ARRL Pacific Section Report for May 2013

Bob-Schneider (AH6J) | Photo Courtesy ARRLThe following is the ARRL Pacific Section Manager report for May 2013 by Bob Schneider (AH6J).

The big news is that Hawaii Preparatory Academy (HPA) School Radio Club ARRL affiliation has been approved by the ARRL board of directors and the certificate has been mailed to the club. We would like to do a formal presentation however HPA is now on summer break.

Field day is June 22 this year. Information is available including maps to FD sites on the ARRL website. Several sites now appear under Hawaii State. Your SM will be on Oahu for FD.

This year The Kona Amateur Radio Society will be Hosting the next international Ham Swap Meet in Waimea (aka Kamuela on Hawaii Island), on October 5th. 2013. They will be forming a group from club members to organize the event; parking, vendor placement, set up, testing, refreshments etc. Kohala – Hamakua Radio Club (Waimea) will be joining them on this project. Of course, they will also be getting some help from BIARC and SPARC (Hilo and Kau) as well as other groups on Hawaii Island. The venue is the Waimea recreation center, which is the same location as in several past Swap Meets.

The tentative schedule will be as follows:

  • 8:00 am Breakfast at Hawaiian Style Café (come early as they tend to be crowded)
  • 9:00 am Vendor setup
  • 10:00 am doors open
  • 12:00 pm guest speakers, forum, presentations (we need your input)
  • 1:00 pm license testing
  • 2:00 pm wrap up clean up

There is always a good turnout from both sides of the island for this as well from off Island. There is always a lot of great used ham radio gear, meeting old friends and meeting new ones. Contact Stuart, KH7DX 808-896-1290 or kh7dx@arrl.net or via this group with your offer of assistance for this always fun project. More updates as they come in, and thanks for supporting HAM Radio in these Hawaiian Islands.

The Pacific Section webpage is here. It now contains this SM report. Each affiliated club should fill in an activities report to ARRL at least once every year. Inactive clubs need only send in an activities report to be current. For more information go to www.arrl.org/club-update. Your SM is always looking for news to be sure to update him.

Kauai ARC

Their last study session and exam was Saturday May 11, 2013 in which they got two new Technicians and two Generals. Congratulations to all. Don’t forget the Saturday breakfast at The Feral Pig (formerly The Tiki Room and Main Street Diner) located in Harbor Mall at Nawiliwili. Folks begin arriving around 0730. Remember to get your parking ticket validated (while the attendant is hardly ever there for Saturday breakfast, it’s a good idea to validate just in case). Monday, June 3, 2013, 7:00 PM, is the Kauai ARC Monthly Meeting at KIUC Main Office, 4463 Pahee Street in Lihue.

Emergency ARC

Their meeting is on the 3rd Tuesday at 7 pm (except June & Dec) at the Fleet Reserve Association Branch 46, 891 Valkenburgh St. Honolulu. Their next meeting is July 16th. The great news is Field Day will be at Bellows on June 21, 22 & 23 this year. Mahalo to Trent, N2OBM, for his diligent in getting the site. There is no meeting in June. Operations at Field Day start at 8:00 am on Saturday and last to Sunday June 23 08:00 am. Set up on Friday June 21 starting at 1:00 p.m. Open to the public from 8:00 am to 6 pm Saturday.

Honolulu ARC (HARC)

Thanks to Jim, WH6GS for the updated information on the website. Jim also said that a good website for Hawaii Amateur Radio information in general is ham.aditl.com. HARC meets on the 3rd Saturday at 9:00 am on odd months only (Jan, March, May, July, Sept, and Nov). They meet at Sizzlers in Aiea. Their next meeting will be July 20.

Koolau ARC

They meet on the second Saturday at 9:30 AM. At Ho’omaluhia Park in Kaneohe. The next meeting is Saturday, June 8, 2013 at 9:30AM at Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden in Park in Kaneohe.

NEW REPEATER:

Kimo, KH7U, and Clem, KH7HO, announced the installation of a new repeater at Puu Papaa (makai end of Oneawa Hills) in Kailua. Freq. is 147.0+ MHz with 103.5 Hz PL tone. It is hoped that this repeater will give Windward coverage from Makapuu to Laie, and possibly Kahuku. Eventually this repeater will be linked with others, so upon accessing please give it a second or two to link. (This is good advice for any linked system. SM note)

HAWAII QSO PARTY:

Joe, AH0A, said that the latest version of HI QSO Rules is on line. In addition to the N1MM logging program, two new ones are being adopted: SD and Genlog. The contest website is www.hawaiiqsoparty.org. He also noted that financial support of HI QSO Party is needed and being solicited from any interested individuals or Clubs.

