Iroquois County Amateur Radio 147.030+ and 444.625+ - Meetings 2nd Thursday at the Red Cross Office in Watseka, IL

Report from Benton County Indiana EMA…

As of now, no severe weather or major damage reported here. .5 - 1″ rain this evening, .75 - 2″ total 24 hours. Some isolated heavy winds, highest reported 48 mph. Some small limbs down. One reported power line downed by tree limb in Raub (NW corner of county).

I did get a very delayed report (no cell phone coverage) from a trained weather spotter of a small tornado north of Ambia at about 20:15 ET. No known damage at this time. This would have been the same cell that produced tornado warnings in Vermilion Co (IL) earlier, and the Severe T-Storm warning at 20:50 for NE Benton County.

C Randy Kitterman
Director, Benton Emergency Management Agency,
109 N Maple Street,
Earl Park, IN 47942

APRS is the Automatic Packet/Position Reporting System. KB9YZI (Jeremy) has been integral in getting APRS up and running at the W9QKF shack. They shared the following article from http://www.aprs.org  and http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs.html that describes APRS.

APRS is a real-time tactical digital communicatons protocol for exchanging information between a large number of stations covering a large (local) area. As a multi-user data network, it is quite different from conventional packet radio.

APRS is different from regular packet in four ways. First by the integration of maps and other data displays to organize and display data, second, by using a one-to-many protocol to update everyone in real time, third, by using generic digipeating so that prior knowledge of the network is not required, AND FORTH, since 1997, a worldwide transparent internet backbone, linking everyone worldwide. APRS turns packet radio into a real-time tactical communications and display system for emergencies and public service applications (and global communications). Normal packet radio is useful in passing bulk message traffic (Email) from point- to-point, but it does not do well at real time events where information
has a very short life time and needs to get to everyone quickly.

APRS is a LOCAL RF network. Although the Internet monitors APRS worldwide, this is not the primary objective. But like all of our other radios, how we use APRS in an emergency of special event is what drives the design of the APRS protocol. Although APRS is used 99% of the time over great distances, and benign conditions, the protocol is designed to be optimized for short distance real-time crisis operations on RF.

APRS provides universal connectivity to all stations in the net by avoiding the complexity and limitations of a connected network. It permits any number of stations to exchange data just like voice users would on a voice net. Any station that has information to contribute simply sends it, and all stations receive it and log it. Secondly, APRS recognizes that one of the greatest real-time needs at any special event or emergency is the tracking of key assets. Where is the Event Leader? Where are the emergency vehicles? Whats the Weather at various points in the County?

To answer these questions, APRS transmits and captures the location and status of all stations. It can be used over any 2-way radio system including HAM, CB, Marine Band, etc. See CB.txt, Boats.txt, Aircraft.txt. APRS is on 144.39 throughout the North American Continent. Other countries may use other frequencies. Check locally.

Sam Ripple W9QKF KAE7607

 Hello all, the new ICARC web-site is up and running at http://www.icarc.com

There is a Member information page… this has all of the contact information of all of the ICARC members…This page IS PASSWORD PROTECTED.  If you need access to that page, catch one of us on the repeater, call Sam, or e-mail Justin off of the Contact page.

For what it is worth, the IARU has announced a bandplan for Region 2 (including the USA) effective 1 January 2008. It has not been officially adopted at a WRC. The FCC has not embraced it and made it part of the rules. I have not seen anything in QST about it. Some have speculated a back door attempt to regulate. Member societies (including ARRL which probably had a hand in drafting it) and regulatory authorities are urged to adopt it. Will it be adopted? Who knows? Still, it is interesting for several reasons. FYI.

http://www.iaru-regionii.org/Region_2_MF__HF_Bandplan_2008.pdf

Check out the new additions to the ARRL Multi Media Library

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/materials/videos.html

We are happy to announce that there are five new additions to the Multi Media Library that clubs can use as meeting programs or as part of a mentoring session. These programs are also good for the individual. They are entertaining and informative.

Well known contester and DXer, ARRL Assistant Technical Editor Dean Straw, N6BV, has two new programs on HF Contesting For The Beginner and DX-pedition to Venezuela.

There is also a superb program from Allen Wolf, KC7O, that showcases the communications that was provided for a 24 hour endurance run in the mountains of California.

Mark Spence, WA8SME, ARRL Technology & Education Program Manager (The Big Project) shares his program on the fundamentals of Digital Signal Processing (DSP).

And finally, a program that covers the basics of repeaters for new hams. Most new hams first contact is through a local repeater. This program is designed to be an introduction to repeaters for the brand new ham.

