Savannah Area Veterans Day "Vet Net"

We commemorated Veterans Day here in Savannah by holding a special net on Nov 11th. We called this the "Vet Net". Don't think that we've ever done anything like that around here before. The net started at 2100 on the ARCS 146.970 repeater with me assuming network control station duties. What a great time we had as we learned about the military service of several of our fellow HAMs. As each operator checked in they told us a little about the time that they spent in the military. We used the following template:

- Callsign

- Name

- Branch of service

- Rank

- Years served

- Job (MOS, AFSC, Specialty)

- Countries served in, other notable facts or memories

It was so interesting to listen to the wide range of experience. We also had folks check in to pay tribute to family members who have served or are serving. What a great gathering of patriots!

We had a total of 26 checkins and of the 16 veterans who checked in, we had six Army, five Air Force, three Navy, one Marine, and one Coast Guard. You'll never believe this but what a special treat it was when we had a veteran check in aeronautical mobile! Yup, Terry-N7RUE was traveling "Space A" on a military transport that was passing about 50 miles off the coast of Georgia on the way to MCAS New River, NC. Terry was coming in loud and clear on his handheld from the aircraft. Terry mentioned that he had checked with the aircraft commander for permission to use his radio and that he had gotten the ok. Wow, a veteran, aeronautical mobile, on a military aircraft, checking in to our "Vet Net"!! We couldn't have planned that if we tried. How will we be able to top that next Veterans Day?

Here is a list of our veterans who checked in. God Bless one and all!

Mac-AF4KL - US Navy

Ryan-AJ4MY - US Coast Guard

Dan-KF4MND - US Army

Peter-KJ4FAW - US Army

Paul-KC2NYU - US Navy

Andy-KJ4ABR - US Air Force

Ken-KI4TYO - US Army

Ken-W4JKG - US Air Force

Bill-KC4HXJ - US Army

Tom-K4GIV - US Marine Corps

Joe-KI4DZK - US Air Force

Bill-KT4KH - US Army

Doug-KF4EFP - US Air Force

John-KI4VVW - US Navy

Terry-N7RUE - US Army

Guy-K4GTM - US Air Force

GA Baptist Disaster Relief Training in Toccoa

Lorie and I drove up to the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa, GA this weekend to attend some advanced disaster relief training. This was "Phase 2" training for all of the ministry areas and Unit Director "Blue Cap" training for those who will lead a ministry team during deployments. I recieved my Unit Director Blue Cap which authorizes me to lead a Communications Unit. I appreciate Chris-AE4XO for recommending me and for Larry-W4WLT for clearing the way for me to become a Unit Director. I also got to meet Felton-AF4DN who calls our weekly Baptist Emergency Amateur Radio Service net each Sunday. The training was great and the conference center is really awesome. After the session, Lorie and I went over to Toccoa Falls for a little while before heading home to Savannah.

Amateur Extra Class

We started a new Amateur Extra Class Operator course tonight. Carroll Baker - WX4Y is the instructor. The class will meet for four consecutive Thursday evenings from 6:00pm til 9:00pm. Carroll is teaching from the ARRL Extra Class Study Guide. We had a great turnout tonight with 11 operators in attendance. There will be a VE Session on Nov 14th. Those in attendance were:

W4REQ- Ralph
K4GIV- Tom
KJ4FAV- Paul
KJ4FAW- Peter
KI4RXW- Chuck
KJ4EGZ- Ted
KI4DZD - Edward
KC2NYU- Paul
KJ4KOB- Keith
KC2HXJ- Bill
KJ4HAC- Aric

Oct 17 JOTA

Had a great time at the Boy Scouts Jamboree on the Air yesterday at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. Got there after breakfast around 8:30 or so and found a spot to set up the radios and put up and antenna. Ran my station off the generator this time and discovered some noise that I'll continue to troubleshoot. Made some contacts on voice and PSK-31 but mainly spent the time teaching scouts about amateur radio. The weather was cooler than we've had in a while but really made for a nice day. We had as many as 15 or so HAMs and 80 scouts throughout the course of the day. Looking forward to next year.

