Category: News

  • Digital Modes Training Net

    A new recurring net has been created with the goal of exploring some digital modes that should be useful for emergency communications. We’re using UHF and we’re initially focusing on SSTV (slow scan television) for image transfer and Fldigi for keyboard-to-keyboard text-based conversation. The net meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 8:00pm on the 443.300 MHz repeater, which requires a 100.0 Hz tone.

    A deluxe rig for both SSTV and Fldigi would include a laptop with an external sound card (such as the popular SignaLink USB sound card) cabled to your 70cm radio, but simpler setups can also work. For instance, there’s an SSTV program for the iPhone that can produce the right tones from the speaker, which you could hold close to your radio’s microphone. SSTV transmissions can then be decoded by holding your phone’s microphone close to your radio’s speaker. There are Fldigi apps available for Android, but we haven’t seen one for iOS.

    This net is totally about troubleshooting and practice, so feel free to join even if you’ve never used these modes before and you aren’t sure whether your rig will work. Matthew AF7PV is the net manager, and questions about the net may be directed to him at digitalnetmanager [at] multnomahares [dot] org. Links to useful software can be found on the Digital Net page.

  • Membership News

    Welcome to David KC7YOE and Bert WA7HI who have reactivated their membership. We had six of our new members at the basics workshop on May 14 and they will return on May 22 to complete their ARRO certification. Thanks to Eli W7ELI for arranging and teaching this very important training.

    Congratulations to Brian KE7QPV, Matthew AF7PV, Marino KG7EMV, Joel N7LF, Steve W7SRH, Eli W7ELI, Doug KG7MJJ, Deb KK7DEB, and Bert WA7HI who have all completed their Packet RMS Radio Operator certification. A big thanks to Adam KF7LJH for arranging this session on May 15 and for all his hard work in putting together this new aspect of our training program. It is hoped that many more of our members will seek this certification as RMS/Winlink is in great demand and sometimes preferred over voice.

  • Multnomah County ARES Supports Portland Public Schools

    Portland Public Schools (PPS) is in the process of forming a ham radio club. Molly Emmons, the emergency preparedness manager for PPS, has requested that MCARES provide consultation to the group as they put their new organization together. Initially, the membership will be made up of faculty and staff. Once things are up and running, students will be encouraged to participate. This may lead to incorporating ham technology into the curriculum at some point in the future.

    It is envisioned that one of the major benefits of forming this club will be to have AROs located in school facilities all across the district. This could have a huge impact on communication connectivity during times of extreme emergency.

    Steve Konrad AF7DD and Steve Hall W7SRH made a presentation to 35 faculty of the PPS on April 27 at the club’s initial organizational meeting. Attendees were introduced to ARES involvement in emergency communications and community service activities. Steve Konrad is helping Molly coordinate a study process for those interested in becoming licensed which will culminate in a test session scheduled for June 11.

    PPS is also partnering with Multnomah County government and Portland Bureau of Emergency Management regarding other preparedness efforts.

    PPS is a Pre K-12 district with an enrollment of approximately 48,500 students and 3,000 teachers. About 85 schools and 50 special needs sites are maintained within the district.

  • News from Around the County

    The components for two digital go-kits for Multnomah County ARES have been purchased and the items are trickling in. Two 120 Watt portable solar panels are also on their way. Our thanks to Chris Voss and Alice Busch for making this happen! These kits will add an exciting new digital capacity to our West Side Field Relay Team and future East Side Field Relay Team. We are fortunate to have such great support from our Multnomah County Emergency Management Leadership!

    The kits will include:

    • a Kenwood D710GA radio with built in TNC,
    • Power supply,
    • SignaLink USB,
    • Small Laptop computer,
    • Portable mast kit with antenna and coax,
    • Mag-mount antenna,
    • Digital camera,
    • and a yellow Pelican case.

    Robert WX5TEX, our resident master kit builder, will assemble all the parts into an amazing little kit for grab-and-go deployment.

    The City of Gresham has received the laptops for RMS/Winlink connections to the EOC and five fire stations. RMS Express has been installed and Robert is working on the needed wiring to make this happen. All Gresham team members should brush up on their skills and training. Testing of the equipment will occur sometime this summer.

    The MCARES Mobile Communications Unit (trailer) will be going to Seaside for all to see at the Sea-Pac Ham Convention June 3, 4, and 5. If you are going to Sea-Pac please stop by for a closer look; the trailer will be located across the street from the main entrance. It is our hope that we can recruit new members at Sea-Pac. Contact Steve at W7SRH [at] ARRL [dot] net if you can staff the trailer for a few hours to talk up MCARES.

    The trailer has been granted a club callsign and we are waiting for approval of the vanity callsign, N7MCU.

    The trailer is fully functional, however many small details are still being worked on. The next phase is exterior graphics and then comes training, training, and more training.

    Cascadia Rising is June 7, 8, 9, and 10. There are a few 4-1⁄2 hour shifts that still need to be staffed. If you are able to lend a hand contact Deb KK7DEB at dprovo [at] yahoo [dot] com. We will be operating at the County ECC, PBEM ECC and the Mobile Comms Unit (Trailer). Operations will be from 8:00 AM until 4:30 PM Tuesday through Friday.

  • Membership News

    Please join me in welcoming our newest members, Joel N7LF, Katherine KQ7TBR, Christopher K7VEG, Martha KG7LZC, and Nye KI7CHE.

    Thanks to all our members who are actively promoting ARES membership. We are well on our way to our goal of adding 30 new members this year.