We are always looking for fresh new programs to add to the Multi Media Library. If you have a PPT or video that you would like to submit for consideration, please mail it to

ARRL
Attn. Field & Educational Services
225 Main St.
Newington, CT 06111
CQ Field Day

Field day is fast approaching. Has your club made plans yet? Whatever it is that your group decides to do, make sure that you have plenty of food on hand and make the focus on having fun. Be sure to check out the rules for new changes this year.

http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2005/rules-fd-2005.html

Be sure to order Field day T-shirts and pins early so you will have them in time for FD.

http://www.arrl.org/catalog/index.php3?category=Pins%2C+Patches%2C+Maps%2C+Gift+Ideas+%26+Supplies

Classes and Upgrades

How is your club doing with licensing classes and upgrading new hams? Are you mentoring new hams? We would love to here your success stories. Drop us an e-mail with your latest successes. clubs@arrl.org

73,

Norm Fusaro, W3IZ

Good evening and welcome to the Monday night net of the Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club. This is (Name), (Call sign), and I will be your net control for this evening. This net meets every Monday night at 8:00pm local time,

If you would like more information about the club or the repeater, you can:

• Go to our club web site at WWW.ICARC.com
• Or you can let me know during, or after the net, and I can help you.

The Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club holds its regular monthly meetings on the second Thursday of the month, at 7:00 PM, in the Red Cross office at 211 W Walnut St in Watseka

This is an open net and all stations are welcome to check in. You do NOT need to be a member of the club to check into our weekly nets.

This repeater transmits on 147.03 MHz with a plus 600 KHz offset and uses a PL tone of 103.5 Hz. Before we begin taking check ins, let’s pause for any stations that may have Emergency or Priority traffic. Any stations with emergency or priority traffic please call net control now.

(Handle emergency traffic, if any)

(Write each call sign down and put a + after their call sign if they have traffic to pass.)

Next, lets take check-ins from all stations Please give your call sign and tell me if you have any traffic to pass.

(Write each call sign down and put a + after their call sign if they have traffic to pass.)

OK, acknowledging check-ins . . . .

(List call signs and say “with traffic” if you wrote a + after their call.)

Are there any additional check-ins or corrections?

(Take additional check-ins or corrections.)

Any other check-ins,

(Write each call sign down and put a + after their call sign if they have traffic to pass.)

OK, acknowledging check-ins . . . .

(List call signs and say “with traffic” if you wrote a + after their call.)

Are there any additional check-ins or corrections?

(Take additional check-ins or corrections.)

Now I’ll have stations pass their traffic. OK, (CALL SIGN), please pass your traffic now.

(Call stations with a + after their call, one by one, in the order you wrote them down.)

(Repeat until all stations with traffic have passed their traffic.)

OK, now we will take check-ins for the swap and shop portion of the net. You can offer any ham related items for sale or trade and your contact information but please do NOT list prices on the air.

I’ll take swap and shop check-ins now.

(Write down swap and shop call signs as they call.)

OK (Call sign), Go ahead and list your traffic for the swap net.

(Repeat until all swap traffic is passed.)

Lets take any late check-ins and traffic at this time. Any late check-ins please call now.

(Write each call sign down and put a + after their call sign if they have traffic to pass.)

OK, acknowledging check-ins . . . .

(List call signs and say “with traffic” if you wrote a + after their call.)

Are there any additional check-ins or corrections?

(Take additional check-ins or corrections.)

(If NEWSLINE audio is available, announce and play newsline now.)

I’d like to thank everyone for checking in to the net tonight. This is (Name), (Call sign), returning the repeater to normal operation. 73.

In Iroquois County Sam’s HAMS provide voice in emergencies

By Jo McCord

The HAM radio philosophy — Helping All Mankind — is one the 10 members of the Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club have adhered to through deed and action.

The club participates in Skywarn Net Operations to track threatening weather, and was last involved when a severe thunderstorm came through the county on August 10. A description of the evening is provided on their Web site www.icar.com by their Web master, Justin Kaiser of Sheldon.

Vice-president Carl Schroeder of Woodland said the club is valuable when emergency service agencies need secure back-up communications.

He is working on a secure system. “It’s basically just a different form other than by voice, not Morse code, and you send it digitally,” he said. “We’re trying to be available and prepared,” Schroeder added.

The club also will help Iroquois Memorial Hospital in Watseka set up a radio system provided by the Illinois TerrorismTask Force, a division of Homeland Security. It’s for use when a disaster, manmade or natural, wipes out electricity and telephones. The club will use code to accommodate stricter privacy laws.

Sherry Garrelts, coordinator of emergency services at the hospital, contacted secretary-treasurer Sam Ripple for help when she heard the system was approved.

“I’m very impressed with the HAM radio operators,” she said. “I never got such a good reception as I got from them.” And this is Iroquois County where “people come out of the woodwork and help you,” she added.

If an event occurs, some club members will go to the scene and others will come to the hospital to operate the communication system.

“They opened up their arms and are very willing to help us,” Garrelts said.

