BARC on the Web: http://www.w4amc.com Ham Chatter

PAGE 1 October 2021

An Official BARC, W4AMC, Publication Volume 55 Issue 10 October 2021

Editor, Mark Raysin, KG4GVJ Email: hamchatter @ w4amc.com

Amateur Radio “only fail-safe system”

BARC’s Next Meeting in Person and Zoom Oct 12, 2021, 7 PM

Oakwood School in the Music room All members, families and guests are invited to attend. Speaker: Robert Young

We will take nominations for BARC Officers for the next year. Have your nominations ready! Not to be missed! Next Meeting Nov. 9, 2021 Elections! Dec 14, Club Christmas party.

Inside: Articles from members on their experience with the MS Bike New Bern 2021 Event, Page 29.

Elections in November for BARC Officers.

Elections is coming up folks. Can you volunteer for a position or nominate someone who will be willing for a position for a year or two? Peter has a uncertain future in the area due to his parents health and some is at the end of their term and will need to take a year long break before being availa-ble again. Wondering about what it involves? Ask the person doing it now and find out. These are important positions folks, and need to be filled.

BARC Emergency Communi-cation Workgroup (BECW) Zoom 7pm, Oct 19

Board Meeting - Oct 26, 2021 The meeting will be on ZOOM at 7:00 PM. All members invited.

BARC STARTED IN-PERSON General Meetings, Mask Required

VOA Event February 19-20, 2022 Brightleaf will be the W4A station. Transmitting location to be determined. Details still being worked out.

Ham Chatter

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Login for BARC meeting on Zoom Peter Van Houten, N4PVH, will be running Zoom for the meet-ing. To join, use his Zoom number, 699-723-8982. The password will be sent via email. If you have prob-lems, call or email Peter or another club member.

Please bring to the Test the following, required: • Photo ID (drivers license) • Original Amateur Radio License • Copy of Amateur Radio License • Original CSCE’s • Copy of CSCE • Test fee (Cash) . FRN number is required. * A valid Email address will

need to be provided. See for further info: https://qsl.net/w4amc/barcinfo.html#VE

Thoughts and Prayers go out to the fol-lowing:

Richard Cox, on the passing of his wife in August. Please inform the Vice President and Ham Chatter of any changes or needs.

Well Wishes

Next VE Session

Happy

Birthday

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE BRIGHTLEAF ARC, P. O. BOX 8387, GREENVILLE, NC 27835 * NON-COPY - RIGHT MATERIAL CONTAINED HEREIN MAY BE REPRINTED WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION WITH CREDIT GIVEN TO THIS PUBLICATION * PRESIDENT - PETER VAN HOUTEN, N4PVH * 1ST VICE PRESIDENT - DAVE LANGLEY, W4YDY* 2ND VICE PRESIDENT - BYRON HIGHLAND, K4BMH * SECRETARY - BETH GONZALEZ, KN4FZB, * TREASURER - JIM LOWE, AC4JL, * BOARD MEMBER - ,DAVE WOOD, W4EJ * VE LIAISON - GARY CORIELL, KK4GC *PUBLIC RELATIONS/PUBLIC SERVICE COORDINATOR - VACANT * W4AMC/W1VOA/W4UHS TRUSTEE, BILL DAWSON, WA4SLC * HAM CHATTER EDITOR - MARK RAYSIN, KG4GVJ * WEBMASTER - PETER VAN HOUTEN, N4PVH * EMAIL ADDRESSES ON BARC WEB SITE * OPINIONS BY WRITERS MAY NOT NECESSARILY BE THAT OF THE BRIGHTLEAF ARC * CONTRIBUTIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE. .

In This Issue

Next Meetings 1

Presidents Corner - N4PVH 3

Board Minutes 6

Yabba-Dabba-Doo from Mark 7

Maysville 8

Winlink Nets 20

Greetings from Marv WA4NC 22

MS Bike New Bern 2021 reports 28

Ham AD’s 40

BARC Calendar of Events 42

To find the next VE testing session please go to the ARRL web site: http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-session and find one in your local area. For local Hams, look up Ger-ald KN4CKL as he has been doing limited testing all through the pan-demic. GO Gerald!!!” You will need a reservation in order to be tested. Practice taking the test on line with https://www.hamradiolicenseexam.com. Study material at: http://www.arrl.org/courses-training.

VE News

Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club members birthdays :

10-02 AC4PW Martin Culpepper 10-19 N4DN Donald Bradshaw 10-28 K4BMH Byron Highland 10-31 K4ZYD Terry Monday

Please let me know of any

additions or corrections. If

yours is missing, I don’t have

it! emailhamchatter@w4amc.com

Presentation Ideas Needed

Who do you want to see or hear giving a Presen-tation at the Meetings? Let Byron know. Email him at: bhighland@nc.rr.com

Missing out on see-ing folks in person at the meetings? We’ve Starting up again! Join us on ZOOM or in

person. We miss seeing you too.

The contents of this Newsletter doesn’t necessarily express the opinion or views of Brightleaf Am-ateur Radio Club or it’s members. No offence is intended.

BARC on the Web: http://www.w4amc.com Ham Chatter

PAGE 3 October 2021

Dear Members: We just completed the BARC Board meeting on zoom and decided on a slate of officers for election by the membership. If you would like to write in yourself or someone else in a position, please get permission of that person and send me an email of the new write in so that the person can be add-ed to the ballot. Please do this immediately and start to campaign for the position with the member-ship. Here is the sample ballot that we will be using at the November meeting. The new ballot will be circulated by email right before the November meeting on Zoom. You can show up at the meet-ing to vote or (due to covid) email your completed ballot but it must arrive before the November meeting so that it is counted at the meeting. Please send to info@w4amc.com. Only one ballot per member therefore put your call sign below. Put your call sign here: ____________ Please check one name per position below.

_____________________________________

Upcoming Meetings: Speaker for October is Robert Young. We will meet (with masks on) at Oakwood School in the Mu-sic room at 7pm on 10/12/21. Will see if we can have a dinner before somewhere that is open and safe organized by Byron. Check the email and Hamchatter for the announcement.

POSITION VOTE RECOMMENDED SLATE VOTE Write in Candidate

PRESIDENT Pete Van Houten

1ST VP Byron Highland

2ND VP Judy Taber

TREASURER Terry Monday

SECRETARY Beth Gonzallo

TRUSTEE #1 Bill Dawson

TRUSTEE #2 Dave Wood

President’s Corner, Peter Van Houten, N4PVH

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November meeting on 11/9/21 at 7pm will be about the VOA by Macon Dail and we will also have the elec-tion at Oakwood.

December meeting will be the Christmas Party on 12/14/21 at 6 pm. The details are still fluid due to covid and will be announced later. January 11, 2022 looks like we may have a great talk on Dx’ing and the Dx clubs by Clark, WU4B with the Southeastern DX Club. _____________________________________

We tested the home made 2 meter “Slim-Jim” antennas made out of 450 ohm ladder line by taping it to the 33’ fiberglass fishing pole from MFJ and tying it to the roof rack of the truck. On simplex, I could talk to anyone in Pitt county from Falkland without using the repeater (assuming it was out after a hurricane). I build 4 of them to put into the 2m jump kits in the trailer. They only need a short barrel connector and a

President’s Corner

Continued

feed line (about 50’ of RG8X or equivalent) to connect to the radio. A line of string would allow you to throw it up into a tree to get the height. ______________________________________ Other News: The Yamaha 2000w generator has been serviced by Mark’s Marine and will be back in the trailer. Dave Wood and his “Camp Lejeune” team (Jim Lowe, Gary Corriell, Dave Langley and others) has passed close to 100 marines as amateur radio Technicians and some as General class with a few Extra class as well. They continue to plan new classes as long as it is needed to im-prove the armed forces communication skills. A real round of applause to the team. Judy Taber is organizing a CPR class for BARC members and their family members. Please con-tact her if interested in taking the class. We need ideas on how to have a safe Christmas Party in December. Please forward your ideas to me.

BARC on the Web: http://www.w4amc.com Ham Chatter

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October 14-16th, 2021 is JOTA week end. Jim Lowe is going to take the ARES trailer to Winter-ville and set it up to have the Scouts be able to get on the air. We need people on the local re-peaters that are willing to talk to the kids and give them a QSO. We will also have HF capability to talk around the world. Lets make this fun for the kids. Call Jim if you are interested in helping or just get on the local repeater and respond to the CQ calls. Oakwood school has a learning lab that is equipped with Arduinos and Raspberry Pi to al-low the students to make projects. How about some of our members teaching or doing a project with any kids that are interested? (does not need to be going to Oakwood but be a member of this club). We have a functional 2m/440/HF radio sta-tion at Oakwood. Judy will be calling on each of the members to ask questions on how the next year should be run. The Covid pandemic has really made it very difficult to have an active Amateur Radio Club. We still have nearly the same numbers of mem-bers from year to year but the participation is low. What can be done to get people involved? We need volunteers to do the training classes and do VE testing. We need participation in activities like the MS bike-athon and the antenna party that we had where we built the Slim-Jim 2m antennas. Unfortunately we chose the weekend that the MS bike-athon was running and had 3 members away. The antenna party was just David K1KK and myself. Coming up in Feb.19-20, 2022 is the 80th anniversary of the VOA. How many people will come out and participate, man the radios, log or set up antennas? I am in the process of trying to re-establish access to the VOA site and get the large rhombic antennas back on line. Help here would be welcome. Remember: you only get out of any club the ex-citement and effort that you put into this club. Do nothing, you get nothing. Get involved and the club grows doing more interesting things and making a real world impact! Let’s get busy! 73 Peter, N4PVH

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BARC Board Meeting

Sept 28, 2021

In Attendance: Beth Gonzalez KN4FZB, Byron Highland K4BMH, Jim Lowe AC4JL, Dave Langley W4YDY,

Mark Raysin KG4GVJ, Gerald Seighman KN4CKL, Judy Taber W3JUU, Peter Van Houten N4PVH, Dave

Wood W4EJ

Reports:

Treasurer: $2933.19 in treasury, $59 in petty cash, The club has received ~$25 from Amazon Smile.

Business:

Terry Munday will take over as treasurer for next year. Jim will be spending more time travelling, but will

continue to help with educating at LeJeune and Cherry Point. May help at Oakwood if there is enough

interest in a club there.

Judy is arranging for a CPR class with infant and AED. Cost will be $45 and anyone can attend.

Peter is working on arranging for VOA access for the 80th anniversary of the VOA. Attempting to at least

gain property access, if not building access. Will request to repair some feed lines. May need to bring

trailer and operate through that.

Judy working on Winlink info, and how to get wifi in the trailer.

Election Lineup

President: Peter Van Houten

1VP: Byron Highland

2VP: Judy Taber

Treasurer: Terry Monday

Secretary: Beth Gonzalez

Trustees: Dave Wood, Bill Dawson,

Webmaster: Peter Van Houten

VE Liaison: Judy Taber or Gerald Seighman

Em Comm Coordinator: Byron Highland

Still Need Field Day Captain and Public Relations people

Wondering how to get more club members involved. Judy will call to check in with members and request

info.