  • Outreach News

    On Thursday April 7, Deb KK7DEB, Robert W5TEX, and Steve W7SRH set up shop at Warner Pacific College as part of an outreach effort. We partnered with PBEM NET. We were invited by a student group as part of a class project which focused on preparedness. Some interest was also expressed on the part of the College to set up a basic VHF communication station. We operated VHF, D-Star via DVAP, and Winlink. While this was not a heavily attended event, there were several very interested students and it was an opportunity to discuss future comms plans with campus security. Thanks to Julie W7OW at Lewis and Clark College for making contact with our station during the event.

    We are in talks with Jeremy at PBEM NET about partnering on a recruiting effort to all hams in Multnomah County. PBEM has agreed in principle to provide funds for a post-card mailing inviting those interested to learn more about the NET program and Multnomah County ARES. There are about 2,500 licensed HAMS in the County.

    Outreach opportunities: You received an email from me recently about forming an Outreach Team. Thanks to those who have responded. If you are interested in joining this team, send me an email at hallstr [at] hotmail [dot] com.

  • Trailer Project Update

    The ARES Trailer interior is finally complete! Yet to be completed is the exterior graphics. Adam KF7LJH and I have had it out the last two weekends to test the equipment and set up. We are working out a few bugs, but for the most part all systems are good to go.

    Last weekend Robert WX5TEX, Steve W7SRH, John KF7ZWX, Tom KE7JTM, Adam and I operated at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. We registered with ARRL as an NPOTA (National Parks On The Air) station with event call W7A. We made over 75 contacts including the Czech Republic, Manitoba and Florida on 20 meters. We had several people stop by to see what we were about including a Cub Scout troop. Each scout got on the air and they were excited to learn about amateur radio technology. It was a great opportunity for outreach, education and recruitment. This was our last testing event and we are ready for full activation in the SET this weekend.

    Stay tuned for our trailer completion celebration event. Date and details to be arranged.

  • Training & Certification News

    Both Adam KF7LJH and John K7TY have been preparing for our next general meeting. The topic for April is Winlink: Packet, Pactor, P2P, attaching files, templates, etc.

    The WinLink Webinar for those of you who need assistance in installing and configuring the WinLink software on your computer, (no radio or TNC required) will be on Thursday, May 5.

    MCARES has been busy creating and delivering opportunities for our membership to improve skills and knowledge. Some items under consideration include adding value to our weekly net meetings, new member orientations at the beginning of our monthly general meetings, and broadening our reach in the community.

    Our weekly nets now include a brief topic of interest to ARO’s. These are 8-10 minute “knowledge drops” after all checkins and before we close out the net. We had Jeff Sperley discuss the MARS system recently. Other future topics include how the Forest Service operates in emergencies, how a hospital participates in relaying communications in an event, and basic radio operation. If you have ideas that you would like to see addressed please send me an email with a topic. If you have something you are passionate about and are interested in bringing that topic to the net, please contact me.

    We have a standing meeting at 6:30 PM (before our general meeting starting at 7:00 PM) for all new or renewing members. We are here to answer questions and solve problems for all associate members as well.

    Both Steve W7SRH and I have been working with Portland Public Schools to begin a new ham club. There will be an initial meeting on April 17 to introduce MCARES, to introduce membership, and also to help them get started with their first licensing event. See me with your training needs or ideas at our next monthly general meeting on Thursday, April 28 or email me at training [at] multnomahares [dot] org.

  • From the EC’s Desk

    In ARES we use many digital forms of communication. Primarily we use Winlink with packet TNCs, of course, to exchange email over radio. Soon (with this month’s training at our regular meeting) we will start to introduce sound card modes to our operations, using a digital radio interface and programs like MMSSTV and Fldigi to send text and images that way.

    But we get a lot of questions about “digital voice” these days. Which technology is MCARES going to pick from D-STAR, DMR, Fusion, etc. and recommend to the membership? The short answer: none at this time.

    The MCARES leadership team has made the decision not to incorporate any of the digital voice modes into ARES operations at this time, nor formally recommend any to our membership.

    The current Multnomah ARES standard for voice is analog and will remain so for the foreseeable future. We came to this decision after reviewing the results of the membership survey, speaking with local repeater operators, and discussions internally with some of our technically minded members. Some of the key factors in the decision included:

    • The most important characteristic of ARES radio operations is compatibility; any certified ham radio should work in an incident.
    • Many of the advanced features of digital modes are repeater-dependent.
    • No huge benefit to digital voice over analog voice on simplex (although digital data modes do hold future promise).
    • No critical mass: The few MCARES members with digital radios are using pretty much all of the available technologies.
    • A number of strong opinions: Some members feel strongly about “their” choice, and we’ve got at least one of those for each digital technology. Making a decision is going to be a little bloody.

    In summary, the leadership team doesn’t feel the new digital voice modes provide enough value to start integrating them into our regular operations yet or encouraging their adoption by the membership. But we encourage all members to explore and experiment with these digital voice modes because the day we’ll want to start leveraging them is not too far ahead of us.

    We do note that Yaesu Fusion has by far the largest installed base of repeaters in the area. D-Star has the largest base of radios, however. And while the DMR contingent is growing, it’s got the smallest level of adoption of all the ham radio digital modes at the moment.

    Thanks to all those who provided feedback during this decision process, and for your understanding as we work through technical and operational issues such as these.

  • Lewis & Clark Team News

    Lewis & Clark College stood by for Steve W7SRH at Warner Pacific College last week, checking in and monitoring MC 2. Helen KE7SCS will be firing up the station for the Oregon State ARES Spring SET, which is scheduled for Friday, April 22 and Saturday April 23. The college will participate on Friday starting at 1300 hrs.