Volunteer of the year

That’s what the club has done since the 1960s with the Iroquois County American Red Cross, which named Ripple its volunteer of the year in July for his work organizing the HAMs into a support group for emergency services.

That’s what HAM radio operators have been doing since the organization was launched in Canada 100 years ago.

The club also makes radio equipment available to Red Cross volunteers when they need reliable, alternative communication equipment, Ripple said.

Ripple has been the guiding force behind the revival of the club in the past three years or so, Schroeder said.

“It’s primarily through the efforts of Sam Ripple that this thing got started again. He’s really a mentor to the club.”

Sam’s HAMs can cover the whole county with hand-held radios and even go up into the Kankakee area, down to Champaign, west into Ford County and east into Indiana.

“All the members of the club have their own radios and some have portable ones in their vehicles and walkie talkies,” Schroeder said.

The repeater systems are housed at undisclosed places for security reasons, he said.

Being a HAM

So what’s the attraction of sitting in front of that tabletop radio at home, being a HAM?

“One of my main interests is in talking to people in countries around the world,” Schroeder said.

Hi wife, Christine, agrees. “I like talking to people in other countries — just seeing how they live and their priorities,” Christine said.

They’ve talked to radio people in almost every country of the world — English is universal.

“I’ve not radioed Iraq recently. Iraqis have more important things to worry about,” Carl said. “Some of the service people are able to get on HAM radio once in awhile.”

He prefers radios to the Internet. “It’s more of a thrill to know that I’m talking into a microphone and being heard directly in Australia.”

100 years

of HAMs

– B3

Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club

What: Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club meets at 7 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the American Red Cross office, 214 E. Walnut St. Watseka.

Membership: Anyone with a sincere interest in ham radio operation may join. Dues are $30 per year.

Officers: President Steve Farrington, Loda; vice president Carl Schroeder, Woodland; and secretary-treasurer Sam Ripple, Watseka.

Web site: www.icarc.com.

Licensing: For information, call American Radio Relay League (800) 594-0200 or visit the Web site, www.arrl.org.

Well Severe Weather Season is quickly approaching and I have taken your suggestions from our first preliminary Skywarn Net Standard Operating Procedure and have updated it with those suggestions(see attached) - I appreciate all the excellent input! I also updated the frequency of operation area to include our latest decisions for back up operations. Please review and I will have printed copies for the meeting tonight for final review before our official release. I recently also joined the Kankakee club (KARS) and earlier this week met with John McGarey, K9BYT, who is the Kankakee County Skywarn Net Control. John is going to provide me with a copy of the software he developed which is based on Microsoft Access for Spotter check-in/out and ESDA report generation.

See you all tonight!

Mike Marcier - KC9HHT

Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club

Preliminary Copy Rev2 - March 6, 2007

Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club
Skywarn Net
Standard Operating Procedure

The Iroquois County Skywarn Net is coordinated and operated by the Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club (ICARC) and establishes the following Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). This SOP provides for the administration of local Net operations with area storm spotters and establishes contact procedures with local Public Safety Authorities and the National Weather Service (NWS).

This SOP is divided into five basic areas of control definition:

• Frequency of Operation
• Net Activation and Control Procedures
• Spotter Check In/Out, Welfare Checks
• Spotter Qualification Requirements
• Spotter Safety

Frequency of Operation

The frequency of operation of the Iroquois County Skywarn Net will be:

Primary frequency of operation: 147.030 MHz Repeater (W9RWX) located in Crescent City, IL. This repeater has a standard offset of + 600 KHz and a PL tone of 103.5 Hz. In the event that this repeater is not in operation the net will take place on the backup simplex frequency.

Backup simplex frequency: 147.030 MHz FM Simplex is the back up frequency for net operations with no PL tone. When operating in this condition, spotters should be mindful that they may not be able to hear all traffic going into net control and should withhold traffic if instructed by net control. Net control should then call you back for a report once the traffic has been completed. With the primary repeater down, net control communications to the NWS will take place on the Kankakee Area Radio Society (KARS) Repeater on 146.940 MHz with a + 600 KHz offset with a PL tone of 107.2 Hz.

Secondary frequency of operation: 444.625 MHz Repeater (W9RWX) located in Watseka, IL. This repeater has a standard offset of + 5 MHz with a PL tone of 103.5 Hz. This repeater will also be available for spotter traffic as a back up to the 147.030 MHz Repeater. The 444.625 MHz Repeater may also be crossband linked to the 147.030 MHz Simplex channel to provide additional coverage operations.

APRS Digital Communications: An APRS Digipeater located on the Cingular Wireless Tower east of Watseka operating on the Nationwide frequency of 144.390 MHz will provide NWS bulletins and regional messaging access.

