Emergency Preparedness Class - Syracuse - 11/20/24

 The Bear Bait Radio Club is sponsoring a Emergency Preparedness Class given by the NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. It will be held on Wednesday November 11th at 7pm at Town of Clay Highwaty Dept. Garage on Rt. 31. Registration is required. 

Register here: https://www.dhses.ny.gov/citizen-preparedness-training-calendar

Zello PTT: A Versatile Backup Tool for Amateur Radio

(from the October 2024 RARA Rag)

Public Service Report: Mike Moore, KC2NM, RARA Public Service Coordinator 

Zello PTT has become a popular mobile phone application, offering a reliable and efficient platform for real-time voice communication. While primarily used for personal and professional purposes, Zello can also serve as a valuable backup tool for amateur radio operators. 

We used this app to a limited degree on Tour de Cure and MS Roc the Ride Great Great Lakes this year. 

Key Features for Amateur Radio Use: 

• Push-to-Talk Functionality: Zello's core feature, push-to-talk (PTT), mirrors the operation of traditional amateur radio transceivers. Simply press and hold the PTT button to transmit your voice. 

• Channel-Based Communication: Zello organizes users into channels, similar to amateur radio repeaters. You can join various channels based on your interests, location, or specific events. 

• Global Reach: Zello's network extends worldwide, allowing you to connect with amateur radio enthusiasts from different countries and regions. 

• Text Messaging: In addition to voice communication, Zello also supports text messaging within channels. This can be useful for sharing information or coordinating activities. Best Practices for Amateur Radio Use: 

• Backup Battery: Ensure you have a backup battery or power source to keep your device charged during extended use. 

• Headset: Using a headset can improve audio quality and reduce background noise. 

• Data Plan: If using Zello for mobile data, be mindful of your data usage limits. 

• Emergency Procedures: Establish procedures for using Zello in emergency situations, such as coordinating rescue efforts or providing updates. 

Zello can be downloaded to your phone using the Google Play or Apple Apps store. Create a personal account and test your phone using the echo channel. Account event channel credentials will be distributed via a QR code and password on an event ICS 205 form. Jim plans to demonstrate Zello as a tech tip at the October RaRa meeting. For more information, see the Android User Guide https://support.zello.com/hc/en-us/articles/17954095093389-Android-User-Guide

or the iOS User Guide https://support.zello.com/hc/en-us/articles/17578715747981-iOS-User-Guide

By leveraging Zello PTT as a backup tool, amateur radio operators can enhance their communication capabilities and stay connected in various scenarios

more info at: https://blog.zello.com/zello-individual-or-business

Pumpkin Patrol 2024

The 2024 Pumpkin Patrol will take place on Wednesday and Thursday October 30-31st for Bridges on the New York State Thruway.

This event contributes to the safety of travelers on the New York State Thruway. It is a statewide event and is held in cooperation with the New York State Troopers and Amateur radio groups.

The Pumpkin Patrol was initiated as a volunteer effort in 1976 by Katherine St. Jacques in Fort Johnson, Montgomery County.  Ms. St. Jacques was talking to a truck driver on her citizens band radio when the windshield of his vehicle was struck by an object thrown from an overpass.  The driver sustained injuries from the broken glass of his windshield.  St. Jacques and two companions decided to stand watch on the three over passes that crossed the Thruway in the Fort Johnson area. The State Police assumed control of the Pumpkin Patrol in 1990 as part of the State Police crime prevention effort.  More than 300 volunteers will participate in this year’s safety efforts.

Upstate NY Counties participating:

Erie (Buffalo area): https://ecarham.org/announcements/

Monroe (Rochester area): The RARA Pumpkin Patrol event captain, Ed Wilkonski, K1EM is preparing for this year's event. Please see his article elsewhere in this month’s Rag. For more information or to register for this month's events, see our Public Service page at https://rochesterham.org/public_service.htm for more information and to volunteer.

 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdr-KssQziuUPpDSEgn5SzqNZPIxgbGd9VmAmA-78UDttsTkg/viewform

Onondaga (Syracuse area): https://www.w2cm.com/public-service/

PLEASE SEND US YOUR GROUPS PLANS FOR 2024 to: UpstateHam@gmail.com

New online course: Preparing the Nation for Space Weather Events

 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute (EMI) has released a new online study course and exam, titled, Preparing the Nation for Space Weather Events. The course identifier is IS-66. ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, took the course and passed the exam. "This course provides some interesting insight into the federal government's role and response to space-weather events," Johnston said. He went on to say that the course "explains the levels of response the government uses in regard to [these] events. [It] would be a good training course for any ham to gain a better understanding of how space weather affects communications here on Earth." Johnston deemed the course useful and shared that it only takes about 2 hours to complete online. A FEMA student ID is required, and is free from the EMI website. -- Thanks to ARES Letter Editor Rick Palm, K1CE, for the information contained in this story.

