QST To All Radio Amateurs:

On Thursday, April 18, 2024, ARRL Sacramento Valley Section will hold a Section Wide Net, first on the WD6AXM FM repeater atop Sutter Buttes near Yuba City on 146.085 MHz, plus 600 kHz offset, tone 127.3 Hz.  Please wait for Net Control to call the 2 meter ARRL Section Net after the 7 pm Yuba-Sutter ARES net has closed, usually around 7:20-7:30 pm Pacific Time.

For those who are unable to access the WD6AXM repeater, our HF net will commence IMMEDIATELY after the VHF SV net signs off, on 3880 kHz LSB +/- 3 kHz for QRM.  

Recent observations suggest that 3880 kHz should still support section-wide coverage for this April ARRL Section HF Net.  Seasonal propagation changes may require our HF net to move to 60 meter channel 1, 5330.5 kHz USB starting in May.  In addition to offering better summer NVIS propagation, the 60 meter band suffers less from the seasonal atmospheric noise that becomes prominent on 80 meters.

Important:  If you do not hear net control over your radio, please check in anyway and listen for net control to acknowledge you via the Half Moon Bay WebSDR or the Northern Utah WebSDR.

All ARRL members, club presidents, Section appointees, and all appropriately licensed radio amateurs are encouraged to join us for the ARRL Sacramento Valley Section nets. Section News and items of regional and national interest to all radio amateurs will be the topics of discussion.

ARRL Sacramento Valley Section Wide Nets are conducted only on the third Thursday of such months as announced via official bulletin and on www.arrlsacvalley.org 

April Sacramento Valley Section Announcements

June 22-23 ARRL Field Day - Section members, groups and clubs who plan to participate should assure that publicly accessible Field Day sites are registered on the ARRL Field Day Locator https://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator.  I hope to visit many of your at site throughout our section on Field Day weekend.  

Bravo to all who participated in the Sacramento ARES March 10 "Big Game Hunting" radio direction finding event.  Sacramento County EC Jay Ballinger, N6SAC, reported that several used the tape measure Yagi antennas constucted in a previous group build to obtain directional fixes on the mystery signal.  This exercise helped practice radio direction finding skills that are useful in search and rescue operations and in tracking and mitigating radio interference sources.  See the summary at https://sacramentoares.org/big-game-hunting-2024-recap/  

Recent observations indicate that 80 meters should still support section wide coverage for our Thursday evening, April 18, ARRL Section HF Net on 3880 kHz LSB.  Seasonal propagation changes may cause us to move our HF net to 60m channel 1, 5330.5 kHz USB starting in May.  In addition to better summer NVIS propagation, the 60 meter band suffers less from the atmospheric noise that is often prominent on 80 meters.

The Valley of the Moon ARC Hamfest will be held on Saturday, April 27, 8 am to noon, at the First Congregational Church of Sonoma, 252 Spain St, Sonoma, CA 95476.  Talk-in on 145.35 MHz, - offset, PL 88.5 Hz.
Web page: https://vomarc.org/events/hamfest.html 

The Big Bear Mini Hamcation is a new ARRL Sanctioned Convention scheduled for April 26-28 at the Holiday Day Inn Resort The Lodge at Big Bear Lake, 40650 Village Dr, Big Bear Lake, CA 92315.  https://bigbearminihamcation.com/

The Carmichael Elks Lodge ARC Ham Radio Swap Meet will on Sunday, May 26 from 7 am to 12 noon at the Carmichael Elks Lodge, 5631 Cypress Ave, Carmichael, CA 95608.  Please stop by and say hello at our ARRL Section booth. https://www.facebook.com/events/463575526003158/

March 16 Loomis Hamfest

Thanks to all who visited our ARRL Booth at the Sierra Foothills ARC Hamfest. This was the 8th year this hamfest is held at the Historic Loomis Train Depot.  Many attended, including our new ARRL Pacific Division Director Tony Marcin, W7XM.  Congratulations to the Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club and to all who contributed to another successful hamfest event.

River City ARCS & Sacramento Troop 1089 Girl Scouts Contact the ISS

We encourage everyone to give those YLs in your life an opportunity to shoot for the stars – the ARISS program is a great way to do just that – using your experience to spread the joy of HAM radio as a hobby and professional tool for their future.  - Jen Garland, KI1TTY

Beware of DocuSign Email Phishing Scam

One of our Section Members reports receiving a "DocuSign" email for a document claiming to be from ARRL.  ARRL HQ informs us that other members have received such emails, and those are a "phishing" scam.  Do not open any such emails.

DocuSign has dedicated reporting channels based on the type of threat:

DocuSign-themed imitation emails and websites: If you think that you’ve received a fraudulent email purporting to come from DocuSign, forward the entire email as an attachment to spam@docusign.com and delete it immediately. If you identify a website imitation of DocuSign, please copy and paste the URL into an email to spam@docusign.com for investigation.