Submitted by

Beth Gonzalez KN4FZB

BARC on the Web: http://www.w4amc.com Ham Chatter

PAGE 7 October 2021

Forsyth Amateur Radio Club (FARC) W4NC

Like us, FARC is also having to deal with the Virus these days. They meet on the 2nd Monday of the month on ZOOM at 7:30 PM. The Log on is 294 418 122 with the Password being the club call in lower case. They have also started to meet Live at Red Cross under the fol-lowing conditions set by the Red Cross: 1. Fully vaccinated persons - no mask required, no social distancing required. 2. Un-vaccinated persons must wear a mask and must socially distance. ARES/Auxcomm training is on the 3rd Thursdays at 8:30 PM at 897-9792-5844. Tech-Talk is on Wednesdays at 7:30 PM (informal) 549 621 524. Password is their Call sign. From FARC website.

Hi folks, Ready for another Month? Did you know we have Elections com-ing up? Yay, and we need folks to step up and do the Jobs. Try a year, if that doesn’t work out, you don’t need to do it again. On another note, The MS Bike New Bern 2021 went well. Alt-hough I might have followed the last bikes too close. If doing the same thing next year, I’ll need to do it different. I also learned that having the radio’s control head on the seat by you is not the greatest of ideas. I accidentally Changed channels on my radio while wait-ing to be sent behind the last rider. I did finally noticed and corrected it. Day went better after that. My wife and I took a trip in Sep-tember to the beach. I taken my Icom 705 radio with me in hopes of operating QRP. But weather did-n’t help and the 9th floor balcony facing the Ocean would have helped, but I had no way to secure the antenna to the railing. Well, I hope to be better prepared next time. As a Editor, I find I have to correct some post, including my own. This issue has some sections that was up for a while, corrected or changed. Note: No, Spell check doesn’t help fully. It may know if the word is spelled correctly, but it doesn’t know what you intended to say.

Other Club’s Zoom Meetings and News

Yabba-Dabba-

Doo from “Bedrock”

Mark, KG4GVJ

Help the Editor. Do you have something to say or post? Want to write an article? Any ideas? Comments and no-tice’s of help needed (Personal or club needs or activities. Can be BARC related or other club’s). Have interesting photo’s or arti-cles? Done something related to radio? Please let us know and we may add them to the Ham Chatter and web page Blog. Send it along to the Editor at Ham Chatter. We will see if we can fit it in.

New Bern Amateur Radio Club starting Live Meetings

Next meeting @ 6:30 PM (Always 1st Monday of each month) at Moore's Old Tyme Chicken, BBQ & Seafood, 3621 Dr. M.L.K. Jr Blvd. New Bern, NC 28562 (next to Harris

Teeter Shopping Center). Be sure to drop by and check out the New Bern Amateur Radio Webpage at https://

nbarc.org/ and check out the wealth of info on the LINKS page at https://nbarc.org/ham-

links/

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WHAT: MAYSVILLE HAMFEST 2021 & FREE Potluck Lunch!

WHEN: (2nd Sunday in October) October 10, 2021

WHERE: Same Place as always (Rotary Park Community Center Building, 704 8th Street, Maysville, NC, 28555)

TIME: 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM FREE PotLuck Lunch @ 12 PM. (7:00 AM inside Vendor Set-up) COST: FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE

WHO: Everyone! Especially all Hams & Vendors throughout Eastern NC and beyond!

WHY: FREE TAILGATING & INSIDE VENDOR SPACES - FREE ADMISSION - FREE POTLUCK LUNCH - GREAT DOOR PRIZES!!

TALK-IN: 146.685 (PL 88.5) Grifton Repeater. Also simplex (146.520)

*MAIN DOOR PRIZES:

(NEW) Yaesu FT-2980R 85W 2M Mobile Transceiver (NEW) ICOM IC-2300H 65W 2M Mobile Transceiver

(NEW) MFJ-1896 6-Meter Moxon 5.5db 7-ft length Gain Antenna (NEW) MFJ-1852 2-Meter Wide-band 6-Element 10db Gain Yagi 600w An-tenna (NEW) Qty (2) MFJ-4116 DC Coax Power Injectors. Run DC voltage thru your Coax! (NEW) Baofeng UV-5R Dual Band Handheld Transceiver

*(MORE Main Prizes as donations come in)

$5 gets you 3 tickets chances to win!

$10 gets you 6 ticket chances to win!!

$20 gets you 15 ticket chances to win!!!

*ANY CONTRIBUTIONS: May be made via PayPal to: GarrisTV@hotmail.com (All funds go 100% directly towards Hamfest event rental, supplies, food & purchase of more door prizes)

IF YOU KNOW OF ANY VENDOR THAT WOULD LIKE TO COME PLEASE TELL THEM AND SHARE!!!! (IT'S FREE!!!)

MAYSVILLE HAMFEST DONATIONS RECEIVED SO FAR: (THANK YOU TO EACH & EVERYONE!!!) • Mr. David Burt, W4OFO $200 contribution via PayPal • ONSLOW AMATEUR RADIO CLUB [OARC] (Mike McClain, KK4VBG) contribution via mailed in check $200

Maysville Hamfest 2021

BARC on the Web: http://www.w4amc.com Ham Chatter

PAGE 9 October 2021

• Mr. Dave Warwick, K4DJW, $100 contribution via in-Person

• Mr. Danny Garris, WD4CQ, Donation of a Brand-New YAESU FT-2980R 80W 2M MO-BILE *$139.95

• Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) For *$10 discount on FT-2980R Main Door Prize

• Mr. Leslie Payne, N3VC Donation of a Brand-New MFJ-1896 6-Meter Moxon Antenna $89.95

• Mr. Leslie Payne, N3VC Donation of a Brand-New MFJ-1852 2-Meter Wide-band 6-Element Yagi $89.95

• Mr. Leslie Payne, N3VC Donation of a Brand-New Qty (2) MFJ-4116 DC Coax Power In-jectors $89.90

• Ms. Deana Harler will volunteer to run the door prize table & collect ticket funds

• Mr. Danny Garris, WD4CQ will open & man the venue, clean up & close event.

More Main Door Prizes as Hamfest Contribution and Donations are given!

*** PLENTY OF FREE INSIDE VENDOR SPACE IS AVAILABLE - VENDORS PLEASE CALL PUBLIC CONTACT BELOW ***

PUBLIC CONTACT: Danny Garris, WD4CQ

c/o: Garris TV Repair

3104 Neuse Blvd. New Bern, NC 28560

Ph: (252) 638-4477 shop

Ph: (252) 670-9955 cell/text GarrisTV@hotmail.com

A few weeks ago, I had learned & verified that the Maysville Hamfest had been canceled for this year 2021 due to COVID Variant-D concerns however, on Sept 13, 2021, Danny Garris, WD4CQ reached out to the Maysville Hamfest organizers & asked Bryon Highland, K4BMH if the local ham community could still gather & have the Hamfest & tailgating. Bryon agreed & gave permission to Danny Garris, WD4CQ to have the Hamfest as scheduled. Danny then got permission from the City of Maysville & the owner of the Rotary Park Community Center. Danny Garris, WD4CQ agreed to pay the $200 cash rental fee out of his pocket for the Rotary Park Community Center so that the Maysville Hamfest could continue as Scheduled. When Dave Warwick, K4DJW heard of this, he also stepped in & agreed to pay half the rental fee of $100 to lighten the burden on Danny. Now the Maysville Hamfest WILL CONTINUE AS SCHEDULED with the blessings of the Maysville Hamfest Association & City of Maysville as well as the owner of the Rotary Park Community Center. Both Danny Garris, WD4CQ, & Dave Warwick, K4DJW are happy to have this opportunity to help assist the Maysville Ham-fest Association to continue the Maysville Hamfest for 2021. Also, a very generous donation was made by David Burt, W4OFO. David commented that he would not be able to go but wanted to help keep the Maysville Hamfest going! A big thank you to David!! Then, Mike McClain, KK4VBG reached out to Danny and mailed in a check for $200 from the [OARC]

Ham Chatter

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Onslow Amateur Radio Club. Leslie Payne, N3VC dropped by Danny's workplace and do-nated several New door prizes as well. With this help coming in I will be able to financially purchase some nice door prizes listed above and purchase the needed supplies to make this a nice Maysville Hamfest 2021.

Just as before, the Rotary Park Community Building will be open as well as the kitchen area and all bathrooms. The Bathrooms will be stocked with fresh toilet paper, hand soap, paper towels, and trash bags (as I have to purchase all these items) We have plenty of Vendor space inside for any vendors that wish to set up. We would like for all those that can, to bring some-thing to share for the Pot Luck Lunch. Come out & fellowship with other Ham Radio Clubs throughout Eastern NC with great food & fellowship! When you come to the Park just bring your Potluck item inside & place it on the table. Then @ 12:00 PM we will have a blessing over the food and enjoy our Potluck luncheon! We will give out door prizes during the event and everything will be Free! All that we ask is a small donation to cover the $200 rental fees taken on by both Danny & Dave. All Proceeds will go to cover the costs of supplies to make this Hamfest happen and to keep it Free and support the Maysville Hamfest Association and the local Ham Community.

Many of the area Ham Radio Clubs have always discussed having a sort of "Picnic Day" where all the Clubs can come together and fellowship over good food, Ham Radio, and some tailgating! Well, this will be SUCH AN EVENT! Both a Hamfest AND a Community Potluck Lunch @ 12:00 PM. Bring a dish, paper plates, bottles of water or soda, Iced Tea, KFC Chick-en, Tacos, Hot dogs or Bring a grill and grill out if you'd like! If each person would bring a lit-tle something to share it will be an awesome potluck lunch. Soups, Beans, pick up a dish at Harris Teeter or Publix or Food Lion, and don't forget desserts are welcome too! Enjoy some Free Ham Radio Tailgating and a Nice Free Pot-Luck Lunch! Share with All Hams and Ham Clubs in Onslow - Jones - Craven - Carteret - Lenior - Wayne - Beaufort - Johnston - Duplin - Greene - Bertie - Bladen - Columbus - Nash, etc...

If you know of any Vendors who would like to come out Please Invite them! All Tailgaters and Vendor Spaces ARE FREE!!! No Charge!! Plenty of shade outside with the tall pine Trees and community building inside and outdoor awnings. UNLESS THERE IS A FORECAST OF HEAVY RAIN & THUNDERSTORMS WE WILL HAVE A HAMFEST!!!

*** THINGS WE ARE ACCEPTING FOR THE FREE MAYSVILLE HAMFEST ***

> SPREAD THE WORD, TELL VENDORS & CLUBS!!!

> Volunteers to help set up & man tables

> Volunteer to operate Talk-in radio table

> Make and place Signs to be placed by roads

> Donations of any kind. > Use of a Portable PA System

> Roll Cage or Box for prize tickets

> Food for the free lunch

BARC on the Web: http://www.w4amc.com Ham Chatter

PAGE 11 October 2021

> Ice, water, tea, sodas

> Cups, napkins, plates, forks/spoons

> Any Door prizes to be given out

People Volunteering and Bring items: (Contact Danny to Volunteer in any way)

< Danny Garris, WD4CQ will bring Talk-In 2-Meter Set up for Hamfest < Deana Harler will be volunteering to run the ticket booth table

< Danny Garris, WD4CQ will unlock doors at 7AM sharp & open venue

< Danny Garris, WD4CQ will collect all 33 GAL trash bags and haul off

< Danny Garris & Deana Harler will clean up venue and secure lock up

*** The above items may be dropped off at any time to Danny Garris, WD4CQ at Garris TV (See above) or brought to the Hamfest!