Call Signs Issued for New HAMs

The call signs have been issued by the FCC for the new HAMs from our recent Technician Class. Congratulations to all!

Fred Kuhn - KJ4PST
Charlie Maynard - KJ4PPE
Tim Bulick - KJ4PSS
Will Griffin - KJ4PSU
Kirk Meals - KJ4PTP

Final Day In Douglasville Disaster Relief

Well I made it home this evening from Douglasville. Hated to leave but got to get back to my real job. Boy I sure had a great time working with all the great people who share a passion for disaster relief. Was awoken this morning about 0430 with the sound of heavy rain on the metal roof of the Family Life Center at Beulah Baptist Church. Boy was it coming down! But I managed to roll over and sleep till about 0600. Got up and packed up all my stuff and straightened up the Sunday School class that was my bedroom. Went downstairs and had a great breakfast prepared my a new feeding crew from Baxley, Patterson, and Blackshear, GA. They done good. Fired off a few emails then heading over to the Comm Unit GA 14C. The high today was in the 60s and the rain continued all day. I got the comm unit up and running and did some radio checks. Talked to Horrace-AE4VY on the W4CBA repeater a couple of times. The weather radio went off when the flood watches and warning were issued for most of metro Atlanta. Hung around in the unit until lunch time. After lunch went back to the unit and began to prep for my departure. Got everything packed up and then checked into the GA Traffic net at 1300 on 3987.5. Those Hamsticks did a pretty good job. Shortly after the net, I loaded up the truck, hugged the Operations ladies from Alabama then hit the road. Talked to Chris-AE4XO on the Macon repeater as I passed thru then Bob-WN4Q on the Twin City repeater as I passed by there. Rained all the way home to Savannah. Rolled in about 1845 and my wife had a nice plate of spaghetti waiting on me! Sure had a great time and have a great sense of accomplishment in playing a small part in this disaster relief effort. See this link for the official stats of this response.

http://www.gabaptist.org/contentpages.aspx?parentnavigationid=4774&theparentnavigationid=4773&viewcontentpageguid=e2fd4c83-4165-4791-8566-8ddead856b3a

If you have a love for the Lord, a passion for serving others, and an interest in communications and Amateur Radio, then you should seriously consider joining this ministry.

Disaster Relief Continues

Continued to work in Douglasville on Saturday and Sunday. Not much official communicating going on so I had plenty of time on Saturday to play with the radios. I talked to Mark-KA4CID in Richmond Hill Saturday on 40 meters. Also talked to Jere-KT4ZB in Savannah on Saturday on 80 meters. Good to talk to both of them. I played around a little with the 80 meter ham stick antenna that we have up on a 20 foot mast to try and get it resonant at the middle of the band. Luckily I brought my analyzer with me. I also got Echolink running so that I could talk back to the 146.70 repeater in Savannah. Worked fine and used it to check into the CARS 2meter net on Sunday night. I also talked with Chris-AE4XO in Bryron on Echolink. It was good to catch up with him. I brought my little 7 inch TV with me so I watched alot of football on Saturday and the Nascar race on Sunday. I was able to check into the South BEARS, GA Baptist, and the GA ARES nets on Sunday from the comm unit. Had a new radio operator to work with on Sunday. Mike-N4REL came down from Cartersville and spent the day. This was his first deployment with the GA Baptist team so I spent some time going over procedures and such and them familiarized him with the Comm Unit. After that I sent him to one of the other churches that we are working from and we stayed in touch on the 2m repeater throughout the day. Still plenty of work for the cleanup and recovery crews in the Austell, Powder Springs area. Not sure how long the communications unit will be needed. It's been a blessing to be able to play a small part over the last few days. Got to work with some good folks from all over Georgia and even a crew from Alabama. Continue to pray for the families that have been impacted by these floods.

