ARRL SACRAMENTO VALLEY SECTION News, April 2012

‘Western States Endurance Run and Tevis Cup (Western States Trail Ride) are 100 mile events from Lake Tahoe to Auburn, CA. (Endurance Capital of the World). WSER is also known as The Other Field Day since six out of seven years it falls on the same weekend as Field Day.  We do have more fun!!!! WSER: June 23-24, 2012 and TEVIS: August 4-5, 2012 We’re always looking for Radio Op’s to help. If interested? Please checkout our Web Site at: www.wstrail.org ‘If you’re still interested, fill out the Volunteer Signup Form and submit it. If you have a problem with the Web Site then use the radio or call me.  Ralph Lucas, W6RWL, P.O. Box 1083, Foresthill, CA 95631-1083       408-640-0963 cell; 530-367-3026 home w6rwl@arrl.net 146.625, -, pl 151.4

Vicki, KF6OAH, our EC in Trinity County comments on the disaster drill they had recently. ‘The dam (failure) drill was a great exercise.  Earthquake at 9 AM, ceiling falls at Douglas City School on a bunch of 8th graders (who were all made up for injuries already). Then the dam breaks, land lines and cell phones down, all communication by radio.  We had five ARES people involved: one at the dam overlook, two at the school, and two at the alternative care site at the airport set up by public health.  We had two ambulances, a CHP helicopter and a transit bus evacuating the wounded.  By the time the flood would have reached the school we had the kids transported, cared for, had lunch and sent them back.  It was fun to work with all those agencies.’

EMCOMMWEST 2012 was held in the Reno, NV, Grand Sierra Resort May 4-6. This was the tenth year for this emergency communications specialty ARRL Convention. The line up of excellent forums and speakers was top notch, the speakers were extremely good, and the attendance was down. Last minute scheduling changes had us rearranging the meet and greet for SEC, DEC, and ECs, but we still managed to have a meeting with Pacific Division Director Bob Vallio, W6RGG, and Vice Director, Jim Tiemstra, K6JAT.Kelley, KS6Z, our new SEC, Jan, KB6FMZ, DEC 4, and Charlie, K0TAN, interim EC for Nevada County attended the meeting.

From Michael, K6BUK, at Western Placer ARC in Lincoln, we hear:              ‘A good example of how the club members pulled together for an event was witnessed on Saturday when we provided communications for the Tour de Cure.  The organizers had a record 475 entrants and our SAG wagons had the chance to meet more than a few of them.  Jim,W6JMF, did a good job of organizing the ride and we had good food and t-shirts to go.  If you didn't get a t-shirt and worked the event, give me a call and I'll see if I can dig one up.  We were busy helping lost riders, fixing tires, bringing tired people and injured people back to home base.  The heavy winds all day added to the challenge for the riders and us.  The organizers were very pleased at how well we could give them a count of the riders on the course and where they were.  It was a very successful event and our work was well appreciated by the organizers.  Our team members did an excellent job of supporting the riders and took good care of them.  Now if we could just do something about those slow riders....
The good thing is that we had a lot of fun and were well appreciated by the riders and organizers.  Keep that in mind when we support the Tour de Lincoln on May 19th.  This is a bigger ride and we will need more help than we had.  This ride can be more challenging because some of the locals don't like the bikers and do sneaky things like moving the route arrows or painting arrows that will send the rider off into nowhere.  We need to keep on our toes to make sure we find any unwanted changes.  Again, this is a fun ride and I really look forward to it.  If you are interested in helping out, email Roger Brunnquell at rbrunnquell@yahoo.com or call his cell phone at 768.7532.  If you have not participated in an event yet, we will provide lots of support and help for you to join in.  Previous experience is not necessary.  Plus, you get a free t-shirt, snacks, and lunch.  What more could a happy ham want?
Oh, there is something more a happy ham could want -- a Fox Hunt.  Al, W6TLJ, has organized a Fox Hunt for Saturday May 12th.  The event will start at 9:00 AM and it is a race to find the fox.  The fun part is that I am going to be the fox this week and I can be a pretty slippery fellow.  I do have an extra direction finding antenna for someone to borrow.  For the early risers (or late to bed...) we will meet at Kim's Country Kitchen at 7:30 for breakfast before the event.  The weekly breakfasts are pretty interesting as there is lots of technical discussion at all levels, not just expert.  Everyone can learn something - you either learn by teaching someone or having someone teach you.  When you are the teacher, you need to prove your assumptions and learn a way to pass your knowledge on to the person learning.  A big part of what makes ham radio so great is that we are all willing to help others.