Laguna Creek High School to Launch Pico Balloon March 13

UPDATE:  Do to uncertainty of the weather, the launch on March 13 has been postponed.  Keep watch for a new scheduled launch date. 

The launch date and times are tentative as we will need to know the weather conditions prior to launch. We need under 5 mph of wind and zero cloud cover. Moisture on the balloon during its ascent could bring the balloon down. We will make the call about two days prior to the launch for go/no-go.

For us, the coolest part is that in between the 10 minute reporting events, we are sending a morse code message that says, ‘Hello from the GETA students at Laguna Creek High School – KN6TNH’. The end of the message is my call sign that legally identifies me as the owner and has the allowable licensing level to transmit on the 20 meter band for this beacon.

If you have a morse code decoder or can interpret morse code (called CW in amateur radio world (Continuous Wave)), you will be able to hear our beacon message before, during and after the launch.

Eric J. Johnson, KN6TNH, Laguna Creek High School, Green Energy Technology Academy

Announcements for the ARRL Sacramento Valley Section follow:

Benicia ARC One-Day Ham Radio Class February 3, 2024,  8:30 AM - 5:00 PM at Benicia Senior Center, 1201 East 2nd Street, Benicia, CA 94510.  Cost: $35. Includes all study material, venue, day-long refreshments, handouts, and the exam fee. All instructors, facilitators and VEs are volunteers.  After the application is processed by the FCC you will need to pay a separate $35 fee directly to the FCC.  Full handicap access.  Info/Signup: Online at BeniciaARC.com/hamclass. Class size is limited and it always fills up, so register promptly.  Questions:   hamradioclass@beniciaarc.com or class coordinator Bob Fentress (707) 742-3227

The new FCC rule replacing the symbol rate restrictions on the HF bands with a bandwidth limit of 2.8 kHz went into effect January 8, 2024.

Our next ARRL Section event is the Loomis Hamfest on Saturday, March 16 at the Historic Loomis Train Depot.  Watch the Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club website W6EK.org for updates.

All are encouraged to submit photos and stories about recent and planned events via e-mail to kp4md@arrl.org with Section News in the subject line for inclusion in our Section News

ARRL SV Members participate in the October 19 Winlink ShakeOut Exercise

Redding Veterans' RC W6VET Veterans' Day Special Event

ARRL Exhibit and Special Event Station N6M at  October 7 Rocklin Maker Faire

Radio amateurs are organizing direction finding (DF) teams in various localities to collect evidence of these incidents for further action. 
If you experience intentional interference, here below are several ways that you can immediately assist:

1. Dealing with a deliberate jammer is emotionally difficult. But if we’re to successfully get rid of them, everyone involved (and I do mean every single ham) must remain calm. We must also be patient, as it can take a while.

2. This may be the most important of all; do not attempt to engage with the jammer, or even acknowledge their presence. Although some of them may do what they do because they have a beef with the repeater owner, club, or another ham; most jammers do it for the same reason others engage in destructive behavior; to get attention. We must deny them that attention. So, control your anger and don’t tell them to stop, threaten them or even acknowledge that the interference is occurring.

3. If the level of interference allows it, continue with your QSO or net as if the interference was not there.
   If conversation is not possible, you may be able to QSY to an alternate frequency.  Otherwise, just sign off as if you’ve naturally finished and go radio silent until the jammer leaves. They may return when you do, so you’ll have to do this several times, until they get the message that they won’t get the satisfaction they’re looking for.

4. Do not discuss the jammer on the air, even when jamming is not present.  Understand that just one ham losing control and engaging with the jammer or acknowledging the interference, even in passing, is enough to undo the efforts of everyone else.

5. In cases of repeater interference, each repeater owner has the ability--or should have the ability--to constantly monitor the repeater and if all else fails shut it down in instances of abuse.   Running a repeater is not much different than allowing access to your home base station by anyone who wants to use it.

6. Control operators can and should immediately disable the repeater when any illegal activity occurs, and keep it disabled until attempts at the illegal activity end. They can monitor the repeater’s input frequency for this.

7. You should report a repeater's failure to control intentional interference to the ARRL-FCC Volunteer Monitor (VM) program. 
   Collect and submit recordings of the interference marking the date, time and frequency as evidence. 
   The ARRL-FCC VM program has the resources to motivate owners to control their repeaters responsibly.

How To Report A Possible Violation to the ARRL-FCC VM Program

To report clear violations of FCC Part 97, particularly instances of unlicensed operation, repeated deliberate interference, and operation outside of a licensee’s authorized frequencies, send the report via email to Riley Hollingsworth (K4ZDH), ARRL Volunteer Monitor Administrator, at K4ZDH@arrl.net.

