replaced. We need an assessment of what’s needed and what we have in order to proceed. Whoever is willing to help, needs to let Brad know. There is a repeater that is looking to be offered on the 440 MHz frequency. Brad and Jay need to touch base to get a look at the repeater. “VE” Teams: Next testing session is February 19. Testing will start at 7 PM. We need to pull together a welcome packet for new amateurs. RACES : We jumped dramatically in regards to the number of checkins. Anyone who wants training on Web EOC can contact KB2KBY. He has a training packet now available. Last Saturday in March, the 29th, we are looking for a quad-county net. (9AM - 12 PM) More information will be coming, it’s in the planning stages. We have new packet WA2EMO-14 to obtain packet messages. Eventually it will be moved to the EMO. Activities & Contest, Public Service :NTR - slow time of the year. LARC will be on January 25th. Remembrances: NTR Old Business: We have the PC pulled together then we need to register for Echolink. Jay will bring the commercial radio and Jay and Rich will look into things together. They will look to be used or see what’s available for radios. The radio has been presented to Rich to get things up and running. WD2STK needs to set up an echolink account for WA2EMO in order to get the accounts up and running. We need to look into getting tones on our repeaters. Hamfest committee we need to get together - April 5th is the date of the Drumlins Hamfest. Then get the vendor list, and start contacting prior vendors and the contact at the Binghamton Radio Club. New Business: Drumlinsarc.us is our new site. We also own drumlinsarc.net. We will work with Jon at trying to migrate drumlinsarc.org to our go daddy account. We have the websites up for redirection to the main website. 50/50 Drawing Winner: Amount: $15.00 - N2ZVP Adjournment : N2CMA 2nd by: W2EVU @ 20:50 The WARECS 8:45 Sunday evening nets are back on the 146.685 repeater (no tones). The 146.745 is our backup repeater for the net. This will help low power stations to report easier into the Sunday night 2m net. 73 & 88, Dave KB2KBY ARES EC-RACES RO Attention During the winter bad weather (WX) months, check the 146.685 or 146.745 repeater. Starting at 6:00 PM for a usual Wednesday night meeting, if there is bad weather, there will be an announcement every 15 minutes on the quarter hour canceling the meeting. Announcements will end at 7:30 PM. Keep monitoring the repeater. If this is a Saturday meeting, which are at 10:00 AM, the announcement will start at 8:30 AM and end at 10:00 AM. (The 685 has full back up emergency power.) 3 February Program SDR anyone? 73, Jay KC2TCM Upcoming Public Service Events www.rochesterham.org/ public_service.htm Welcome No new members or new licensees this month! 73 & 88, Dave KB2KBY DARC WA2AAZ Trustee Advertisement Next time you need a slug for your Bird 43, or are thinking of buying or upgrading a Wattmeter, you should consider checking out nm3e.com. I have gotten good advice and fair deals from NM3E, a ham who sells new and used Bird and CDI metering March Rumblins Deadline is: March 5th, 2014 NY State RACES - HF NET Sunday 0900 3.993.5kHz SSB/LSB equipment. - W1YX RACES Events Nothing planned at this time If you have an article that you would like to share with the rest of the club, please submit them to me and I’ll work on getting it in the newsletter! Email address: [email protected] Snail Mail address: 144 Berg Rd Ontario, NY 14519 4 From the President: Glen Bruemmer Greeting to all As we are getting closer to our multi county drill, I am happy to say that we have decided what the drill will be based on. The drill will be based on an ice storm. We are going to try and activate all teams at 8:30 am and would like everyone to the EOC by 9:00. Review their Go Kits and then deploy to their destination. The EOC will be the hub of the entire operation and