Category Archives: Amateur Radio Organizations

Coconino Amateur Radio Club hosts successful exam in Flagstaff

FLAGSTAFF – April 21 was a good day for the amateur radio community thanks to the Coconino Amateur Radio club. The club hosted an exam which had more people than usual and brought one person back into amateur radio.

There were six participants for a Technician License and one returned for his extra. All passed and one of the people passed both the Technician and General exam. He nearly passed the Extra exam, as well.

One of the participants came because her license had expired beyond the two-year grace period. Because she passed the Technician exam, she can now notify the FCC to get her General license re-instated. Welcome back to amateur radio.

Two of the examines were CARC students. One of them aced the exam and the other missed only two. That is thanks to instructors Dan Shearer N7YIQ, Jack Lunsford KD7RCJ and Ron Gerlak KG7OH.

The VE team today was Joe W7LUX, Ken KF7DUR, Erv KE7QFI and Glen KG7YDJ.

For more information on upcoming CARC classes and exams, visit cocoradio.club and click on Licensing and Exam Sessions link.

Amateur radio podcasts can help with the learning curve

At a meeting of the Coconino Amateur Radio Club in Flagstaff, Dan SHEARER, N7YIQ, introduced the club to the ARRL® podcast The Doctor Will See You Now—also known as The Doctor Is In.

As I perused the Google Play Store with my Android phone for something else, I found something interesting. There are several apps which lead you to amateur radio podcasts.

I found one called—interestingly enough—Ham Radio podcast. I downloaded it at our Williams amateur radio club meeting. It not only accesses the ARRL® Doctor Is In, but the ARRL® news feed and ARES® newsletter, as well.

I also found one for what I thought was the Arizona Emergency Information Network. It turned out to be the Maricopa County Emergency Network. Interestingly it is taken from their over-the-air emergency Network.

There is one called AmateurLogic.TV. This one apparently gives lessons in amateur radio and licensing exam information. Currently they are running a course for the General license. I haven’t listened to a full podcast yet.

There are several others that look interesting. One is Linux in the Ham Shack. If you are interested in an alternative to Windows, Linux is just that. With some effort you can run some Windows programs under Linux. It is better, however, to simply download the free Linux programs available online and stay away from Windows.

Another nice feature (If you have the memory) is that you can download many of the podcasts to listen off-line. They are MP3 format so you can transfer them to CD and listen to them as you drive.

The one thing I noticed about the app is that it takes some time to buffer and start the podcast. That could be because I am using a cheap ZTE phone that does not even allow you to move apps to the SD card. If your Android phone or tablet has a decent amount of internal memory and speed, the buffering process might be shorter and thus the podcast might come up quicker. My cheap ZTE phone tends to take time buffering the podcast. Also I cannot transfer the app to my SD card.

I am only reviewing one of the several apps that access amateur radio podcasts. You can download others and experiment.

Amateur radio is what you make of it. If you just want to get the license and sit on it, you can do that. I know of people who got a license and never use it which is really sad because they are missing a lot. Maybe you obtained a license just for emergency use. There are those of us, however, that like to try new things: Explore new areas of the hobby. Along with the many amateur radio magazines and articles on the Internet, podcasts may help you do just that.

SEE ALSO:

  1. “ARRL® The Doctor is In” Podcast Guide Now Available
  2. Here are 9 Great Ham Radio Podcasts

Valerie Hotzfeld, NV9L, is “Amateur of the Year,” as Hamvention Announces Award Winners

Valerie Hotzfeld, NV9L. [Don Kerouac, K9NR, photo]
Valerie Hotzfeld, NV9L, of Crescent City, Illinois, is the 2018 Hamvention® “Amateur of the Year.” The Hamvention Awards Committee — chaired by Michael Kalter, W8CI, and Frank Beafore, WS8B — this week announced its 2018 award recipients for Club of the Year, Technical Achievement, and Special Achievement.

