The speaker at our June 6 meeting was scheduled to be Veronica Verde, External Affairs Officer for FEMA Region 9. Ms. Verde travelled to Hawai’i to deal with a record-breaking flooding event in April. And now, thanks to the eruption of Kilauea, her assignment has been extended. We look forward to talking with Ms. Verde at some future point after the wrath of Madam Pele has subsided.
In the meantime, we will use our June meeting to discuss Field Day (June 23-24) and other upcoming activities. We will return to our traditional meeting location at the SPFD Emergency Operations Center, 817 Mound Avenue, at 7:30pm. See you there.
Field Day is ham radio’s open house. During this annual event, amateur radio operators set up temporary stations in public locations to demonstrate our hobby. As the American Radio Relay League phrases it, Field Day is an opportunity to explain radio’s “science, skill and service to our communities and our nation.”
This year SPARC is proud to join with the Pasadena, Caltech and JPL Radio Clubs to sponsor a station at Art Center College of Design. The station will operate from 11am on Saturday June 23 until 11am Sunday June 24. The address is 1700 Lida Street, Pasadena, 91103. Below is a flyer for the event put together by the PRC (click for PDF version).
Field Day is always a fun and family-friendly event, a perfect opportunity to see experienced operators in action, learn about radio gear, and even get on the air yourself. To learn more about Field Day, read this ARRL guide. Stop by and say hello!
Just under seventy people attended our monthly meeting on May 2 and heard a presentation by Dr. John Vidale, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center. Dr. Vidale explained the science of earthquake detection and the mechanics of ShakeAlert, the west coast’s early-warning system. ShakeAlert is a network of thousands of sensors constantly monitoring ground motion. It is already operational although its organizers would like to see it expanded as soon as funding is available. The system was in the news six days after our meeting thanks to a quake in the Gorgonio Knot area north of Cabazon. Rong-Gong Lin II reported in the LA Times that USGS scientists in Pasadena — about 80 miles from the epicenter — received twenty-six seconds of warning before the shaking arrived. (For more on the Gorgonio Knot earthquake, click here.)
SPARC extends its thanks to Dr. Vidale for his time and to all the guests who asked such interesting and engaging questions!
Please join us on Wednesday, May 2 at 7:30pm for a special presentation by John Vidale, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center at USC. He will discuss the capabilities of the Earthquake Early Warning System, what it can and cannot do. Anticipating a larger-than-usual crowd, our meeting will be in the South Pasadena Library Community Room at 1115 El Centro St. rather than our normal location at the fire department.
John Vidale has been a professor at USC and director of the Southern California Earthquake Center since 2017. He earned his PhD from Caltech, worked for UC Santa Cruz and the USGS in Menlo Park, then taught at UCLA for a decade. Prior to taking his current position, he was a Professor at the University of Washington, Director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, and the Washington State Seismologist.
We hope to see you at the library for this exciting opportunity to hear from one of our region’s top seismic experts. (Community Room photo via SouthPasadenan.com)
We had a full house at tonight’s monthly SPARC meeting, which featured two informative presentations.
Understanding digital radio
Tim WA0PTC explained the pros and cons of the three major digital radio modes: D-STAR, C4FM/Fusion and DMR. Eric K6EJC added that, based on the volume of business he sees at Ham Radio Outlet, DMR growth has soared in the past two years. Bob WB6YJJ and Rick KI6ZKM demonstrated the vocal clarity of Fusion using their handhelds.
How hams help B2V run smoothly
Oliver K6OLI reported on his service as a volunteer at the annual Baker to Vegas relay race — as he put it, “a near Death Valley experience.” With no cell service for huge stretches of the race, amateur radio is vital to the safety of over 8,000 runners, guests, family members and support staff.
Example mesh deployment
B2V also presented an opportunity to test mesh networking capabilities. Thanks to a portable Verizon satellite link, Oliver and his team were able to connect their laptops and VoIP phones to the regional mesh networks in Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre. This has exciting implications for the future of emergency communications since mesh go kits are fairly inexpensive and extremely portable.
