The following is the ARRL Pacific Section Manager report for June 2013 by Bob Schneider (AH6J).
The Pacific Section webpage 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. Your SM is always looking for news so be sure to update him. At the bottom of the Pacific Section webpage is a picture gallery with a lot of new pictures.
Your SM visited the Emergency ARC and Koolau ARC Field day sites on Oahu. See the media part of the Pacific Section Webpage for pictures. EARC had their FD at Bellows AFB beach and KARC had theirs at Kuuloa Beach Park (AKA Chinaman’s Hat). Thanks to Big Island ARC, Maui ARC, Kauai ARC and Cal-Pac RC for sending pictures from their Field Day.
Volcano area Hams will be putting on a demonstration in conjunction with the July 4th parade in Volcano Village starting around 8AM or so. It will be like a mini-Field Day with several working rigs. The main purpose is to raise public awareness of possible hazards on the Island of Hawaii. Parking will be very tight and traffic restricted due to the parade so try to come early. Contact KH6I or KH7BR for details.
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. 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. We will need a lot of help.
Kona Amateur Radio Society: KARS meets on the third Sunday, which will be July21, from 2PM to 5PM at Wawaloli Beach Park at NELHA. The food theme is American in celebration of July 4th.
BIG NEWS! 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 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, 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 other 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.
The Kauai ARC: Their last study session and exam was Saturday May 11, 2013 in which they got two new Technicians and two Generals. The next exam is in August. 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).
The next meeting of Kauai ARC is Monday, July 1, 2013, 7:00 PM, is the Kauai ARC Monthly Meeting at KIUC Main Office, 4463 Pahee Street in Lihue.
On Monday, July 15, 2013, there will be a special meeting on Emergency Communications from 5:30 PM-7:00 PM (Promptly) Lihue Civic Center, Planning Rm 2A/B. This meeting is focused primarily to ARRL Emergency Coordinators (EC); however anyone with an interest in emergency communication is welcome and encouraged to attend. For more information please contact Bob Anderson at KH6AS@att.net or Tad Miura at ZSSQ@hotmail.com.
The 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 16st. The great news is Field Day was at Bellows on June 21, 22 & 23 this year. Mahalo to Trent, N2OBM, for his diligent in getting the site.
Next meeting is: July 16, 2013 at 7 pm. A BIG MAHALO to Greenpath Technologies a local solar company who provided power for EARC field day operations, it was a resounding and amazing success.
The Honolulu ARC: Thanks to Jim, WH6GS for the updated information on the HARC website. Jim also said that a good website for Hawaii Amateur Radio information in general is: http://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 (GoCo) in Aiea. Their next meeting will be July 20. The Sizzler has been sold and the new name is GoCo but the staff and menu are the same.
The Koolau ARC: They meet on the second Saturday at 9:30 AM. At Ho’omaluhia Park in Kaneohe. The next meeting is Saturday, July 13, 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 http://www.hawaiiqsoparty.org/ . He also noted that financial support of HI QSO Party is needed and being solicited from any interested individuals or Clubs.
- The contest 48 hour operating period will be from 04:00 UTC Aug 24 to 04:00 UTC Aug 26, 2013.
- Single operator categories are restricted to a maximum of 18 operating hours during the contest period.
- Stations may be worked only on the 10, 15, 20, 40, 80 and 160 meter bands.
- Each station may be worked in 4 modes on one band – SSB, CW, RTTY and PSK.
- Multi-op station operators may also operate from their home station.
- Use of spotting websites is permitted and encouraged. Click here for recommendations.
- Operation must conform to FCC and station home country regulations.
- Logs should be submitted by September 30, 2013.
The Waikiki ARC: That site contains a lot of information. Their last report was May 21, 2013 so it very current. They meet every Tue at 7AM for breakfast at the Sizzlers (GoCo) in Aiea. Thanks to William N. Kendall KH6OO for the latest information.
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.
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 July 10 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.
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 July 13th. Their Field Day was at the Wailoa Visitors Center as in several past years.
Milt Nodacker, AH6I, is now the lead examiner and instructor for BIARC. A class is now underway that started June 13th for 2 hours on Thursdays which end July 18th. The next Technician Classes will be Saturday July 13 and July 20 for 6 hours each starting at 8:30 AM and ending about 2:30 PM.
