Training & Certification News

by Eli W7ELI on 2017-09-24

A look ahead: The October general meeting will have a panel of the folks who went to Grant County for the Eclipse. The November meeting will have a demonstration of making a copper j-pole antenna. This will be followed up in January with a Saturday workshop. Participants will be charged a small fee for parts and will go home with an antenna.

Women’s Ham Radio Technician Class taught by women for women – six sessions: October 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, and 21. Contact Barbara Yasson at AC7UH [at] arrl [dot] net to sign up.

Hoodview ARC Technician Classes will be held November 4 and continue on November 11 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM at Mt. Hood Community College’s Fisheries building. Testing is on November 18 at 9:00 AM. Classes are free, but the book is $22 and the VE test is $15. The textbook, “Ham Radio School” by Stu Turner, is available online. To register, email Cory at ka7iug [at] frontier [dot] com.

The October 5 ARRO Basics and October 19 Traffic Handling workshops are for MCARES members only. All active members who want a refresher are welcome to attend. Please let me know at eliza [dot] pride [at] gmail [dot] com if you plan to attend so I can have enough trainers present. New members must have completed the three online FEMA classes, IS-100, IS-700, and IS-200, prior to attending the workshops.

News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2017-09-21

What a busy month we have had! Thanks to all who helped Multnomah County Emergency Management by volunteering their time to help support the Eagle Creek Fire response. We had members helping at the EOC in Troutdale and in Corbett for the resident reentry check in point. In all we volunteered over 250 hours. WOW! Great job everyone!

Behind the scenes we also had a team of builders working on the four new digital go-kits. They have been working on Saturdays from the end of August to present. Their mission is almost complete and each of our ARES teams will now have their own digital kit to use in the field. YAY! Thanks to all the kit builders for their hard work and volunteer time.

As if that was not enough we also had an Alpha/Echo team drill on September 9 and a couple of outreach events including the Get Ready Gresham event on September 16.

This month goes into the history book as one of our busiest times. The support of our membership has been so awesome. We are so fortunate to have such a great team so willing to help out as needed. We appreciate every one of you.

As we all catch our breath and adjust to the season change I hope many of you will be available for the Fall SET on October 15. This is a really great opportunity to hone our radio skills.

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September General Membership Meeting

by Brian KE7QPV on 2017-09-01

During our amateur radio activities, we may expose ourselves to certain dangers which can be avoided by following sound safety practices. At this month’s meeting our Emergency Coordinator, Nathan Hersey (N9VCU), will talk about hazards, safety, and situational awareness.

Please join us for our general membership meeting on Thursday, September 28 at the Portland Fire and Rescue training center at 4800 NE 122nd Ave in Portland. There will be a Q&A session and informal gathering for new members from 18:15 to 19:00. The main meeting will run from 19:00 to 21:00. Everyone is welcome!

Additional information about our monthly meetings can be found on the meeting page.

Membership News

by Deb KK7DEB on 2017-08-25

Welcome to our newest members Gordy KI7NME, Robert KG7ULH, and Micha KG7JKP! Gordy and Micha will be joining the Charlie team and Robert will be joining the Alpha team. We are thrilled to continue to expand our membership. Thanks to all our members for keeping the drive alive!

2017 HF Campout Recap

by Adam KF7LJH on 2017-08-17

The 2017 HF Campout was at the Aquila Vista campground this year, part of the Molalla River Recreation Area – a mix of impressive river vistas and comforting NW forest canopy. It was also pleasantly bear-free. Thank you Robert WX5TEX for all your work planning the trip and Deb KK7DEB for bringing pretty much everything.

More than 15 hams participated this year and we had at least seven different HF setups roll through the camp over the weekend. Wire dipoles, stick dipoles and magnetic loop antennas we’re all setup at various times as were a few Icom and Yaesu radios. But we should have called this the Elecraft-sponsored ARES HF Campout this year. The entire model line made an appearance at one point, including most of the accessories, between all the various radio kits on display. It was impressive; those radios are amazing!

The food, often the best part of the whole campout, was great again this year and there was enough space for the number of campers we had. Getting the trailer up to the site was a real challenge though. The last mile to the camp was double track at best and laughably steep in sections. We weren’t sure how it was going to go, but not only did Deb and her sturdy new truck easily pull the ARES trailer up this 4×4 only road, the trailer’s interior didn’t shake apart either. It was a rugged field test of the trailer and it was up to the task.

We’re already thinking about next year’s HF Campout which will be at Champoeg State Park. This park is accessible by any vehicle. We will be looking at a group site that has RV sites, electricity, flush toilets and showers. It will be either the last weekend in July or the first weekend in August. Dates will be confirmed this fall.

Send an ICS 213 Form with Your Phone!

by Adam KF7LJH on 2017-08-11

Did you know you could send a digital ICS213, and a large number of other forms or text, with just your Android phone and a radio? You can, and it’s super easy to do! The hardest part, really, is getting the software onto your phone.