  1. The contest 48 hour operating period will be from 04:00 UTC Aug 24 to 04:00 UTC Aug 26, 2013.
  2. Single operator categories are restricted to a maximum of 18 operating hours during the contest period.
  3. Stations may be worked only on the 10, 15, 20, 40, 80 and 160 meter bands.
  4. Each station may be worked in 4 modes on one band – SSB, CW, RTTY and PSK.
  5. Multi-op station operators may also operate from their home station.
  6. Use of spotting websites is permitted and encouraged. Click here for recommendations.
  7. Operation must conform to FCC and station home country regulations.
  8. Logs should be submitted by September 30, 2013.

Waikiki ARC

Seems to have only the ARRL club listing website. That site contains a lot of information. Their last report was Mar 27. They meet every Tue at 7AM for breakfast at the Sizzlers in Aiea.

The Pacific Radio Amateur Transmitting Society has only the ARRL club listing website, however that website says their regular website is under construction. Their last report was Sept 15, 2008 so they are overdue for a report to ARRL HQ. Contact KH6BZF for more information about the club.

Maui ARC

Their regular meeting is on the second Wednesday of each month at 7PM in the basement of the CD EOC in the Maui County building also known as 200 South High St. (Except December). The Maui RACES repeater on 147.02+ MHz requires a sub-audible tone of 103.5 Hz for access. The 146.94- MHz repeater requires a 110.9 Hz tone. There is a repeater map on the MARC website. This is a good source of repeater information for Maui County.

The Maui Amateur Radio License Examination Schedule for this year is Saturday, August 3, 2013 – Saturday, December 7, 2013. Persons planning to take an Amateur Radio license exam should pre-register at least two weeks before the scheduled exam date. Send email to kh6h@arrl.net or call Mel, KH6H, at 250-4591 and leave voice mail, including your email address. If no one pre-registers, the exam session will be cancelled. Maui VE (volunteer examiner) sessions begin at 9:00 a.m. at the Maui County Civil Defense Emergency Operating Center, 200 S. High Street in Wailuku. Exam dates and location are subject to change. Pre-registered candidates will be notified of changes in the exam date or location. Before the exam, you will receive a confirmation email with more information, including directions to the exam site. The 2013 ARRL/VEC exam fee is $15. Bring a check or cash.

Big Island ARC

They meet at 2PM on the 2nd Saturday Monthly at 2 PM at the Keaau Community Center. Their next meeting is June 8th. They will talk about Field Day. Their Field Day will be at the Wailoa Visitors Center as in several past years on June 22 and 23. Milt Nodacker, AH6I, is now the lead examiner for BIARC. The next exam will be at the BIARC Field Day on June 22.

There will be two Technician classes beginning June13 and another on July 13 in different formats. The June 13 classes last six weeks for two hours each on Thursday night at 6:30 pm. The July 13 and July 20 sessions will be six hours each beginning at 8:30 am. The examination for both is on Thursday, 25 July at 6:30 pm. Classes and test will be at the LDS meetinghouse, 1373 Kilauea Ave in Hilo. Contact Milt Nodacker, AH6I, at 965-6471 for more information or write nodacker@gmail.com

Kona Amateur Radio Society

KARS meets on the third Sunday, which will be June 16th, from 2PM to 5PM at Wawaloli Beach Park at NELHA. The potluck food theme is Mexican in celebration of Saint John the Baptist Day.

The Kohala Hamakua RC (KHRC)

Their next meeting will be Wednesday June 12, 2013 at 7pm at the Hawai`i Preparatory Academy (HPA), Energy Lab, in Waimea. Adjacent parking is available. The street address is 65-1692 Kohala Mountain Rd (Hwy 250). It is a little difficult to find if you have not been there before.

Eric Grabowski, KH6CQ, DEC for North Hawaii, has been sending out periodic reports on the North Hawaii repeater project and other happenings in his area. Eric lives in Waikoloa and the repeater will be located on the northwestern slope of Mauna Kea at a Parker Ranch Pump site. The frequency 147.84/24 has been coordinated but is not published since the repeater is not yet in operation. In his report Eric details the hardware he already has and what he needs. For those of you unfamiliar with how to put up a repeater, this planning, permission and general paperwork part of the process can be harder than actually putting up the machine.

Hilo ARC

They meet daily 6:30-8:30 AM at Jack in the Box Hilo. This club is actually the oldest on the Island of Hawaii however there was a break in existence of several years until former Section Manager Dean Manley, KH6B and several others reactivated it. They also sponsor the Council of Radio Club which meets once monthly at various restaurants in East Hawaii for breakfast. It will be at Lava Rock Café in Volcano this Saturday June 1 at 8AM.

Hawaii QRP Club

They also meet daily with a listed time of 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM at “Jack In the Box” however the time varies depending on who comes. It is very informal.

