Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Marc, N4UFP with the November/ December 2016 South Carolina Section Manager’s Report. Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at: www.arrlsc.org/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina. I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and I wish all of you the best for the New Year. As we move into 2017, there will be some changes in the Field Service Organization in our Section., Joe Markey, our Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC), will be changing roles, becoming an Assistant Section Manager and Billy Irwin, K9OH moves into the SEC position. I look forward to working with both of them in their new positions. One of the first things that the new SEC and I would like to do is make sure that we have an accurate list of ARES members. If you are a current ARES member or interesting in joining ARES, please visit the SC ARES website (www.ares-sc.org) and click on the “Join ARES” link on the menu bar to join or renew your membership. If you are no longer interested in serving in ARES, we would ask that you let us know that too by emailing the SEC Billy Irwin at k9oh@arrl.net, so that we can remove you from any mailing lists, etc. that we use. Whether you are new to ARES, continuing with ARES, or saying good-bye, let me take this moment to thank you for serving. On a related note, I occasionally get questions at club meetings about “that AUXCOMM group”. Most frequently, I am asked, “who are they?” and “what do they do?”. Before answering both questions, I need to clear up some confusion: there is no AUXCOMM group, per se. There is a committee has met monthly for a number of years monthly at SC Emergency Management Division to discuss topics related to emergency / auxiliary communications such as interagency interoperability, manpower requirements, training, planning of exercises, and other related issues. This group includes representatives from SCEMD, the SC State Guard, The National Guard, MARS, the ARRL Field Service Organization, The SC Forestry Commission, SCETV, and other groups as needed. The committee has no formal authority to carry out any decisions it makes; the agency representatives have the responsibility to determine if and how to do that. Amateurs are well-represented in this group; many of the agency representatives are amateurs, and either the SEC or I attend the meeting to represent ARES / RACES as well as the amateur community in general. This group has created a special certification, the AUXCOMM certification, for ARES members who would like to be more involved with some of the organizations that make up the committee. ARES members wishing to attain this certification must complete four emergency management courses (ICS 100, 200 700, 800) and pass a background check. ARES members who get this certification become part of a pool of volunteers that agencies involved in AUXCOMM draw on, should the need arise. Now we can answer the two questions posed at the beginning of the foregoing paragraph: the AUXCOMM people are ARES members and they do what other ARES members do. Part of the mystery surrounding all of this has come from the fact that the interagency collaboration committee has worked largely behind the scenes. To improve the transparency and effectiveness of the committee’s efforts, I will begin providing minutes of the meetings on the arrl-sc webpage. The committee will be working with SC EMD to provide training opportunities County Emergency Coordinators and District Emergency Coordinators, most likely in conjuction with a meeting / tour at SC EMD. I will share more details as they become available. Jonathan Viehe, KM4ZRK is volunteering to help with communications at the Sandblast, which will occur near Cheraw on 3/4/17. The organizers are looking for more licensed radio operators interested in helping out with communications, so any amateurs, or amateur radio clubs who are interested in helping out should contact Jonathan at jviehe@comcast.net. For more information about the event, please visit http://www.sandblastrally.com/ This Saturday, 1/7/17, the Harbison 50K race with be held, weather permitting, at