Donations of ANY amount may be given via PayPal to the PayPal address of GarrisTV@hotmail.com

• Donations via check may be mailed to Danny Garris, WD4CQ, c/o Garris TV, 3104 Neuse Blvd. New Bern, NC 28560

Donations of ANY kind may be dropped off to Danny, WD4CQ at Garris TV, 3104 Neuse Blvd. New Bern, NC 28560

All Donations help offset the $200 rental fees, costs of supplies I must purchase ahead of time such as 33 GAL Hefty trash bags, toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap, Lysol, cleaning sup-plies, cups, plates, plastic-ware, napkins, condiments, food, as well as door prizes, etc... taken on to help continue the Maysville Hamfest. - Thank you in advance for ALL your very gener-ous donations & contributions!

73's

This e-mail was sent by:

Danny Garris, WD4CQ

[NBARC] New Bern Amateur Radio Club President & Dishwasher!

Garris TV Repair

3104 Neuse Blvd, New Bern, NC 28560

GarrisTV@hotmail.com

(252) 638-4477 Shop, (252) 670-9955 Cell/text

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The five USB channelized 60-meter fre-quencies are available for in-teroperability (communication between services). By convention, Channel 1 is designated the calling channel. This conven-tion is established to train the amateur radio community to reach out on Channel 1 in times of national emergency, for information from the fed-eral government. The ama-teur radio community uses 60 meters on a secondary basis with federal agencies. This and similar 60-meter in-teroperability exercises are

ARES/AUXCOMM News

BARC Needs YOU!

BARC needs to know where You think we should go as a Club. Service the Community, Contest-ing, Teaching, Elmering, What? Give us your thoughts. Contact Peter or the Ham Chatter.

conducted during the first full week of each month. More information here. - ARRL News

We also suggest keeping clear of the Frequencies use by Hurricane nets dur-ing this season along with posted frequencies during other Emergencies. Editor

ARES Resources · Download the ARES Manual [PDF]

· ARES Field Resources Man-ual [PDF]

· ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Fillable PDF]

· ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Word]

· ARES Plan

· ARES Group Registration

· Emergency Communications Training

The Amateur Radio Emergen-

cy Service® (ARES) consists

of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equip-ment, with their local ARES leadership, for communica-tions duty in the public service when disaster strikes. Every licensed amateur, regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local or national organi-zation is eligible to apply for membership in ARES. Train-ing may be required or desired to participate fully in ARES. Please inquire at the local lev-el for specific information. Be-cause ARES is an amateur radio program, only licensed radio amateurs are eligible for membership. The possession of emergency-powered equip-

ment is desirable, but is not a requirement for membership.

How to Get Involved in ARES: Fill out the ARES Registration form and submit it to your local Emergency Coordinator.

Articles in the Chatter can be from the ARRL Newsletters, ARES Newsletters and Section Managers. Others can be Material provided by others. Please

respect possible copyrights.

BARC on the Web: http://www.w4amc.com Ham Chatter

PAGE 13 October 2021

https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do .

ARRL Learning Net-work Webinars Visit the ARRL Learning Net-work (a members-only benefit) to register, check on upcoming webinars, and to view previously recorded sessions.

ARRL members may register for upcoming presentations and view previously recorded Learn-ing Network webinars. ARRL-affiliated radio clubs may also use the recordings as presenta-tions for club meetings, mentor-ing new and current hams, and discussing amateur radio topics.

ARRL members may register for upcoming presentations and view previously recorded Learn-

SB QST ARL ARLB014

ARLB014 FCC Auto-Registration Feature for Exam Applicants to be Discontinued

Auto-registration in the FCC Com-mission Registration System (CORES) amateur radio exam for candidates using a Social Security number will be discontinued on May 20, 2021. Applicants must use an FCC Registration Number (FRN) for all license transactions with the FCC. Examinees must register in CORES and receive an FRN before exam day. Starting on May 20, electronic batch filed applications that do not include a candidate's FRN will be rejected. The Social Security/Licensee ID Field will be disabled. The CORES website can be ac-cessed at:

REQUIRED TRAINING The State of North Carolina has man-dated that all personnel performing any functions within any Emergency Oper-ations Center, forward Command Post, or any Incident where Incident Com-mand System (ICS) is used have com-pleted basic ICS training. This training is available via the FEMA Learning Institute’s on-line training system at https://training.fema.gov/nims/. Training required is ICS-100, ICS-200, ICS-700 and ICS-800. It is recommended taking the courses in the following order: ICS-700, ICS-800, ICS-100 and ICS-200. You will be asked to register for the courses and a certificate of training will be issued up-on successful completion. Team mem-bers are requested to forward an elec-tronic copy of their certificate’s to the AuxComm - ARES EC at the email address below. Completion of these courses will permit AuxComm - ARES team members to perform Radio Oper-ator at duties an EOC or other ICS Command location. Each course is self-paced and should take approximately 3 hours to complete on-line.

AUXCOMM Training

Amazonsmile

Shop Amazon? Go to Amazonsmile and select “Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club” as your donation. Keep using

this page and a percentage of your purchases will go toward your club.

Ham Chatter

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ing Network webinars. ARRL-affiliated radio clubs may also use the recordings as presentations for club meetings, mentoring new and current hams, and discussing ama-teur radio topics.

The ARRL Learning Network schedule is subject to change.

Announcements On September 6, Paul Ewing, N6PSE, an-nounced that Nigel Jolly, K6NRJ, has sold the SV Braveheart to a new owner who will make her available for amateur radio DXpe-ditions. The Braveheart's new home port will be Ushuaia, Argentina, the "gateway to Ant-arctica." The vessel is now in New Zealand. North American QSO Party (NAQP) events in 2022 will add a Single-Operator Assisted category. The 2022 rules are posted on the NCJ website.

WSJT-X revision 2.5.0-rc6 (release candi-date 6) is now available on the WSJT-X web-site. Microsoft Windows users may need to consult the Release Notes to install OpenSSL, one of its dependencies.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS MEASURES At the moment, it appears that most of North Carolina will be minimally affected by Hurricane Ida. However, you should use this time to assess how ready your station is for emergency opera-tion if it became necessary. • Are there trees or limbs which could break and take out your main antennas? • What do you have in the way of a quickly deployable replacement antenna? • Do you have a reliable backup power source and adequate fuel that is

safely stored for the backup power source? • If you have a generator, have you run it lately? • Are key local frequencies programmed into your radios? Are neighboring repeaters programmed into your radios? • Do you have a handy “cheat sheet” on how to front panel program your radios to new frequencies if needed? Does the cheat sheet list the needed tones to access neighboring repeaters? Have you tested your ability to reach those repeaters? Do you know the coverage of the repeater? • Have you practiced operating on simplex and do you know which of your club members you can reach while talking on simplex if the local repeater was not available? • If it has been a while since you checked into particular nets, do it now in order to assess if your antenna system is work-ing properly. If you have HF capabilities, check into the Tarheel Emergency Net on 3923 KHz any night at 7:30 pm. • Do you have charged, spare batteries for your portable radios? • Has you club or repeater group checked on the backup power for the repeater? • Do you have adequate supplies of water and food which will not spoil if there is an extended power outage? • Do you have neighbors who may need to be checked on during an extended outage? DMR OPERATIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA DMR is one of the fastest growing modes of operation around the world. Using a hotspot, a ham can use a portable radio to talk around the world. DMR is popular because re-peaters can carry two conversations simultaneously

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and there are reasonably prices portable and mobile radios. In North Carolina there are four major networks using fixed infrastructure which cover the state or major portions of the state. a. The PRN System which includes 60 digital repeaters in North and South Carolina. Daily operations provide coverage across both states from Boone to Hilton Head and Ahoskie to Clemson. Extended conversa-tions can be taken to one of the chat channels. Switching to a chat channel that creates a tem-porary dynamic link between repeaters without tying up all 60 repeaters. In emergencies, the normal con-nection between NC and SC can be taken down so that each state can operate statewide inde-pendently of each other without any user radios having to be reprogrammed. Information can be found at ncprn.net. b. The Eastern Healthcare Preparedness Coalition DMR Network is being deployed in eastern North Carolina which links VIDANT hospitals and includes two wide area DMR repeaters. Information can be found at nc4es.org. c. A subset of the PRN system in the High Country involves 14 of the PRN system which covers most of the Western Branch for NC EM. The subset of PRN repeaters involves wide area coverage stations at Roa-noke, Wytheville, Fancy Gap, West Jefferson, Wilkesboro, Boone, Sugartop (Avery County), Lenoir, Spruce Pine, Crowders Mountain (Gaston County), Albemarle (Stanly County), Hendersonville, Syl-va, and Franklin. The High Country UHF Digital Net is held every Tues-day at 8 p.m. on the LOCAL talkgroup on these 14 repeaters which are automatically linked for

one hour. This linking capability can be activated any-time that it is needed. In the near future, a DMR radio will be installed in the NCEM Western Branch Office in Conover. d. The WNC Network involves DMR repeaters in Morganton, Marion, Gastonia, Asheville, Hendersonville, Waynesville and Franklin. They hold a weekly net of the WNC talkgroup each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Information about the WNC network can be found at https://www.wncdmr.net/. This is a different system than the PRN system. UPCOMING AUXCOMM TEST OF WESTERN AREA DMR CAPABILITIES In order to learn more about the number of stations that can be reached in Western North Carolina a special test of network described in item c, above, will be conducted for Auxcomm purposes at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, August 31. We will activate the linking system and use the LO-CAL talkgroup to conduct a roll call for stations in each of the five Western Branch Office counties (see map posted at ncarrl.org/ares). The roll call will be done by area, be-ginning with AREA 11 and going numerically up to AREA 15. Counties will be called alphabetically in each area. All you have to do is give your name, your call and the county in which you are located. Be brief. If you are unable to participate in the 10 a.m. Tuesday test, feel free to test your equipment by checking in on the scheduled High Country UHF Digital Net which is held on Tuesday at 8 p.m. on the LOCAL talkgroup on the PRN repeaters listed in item c, above. If circumstances warrant, we will bring the linking system up again at 10 am. Wednesday, September 1, to gather information about any outages or damages in the western branch. The purpose of this test is to identify the number and lo-cation of DMR operators in the Western Branch.

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For over 100 years amateur radio and ARRL — the National Association for Amateur Radio® — have stood for the development of the science and art of commu-nications, public service, and the enhancement of interna-tional goodwill. Amateur Ra-

dio’s long history and service to the public has solidified the well-earned reputation that “Amateur Radio saves lives.” Amateur Radio Operators, due to their history of public service, their training, and the requirement that they be licensed by the FCC have earned their status as a com-ponent of critical communications infra-structure and as a reliable resource “when all else fails." Amateur Radio is about development of communications and responsible public service. Its misuse is inconsistent with its history of service and its statutory charter. ARRL does not support its misuse for pur-poses inconsistent with these values and purposes.

ARRL on the Purpose of Amateur Radio

MARS Announces Schedule of Dates for 60-Meter Interoper-ability ZCZC AX02 QST de W1AW Special Bulletin 2 ARLX002 From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT February 3, 2021 To all radio amateurs SB SPCL ARL ARLX002 ARLX002 MARS Announces Schedule of Dates for 60-Meter Interoperability

The Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) has announced dates in 2021 during which MARS members will operate on 60 meters for interoperability with the amateur radio community. Some dates coincide with quarterly Department of Defense Communications Exercises (COMEX).