“I am extremely honored to even be nominated for Amateur of the Year, let alone to win this award,” Hotzfeld told ARRL. “I would like to thank the Hamvention Awards Committee. Their decision must have been a tough one, as I am certain the other nominees have done an outstanding job representing this hobby too. I would also like to thank those who mentored me throughout my different learning phases of this hobby. Not only has Amateur Radio been a life-changing experience for me, there are so many helpful hams in this hobby that it just feels natural to give back.”

First licensed in 2006, Hotzfeld has been very active in local Amateur Radio clubs and in ARES. Once she “discovered” HF, she became obsessed with DXing and contesting. In the past few years, she has enjoyed inviting new hams to her station to DX or contest. She has been the pilot or lead pilot for four major DXpeditions. Hotzfeld also is a co-host of the Ham Nation webcast and has created how-to videos on YouTube for the ham radio community.

In 2017, Hotzfeld became engaged in public service, first traveling to Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey to help rescue small animals. She subsequently was deployed to Puerto Rico with the American Red Cross for 3 weeks as part of an Amateur Radio volunteer contingent, facilitating critical communications after Hurricane Maria.

Club of the Year

The Portage County Amateur Radio Service (PCARS) of Ravenna, Ohio, is Hamvention’s 2018 Club of the Year. PCARS was established in November 2005, and it is an ARRL-Affiliated Special Service Club. PCARS members average more than 40 hours of club activities each month, including special interest groups, license training, contesting run from the club site (K8BF), and club social events.

“Our members cover a wide range of interests that allow us to support public safety organizations, student outreach programs, and activities focused on growing our hobby,” the club told the Hamvention Awards Committee. “We love to share our experiences and have a requirement that our events be filled with a lot of fun. Members have joined PCARS because of all the activities and fun we have.”

The club donated more than $6,000 in time and money to the community last year. It has created its own contests and events, including the annual Freeze Your Acorns Off in February and Ohio State Parks on the Air, which was used as a model for ARRL’s year-long National Parks on the Air event in 2016.

PCARS sponsors several “Build Days” each year, with projects including home-built transceivers, antennas, and digital equipment to allow members to expand their horizons into new areas of Amateur Radio. A monthly “Get on the Air Day” lets members and non-members use club site equipment to learn about HF and new operating modes. “It is all about building our hobby, helping our community, building our skills, and, most of all, having fun,” PCARS said.

Technical Achievement Award

Chip Cohen, W1YW, of Belmont, Massachusetts, has received the Hamvention 2018 Technical Achievement Award. Licensed for 52 years and bitten by the antenna bug, Cohen became a radio astronomer and astrophysicist, working at Arecibo, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), the Very Large Array (VLA), and others. While a professor at Boston University, Cohen connected fractal geometry with antennas, pioneering a paradigm shift in the design of fractal antennas and what they make possible. The holder of 41 US patents, Cohen is known for inventing the invisibility cloak using fractal antenna techniques.

Starting 30 years ago with simple flea market treasures, W1YW bootstrapped fractal antennas with modest gear and employed ham radio to report on the success of his new technology. He started Fractal Antenna Systems, Inc. with WA1ZWT (SK) in 1995, and is presently its CEO.

Cohen is a DXCC Top of the Honor Roll DXer and a strong advocate for technical “innovation culture” through Amateur Radio. He is a Life Member of ARRL and a Fellow of the Radio Club of America, where he has served as vice president and director.

Special Achievement Award

Heriberto Perez, KK4DCX; Victor Torres, WP4SD, and Emilio Ortiz Jr., WP4KEY, are Hamvention’s 2018 Special Achievement Award winners. In the wake of Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico last September, Perez mobilized his radio equipment to Radio Sol in San Germán, the local public broadcasting station, accompanied by Torres and Ortiz. The team handled health-and-welfare traffic to thousands of families across the continental US. Thanks to the support of more than 45 radio amateurs across the US, more than 4,000 messages were delivered via telephone to anxious families.

“We would like to thank everyone who nominated a candidate,” the committee said in announcing the award recipients. “The process is always difficult.” A formal awards presentation will take place this May at Hamvention 2018 in Xenia, Ohio.

