Meetings are held at 7 PM, the 4th Tuesday every
month. Our January 24th meeting will be at the Knox County
EOC at
Members’ submissions are invited for this newsletter, in
.rtf, .doc, and plain text formats, subject to space available and editing.
Editor: Larry Osterman, W8JYQ, e-mail to w8jyq (at) arrl (dot) net.
President’s Statement for
January 2006
By Alan Sims KG4MMG
HEY GROUP
Bad things
do happen, such as the recent WV mining accident. Miscommunication at any time
can cause problems. We as operators need to think really hard about what we
say, the way we say it, how, and to whom. (One never knows who is listening!)
This being said, this is why METERS, as a group, trains and provides training
to all operators. METERS also provides MESSAGE FORMS to help alleviate
problems. Check our website for the latest forms (see above). A small crack in
the dam can turn in to a big HOLE, and a disaster downstream.
Please
review my suggested personal-item "Ready Kit" and equipment lists,
which follow. You may want to save these lists for future reference.
Remember to
check into the METERS NETS. Check the website for times and frequencies.
I hope to
see you all at our January 24th meeting at the EOC. Stay safe. -Alan
SUBJECT: Ready Kit for One Person
(Group:
This does NOT cover YOUR EQUIPMENT)
1)
Water, 1-gallon per day
2) MRE,
or high protein packs
3)
Socks and underwear, 2 pair
4)
Personal FIRST AID KIT
5)
Matches or fire starter kit
6)
Flash light and extra batteries
7) Pants
and Shirt, 1 extra set
8) Soap
and dry towel
9)
Personal hygiene items & Shave kit
10)
Rain gear (poncho)
11)
Personal medications
12)
Sleeping bag and mat & emergency blanket
13)
Large, heavy duty trash bags (3)
14)
Gloves, Hat, Work gloves, & rubber gloves
15)
Paper, pen, pencil, and map(s)
16)
Knife and multi tool
REMEMBER:
This is the minimum for 1 person
Prepare
today: Be Ready for Tomorrow. -- Alan,
KG4MMG
Equipment List – The Basic METERS HT
Package
By Alan Sims, KG4MMG, President and Knox
There
is a
1) A
reliable multi-channel 2-meter HT,
2) An
external speaker & earphone,
3) A
Speaker-microphone combination,
4) An
extra battery, and battery charger,
5) A
1/4 wave magnetic mount antenna with 25 ft coax feed line,
6) A
12-volt power cord: most HT's use 12 volts but check your MANUAL.
Folks,
for my 12 volt HT's, I use a 2-amp/hour pocket battery. But, use whatever
device is needed to convert the 12 VDC from your car, to the power needed for
your own HT, and try to have available a back-up battery supply.
All of
your gear should fit in a Carry Bag. (Bag prices range from $10.00 and up.) --
Remember, a better antenna equals less transmit power needed, and less battery
draw, which means longer use time. Also, if the signal received is broken up,
it may also be affecting your transmit cycle. Check your connections and antenna!
Base Station List
Now that we have our HT pack and our
1) 2m or 2m/440 mobile radio (up to 50
Watt output)
2) Mini 8 or 213 coax transmission line up
to 100 ft long
3) Antenna, dual band, with 3 db on 2m and
6 db on 440, and in 2 pieces to allow you to break the antenna down to about
2-feet in length to carry.
4) Power supply, 25 amp is a good start so
you can run two 2-mtr stations with no worry, or 1 HF rig at up to 100 Watts
5)
6) External speaker is a good addition
7) Field use 50 feet mini 8 coax
8) Ten feet of PVC 1 1/4 inch-dia. pole
can be cut in three pieces to carry (but if cut will need external sleeves to
reassemble. Also, carry some durable nylon rope if needed to guy the pole.)
This will get a station up and running
anywhere. – Alan KG4MMG
Some Notes
on
By Alan Sims
KG4MMG
1)
A DC
VOLT METER, and
2)
A LED
TESTER
A
Fully-charged 12 volt battery should show 12 to 12.4 volts. Never over charge
any battery, since it will DAMAGE the battery. When charging a battery it will
get warm to touch. The 12-VOLT battery, at charging, will read around 13.8 to
14 VOLTS.
Never let
your battery sit dead for very long.