we will be running a few different tasks at the same time so be ready for anything. We are also teaming up the following weekend for the hamfest so for the week of March 29th thru April 5th be ready to have fun. I am keeping this short as we have a meeting in a few days and I look forward to seeing everyone there 73 KC2YGH Glen Bruemmer VE Testing Drumlins ARC / Laurel VEC Testing February 19, 2014 June 18, 2014 August 13, 2014 October 15, 2014 December 17, 2014 Testing will start at 7:00 PM (prior to the Drumlins Amateur Radio Meeting and at the same location) Wayne County EMO, 7376 Rt. 31 Suite 2000 Lyons NY 14489-9174 April 5, 2014 Drumlins ARC Hamfest testing starts at 9:00 AM. Palmyra VFW 4306 State Highway 31 Palmyra, NY 14522 CONTACT for individuals registering in advance is: Sabrina Hamill, WD2STK - (585)727-2091 The SquawIsland ARC (SIARC) has VE testing at the Ontario County EOC911 center on County Road 46 near the fire training area every other second Wednesday of the month at 6:30 PM. VE sessions are held prior to their meeting. The VE testing is headed by Dave Foster, AB2WZO of SIARC. The SIARC website (www.SIARC.us) can be used for directions and information. VE Testing At RIT RARA conducts amateur radio license testing on the 3rd Saturday of each Previous Meeting Minutes (Continued from page 3) month from September through April and at the Rochester Hamfest. Testing is conducted at Rochester Institute of Technology, Building 9, Room 3139 (click for map), Registration is at 10:00 AM. Bring a pen and pencil, two forms of ID including one with a picture. If you are upgrading: Bring your original, and a copy, of your current amateur radio license; or unexpired Certificates of Completion. RARA provides free testing sessions as a public service. Handicapped applicants are always welcome, Please notify us in advance if you need any special accommodations. 5 The Drumlins Leaders 13-14 President Glen Bruemmer, KC2YGH 315-398-3266 V-President Russell Millspaw , N2RUS 315-483-8924 Secretary Sabrina Hamill, WD2STK 315-210-8078 Treasurer Walter Dutcher II, N2ZVP 585-224-5581 Program Jay Hamill, KC2TCM 315-210-8078 Program Asst Dave Taylor, KB2KBY 315-597-4293 Director 3 yr Bill Tegtmeyer, KD2DNO 315-904-1012 Director 2 yr Richard Hamill, KC2TNJ 315-986-8589 Director 1 yr Al Cook, K2MPE 315-483-8717 Repeater Chair Dave Taylor, KB2KBY 315-597-4293 Newsletter Walter Dutcher, N2ZVP 585-224-5581 Club Trustee Dave Taylor, KB2KBY 315-597-4293 Website Richard Hamill, KC2TNJ 315-986-8589 Note from the editor/ webmaster: The newsletter is uploaded to the website each month, so if for some reason you didn’t get your emailed or snail mail copy, you can get it form the website. Also, check the calendar often as I do try to keep it updated as I get info from Dave! www.drumlinsarc.org Radio Club Contacts Drumlins Amateur Radio Club Ltd. (DARC) Glen Bruemmer, KC2YGH [email protected] Monroe County ARES Jim DiTucci, N2IXD [email protected] Rochester Amateur Radio Association (RARA) Frank Schramm, WB2PYD [email protected] Rochester DX Association (RDXA) Paul Kolacki, K2FX [email protected] Rochester Radio Repeater Association (RRRA) Brad Allen, KB2CHY [email protected] Rochester VHF Group (RVHFG) Dave Hallidy, K2DH [email protected] XEROX Amateur Radio Club (XARC) Ned Asam, W2NED [email protected] Squaw Island Amateur Radio Club (SIARC) Steve Benton,WB2VMR [email protected] Antique Wireless Association (AWA) Lynn Bisha, W2BSN [email protected] Fisherman’s Net Amateur Radio Club Jim Sutton, N2OPS [email protected] Genesee Valley Amateur Radio Assn Bill Boyd, N3DSP [email protected] ONTARIO COUNTY RACES NET TIME-FREQUENCIES SUNDAY EVENING 8:00PM PRIMARY: 145.450 (PL110.9) W2ONT REPEATER ALSO MONITORED 146.820 (PL110.9) Club Address Dave Taylor KB2KBY Club Trustee 228 W. Jackson St. Palmyra, NY 14522 Packet: Kb2kby-1 thru Newark Node Email: [email protected] 6