QST de KP4MD

ARRL SV Bulletin 03 ARLBSV003

FROM CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA

March 17, 2025 

To all SV radio amateurs ARRL SV BULLETIN 003 

QST To All Radio Amateurs:

On Thursday, March 20, 2025, 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 the 80 meter frequency of 3880 kHz LSB +/- 3 kHz for QRM.  Seasonal propagation favors conducting our autumn and winter HF nets 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 

March 22 Hamfest at the Loomis Historic Train Depot

CALIFORNIA CAPITAL AIRSHOW | MATHER AIRPORT, SACRAMENTO MARCH 22-23, 2025  https://californiacapitalairshow.com/

If interested, please contact Michael Joseph – KK6ZGB – kk6zgb@gmail.com

Cascadia Coastal Community Amateur Radio Net Kick Off March 6th

The Cascadia Coastal Community Amateur Radio Net will kick off March 6th at 13:30 Pacific on Brandmeister ‘Western Oregon’ Talk Group 31412.

The purpose of the net is to share information on upcoming emergency or disaster-related training events and opportunities, as well as, concise After Action Summaries of actual events. This is an informal net organized to foster communication among Coastal Communities, and to build community awareness, prepare for interruption of essential services and disasters, and to enhance resiliency in coastal communities in AK, WA, OR, CA, BC, and other Cascadia coastal communities.

The NET is open to all licensed amateur radio stations especially those associated with ARES/RACES, ACS, AUXCOMM, Hospital, MRC, CERT, and neighborhood groups.

This NET meets the first and third Thursday of each month at 13:30 Pacific time on Brandmeister ‘Western Oregon’ TG 31412.

For information or to have your training opportunity posted to the web site, contact Dr. Ralph Garono, KA8ZGM, Net Manager. rgarono@cascadiacoastalcoalition.org or KA8ZGM@arrl.net

http://www.cascadiacoastalcoalition.org/ccc-events-2

PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD —

Ralph J. Garono, Ph.D.

rgarono@cascadiacoastalcoalition.org

www.cascadiacoastalcoalition.org 

March Sacramento Valley Section Announcements

Our Thursday evening, March 20, our ARRL Sacramento Valley Section VHF and HF Nets will be conducted, first on the WD6AXM FM repeater on 146.085 MHz, then on 3880 kHz LSB +/- 3 kHz for QRM.

All are welcome to our section's next ARRL sanctioned event, the Loomis Hamfest at 7-11 am on Saturday, March 22, at the Historic Loomis Train Depot, 5775 Horseshoe Bar Rd, Loomis, CA 95650.  Admission and parking are free.  Please stop by and say hello to our ARRL Division Director Tony W7XM and Section Manager Carol KP4MD at the ARRL Information Booth while you're there.  Follow the Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club website W6EK.org for updates. 

Major operating events in March are: Mar 8-9 - ID, OK, WI QSO Parties, Mar 9 - North American Sprint RTTY, Mar 15-16 - VA QSO Party, Mar 23 - North American SSB Sprint, Mar 29 - CQ WW WPX Contest, SSB

Our Next ARRL Pacific Division Town Hall Zoom Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, May 3, 2025 at 11:00 AM PT.  

New ARRL Sacramento Valley Field Organization Appointments

Effective January 25, 2025, James Goldstene, AE6JG, is appointed ARRL Sacramento Valley Assistant Section Manager.  James is active in Sacramento County ARES and also serves as our Section Affiliated Club Coordinator, and as President of the River City Amateur Radio Communications Society.

Effective January 1, 2025, Robert Kelly, K6VNR, is appointed ARES Emergency Coordinator for Yuba and Sutter Counties, replacing Neil Bossard, N6CNY, who is leaving our area for family reasons.  Robert is an active member of Yuba-Sutter ARES and Board Member of the Yuva-Sutter Amateur Radio Club.  Thank you, Neil, for your years of service and Welcome Aboard, Robert!

Club News

W6VET is our callsign (pronounce phonetically: Whiskey-Six-Victor-Echo-Tango).  We have been operational since 2018.  We are grateful to have a dedicated space for our station within the Veterans Home of California-Redding. 

When the Covid 19 pandemic hit, we had to curtail our activities.   During this last four years, some of our members have become Silent Keys.  Nonetheless, the club has persevered, and even grown in directions that were not contemplated during our beginning period.  One of these activities, has been: HAM RADIO VISITORS DAY.

Over the last year, we have brought more than twenty-three visitors into the radio station to experience the fun and scope of the amateur radio hobby.  Most of our visitors have been residents of the Home.  These experiences demonstrated how to mentally escape the “four walls” and avoid “cabin fever”.  Hearing real men and women respond from...New Zealand, Ireland, Prince Edward Island, Jamaica, and all-over South America, Alaska, Hawaii, and every other State in our Union, convincingly opens the doors to a greater world than is experienced in our small radio room.  This activity continues. 

However, we have installed a new Club Advisor to W6VET; Butch Ascherman, KI6WAC; with the former Advisor, Steve Mosconi, K6KS, continuing as Trustee; and as well taking on the duties of Contest Coordinator for the Redding Veterans Amateur Radio Club.  

Winter Field Day Event

The upcoming activity for the Reddings Veterans ARC will take place at the end of January  during Winter Field Day 2025.  It is an activity to promote essential skills used during an emergency; a trial opportunity to operate under conditions less than ideal and be effective.  Three club members will be participating in this event. 

More information about past and future events can be viewed on the internet website:  https://www.qrz.com/db/W6VET

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.

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.

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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