Another set of Technician classes’ start Thursday September 5 at 6:30 PM for two hours each for 6 weeks at the Orchidland LDS meeting hall. All Thursday classes are at The Office of aging at 1055 Kinoole Street at 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM and all Saturday classes are at the LDS Church at 1373 Kilauea Avenue at 8:30 AM going until 2:30 PM.
Exams for all classes of licenses will be held Saturday July 20th at 3:30 PM at the LDS Church on Kilauea Ave. Another testing session is scheduled for Thursday July 25th at the office of aging at 6:30 PM. Contact Milt Nodacker, AH6I, at 965-6471 for more information or write nodacker@gmail.com
Ted NH6YK who has been teaching at the Kau High School for a number of years has signed a contract to spend two years teaching in South Korea. From the sounds of it he will be leaving Volcano the end of July, but he will return…
President Barbara, NH7FY, reported on the condition of Rob Van Geen, NH6V. He had been recovering at Queen’s Medical Center after an accident but is now recuperating at his mother’s house.
At the April meeting of BIARC there were two main presentations of awards: On behalf of the ARRL, SM Bob Schneider, AH6J, presented the first. This one went to Richard Darling for achieving an impressive milestone: his first 60 years as an amateur radio operator. The ARRL sent Richard a certificate acknowledging his six decades as a ham, a letter of congratulations and the official ARRL 60-year pin. “It’s been the best 60 years of my life,” said Richard, holding his award.
The second award was the day’s main event, which was presented to John Bush by Bob, along with a County Council letter and personal congratulations conveyed via Bob Schneider from Mayor Billy Kenoi. The Humanitarian of the Year is a big deal inside and outside the world of ham radio. There is only one such award given each year, and the ARRL Board of Directors voted unanimously to give it to John Bush. Volcano Rotarian Charlene Meyers along with Rotary International Hawaii District Governor Chet Dal Santo were also at the presentation to applaud him. Chet Dal Santo said he was especially proud to be present at the presentation. Later in the meeting Bill Hanson presented John with a letter of congratulations from the head of County Civil Defense Darryl Oliveira. He congratulated Bush on winning the humanitarian award, and praised him for his work in helping to “bridge critical communications gaps.”
The Kohala Hamakua RC (KHRC): Their next meeting will be Sunday July 14, 2013 at 2pm at the gym 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 about $500 to complete the project.
Members of the North Hawaii ARES team provided communications support for the bike race segment of the Ironman Honu 70.3 mile event in the “cell phone dead zone” along the sparsely populated six mile stretch of Akoni Pule highway in the North Kohala district. AEC Marc, WH7CA, was the event coordinator and AEC Steve, WH7TW, was the NCS. Other team members included EC Dale, KH7LZ (motorcycle mobile), AEC Eddie, WH7DG, Michael, WH7WW, and Dorothy, KE6QCL. There were no major mishaps this year, just a few minor problems for which technical and medical assistance was called for. In summary the entire operation went very smoothly. Tnx to Eric KH6CQ
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: They meet on for first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM. Their next meeting is July 2, 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 July 7, 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/
Reminder of coming events:
- Thur July 4, 2014 Volcano Independence Day parade and Ham Radio Display.
- 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)
- 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. 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.
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. Exams are:
- August 21, 2013, 6:30 pm, American Red Cross HQ on Diamond Head Road
- 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, and Fred, KH7Y, put the KH6HME memorial station on the air from Mauna Loa 8,200 foot level. They made about 100 contacts. It was mostly on 15 meters but they did make some QSO’s on 6 meters, 2 meters, 432 MHz and 1296 MHz. See the picture in the photo section of the Pacific Section web page.
Amateur Radio operators in Hawaii kept National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists and local emergency operations centers up to date on changing conditions and power outages, as Tropical Storm Flossie pounded parts of Hawaii and Maui counties July 29-30 with heavy rain and lightning. Radio amateurs organized a joint SKYWARN/ARES/RACES operation using eight VoIP and microwave-linked VHF and UHF repeaters from state and county RACES to serve the NWS, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) and state and county officials.
Recent Comments