All exercises will begin on channel 1 as the initial calling channel and move to other 60-meter working channels as may be appropriate.

"In addition to voice calls, I want to intro-duce passing ICS 213 messages in both voice and digital modes to enhance the overall interop experience," said US Army MARS Chief Paul English, WD8DBY.

English continues, "Our exercises will yield the frequencies to other scheduled exer-cises or mission activations, which may be called by other agencies for interop sup-port (e.g., hurricane, wildfire, etc.). We regularly instruct MARS members to work cooperatively with the amateur radio community during the use of the 60-meter interop channels. We will continue to track our 60-meter usage and activities."

English said he plans to provide a quarterly usage report of 60-meter interoperability activities.

The interoperability schedule is as follows: October 1 - 31 Exercise: DOD COMEX 21-4 Location: CONUS

cense, WL2XUP, from Geor-gia.

The On the Air and Eclectic Tech podcasts are sponsored by Icom. Both podcasts are available on iTunes (iOS) and Stitcher (Android), as well as on Blubrry -- On the Air | Eclec-tic Tech.

ARRL Learning Net-work Webinars Visit the ARRL Learning Net-work (a members-only benefit) to register, check on upcoming webinars, and to view previ-ously recorded sessions.

ARRL members may register for upcoming presentations and view previously recorded Learning Network webinars. ARRL-affiliated radio clubs may also use the recordings as presentations for club meet-ings, mentoring new and cur-rent hams, and discussing am-ateur radio topics.

Working the Pileup,

presented by Ron Delpiere-Smith, KD9IPO / Tuesday, Oc-tober 5, 2021 @ 1:00 pm EDT (1700 UTC)

Ron Delpiere-Smith, KD9IPO, Vice President of the Chicago Suburban Radio Association and an ARRL Assistant Section Manager in Illinois, will offer an enlightening discussion on working a pileup from both sides of the contact. Whether your interest lies in ARRL Field Day, contesting, special events, or rare DX, this is a must-see presentation. Ron will

ARRL Podcasts Schedule The latest episode of the On the Air podcast (Episode 20) features a discussion with Oli-ver Dully, K6OLI, who de-scribes how amateurs use the Winlink network for various public service applications. He also discusses the equipment and software necessary to ac-cess Winlink.

The latest edition of Eclectic Tech (Episode 41) features a conversation with Lin Hol-comb, NI4Y, about experi-ments he is conducting on 8 meters with his recently issued FCC Part 5 Experimental li-

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discuss search-and-pounce and running tech-niques, when to use them, and some tips on working them to your advantage.

The ARRL Learning Network schedule is sub-ject to change

Announcements The International DX Association (INDEXA) will

support the 3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Is-land in November-December 2022 with a grant of $15,000.

PACIFICON 2021, which will host the ARRL Pacific Division Convention, is set for October 15 -17, sponsored by Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club. The event will take place at the San Ramon Marriott Hotel, 2600 Bishop Drive, San Ramon, California. The Arizona Association for Summits on the Air (SOTA) will host the 4th annual 10-Point s2s Madness event on Saturday, October 2, 1400 - 2359 UTC. In this event, multiple hams simulta-neously operate mountaintop portable on 10-point summits. Hams can participate as activa-tors or chasers; add your information to the Alerts section on the SOTA website if you plan to activate. The same website will display the spots on the day of the event, if you are a chas-er. In the past, 25 - 30 activators are on a 10-point summit at the same time. For more infor-mation, contact Pete Scola, WA7JTM, or search social media for the hashtag #TenPointMadness.

• The Central Arizona DX Association will have the call sign K7UGA on the air October 4 - 8. K7UGA was the call sign of Arizona US Sen-ator Barry Goldwater, who was also the 1964 Republican Party presidential candidate. K7U-GA will be on all bands and modes. QSL via K7BHM with an SASE.

Lance Collister, W7GJ, will undertake a 6-meter DXpedition to the Austral and Marquesas Is-lands. He'll spend October 15 - 24 as FO/W7GJ

on the Australs, and October 28 - November 7 as TX7MB on the Marquesas. He is planning to use the Q65-60A for all 6-meter moonbounce activity and FT8 for terrestrial contacts.

• Members of the Russian Robinson Club will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty signing with special call signs R60ANT, RA60ANT, RB60ANT, RC60ANT, RG60ANT, RJ60ANT, RK60ANT, RL60ANT, RN60ANT, RT60ANT, RU60ANT, RZ60ANT, and RI60ANT, between October 1 and December 31.

Get Set for SET: ARRL Simulat-ed Emergency Test Ahead, Plan Now The 2021 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is just ahead. The primary ARRL-sponsored national emergency exercise is de-signed to assess the skills and preparedness of Amateur Radio Emergency Service

® (ARES

®)

volunteers, as well as those affiliated with other organizations involved with emergency and dis-aster response. The primary SET weekend is October 2-3, but Local and Section-wide exer-cises may take place throughout the fall. The annual SET encourages maximum participation by all amateur radio operators, partner organi-zations, and national, state, and local officials who typically engage in emergency or disaster response.

In addition to ARES volunteers, radio amateurs active in the National Traffic System, Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES), SKYWARN™, Community Emergency Re-sponse Team (CERT), and a variety of other allied groups and public service-oriented radio amateurs are needed to fulfill important roles in

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this nationwide exercise.

The SET allows volunteers to test equipment, modes, and skills under simulated emergency conditions and scenarios. Individuals can use the time to update a "go-kit" for use during deploy-ments and to ensure their home station's opera-tional capability in an emergency or disaster. To get involved, contact your local ARRL Emergen-cy Coordinator or Net Manager. Check on up-coming planned activities through local, state, or Section-wide nets.

Be a Net Control

Volunteer to help with the Weekly Net for BARC, or other nets. All are welcomed. It’s great practice for if you need it for later, like First Aid training. A script is available to read off of to help in the progress.

Sept 9, 2021 Email: This is the quarterly notification to inform you that AmazonSmile has made a charita-ble donation to the charity you’ve selected, Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club Inc, in the amount of $27.05 as a result of qualifying purchases made by you and other custom-ers who have selected this charity. Thanks to customers shopping at

smile.amazon.com , or with AmazonSmile ON in the Amazon Shopping app, everyday purchases have generated over $321 mil-lion in donations to charities worldwide so far. AmazonSmile's impact: $61.60 to Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club Inc* $285,795,312.80 to all charities in the US $321,230,298.08 to all charities worldwide

Amazon Smile Use it if you shop Amazon

Please

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BARC Email Addresses *Info@w4amc.com to Peter Van Houten, N4PVH *Treasurer@w4amc.com to Jim Lowe, AC4JL *Hamchatter@w4amc.com to Mark Raysin, KG4GVJ *QSL-VE@w4amc.com to Richard Campbell, W4JNC *Webmaster@w4amc.com To Peter Van Houten, N4PVH

NETS VHF/UHF ♦BARC Net, Mondays, 2000 on 147.09 MHz, W4GDF Repeater. ♦Down East Hospital Net, 2nd Tuesday of each month at noon Greenville 444.725 MHz, 91.5 tone N4HAJ Fountain 444.425 MHZ, 88.5 Tone N4HAJ ♦Newport SkyWarn Tues. nights 2100E Grifton-146.685-88.5 tone ♦Newport-145.450..... IRLP 8561 links to Columbia ♦Jacksonville-147.000- 88.5 tone ♦Oriental-147.210-151.4 tone ♦444 Newport-444.825- 88.5 tone ♦Swansboro-146.760- 88.5 tone ♦Grantsboro-145 230 - 85.4 tone. ♦Kinston Amateur Radio Society Net, 1,3,4 Tuesdays, 2000 hrs. on 145.47 MHz., W4OIX repeater in Kinston. ♦Eastern North Carolina Traffic Net, Every night, 2030 on 146.685 MHz. ♦Wilson Amateur Radio Club Net, Thursdays @ 2000 on 146.76 MHz. ♦ Piedmont Coastal Traffic Net, Nightly 2030 on 146.88 MHz. ♦Carteret County ARS (CCARS) Emergency Net, Tuesdays, 1930 on the Newport 145.45 (-) MHz. ♦Coastal Emergency Linking Net, Wednesday, 2100 ET on Ahoskie 145.13, Buxton 145.15, Columbia 146.835 & 443.30, Elizabeth City 146.655, Greenville, 145.35, Hertford 147.33, Williamston 145.41 & 444.25

220 Net, Wednesday 2000hrs, 224.840 MHz –1.6, PL 91.5

HF Tar Heel Emergency Communications Net on 3923 kHz Nightly 1930. NTS CW Nets ♦3.571 2000 hours, slow speed (5-8 wpm) Carolinas Slow Net ♦3.573 1900 hours, high speed (20wpm) ♦3.573 2200 hours, slow speed (12-14 wpm), South Carolina/North Carolina

National Traffic System Eastern North Carolina Traffic Net (ENCTN) 146.685 (146.085 in) MHz (PL 88.5) 2030E

Great Lakes Area Winlink Net Started

A new Great Lakes Winlink Net has been started to promote the use of Winlink and training on the various facets of the hybrid amateur radio data/internet sys-tem. The net is open primarily to those states that border any of the Great Lakes: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, and the Canadi-an province of Ontario. Howev-er, radio amateurs wishing to check in from other states or provinces anywhere are wel-comed to participate. This net is modeled on the Wisconsin ARES Winlink net.

The net check-in process is as follows: Send either a basic, plain text message, or use any of the forms templates on the Winlink Express platform availa-ble that will allow you to include the following line of text in the body of the message or in an appropriate part on the form you choose to send: FIRST NAME, CALLSIGN, CITY, COUNTY, STATE, COUNTRY. For exam-ple: RYAN, KB8RCR, REMUS, MECOSTA, MICHIGAN, USA.

The net started on Wednesday, March 10, and each week on Wednesdays, amateurs may send their messages or forms any time during the day using Winlink in any mode available, RF or via Telnet. Send your message to KB8RCR as the re-cipient on Winlink. - Ryan Lughermo, KB8RCR, ARRL As-sistant Section Emergency Co-

ordinator for Data Management/Special Projects, Michigan Sec-tion; and Official Relay Station From ARES March 2021 Newsletter (Editors Note: Great way to learn and prac-tice)

The EmComm Training Organi-zation (ETO) will continue the popular Winlink Thursday exer-cises to foster Winlink-knowledgeable operators across the country leading up to a na-tionwide drill November 13, 2021. Procedures will include a weekly exercise for routine prac-tice with a fourth Thursday exer-cise of a more challenging na-ture. Exercises will almost al-ways include a Winlink Express Check-in form. Please send questions about Winlink Thurs-days. Questions about the ETO group can be sent here. The Canadian American Net (CANAM) aims to unite hams in the Eastern US and Canada. Some 40 amateurs from Canada and the US typically check in for each session, and the net ac-commodates CW and SSB. The Canadian-American Net oper-ates 7 days a week on 7.153 MHz, with check-in starting at 1300 UTC. Recommend programming your local Emergency Simplex fre-quency’s into your Radio’s. It’s easier now than when you need them. Brightleaf Amateur radio Club uses the Repeater frequen-cy in case of Repeater failure.

