ARRL Pacific Section Report for August 2013

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

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 here. Your SM is always looking for news so be sure to update him too. At the bottom of the Pacific Section webpage is a picture gallery with some new pictures. Even if your group is not ARRL affiliated, send a report of your activities directly to your SM. If you have notable activities send along a jpeg picture and description (please).

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: 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. There should be food and door prizes. The main goal is to teach things that can be done in case we have an emergency, especially a widespread events such as a large earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, hurricane or whatever. We (hams) will be located just outside the screened in recreation area. As you know we recently had a brush with Tropical Storm Flossie. The entire state was put in a Tropical Storm Warning. Fortunately at the last moment it veered and lost strength. There was some damage from power outages, lightning, wind and flooding. It could have been a lot worse.

Kona Amateur Radio Society: KARS meets on the third Sunday, which will be Sept 15, from 2PM to 5PM at Wawaloli Beach Park at NELHA. The September theme is Mediterranean (end of Ramadan). Please bring a favorite dish to share. For questions please contact Van NH7IT at 808-345-5008 or NH7IT@arrl.net

This year KARS (Kona Amateur Radio Society) will be Hosting the next Big Island International Hamfest in Waimea (aka Kamuela on Hawaii Island), on October 5th. 2013. They will be forming a planning/working 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 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, all ways fun project. More updates as they come in, and thanks for supporting HAM Radio in these Hawaiian Islands. This comes from Stuart, KH7DX.

The Kohala Hamakua Radio Club (KHRC): The next club meeting will be in Kapa’au on the second Sunday which is Sept 8 at 1400W (2:00PM) in the Conference Room, (Enter in rear of Gym Building), Hisaoka Gym, King Kam Park, Kapa’au.

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. He is still short money to complete the project. If you would like to donate or just get information contact Eric.

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. While HPA has several pages of website there is none specifically for the School Radio Club (yet). Kohala Hamakua club meets on alternate months at the alternate energy building on the HPA campus.

The Kauai ARC: Monday, September 2, 2013, 7:00 PM, is the Kauai ARC Monthly Meeting at KIUC Main Office, 4463 Pahee Street in Lihue.

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). Saturday, August 31, 2013. 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Kauai Amateur Radio Club will be holding a one day study session followed by a License Exam

The Emergency ARC: Check this website for more information.

EARC meets on the 3rd Tuesday (except June & Dec). The next EARC General Membership meeting will be September 17th at 7PM at the Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) Branch 46, 891 Valkenburgh St. Honolulu. TOPIC: TBA. There is a Potluck. Contact G.Lo at wh7bte@yahoo.com and let her know what you are bringing. See you there!

EARC/ARRL HAMFEST & Swap Meet will be on Saturday September 14, 2013 at the FRA. It will open at 8 am for buyers, 7 am for sellers. Seller’s tables will be a donation of $10.00. More info posted soon. This is the same day as the Koolau and BIARC regular meetings. The word is this was the only day available.

The Honolulu ARC: Their website is down again. The only website we could find was here and the generic ARRL site given to each affiliated club but there is very little new information in them.

HARC meets on the 3rd Saturday at 9:00 am on odd months only (Jan, March, May, July, Sept, and Nov). There normal meeting place of Sizzlers and then GoCo in Aiea have both shut down. Their next meeting will be Sept 21. John Peters, K1ER, president of Honolulu ARC, suggested that for its next meeting they go to Monterey Bay Cannery which overlooks the farm on the opposite side of the shopping center. There is lots of free parking and it is easy to reach. They have a similar Meeting room, similar menu, and similar prices.

The Koolau ARC: They meet on the second Saturday at 9:30 AM. At Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden Park in Kaneohe. The next meeting is Saturday, September 14 starting at 9:30AM.

HAWAII QSO PARTY: There has not been enough time to get the results of the Hawaii QSO party. From what we have heard, it was a success with propagation up and down. Joe, AH0A, said that the latest version of HI QSO Rules is on line. If you want to use any of these programs, down load it now and get your gear ready for next year. In addition to the N1MM logging program, two new ones are being adopted: SD and Genlog. The contest website is http://www.hawaiiqsoparty.org/ . Logs should be submitted by September 30, 2013.