'Set the date in your calendar for Field Day 2012 on June 30th.  We will be planning the event and discussing it heavily at a meeting as this is the largest event of the year.  Our situation will be much different this year.  We will be at a members ranch about 10 miles outside Lincoln at about 1,450 feet.  This is excellent elevation and should help us ferret out those long distance or weak stations.  We will be having a club picnic there also.  Don't miss it this year - it will be one to remember.  We will be on the air 24 hours and I will be there for my favorite overnight shift.  Lots of DX at 2:00AM.  We have a lot of planning to do so be sure to attend the meeting next week.’ Thanks to Michael, K6BUK.

ARLB009 FCC Seeks Higher Vanity Call Sign Fee

The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on May 4,
seeking to raise the fee for Amateur Radio vanity call signs.  The
NPRM can be found in PDF format on the web at,
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db0504/FCC-12-48A1.pdf.

Currently, a vanity call sign costs $14.20 and is good for 10 years;
the new fee, if the FCC plan goes through, will go up to $15 for 10
years, an increase of 80 cents. The FCC is authorized by the
Communications Act of 1934 (as amended) to collect vanity call sign
fees to recover the costs associated with that program.

North Hills Radio Club held their 37th Annual Sacramento Valley Hamfest  on Sunday, May 20th, 2012, at Natomas High School located right off I 80 south at the Truxel Road Exit. Main drawing prizes were an Alinco 220 MHz HT, 220 MHz mag-mount antenna, and a 20 amp Power Supply. There were plenty of sellers, buyers, hot dogs, donuts, and soft drinks. The weather was beautiful and there was lots of shade. Congratulations NHRC!

‘Please welcome Jon Schumacher K1NV who is our new Sierra County EC and his wife Sally KE7FDD to the Sacramento Valley Section.  They live in Loyalton and are getting settled in to their new home.  They come to us from Pahrump, Nevada where Jon retired from working as a radio tech for the Nevada Test Site and we look forward to hearing from them on the frequencies.   Thanks to SEC, Kelley, KS6Z.

We also welcome Craig Hanson, AG6EL, of Volcano, as our new Emergency Coordinator for Amador County.

Jon, K1NV, reports from Loyalton: ‘I hope I am on time for the newsletter.   There isn't too much to report from Loyalton this month.   I have been working on some vintage gear when I have time and an HRO Senior and TS-820S have been brought back to life so far.
I filled out the ARRL questionnaire concerning emergency operation and HOA's.   We have a fairly benign HOA and the three active hams in our subdivision have been able to install antennas without any opposition that I am aware of at this time.   However, the rules are such that we could have a problem down the road if any neighbors voice objections.  
I would encourage as many hams as possible to respond to the questionnaire since this is getting to be more of a problem for many of us as time goes on.  

We need an Emergency Coordinator for Nevada County. Charlie, K0TAN, is serving in the interim. http://www.arrl.org/emergency-coordinator is the link to more information about this leadership position with the ARRL Field Organization. You can contact me, w6kj@arrl.org , or our SEC Kelley, KS6Z, at kelleyshelley@yahoo.com if you are interested in this position.  

Vicki Riley, KF6OAH, of DouglasCity, has been reappointed Emergency Coordinator in Trinity County.  