Atlanta Flood Relief

Still up here in Douglasville running comm for the relief effort. Not much happening today. I ran the Comm Unit today and had radio operators at two other churches in the area. Bill-KJ4O headed home to Warner Robins after being here onsite for a full week. Less-K4OL worked all day then headed home before dinner. I have another operator that will be working here with me tomorrow. I'm planning to head back to Savannah either Sunday night or early Monday morning. Here are a few pictures.

Activated for Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief

I've been activated to support the continued cleanup effort in the Atlanta area due to the recent floods. I'm running communications support for the various units that are stationed at four different churches in the area. We are operating Communications Unit 14C stationed at Beulah Baptist Church in Douglasville. http://insidebbc.com/templates/cusbeulahbc/details.asp?id=34505&PID=344798

I should be here for three or four days. I'll post more info and pictures as I have time.

Final Session of Technician Class and VE Session

Well, this past Thursday night we had the final 3 hour session of the current Technician Level License class that we started the first week of Sept. We covered License Regulations, Operating Regulations, and Radio Safety. We even had a little time to do some review and test prep. This has been a very good group of students and I felt good that everyone was ready for the test.

Most of the students gathered at the testing location on Saturday morning to take the exam. Several folks couldn't make it as they were out of town or had other commitments. The testing went very well and we now have five new technician class Amateur Radio operators and one new General Class operator! Congratulations to all. We look forward to hearing all of you on the air very soon. Callsigns should be issued over the next week or so.

Thanks to the following Volunteer Examiners for delivering the exam.
AF4KL, W4WTO, K4YGD, W4KTN, K4DJD.

Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief Team Comm Unit Training

Went over to Statesboro after breakfast this morning to participate in some familiarization training on one of the Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief Communications Units. Unit 5C is now permanently positioned at the Statesboro Airport ready to respond to provide communications support wherever the Georgia Baptist Team is called to serve. Mac-KF4LMT and I arrived at the airport just after 9:00am. We were a little bit early and the others began to show up around 10:00am. Several of the Statesboro HAMs came over after thier Saturday morning breakfast gathering. Mark-KF4MLT, Buddy-AJ4BH, Steve Hess and Doug Hess. Doug-KF4EFP also came over from Rincon. Chris Edwards-AE4XO and his wife Wendy came over from Warner Robbins. Chris is a Unit Director and provided a very good overview and training session of the Comm Unit. Everyone got a chance to get a good look at all the equipment and capabilites that the unit has. We also set up a couple of mast mounted antennas and did some comm checks on the radios. I fired up the HF rig on 40 meters and made contact with a special event station N4WIS on the battleship USS Wisconsin. We also cranked up the generator and ran it for a while and even powered the unit from it for most of the session. After everyone had a chance to get a really good look at everything, the Associational Missionary Director, Ed Johnson, fed us all pizza. Got everything powered down, stowed, and buttoned up just before 1:00pm.

Served Agency Station Testing Today

I took the opportunity today while I was out and about to stop in and test the HAM Stations that we have at a couple of our served agencies. Went downtown to the CEMA EOC first and fired up the Kenwood TS-450. Using the CEMA callsign N4CEM, I made contact with W1AW the ARRL headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. Nice bonus contact. Also tested the 2 meter radio and made contact with Matthew-KG4NKE and Greg-N4VAD.

Next, I went over to the Savannah Red Cross and fired up the Yaesu FT-857D and using the callsign K3SRC got a good check on 3975 with Greg-N4VAD. Thanks for the help Greg. Also spoke briefly on 146.970 with Doug-KF4EFP and Bob-KG6MUQ. Shut the HAM station down and brought up the SATCOM terminal and tested the satellite Internet access and Cisco Voice over IP phones. Everything worked fine. Good to go till next months test.

