Welcome to our newest member, Ken W7KEO. He will be joining the PBEM ECC Team. Welcome back to Cyd AC1CA and Mykl K1ZAM.
Please remember to send me any changes in your contact information and any new ICS training certificates.
Hello Fellow ARES Members,
Kudos to Robert WX5TEX and John KD7BCY for holding their first Tech license class earlier this month. Sixteen new hams emerged on the test day. A big Thanks to the CARS group for supplying the VEs for the exam.
I hope those of you who attended the PBEM radio tour on May 10 had a good time. I was very happy to see so many new faces. I think this event gives all of us a great overview of the ham radio equipment at our served agencies.
The Walk MS event was a huge success. Thanks to Adam, Deb, Robert, and Garrett for organizing and running the event and to Mark McKay and PBEM for the use of the comms trailer. Thanks to all of you who participated and helped the many new hams with this valuable training.
The next big ARES public service event is the Disaster Relief Trials on July 19. These guys and their cargo bikes are really fun to watch. I hope you can come out and help provide communications for this one. If you are interested, send me an email at N9VCU [at] arrl [dot] net.
I am thrilled with the meeting attendance. We have had over 40 at every meeting this year! At the same time, our weekly net participation is dwindling. Try to get on the net on Wednesday evenings for some airtime. The QST, comments, and questions call is your time to bring up any question or topic for discussion. You can also arrange a contact for a chat after the net.
Hope to see you at the May 22 meeting and hear you on the net every Wednesday.
Garrett AF7RF was the star of the show for the April meeting. He did a great presentation on antennas and also took pictures and back ground check releases so that he can distribute ARES/RACES ID Cards at the May meeting. (Do I hear cheering?)
Our meeting this month will be a Go Kit show and tell in the parking lot (weather permitting). If the weather is horrible, we will make do inside. Everyone is invited to bring their personal survival go kits and/or radio go kits to show. Those who need to be checked off for their certificates can snag someone from leadership. This is a fun night to chat, share, and get some really good ideas to enhance your own kits.
Robert WX5TEX is working on the task list for the HF track certification. For members with a general or extra license, this will be a voluntary track to add on to your ARRO certification. Most of our served agencies have HF capability so HF operators are needed.
When we joined the Corbett NERT team in 2005, the group was in desperate need of ham radio operators. We signed up with the Clark County Amateur Radio Club for technician class. We walked out of the exam with our PASS slips and wondered, “Now what?” Off we went to HRO pleading total ignorance of all things electronic but professing an interest in emergency communications. The very patient salesman recommended a Yaesu VX6R HT. We each bought one and they turned out to be a good choice.
The CCARC put us to work right away, partnering us with an experienced ham, Jack (now a silent key) for the Diabetes Walk. We quickly learned that a rubber ducky antenna doesn’t get very far, so back to HRO for a quarter-wave for the HTs and a mag mount for the car.
The only ham we knew was our friend Jerry who lives on San Juan Island. A little experimenting with linked repeaters and we were talking almost to Canada! We scanned the two meter band listening to anything we could find and stumbled on the Northwest Traffic and Training Net. We listened a long time and learned the basics of message handling, then finally got up the courage to check in and try sending a message to Jerry. Back to HRO. 5 watts even with a better antenna still wouldn’t get us out of Corbett. But 50 watts did! We grew up as hams on the NTTN.
However, we still wanted to get into emergency communications. We went to a couple of Multnomah County ARES meetings but there were only three or four other folks in attendance and there was no apparent training going on. At the EmComm Conference in Seattle we met David Kidd KA7OZO, then EC for Clackamas County and District 1 EC. He encouraged us to come to Clackamas County and we were again put to work on drills, SETS, and public service events. We upgraded to General class in 2008 so we would be able to operate HF at a served agency if needed.
When Multnomah County got a new EC in 2009, Dave asked us to help rejuvenate the group, so we returned to our home county ARES to see what we could do. Three years ago we moved from Corbett to Fairview and left the NERT team behind. Now all our volunteer time and energy is devoted to Multnomah County ARES. It has been so exciting to be a part of the growth and development of this great team of hams. We are fast becoming the best in the state thanks to the entire leadership team and all of you!
Our newest members are George KK7FM, John KG7JKN, Bob KG7JKQ, and Fletcher WA7FPD. Look for them at the next meeting and give them a hearty welcome.
Congratulations to Eli W7ELI who has been appointed the new Net Manager for the Northwest Oregon Traffic and Training Net (NTTN). Congratulations also to Ann KF7RBV who is a new Volunteer Examiner (VE).
We will be presenting some ARRO and NCFO certificates to several members at next Thursday’s meeting. We take a break from the certification-focused training at this meeting to get a lesson on antennas used in emergency communications in our county, presented by Garrett AF7RF.
The New Member Orientation will be an overview of who we are and what we do, how we fit into the big picture of disaster response, and communication channels within the organization.
Hello Fellow ARES Members,
This letter is going to press the day before Walk MS. We have a record 37 ham radio operators who have volunteered their time for this event; about half are Portland NET AROs. This is the first public service event for many of these volunteers. Our primary goal is to provide a valuable communications service to the organizers of Walk MS.
The MS Society appreciates the service we provide and we appreciate the service and training opportunity. My thanks go to all the volunteers in this event.
The new Multnomah County ARES ID card has final approval from Joe Rizzi, Emergency Manager. Cards will be issued at this month’s meeting by Garrett AF7RF and background check forms and pictures will be obtained where needed.
Garrett reports that the state “Red Card” system may be operational again and he will be working with them regarding the Multnomah County data base.
For me the path down the dark side started with two simultaneous events early in 2010. My grandfather passed and a car ran into my house. Hello? The ramifications of this drama were twofold: I inherited my grandfather’s HF radio and I became very interested in personal preparedness.
With that motivation, I took the technical and general tests simultaneously and joined the Portland NET program. Quickly I learned about ARES and joined this great organization and have been an active member for about three years now. I’m a real ham. I contest, chase DX, am serious about Field Day and do a lot of experimentation with digital modes like HF Digital Voice, JT65, and FM satellite work. I’ve been very active in setting up local RMS gateways at various locations around town and enjoy all the exciting features of modern APRS functionality. I enjoy learning new things, technical things, but I tend to get bored with something after I’ve figured it out. I’m often reading about the next cool thing it seems like…
In real life I’m a long time IT manager, a Portland native, and I live in a nice little house in the Alameda neighborhood. All my family is here in town or up the hill in Sandy (a mixed blessing) and I have 12 nieces and nephews, which seems insane when I say it like that. Christmas is complete chaos these days.
Our newest members are Dan KG7AOX, Richard KF7INQ, and Matthew KD7LAI. Dan is joining the Gresham Team, Richard is joining the County ECC Team, Matthew is joining the Red Cross Team, and Steve AF7DD has moved to the Gresham Team. Welcome to all.
Remember to send me email, address, or phone number changes. Also, if you have pictures, items for sale, or anything else you want to share in the newsletter, please send it to me. You could even send in your bio for the Featured Member Profile…