'Yolo ARES organized and conducted radio communications for the Cache Creek Ridge Ride on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land in the hills above Williams on Highway 20. The Stalley Family from Williams organized this ride event. Ride Management consisted of Jennifer Stalley, and her sister Alyssa Stalley, and Pam Stalley, crew chief. The ride consists of a 50 mile and 25 mile endurance rides, and 25 and 15 miles ride and tie events. There were 154 participants and 140 horses involved.    'As condition of the BLM permit to run the event, the Stalley family was required to have radio communication. Through a series of discussions with various amateur radio groups, Yolo County ARES was enlisted to provide the needed communications. ARES member, Rick Littlefield, N6KLB, who has considerable experience use amateur radio communications for the Tevis Cup 100 mile horse endurance event running from Lake Tahoe to Auburn, took on the planning role for the communication team. Through Rick's careful planning and discussions with Ride Management, an operation plan was written and an ARES Team was formed: Greg Kruckewitt, KG6SJT; Ken Wilson, K6WLS; Chris Leathers, KJ6VKR; Bryce Birkman, K7WDO; Daniel Nelson, KJ6LVS; Bill Ragsdale, K6KN; Todd Root, KE6GCV; Bob Brunk, N6KIX; Wes Hardaker, WS6Z; Zack Arbios, KG6EGQ; and Gary Matteson, WA6TQJ.    The teams manned three Veterinary Check Stations, critical water stations in the remote back, a Net Control station at base the base camp, and a Base Station in Davis. Activities started at about 5:00 am when the first members of the communications s team Arrived at Cowboy Camp, which is located just off Highway 20.   All operators were on station and operating by 7:00 am. The Team used the N6MNZ, Walker Ridge Repeater for primary communications and a simplex frequency for tactical communications.    At 6:05pm, minutes after the ride officially ended, Net control was notified that a riderless horse had been found. This information was passed to Ride Management and stations still on duty. At 6:14 pm, net control was able to inform Ride Management that the rider had been found and was being transported to Cowboy Camp. At 6:30 pm the last horse and rider were back at Cowboy Camp to the relief of all.    The Cache Creek Ridge Ride, horse endurance event, was a learning experience for all. The Ride Management had never used a radio communication team before and they were delighted with the services provided by the ARES team. Many of the riders went out of their way to thank the communications teams for providing radio communications in an area were there is no cell phone coverage. Amateur Radio communications gave the participants a sense of security, that if something went wrong, help could quickly be summoned.    This was the first horse endurance ride event for most of the Yolo ARES team. Many communications practiced and used by the ARES team for this event are readily transferable to a search for a lost person, or airplane down disaster.'  Thanks to Gary, WA6TQJ, Yolo ARES AEC.

A separate, very complex event conducted by many of the same of operators was held May 19-20. The Davis Double Century bike event is also reported by Gary, WA6TQJ, Yolo Amateur Radio Society (YARS) president. 'Members of the Yolo Amateur Radio Society as well as members of other area clubs and individual amateur radio operators helped to provide communications for the 43rd annual Davis Davis Double Century held Saturday, May 19. YARS Secretary Dave Nishikawa, KC6YFG served as the SAG and Radio Coordinator for this event sponsored by the Davis Bike Club. The ride was a clock-wise loop that started out in Davis with the route taking it through Yolo County, Solano County, Napa County, Lake County, Colusa County, and back to Yolo County. The 200 Mile event had 9 Rest Stops including a lunch stop in Clear Lake. Though many chose to start earlier, the event officially started at 5:15 am, Saturday, May 19th and was completed by 12:20 am Sunday May 20th. Four mountain top repeaters, one backup repeater, and one airborne repeater/digipeater were used at different stages of the event. Most of the SAGs were tracked by Net Control using APRS. The following positions were staffed by amateur radio operators: Start/Finish Net Control: seven; nine Rest Stops and Lunch, 27; SAG Vehicles, 22; Patrol Vehicles including Motorcycles, five; Airborne Repeater Pilots, two; for a total of 59.                                                                                                                       Since an amateur radio operator might be assigned more than one task, the total number of amateur radio operators participating is estimated to be 54. In addition to the 22 hams who drove their own vehicles, there were six SAGs without amateur radio capability, NORDOS (NO RaDiO), that were coordinated by Net Control through the rest stop and lunch radio operators. One NORDO SAG is in the process of obtaining his technician, and another who monitored communications with a borrowed HT is reported to be very interested in obtaining her license.                                 We also had a couple of amateur radio operators observing at net control. One is new to radio and is very interested in APRS. The other has run communications for smaller events, but has now been tasked with heading up radio communications for a new 287 mile relay running event. This event will be in Eastern Oregon and covers more area than the Davis Double Century.                                                                                              It is noted, that just one Double Century amateur radio communications team member, in addition to handling tactical communications, assisted 29 riders and sagged four riders to rest stops or to the finish during the event. This was a typical work load for an amateur radio communications team member driving their own vehicle and judging by the comments from the participants, much appreciated.'                                                                    At the bottom of Section News, on our ARRL web page, is a photo of Steve, W6KCS, preparing to fly in support of the DDC. That photo is by pilot, Dave, KC6YFG.