WinLink Nets and Practice

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Virginia EmComm

A Facebook Group that practices WinLink and other related modes every Wednesday. Many Hams all over involved.

PRIMARY NET CONTROL: KW6GB

See Facebook Group for more details. Joining group required to see page and comment.

( Example of a Wednesday)

*** Winlink Wednesday (Episode #252) *** 07/07/2021

This being the first Wednesday of the month, weather snapshots are requested; see below for details (no attachments of any type, please). Standard check-ins are always welcome. WHO: All amateur radio operators WHAT: Winlink Wednesday WHEN: Wednesday, 7 July 2021, 0000-2359 EDT (UTC: 0400 Wed - 0359 Thu) HOW: This net will accept check-ins via Winlink only. Send a check-in via any RMS during the timeframe above, or participate in one or both of the P2P sessions below. Please do not use a "Telnet Winlink" connection (which defeats the purpose of Winlink). The goal is to have the message leave your station via RF. Please remember to use the correct format for check-in, as shown below (check-in message on a SINGLE LINE), or with optional weather snapshot on second line, over an RF connection. To: KW6GB (or alternate NCS, as appropriate) Subject: Winlink Wednesday Check-In Message body: call sign, first name, city or town, county, state (HF or VHF, etc.) observation time, weather conditions, temperature <<<--- WEATHER ON SECOND LINE See example in my signature line, below. PEER-TO-PEER SESSIONS: Morning session: 0730-0930 EDT, (UTC: 1130 - 1330), ARDOP P2P, several frequencies (see chart below).

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Afternoon session: None. Evening session: 1900-2130 EDT, (UTC: 2300 Wed - 0130 Thu), VARA P2P, 3582 kHz (dial).

Watch Facebook for details when active. On Thursday, all check-ins will be acknowledged, and a net report and complete roster will be published to the Web. 73, KW6GB, Greg, Front Royal, Warren, VA (VHF) 0815L, clear, winds calm, 69dF Content copyright ©2020-2021 by Greg Butler, KW6GB. All rights reserved.

Net Control Stations - Morning P2P Session Only Please check in through ONLY ONE of these stations each week.

Role Station Dial Frequency Operator Location

Primary KW6GB 3582 kHz Greg Butler Warren County, VA

Alternate KM4DC 3585 kHz Don McCubbin Fairfax County, VA

Alternate KN4LQN 3590.5 kHz David Elkins Chesterfield County, VA

Alternate N4ACK 3565 kHz Lyle Piner Isle of Wight County, VA

Messages sent to Alternate NCS must be addressed to the receiving station.

Net Control Station - Evening P2P Session

Role Station Dial Frequency Operator Location

Primary KW6GB 3582 kHz Greg Butler Warren County, VA

No Alternate Net Control Stations.

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September 23, 2021 GREETINGS FROM THE HIGH COUNTRY A light rain fell all day on Wednesday but some of the High Country received more than an inch of rain. Areas north and east of Watauga County got more rain and were under Flash Flood Watches. Locally, the seasons have begun their change. NWS Blacksburg indicated that Temperatures here (near Tweetsie Railroad) would dip down to 41 overnight on Thursday. On Thursday morning I had to travel to Appstate and it was 45 degrees on my dashboard ther-mometer. For all practical purposes Fall has arrived and the trees at higher elevations are starting to lose some of the green color they have shown since late April. While the temperature is cool up here, the Tropics are still seeing storm activity. As I write this, attention and concern is being directed towards Tropical Storm Sam which has the potential to be a major hurricane next week. Stay tuned. NC ARRL MATTERS The Section webpage, www.ncarrl.org is being revamped and updated. For technical reasons the listing of county EmComm groups had become very outdated allowing some observers to claim that only 16 of the 100 counties have organized amateur radio EmComm groups. Nothing could be further from the truth and you will see that 45 counties have Auxcomm or ARES leaders on the county level. We will continue to reach out to fill additional leadership positions but this is not at all simple; with only 71 clubs in the state (note that some counties have multiple clubs) it is clear that many counties do not have an organized club to work with and some counties have as few as 20 hams in the entire county. ARRL DATABASE ARRL maintains a large database for Field Service personnel across the country. The North Carolina Section has something like 175 Field Organization appointments. Over the last ten years, the database had been allowed to become highly inaccurate and outdated limiting its usefulness to find who holds which positions. There are listings for people who do not live in North Carolina, persons who are deceased and some who have not been active in many years. Further, some positions, like Official Observers, have been dropped since Sections do not control or choose who participates in the Volun-teer Monitoring program headed by Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH.

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I am reviewing the ARRL database line by line and numerous listings will be canceled in order to make the ARRL database accurate. Personnel lacking appropriate qualifications for their position, including ARRL membership, will be dropped from the ARRL database. SIMULATED EMERGENCY TEST The weekend of October 2-3 is traditionally the time for a Simulated Emergency Test, although groups may choose other dates to avoid conflicts with important local activities. For the past several years, Tom Brown (Section Emergency Coordinator) and I have felt that local groups should assess the risks in their own area and develop an exercise around that local risk assessment. North Carolina has dramatically different weather conditions and geography across the state and a statewide SET with a common scenario would unlikely be helpful to all groups. Moreover, the statewide leadership team has geared up and deployed resources and personnel more than a dozen times in the past two years for hurricanes, floods, the Presidential and Governor’s Inauguration, domestic disturbances, tornadoes and other situations. To guide you in planning an SET, ponder these questions: • What hazards and risks seem most likely to cause a problem in your area? • How would you address the problem if asked to help by a partner agency? • What is your work-around for failure of your local repeaters? • Do you have a PACE (Primary, Alternate, Contingent and Emergency) plan for failed systems? • Between what points or facilities would you need to have communications? • What modes of communication would you use? • How will you communicate during a sustained power outage? • How many personnel would be needed to fulfill your needs? • Where would you obtain additional personnel for an extended operation? • Could your group sustain operations out in the field for more than five hours? • Do you have a written plan for emergency operations that is current and accurate? • Has your plan been reviewed and approved by local emergency management? • Did EM make suggestions to improve your plan? We encourage groups who wish to hold a local Simulated Emergency Test to do so during the next several weeks. If you do hold an exercise, please submit a report to me by November 5, 2021 so that we can share with other groups your successes and the lessons learned. ARRL sent out an announcement today concerning a publication, ARES Field Resources Manual, which can be

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purchased at www.arrl.org/shop/ARES-Field-Resources-Manual/ . NC SECTION TRAFFIC REPORT Dave Roy, W4DNA, submitted his month traffic report for August 2021. The text email system makes it difficult to mail Excel files. Here is a the first page of Dave’s report which can be found in its entirety at https://ncarrl.org .

W4DNA - NC Section Net Report - AUGUST 2021 NET NMGR QNI LISTED PASSED TIME SESSIONS TFC % SECTION NETS CN KC4PGN 441 138 121 595 62 87.68% CSN KI4KZS 132 26 27 617 31 103.85% NCEN WK4WC 376 83 83 384 31 100.00% NCMN W3OJO 308 108 107 411 31 99.07% THEN AE4MF 244 0 0 375 14 LOCAL NETS CWTN N4CNX 498 70 70 566 31 100.00% ENCTN W4DNA 136 33 33 229 31 100.00% PCTN W4TTO 265 44 44 250 31 100.00% TOTAL 2400 502 485 3427 262 96.61% (Editor has straighten out report as needed) CLUB MATTERS Tim Slay, N4IB, Associated Club Coordinator, has been working hard on getting a current and correct list of active clubs in the North Carolina Section. ARRL maintains a database of clubs which can be accessed by visi-tors and potential hams interested in becoming involved with a local club. Tim asked me to remind readers that each club should designate someone to either confirm or update information about the local club. Go to www.arrl.org/find-a-club and search for information about your club. For each club, a date is displayed which is the last time that club information (officers, purpose, membership, club webpage, etc.) was updat-ed.

Clubs that have not updated their information for more than two years may be considered inactive by the ARRL and dropped from the listing. Also, ARRL rules on affiliated clubs require that at least half of the club membership be ARRL members. You can update club information by having a club officer login at arrl.org and then return to the club information. On the right side, at the top of the page with

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information about your club, there is an “edit” tab where correct and current information can be entered. Be sure to submit the information when you are satisfied that everything is as you want it to appear to the pub-lic. ARRL VOLUNTEER MONITOR PROGRAM REPORT Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, VM Program Manager, has posted the VM report for August 2021. He indicated that several Advisory Notices were issued to operators who chose to operate on frequencies set aside for Haiti Earthquake recovery operations, several hams were given Advisory Notices for failing to identify at proper intervals, one individual was contacted for operating with an expired license, one operator received an Advisory Notice for operating with excessive power during FT8 operation on 30 meters and one person’s case was referred to the FCC for revocation or deletion of voice privileges due to past infractions. Riley also reported that one operator received a Good Operator Commendation. Details can be found at http://www.arrl.org/news/august-2021-volunteer-monitor-program-report.

LOCAL SUCCESS INCLUDING A HAM RADIO ASPECT Appalachian State University has a highly innovative group of students, called Team Sunergy, which builds and races solar-powered vehicles. For several years, Appstate has participated in national and international competitions with other universities, many of which are major engineering universities. In August, Team Sunergy came in first in the Cruiser Class in the 2021 American Solar Challenge, traveling 964.8 miles in three stages that took them from Independence, Missouri to Las Vegas, Nevada. Ham radio operation is used to coordinate over-the-road operations within the teams in the national and in-ternational competitions according to competition rules. Rising to the occasion, David Ritter, ND4MR, 2021 ARRL Herb Brier Instructor of the Year, offered an intensive Technician License class to Team Sunergy and the Watauga Amateur Radio VE Team offered a test session in which resulted in 14 new licensees. After the test session, our local VE Team members talked with the Team Sunergy members and came away highly impressed with the students’ knowledge of electronic circuitry, microprocessors, batteries, solar cells and aerodynamics, as well as their teamwork. Congrats to Team Sunergy!!! A very interesting story about the team and the challenges they faced during the race can be found at https://today.appstate.edu/2021/08/12/sunergy-wins.

HISTORICAL MATTERS Although not as popular as it once was, Morse Code is still enjoyed by a number of hams. New comers to amateur radio may not realize that prior to February 14, 1991, the FCC required any applicant for a ham li-cense to demonstrate proficiency in Morse Code.

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An interesting discussion about the history of variation types of amateur radio licenses (once called Class A, B and C before the current names) can be found at http://rfcec.com/RFCEC/Section-3%20-%20Fundamentals%20of%20RF%20Communication-Electronics/13%20-%20HISTORY/FCC%20History%20and%20Licensing%20(By%20Larry%20E.%20Gugle%20K4RFE).pdf

At various times in the past, the Extra Class license exam involved copying code at 20 words per minute, Gen-erals and Advanced had a 13 wpm requirement and Novices and Technicians had a five word per minute re-quirement. Today, there is no Morse code proficiency requirement for any amateur radio license. A few weeks ago, the RATPAC (Radio Amateur Training Planning and Activities Committee), which is not affili-ated with the ARRL, had an interesting presentation about the history of Morse Code. The presentation shows historic keys, sounders, and points out that Morse code was used from 1838-1982 on open wires along railroads rights of way, undersea cables, then over wireless. The streaming video can be found at http://tiny.cc/ratpac-list. Scroll down to Sept 1 2021 on the list for the webinar covering Morse Code history.

