During our November 2020 meeting, Marty Woll N6VI returned to share part two of his presentation on building a capable home station. The primary topics of the presentation were rig selection and power considerations.
Marty concluded by inviting everyone to participate in the weekly ARRL Southwestern Division Net, Sundays at 8 a.m. on 3.965 MHz. (Note that this net is simulcast on the Papa System.)
For those who were not able to attend, a version of Marty’s presentation, recorded in June 2020, is included at the end of this post.
SPARC member Jeff Liter W2JCL also returned to review how to add custom templates to Winlink. As seen in the below screenshot, you should store custom templates on a Windows computer in the directory C:\RMS Express\Global Folders\Templates
To select a custom template as you compose your message in Winlink Express, you will find it within the Global Templates folder as seen here:
Our October meeting featured not only a presentation on antenna analyzing tools by Allen Wolff KC7O, but also Jeff Liter W2JCL discussing how to use Winlink during emergencies.
Jeff illustrated six Winlink templates that could be useful in an emergency:
South Pasadena Disaster Information Report
USGS Did You Feel It? Report
ARRL Radiogram
GPS/APRS Position Report
SMS Text Message
Severe Weather Report
Jeff created the South Pasadena-specific form himself and has made it available to all SPARC members.
Click here to download a zip file containing the templates for the SouthPas Disaster Information Report, the ARES LAX Quick Check-In form, and the SMS Text Message template.
Once downloaded and unzipped, install the templates in the following Windows directory: C:\RMS Express\Global Folders\Templates
Click here to download Jeff’s full presentation (1.5 Mb PDF).
At this month’s Zoom meeting, Allen Wolff, KC7O presented “Pizza Pan Antenna Test Fixture, VSWR Bridges & NanoVNA.” He explained the differences between SWR bridges, antenna analyzers, network analyzers and the NanoVNA (vector network analyzer). He also illustrated how a humble pizza pan can be used to help test the characteristics of an antenna.
Click here to download Allen’s presentation (5.5 Mb PDF).
The Citrus Belt Amateur Radio Club, W6JBT, will host its annual Route 66 on the Air special event from Saturday, September 12 through Sunday, September 20. For the duration of the event, radio clubs using special 1×1 call signs will operate from locations along “the Mother Road.” The western-most station will be W6A in Santa Monica, run by the Westside Amateur Radio Club. The eastern-most station will be W6U in Wilmington, Illinois run by the Wilmington Area ARC.
Route 66 stencil event on Fair Oaks Avenue in March, 2017. Photo credit: South Pasadena Review
According to the CBARC website, participating stations are likely to be found in the vicinity of the following frequencies:
Hz
80M
40M
30M
20M
17M
15M
12M
10M
6M
CW
3.533
7.033
10.110
14.033
18.080
21.033
24.900
28.033
50.033
SSB
3.866
7.266
N/A
14.266
18.164
21.366
24.966
28.466
50.166
DIGI.
3.573
7.074
10.136
14.074
18.100
21.074
24.915
28.074
N/A
ALL frequencies shown above can be +/- due to QRM and other in use conditions
CBARC states that this is the twenty-first year of the event.
Originally started by the Northern Arizona DX Association, it was a way to allow amateur radio operators a fun way to “Relive the Ride.” They also can relive their own memories of Route 66, and get to celebrate the highway’s rich history in making the U.S. what it is today.
The following message comes from our friend Jim Marr AA6QI:
The family of a recently-deceased ham in eastern Altadena needs to have his tower removed by the end of October. If nobody wants the tower, it will likely end up as scrap metal.
The tower is a Telex/Hy-Gain HG-54HD three-section, crank-up, tilt-over 54 ft tower (21 ft nested). This is a heavy duty tower that supports 16 sq ft of antenna at 60 mph winds fully extended.
The in-ground base is still available from HRO or DX Engineering.
I believe that I have another ham who is willing to help take the tower down and transport it locally.
There are also two CDE Ham-2 rotators and controllers that are in a box (not on the tower).
There are also a number of antennas lying on the ground and lying on the roof of the house, antennas that I don’t recognize, that are also destined for the scrap dealer unless someone wants to rescue them.
If you are interested in these items, use our Contact Us page, and your message will be passed along to Jim.
Our September 2020 meeting featured a presentation by Marty Woll N6VI about how to build a home station. For those who weren’t able to attend, below is a version of Marty’s presentation recorded in May 2020.
Each September, SPARC encourages our community to get ready for emergencies in conjunction with National Preparedness Month. We’ve compiled many our our favorite guides, tips and resources on our Preparing for Emergencies page.