Jay, KE6GLA, in the El Dorado County ARC Newsletter, reports, ‘In the month of May we have a few of activities to mark on the calendar. If you know of someone who wants to earn an Amateur Radio License or if you want to upgrade your ticket, a VE session will be held on May 12 at the American Legion Post in Placerville. Contact Ken, W6KWV for more information. Also on May 12th the club will be having its first Fox Hunt of the year. This hunt will be hosted by Dave, W6DES, John, W6YEA and Tom, N6GVZ. The hunt will start at 9:00 am from the Safeway parking lot in Cameron Park. If you want to participate or need more information contact Harry, W6HFM he can also pair you up with another Ham or team if you don’t want to go by yourself. Finally on May 20th we will be providing communications support for the Motherload Century Bike ride. This will be an all day event and we need radio operators at several aid stations and also to ride in SAG wagons. I will have a sign-up sheet at the next club meeting and on the sheet you can indicate the type of support you would like to provide and hours that you are available.  

Please register your Field Day station with the ARRL Field Day Locator. First introduced in 2008, the ARRL's Field Day Station Locator Service has proved a popular addition to the Field Day toolbox. This service -- an interactive map that helps amateurs or those interested in Amateur Radio find a Field Day site near them -- is free to clubs or individuals who will be operating public Field Day stations. Stations can also be listed by state or province. So far, hams in 49 states, Puerto Rico and eight Canadian provinces, as well as a station located just outside Bogotá, Colombia, have listed Field Day sites on the Field Day Locator. If your group would like to be a part of the Station Locator Service, it's easy to get started -- just go to the Field Day Station Locator website and follow the instructions. ARRL Field Day is the most popular on-the-air operating event in Amateur Radio. On June 23-24, join tens of thousands of radio amateurs as they gather for a public demonstration of the Amateur Service. And, this makes it easier for your Section Manager to plan to visit as many Field Day stations in our SV Section as possible. We have 41,000 square miles to cover, so a plan is very necessary.  

The Amador County Amateur Radio Club had the pleasure of having Ken AE6LA talk about Winlink 2000 and other HF email services. He gives a great talk and has the background to make it real and interesting. The Club provided communications again this year for the 60k 30K bike ride around the Lake Pardee area. They had 1500 riders attending and no serious incidents. The new ARPS trackers were put into use for the first time and they really worked well. A few bugs were noted but the project was deemed a success. The only real finding was that a couple of additional units would have been advantageous. Our work with the Boy Scouts on a Radio Merit Badge has come to an end. We started with 15 scouts and finished the class with 12 in attendance. They are finishing up their ’homework’ and when completed will have earned the award. We are considering offering it again next year. John, KI6DWP, PIO.  

Some amateur band frequency restrictions during the London 2012
Olympic and Paralympic Games have now been released by U-K
Telecommunications regulator Ofcom. The greatest impact to ham radio
appears to be satellite and other operations in the 436 to 437 MHz
segment of 70 centimeters. See the entire story at: Amateur Radio Newsline™ Report 1811 – April 27 2012. http://www.arnewsline.org/ If you are fortunate and plan to attend the London Olympics this year, please be aware of these restrictions. http://www.uk.amsat.org/6574 is the link.  