Technician Class Session #3

Had a great class last night. Everyone reported that they've been taking the practice exams as they prepare for the test session on Oct. 3rd. This week we covered most of Chapter 4, Communicating with other Hams. We talked about making contact on the radio, what a net is, emergency operating rules, and amateur emergency organizations. We even took the opportunity to listen in on and check in to the Chatham County ARES Net at 8:00pm. Plenty of great questions and discussion last night. A really great group of students. Next week we tackle Regulations and Radio Safety. Should have some time to do a quick review and maybe do a couple of practice tests together.

CH-53 Anniversary QSL Card

Got this really cool QSL card in the mail today from a Special Events Station that I contacted back in May. This is from the W1ORS radio club in Stratford, Conn. where they manufacture the Sikorsky CH-53 Super Stallion.

Technician Class Week 2

Great class on Thursday evening. We picked up two new students to take us to a total of nine in this class. We had a very busy lesson this week dealing mostly with feedlines, antennas, propagation, and such. Kevin-KW4B did a great job with propagation and sunspots. Everyone did real well. Lots of great questions and awesome discussion! I gave everyone a copy of the W5YI test generating software and hopefully they will have a chance before next week to take a number of practice tests. We filled up every single minute of the 3 hours and spilled over a few. Most folks even hung around for a while afterward talking about radio and stuff. What a really great group of folks. Next week we tackle "Communicating with other HAMs" and Licensing Regulations". Thanks to Tom-K4GIV for sitting in again this week.

ARRL Registered Licensing Instructor

I recieved my official notification that I am now an ARRL Registered Licensing Instructor.

New Amateur Radio Technician Class

We started a new Technician level class this past Thursday evening. Over the next four weeks Kevin-KW4B and I will teach an amateur radio technician level class to a varied group of folks that are interested in getting thier FCC license. We had seven students this week and should pick up a couple more next week. I really love to teach, especially electronics and radio. The students did very well and seem genuinely excited about learning the material. Tom-K4GIV sat in with us and plans to become one of our local instructors. Looking forward to next week. Here are some photos that Mac-KF4LMT took for us.

Sept 5 Pre-Simulated Emergency Test Exercise

It all started with a couple of us here in the Savannah area wanting to get out and play some radio over the Labor Day weekend and it turned into a very productive pre-SET exercise. Since the statewide Georgia ARES Simulated Emergency Test is coming up on Oct 2-4 we decided we would test a couple of things that we want to do for the SET. This years SET centers around a total statewide electrical grid failure. Here in the Savannah area (Chatham and surrounding counties) we have over ten repeaters and we know that many of them have substantial backup power sources and would continue to run for quite an extended period of time. However, we decided that we would pretend that we had a total loss of all of our repeaters and come up with a plan to still effectively communicate. Here in Chatham County we test Simplex Network Operation weekly and have a great idea of our coverage area. Of course simplex operation calls for a dedicated net control operator to play traffic cop since not everyone can hear each other. We thought it might be a good idea to try something different using cross band repeat capability to see if we could set up an adhoc repeater system. So Dan-KF4MND and I came up with a plan and began to spread the word. We met for breakfast on Saturday morning at 7:00 like we always do then we then we headed to downtown Savannah. Here was our plan...........

Set up two cross band repeat capable systems on top of one of the parking decks in Savannah. We know there are higher places in town that we could operate from but a parking deck would give us great flexibility and allow up to come and go very easily as needed. Dan and I both drove our trucks to the top deck of the garage and began to set things up. Before we even started setting up the radios and antennas, we both set up our laptops and associated web cams to stream video of our activities to the Internet. Dan to his Ustream site and me to my blog. This way others were able to follow our progress live on the web. Pretty cool, huh?