Important: include the following information in your report…

- Frequency (MHz) of incident:
- Time of incident (UTC):
- Date of incident:
- Call sign(s) of station(s) being reported:
  - If a repeater, call sign of repeater involved:
- Description of alleged incident being reported:
- Your full name (person submitting report)
- Your call sign:
- Your email address:
- Your phone number:

All reports will be acknowledged, reviewed, and the person submitting the report will receive a response as quickly as possible.

ARRL Files Comments Against Seriously Flawed HF Rules Petition

8/02/2023 - ARRL News

ARRL  The National Association for Amateur Radio®, as part of its mission to protect Amateur Radio, has filed comments against a proposal that would introduce high-power digital communications to the shortwave spectrum that in many instances is immediately adjacent to the Amateur HF bands. 

The “Shortwave Modernization Coalition” (SMC), which represents certain high-frequency stock trading interests, filed the petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). (Previous coverage can be found on ARRL News.) ARRL responded on behalf of its members and the 760,000 licensees of the Amateur Radio Service in the US. 

The ARRL Laboratory performed a detailed technical analysis over several months to determine if the proposed rules would affect operations on the bands allocated to Radio Amateurs that are inter-mixed with the Part 90 bands in the spectrum in question.

ARRL’s analysis determined that, if the proposed rules are adopted, the new operations inevitably will cause significant harmful interference to many users of adjacent and nearby spectrum, including Amateur Radio licensees. Ed Hare, W1RFI, a 37-year veteran of the ARRL Lab and internationally recognized expert on radio frequency interference, was the principal investigator on the study. Hare concluded the petition should not be granted. “This petition seeks to put 50 kHz wide, 20,000-watt signals immediately next to seven different amateur bands with weaker protections against interference than required in other services,” said Hare. 

Read the full story at https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-files-comments-against-seriously-flawed-hf-rules-petition

Job Posting: FCC Recruiting Field Agents

07/17/2023 - from ARRL News

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is looking for qualified applicants for Field Agents in five local offices across the United States. From the FCC posting:

The FCC has openings for Field Agents in the following FCC Field Offices: New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles & San Francisco.

Operates and understands all technical equipment typically used in the Field including RF spectrum analyzers, field strength meters, RF Field survey meters, and radio receivers.  Maintains contacts with and assists other Federal agencies, foreign counterparts, and local law enforcement organizations concerning interaction and utilization of the radio spectrum for both authorized and unauthorized activities.

Initiates Official Notices of Violation, Warnings, Notices of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, and other orders to radio operators and licensees, to bring unsatisfactory or violative conditions to their attention as a result of monitoring, investigations and inspections.  Independently initiates correspondence or other communications with complainants and radio users concerning the enforcement functions of the office and region.

The Salary is $66,134 - $158,432 per year depending on qualifications and experience.  We are looking for degreed Electrical or Electronics Engineers with experience that includes tasks such as tests, measurements, calculations and other similar work involving radio frequency (RF) engineering, broadcast engineering, or telecommunications engineering.

For details see the job postings here:

New York, Boston, Chicago: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/736540500   

Los Angeles & San Francisco: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/736547300

Applications are being accepted through August 24, 2023.

Weekly NorCal WinLink Net Practices EmComm Messaging

NorCal Winlink Net Manager Michael Ellithorp, KF6OBI, conducts a weekly NorCal WinLink Net for EmComm messaging practice.  Please contact Mike if you wish to participate.

Watch WinLink author and developer Oliver Dully, K6OLI's, session on Vara FM for messaging via WinLink, a network of amateur radio and authorized government stations that provide worldwide email via radio.  The WinLink network extends global messaging capability to HF and VHF operators anywhere, even in the absence of internet access, and is ideally suited for routine and Emergency Communications (EmComm) message traffic.

ARRL Advocates for Radio Amateurs as FCC Proposes Changes to 60-Meter Band
from the ARRL Letter, April 27, 2023

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking comments about changing the secondary allocation available to radio amateurs on 60 meters. The FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on April 21, 2023, that deals with the band. In a prior petition, ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® urged protecting the existing use of the band by amateurs when adding a new allocation adopted internationally.

Currently, radio amateurs in the US have access to five discrete channels on a secondary basis: 5332 kHz, 5348 kHz, 5358.5 kHz, 5373 kHz, and 5405 kHz. Users of these channels are limited to an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100 W PEP.

The FCC proposes to allocate 15 kHz of contiguous bandwidth between 5351.5 - 5366.5 kHz on a secondary basis with a maximum power of 15 W EIRP (equivalent to 9.15 W ERP). This allocation was adopted at the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15).

