Join me in welcoming our newest members. William KI7QHW and Sam KI7YUX join the Bravo team, and Jesse KI7RQE and Eric KI7RUQ both join the Charlie team. Scott KE7PPM joins us as a supporting member. This brings our total active membership to 108.
What a fun camping trip! (Well maybe except for the rain on Sunday.) As most of you know, we met at a group campsite at Pine Point campground at Timothy Lake up on Mount Hood on Friday for a two night outing. The ARES trailer was on hand for some HF contacts and training. We put up the fan dipole antenna and had great SWR. The new slingshot antenna launcher was a big help getting high up into the trees.
In all we had 27 friends and family participate. Some stayed both nights, some only one night, and several visited during the day on Saturday. The Forest Service just lifted the campfire ban the day before our adventure so we had a rip roaring fire each night and morning. It was a bit chilly up there dipping into the upper 30s at night so the fire was a great place to warm up.
Saturday evening we all converged on the group picnic area for a potluck dinner. I somehow think camping food tastes better because of the good clean air and there was not a single dish that I tried that was not excellent. We are lucky to have such a wonderful group of folks who are great people, great hams, and great cooks, too.
Other news to report is that Ralph AG7FE has agreed to transition in as the new Alpha Team Leader! Robert WX5TEX will be training Ralph for the next few months and will take on the PIO position. A big thanks to Ralph for stepping up to fill this very important role!
Congratulations to Jim KA7AGH as he has earned his HF certification and to Ralph AG7FE who has earned his PRRO certification.
Join me in welcoming our newest member, Alex KI7ZPC, who will join the Alpha team. This brings our total active membership to 104!
Thanks to everyone who participated in the July 28 “Shelters in the Park’ exercise. In all we had 38 AROs operating outdoors from 11 local parks. The Mike team was net control from Westmoreland Park and the new portable UHF repeater was set up at Council Crest Park keeping us all connected. All of the teams sent Winlink messages to the County EOC and to our shelter coordinator at the ARES trailer. The County EOC team also coordinated and received SSTV images from the field. The focus of this exercise was to continue to train on the yellow digital go kits and to test the range of the portable UHF repeater from the Council Crest location.
We did learn a few things. As awesome as the elevation is at Council Crest, our Echo team was not able to make contact from Fairview City Park. They were successful from Gresham at Bella Vista Park which is located on top of a hill at 410 feet. The Delta team signal was pretty scratchy from St. Johns Park but was much improved when they moved east to Kenton Park. The Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Mike teams were very clear into the portable repeater from all of their parks. All of this testing really helps to expand our capabilities and evaluate the best location for the repeater. We will try several different locations in the future.
There was also great feedback from the field that this was a fun and worthy team building exercise. Our newer members got a lot of hands on experience and we had suggestions on needed improvements to the drill guide.
Be sure to attend the August 23 ARES meeting to learn more about the portable repeater and the 2 small cross-band/digipeater kits. Adam KF7LJH will be showing them to you and talking about their amazing capabilities.
Are you new to operating on the HF bands? Thinking about upgrading to a General class license so you can work HF? Don’t care about HF but want to hang out and get to know your fellow ARES members and have a great time? The HF Campout is approaching soon, and we still have space for a few more folks!
Date: September 14-16
Location: Pine Point Campground, on the shores of Timothy Lake in the Mount Hood National Forest
Cost: $20 to cover the campground and shared supper
Come join us for our annual HF Campout, September 14-16, in the beautiful Mount Hood National Forest. We have reserved a nice group campsite for everyone and still have room for a few more folks.
We will bring the trailer as well as set up a couple of other HF Stations, and we encourage everyone to bring their own portable HF setups.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “But Robert, Timothy Lake is down in a valley. HF must not work down there very well”. Have no worries! I spent Field Day camped out on Timothy Lake a couple of years ago, and we had no problems making contacts all over the United States.
To sign up for the campout, email me at RGAnglin [at] gmail [dot] com
My name is Pattie KB7GMM and I am the Gem Coordinator for the weekly ARES net. We have heard wonderful comments regarding how much our members like hearing about our little Gems. First off I want to thank those who have been a source of wonderful information. Without the assistance of our members we could not have the great Gems we have.
We would like to make sure we touch on the topics everyone could use. So what we are asking here is any topics that we could assist with. Keep it small; we have a 10 minute slot to use. We are also looking for members that might want to speak to these subjects. So everyone who wants to know a little more about something please speak up. And those who would like to deliver the message or have subject matter that the group wants to hear please let us know.