Now it was time to set up the radios. Dan has a very nice "Go Kit" that he loves to take out in the field. He set up his Comet dual band antenna and then got his radio configured. I was using a less than optimal radio to do my part of the cross band but we had to make do with such short notice. I borrowed a Kenwood dual band handheld with cross band repeat capability and had a dickens of a time getting it configured right. But between me, Dan, and Robert-KJ4HAL, we got it figured out. So we put together a frequency plan and came up with the idea of using the frequency pair of one of our unused local 2 meter repeaters. Great idea since this frequency pair is already programmed into most of the local operators radios. Nothing to be added or changed, just key up on that freq like you normally would. So we programmed in 147.810 into my radio which would act as the recieve side of the make shift repeater. Dan programmed 147.210 into his radio which would act as the transmit side. We then agreed on a 70cm frequency from the SERA bandplan and each programmed that into our radios on the UHF side. This would be the frequency that my radio would talk to his radio on. So this is how things would flow. An operator would tune his radio to our local 147.210 repeater. When he keys up the radio transmits on the repeater input offset frequency of 147.810. My radio would recieve that signal and cross band repeat out the UHF side of the radio using the 70cm freq over to Dan's radio which recieves the UHF signal and in turn cross band repeats it over to the VHF side of the radio and transmits out on 147.210 which is the output frequency of the unused repeater. Any other operator listening to the 147.210 would recieve the transmission. After adjusting a few things to account for the less that optimal recieve side and the proximity related desensitization, things were working fine. We got some good comm checks thru our makeshift repeater from several local operators and were quickly able to gauge just how much coverage this setup would provide us in the event that we ever lose our local repeaters.

One other thing that tied in nicely to this scenario is the fact that we have been asked to support a local 5k Road Race in downtown Savannah on Oct 3rd. Yep, that's on the same day as the SET! My initial reaction when I found this out was "how are we going to be able to support this and participate in the SET at the same time?". However, after just a few minutes I realized that this would be a great opportunity for us to tie the road race net into the SET. Great idea. So this played a big part in our whole plan for testing the makeshift repeater downtown. On Oct 3rd we'll deploy operators along the road race course and and create a net leveraging this cross band repeat system of ours. With that in mind, we had Robert-KJ4HAL go along the race route all the way to the farthest point to be sure he could get into "repeater system". Shortly, Kevin-KW4B joined him and they began to test the connectivity. Everything was working fine and Dan and I were coming up with plans on how to mitigate some of the issues that we had discovered so that next time things would work even better. By this time Robert had to split and Kevin made his way back to the parking deck and we grabbed a bite to eat. We left Dan's video camera running on the parking deck while we watched the feed on my laptop from the sandwhich shop. I love technology. One we finished with the nourishment we went back up and broke down the cross band setup and decided to test just using simplex to see how far we could get out form on the top of the deck. Earlier Dan had gotten into a repeater in Florida and another near Dublin, GA so we knew we could get out pretty well from there but probably had a little band opening. Dan was able to make good contact to Mac-KF4LMT up in Rincon on 146.550. Mac had the 2 meter freq programmed in his mobile and was cross banding from there into his office where he recieved on 70cm on his handheld. Good test.

So after a very successful test on an absolutely gorgeous day, we broke everything down and packed up around 5:30 or so. I really enjoy operating in "other than normal" conditions and this certainly was. Now we are really looking forward to the GA ARES SET and incorporating this into our local scenario........K4GTM

Steve Jonas is Finally Home

Well, after nine long weeks in the hospital, Steve is finally home. Steve left the hospital last Wed and is now continuing to recover at home. I went by to visit on Friday and to see if there was anything I could do. Steve still has a long way to go to get back to normal. Because he has trouble getting in and out of his recliner, Bill-K4WP built an angled pedestal for the recliner to sit on. This gives Steve an easier angle into and out of the chair. Bill had also come by and cut up the tree limbs that Stephen and I had cut out of the pecan tree last week. Please continue to pray for Steve and Sue as he recovers.

Army MARS QSL Card

I recieved three QSL cards today from Army MARS stations that I contacted back in May during the Military - Amateur Crossband Test.