From the 11/17/22 ARRL Letter.

Link to the course: https://training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=IS-66&lang=en

RACES / ARES Training Session 11/22/22 - Syracuse

 The next quarterly RACES / ARES Training Session will be:

Tuesday November 22, 2022 at 1900 Hours

Moyers Corners Fire Station #2, 7697 Morgan Road (corner of Buckley Road), Liverpool, NY

TOPIC:  HF Operations

 

John Perkins

K2VTT

RACES Radio Officer – Onondaga County

Vice President – RAGS

Asst Net Manager - OCTEN

K2VTT@arrl.net

HH# 6100000238

Winter Skywarn Training

 Its that time to start thinking about Winter SkyWarn Training. Most NWS offices will be holding classes this fall. Some of those can be found in the links below:

Registration Link: Skywarn Training Schedule (weather.gov)

 

SKYWARN - Severe weather reporting program

What is SKYWARN?

The effects of severe weather are felt every year by many Americans. To obtain critical weather information, NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, established SKYWARN® with partner organizations. SKYWARN® is a volunteer program with nearly 290,000 trained severe weather spotters. These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service.

Although SKYWARN® spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the main responsibility of a SKYWARN® spotter is to identify and describe severe local storms. In the average year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes occur across the United States. These events threatened lives and property.

Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN® spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite and other data, has enabled NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods.

Learn more at the National SKYWARN web site: https://www.weather.gov/SKYWARN
Binghamton NY NWS SKYWARN page: http://www.weather.gov/bgm/outreachSKYWARNtraining
Buffalo NY NWS SKYWARN page: http://www.weather.gov/buf/Skywarn
Albany NY NWS SKYWARN page:  http://www.weather.gov/aly/skywarn

Onondaga County RACES/ARES Training - 11/9/21

 RACES / ARES Training Session

Tuesday November 9, 2021 – 1900 Hours

Moyers Corners Fire Station #2

7697 Morgan Road (at Buckley Road), Liverpool, NY. ( Rear of Building ). 

TOPIC:  RACES/ARES Orientation, equipment review/evaluation, reviewing programmed frequencies, plan future training sessions. 

Contact:

John Perkins at : jp96166@gmail.com

RACES Radio Officer – Onondaga County

ANNUAL ARMED FORCES DAY CROSS-BAND TEST (SAT. MAY 11th 2019)

The Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard are co-sponsoring the annual Military/Amateur Radio Crossband Communications Test. Although Armed Forces Day had traditionally been celebrated on the third Saturday in May -- this year it will be on May 11th 2019 as to not conflict with the Dayton Hamvention.

The annual celebration features traditional military-to-amateur crossband communications SSB voice and Morse code tests. These tests give Amateur Radio operators and short wave listeners an opportunity to demonstrate their individual technical skills and to receive recognition from the appropriate military radio station for their proven expertise. QSL cards will be provided to stations making contact with the military stations.

Mentors Needed for New ARRL Emergency Communications Course

More Mentors Needed for New ARRL Emergency Communications Course Sessions

(From the ARRL 03/11/2019)

High interest in the recently announced updated ARRL Introduction to Emergency Communications (EC-001) course is prompting a call for additional class mentors to help meet the demand, which ARRL Lifelong Learning Manager Kris Bickell, K1BIC, says “exceeded our projections.” As Bickell explains, the course is designed to be interactive, with volunteer mentors guiding each session.

“We appreciate the work of the mentors to make EC-001 an interactive experience for the participants. The real-world emergency communications experience they bring to the course is very important to the learning process,” Bickell said. “We look forward to bringing in more mentors to help ARRL expand the reach of this valuable emergency communications training.” Bickell has developed a waiting list for prospective EC-001 students, who will be notified as additional sessions are scheduled.

Adirondack Blackfly Challenge 2018 - looking for radio volunteers

The Black Fly Challenge is a 40-mile destination (one-way) gravel grinder bicycle race that attracts both serious racers and recreational riders on cyclocross and mountain bikes. It also attracts some serious adventurists, riding unicyles and 3-seat bikes. Over half the BFC race course includes gravel roads through the wild & scenic Moose River Recreation Area between Inlet and Indian Lake with some pavement and/or singletrack at either end. It is a difficult area for communications, as much of the route has no Cellphone coverage, no public safety and no services.

