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.

Membership News

by Deb KK7DEB on 2017-06-27

Several new members have joined recently. Please welcome Eric KI7MOH, Judy KF7DBN, Dylan KF7KXT, Ken KI7EIH and Rachel KI7NMB. Also Richard KF7INQ has returned and is now an active member. We continue to grow and are expanding our abilities to serve the needs of Multnomah County and our communities.

Training & Certification News

by Eli W7ELI on 2017-06-21

The updated Training Plan and its summary have been posted to the website under Training. The update reflects changes at the state level. The ARRO Task List has also been updated, to be more in line with what is actually presented at the Basics Workshop.

The next ARRO workshops will be Thursdays, October 5 and 19. If you do not have your ARRO Certificate, please save these dates. Until then, be working on completing the IS-100, IS-200, and IS-700 online FEMA classes.

Please email me your completion certificates (to eliza [dot] pride [at] gmail [dot] com) as you get them so I know you are making progress. New members have one year from their join date to complete the FEMA classes and the two workshops.

Out of our 81 active members, 73 are ARRO certified. That is AWESOME! Also, 19 have Net Control certificates, 24 are HF certified, and 21 have their Packet RMS certificates.

News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2017-06-16

The ARES trailer made its second appearance at Sea-Pac this month. Thanks to all of our members who joined the outreach effort. We were all certainly very busy giving trailer tours and talking with other hams. Brian’s HSMM display was also very popular. One fellow, who recently moved to Oregon from Eastern Washington, told me he wished he had moved to Multnomah County as the trailer is “really awesome.” Many other groups expressed interest because they too are working on building a mobile Communications trailer. It is so much fun to share our trailer building experience with others!

A special thanks to Multnomah County Emergency Management for funding four additional digital go-kits. The ordering is underway and once everything is gathered together we will build these new kits.

ARRL Field Day is coming on June 24 and 25. We hope everyone will stop by either Portland Amateur Radio Club at Kelly Butte in Portland or Hoodview Amateur Radio Club up on Larch Mountain. It will be a great opportunity to get on the air and make some contacts. Both of these clubs put on a great display of many different antennas and operating modes.

July Go-Kit Radio Raffle

by Deb KK7DEB on 2017-06-12

The City of Gresham has donated an Yaesu FT-2400 2-meter mobile radio and we have a Yaesu FT-1802 2-meter and a Panasonic ToughBook which will be raffled off at the July meeting. There may be other items in the raffle as well. If you have anything you would like to donate, contact Deb at kk7deb [at] arrl [dot] net. Raffle tickets will be on sale for $5 each at the June meeting and at the July meeting before the drawing. The proceeds will go into our trailer maintenance and operating fund.

The July 27 General meeting is our annual Go-Kit Show-And-Tell. This is a fun opportunity to see the ingenuity of our members as they bring their personal and radio go-kits and set them up. Some kits are elegantly simple while others are over the top. Bring your cool stuff, or just come get some ideas for your kit.

Delta/Charlie Team Drill Recap

by Steve W7SRH on 2017-06-03

Thanks to all who participated in last month’s team drill. Delta Team operated from Nate’s home in North Portland. Charlie Team operated from Lewis and Clark College, one of our served agencies, in Southwest Portland. I think it’s safe to say that we all learned from the experience. After all, that’s what drills are for.

This was, by design, a very laid back exercise. Our goals included the sending of Winlink, SSTV image transfer, and voice traffic. We had no emergency scenario and no pre-written messages. We were focusing on systems practice. We made things up on the spot and sent things along.

Some of the challenges we faced were due, in part, to the introduction of some unfamiliar equipment into the mix. If you have to swap out a computer (for SSTV) that you thought was going to work fine but didn’t, for one that had an unfamiliar set of applications, the learning curve can be a challenge and cause a domino effect on the whole process of getting the image passed through the system. We had several challenges like this. A surprise development was that were unable to make VHF simplex contact between the two stations. The reason for this is not entirely clear but most likely due to line of sight issues. When the VHF Winlink set up didn’t work the way we thought it would, we switched to HF/Pactor and accessed a station on 17 meters. Good job Julie! The good news is that the teams were able to improvise and get the job done.

For me the biggest take away was realizing that things don’t always go as one expects them to. Stay focused and have confidence in the team to solve the issues.

Again, thanks to all who helped with the drill.