Finally, also on the walk down memory lane, newcomers may not know that at one time, it was necessary to take the amateur license exam in the presence of an FCC Examiner. This could be done at an FCC office in major cities or when an FCC Examiner traveled to smaller cities each quarter. The Conditional License (equivalent to a General) was available to persons who could not travel to an FCC examination (for example, military service or disability) which could be issued after two licensed hams supervised the test which was mailed to the FCC for grading. The FCC Examiners could be intimidating and the tests were much more difficult than today’s exams. Back then, the stakes were high because you could not try a second time to pass the exam unless one month had passed from your unsuccessful first attempt. I passed examinations for two Commercial Radiotelephone Op-erator Licenses (2nd Class in New York and 1st Class in Atlanta) in front of an FCC Examiner. As we all know, volunteer examiners now administer the tests, grade them and send the information to one of several Volun-teer Examination Coordinators which in turn enters the data directly into the FCC database and the license is issued as soon as the FCC receives the necessary information from the VE Coordinator. SUGAR NOMINATIONS ARE WELCOME As Section Manager, I created a special award called the SUGAR (Supporting, Upgading, Growing Amateur Radio) Award to recognize individuals, clubs and groups who have made a substantial contribution to ama-teur radio within the North Carolina Section. If you know of someone whom you think should be recognized, please make a nomination and tell me your reasons for wanting recognition to be given to the person or group. CLOSING COMMENT

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As weather gets colder, check your station for winter operations, particularly if you are up here in the moun-tains. We get some amazingly high winds in the mountains, sometimes with hurricane force. In the Piedmont and East, you have a couple of months left before ice will be a possibility. Up here, we have had snow on 2-3 of the most recent Halloween evenings and over the near half century that I have lived here, about half the time the first snow was just after Election Day. I remember several times traveling to a political science meeting just after Election Day in Gatlinburg and finding the road very slippery and snow covered, sometimes closed, as I drove over Clingman’s Dome. Be prepared. Marv, WA4NC -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL North Carolina Section Section Manager: Dr Marvin K Hoffman, WA4NC wa4nc@arrl.org

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From Judy: Here is my take. I thought Beth would give fine details of the race so I did not, just to not say the same thing basically.

On race day we had a meeting early morning to discuss how the day would go. It gave me time to get to my rest stop once the meeting was over. I was stationed way out on the coast in Oriental at a marina with no cell phone or internet coverage. The only thing working here was ham radio. I ended up setting up a mobile 25w radio with a 14ah agm battery and mag mount antenna strapped to a microphone boom stand to get it up higher. This worked lovely. I shared a table with the medic who was quite happy to have com-pany as well as be able to hear what was going on. At one point, in the far distance we could see a rider down and police vehicle with them. My medic went immediately with a sag to offer medical assistance until the doctor could arrive if needed. I called this in to net control and they dis-patched their protocol but it was canceled once the medic found the rider was not injured luckily. Sag (safety and gear) was able to take the bike and rider where they needed to be. I called in for supplies needed once in awhile. Some of the volunteers were brand new like myself there but seemed to feel better with having a ham radio person around. Possibly a bit uncertain without cell service. I also called for sag to pick up riders and bike on occasion. I relayed information passed to me from sag as well as the medical doctor. Not only did I have the 25 watt mobile radio setup on the table in the shade, but I used my HT to walk around every so often. Just to reassure the volunteers a ham is around if needed. I also gave them information such as 7 riders heading into our rest stop any minute now so they could prepare better. It was especially helpful for all volunteers when telling them how many riders were left on the course. This meant, tables and chairs could be packed up, up to a certain amount of food moved, etc…. All the behind the scenes clean up involved with shutting down a rest stop. It was a wonderful experience with constant chatter on the radio. It was nice hearing the information coming through and knowing what was happening. I was a little nervous at first, not knowing what to expect, but that went away quickly once it felt like a normal net we would do with the club to a degree. It was great experience trying out my gear to see what worked or did not. I had my HT which worked great on location but not well while driving to location. Once I realized this, I put the mag mount on the roof and used that driving and it solved that. Once my “job” was completed and my rest stop closed, I called net control for reassign. They sent me to another rest stop. I had planned to do this the next day as well but instead, when I called net control to tell them we were closing, net control asked me if I could stay and do another rest stop. I of course jumped at that. I can’t tell you how many riders thanked me for being there. It felt good. Not to be thanked necessarily, but the fact we are needed, it is important. As I found out with no cell phone coverage, the only way to get 911, or our medical team quickly, is via ham radio. In other spots there was coverage but it was frustrating for the higher up officials coming

MS Bike New Bern 2021 Reports from those who were there

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through with sag drivers. They are trying to text or call things but can’t always. They know how important the ham ra-dio operators are. Of course, it goes without saying, without riders, there is no fundraising, so it’s amazing these people rode 30, 50, 75, and 100 miles each day. I would need a sag and the doctor. Haha! I got to see some very impressive vehicle setups with radio and antenna. Talk to many long time hams, I definitely learned a thing or two. I spoke to many riders and volunteers as well. Everyone was happy to be there. I, like Beth and Mark, will be doing this again. I’ve signed up to do some other races coming up in October. It’s really fun and ham vol-unteers are always needed…. hint hint. Judy W3JUU

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From Beth: Thoughts on the Bike New Bern MS fundraiser

Mark KG4GVJ, Judy W3JUU, and I recently signed up to volunteer at the Bike MS fundraiser in New Bern. Mark has done the event several times before, but for Judy and me, it was the first time. There were approx 1,200 cyclists riding, and they could choose from 30, 50, 75, or 100 mile courses around New Bern. Radio operators were needed at rest stops along each course, and in SAG vehicles throughout the courses. Here are my thoughts...

Me before the event: “Ohgoshohgoshohgosh, what did I get myself into? I just volunteered to be a ham for a huge bike event. Why did I volunteer for both days?!?”

Me after the event: “That was fun and very well done. I’m putting it on my calendar for 2022.”

I was hesitant to sign up, since I had no experience, but the radio coordinators were very encouraging. They said that no prior experience was necessary, and no special radio equipment was required either. Hams could either be assigned to a rest stop or as a Safety And Gear (SAG) vehicle, but for that you should have a mobile installed. We were required to sign up in two places, the MS website, which is the main coordinating site for ALL volunteers and with the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society, who arranges for the ham volunteers be-cause of the numbers that come from that area.

There was an online informational meeting for all the ham volunteers about a week prior to the event, and a team meeting first thing in the morning on the day of the event. Additionally, there was a volunteer release form to sign, an online covid screening questionnaire, and for SAG drivers, background and driver checks since you might have riders in your vehicle.

I knew that I would be assigned to a rest stop, but not much else. Eventually we received information manuals with schedules, maps, forms, rules, phone contacts, etc. And the radio coordinator sent out separate emails with the repeater and simplex frequencies and our ham assignments. I programmed our frequencies into the radio and prayed that I had done it correctly.

The communication duties fell mainly into two categories, arranging for SAG drivers to transport injured or tired cyclists and monitoring the flow of riders along the course. If a cyclist fell or had a mechanical problem, they were transported to the next rest stop, where the medical team could check them out, or the mechanic could look at the bike. If the situation was an easy fix, they could get back on the road and continue. If not, they waited at the rest stop for a SAG to come take them back to the start/finish line at the convention center. Monitoring the flow of riders was important to make sure that none became lost or got left behind as rest stops closed in one section and opened at new points further up along the course. Additionally, there were some sites where the local sheriffs were directing traffic and they wanted updates so that they would know when to change positions.

I arrived at my rest stop to meet up with about a dozen other volunteers who were setting up. Ice and water were being dropped off, tables and chairs were being set up, food was being put out, and medics were inven-torying their kits. Two heavy duty pop up tents had been set up for the event, and PortaPotties were on site. On this first day, my rest stop was used twice on the course as riders made a big loop, so I stayed in the same place all day,although other volunteers came and went throughout the day. I wasn’t sure where to sta-tion myself, but I was on a HT, so I didn’t really need a “place”. Eventually I wound up sitting with the medics, where it was a little quieter than at the food tables. The volunteers were enthusiastically cheering on the rid-ers, and I found that I couldn’t hear very well and I had to move off a little at times, even with an earbud.

On my second day, I worked the first rest stop, which then closed and I was forwarded on to another rest stop. In the meantime, yet another rest stop reported that they didn’t have they’re medical kit, so, after check-ing with net control, I shuttled the one from our closing rest stop as I moved to my next position. There were fewer bikers riding on the second day, but still four routes with the varying distances, and different from the

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previous day’s routes. When traveling from one rest stop to another, I found it helpful to make sure that I was not following the bicycle route, which were slow moving for car traffic in some cases.

My second rest stop was one of the farthest out along the 100 mile course (called the century loop). I had a little trouble getting a consistent signal. It seemed like the signal would be fine, then cut out, unless I moved around the parking lot looking for that sweet spot. Most of the time I could receive and transmit well, but at the end of the shift, it seemed to get worse. A SAG was temporarily at my rest stop and helped passing infor-mation, but was also receiving scratchy messages. I probably should have attempted using my jpole or climb-ing up on some of the playsets on display to attempt a better receive, but by then, my stop was closing and I was dismissed as all the other positions were covered.

Over the two day event, most of the traffic was about tracking the riders or arranging for SAGs. Occasionally we called to arrange for restocking if we ran out of items. There was a time when I was instructed to hold rid-ers at my rest stop because of a bottleneck up ahead. We occasionally were told to watch for a certain rider who seemed tired, had been injured, or warranted monitoring in some other way.

One other note is that all the hams and SAGS were connected on a tracking app that shows your position on a map. This was helpful for knowing where the final riders were along the routes and which SAG was near which rest stop. However, riders weren’t on the map, so sometimes they were difficult to locate if they had a flat or had popped their chain. Sometimes they called in asking for a SAG, then would push the bike to a con-venience store or some other location and the SAG had to really search to find them. Our ham coordinator suggested looking into using a mapping app called https://what3words.com , which uses three random words, assigned to a 3 square meter grid location. It can be used like map coordinates, but might be easier to trans-mit than strings of numbers. Plus it’s fun to look up your location’s string of words (I’m at dirt.categorically.boasted as I write this).

Our information packets contained rest stop information, including whether there was electricity, rest rooms, or running water. My stops had no electricity, and I was worried about my battery holding out. I had back ups with me, in addition to a charger, which I could run from my car if necessary. Both days, I was able to work the whole day on a single battery though. I was unsure about what else to bring but ended up not really need-ing as much gear as I thought I might. Even though we had canopy shelters with tables and chairs, I was hap-py to have a hat, sunnies, and a chair of my own. I also brought my own snacks and drinks, but we were al-lowed to share in the plentiful food and drinks put out for the riders. Lunch was supposed to be provided, but my rest stop didn’t receive any on the first day (although I did get two lunches the second day). There were first aid supplies and sunscreen with the medical kits, although I also had my own. At my rest stop with the inconsistent signal, I might have acted sooner to set up my jpole at my vehicle if I had my own shelter from the sun available. I hate the heat and didn’t want to sit in the hot sun. Maybe I will look into getting an EZ Up of my own. And as I mentioned above, I wish that I had a headset, rather than just an earbud with me. Those other volunteers can be pretty noisy. I was happy to have pockets so that I didn’t have to hold the HT the whole time. It was good that I had a notebook and pen to make notes of riders that I had called for transport for, sent forward, or to watch out for as they came through. Also, I had downloaded a local map to my phone and I was able to visualize most of the action over the whole course even though I wasn’t required to keep up with anything but my rest stop.