The federal government is the primary user of the 5 MHz spectrum. The government's manager of spectrum use, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), has expressed support for implementing the allocation as adopted at WRC-15. Doing so would result in amateurs losing access to four of the five discrete channels, and power limits would be reduced from 100 W ERP to 9.15 W ERP. However, it would provide access to a new contiguous 15 kHz band that includes one of the current five channels.

In 2017, ARRL petitioned the FCC to keep the four 60-meter channels that fall outside the new band, as well as the current operating rules, including the 100 W PEP ERP limit.

The ARRL petition stated, "Such implementation will allow radio amateurs engaged in emergency and disaster relief communications, and especially those between the United States and the Caribbean basin, to more reliably, more flexibly, and more capably conduct those communications."

ARRL said that years of amateur radio experience using the five discrete channels have shown that amateurs can coexist with primary users at 5 MHz while complying with the regulations established for their use. The petition also stated, "Neither ARRL, nor, apparently, NTIA, is aware of a single reported instance of interference to a federal user by a radio amateur operating at 5 MHz to date."

In the NPRM, the FCC recognizes that Canada has already adopted 60-meter allocations and related rules that align with those proposed by ARRL. The Commission wrote, "Finally, we note that Canada has essentially implemented the same rules as ARRL has requested."

The FCC proposed to allocate the 15 kHz bandwidth, but stopped short of making a proposal on whether the existing channels should remain allocated to amateur radio and what the power limitations should be. They requested comments on their proposal and the related channel and power issues.

Comments will be due 60 days after the NPRM is published in the Federal Register, which is expected within the next two weeks.

• NTIA appears to be unhappy with current abuses on our 60m allocation, i.e., multiple simultaneous FT8 signals in one channel. They prefer to limit us to 15 watts on the 15 kHz contiguous WARC allocation. -KP4MD

KUDOS FOR ARRL SET/ARMY MARS EXERCISE OCT 2022

TO ALL ARRL PACIFIC AND SOUTHWEST DIVISION MEMBERS

"On behalf of the DOD and US Northern Command, I want to express my thanks to the more than 1,400 amateur radio operators who were a part of the SET-DOD interop exercise this past Oct/Nov.  Your willingness to support this effort is indicative of the amateur radio spirit of communications and interoperability towards achieving a common goal of providing communications during a time of need.  Thank you and well done.

Paul English
Dept Army Civilian
Chief of Army MARS"
Paul English
DA Civilian
U.S. Army NETCOM G3 Current Operations
HF/LMR Capability Manager and Chief Army MARS

To all of you I want to say a big Thank You.  Without your help we(Army and Air Force MARS) would not have been able to complete the assigned mission of delivering the Message from United States Northern Command to United States Amateur Radio Operators, Simulated Emergency Tests(SET).   Please pass this Thank You on the Amateur Radio Operators who were there in the background supporting you in the SET’S  coordinating with the MARS Operators who passed the Message to them because without them the Mission would not have been completed.

AGAIN THANKS TO ALL

DERRILL COFFMAN W7LTM
ARMY MARS REGION 9 LIASION

Redding Veterans ARC Special Event Station in the News

Incidental Radio Frequency/Electromagnetic Interference (RFI & EMI)

posted February 3, 2018

ARRL and the FCC have a cooperative agreement in radio frequency interference matters. You may submit interference reports together with your supporting documentation to ARRL EMC Engineer Mike Gruber W1MG who then files the report with the FCC Gettysburg office.

You may also contact our Section Technical Coordinator Bob Wortman, WB6VYH for assistance. More information is posted under the "From the Section Manager" notes in the November 2016 Section News - Carol KP4MD

Bob Hess, W1RH, shares this helpful web page by NK7Z for identifying sources of incidental Radio Frequency Interference http://www.nk7z.net/rfi-snapshots

Each licensee has the final responsibility for the lawful operation of his or her station.  Unfortunately, the increasing automation in our radios has apparently accustomed some to falsely assume that the radio will correct for operator carelessness and ignorance of regulations.  Our cooperation with NTIA requirements is essential for our continued access to the 60m channels and for possible future access to the new ITU worldwide 60 meter allocation at 5351.5 to 5366.5 kHz. (See http://www.arrl.org/news/view/arrl-asks-fcc-to-allocate-new-5-mhz-band-retain-channels-and-current-power-limit and http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-invites-comments-on-arrl-petition-to-allocate-new-5-mhz-band). Please be aware of these requirements if you intend to or currently operate CW or digital modes on our shared 60m allocations. The ARRL Volunteer Monitor Program is documenting this matter and wishes to raise its awareness in the wider amateur radio community.

-Carol Milazzo, KP4MD

*The NTIA is the federal authority that coordinates radio spectrum use for the US military and federal government while the FCC serves in this capacity for US civilian radio spectrum users.

E-mail compliments, suggestions and submissions for inclusion in our Section News to kp4md (at) arrl.org

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Club News and Member News - Pending Update