The Hawaii DX Association has become less active with the loss of several key members. These two websites are still active however the tripod site has an excess of advertisement and is almost unusable. They both contain good information:

http://hiqrpclub.homestead.com

http://hawaii.dx.tripod.com/

Marianas ARC

The website is out of date. They meet on for first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM. Their next meeting is June 4, 2013. Beware of the dateline when figuring time and date as they are one day ahead of Hawaii. The meeting is at the KSTO radio studio on Nimitz Hill. There is plenty of parking behind the building on the lower level. Entry to the meeting room is from the south side of the building. There is also another website with some Guam information however it is also sadly out of date.

Mariana Islands DX Association (NH2DX)

The website www.guamham.com does not work.

Your SM last visited the South Point ARC or “SPARC” near South Point on Dec 2. They meet on the first Sunday at Noon at Manuka State park. Their next meeting will be June 2, 2013. They are not affiliated with ARRL.

There has been no news from American Samoa in the last several months.

Hawaii’s Official Amateur Radio Repeater Coordination Site is www.hawaiirepeaters.net.

Coming events:

  • Sat June 1, 2013 Makani Pahili – Annual Hurricane Exercise
  • Sat June 1, 2013 Museum Ships Weekend (See USS Missouri)
  • Sat June 8, 2013 ARRL June VHF Contest
  • Sat June 22, 2013 ARRL Field Day
  • Fri August 23, 2013 Hawaii QSO Party
  • Sat August 31, 2013 Puna Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Fair
  • Sat October 5, 2013 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test
  • Sat October 5, 2013 Big Island International Hamfest in Waimea (Kamuela)

The annual hurricane exercise Makani Pahili starts on June 1 in conjunction with the Central Pacific hurricane season. Amateur radio nets are set for Saturday, June 1 and Wednesday, June 5. Other events are an FLDIGI MT63-2K practice net on Thursday, May 23 and a SKYWARN net on Sunday, June 2. Details are available at the Makani Pahili 2013 web page:

http://www.qsl.net/ah6rh/am-radio/emcomm/makani-pahili-13.html

Other upcoming events can be found at:

http://www.qsl.net/a/ah6rh/am-radio/in-hawaii.html

There are at least two conflicts with this coming June1 Makani-Pahili hurricane exercise. The Museum Ships weekend operating event is going on and Health com nets will also be operating that same day. This is actually very good since in a real emergency, conflicting demands are to be expected. What is your priority? There is no correct answer and there are probably other demands on everyone. For example your SM will be in an all-day class and unable to operate any of the on the air events. A Ham is balanced. Radio is a hobby, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school or community.

Battleship Missouri Amateur Radio Club will be operating during the Museum Ships next weekend, May 31, June 1 &2, 2013, according to the following schedule. (Of course they may also participate briefly in the Makani-Pahili exercise.)

  • Friday 2-6 PM: Ray AH6TY, Ned KH7JJ, Pete KH6GRT
  • Friday 6 PM – ??: Jim WH6Q, Tom KH6AAA, Ned KH7JJ, Mike N6GOZ
  • Saturday early – noon: Jim WH6Q, Tom KH6AAA, Bill KH6OO (probably start later), Pete KH6GRT
  • Saturday noon – 6 PM: Susan W7KFI, Jim WH6Q? (start later), Tom KH6AAA?, Pete KH6GRT (leaving early), Bill KH6OO (leaving early?), Ned KH7JJ
  • Saturday 6 PM – ??: Jim WH6Q?, Tom KH6AAA?, Ned KH7JJ, Mike N6GOZ
  • Sunday early – 2 PM: Pete KH6GRT, Ned KH7JJ

Above plan is not yet totally confirmed by all participants, and we always have drop-ins. So come if you want, anytime you want. ADVANCE NOTICE IS USEFUL but not totally required – extra bodies are always welcome. If the bands are dead we can always use relays of operators calling CQ, and if the bands are hot we’ll use loggers and take short turns operating because it can be exhausting dealing with the pileups. REMEMBER there are military gates to go through so if you don’t have military ID, arrangements must be made. This edited notice was sent out by Ned, KH7JJ. Email to ekc@forth.com

For those of you in the Keaau area on August 31, there will be a Puna Regional Emergency Preparedness Fair. It will be held at Keaau High School from 9AM to 3PM. There will be many exhibits by various organizations. The main goal is to teach things that can be done in case we have emergency, especially widespread events such as a large earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, hurricane or whatever (?). We expect to have more information in the next SM newsletter. There will be exhibits, presentations, games, prizes, food etc.

Ron Hashiro’s webpage always has a good collection of news of local happenings. Look especially at the 2013 events.

The Bill 980, Hawaii State Cellular telephone law was signed by the governor May 20. Go to Ron Hashiro’s webpages to download a copy to keep with you in case you are stopped since all police officers may not be aware of the exemption for Amateur Radio Operators.

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