I think this event in particular was very well done. It had over 1,000 riders, and probably at least 100-150 vol-unteers in various positions. This has been a long running event and I think all but the random kinks and acts of nature have been worked out. All the other hams were very helpful and encouraging, and even compli-mented us on our professionalism. I had a good time, felt like I was serving the community, met some nice people, and will definitely volunteer for this again in the future.

73s, Beth KN4FZB

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From Mark: Last report of the 3 Members of BARC, Mark KG4GVJ. Well folks, this wasn’t my first time at MS Bike. But it was the first time I was to travel behind a set of riders and make sure no one was left behind. The day seem to go better than the last time I helped with this Event. I don’t know the full details on accidents and inju-ry's, there were a few, but it sounded like less than the year of tacks put on the road. The previous last two years, the Event was canceled due to weather and Virus. This year, I arrived early enough, last time I arrived shortly before the Event started to roll due to my alarm not being turned on. But ….. I then accidently hit my Channel knob of my radio as I reached for some papers on the passenger’s seat. So I didn’t hear much. It took a while before I found out what I did and how I done it, so I was a bit behind on what I was to do. This year I was “SAG 10” and as I understand it, we didn’t have enough Ham’s to help this year. The Ham’s at the Rest Stops needed to be available to report with needed in-formation such as known injury’s and people who had discontinued with the Ride. SAG’s were to travel the course to help keep track of the riders, help those who went the wrong way, find injured riders and report on them, transport riders as needed to the next Rest stop, make sure Rest stops know the last Rider has gone by. This is a example but not the full scope of reasonability's of the Ham’s involved with the Event. Being a SAG for the first time and needing to keep track of the riders, I was found being too much of a Moth-er Hen as it were. I’d wait a bit after the last rider left the Rest Stop, than I’d travel the route intill I found them. I’d follow them to the next Stop. I’d try to stay far enough behind for safety, but I wasn’t far enough. These days, they have devices that go off to warn them of cars that are close to them. Also, due to lack of tape with me, not all signs they provided me could be put onto my car to let others know I was part of the Ride ( Bring Duct Tape folks, something to help hold signs onto your car). Things learned: Phones may not have enough signal to work properly. Bring Tape. If tracking last riders, go ahead and park to wait for them or park when you find them and wait a while before doing it again. Rely on snacks from the Rest stops or bring some food, the Lunch for Volunteers might not be where they said it would be. Be sure to bring that Hi-gain antenna for your HT, it might work. If you’re a SAG, use a mobile Radio and antenna, or a Mobil antenna with your HT, it will get out better. If driving, a knee board would help in taking notes while driving. Bring paper to write notes, it helps with the memory. Bring a mount next time for the con-trol head of my Radio! (That will lessen a accidental channel change). I hope next year, to be able to do this again. Perhaps with more of us helping out. We had a directed Net that had real time Reports available for the MS Officials and great weather and folks helping out. Other MS activ-ites will be happening in and around Greenville that we can be a help in. Thank you, Mark KG4GVJ

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Deaf Pupils Set to Speak with ISS Crew Member in a World-First Event Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) will offer a group of pupils at the Mary Hare School for deaf children in Berkshire, England an opportunity to speak with an astronaut via amateur radio. The contact is expected to take place sometime during October 10 - 17. Mary Hare School, with Pippa Middleton as its Ambassador, is the largest school for the deaf in the UK. The event will mark the first time an ARISS con-tact has been arranged with a school for deaf youth.

"It is a very exciting event -- a world first for deaf pupils," said Alex Ayling, a science teacher at the school. "I think it is very im-portant to our deaf pupils, as it shows what-ever your challenges with communication, there is no limit to what you can achieve. The sky is not the limit."

Ciaran Morgan, M0XTD, ARISS operations lead for the UK, said that technical aspects of the radio contact are being handled by the ARISS-UK team. The Newbury and District Amateur Radio Society (NADARS) will pro-vide "the amateur radio experience" for the students, through ham radio events and ac-tivities at the school. Lessons related to ARISS include a crystal radio, electricity and circuits, forces, energy, sound, electromag-netism, space and space exploration, the ISS, and rocketry.

During September, the school has been con-ducting a competition, inviting students to enter questions from one of five categories -- science in space, space technology, living in space, space communication, and Earth from space. The school staff will pick the 10 best questions, and those students will be invited to ask their questions. The astro-naut's response will then be rendered as text for the students.

At the school, an expected audience of 250 so-cially distanced spectators will be able to see the radio contact firsthand. The remaining students and audience members will be linked in via a web feed.

Amateur radio equipment has been on board the ISS for more than 20 years, and most astronauts hold ham radio licenses. A live web feed will be available.

Mary Hare School educates some 240 profoundly and severely deaf children, aged 5 - 19, each year.

In the US, ARISS is sponsored by NASA, the ISS National Laboratory, ARRL, and AMSAT. -- Thanks to UK News

In Brief... The AO-92 and FalconSAT-3 satellites have been shut down. AO-92 (Fox-1D) had started to change its behavior after a number of weeks of being powered on. In particular, the integrated housekeeping unit (IHU) switched to safe mode. This was likely due to low voltage during eclipse, which is when it should be drawing very little power if no one uses it. Mark Hammond, N8MH, also reported that he was turning off FalconSAT-3's transmitter, due to low voltage. -- Thanks to Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, AMSAT Engineering Team, via AMSAT News Service

The IARU Region 1 Monitoring System finds Radio France International splatter "untenable." The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS) August newsletter reports that Radio France In-ternational was active daily between 2100 and 2200 UTC on 7205 kHz. The report says splatter-ing appeared "massively" down to 7186 kHz, which IARUMS called "an untenable condition." IARUMS said that the "especially well-known in-truders" included Voice of Broad Masses (VOBM) on 7140 and 7180 kHz from Eritrea. "From time to time, China Radio International was heard on 14,000 kHz (and intermodulation of 13,855 kHz

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YOTA Announces New Three-Times-a-Year Contest

"Team YOTA" of Youngsters on the Air in IARU Region 1 has announced it will sponsor a new contest, the YOTA Contest. Open to all radio amateurs, it takes place three times a year and runs for just 12 hours. YOTA said the aim is to boost on-the-air activity by younger radio amateurs and to support YOTA. The contest will take place on different 12-hour windows on three Saturdays.

The event will be on December 30, 1200 - 2359 UTC.

YOTA has established eight different operating categories, which include sub-categories for operators age 25 and younger, but operators of all ages may participate. Covering 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters, the allowable modes will be CW and SSB.

The contest exchange will be the age of the participating operator. Different ages serve as score multipliers during the contest. Stations may work the same station once per band mode.

Contacts between the station's own continent are worth 1 point, while working DX is worth 3 points. The most points will be achieved by working the youngest operators. "The younger the operator, the more points one will get for the QSO," YOTA said.

The IARU Region 1 Youth Working Group is working with Hungary's IARU member-society MRASZ, the Hungarian Am-ateur Radio Society. MRASZ is providing a contest log robot, among other things.

Submit Cabrillo logs only. Contest winners will be announced once logs received have been checked in the various cate-gories. Winners will be awarded with a YOTA Contest plaque.

The contest committee consists of the IARU Region 1 Youth Working Group: Philipp, DK6SP, chair; Markus, DL8GM, vice chair, and members Csaba, HA6PX, and Tomi, HA8RT.

Contact the YOTA Contest Committee with any questions or further information.

and 13,710 kHz)." The usual players among the over-the-horizon radar (OTH-R) systems also were active almost daily. Intruding sig-nals heard in IARU Region 1 may be causing problems elsewhere in the world.

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BARC Website, some Blog page Titles Hurricane Season in full swing! – Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club (w4amc.com) What to do when you see a need… – Brightleaf Amateur Ra-dio Club (w4amc.com) CQ WW VHF Contest – Bright-leaf Amateur Radio Club (w4amc.com) Antenna Fun! – Brightleaf Ama-teur Radio Club (w4amc.com) Field Day Report 6/27/2021 – Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club (w4amc.com) Feel free to view, comment

Membership Dues

Membership dues for BARC are due January 1 every year. Mem-bership dues are as follows and are almost the same as 2020: • Regular Member $20.00 • Family Member $2.00 • Associate Mem-ber (Non-Licensed) $5.00 • Life Members $0.00 • New Hams: Free first year We are requesting that you send the application form in, so that we can have your correct information on file. The form can be down-loaded at: https://www.qsl.net/w4amc/barc-application.html. Please give the application and dues to the Treasurer at the meet-ing or mail your dues, along with the member application form to: Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club, P.O. Box 8387, Greenville, NC 27835 Or go to https://w4amc.com/membership/ to use PayPal at the page bottom. If there are any questions concerning membership status or dues, please contact Jim Lowe, AC4JL, Treasurer@w4amc.com or (252) 320-6545. Thank you for your continued support and participation in BARC.

**Renew/Join Now** Help Support BARC.

• World Scout Frequencies-

Consult the BSA JOTA information Web pages for frequencies recommended for U.S. JOTA operations as some fre-quencies and modes are not legal for US stations.

Please note that the World Scout Frequencies changed 1 July 2007. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) changed its band plans to create space for more digital transmissions. Some Scout frequencies are affected by this. Tra-ditionally, Scout Frequencies were chosen in a segment where low-power, simple stations are transmitting (QRP). This allows Scouts to operate such stations from camp sites and still be able to communicate with others. Some of these fre-quencies have changed over time. The amateur radio bands are increasingly busy with competitions. With the Scout fre-quencies chosen outside of the contest segments as far as possible, Scout stations can operate undisturbed.

Band SSB (phone) CW (Morse)

80 m 3.690 & 3.940 MHz 3.570 MHz

40 m 7.090 & 7.190 MHz 7.030 MHz

20 m 14.290 MHz 14.060 MHz

17 m 18.140 MHz 18.080 MHz

15 m 21.360 MHz 21.140 MHz

12 m 24.960 MHz 24.910 MHz

10 m 28.390 MHz 28.180 MHz

6 m 50.160 MHz 50.160 MHz

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TARHEEL NET MANAGER Mike Fagan, AE4MF, has done a fine job in the time that he has served as Net Manager for the Tarheel Emergency Net . He has informed me that he will move out of state at some time in the not too distant fu-ture. If you are interested in becoming Net Manager of the Tarheel Net, let me or Mike (ae4mf at gmail) know of your interest. We would like the next Net Manager to have an opportunity to work with Mike before there is a vacancy. Duties include: a. Maintaining contact with net control stations for the various evening sessions. b. Recruiting net control stations when vacancies arise. c. Filing a monthly report with W4DNA Section Traffic Manager. d. Assist in developing a Net Operating Guide for distribution to net participants. An ideal candidate would be one with a good hf signal heard across the state (subject to band conditions which are expected to improve), a willingness to work to increase net participation, and a desire to increase the usefulness of the Tarheel Net which has been in existence since 1947. The next Tarheel Net Manager may choose an Assistant Net Manager to assist the Net Manager.