Skywarn Net Activation

The Skywarn Net will be activated when the National Weather Service issues a Severe Thunderstorm Warning, Tornado Warning, or by special request for spotter support during threatening weather activity by Net Control, the NWS or local Public Safety authorities. The ICARC Skywarn Net Control is responsible for activation of the net however, in the absence of the primary Net Control operator; ICARC Skywarn Net Control Alternates (see contact list) may handle net control. The Iroquois County ESDA Director (see contact list) should be notified when Net operations begin and end. A report should be e-mailed to the ESDA Director after the closure of the net highlighting reporting activities, who participated and their locations.

During Net operations all non-essential communications not relating to the Skywarn net operations should be minimized.

Spotter Check-in

It is the duty of Skywarn Net Control to keep track of reporting station information and their locations. As spotters report in, net control should log their positions for referral when reporting to the National Weather Service and for spotter welfare confirmation checks. Net control should note current weather conditions reported by spotters. Spotters should report changing conditions as threatening weather approaches (wind, hail, heavy rain, wall cloud formations, funnel clouds, tornados, etc.)

Spotter Welfare Check

Before the closing of the net after a weather emergency, net control should include a welfare check of all spotters still in an active status in the affected area to make sure everyone has been accounted for.

Spotter Check-Out

Whenever a spotter who has checked in to the net is no longer available they need to contact net control to check out of service. This has two purposes: it lets net control know that you are no longer available for reporting but it also is so there can be an accounting of spotters for welfare checks both during and after a weather event.

Reporting to NWS

Net control should be the primary person communicating to the NWS and should contact them as severe weather conditions warrant (see contact list).

The conditions that warrant NWS notification are the following:

• Estimated or measured wind in excess of 60 MPH
• Heavy Rain or flash flooding taking place
• Hail - give approximate size of hail based on NWS Spotter’s Guide
• Wall Cloud formations, funnel clouds either aloft or on the ground - providing location information, and direction of travel
• Other items of public safety concern

It is the duty of net control to minimize communications to the NWS and to make sure non-essential communications does not overwhelm NWS operators. It is not the job of the NWS to communicate directly with spotters unless for purposes of coordinating critical funnel cloud tracking.

Net control should notify local public safety authorities of any concerns affecting the immediate safety of people and property by calling 911. If phone lines are out of service see contact list for alternate contact methods.

Spotter Qualifications

Spotters must have taken Spotter Training Class through the National Weather Service in order to be qualified to participate in Spotter operations. Training is required to make sure that all spotters are familiar with the proper identification of hazardous weather activity and they are aware of spotter safety rules.

Spotter Safety

Always put safety first and do not get too close to the cell or wait in its path. If in an open rural area position yourself such that you can observe the cell from a distance without being in harms way. This will also allow you to be in the best position to observe the cell activity. Never attempt to observe a cell from inside a town or city area because you will not be able to out run the approaching cell. Never endanger yourself or family members.

Contact List

National Weather Service
Romeoville, IL
Phone: 800-681-2972
WX9LOT - The NWS will monitor the Kankakee Repeater 146.940 MHz +600 KHz offset with a PL Tone of 107.2 Hz during severe weather.

Iroquois County ESDA
ESDA Director
Carl Gerdovich
ESDA Repeater radio access contact Sam Ripple or Mike Marcier

Iroquois County Sheriff
Dial 911
Non-Emergency phone: 815-432-4918

ICARC Skywarn Net Control
Mike Marcier – KC9HHT
Home Phone: 815-432-3540
Cell Phone: 815-383-6814

Alternate Net Control Operators
Carl Schroeder – K9CS

Sam Ripple – W9QKF
Home Phone: 815-432-3308
Cell: 815-383-0499

Pres. Carl opened the meeting at 2:26 at Justins house in Sheldon. The Sept minutes were read and approved with one addition. Troys name is to be listed with the members helping getting the tax exempt status for the club. The treasure’s report was read and approved. All members introduced themselves with name and call.

Old Business

The APRS radio had bad finals and was replaced with a different one of the same model.

The webmaster said there was trouble with the hosting company and therefore the web site is down. New web site should be up soon.

New Business

The officers have prepared a sample constitution to be passed out or mailed to each member at the next meeting. Want every member to look over and vote on new constitution and bylaws at the Dec meeting.

Justin gave a guided tour of the new studio and how to remote control WGFA for emergency.

Everyone enjoyed a great picnic with plenty of food and drink. Mike was the master chef and prepared a great burger and hot dog for all of us.

Patty Goff, Co-Publisher of the Lone Tree Leader, was at the meeting to report on ham radio and our club.

Net Control Oct 15 Benny, Oct 22 Sam, Oct 29 Mike, Nov 5 Brian

Snacks for Nov meeting by Chris and Carl

Members present Carl, Chris, Ron , Mike, Benny, Justin, Keith, Troy, and Sam.

Sam Ripple W9QKF Sec