Welcome to the New Year!
I am looking forward to a productive year, both training- and preparation-wise. As you all know, we are currently fundraising for a communications trailer project. Between the hard work of the trailer committee and the support of our community, I am expecting a successful push for funding. Toward the end of this month we can steer that project toward the planning and building stage. If you haven’t had the opportunity yet, please consider contributing as you are able to the trailer project.
The drilling and training prospects for this year are already in process. Eli W7ELI will be coordinating with our partners in County emergency management to ensure that we have the most effective training regime possible. Our first training will be at this month’s general membership meeting, with a drill to follow on February 7. Overall, the goal of our activities this year is to reinforce our current operating skills, and grow our ability to operate the Winlink system. Let’s start the year off with a bang. I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the January general membership meeting.
Local ham Garrett Dow KD6KPC has recently completed a new online repeater book. He was frustrated by the ARRL Repeater Book being out of date before it was even published.
This is a living document and he has recruited hams throughout the country to insure that the information is kept up to date. You can access it at www.repeaterbook.com. The site has many really cool features including an app for your phone or tablet. Registration is free and gives you access to even more features.
Oregon ARES/RACES has a new website and email system that is open to all. To find out what is happening on a statewide basis and get news on training opportunities, SETs, the Oregon ARES Digital Network, the annual leadership meeting, administrative policies, and to look at the photo gallery, just check out www.oregonaresraces.org.
We now have nearly 100 people registered from all over the state. From La Grande to Astoria, south to the California border, and east to Burns, ARES members statewide are getting connected and you’re invited! Just register on the website and sign up for ARES Email. Welcome aboard!
John Core KX7YT
Join me in welcoming our newest members, Allan KG7EMU, Dylan W7KEF, and Jason KD7YNA. We are looking forward to their participation and Eli W7ELI and I will be working with them to get them certified.
The membership forms update has been moved to January. I will work with John K7TY to produce a survey type form so we do not require quite as much information to be repeated. We want to make sure we have the most current info for our records.
Thanks to all for a great year for MCARES! I am looking forward to 2015 and to continue to hone our operating skills. It feels like we are making huge strides and your support and participation are the reasons why we continue to grow and evolve to be one of the best ARES units in the state.
Best of Holiday Wishes to everyone!
Thanks to the 31 people who responded to our survey. We appreciate all the positive feedback and the suggestions for improvement. The anonymous responders who indicated you wanted to get more involved or to help out in various ways need to let us know who you are. We welcome your help and participation.
In response to your survey comments, we will have more hands-on workshop type training at our monthly meetings in 2015. We will also be much more visible on social media with Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter. For those of you who are not into social media, you will still get all the information you need from email, the website, the newsletter, and attending monthly meetings.
Looking forward to and wishing you all a fabulous new year!
Happy holidays to all! As we transition to a new calendar year, I am looking forward to another productive operating year with all of you. On December 14, the leadership team took an entire Sunday to review the past year and prepare for the next. Thanks to all those who put in the effort to ensure our success. I am happy to report that Brian KE7QPV will be taking over website duties with Robert WX7TEX assisting with social media efforts. Thanks to Bruce N4PDX for setting up and caretaking our online presence these past few years, and let’s all make sure to support Brian and Robert in creating content for our continuing online presence.
On January 3, we will be conducting this year’s EC’s Cup. The gist of this exercise is to use your portable/mobile VHF operating skills to collect and report clues while searching for me in inner SE Portland. I’ll be hiding rain or shine, so prep for the weather and come out and chase me down. As was the case last year, I’ll be providing a personalized trophy to the winner.
We are almost half of the way through our trailer fundraising effort. I am so impressed with the trailer committee’s efforts and results that it makes me proud to be a member of Multnomah County ARES. Please forward the short link (http://bit.ly/multnomahares) to anyone whom you think might be interested, and let’s finish the fundraising with a bang, so that we can get to the building and operating of this resource!
The fundraising team reports a total of about $3500 in cash and equipment donations so far. Many local business and corporate contacts have been made. These require patience for a response but we are hopeful. Many thanks to those members who have contributed!
Multnomah County Emergency Management is submitting a request for Citizen Corps grant money for equipment. Thanks to Stevie Bullock for his hard work in the grant process!
The raffle at the January 22 ARES meeting will be an opportunity for everyone to win one of the following:
- Kenwood 2 meter 50 watt transceiver
- Icom 2 meter 50 watt transceiver
- Portable J pole dual band antenna with tripod
- $25 gift card
- 2 nights at a 3 bedroom vacation rental near Manzanita
All proceeds will go towards the trailer project. Tickets will be available for purchase for $5 each at the meeting.
If you would like to contribute to the Trailer Project, you can do so online at or send a check to:
Portland Amateur Radio Club
PO Box 33454
Portland, OR 97292
All donations are tax deductible and would be much appreciated to fund this great resource! Every little bit helps!
It is time once again to determine who is the best radio operator in Multnomah County. Brian KE7QPV is the reigning EC’s Cup Champion, so let’s all get ready to knock him off his perch. Last year we had a VHF Contest, this year I want us to get up and moving to burn off some Holiday cookies.
On Saturday, January 3, we will conduct a geo-cache man-hunt throughout inner SE Portland for our illustrious EC. Details are in the MCARES 2015 EC’s Cup Drill Guide. All AROs are welcome. You’ll need a 2m radio and GPS (phone will do fine). This will be an active event, catch the EC if you can.
In addition, we are still collecting for the Multnomah trailer project. Although a donation is not required to participate, it would certainly be accepted. Details on that project can be found here.
The idea behind this event is to buff our map reading and tactical radio skills. This is a great opportunity for NET folks to try to claim operator supremacy, so I’m going to need ARES to represent! As usual, engraved swag to the winner courtesy of N9VCU.
Look forward to seeing you there,
Nathan Hersey, N9VCU
Multnomah County ARES Emergency Coordinator
PGE operated a net at 8 and 10 PM on 444.675 (PL 100) for checkins and to gather information on weather conditions, power outages, and down power lines. Nate informed us all of this via email. John KG7JKN gave us this: “Glad I saw this update. I was able to check in and actually get some useful information while I was deployed as a NET to keep folks away from a downed power line. Thanks for keeping the information flowing!”
Michael AE7XP also had a downed power line in his neighborhood and could not get through to PGE as their phones were overloaded. And he learned first-hand the limitations of HTs. He couldn’t hit the PGE net. So he called Deb KK7DEB who relayed his info to PGE on the net and arranged for PGE to call Michael for details. ARES, NETs and PGE all working together to get things done. Way to Go!
The Multnomah County Amateur Radio Service, in partnership with the Portland Amateur Radio Club (PARC) has kicked off a two month fundraising campaign to build a communications trailer to be used for neighborhood-level communications in the event of a major regional incident.
Please visit the fundraiser website to learn more about the project and see how you can help!