Coconino Amateur Radio club training set for 2018

FLAGSTAFF – The Coconino Amateur Radio Club has set an ambitious schedule for license classes for 2018. They added classes for the General Class amateur radio license, this year. There are eight sessions for each class to be held on Saturdays from 9 a.m. until noon. The classes could not happen without the help of the Northland Healthcare Clinic in Flagstaff.

The classes for the General license are broken in the middle with the annual Amateur Radio Relay League® Field Day. This will give students a chance to operate equipment and ask question about digital modes and so-on. This will help students on the exam.

The Saturday following the last class of each session is the normal Coconino Amateur Radio Exam.

The class schedules are as follows:

TECHNICIAN LICENSE CLASSES
The Coconino Amateur radio club will hold two series of classes for the Amateur Radio Technician License. There are eight classes for each series to be held on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon at the Northland Healthcare Clinic, 2920 N 4th Street, Flagstaff, AZ 86004. The Coconino Amateur Radio Club will host exams the Saturday following each class at the same location. Email preregistration is desired.
The first series is Saturdays from February 24 to April 14.
The second series is Saturdays from August 25 to October 13.

GENERAL LICENSE CLASSES
The Coconino Amateur radio club will hold classes for the Amateur Radio General License. There are eight classes for each series to be held on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon at the Northland Healthcare Clinic, 2920 N 4th Street, Flagstaff, AZ 86004. The Coconino Amateur Radio Club will host an exam the Saturday following the last class at the same location. Email preregistration is desired. The classes will be held Saturdays on May 19, 26, June 2, 9, 16, 30, July 7, 14. The ARRL Field Day is June 23, 24 and no classes will be held that weekend. Students are invited to attend the CARC Field Day to get some experience in operating equipment which should help them on the exam.

Please note this is eight classes held on Saturdays. The regular CARC exam is the Saturday following the last class. Email pre-registration is desired. We recommend you purchase the ARRL Ham Radio License manual. If you can afford the spiral bound edition, it is easier to handle.

For more information people can email Glen KG7YDJ at KG7YDJ@arrl.net.

Yavapai Amateur Radio hosts successful exam

Source and photo: Mike W1DGL
The Yavapai Amateur Radio Club hosted a successful amateur radio examination session today. Of thirteen candidates, eleven passed exams.

One family left with the mother and 13-year-old son earning their technician license and dad emerging with a general license. They also had one person pass the examination for an extra license.

Congratulations to you all. To those who did not pass we urge you to try again. Check the Yavapai Amateur Radio Club site for classes and future exam schedules.

Remember you do not have to be in Yavapai to take the amateur radio exams given by Yavapai. You can participate in any exam session given any where by an authorized group. Information on exams in Coconino county can be found at the CARC web site. Hanmfests also hosts licensing exams.

I’m still waiting to hear the results of the CARC exam held today.

SKYWARN Recognition Day is Saturday, December 2

A heads up: SKYWARN™ Recognition Day (SRD) will take place this year on Saturday, December 2 from 0000 until 2400 UTC (starts on the evening of Friday, December 1, in US time zones). The event begins at 5 p.m. local time. During the SKYWARN Special Event, ham radio operators will set up stations at National Weather Service (NWS) offices and contact other radio amateurs around the world.

Participating Amateur Radio stations will exchange a brief description of their current weather with as many NWS-based stations as possible on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meters plus 70 centimeters. Contacts via repeaters are permitted.

SRD was developed jointly in 1999 by the NWS and ARRL to celebrate the contributions SKYWARN volunteers make to the NWS mission — the protection of life and property. Amateur Radio operators, which comprise a large percentage of SKYWARN volunteers, also provide vital communication between the NWS and emergency managers, if normal communications become inoperative.

ARRL article

Alternate Emergency Operation Center Activated for drill

Corrected 10/21/2017 @ 21:10

FLAGSTAFF – On Thursday, October 19 the Alternate Emergency Operation Center was activated in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Coconino Amateur Radio Club ARES members were a part of the activation. The Emergency EOC is located near Buffalo Park.

