Inside..
-
Handbook Giveaway
-
Straight Key Night – Plus More
-
Second Annual Ohio ARES VHF Simplex Contest
-
DMR
-
Dailey HF Traffic Nets
-
Getting this Newsletter
-
One Question Survey
-
Upcoming Hamfests
-
Got Questions
-
Final - Final
************
SPECIAL
- HANDBOOK GIVEAWAY
|
Hey
Gang..
Just
wanted to remind you all that you don’t have long – to get in on another drawing
for the 2017 ARRL Handbook on New Years Day!!
If
you entered anytime in December, you automatically have a second chance at the
Handbook!
If
you haven’t entered yet, why not? What have you got to lose? It’s FREE and
you can’t get anything better than that!!
|
 ----------
What's
the catch? There isn't any. If you live in Ohio, all you have to do to
be entered is to fill out the form.
You'll
even be emailed a copy of the completed form back to you as your confirmation
that you're entered. It won't cost you anything!! And no, you don't have to
be an ARRL member to participate! A new drawing is held each month, and
in order to be eligible, you do have to enter each month. You can't win
if you don't enter. So what have you got to loose!!
The
next drawing for the 2nd Handbook will be announced on New Year’s Day. Each
winner will be notified by email, so PLEASE use a valid email when completing
the form, this is the only way I have of contacting you if you win.
Please
only hit the submit button once. It will take the server several seconds to
process the form. Once completed and accepted you'll be directed back to the
main page of the website.
73,
and good luck to all..
|
********************
Every
day is a good day to operate on CW, but set some time aside on New Year’s Eve
and Day to enjoy Straight
Key Night (SKN)
or to do some CW on the satellites during AMSAT CW Activity
Day.
The
annual SKN gets under way at 0000 UTC on January 1, 2017 (New Year’s Eve in US
time zones). The 24-hour event is not a contest but a day dedicated to
celebrating Amateur Radio’s CW heritage. Participants are encouraged to get on
the air and simply enjoy conversational CW contacts, preferably using a straight
(hand) key or a semi-automatic key (bug).
Activity
traditionally centers on CW segments in the HF bands. There are no points or
obligatory exchange. The only requirement is just to have fun! Send a SKN list of stations worked and
your vote for “Best Fist” and “Most Interesting QSO” by January 31, 2017.
AMSAT CW Activity
Day — formerly Satellite Straight Key Night — takes place on January 1, 2017
(UTC) and run for 24 hours. As with the old Straight Key Night, this is a fun
event, not a contest, and there is no required exchange. All forms of CW are
welcome, from straight keys, bugs, and keyers to keyboards and decoders.
Working the same station on more than one satellite is permitted.
All
participants are asked to post their results, including any “Soapbox” comments,
to AMSAT-BB. Include the satellites you used and the number of CW contacts you
make on each. Participants may post their full logs, although this is not required.
********************
ANNOUNCING
>> The Second Annual Ohio ARES VHF Simplex Contest! January 14, 2917.
After
a lot of requests, we are opening this up to 6 meters as a part of
your score as well! There is a lot of potential for wide-area
coverage on that band, and we need to cultivate some interest- so, for the
sixers out there, burn eggs on your beam!!
Some
questions, and answers:
-
On the bonus situations, the EOC bonus is exactly what it says- operation must
be from an EOC, not a nearby trailer or remote location. EOC ops, add 50 points
to your total contact score. Operation from any portable location (trailer,
tent, park bench, igloo) is 100 points added to your total contact score.
Contact an ARES officer of any type, add 5 points to that contact (in other
words, if your contact says he’s an EC, it’s worth 6 points.)
-
On digital. All modes are open and we’ve had some questions as to ‘which’ mode.
Any of the modes commonly accepted for NBEMS work!
-
Frequencies haven’t been mentioned. Grab any you like- if your district has a
prescribed simplex frequency, try that first. Anything except a repeater. Make
sure you get the county or location of your
contact-
the whole point is to be able to plot your best coverage area. Look for ‘real’
signal reports.
-
You know what? If you get bored and want to fry some eggs on your six-meter
antennas, go for it. DO INCLUDE your six contacts in your score!
-
HAVE FUN!
Here
are the rules again!
Purpose
ARES
is tasked with being able to provide communications “When all else fails.”
Local communication is critical and typically takes place on the VHF or UHF
amateur band. In order to improve our ability to perform on these bands, Ohio
Section ARES is sponsoring the ARES VHF Contest (Yeah, we know, but calling it
the Ohio VHF / UHF Contest got a little long-winded). Participants in the
contest are encouraged to make as many contacts as possible within the
time-frame of the contest, with as many different geographical locations as the
bands permit. The contest is open to all Amateur operators. ARES members are
strongly encouraged to participate. How else are you going to win the ‘bragging
rights’ session of your next ARES meeting?
When
did you say it was?
The
contest is January 14, 2017. The start time is (for those of
us who sleep in) 10 AM through 6 PM Eastern. Yeah, a civilized time-frame that
doesn’t rob sleep, and allows time with the family. Why, you can even watch a
few cartoons in the morning!
Where
you gonna’ be?
You
may operate this contest from anywhere. There are certain benefits for
venturing out from your warm, comfortable home station. EOC stations can gain
extra points. Portable stations can gain even MORE extra points – that is, if
your frozen fingers will still be able to operate a keyboard. Portable stations
MUST use portable antennas, nothing permanently attached…kind of like Field Day
on ice. We are not going with any mobile operation this time. The image of a
bunch of vehicles running around with portable towers, 150 pounds of antenna
hardware and an occasional grounding anchor is best left to the ARRL
contesters.