There’s no one “right way” to prepare, but the weekly themes promoted by FEMA can provide some structure. The below text is taken from FEMA’s Ready.gov.
Talk to your friends and family about how you will communicate before, during, and after a disaster. Make sure to update your plan based on the Centers for Disease Control recommendations due to the coronavirus.
Gather supplies that will last for several days after a disaster for everyone living in your home. Don’t forget to consider the unique needs each person or pet may have in case you have to evacuate quickly. Update your kits and supplies based on recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control.
Limit the impacts that disasters have on you and your family. Know the risk of disasters in your area and check your insurance coverage. Learn how to make your home stronger in the face of storms and other common hazards and act fast if you receive a local warning or alert.
Talk to your kids about preparing for emergencies and what to do in case you are separated. Reassure them by providing information about how they can get involved.
If you have a resource you’d like to share, contact us and we’ll consider adding it to our page.
Once you’ve spent September getting ready, you can test your new plans by participating in October’s annual Great Shakeout.
As this year has made abundantly clear, major disruptions to daily life can strike with little warning. Putting in time and effort now will help you manage risks later.
Dear SPARC members and friends, The South Pasadena Amateur Radio Club is holding a fundraiser from now until September 15 for maintenance and repair of the TELCO repeater. The TELCO repeater is a valuable amateur radio resource that serves the greater San Gabriel Valley and beyond. We are regular users of the repeater and benefit from its continued availability. The SPARC board has pledged to match the first $100 donated by club members. Please consider a small donation as an investment in our radio community. Please use this PayPal link or click the button below to make a contribution before September 15.
Support the TELCO Repeater
Thank you,
Rick Besocke, KI6ZKM President, South Pasadena Amateur Radio Club
Photo of Bill Westphal WB6YPF with the TELCO Repeater antenna courtesy of Pasadena Radio Club
SPARC’s monthly meeting was held on August 5 via Zoom and featured a presentation by Jeff Liter, W2JCL entitled “The Case for Winlink.” Everyone in attendance was familiar with the basics of Winlink, so Jeff took time to cover some lesser-known features. One such feature is a catalog request, which can return information like a propagation report or weather forecast. The below video from San Diego ARES illustrates how to perform a catalog request.
Jeff also discussed how to send an SMS text message via Winlink. You can send a short email that will appear as a text message if you know your contact’s phone number and their carrier’s email-to-text address. This article from Lifehacker lists the email-to-text addresses of most major phone carriers.
Click the title page below to download Jeff’s presentation as a PDF.
Another great resource is this recent video hosted by Oliver Dully, K6OLI who is the coordinator of our local ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) section, LAX Northeast. Oliver explains how ARES uses Winlink for emergency communications:
Here’s another video introduction as described in the July ARRL ARES newsletter. On June 6, 2020, Phil Sherrod, W4PHS, a Winlink developer, gave an excellent presentation on Winlink and how to use it. A Zoom audience of five hundred saw the Winlink presentation.
Finally, there has been a lot of excitement in the Winlink user community over a recent addition to the program: a way to submit data directly to the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Did You Feel It?” system. Again quoting the ARES newsletter…
On July 9, the ARES/Section Emergency Coordinators … hosted an excellent Zoom presentation on the radio amateur’s role in the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Did You Feel It (DYFI) reporting system. The speaker was Oliver Dully, K6OLI, who captured the audience of some 67 coordinators across the country with his galvanizing presentation.
Jeff W2JCL will discuss the development and use of the “Did You Feel It?” form in more detail at an upcoming SPARC meeting.
SPARC held its first-ever online monthly meeting on June 3, 2020. Until further notice, monthly meetings will be held via online conference systems like Zoom and Google Meet.
Our topic was how to prepare for Field Day 2020. If you haven’t already, mark your calendar for June 27 and 28.
Social-distancing measures prevent us from joining our friends from other local clubs for a joint Field Day operation as in years past. But Field Day can still be an exciting and rewarding opportunity to get on the air. The ARRL has made a rule change for 2020 that will let individual operators “associate” with a club and have their individual scores printed together in QST magazine. The scores will not be totaled; it’s merely a show of club spirit. (Note that if you choose this option, you should associate with “South Pasadena Amateur Radio Club” as opposed to “SPARC” because there are probably dozens of clubs with that acroynm across the country. There’s even another SPARC in South Pas!)
Below is a presentation from the meeting with more detail. As the presentation states, reading it is no substitute for reading the full Field Day rules published by the ARRL. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email contest@southpasradio.org for help. We’re eager to have as many members as possible participate. Hope to hear you on the air!
