News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2022-11-13

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.

News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2022-10-18

The October 27 MCARES meeting will be online using Zoom. We will send the link for the meeting a few days before the meeting. Non-members can contact Leadership [at] MultnomahARES [dot] org to receive a link to the meeting. Dylan N4LYD will be presenting “Forms and Logging”.

A reminder that the November MCARES meeting will be one week earlier because of the Thanksgiving holiday – that means November 17. This meeting will likely be in person at PF&R Station #2. Jeff WX7OR will be presenting “Winlink – Beyond the basics”.

The fall statewide ARES SET is coming soon on Saturday, October 29. The guidance from the state ARES folks was rather late so our county plan is still being worked on. We hope to have the drill guide out to you later this week. Stay tuned.

We are sad to announce that Rachel KI7NMB is stepping down as our net manager. She has done a fantastic job and she will be missed for sure! Our sincere thanks to Rachel for her many years of service.

News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2022-09-11

We are very pleased to announce that our September 22 membership meeting/training will be in person at Portland Fire & Rescue Training Center (4800 NE 122nd Ave). After over two years it will be great to meet again live! John KI7LYP will be demonstrating how to assemble Anderson Power Pole connectors and SO239/PL259 coax connectors, a needed skill for every ham radio operator. We hope you can join us. We encourage you to wear a mask if it makes you feel more comfortable however there are no mask requirements at this time.

It was great to see so many of you at the August go-kit BBQ at Sellwood Park. The raffle was a huge success and added about $1200 to our bank account. The funds raised every year help us pay for insurance and license fees for both of our trailers, food and drinks for the BBQ, swag for our annual GPS Food Drive and equipment and propane for both trailers and go-kits. This year the red “Beast Trailer” is undergoing a complete overhaul to be turned into an operating station for our west side radio operations. The added funds will help purchase equipment for the Beast.

Stay tuned for news about the ARES Fall Statewide SET (simulated emergency test). The plan is still being worked on and I hear it will be in late October.

News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2022-08-15

Thanks to our 42 members who joined in the “Sizzling Summer Setup” field exercise! Team Leaders report that we all learned a lot and fun was had by everyone. The team go kits were put to use as cross-band repeaters and digipeater,s and everyone had a chance to practice these skills. It was great to be out in the park on a beautiful summer morning with our fellow team members.

Our August 25 meeting is the annual BBQ, go kit show-and-tell, and raffle drawing. Bring your go kit and show others your unique design. If you are thinking about building a kit, this is the best place to see what others have done and get ideas. Burgers, hot dogs, and cold drinks will be provided, and feel free to bring a picnic item to share if you would like. We hope you can join us at Sellwood Park!

We will do the raffle drawing (Donation/Prize Extravaganza) at the BBQ so there is still time to get your tickets. Watch your email for the signup form and tickets will also be on sale at the picnic. This is our annual fundraising event and helps us pay for the BBQ food and needed expenses during the coming year.

News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2022-07-17

I hope you are enjoying our somewhat mellow summer weather. No massive extreme weather so far is certainly good news. Let’s hope we can continue on this path.

We are working on our annual fund raising raffle as we collect donations from our members. You should be seeing more about this soon.

We have scheduled our August field exercise for the morning of Saturday the 13th . We will have each of our teams out with their team go kit practicing set up and learning the process of cross-band repeating and digipeating. Stay tuned for more information as we work on the drill plan.

Field Day was really fun up at Larch Mt. The weather was great and we had a really good antenna up high in the trees. A few of our members made the trek up the hill and Robert Quinn, our Multnomah County Emergency Management liaison, rode his bike up from Corbett. Way to go Robert!

The Hoodview Amateur Radio Club had several members onsite and we all enjoyed meeting new folks. Unfortunately the HF bands were not very friendly and our contacts were mostly on the western side of the US and Canada.

Field Day 2022 – Next Weekend!

by Adam KF7LJH on 2022-06-19

Hello Multnomah County ARES Members,

This coming weekend is the ARRL Field Day, June 25 and 26!! If you’re not familiar with Field Day, it’s one of the most fun ARRL events of the year. Hams all over the world gather outdoors to participate in a fun HF/VHF contest, hang out with other hams, and perform outreach to the public. For many of us, it was the first time we ever got on the air!

This year, Multnomah ARES will be joining the Hoodview Amateur Radio Club‘s annual Field Day celebration. They will be at Larch Mountain again this year and we’re looking forward to blasting some radio waves with them up there. If you haven’t been to Larch Mountain, it’s beautiful. The Sherrard Point trail is short but fun, and leads to a pretty amazing viewpoint.

Here’s a google maps link to Larch Mountain with directions. We’ll be set up in the parking lot outside the Larch Mountain Trail trailhead.