I was able to participate in the set up and operation. I was also able to see how the emergency center would be set up in the event of an actual emergency. It is set up in standard FEMA format with the Incident Commander, Finance Section, Logistics Section and so-forth. The amateur radio group is a component of logistics.

Emergency centers are divided into modular units and only those needing to be activated are. The purpose of the activation was mainly to acquaint member of the teams with computer equipment and programs they would be using.

On the amateur side, we were given the opportunity to test communication with various areas of northern Arizona and the emergency center in Phoenix. We were given a small break room to use which proves that it doesn’t take much room to operate emergency communications. Hopefully we’ll be able to add CW in the future.

We had to arrive early to set up the Alpha Delta DX DD dipole and Diamond X-50NA vhf/uhf antennas. We tested HF frequencies and communications to repeaters.

My main contribution was to test the 146.780 repeater on Bill Williams repeater maintained by the Bill Williams Mountain Radio club. I contacted Todd Hitzeroth N6ZXJ who happened to be traveling west on I-40 at the time. It is interesting who you meet on amateur radio.

Overall it was an enjoyable and educational experience. Unfortunately it was conducted when many people had to work. I was able to rearrange my schedule to participate in the event. There are ways in which people can participate without having to travel to the center itself. In fact, boots on the ground are as important as the people in the center. The people in the small room in Flagstaff cannot see what is happening in Valle, Williams, Ash Fork and other northern Arizona areas.

If you live in Valle, Parks, Williams, Ash Fork or any other area where you can reach a repeater or have HF capability, you can listen in and make reports concerning the condition of your area. If you hear of the activation of the EOC in the future, contact someone involved and let them know you are available.

Joe Hobart, W7LUX, ARES District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) and ARA Tech Rep.

The report from Joe W7LUX reads:

Thanks to:

Glen KG7YDJ
Janice KI6WCK
Ken KF7DUR
Lina KE7QFE

who set up and operated HF and VHF/UHF amateur radio equipment at and during the full scale activation of the alternate EOC.

Thanks to:

Bob WA6OJY Greenhaven/Page
Doug K7YCA/N0DAJ Yavapai County ARES/RACES
Earl AD7EO Indian Wells (Navajo County)
Erv KE7QFI Southwest Flagstaff (Army MARS representative)
Gary K7GH Scottsdale (Representing Arizona State EOC)
Lee KF7YRS Saint George
Jeremy KG7HZA Page (Sheriff’s substation)
Vince WB7UWW Page (Home and sheriff’s substation)

for helping Coconino ARES meet the goals of good communications around Coconino County, with Yavapai County (also conducting an exercise), and with the state.

Also, thanks to:

AC7AJ Mingus Mountain
K6DWP Good test of 40 meter short skip Flagstaff to Cottonwood
KF7WOT Prescott
N6ZXJ Williams Area
W7YRC Yavapai Club

for providing additional signal reports and Community Status Reports.

Frequencies and modes used were:

3990 KHz LSB
7252 KHz LSB

146.780 MHz FM Repeater
146.980 MHz FM Repeater (ARA)
147.140 MHz FM Linked Repeater (ARA)
448.875 MHz FM Linked Repeater (ARA)

40 meter propagation was much better Thursday than during the Alternate EOC practice setup on 10 October. 75 meter propagation was adequate, but long paths were becoming weak by 1100. The new dipole antenna at the EOC worked very well. The Northlink and Rimlink linked repeaters also worked well.

Special thanks to Vince, WB7UWW, for making an unscheduled trip to the Page sheriff’s substation to conduct 40 meter radio checks.

House introduces another “Amateur Parity Act”

ARRL News — H.R. 555—A new “Amateur Radio Parity Act” bill—has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill’s language is identical to that of the 2015 measure, H.R. 1301, which passed in the House late last summer but failed in the waning days of the US Senate to gain the necessary support.

As with H.R. 1301, the new measure introduced on January 13 in the 115th Congress was sponsored by Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), with initial co-sponsorship by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Rep. Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR). Walden now chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, to which the new bill has been referred. H.R. 555 will get an initial airing in the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. When H.R. 1301 came up in committee, Walden spoke forcefully in favor of the measure, which ultimately attracted 126 House cosponsors.

