This month’s meeting will be online via Zoom and is one week early, on Thursday, November 16. We do not have a December membership meeting, however the Leadership team will meet to plan for next year. If you have suggestions for trainings for 2024, please email leadership [at] multnomahares [dot] org. We value your input!
We hope you will join us for the SKYWARN Recognition Day on December 2 at the Portland National Weather Service office.
Multnomah and Clackamas County ARES have been asked to partner in supporting the National Weather Service (NWS) SKYWARN Recognition Day. Last year we had a fun time, and the NWS staff are great to work with. The tour of their facility is really interesting. The event is scheduled to take place Saturday, December 2 at the Portland Weather Service office located at 5241 NE 122nd Avenue in Portland.
Operations will start at 8:00 AM and end at 4:00 PM. The Multnomah ARES Mobile Communications Unit will be set up in the parking area for operations, so you will be warm and dry. The goal is to make contacts with other participating NWS offices and SKYWARN members. Contacts will be made using HF, VHF, and Winlink. It is anticipated that two local repeaters will be used during the event.
Each 2.5 hour shift will include a radio operator and a logger. The operator and logger may switch off during their shift. Volunteers will also be needed to help with set up and take down before and after operating hours. Tours of the NWS office will take place at scheduled times during the day.
Members are encouraged to sign up for shifts.
We hope you can join us. Let’s show our support for the NWS SKYWARN program!
This month’s meeting will be in person at Portland Community College, SE 82nd Ave and SE Division St, in the Community Hall meeting room. This will be the last in person meeting for the year.
We will switch to Zoom for the November 16 (one week early), January, and February meetings. We do not have a December membership meeting, however the Leadership team meets for planning for next year. The holidays are a busy time for us all. Eli and Dylan will be teaming up to give us a refresher traffic handling and forms course for the October meeting.
We hope you will join us for the Shakeout exercise on October 19 and the AREDN/mesh demo on the 21st. See your email for details on both of these events. We have been contacted by the Portland office of the National Weather Service (NWS) to help again this year with their SkyWarn 2023 event. We are working on details and it looks like this will be December 2 unless there is a government shutdown happening at that time. Please save the date as this was really fun last year and very much appreciated by our local NWS folks.
Fall has definitely arrived! It is a good time to check your go kit and include colder weather gear and rain protection. Check your batteries to make sure they are fully charged or perhaps needing replacement.
This month’s meeting will be in person at Warner Pacific University, SE 68th Ave and SE Division St – a new location for us as our usual meeting space at Portland Community College SE is not available. I will send a detailed map next week.
Adam and Jeff with be presenting an overview of the 3 ultra marathons that we provided communications for this summer. We will also have instructions and a demonstration of using acoustic coupling for SSTV (slow scan TV) using your cell phone and radio.
Fall is in the air! We will be moving to online Zoom meetings for at least January and February, and possibly November.
A reminder: The new 2023 Regional Template has been posted to the website. There are several important changes to the Multnomah County frequencies and we hope you will get your radios programmed soon. The County and Cities EOCs are all updated as well as all the MCARES go kits. If you need help programming your radio, contact your team leader.
This month’s meeting/BBQ/raffle will be in person at Wilshire Park at NE 33rd Ave and NE Skidmore St. Grill master Bob KG1BOB will be serving up the best burgers and dogs in town. We will have chips, watermelon and cold drinks. Feel free to bring family to enjoy an evening in the very shady and forested Wilshire Park. If you feel inspired, bring a side dish to share. There is plenty of parking on Skidmore Street.
The new 2023 Regional Template has just been posted to the website. There are several important changes to the Multnomah County frequencies and we hope you will get your radios programmed soon.
We have completed the third and final ultra marathon communications event at Mount St. Helens. We really appreciate all of you who have helped out!
There are more opportunities to volunteer with our friends at Go Beyond racing as they do a few races that are out of our area. The sign-up sites are:
Oregon 200
Mountain Lakes 100
I look forward to seeing you all at Wilshire Wilshire Park. This event is one of my favorite gatherings each year!
This month’s meeting will be in person at the Community Hall at the Portland Community College SE campus. I will send more details next week for those who may not have been there yet. Our annual BBQ meeting will be on August 24 at Wilshire Park on NE 33rd Avenue and NE Skidmore Street in picnic area “A”.
We have just completed the second Ultra marathon communications event at Mt. Hood. We have one more coming up on August 5 and 6 near Mt. St. Helens. These are so much fun, as well as rewarding and such great training for our members. If you have not yet volunteered for one, we encourage you to give it a try! We will partner you with an experienced operator. The race directors really appreciate our help keeping the runners safe, and being in touch with the aid station staff is paramount. We really appreciate all of those who have helped out!