The Waikiki ARC seems to have only the ARRL club listing website here. That site contains a lot of information. Their last report to ARRL was Aug 14, 2013 so it very current. They meet every Tue at 7AM for breakfast at the Monterey Cannery at 98-1005 Moanalua Road, Unit FSI in Aiea. Thanks to William N. Kendall KH6OO for the latest information and keeping the website up to date.

The Pacific Radio Amateur Transmitting Society no longer has an ARRL club listing so we will drop it from our list.

The Maui ARC: Thank you for the regular updates and especially the Field Day update and picture. See it at the bottom of the Pacific Section webpage in the picture section. Their regular meeting is on the second Wednesday of each month which will be September 11th 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, 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.

The Big Island ARC: They meet at 2PM on the 2nd Saturday Monthly at 2 PM at the Keaau Community Center. Their next meeting is on September 14th. On August 31 BIARC will be participating in the first ever Puna Regional Emergency Preparedness Fair (PREP) at the Keaau High School from 9 AM to 3 PM. Bob, AH6J and Gregg, WH7FC are the co-leads. If you can be of assistance please help as much as you can.

Milt Nodacker, AH6I, is now the lead examiner and instructor for BIARC. Another set of Technician classes’ starts Thursday September 5 at 6:30 PM for two hours each for 6 weeks at the Orchidland LDS meeting hall. Contact Milt Nodacker, AH6I, at 965-6471 for more information or write nodacker@gmail.com

The 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.

The 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.

The Marianas ARC: However it is out of date. They meet on for first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM. Their next meeting is September 3, 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.

The South Point ARC or “SPARC” meets on the first Sunday at Noon at Manuka State park. Their next meeting will be September 1, 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:

http://www.hawaiirepeaters.net/

Coming events:

  • Sat August 31, 2013 Puna Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Fair
  • Sat September 14, 2013 EARC Hamfest
  • Sat October 5, 2013 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test
  • Sat October 5, 2013 Big Island International Hamfest in Waimea (Kamuela)
  • Fri October 25, 2013+ CQ World Wide Contest – Phone
  • Sat November 2, 2013+ ARRL Sweepstakes Contest – CW
  • Sat November 16, 2013+ ARRL Sweepstakes Contest – Phone
  • Fri November 23, 2013+ CQ World Wide Contest – CW
  • Fri December 6, 2013+ SKYWARN Recognition Day
  • Sun December 8, 2013 Communications for Honolulu Marathon. Email Greg NH6ZS for more details.
  • Fri December 13, 2013 ARRL 10 Meter Contest

Ron Hashiro’s webpage always has a good collection of news of local happenings. See:

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

The Civil Defense Amateur Radio Club’s mission is to provide ARRL Volunteer Examiner testing services for amateur radio operators and test takers residing on the island of Oahu. The goal is to continually build up the pool of available emergency communicators available during times of emergency. Testing is usually on the third Wednesday at 6:30 PM however contact Ray Moody, AH6LT moody at hawaii.edu or phone 941-9239. Advance registration is required to pass building security. Next exam is November 20, 2013, 6:30 pm, American Red Cross HQ on Diamond Head Road. Be sure to ask Ray for complete instructions and what you will need.

Cal-Pac RC members Jim, K6MIO, Dean, KH6B and Fred, KH7Y, put the KH6HME memorial station on the air from Mauna Loa 8,200 foot level during Field Day. We have confirmation that the memorial brick for Paul Lieb, donated by W6DPD, is now in place at the ARRL HQ patio. See the picture on the bottom of the Pacific Section webpage.

Check the ARRL webpages for news about the Wake Island DXpedition. The Daily DX reports that two Pacific Island DXpeditions are preparing to activate in October and November. The much-anticipated K9W Wake Island DXpedition has announced its tentative operating schedule, with times based on Wake Island times and dates (Wake is 12 hours ahead of UTC). According to its website, the team expects to kick off operations on or about October 7 and operate until October 18. Check the K9W operating plan for specifics. Wake Island is number 14 on the ClubLog Most Wanted list.

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