“Rep. Kinzinger has again stepped forward to introduce this important legislation,” said ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF. “His commitment stems from exposure to what the Amateur Radio community brings to the service of all communities. The ARRL and radio amateurs nationwide owe Rep. Kinzinger a resounding ‘Thank You!’ for his efforts on their behalf.”

H.R. 555 calls on the FCC to establish rules prohibiting the application of deed restrictions that preclude Amateur Radio communications on their face or as applied. Deed restrictions would have to impose the minimum practicable restriction on Amateur Radio communications to accomplish the lawful purposes of homeowners association seeking to enforce the restriction.

The ARRL Board of Directors is expected to discuss the pending legislation when it meets January 20-21.

Past Radio Amateurs of Canada President Bill Gillis, VE1WG

ARRL News – Former Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) President William James “Bill” Gillis, VE1WG, of Moncton, New Brunswick, died December 26. He was 87. Gillis spent his career in the technical and management fields of the telecommunications industry.

He was a veteran radio amateur, having been licensed as VE1WG since 1946. He also held the call signs VE3WG and 5H3WB (Tanzania).

Gillis served as RAC president from 2002 to 2003, and during his term, he was a guest at ARRL Board of Directors meetings.

Gillis was RAC Director for the Maritimes Region and also served two terms as president of the Moncton Area Amateur Radio Club. He also belonged to the Montreal Amateur Radio Club and the Oakville Radio Club. In addition to Amateur Radio, he enjoyed the sport of curling.

FCC Dismisses Two Petitions from Radio Amateurs

ARRL News – The FCC has turned down two petitions filed in 2016, each seeking similar changes in the Part 97 Amateur Service rules. James Edwin Whedbee, N0ECN, of Gladstone, Missouri, had asked the Commission to amend the rules to reduce the number of Amateur Radio operator classes to Technician, General, and Amateur Extra by merging remaining Novice class licensees into the Technician class and all Advanced class licensees into the Amateur Extra class. In a somewhat related petition, Jeffrey H. Siegell, WB2YRL, of Burke, Virginia, had requested that the FCC grant Advanced class license holders Morse code operating privileges equivalent to those enjoyed by Amateur Extra class licensees.

“Thus, Mr. Siegell’s proposed rule change is subsumed within the changes Mr. Whedbee requests, so our analysis is the same for both proposals,” the FCC said in dismissing the two petitions on January 5.

The FCC streamlined the Amateur Radio licensing system into three classes – Technician, General, and Amateur Extra – in 1999. While it no longer issues new Novice or Advanced class licenses, existing licenses can be renewed, and Novice and Advanced licensees retained their operating privileges.

“The Commission concluded that the three-class structure would streamline the licensing process, while still providing an incentive for licensees to advance their communication and technical skills,” the FCC recounted in its dismissal letter to Whedbee and Siegell. It specifically rejected suggestions that Novice and Advanced class licensees be automatically upgraded to a higher class, concluding that it would be inappropriate for these licensees to “receive additional privileges without passing the required examination elements.” The FCC cited the same reason in 2005, when it denied requests to automatically upgrade Technician licensees to General
class and Advanced licensees to Amateur Extra class, as part of a wide-ranging proceeding.

The FCC said the two petitions “do not demonstrate, or even suggest, that any relevant circumstances have changed that would merit reconsideration of those decisions.”

Whedbee had argued that automatically upgrading current Novice and Advanced classes would simplify the rules and reduce the Commission’s costs and administrative burden, but the FCC said Whedbee provided no evidence that an administrative problem exists. “Moreover, such benefits would not outweigh the public interest in ensuring that amateur operators have the requisite incentive to advance their skill and technical knowledge in order to contribute to the advancement of the radio art and improvement of the Amateur Radio Service,” the FCC said.

“The Commission has already concluded that it will not automatically grant additional privileges to the discontinued license classes,” the FCC said. “Consequently, we conclude that the above-referenced petitions for rulemaking do not warrant further consideration at this time.”