Charge your battery back to life. Testers only cost $10.00 to $150.00, and a Battery Charger will
be in about the same range. A "DEEP CYCLE" battery is the best for
our applications. -- MORE to come.
By
Tyra Buczkowski, AI4KG
Some
activities coming up soon:
*
Strawberry Plains Half
*
SKYWARN class 2/25/06 (Tyra AI4KG)
* EmComm II
Book Order (bring cash or check) (David KE4YBZ)
* CERT
Training for next group and make-ups (Gary AG4XO)
Training
is the heart of our readiness program at METERS, which is why I have sent a
questionnaire regarding your view of what's needed to be prepared for
emergencies. Following is a repeat of my e-mail over the New Year period:
As
we close out 2005 and bring in the New Year, I would like to solicit your ideas
and suggestions for METERS training courses and topics for 2006. We
accomplished a lot this past year: -ICS, Hazmat training, SKYWARN, WMD
training, EmComm I, and CERT training. In addition we had some good
demonstrations involving APRS, batteries, to-go bags, . . . Please take a few
minutes and rate the following list of potential training opportunities from
the most highly important being number 1, to kind of important being number
two, to the least important being number 3. If there is something you are
interested in that is not on the list please add it at the end & send it to
Tyra via email:
(ai4kg
(at) metersinc (dot) org).
___NIMS
___EmComm
II
___NCS
training
___SKYWARN
___Message
sending & receiving
___APRS
___Public
Service Events such as races for practical experience
___Field
Day
Write
In your comments/suggestions - Thanks.
-Tyra AI4KG
ARES Notes
+
Wilderness Protocol
(Some
of this could apply to us as we hike nearby forest trails. -ed)
Recently,
I found a book by fellow Floridian Reid Tillery, KG4YFE. An avid hiker and
camper, he has a section in his book about radio use for those traveling in
wild areas. Part of it covered the "Wilderness
Protocol for Amateur Radio."
In
February 1994 QST, William Alsup, N6XMW, put forth this idea: a set of VHF and
UHF frequencies and a basic schedule for monitoring the frequencies for contact
from Amateur Radio operators in wilderness areas. (
The
primary frequency band proposed was two-meters with secondary frequencies on
six-meters, 1.25-meters, 70-centimeters, and 23-centimeters. I expect by no
coincidence, the simplex frequencies N6XMW suggested are also the National
Simplex Calling frequencies or the Primary Simplex frequency for the bands in
his proposal. The frequencies for the Wilderness Protocol are 52.525 MHz,
146.520 MHz, 223.500 MHz, 446.000 MHz and, 1294.500 MHz.
The
proposed schedule for monitoring the frequencies is every three hours on the
hour starting at 7 AM local time until 7 PM local time. For those radio
amateurs with more time or a scanner, monitoring more often is encouraged. The
basic schedule gives someone who is out of
cellular service range, and not able to contact a repeater, a specific time when someone should be listening to get word to the proper authorities in the event of an emergency situation.
The
base monitoring time is 5 minutes. I also found suggestions to start monitoring
5 minutes before the hour every other time so that minor differences on the
clock of monitoring hams and hams in the woods would not cause them to miss
each other. Making daily contact with a hiker to know an extended hike is going
without incident, or to pass routine traffic to and from family was another
suggested use for hams with opportunity to monitor the Wilderness Protocol
frequencies
regularly.
It
occurred to me that having hams following the Wilderness Protocol could be of
use to more than hikers and campers.
Throughout the country hams are on the road traveling for business and
pleasure. While cellular phones have become a common belt-looped appliance,
there are many locations where "no signal" is the only message they
will display. Vehicle accidents, mechanical failures, and worse can happen
along any stretch of road.