So we are looking for experienced Amateur radio operators willing to participate on Saturday, June 9th. The race starts from Inlet NY this year. We have many locations with as much or as little challenge as you desire. We use a mixture of VHF Simplex and Repeaters (on Blue, Gore and McCauley Mountains) mostly requiring high power and careful selection of antenna and installation.

Onondaga County ARES/RACES Meeting 5/29/18

ARES / RACES Live Meetings

Calling all Onondaga County and joining county Amateur Radio Operators!

Our next ARES / RACES Live Meeting will be at 06:30PM (18:30) EST
on Tuesday May 29th 2018 at the Liverpool Fire Department Station 1.

Location:
Liverpool Station 1 Fire Department.
1110 Oswego St (Rt.57), Liverpool, NY 13088

Light refreshments will be served.

Please park around the back of the fire station.

more info at:

https://ragsclub.org/public-service/

http://www.w2cm.com/public-service/

Notice of exercise this weekend: COMEX 17-4 SIMULATED WARNING MESSAGE

 from KC2WI; Pete Newell; ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, Northern New York

EXERCISE************ EXERCISE ************* EXERCISE

I am sending this to you for information and action. Please pass this info on to all hams and please make every effort to participate this weekend November 4~5, 2017.

People in the know are VERY concerned about the effect of a large scale coronal mass ejection (CME) from the sun, or of the EMP from detonatioin of a nuclear weapon high in the atmosphere. The former is known to have occured and is predicted to happen again. Given the current state of political affairs, the latter is a distinct possibility either from North Korea or if some terrorist organization gets control of a nuclear weapon.

Either would devastate the power grid and any equipment connected to it. The result would be widespread loss of electrical power and by extension virtually everthing else that society depends on. Most unprotected electronics would be destroyed, especially if connected to any external wires like power cords, the power grid, or antennas, or even ground wires.

http://nnyara.net/COMEX17-4/Electronics_and_Communication_Vulnerability.ppt <<read this and you will see the potential magnitude of the problem.

In the case of a CME we would have about 12 hours between the event and when the effects hit Earth. I would get notice by email, text, phone from MARS. I would try to pass it on to you. You would want to disconnect absolutely everything from power grid and further protect whatever possible.

It is assumed that at lease some hams would have advance warning, could protect equipment ear or some would have spare equipment , and therefore could operate after the CME. Since virtually all other systems would be inoperable, amateur radio could be the only method of gathering info for initial damage assessment.

Therefore, MARS has been tasked by the DOD with contacting Amateur Radio Operators to gather this info.

Pumpkin Patrol: October 30-31st

Pumpkin Patrol: October 30-31 Bridges of the New York State Thruway

This event contributes to the safety of travelers on the New York State Thruway. It is a statewide event and is held in cooperation with the New York State Troopers.

Pumpkin Patrol 2017 in Onondaga County (LARC)!
****We need a few more volunteers!**** We will be covering 19 bridges which cross over the NYS Thruway, on two nights, Oct. 30 & 31 from 7 to 9 pm.

We observe and report any unusual activity on these bridges to a net control. A mobile 2 meter radio is recommended however handhelds with a vehicle roof top antenna may work okay.
The net will be on the 146.31/91 PL 103.5 repeater.
You will be given full instructions and identification credentials.
Contact Al May at wa2kfv@twcny.rr.com


Monroe County (RARA):
Teams of two hams are assigned a post at each of the Thruway bridges in Monroe County.
The teams observe activity on the bridges and report any suspicious activity to local law enforcement. These actions are repeated by ham clubs all along the thruway for statewide coverage. The event began several years ago when some untoward individuals were found to have dropped pumpkins from the bridges down onto passing trucks and cars. Our efforts have put a stop to the actions of these vandals but, more importantly, the resources of local law enforcement agencies have been put to more valuable use.

The time commitment is from just after dark until just before midnight on Monday Oct.
30 and Tuesday Oct. 31. Operations will use the WR2AHL repeater 145.11. Please consider signing up and participating in this event. Contact Brad Allen KB2CHY, event captain of this event. His preferred method is via email. Place PUMPKIN PATROL 2017 in the subject field to ballen@frontiernet.net. Or, leave a message at one of the following telephone numbers
585-247-3724, 585-247-0251, or 585-216-5066.
You may also register at the Public Service Section of the RARA website and click on the sign-up link.

A sad day.....our hobby has lost a great friend

It's been a sad couple of days around the old ham shack. We lost our very good friend W2QYT;
"smiling" Jack Smith, who became a silent key on 8/31/17.