REGIONAL HAMFESTS ARE COMING BACK!!! Many people have waited a long time for the return of hamfests and swapfests. The organizations that put these events on invest a lot of time, effort and money to make these events happen. Do you part and show your support by attending. The following events have been publicly announced. Depending upon your location, you may want to save the date and plan on attending one or more of the fol-lowing events: October 2, 69th Annual Rock Hill Hamfest, Rock Hill SC. Info at http://www.scssb.net/Hamfests/Hamfests.html

October 7 Roanoke Valley Hamfest, Roanoke VA Info at http://w4ca.com

October 16 W4NC FallFest, Winston-Salem NC. Info at http://W4NC.COM

October 23 Carolina Amateur Radio Emergency Services Hamfest, Gaffney SC. Info to follow.

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November 6 Stone Mountain Hamfest, Law-renceville GA. Info at https://www.stonemountainhamfest.com

2021 is the centennial of the Finnish Amateur Radio League (SRAL). The special anniversary call sign OH100SRAL is being used throughout the year. Working at least 100 Finnish stations during 2021 qualifies the opera-tor for an award.

Announcements Japanese Antarctica Research Expedi-tion (JARL) station 8J1RL will be active from February 2021 to January 2022 with Takumi, JG3PLH, at the helm. 8J1RL is located at the Japanese Syowa Station on East Ongul Island in eastern Antarcti-ca. Activity will be on SSB, CW, and FT8, 7 - 28 MHz.

2022 ARRL National Convention Emergency Communications Training Track Not to be Missed It's not too early to plan on attending the 2022 ARRL National Convention, set to take place at Orlando HamCation

®

(www.hamcation.com) on February 11 - 13. A day-long workshop on emergency communications is scheduled as one of the training tracks that will be offered as part of the National Convention program that will precede HamCation on Thurs-day, February 10. The training presenta-tions will feature current protocols, tech-niques, and responsibilities for the mod-ern volunteer radio operator serving part-ner public safety entities. The presenters are all subject-matter experts. Topics to be covered include the ARRL National and Florida Emergency Communicator Task Books, an overview of amateur ra-dio responses to disasters, basic voice traffic handling with hands-on voice traffic net/message transfer practice, using the

ICS-213 form, Winlink's ARDOP (Amateur Radio Digital Open) and VARA protocols, and the Radio Mail Server (RMS) hybrid internet/HF radio gate-way system. Registration for the National Conven-tion Training Tracks will open later this summer at www.arrl.org/expo.

When Scouts want to meet young people from an-other country, they usually think of attending a World Jamboree. But few people realize that each year more than a million Scouts and Guides "get together" over the airwaves for the annu-al Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA). During the 2014 event, worldwide Scouting participation included 1.1 million Boy Scouts and 200,000 Girl Guides/Gils Scouts, for a total participation of over 1.3 mil-lion--the largest Scouting event in the world.

Modern technology offers Scouts the exciting op-portunity to make friends in other countries without leaving home. JOTA is an annual event in which Boy and Girl Scouts and Guides from all over the world speak to each other by means of Amateur (ham) Radio. Scouting experiences are exchanged and ideas are shared via radio waves. Since 1958 when the first Jamboree-on-the-Air was held, mil-lions of Scouts have met each other through this event. Many contacts made during JOTA have re-sulted in pen pals and links between Scout troops that have lasted many years. With no restrictions on age or on the number of participants, and at little or no expense, JOTA allows Scouts to contact each other by ham radio. The radio stations are operated by licensed amateur radio operators. Many Scouts and leaders hold licenses and have their own sta-tions, but the majority participate in JOTA through stations operated by local radio clubs and individual radio amateurs. Some operators use television or computer-linked communications. Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) (arrl.org) for more infor-mation.

What is JOTA?

BARC on the Web: http://www.w4amc.com Ham Chatter

PAGE 39 October 2021

www.arrl.org/2021-Hurricanes

This page, www.arrl.org/2021-Hurricanes, in-cludes information and news summarizing the prep-arations and response by Amateur Radio (ham ra-dio) volunteers who are supporting emergency com-munications in areas that may be (or have been) impacted by 2021 hurricanes. Ham radio op-erators provide a critical communications capability used for relaying life-saving information and to as-sist with reunification activities. Additionally, radio amateurs throughout affected regions often provide firsthand accounts of storm impact and ongoing re-covery needs. INFORMATION RESOURCES

National Hurricane Center https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ Tropical Tidbits (current forecast models) https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/ Active Red Cross Shelters maps.redcross.org/website/maps/ARC_Shelters.html

Red Cross Safe and Well www.redcross.org/get-help/disaster-relief-and-recovery-services/contact-and-locate-loved-ones.html Facebook Safety Check www.facebook.com/about/safetycheck Hurricane Watch Net hwn.org

VOIP Hurricane Net voipwx.net Amateur Radio at the National Hurricane Center www.WX4NHC.org FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency www.fema.gov

Ready.gov - Plan ahead for disasters www.ready.gov

Hurricane Central - The Weather Channel https://weather.com/storms/hurricane

Hurricane Season 2021: Nets to Know Caribbean Emergency Weather Net - Meets daily at 1030Z and 2230Z on 3815 kHz.

Hurricane Watch Net -- 14.325 MHz, 7.268 MHz -- Activated whenever a hurricane is within 300 nautical miles of expected landfall. Disseminates storm information and relays meteorological data to National Hurricane Center via embedded NHC station WX4NHC. Also relays post-storm damage reports and other relevant information.

Intercontinental Net operates from 7 AM to noon US Eastern Time on 14.300 MHz, providing a means of emergency communica-tions to any location where normal communi-cations are disrupted.

Marine Maritime Services Net -- 14.300 MHz -- The network acts as a weather beacon for ships during periods of severe weather and regularly repeats high seas and tropical weather warnings and bulletins from the Na-tional Weather Service and the National Hurri-cane Center.

Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Net-work (SATERN) -- 14.260 MHz -- The pur-pose of the SATERN net is to support the Sal-vation Army operations in local, regional and international disaster situations. - ARRL US Virgin Islands Section News

Ham Chatter

PAGE 40 October 2021

http://www.w4amc.com BARC on the Web

Ham Ads will be run, free of charge in Ham Chatter for three months for each renewal. Ads must be received by the last week of the month to be included in the following issue. Send ads to: Ham Chatter, PO Box 8387, Greenville, NC 27835. Or Email the Ham Chatter.

Used Radios and equipment for Sale:

Tytera MD 380 UHF DMR & Analog HT, includes one bat-tery, and charger, and box. Programmed, but buyer will need to get an DMR ID, and change the ID in the HT Asking $75.00 Bernard Nobles WA4MOK wa4mok@embarqmail.com

BARC on the Web: http://www.w4amc.com Ham Chatter

PAGE 41 October 2021

Commercial Ad Rates

1/8 page, Business Card Size $10 per Month - $100 per Year Send ads to: Ham Chatter, PO Box 8387, Greenville, NC 27835 Help support Ham Chatter and the club. Donations accepted!

BARC on FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/w4amc/

Facebook and Group details http://www.w4amc.com/barcnews.html#BARC

Pitt County Repeater Association http://www.pcra.us/

Ham Ads will be run, free of charge in Ham Chatter for three months for each renewal. Ads must be received by the last week of the month to be included in the following issue. Send ads to: Ham Chatter, PO Box 8387, Greenville, NC 27835. Or Email the Ham Chatter.

How to print a copy of your FCC License by Jim, KV4SJ To access an official copy of your license: 1. Go to: HTTPs://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp 2. Log in with your FRN and password. (Also has links to find or get

your FRN.) 3. Click on “Download Electronic Authorizations” in the links on the left hand side. 4. Select your call sign in the box labeled “My Authorizations” and click on the Add button to copy it into the “Authorizations to Down-load” box. 5. Click on the Download button to download an official copy of your license in PDF format. via Forsyth ARC Newsletter, August 2020

BARC MEMBERS If you are not receiving Ham Chatter email notices, please send an email to hamchatter@w4amc.com so I can get your email address. I know some have said they do not re-ceive them but haven’t sent me their address. You may miss some important BARC notices. - KG4GVJ and W4YDY

Ham Chatter

PAGE 42 October 2021

http://www.w4amc.com BARC on the Web

BARC CALENDAR OF EVENTS

October 2 -- German Telegraphy Contest October 2 -- Oceania DX Contest (phone) October 2 -- Two-Meter Classic Sprint (CW, phone) October 2 - 3 -- California QSO Party (CW, phone) October 2 - 3 -- TRC DX Contest (CW, phone) October 2 - 3 -- Russian WW Digital Contest October 2 - 3 -- International Hell Contest October 2 - 3 -- SKCC QSO Party (CW) October 3 -- RSGB DX Contest (CW, phone) October 3 -- UBA ON Contest (SSB) October 3 -- Peanut Power QRP Sprint (CW, phone) October 4 -- RSGB 80-Meter Autumn Series (CW) October 14-16th . . . . . . JOTA Nov 13 . . . . . . . . .Radio Club of America (RCA) Transat-lantic QSO Party, 1200 UTC on November 13 to 0400 UTC on November 14, 2021 (16 hours total). Dec 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . ARRL 160-Meter Contest Dec 1—26 . . . . . . . . .Special Event GB1002ZE Feb 19-20 2022 . . . . . . VOA Anniversary Event “W4A”

Regular Meeting - 2nd Tuesday @ 7:00 PM Live-Zoom BARC Emergency Communication Workgroup - 3rd Tuesday @ 7pm ZOOM Board Meeting - Last Tuesday @ 7:00 PM ZOOM Contest Calendar: All the rules: https//www.contestcalendar.com/weeklycont.php Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions

Many conventions and hamfests have been canceled or postponed due to the corona-virus pandemic. Check the calendar of canceled events on the ARRL website.

October 2 -- ARRL Great Lakes Division Conven-tion (Vette City Hamfest), Bowling Green, Ken-tucky

October 2 -- ARRL South Carolina Section Con-vention (Rock Hill Hamfest), Rock Hill, South Car-olina

October 8 - 9 -- ARRL Florida State Convention

(Melbourne Hamfest), Melbourne, Florida

October 8 - 9 --ARRL Louisiana State Conven-tion (Slidell EOC Hamfest), Slidell, Louisiana

October 8 - 9 -- ARRL Wyoming State Conven-tion (WY HamCon 2021), Cheyenne, Wyoming

October 15 - 17 -- ARRL Pacific Division Con-vention (Pacificon), San Ramon, California

October 16 -- ARRL Wisconsin State Convention (Wisconsin ARES/RACES Conference)

Find conventions and hamfests in your area.

. Other events: And so many more folks.

HAMFEST INFORMATION Rock Hill SC Hamfest Held just south of Charlotte, this hamfest is sponsored by the York County Amateur Radio Society will be held on October 2 at the New Kirk Baptist Church, 175 Museum Rd. Rock Hill, SC, 29732. Information can be found at https://www.ycars.org/2021/03/11/save-the-date-saturday-oct-2-2021-the-69th-rock-hill-hamfest/ . OTHER EVENTS

BARC 2 METER NET - MONDAY NIGHTS AT 8:00 PM - 147.09 W4GDF REPEATER - 131.8 Tone Down East Hospital Net - 2nd Tuesday at noon - Greenville 444.725 MHz, 91.5 tone N4HAJ

BRIGHTLEAF AMATEUR RADIO CLUB STATIONS

W 1 V O A - W 4 A M C - W 4 U H S