The Redding ARRL VE Team held a session on Saturday May 19th, at BloodSource in Redding. Steve, K6KS, reports, 'We had two candidates obtain their Technician class licenses and one upgrade from General to Amateur Extra. We are holding our regular VE exam sessions in odd-numbered months.' More information can be found at www.reddingve.com or by contacting Steve K6KS at sjmosconi@gmail.com .  

From the River City ARCS newsletter: ‘About 20 people from River City ARCS and other clubs participated in our Magnetic Loop Antenna Build Party on Saturday April 21. We unfortunately could not accommodate latecomers as we had bought out and reserved Monarch Capacitors’ complete stock of 3 inch and 5 inch capacitor plates one month before the event. The small magnetic loop is a portable, compact and efficient antenna that can be built inexpensively. The participants assembled and tested their high voltage variable butterfly capacitors, and we expect to show some finished antennas at future meetings. ‘Vern, W6MMA, of SuperAntenna also joined us and showed his own Portable HF Yagi and Portable Slider Vertical Antennas. The overall positive feedback confirmed that this was a valuable learning activity for our participants. ‘April was a busy month of strange weather and busy weekends, with Easter, Tax day, and our magnetic loop antenna build party. We had originally expected at most half a dozen to participate in the antenna build at Larry AF6LF’s QTH, but we were overwhelmed by several times that number of responses and were fortunate to accommodate all by moving it to our meeting room at the Sacramento County Corp Yard. We regret that several prospective builders could not join us this time as our source of capacitor plates had been temporarily depleted, but these have expressed interest for a future antenna build activity. ‘Mark your May calendars for the EMCOMMWEST conference in Reno from May 4-6 and the North Hills Radio Club Swap Meet on May 20. ‘Our May 1st meeting will feature an interesting demonstration by Ed WA6QYO on Lecher Lines and how to identify unmarked meters, and a Primer on VHF propagation. We’ll also hear the latest on our N6NA repeater upgrade, Field Day planning, and of course, enjoy Linda’s fresh brewed coffee and baked goods. See you there!’ Thanks to Ken Martin, and Carol, KP4MD at RCARCS.    

From Sierra Foothills ARC, we have the following: ‘VE Activity is on the rise. Dave, NO6NO, and gang had three new Technicians, three Generals and one Extra. Dave will soon have an on-line training section complete with test exams available on our website.  The Elmer Help section is going strong helping out local hams, hams-to-be and SK sales.
Monthly Breakfast (Last Saturday each month at Susie's in Roseville) attendees are picking up we had 21 last time and seem to grow bigger with each breakfast. Everyone is invited to join us!
’New Member invitation cards. All SFARC Members are now carrying a business card to give to anyone interested in attending the club's monthly meeting. The card when turned in gets the person a free raffle ticket for that night.
’New Newsletter Editor - Barbara, W6EVA, has volunteered to publish Sierra Signals, the monthly newsletter. Many thanks to Fred, K6DGW, for his interim Editor time. Nice job Fred, thanks!  FYI the photo of the Sierras that is the header on our website and newsletter is a photograph that Fred took for the club years ago.
’SFARC Nets: Thursday nights at 7:30 weekly, plus the "Prepper" Net  every other Wednesday night at 8:00. Check out w6ek.org for details.’  