Jack will be greatly missed by his family, the Amateur Radio community in Upstate NY and our local community here in Cayuga County. Jack leaves behind a legacy of caring, hard work and public service. Jack became a family man, who realized that there is nothing more important, and he needed to tend to that first, before his radios (....well maybe not all the time, but he tried). He was also a proud Vietnam Veteran and was very proud of his service and country.

 His involvement in Amateur radio started when he was licensed in 1960. Later in life his hobby merged with his professional career. He entered the commercial two-way radio business; installing and repairing repeaters and radio equipment all over CNY. He eventually founded his own business; Dove Communications - installing and repairing satellite receiver systems, pagers and two way radios. You might be surprised to know that earlier in his life he was a materials tester, a town snow plow driver, and a tractor trailer driver - to name a few (and he told some very good stories about them all).

Jack loved to "help the hammies" as he joked with me quite often. He was a Elmer (mentor) to many of us. Jack gave willingly to anyone who needed help or guidance, (and usually ending it with that big smile!). To many of us repeater owners, he was a wealth of knowledge and experience that you could always count on for help. When it came to troubleshooting a radio, antenna or repeater problem - he could almost always figure it out.

Jack leaves behind quite a legacy here in Upstate NY. The 147.00 based linked VHF repeater system consisting of 6 partnered repeaters covering together over 15 counties in NY. (http://www.upstateham.com/p/cny-linked-vhf-repeaters-this-system.html  ). He was also a leader in the development and on-going support of the Statewide UHF system (along with many other great partner/owners). Jack also supported many stand alone emergency repeaters owned by local government. He was a strong advocate for emergency communications capability in our county and was involved with our local ARES, RACES and Skywarn programs.

One of his biggest local public service activities was Emergency Communications support for the Great Race in Auburn, which he helped set set up and led for almost 40 years.The Great Race is the nation's largest team only run, bike and paddle triathlon The latest race being just a few weeks ago, and to which Jack led the communications team to another successful conclusion.

I consider myself as one of the lucky ones. I had the privilege of not only knowing Jack, but getting the chance to work closely with him on many projects and technical problems over the last several years. I always treasured my visits to his house, a repeater site, or drop off point on the "Tony Express". We would catch up in person discussing our families, the latest going-ons and other happenings that we might not talk about on the air. I, along with many of you, will miss these visits and our frequent chats on the air.

In closing, I want to say that Jack would not want us to be sad, but he would encourage us ALL to give back to this great hobby he loved, any way we can.

RIP my friend........we'll catch you again somewhere down the log!

Tony; KC2VER

Please feel free to post a comment or story about Jack in the area below.

Services are noon to 2 p.m. Sunday (9/3/17) at White Chapel Funeral Home, 197 South St., Auburn

Link to Jack's obituary:

Jack shopping at a hamfest

KD2SL and Jack doing a little tuning

http://auburnpub.com/obits/john-h-jack-smith/article_b86ca56d-589b-5ad3-aaed-fb430e7e15f8.html

DOD Contingency Communications Exercise; COMEX 17-3

The third quarterly national DOD contingency communications exercise COMEX 17-3 will take place July 23-27, 2017. One component of these exercises is using Amateur Radio to collect information about critical infrastructure and facilities  (power, transportation, communication, sanitation, medical, etc) in every county in the US. MARS stations will be active on the ham bands (using their Amateur call signs except on 60 Meters where they will use their MARS call signs) soliciting information. 

Please make an effort to contact one or more MARS operators dring this COMEX.  Contacts are not limited to ARES/RACES members. MARS operators are looking for contact with any ham radio operator. However this would be an execllent opportunity to set up a local ARES net as would be active in a large scale emergency or disaster situation.

Please note that while you you can make up any scenario and report simulated conditions for your local exercise, MARS operators will be collecting actual condition reports.  So unless there is actually a power outage, flooded roads, etc. you would report that all is well for the purposes of the national COMEX.

I intend to be available on the New York State Phone Traffic Emergency Net at 6 PM on 3925 at least a couple of times during the exercise period, and possibly other times and frequencies. If you would like to set up a specific time/frequency please contact me by email reply. Please check the nnyara.net web site and/or the Facebook page  (http://facebook.com/NNYARAhams)  and group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/NNYARA/ ) for updated schedule info. There are other MARS stations in and around NNY who will be on HF or local repeaters.