Thank you so much and we look forward to hearing your ideas. Email me at Kb7gmm [at] gmail [dot] com
Join me in welcoming our newest members. Donna AG7MO, Kim KI7RMK, William KI7YBK ,and Avi AE7ET will all be joining the Charlie Team. Jeff KI7TVE joins the Delta team, and Keith KI7VKM is a supporting member. Yay! We finally reached our 100 active members goal with a few extras bringing our membership to 103. Thanks to all our members for spreading the word! Our door is always open to new hams willing to help in an emergency. It is now time to set our sights on a new goal of 150 active members!
Summer has arrived with temperatures in the mid to upper 90s. I don’t know about you but I miss our more moderate temperatures and a little rain off and on just to keep us looking green. There is a serious fire danger again this summer as our spring rainfall was well below normal. Let’s hope we are fortunate and avoid any major forest fires.
In case you missed the last ARES meeting, we are holding our annual raffle with some great items. Tickets are $5 and support our trailer expense fund and also help pay for some of the food for our July 26 Go-Kit Show and Tell and parking lot BBQ. We will sell tickets at the event and the drawing will be later the same evening. Bring your appetite as Nate will be grilling up the beef and garden burgers, and hot dogs again this year. Feel free to bring something to share, but it is certainly not required.
We will all meet and set up in the fire station parking lot east of the usual spot. Bring your go-kits and set up your field station so we can all exchange ideas on radio go-boxes, power sources, portable antennas and masts, shelters, and more. If you don’t have a go kit, this a great way to see and hear about the different radio go-kits our very talented members have constructed, and to share ideas. The ARES trailer will be on site just in case you have not seen it yet. We will put up canopies for shade but you should bring a chair so you can sit and enjoy all the activities and food.
The custom briefcases and clipboards purchased for us by Multnomah County Emergency Management have arrived! If you missed last month’s meeting, you can get yours at the July meeting. If you are a new member and have not yet completed your training, we will save yours for you.
The July 28 Shelter in the Parks Drill is just around the corner. We know summer is a busy time for everyone and we appreciate those who have signed up to participate. We will be testing the new portable UHF repeater and continue our training with the digital go kits in the field.
Patti KB7GMM is doing a great job making sure we have some educational content on our weekly ARES net. She would love your suggestions. If you can think of a subject you would like to know more about, or one you would like to present, send her an email at KB7GMM [at] gmail [dot] com.
Echo team helped Vista House at Crown Point celebrate its 100 year anniversary by holding a public outreach and training event on July 14. We had an outreach table set up in Vista House with flyers and the orange go-kit, and team members to answer questions and invite folks to tour the MCARES trailer which was in full operation in the parking lot.
The yellow digital kit was set up with another public outreach table under a tree by the river at Rooster Rock State Park just down the hill.
Everyone got a chance to try some image transfer with MMSSTV and to work gateway and peer-to-peer Winlink, so it was a great training exercise as well.
Thanks to Deb KK7DEB for bringing the trailer and handling the training there and to John KI7LYP and Patti KB7GMM for handling the Rooster Rock PR and training. Appreciation also goes to Tom KE7JTM and Ken KI7RUN for helping to coordinate with Vista House and Oregon State Parks. And thanks to all the participating Echo team members who put in a total of 42 volunteer hours on a very hot Saturday!
Our annual campout is coming up on the weekend of September 14-16. This is the highlight of the year and a reward for all our hard work through the busy spring and summer. Come for the whole weekend or just for the day on Saturday. If you like to camp, operate HF, or just relax with friends, this is the place to be. The trailer will be there and most likely another HF station or two. You may even earn your HF Operator certificate.
We will be in the group site at the Pine Point Campground on the shores of Timothy Lake. The site allows tents and RVs (no hookups) and has drinking water and vault toilets. The campground is easily accessible by car. To get there, travel east on Highway 26 for approximately 40 miles past the city of Sandy to Skyline Road/Road 42. Turn right on Skyline Road and continue south for about 9 miles. Turn right on Forest Service Road 57 and travel west for 2 miles, then turn right again at the Pine Point Campground entrance sign.
The cost is $20 per person to cover the campsite fee. Campers are expected to provide for their own breakfast and lunch. Dinner Friday and Saturday are group potluck events. Email Robert at RGAnglin [at] gmail [dot] com for reservations.