the Harbison State Forest. A minimum of 15 hams will be needed to cover all challenging spots on the course. The volunteers be stationed at various points throughout the course to report back on problems or health issues. There will be no parking fee for your vehicle as long as you have the tag provided by the race director in your car. In years past, the park has been very lenient on these as there are so many runners coming into the park for this ultra-marathon. There will be a pre-event meeting of all hams at 6:30am at the Ranger Station in the middle of the park. The race starts at 7:30am from the field in front of the gazebo. Primary frequency will be 146.400 simplex Secondary frequency will be 147.330 2m Please note that not all positions are accessible by vehicle. You may be asked to port your gear in with you to your assigned position. This could mean a mile walk to your assigned post. At least one ham on a bike will be needed to scout the more advanced trail ahead of the run for difficult spots. Do not expect this to be an easy day. You must bring your own breakfast, snacks, lunch, water, gear, entertainment, tent, etc. This is a true test of your operating abilities in any weather. You must dress yourself and your gear for any possibility. This is particularly true this year, with snow in the forecast for this coming weekend. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Tammy, N4TAL, at N4TAL@att.net. I would like to congratulate the Schofield Middle School’s Ram Ham Radio Club of Aiken, SC on their first place finish in the ARRL School Club Roundup. This is the second time is as many years that this club has taken first place honors in their category. This year, they racked up 252,170 points, which was not only enough to put them at the top of the middle school category, but also put them in third place overall; only Texas A and M and Embry-Riddle University had higher scores. This is an accomplishment that these kids can be really proud of and I hope they are able to make it a “threepeat” in the next Roundup. I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to thank the Belvedere-North Augusta Radio Club for the support that they have given to the hams at Schofield Middle School. Their involvement with these middle schoolers is quite literally helping to create the future of the Amateur Radio Service, an achievement that club members can take pride in. Finally, I would like to remind everyone about two upcoming SC Hamfests: 14 January 2017 2017 Greenwood Hamfest James Medford Event Center, Piedmont Technical College 620 North Emerald Road, Greenwood SC 29646 Tickets are $8.00 Gates open at 9:00 am Talk-In: 147.165 (+) tone 107.2 or 443.900 (+) tone 107.2 Webpage: http://www.w4gwd.org/hamfestflyer.pdf 4 February 2017 2017 Charleston Hamfest/Computer Show and ARRL State Convention Armory Park Community Center, 5000 Lackawanna Blvd., N. Charleston, SC Tickets are $5.00 Gates open at 8:00 am Talk in: The WA4USN linked Repeater System (146.790- No Tone Charleston, 146.940- Tone 123.0 Summerville and 147.045+ Tone 103.5 St. George). Other area repeaters are 145.450-, 146.760-, 147.180+, 147.270+, 147.300+, 147.345+, 443.800+, and 444.825+ (all with Tone 123.0) and 147.150+ Tone 91.5 Webpage: http://www.wa4usn.org/hamfestm.htm I plan on attending both hamfests and hope to see you there. That’s all for this month – now let’s do the numbers: November 2016 National Traffic System Report for South Carolina from STM Rusty, WU2T Net Reports Net / Check Ins / Traffic / Sessions / Reported By 4RN Cycle 2 Rpt. / 544 / 344 / 60 / WA1STU Anderson Radio Club 2M Net / 700 / 35 / 29 / W3SUE Blue Ridge Amateur Radio Net / 1285 / 29 / 30 / WR8RW Carolina’s Net / 206 / 37 / 60 / N0SU Columbia ARC 2M Net / 202 / 21 / 9 / W4SJD CSN / 119 / 24 / 30 / WS4P Florence ARC 2 Meter Net / 37 / 4 / 4 / K4AVR Grand Strand ARC 2M / 440 Net / 296 / 25 / 19 / KJ4DE Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net / 698 / 37 / 30 / KK4KSZ Greenwood ARC 2 Meter Net / 90 / 4 / 4 / AI4WN Greenwood ARC 70CM Net / 36 / 4 / 4 / AI4WN Kershaw ARC 2 Meter Net / 38 / 10 / 4 / K4VAX Lancaster County 2M Net / 29 / 1 / 4 / N4WMB Midland ERC / 34 / 8 / 4 / K4VAX Midland ERC Simplex Net / 13 / 4 / 4 / K4VAX PALS Net / 713 / 44 / 30 / KB4ERT SC SSB Net / 1284 / 98 / 30 / N4RNM Trident ARC 2M Net / 79 / 26 / 5 / W4DAX Trident ARC CW Training Net / 23 / 12 / 5 / W4DAX N4RNM Digital Relay Station Rec - 94 Sent - 15 Total - 109 WS4P Digital Relay Station Rec – Sent – Total – Station Activity Reports Station / Sent / Received / Delivered / Originated / Total WU2T / 6 / 36 / 2 / 0 / 44 WS4P / 7 / 24 / 1 / 0 / 32 N4RNM / 132 / 142 / 5 / 4 / 283 Public Service Honor Roll Station / Cat1 / Cat2 / Cat3 / Cat4 / Cat5 / Cat6 / Total N4RNM / 40 / 40 / 20 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 100 SOUTH CAROLINA NETS NET NAME FREQ TONE DAYS TIME Anderson ARC 2M Net 146.790 - Daily 8:30PM Blue Ridge ARS 2M Net 146.610 - Daily 9:00PM Carolina State Line Net 146.730 - Sun 9:00PM Carolinas Net 3.573 CW Daily 7:00PM Carolinas Slow Net 3.571 CW Daily 8:00PM Charleston ARS 145.250 - Thu 8:00PM Coastal ARA 2M Net 146.910 - Thu 9:00PM Columbia ARC 2M Net 147.330 + 156.7 Sun/ Wed 8:30PM Coastal Carolina Emergency Net 3.907 LSB Daily 7:00PM Edisto ARS 2M Net 147.090 + 156.7 Thu 8:00PM Florence ARC 2M Net 146.850 - Mon 8:30PM Grand Strand Net 145.110 - 85.4 Sun 8:00PM Grand Strand Net 444.675 + 85.4 Tue 8:00PM Grand Strand Net 146.805 - 85.4 Thu 8:00PM Grand Strand Net 147.120 85.4 Sat 8:00PM Greater PeeDee 2M Net 146.745 - 82.5 Daily 9:00PM Greenwood ARS 2M Net 147.165 + 107.2 Thu 9:00PM GSARC 2M Simplex Net 146540 Sat 10:30AM GSARC 6M Net 51.800 1st Sat 2:30PM GSARC 10M Net 28.450 2nd Sat 2:30PM Horry County SKYWARN (Primary) 147.120 + 123.0 - When Needed Horry County SKYWARN (Secondary) 146.655 + 123.0 - When Needed Kershaw County ARC 146.775 - 156.7 Mon 8:30PM Kershaw / Richland Dist.3 ARES Net 147.000 123.0 Thu 8:00PM Lancaster County 2M Net 146.700 123.0 Sun 8:00PM Midland Emergency Response Net 146.775 156.7 Sun Newcomers Net (Charleston Area) 146.940 and 147.790- 123.0 Thu 8:00PM Oconee 2M Net 147.270 + MWF 8:00PM PALSNET-------------------Greeleyville 145.230 - 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET-------------------------Mullins 145.470 - 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET------------------------Cheraw 145.490 - 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET----------------------Pageland 146.895 - 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET--------------------Bishopville 146.925 - 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET-----------------------Florence 147.195 + 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET-----------------------Florence 442.050 + 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET-------------------Greeleyville 444.750 + 123.0 Daily 9:30PM Pickens County ARES Net 146.700 - 107.2 Mon 8:00PM QCWA Chapter 89 SSB net 3.390 LSB Saturdays 9:00AM QCWA Chapter 89 VHF net SC Heart Repeaters Saturdays 9:00AM SC Sandlapper 6M Net 50.250 USB Tue 8:00PM South Carolina HF ARES Net 3.9935 or 3.990LSB 1st, 3rd Mon 6:00PM South Carolina VHF / UHF ARES Net See www.SCHEART.us for Freq & Tone Sun 8:00PM Statewide SKYWARN See www.SCHEART.us for Freq. & Tone Tue 9:00PM South Carolina SSB Net 3.915 LSB Daily 7:00PM Spartanburg 2M Net 147.315 + Mon / Fri 8:30PM Spartanburg 70cm Net 442.075 + 1st, 3rd, 5th Thu 8:30PM Trident ARC 2M CW Net 147.270 123.0 Tue 7:30PM Trident ARC 2M Phone Net 147.270 123.0 Tue 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Long Mt. 442.775 127.3 MWF 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Long Mt. 147.030 123.0 MWF 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Glassy Mt. 444.350 127.3 MWF 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Elberton, GA 444.700 118.8 MWF 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Elberton, GA 145,210 118.8 MWF 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Anderson 442.825 127.3 MWF 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Honea Path 443.775 127.3 MWF 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS StumphouseMt 443.700 91.5 MWF 8:00PM York County ARS 2M Net 147.030 - 88.5 Daily 8:30PM 73 de Marc Tarplee N4UFP ARRL Section Manager, South Carolina Section www.arrlsc.org