The Field Day contest starts at 11 AM, Saturday the 25th and runs through 11 AM Sunday the 26th. The MCARES trailer will be arriving on site around 9:00 AM on the 25th and will remain there through the event. If you’d like to get some great field experience and help the Hoodview team raise a few antennas, plan to arrive around 9 AM. All are welcome – and encouraged – to come operate, make some contacts, and hang out!

We’re having a Potluck Saturday night!!! Deb will be bringing her incredible Field Day Spaghetti – a perennial favorite! Please feel free to bring a dish and enjoy some great company and a pleasant evening.

We hope you can find the time to visit next weekend even if it’s just for a little bit during the day. It’s been too long since we’ve been able to meet up face to face (in small groups). If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thank you! Have a great week!

Deb KK7DEB, Adam KF7LJH, and Carrie K7CAC

News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2022-06-14

The June 23 monthly meeting will be online via Zoom. Our guest speaker, David Okrent in Seattle, will be presenting “Propagation and the Ionosphere” which we hope will be useful a few days before Field Day.

The GPS Food Drive was another fun event this year. We donated 310 pounds of food to the local SnowCap food bank and they were extremely appreciative. Thank you all for participating on an especially cold and wet Sunday in June. It was great to have 24 of our members involved and always great to see everyone in person.

Field Day 2022 is Saturday, June 25 and Sunday, June 26. We will be joining Hoodview Amateur Radio Club at Larch Mountain just east of Corbett. The MCARES trailer will be there and we hope you will join us for some HF fun. GPS coordinates are 45.528405, -122.085900.

Our other next adventure is the Mt. Hood 50 marathon on July 9 and 10. It looks like we have all the positions filled and we are looking forward to some better weather and a new experience for our members. This is our first time organizing this type of event. Carrie and Adam have done a great job and will be recapping the event at our July 28 meeting.

News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2022-05-17

The May 26 monthly meeting will be online via Zoom. The recent rise in covid-19 cases in Multnomah County has us all concerned so caution is the best policy at this time.

Thanks to all who have signed up to help with Walk MS this Saturday. It looks like the weather is taking a turn for the better and it should be a fun and dry event.

Planning is underway for the “3rd annual GPS Food Drive-Drive.” The date was changed to Sunday, June 12 to avoid conflict with the Rose Festival Grand Floral parade. Stay tuned and save the date; there will be more information coming your way soon.

We bid farewell and a safe journey to Matthew AF7PV as he moves to inactive status. He will be biking from the east coast to the west coast this summer and then will be off to England this fall. We hope he lands back in the Portland area someday.

News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2022-04-15

The April monthly meeting will be online via Zoom. We are planning for the May meeting to be in person at Portland Fire station 2 training center. After two long years it will be great to meet in person again! Stay tuned as these plans are somewhat fluid as we monitor the COVID situation.

The safety of our members is always our highest priority. We have added new speakers to some of our meetings and we will be back on Zoom for the June meeting. We have scheduled David W7DAO, who is located in Seattle, to talk about propagation and the ionosphere. This is great subject matter prior to Field Day the following weekend.

Spring and Summer MCARES activities are taking shape with WALK MS on May 21 and the new Mt. Hood ultra-marathon on July 8 and 9. (Members: Check your email for the sign up.) We have also scheduled our annual GPS Food Drive for June 11. Unfortunately the spring statewide ARES SET (Simulated Emergency Test) has been canceled.

Several of our members have been asking for MCARES apparel such as t-shirts, polos, sweatshirts, and callsign name badges. We are working with our suppliers on updating prices and will be offering an online order form very soon.

News from Around the County

by Deb KK7DEB on 2022-03-14

It is certainly fantastic to see the number of COVID-19 cases dropping in Oregon. The indoor mask mandate has been lifted and we are looking into meeting in person sometime soon. We have scheduled a few speakers for our monthly meetings who live far away and only do their presentations online so we will need to take that into consideration as we proceed. Stay tuned!

The Saturday SSTV exercise went very well and many great pictures were sent in. Thanks to everyone who participated. We had 37 members willing to spend a few hours to help with this drill. This is one of the many skills that makes ham radio so much fun as there is a lot more that we can do than just talk on the radio. If you have not yet had a chance to look into Slow Scan TV you should talk with your team leader for a demonstration and ask what equipment is needed. All of our MCARES go kits have the needed components.

The Walk MS volunteer sign up form has a whopping 27 members signed up so far. We appreciate that you are so willing to help out with this public service event. May 21 is a ways off so we will keep you updated on the progress of this event.

I think Spring is my favorite time of year as we see the plants and trees come back to life after a cold and gray winter. The return of the warm sunshine is especially appreciated by my 2 cats who just love to bask in the rays coming through the windows. With COVID-19 winding down it feels like Spring takes on a new meaning.