Our May 2 meeting is scheduled to feature John Vidale, Director of the Southern California Earthquake Center. On June 6 our guest will be an administrator from our local FEMA district. Hope to see you there — any changes will be posted on SouthPasRadio.org. 73!
Los Angeles Times quake reporter Rong-Gong Lin II is back with an epic article headlined “The ‘Nightmare’ California Flood More Dangerous Than a Huge Earthquake.” Lin describes a scenario that USGS scientists have named the ARkStorm or “Atmospheric River 1,000-year Storm.” In summary, it would be bad. He uses the phrase “inland sea.” Given that this model is a “1,000-year storm,” you probably don’t need to run out and buy a raft, but you may be tempted.
One reader comment promoted by the Times editors links to a service called MyHazards hosted by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Once you input your address, the service tells you what hazards may impact your home, including fire, flood, tsunami and earthquake. Take a look, and then take action to prepare for an emergency. Because there are plenty of scenarios short of a 1,000-year storm that could disrupt your community.
If you’ve been waiting for an entry level class to earn your ham ticket (your FCC amateur radio license), consider this one from Mark Seigel W6MES. Mark is a member of the PRC and provides printing services for their monthly newsletter.
When: April 5, 2018 – May 24, 2018
7 weeks of instruction
8th week – FCC test by licensed examiners
Where: 10034 Commerce Ave, Tujunga, CA
What you will need: ARRL Radio License Manual – 2nd or 3rd edition
Pencil and paper
Contact info: Mark Seigel W6MES – licensed instructor for 18 years mark.seigel@gmail.com – put “HAM RADIO” in the subject
818‐430‐5244
SPARC’s own Oliver Dully K6OLI will be leading a series of training sessions at our ARES Northeast activity days, held the last Saturday of the month at Huntington Hospital. The goal is to practice emergency communications skills. If you have never had proper training or you would like a better understanding of how to put your ham skills to use, visit the first session on February 24. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Oliver or Gary Wong W6GSW at the email addresses on the flyer below.
The short answer: Yes, it is legal to operate your radio in the car.
Long answer: Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law AB-1222, which clarifies that operating mobile is still legal. Hams in California had been concerned about a law passed last year that seemed to ban operating amateur radios in cars. The well-intentioned law, AB-1785, was meant to cut down on accidents and deaths from distracted driving, a growing problem. The target of the law was, obviously, driving while using mobile phones. But the language in AB-1785 was broad and could have been interpreted to ban ham radio use as well.
AB-1222, signed on September 26, removed the terms “specialized mobile radio device” and “two way messaging device” as prohibited devices.
Here is a quote from the Assembly Transportation Committee bill analysis: “The author believes AB 1785 inadvertently included devices that were not intended to be included in the wider cellphone ban. Devices such as two-way radios functioning on business band or civilian band (CB) radios which have a more limited scope of functions, and thus, a more limited potential for distracting a driver. … According to guidance issued by the California Highway Patrol, a radio installed and mounted in a vehicle with a wired hand microphone, for example, business band or CB radio, is not considered to be wireless communication device, nor is it considered a specialized mobile radio device, and therefore not subject to enforcement under AB 1785.”
Many thanks to the local ARRL chapters who reached out to their state representatives and made sure this important clarification was passed. The quote above was taken from a useful post about AB-1222 by Andrew Silvester KC6O of the Sacramento Valley chapter. (They also have a post about how pot grow lights interfere with ham radio because, you know, Northern California.)
Allen Wolff, KC7O explains his antenna connector clip on September 6, 2017.
Our thanks to Allen Wolff, KC7O for once again sharing his expertise with SPARC. At our September 6 meeting, Allen spoke about building a 2m J-Pole antenna. He explained the pros and cons of various plans available on the Internet and how he settled on a design that balances performance with simplicity. We also had a quick refresher on soldering, an essential skill for antenna building. Allen will lend us his story sticks — boards marked to show the proper lengths of copper pipe in the antenna design — when we hold a club build later this year.
If you are interested in building a J-Pole for 2m operation, contact us before September 29. We plan to have a group build over two sessions in October. As Allen discussed, making your own antenna from scratch is a great way to learn about radio physics — and you get a shiny “copper cactus” to show off.