The new MCARES Starlink satellite antenna went on its first outing last weekend! Deep in the woods of Mt. Hood national forest it found its buddies up in the sky and performed flawlessly. It was a valuable resource for an internet connection and internet phone service. One use case example was an injured runner’s wife wanted to inform other family members of his status and we were able to let her connect to our Starlink to make that call. This is another awesome communications tool for the MCARES trailer!
The 2023 Regional Template has just been released by Kent Powloski. There are several important changes to the Multnomah County frequencies, and our template master, Joe WA7FWC, is working on our local template. He should have his work completed very soon and we will let you know when it is available on our website. Thanks, Joe, for all your hard work!
Thanks to everyone who participated in the February 26 Winlink from Home exercise! We had 43 members participate. Team leaders reported mixed results in the success rate so we will schedule a redo of this exercise in April. Stay tuned for that date.
The March 23 meeting will be at our new meeting location at Portland Community College, Southeast campus (SE Division and 82nd Ave). We will send building details and parking instruction prior to the March meeting.
The Ultra Marathon planning team has set a target date of March 31 to send out a Signup Genius for all three summer marathons. Take a look at the dates and try to save a few to your calendar.
We will need your help to staff the various needed positions! Thanks!
Winter Field Day was at Scouters Mountain on January 28 and it was great fun. We braved the chilly weather and set up two stations. Joe had his awesome Yaesu FT DX 10 for voice, and Bob and Ken brought their Elecraft stations for CW. Propagation was very good and we were able to make contacts as far away as Nova Scotia and southern Florida, and many places in between. We appreciate all who visited and helped out. A special thanks to Joe for submitting our logs to the WFD organization. The chili dogs were consumed at a very high rate!
We are super excited to have a new meeting location at Portland Community College’s Southeast campus (SE Division and 82nd Ave). Our March 23 meeting will be there as will all other in-person meetings. We will send building details and parking instructions prior to the March meeting.
We are planning a Winlink exercise from home for Sunday, February 26 at 10:00am. Please save the date. The drill guide will be sent via email soon. Time to dust off the equipment and practice, practice, and practice!
The early planning has begun for the three Ultra Marathons this summer. Take a look at the dates and try to save a few to your calendar.
We will need your help to staff the various needed positions.
We have a few new and exciting changes for 2023!
We are looking for a new meeting location – somewhere closer in town – and hope to have that nailed down soon. We will keep you posted on the progress.
Multnomah County Emergency Management just announced their new EOC will be located on the 2nd floor of the Multnomah building. We hear a new radio room will be a priority.
We have been contacted by Todd Janssen from Go Beyond Racing and asked if we can volunteer for a couple more of their ultra-marathon events this summer. Leadership has agreed to add the following races:
Please save the dates as we will need as many members as possible to support these events.
Multnomah County Emergency Management is in the planning stages of a statewide Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake Exercise in June. This is a large, full-scale, multi-agency event. Jeff KI7TVE is representing MCARES in the planning process. The last Cascadia exercise was in 2016 and we are looking forward to providing emergency communications on June 13 and possibly June 14.
The January 26 MCARES meeting will be online via Zoom. Bruce AA7PB and I will be presenting on the new MCARES Power Kits. We will talk about uses, safety, how to start the generator, and a video presentation.
The November 17 MCARES meeting will be in-person at Portland Fire & Rescue Station 2 at 4800 NE 122nd Ave. Jeff WX7OR will be presenting “Winlink Beyond the Basics.” The parking lot gate closes at 7PM sharp so plan to arrive a little early.
I am pleased to announce that Phyllis W7ZM has been chosen to be our new net manager. We are looking forward to working with Phyllis to keep our weekly nets running smoothly.
Carrie K7CAC has resigned as Charlie team Leader and AEC. The Charlie team is our largest team and Carrie has done a great job and will be missed. We are looking for a new team leader and will keep you posted on the search.
We have been asked by the Portland office of the National Weather Service to participate in their Skywarn Recognition Day on December 3. Steve W7SRH and Adam KF7LJH are working on the details. This is a great opportunity for the ARES trailer, and our members will have an opportunity to participate. Stay tuned for more details coming soon.
Multnomah County Emergency Management is in the planning stages of a statewide Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake Exercise in June of 2023. This is a large full-scale multi-agency event. Jeff KI7TVE is representing MCARES in the planning process. The last Cascadia exercise was in 2016 and we are looking forward to providing emergency communications again next year.
Please note there will not be a December membership meeting. The leadership team will be holding its annual planning session. If you have ideas or input for 2023 please send them to leadership [at] multnomahares [dot] org.