So
whether you are near a national forest, a large wooded park, or on the outer
edge of suburbia, monitoring at least the primary two-meter frequency of the
Amateur Radio Wilderness Protocol may provide needed assistance to someone in
dire straits. I encourage all ARES groups to
include
the Wilderness Protocol in their local membership manuals and to recommend to
their membership to monitor the associated frequencies as regularly as they
want their membership to be monitoring their local ARES repeaters. -- Michael
Potaczala, KC4NUS, Orange
+
Radio Amateur Wins Grant for Hospital and EMA Amateur Equipment
(This may be a useful pattern for seeking grant money in the future! -ed)
Mary
Moore, WX4MM, chairperson of the MMRS Communications Committee, educated the
MMRS organization on the value of Amateur Radio, documented specific
requirements, solicited bids and wrote purchase orders. Grant funds will provide
one VHF/UHF transceiver, power supply, base antenna, feed line and installation
to hospitals and EMA's in the MMRS region, two suitcase portable VHF/UHF radios
with power supplies, portable masts and antennas to each EMA, and an HF
transceiver for two EMA's. Funding also covers costs of training materials and
licensing for new radio amateurs to be recruited at the hospitals and EMA's.
[
Emergency Power Book from ARRL, New in January 2006
When
all else fails, how will you power your communication equipment? ARRL's new book, "Emergency Power for Radio
Communications", by Michael Bryce, WB8VGE, can provide the answer, with
information on emergency or back-up power, energy independence, portable power,
and more. "Emergency Power for Radio Communications" explores the
various means of electric power generation and shows you how to plan ahead to
stay on the air when weather or other circumstances knock out conventional
power--short-term or longer. It also examines how to go "off the
grid", by employing alternative power-generation methods such as solar, wind
and water power. There's a selection of emergency power projects and
information from the pages of QST too. "Emergency Power for Radio
Communications" is $19.95 plus shipping and handling. Order from the ARRL
on-line catalog at: http://www.arrl.org/catalog or call
toll-free 888-277-5289.
Private
Information!! What's That?
By Alan Sims
KG4MMG
To those who
think your personal INFO is safe on the Internet and EMAIL is a safe thing:
well HACKERS recently used a virus-type program to access accounts on 17 people
at our local Y-12 Credit Union to gain this "safe " INFO, before the
system detected the breach and could be shut down. SO, the next time you give
your credit card number or account number to anyone, think, think, think! YOUR info is yours, But where you use or put
your info could be Any Ones' to get and use. If this is Nerve racking to you,
as it is to me, remember the US Mail still works in 2 to 4 days, rain or snow.
A personal or group meeting is still the best way to pass INFO that you don’t
want the entire world to know.
Catch us on
a Net. --Alan
(Note:
Revealing private info on a cell phone, may be almost as bad as doing so on the
radio, since we all know there are listening ears on scanners and detectors,
some not legal, waiting to provide our "private" data to whoever has
the cash to pay for it, including the media, and others. Many yeggs* using
scanners are not aware of FCC and federal law about non-disclosure, or if they
are, could care less. –
*Police may
call these crooks, "yeggs", which is an old name for a burglar or
safecracker. -ed)
Editorial
Notes
·
Next
month we will
continue with another valuable checklist from Alan Sims KG4MMG, giving us some
ideas on what we need in our basic field and home toolkit. Alan's insight is
useful and informative and you may want to print out and save copies of his
lists. I am putting mine in my ARRL Emergency Communication Handbook, so it can
be easily retrieved.
·
Next
month also we have an
exceptional opinion piece forwarded by Gary AG4XO from a talk with the US State
Department’s Director of Counter Terrorism, an ex-CIA terrorism expert.
·
Membership
in METERS offers a
service opportunity to our community that makes use of your unique radio
operating talents. Please be aware that
your contribution in time and skill is appreciated by your fellow members and
the served agencies of our community. Thank you for staying active and please
invite others to join us in this important behind the scenes work.
·
Membership
Dues are due for
2006 at only $10.00 to keep you on the METERS membership rolls. As with any
organization, we have a few fixed expenses, which will be outlined by our
Treasurer Dave Ogle KE4YBZ at the January meeting. Through your membership we are able to keep
our group alive and functioning. (We also welcome your thoughts on fund raising
for the group.) If you'd like to mail your check please send it along
with a filled-in updated copy of the membership form (available on our
website's homepage as a .pdf file for printout only) to:
·
Larry Osterman W8JYQ,