Announcements
Sacramento ARES supports the 2024 California International Marathon
On December 8, 2024 the California International Marathon (CIM) saw its 41st running this year. And Sacramento County ARES has been supporting this event for over a decade.
“Each year we have over 20 volunteers providing essential radio communication at every aid and medical station spread out along the course,” reported Jay Ballinger – N6SAC, Emergency Coordinator for Sacramento ARES. “The runners’ safety and welfare are our primary mission. And we provide the link for runner status and overall situational awareness to the event organizers.”
The radio operators are stationed side by side with the aid and medical tent personnel. They report lead runner positions, runners requiring aid and support, road closure status, and essential runner withdrawal information back to Race Control.
“The event safety coordinators, about 15 in all, can hear our radio traffic and quickly build that mental picture of the event,” reports Jay. “We are the fastest and most complete communication network for the event.”
Over 10,000 runners participate each year. Considered the #1 Qualifier for the Boston Marathon, the elite runners will finish the run in just over two hours, but the team commits to staying on station for the full eight hour event.
Sacramento ARES supports many running and biking distance events throughout the year, and all of that training leads up to this big event each December.
“The team does great,” Jay confirms. “This has all of the elements of an emergency activation – operators are given a tactical callsign, they are sent to remote locations, they must be self-reliant for several hours, they have reporting assignments, and they must integrate with a directed net. I could not be more proud with how well they performed.”
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NorCal SKYWARN™ Recognition Day - December 7
Congratulations to NorCal Skywarn volunteer operators on their successful operation at the Sacramento NWS office as WX6NWS during December 7 SKYWARN™ Recognition Day. This 25th Anniversary operating event recognized volunteer weather spotters/radio amateurs all over the country and territories who assist the National Weather Service (NWS) with observations and forecasting.
During 16 hours of operation, volunteer operators Paul Young, KA6PDY, and Chris made 175 radio and Echolink contacts around the country which was a new record for them. Some newly licensed radio amateurs and other new visitors also attended.
This Special Event is based after ARRL’s Field Day, but they make contacts on HF, VHF, UHF, Digital, EchoLink, IRLP and others. The WX6NWS operation was live streamed on the K6IS FM repeater, 145.190 MHz, - offset, PL 162.2, and by way of the EchoLink Conference Server SKY_GATE Node 868981.
NWS offices in Hanford, Oxnard and the Monterey/SF Bay Area also participated on the air during Skywarn Recognition Day.
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*W6SFM's ARRL Straight Key Night*
January 1, 2025 00:00 to 23:59 UTC
For more than 50 years, ARRL Straight Key Night (SKN) has long been the favorite event of many amateurs. Always on New Year’s Eve and Day, Straight Key Night gives hams a chance to return to the time when Amateur Radio was just a bit simpler -- a time when a straight key or an old bug, along with a basic transceiver, was all that was needed to communicate around the world. In fact, that’s still all that is needed.
The Samuel F. Morse Amateur Radio Club invites you to participate in the 2025 ARRL Straight Key Night. This 24-hour event is not a contest; rather it’s a day dedicated to celebrating our CW heritage. W6SFM will get on the air and simply make enjoyable, conversational CW QSOs. The use of straight keys or bugs to send CW is preferred.
The event begins on Wednesday, January 1, 2025 at 00:00 UTC and concludes Wednesday, January 1 at 23:59 UTC. That's 4:00 PM Tuesday, December 31 PST until Wednesday, January 1st 3:59 PM PST.
During this event, W6SFM operators will post CQ frequencies in the Live Chat spotting aid on https://w6sfm.org/arrl-straight-key-night
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New Field Organization Appointment
Martin Twer, AJ6OH, of Grass Vallley, CA, is appointed ARES District 4 District Emergency Coordinator replacing Jan Woldseth, KB6FMZ. Welcome, Martin, and thanks, Jan for your years of service in this position.
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W6SFM Samuel F. Morse ARC Bug Roundup Media Hit
Congratulations to the W6SFM Samuel F. Morse Amateur Radio Club on the mention of their Bug Roundup event on the November 15 Amateur Radio Newsline podcast.
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SAMUEL MORSE CLUB HOSTS "BUG ROUNDUP"
SKEETER/ANCHOR: Whether it's summer or winter in your part of the world, one thing is for certain: It's a great season for bugs! Well, Morse Code bugs, that is. Randy Sly W4XJ tells us to get out those bugs and get on the air.
RANDY: Just as the ARRL's Straight Key Night celebrates that style of traditional mechanical key, the Bug Roundup is a freewheeling festival of mechanical Morse Code music encouraging CW ops to ragchew in style using bugs, the semi-automatic key style made famous by Vibroplex. California's Samuel F. Morse Amateur Radio Club, W6SFM, is inviting hams to practice what it is calling "home grown digital music" this month. This is a semi-annual three-day event that the club also holds in May. It is taking place on Saturday, November 16th, at 0000 UTC and concludes on Monday, November 18th at the same time. Hams will be calling "CQ BR" and the exchange will include name, QTH, RST and of course the model, age and any other details about the bug you are using.
This is just the kind of bug you want to catch!
This is Randy Sly W4XJ.
(SAMUEL F MORSE ARC)
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Veterans Day Special Event Station W6VET
November 11, 2024, 1830-2300 UTC
Redding, California Veterans Amateur Radio Club
The W6VET Special Event Station operating schedule was: 21.375 MHz +/- 1830-1930 UTC and 2200-2300 UTC @ 14.270 MHz +/-
The Special Event contact log is posted on the W6VET QRZ page.
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ARRL Section Members Give Amateur Radio Talks at NorCal RV Club Rallies
On September 12 Airstream RV Club International Region 12 members participated in the Introduction to Ham Radio workshop presented by SacValley President and ARRL SV Affiliated Club Coordinator, James Goldstene, AE6JG, and James Aspinwall, NO1PC at their Rally in South Lake Tahoe, CA. James gave a live demonstration of HF communications on 40m SSB QSOs with Jim Zheng, W6JCZ, at Ham Radio Outlet in Sacramento, ARRL Sacramento EC Jay Ballinger, N6SAC, ARRL Sac Valley SM, Carol Milazzo, KP4MD in Citrus Heights, and others. Participants really enjoyed the workshop and commented on how well organized and informative the presentation was. James is a teacher after all! Thank you James and all that participated!
On September 5, James Goldstene, AE6JG, also gave an introduction to amateur radio talk to about 15 members of three Airstream RV Clubs at their joint "Silver in Cascadia" Rally at the McCloud RV Park near Mt. Shasta, CA. "We used a sling shot to get a Chameleon EFHW up in the air and hit Mexico and Haiti." See photos on our arrlsacvalley.org website.
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Section Manager arrl.org Email Address Restored. Please address email for the Sacramento Valley Section Manager to kp4md@arrl.org Thank you.
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Intentional interference is increasingly reported in our section and elsewhere around the nation. At the 2023 ARRL Pacificon Convention forum entitled "Dealing with Intentional Interference" ARRL and other amateur radio leadership presented and discussed resources and strategies to assist radio amateurs, clubs, groups and repeater owners in controlling this problem.
Local direction finding (DF) teams have been organizing to collect evidence of these incidents.
If you experience intentional interference, here below are several ways that you can immediately assist:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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In case 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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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