Michael Aretsky, N6MQL, vice president of the Samuel F. Morse ARC in Sacramento, reported in with the following: ‘Lately I've been doing some fun PR work for Ham radio, and CW out in the local parks with one of the other W6SFM club members. For example this last weekend we went out and set up a booth at the KIDS DAY event where over 50 different attendees were displaying their PR programs. This one was organized by the local Police department in Ranch Cordova to help promote Kids safety and fun local program awareness. 
’In any case, I've been using some of my left over Field Day pamphlets you gave me last year to pass out to those interested in what I've shown them.  However, I would really like to know if you have anything that's specifically geared towards Kids that I can start passing out instead?  I have about 3 more of these special events that I'm going to be attending before Field Day.’ Michael then asks for more ARRL handouts of the type I sent to clubs last year prior to Field Day. Your Section Manager cannot do that this year, but a lot of material is available from ARRL if you want to order it. Now is the time to do that. http://www.arrl.org/wedothat-radio-org is a link to the latest ARRL Do It Yourself initiative. There is an entire suite of PR materials to use. I suggested to Michael that a QSL type card with a list of safe ham radio URLs for kids to check might be an effective handout. Do you have any other ideas? Would something like the Sierra Foothills ARC’s New Member Invitation Card be of use? I printed business cards and frequently use them to write information on the reverse side for those who ask.  

Along with 800 others, I attended the Visalia International DX Convention the weekend of April 20-22. The first day, Friday, was the first ever DX University, for those of us who need to sharpen our operating skills. I learned a lot at this event, along with about 130 others, and would do it again. Friday’s session began with a brief welcome and introduction, followed by suggestions for effective DX location, listening, and calling. Experts expanded on this theme with talks on getting in the log, QSO mechanics, ethics, QSLing, Internet, and Remote Operation. Prior to lunch we had a question and answer panel. After a lunch break (prepaid) we heard of the DXpedition’s point of view, Internet resources, propagation considerations, DX awards, another Q&A session, and then a wrap up. The Saturday session was all convention activities with prize drawings at 1000, 1200, 1400 and 1600. Nice prizes were handed out to the lucky winners, and I do mean nice prizes. Drawing tickets were available and expensive prizes were the norm. At the banquet Saturday night, the top prize was a new Alpha tuner, and second prize was an Icom 7700. The next morning at breakfast, a fine Yaesu FT5000 series HF/6 transceiver was given away. This convention is the top place in California if you are lucky at prize drawings. Throughout the day, there were chances to get your DX cards counted, compete in a CW pileup contest, drool over the many exhibits by vendors, get a look at things about to hit the market, and lots of forums on the basic subject of DX and Contesting. This convention, in my view, is suffering a bit from success. But it is still the place to be if you are a player or potential player in the DX and Contest arena.  

One of the reasons I haven’t been to the Visalia DX Convention before is Bike Around the Buttes. This all day bike ride communications event takes riders on a 100 mile, a 40 mile, or a 10 mile ride around southern Sutter County and/or the Sutter Buttes and always occurs the same weekend as the DX Convention. Temperatures were warm this year, but aside from one rider falling off a bike, everyone finished safely. Yuba Sutter ARC and Yuba Sutter ARES handle this event, with 20 or more operators handling SAG vehicles, rest stops and net control duties. At the same time, the MS Society scheduled its fund raising event, the MS Walk, in Yuba
City. It takes some mighty good scheduling to have both events covered, ensuring the safety of all participants. Good job, Yuba Sutter! The Yuba/Sutter ARES group will be hosting a Simulated Call Out on Saturday May 12 at the Sutter County Airport in Yuba City.  The purpose of this exercise is to set up your go station and make some contacts on local and distant repeaters as well as on simplex.  We will have a list of suggested items to have in your go kit for when there is an actual emergency call out. This will also give you a chance to test your station before an actual emergency, which is always a good idea just in case something goes wrong. In addition there is a chance you may meet other ARES members that you may have had a QSO with but have never met.  For additional information contact Steve Sweetman, K6TAZ, k6taz@yahoo.com Thanks to our Yuba/Sutter EC, Eleanor, KI6CSO, and Russ, KB6YAF, who is sent in pictures of Bike Around the Buttes participants for the Section News web page.

YSARC held a VE session May 5, 2012 in Yuba City. According to VE liaison, Lee, KC6MCI, two upgraded to General and two upgraded to Extra. Congratulations to all. On May 12, Yuba Sutter ARES held a callout drill at the Sutter County Airport, with 19 stations arriving well before 8 am. AEC K6TAZ was the organizer. Pictures show the event below.