Da
Bands – a la’ Mode
Because
local emergency communication takes place primarily on the two meter and 70
centimeter bands, the contest is limited to those two bands plus 6
meters! Within each band, we will have these modes: FM Simplex,
“Everything else” Simplex; DIGITAL simplex contacts will make up a third mode
on each band. Contacts with a station count once per mode- if you can talk the
other guy into abandoning “his frequency” and meeting you on SSB or CW, more
power to ya! NO REPEATER CONTACTS WILL COUNT. If you get bored, you certainly
are welcome to chat amongst yourselves on repeaters, or simplex, or cell
phones, or smoke signals.
Da
Contacts
The
goal is to contact as many different stations in as many different counties as
possible. You can make as many overall contacts as you like, they will then be
multiplied by the number of counties you’ve reached. Extra points will be
available for contacting an EC, AEC, DEC, ADEC, ASEC or SEC. Pretty simple- any
more complex and we’ll confuse the scorekeepers.
Da
Score
Each
FM Simplex contact counts as 1 point.
Each
non- FM simplex contact counts as 1 point.
Each
digital simplex contact counts as 1 point. (Detect a pattern here?)
Contact
with EC, AEC, DEC, ADEC, ASEC or SEC adds 5 points.
Contact
with an EOC or with a portable station adds 5 points.
Operation
from an EOC add 50 points to your total contact score.
Operation
from a portable location add 100 points to your total contact score.
Total
contact score (all bands/modes added together) will be multiplied by the total
number of counties you contacted.
Da
Logs
Please
use any of the appropriate computer logging programs, paper dupe sheets, a
well-worn slide rule or rusty abacus. Just keep all that to yourself, we can’t
find anyone with the time to go through all the detail contacts. Submit an
email to: contest@delares.org
with the following:
Your
name:
Group
name:
Location:
(City, county)
FM
Simplex Contacts:
“Everything
else” Simplex Contacts:
Digital
Simplex Contacts:
EOC
bonus:
Portable
bonus:
Total
Contact Score (Add above together, but you figured that out already):
Multiply
by total number of counties contacted (include your own!):
Bask
in the glory of a well thought out, well executed effort!
Definition
of acronyms..
EOC
= Emergency Operations Center
NBEMS
= Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System
ARES
= Amateur Radio Emergency Service
SM
= Section Manager
SEC
= Section Emergency Coordinator
ASEC
= Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator
DEC
= District Emergency Coordinator
ADEC
= Assistant District Emergency Coordinator
EC
= Emergency Coordinator
AEC
= Assistant Emergency Coordinator
CW
= Continuous Wave
SSB
= Single-Side Band
FM
= Frequency Modulation
DMR..
Hey Everyone on DMR – The Ohio Talkgroup Net is now set to be every Wednesday night
at 8:30pm EST. Don’t forget, there will be an Ohio Statewide DMR Net every
Wednesday night starting this coming Wednesday!!! Come, join in on the fun and learn more about
DMR from those who are on.
Have
we gotten you to look into this new (old) mode yet? I’ve been busy propagating
the website with lots and lots of information about DMR. Please, go take a look
at the website and see if it isn’t something that really is gonna’ be FUN for
you to do. Here’s the link:
********************
Here is a list of
Ohio NTS HF daily nets, frequencies, times and net managers. All licensed
hams are welcome to check in with or without radiogram traffic.
BN(E) – Buckeye Net Early – CW – WB8YLO NET MANAGER – 3580 at 6:45
BN(L)
– Buckeye Net Late – CW – WB9LBI NET MANAGER – 3590 at
10:00 pm
OSN
– Ohio Slow Net – CW – W8OLO NET MANAGER – 3.53535 at 6PM
OSSBN
– Ohio Single Sideband Net – Phone – KC8WH NET MANAGER –
3972.5 at 10:30 AM, 4:15PM AND 6:45 PM
********************
Are
you getting those emails from me? If not, all you have to do is to “Opt-In” to
receive them.
Heck,
just send me an email: n8sy@n8sy.com and let me know
that you want to be added. It’s really just that easy. We have over 2,500
persons on our Ohio Section Mailing List now and growing.
Are
you passing this newsletter on to others? Please, if you know of anyone that
would be interested in this information, feel free to pass it on to them. You
don’t have to be an ARRL member or even a ham to receive these emails.
You
can always “Opt-Out” at any time if you feel this is not what you
were expecting.
********************
One Question Survey. Have you seen that there is a NEW
question on the website? There is, please take just a few seconds and answer
the question. It’s FUN to see how your answer stacks up with all the other
folks and it’s good for me to know so that I can tailor articles to your
responses. http://arrlohio.org
Are
these responses really useful? The simple answer to that is YES. I have seen
several presentations given by others with this One Question data being used.
It’s really great to know that others see this information as useful too.
NOW.. Do you have any questions that you’d like to
see posted? Let me know, send me an email n8sy@n8sy.com with your question(s).
********************
01/15/2017
| Sunday Creek Amateur Radio Federation Hamfest
Location:
Nelsonville, OH
Sponsor:
Sunday Creek Amateur Radio Federation
01/29/2017
| TUSCO Amateur Radio Club Hamfest
Location:
Strasburg, OH
Sponsor:
Tusco Amateur Radio Club
********************
Want
to sit and just chat awhile? I’m available, Heck, I’ll even buy!!
********************
Finally.. Have FUN
with Amateur Radio and all that it has to offer and while you’re at it.. Have a Fantastic, and SAFE New Year..!!
eof..