With the normal desktop version of FLDIGI, you can send nicely formatted forms using FLMSG. This is something that Matthew AF7PV has been exploring on the monthly digital ARES net and it works really well. It works great using a Signalink and even works well just holding the radio’s hand mic up to the speakers of the laptop, just like the smartphone SSTV apps do.

The developers of FLDIGI came out with an Android version called AndFLmsg. You can’t get it from the Google Play store, but you can download it and install it directly to your phone from the Sourceforge website where you download the normal desktop version.

The mobile app strips out a lot of the desktop FLDigi application, leaving mostly just the NBEMs messaging forms and a few of the popular modes. What’s great about the mobile version is that creating and managing messages looks just like email in the app. Honestly, it’s much easier to use than that desktop version.

At the last monthly digital meeting I was able to both transmit and receive several FLDIGI form-based messages just by acoustic coupling. So even if you don’t have a big mobile radio, a laptop and a fancy Signalink digital interface, you can still participate in the monthly digital net just by putting your phone up to your radio’s speaker. We think his might have a lot of value for ARES operations, especially for something like the mass delivery of update messages or something along those lines.

Although sadly there is no iOS version of this app for apple devices, you can get the desktop version of FLDigi for OS X on a Mac, which supports the message and form functions.

Come help us experiment on Matthew’s Digital Modes Net, the first Tuesday of every month on the 443.300 repeater.

Tagged as: digital modes, fldigi

How to Earn Your Net Control Certificate

by Eli W7ELI on 2017-08-05

Earning your Net Control and Field Operator (NCFO) certificate is a self-led process.

  1. Go to the Training page and print out the task list.
  2. Complete the FEMA online IS 800 class and send the certificate to me at eliza [dot] pride [at] gmail [dot] com.
  3. In some order, serve as net control for:
    1. A regularly scheduled weekly net – preferably our own Wednesday night net, but the D-1 or NTTN net work too. CC a copy of your net report to me.

      2.  
      and

    2. Either two MCARES exercises or team drills, or an exercise/team drill and a public service event. Have the team leader or person in charge at the net control location sign off your task list for each of these net control experiences. Be sure one of them checks off the items on page two of the task list and the two items under “Knowledge.”
  4. Verify with your team leader that you have a complete 72 hour go kit and have them sign that off on your task list.
  5. Send your completed task list to me.

Tagged as: net control

August General Membership Meeting

by Brian KE7QPV on 2017-08-01

This month’s training will focus on SSTV, a mode we may use after a disaster to send damage reports to the County. Matthew AF7PV will give a demonstration on sending and receiving images using the MMSSTV application, and Robert WX5TEX will discuss photography concepts and techniques for taking quality photos for use with SSTV.

Please join us for our general membership meeting on Thursday, August 24 at the Portland Fire and Rescue training center at 4800 NE 122nd Ave in Portland. There will be a Q&A session and informal gathering for new members from 18:15 to 19:00. The main meeting will run from 19:00 to 21:00. Everyone is welcome!

Additional information about our monthly meetings can be found on the meeting page.

News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2017-07-19

We hope everyone who participated enjoyed Field Day on June 24 and 25. The MCARES trailer was up at Kelly Butte with the Portland Amateur Radio Club for the weekend and there were many visitors despite the nearly 100 degree temperatures. Congratulations to Robert WX5TEX! His picture won the Heil field day photo contest. The picture was taken at Pilot Rock in eastern Oregon. Robert won a Heil pro headset for submitting the winning entry.

This month’s ARES meeting on July 27 will be our annual go-kit show and tell. We will be out in the Portland Fire Training Center parking lot with lots of interesting kit ideas and we hope you will bring yours to share with others. Nate will be grilling up the burgers and we encourage everyone to bring a side dish to share. Pop, paper plates, and utensils will also be provided. Bring your own chair to sit and enjoy the great food.

Raffle tickets will be sold at the meeting for the items on display for $5 each. This annual fund raiser for the trailer operating fund helps with the purchase of fuel, insurance, and maintenance. We will have the drawing later in the meeting and some lucky folks will take home some great prizes. You do not need to be present to win, however.

The HF campout is July 28, 29, and 30. Robert reports that several have signed up to spend the weekend at Aquila Vista near Molalla. You are all welcome to come out for the day if camping is not your thing. The trailer will be there and antennas will be hanging in the trees for you to make some HF contacts. It is great fun and a chance to learn in a no pressure atmosphere.

July General Membership Meeting

by Brian KE7QPV on 2017-07-01

Field Day wasn’t enough; it’s time to get outside again! For this month’s meeting we’ll be setting up and showing off our go-kits, and having a pot-luck BBQ in the PF&R Training Center parking lot.

Please join us for our general membership meeting on Thursday, July 27 at the Portland Fire and Rescue training center at 4800 NE 122nd Ave in Portland. The meeting will run from 19:00 to 21:00 and everyone is welcome!

Additional information about our monthly meetings can be found on the meeting page.