‘OARS, Oroville ARS, (http://w6af.org) has welcomed two new members on the roster:  Richard, KD8LRX, and new licensee Jerry, KJ6VJT.  Also, congratulations are in order for Dave, KE6IIZ, who has upgraded to Extra.  The April meeting was well attended, despite the threat of rain.  One item that brought forth lively discussion was the idea of acquiring a digital projector to enhance presentations in the programs.  For trial purposes the club plans to rent one for next month's meeting, with the program expected to cover logging software, presented by Vice President Gerry, N6GCV.
’The Feather Fiesta Days Parade is expected to be a major agenda item for the May meeting, as it takes place the following day.  Barring an abrupt change of plans, OARS expects to set up and operate Field Day at the EAA site on the west edge of Oroville Airport in June.  OARS Past President John, K7XE, awaits two confirmations that will make him eligible for DXCC Honor Roll. ’The OARS Saturday Breakfast on 28 April had a turnout of 18 for good food and good conversation.  If all goes according to plan, the August Saturday Breakfast will include a presentation by Budd, W3FF, on the Buddipole antenna and other items.’ Thanks to Jim, W7XZ.  

‘The Citrus Heights VE Team had an exam session on April 28, 2012 in Orangevale, CA.  There were ten applicants that attended the Ham-Cram session where seven passed the written Technician Exam, and Jim Haggard (N6MDJ) from Walnut Grove was successful in upgrading to Extra with little effort. He was the only applicant to upgrade at this session . It would be nice to start some sort of a program to create an interest for people to upgrade within our hobby.  ‘Our next Technician HAM-CRAM and exam session will be on May 19th at the LDS Church located at 7950 Hazel Ave. in Orangevale. The HAM-CRAM for the Tech license will begin at 8:30AM and the exam session at 1:00PM for all classes of Amateur Radio licenses. NOTE: We do not do HAM-CRAM’s for General or Extra Class Licenses. ‘We do require a photo ID of all applicants that want to take any amateur class license.  If you are upgrading please bring a copy of your current Amateur Radio License or CSCE form to the exam session so it can go in with the other paper work to the FCC. If you are interested in participating in the HAM-CRAM or up-grading, contact Joe Cardoza (KA6ROM) by email at: cardozas@comcast.net to register or to obtain information about the session.’ Thanks to Joe, KA6ROM.  

Our Section Technical Coordinator, Bob Wortman, WB6VYH, is also an HF and VHF Award Manager, which means he can count your cards for WAS and VUCC Awards. Before contacting Bob, please see the requirements to have your cards counted at: http://www.arrl.org/was and for VUCC at: http://www.arrl.org/vucc Bob cannot count cards for DXCC. You can contact Bob regarding WAS and VUCC at: wortman4@comcast.net .  

Our Section Net is now the second Thursday of the month, May 10, and the 75 meter part is at a good time. We begin on the WD6AXM/R machine, 146.085, plus offset, 127.3 Hz tone at 7 PM. At 7:30 PM we move to 3987 kHz, plus or minus. We will give everyone a chance to comment and try to answer questions of an ARRL nature. Join us if you can.  

Once again we have a nice full report because of all of our fine contributors. Thank you. If your club, activity or accomplishments are not reported here, please consider reporting to me at: w6kj@arrl.org and I will do the rest.    

Links of interest:

Our Sacramento Valley Section ARRL web site, the home of SV Section News:
http://www.arrl.org/Groups/view/sacramento-valley  

ARRL product reviews on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/ARRLHQ
 

VHF nets within Sacramento Valley Section are listed here:
 http://www.k6is.org/nets.html Thanks to ASM, Les, W6TEE.

Looking for a specific HF net to check into?  This is the website! Check out AC6V:  http://www.ac6v.com/nets.htm    Thanks to Gary, K7VY.       

Here is a link to the World Clock, with lots of regularly updated, unverifiable statistics. http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks/worldclock/    

http://www.radiotelegraphy.net/  This brings up lots of information on our original mode.  

All satellite enthusiasts: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/    Solar Data Banners & Widgets:  http://www.hamqsl.com/solar.html