Pete Newell KC2WI

ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, Northern New York http://nnyara.net

Coordinator, Lewis County Emergency Coordinators Group http://lcecg.org

ARES EC / RACES RO, Lewis County

MARS - Military Auxiliary Radio System LMSC NNY - AFA2CQ

Field Day 2017 - June 24-25

Field Day is coming soon........June 24th and 25th, 2017 

If you want to meet some friendly hams or experience some different operating modes, why don't you stop by one of the many Field Day events taking place in our area. You will see various antenna and radio setups along with operators trying to share their knowledge and score some points making contacts through out the weekend.

 Its a lot of fun - so we hope to see you out there on field day!

What is Field Day?

Field Day is part educational event, part operating event, part public relations event – and ALL about FUN!  link: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Field-Day/2017/6-2017%20FD%20Flier1.pdf

ARRL Field Day locator:  http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator

Check out one of the following LOCAL Upstate groups below:
(*please also send us your groups listing)

Adirondack Blackfly Challenge 2017 - looking for radio volunteers

The Black Fly Challenge is a 40-mile destination (one-way) gravel grinder bicycle race that attracts both serious racers and recreational riders on cyclocross and mountain bikes. It also attracts some serious adventurists, riding unicyles and 3-seat bikes. Over half the BFC race course includes gravel roads through the wild & scenic Moose River Recreation Area between Inlet and Indian Lake with some pavement and/or singletrack at either end. It is a difficult area for communications, as much of the route has no Cellphone coverage, no public safety and no services.

So we are looking for experienced Amateur radio operators willing to participate on Saturday, June 10th. The race starts from Inlet NY this year. We have many locations with as much or as little challenge as you desire. We use a mixture of VHF Simplex and Repeaters (on Blue, Gore and McCauley Mountains) mostly requiring high power and careful selection of antenna and installation.

MARS Exercise 2/25 - 2/28

MARS exercise 17-1 / 25 February 2017 - 28 February 2017

The United States Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security with the United States Army and Air Force MARS system is holding its first exercise of the year 2017.

The scenario simulates a total loss of communication, Internet and basic resources  after an undetermined national incident.

The Military and Department of Defense is asking for Amateur stations to provide basic county information to MARS stations during the exercise. This is REAL WORLD and as such the information provided to military stations should be of actual availability of resources IF your county has no problems you will report as such. If there is an incident that effects any governmental resources such as transportation, medical, communication, or hospitals you will report what resource is affected. 

Again this is REAL WORLD information so if there is no breakdown in any services you will report all clear in the county you are reporting.

MARS stations will be on the 60meter interoperability channel 1 (5330.5) and channel 2 ( 5346.5) to collect information at various time throughout the exercise. 

As of now stations will be monitoring at 12pm and 3pm on Saturday the 25th.

12pm and 3pm on Sunday the 26th, and at 3pm and 6pm on Monday the 27th.

Also any stations who want to collect information from their surrounding counties can provide them at those times or they can be emailed to this station to be included in the report no later than Monday at 6pm EST

Thanks for all your help and for providing information..

Joseph M. Tedesco KC2DKP/AAR2JI

Western New York Section Emergency Coordinator United States Army MARS.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

ARRL Western New York Section

Section Manager: Laura Mueller, N2LJM

n2ljm@arrl.org

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Onondaga County ARES/RACES meeting - 2/21/17

The next ARES/RACES live meeting will be Tuesday 2/21/17 at the Liverpool Fire Dept. at 1110 Oswego Road. We will begin at 18:00 hours (6PM).

Please park out back behind the firehouse. The meeting will cover several topics including a review of some recent outages and meetings with local served agencies. The meeting will end with break-out sessions focused on FlDigi and NBEMS training. This meeting is open to all interested amateur operators.

If you have one, please bring a laptop, phone or iPad loaded with FlDigi. The break-out sessions will accommodate varying levels of knowledge so don't be afraid to jump in.  

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

73

Richard Kilmartin
KB2WAU
RACES RO, Onondaga County
onondagaraces@earthlink.net

315-374-3345

Military Exercise - Amateur Operators Needed

Military Exercise COMEX 16-4 Amateur Operators Needed 10/30-10/31

The United States Department of Defense with the Departments of United States Army and Air Force and United States MARS are holding their fourth quarter exercise.

     This exercise is an continuous 48hr exercise comprising of Military, Government, and MARS stations testing the continuity of communications during an unknown event that will simulate a wide spread communications failure.

     For military stations the exercise runs Sunday 30 October through Tuesday 1 November 2016 but Amateurs have been asked to participate in a few key specific times throughout the days of Sunday the 30th and Monday the 31st.

     The DOD and Military command have asked for Amateurs in Western New York to help in this exercise by providing simple county status information for their stations at specified times on the 60 Meter INTEROP channel 1 throughout the exercise.