News | Marin Amateur Radio Society

Mock Jensie drill to take place Sep 27, 2020 (UPDATED)

Posted on September 6, 2020 by Dale Komai

MARS will hold an in-the-field drill as a mock Jensie on September 27, 2020 from 9am until about 1pm. We will staff all the (empty) rest stops and could use a couple of SAGS to roam the entire course to test the coverage of the simulcast system and several other nearby repeaters.

Let me know if you wish to participate. If your name is already on the Jensie roster, I’ll assume that you will be there.

Cheers,

Michael K6MLF

Update: Sep 12, 2020

Hello again, colleagues–

As you all know, this public service season is a bust. All for good and understandable reasons, of course.

Radio skills are perishable, and we REALLY want to keep them brushed-up and ready to go. Many of you participated in our in-the-field drill last month, for a “fake” Marin Century bicycle ride. Not only was it enjoyable, but it was a great practice-and-learning experience. It also gave us a leg up on measuring the footprint of our repeater system now that the Big Rock input has migrated NE to Bahia Ridge.

So OK, let’s do it again. We will mount another drill, this one mimicking the big Jensie cycling event that we supported in 2017 & 2018. In 2019, Jensie went down to San Mateo County, but they intended to return to Marin again this year. Then Covid hit; so, like our MCBC colleagues did for their two events, Jensie has gone virtual. Cyclists will still undertake one of the three courses, but on their own, without support. Their GPS devices will record their routes and times on the web. Here’s the Jensie website—please print out and be intimately familiar with each of the three routes: https://thejensiegranfondo.com/

We will mount three 90-minute shifts: 0900-1030, 1030-noon, and noon-1330. We will staff net control at Stafford Lake, and 7 rest stops. We wish to have at least three SAG vehicles, each patrolling a separate segment of the courses.

As we did for the “fake Marin Century,” we have two objectives:

First, to run a disciplined directed net, following our communications protocol. Please re-watch Brian Cooley’s excellent video on protocol shortly before the date as a reminder:

https://youtu.be/HHxNOMGSwAI

The second objective is to continue to map our repeater coverage. This time, that will be the principal role for the SAG vehicles, but each station will also be asked for a report. We will be measuring the quality of comms between your location and net control using the circuit merit method. Please be completely familiar with the 5 levels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_Merit

If you wish to participate, please sign up on this Google Sheets roster:

rowlands47@gmail.com has invited you to edit the following spreadsheet:

jensie drill

Open in Sheets

Rob and I have populated the spreadsheet with the names of those who signed up for the Jensie or one of the MCBC events. But all licensed operators are welcome, on a first-come basis. Just add your name and fill in your desired slot.

Except for net control, each shift at each location may be occupied only by a solo operator—we’re still in active Covid season. If your favorite time and location is taken, please shift to another—we’d like to have all the bases covered. If you would like to stand more than one shift, that’d be great! Like you could do location A the first shift, SAG the second shift, and location B the third shift? Or one location for the entire time? That’d be fine, too. If we have more operators than we expect, we might ask one of the “three-shift operators” to relinquish a slot for someone who wishes to join, but for whom we don’t have an empty position.

We will have no permissions to occupy any of the rest stop locations, so be prepared to be flexible: find a nearby safe location (like outside the Nicasio or Laguna Schools’ gates) to set up. Operating from the comfort of your car is OK (especially if it’s smoky.) But it would be preferable if you come prepared to set up your portable base station, antenna, battery, solar panel, table & chair…

We’ll send out more info as the date gets closer—the frequency plan, and final duty assignments. Meantime, please fill in your time slot, study the attachments, and be intimately familiar with the accident & injury protocol as well as the route maps. For those who joined us at the early-March “kickoff” luncheon, you received two expensive maps of Marin—please get them out, and use them to plot the Jensie routes. You should be able to find your way to the intersection of Hicks Valley Road and Chileno Valley/Wilson Hill Road in the pitch-dark!

Rob will be sending out his agenda for this week’s Critical Mass Zoom session—please join us for that, as well! He will focus on the benefits of ARRL membership, among other things.

Looking forward to work with you again soon,

Michael Fischer K6MLF and Rob Rowlands NZ6J

Posted in Public Service
Tags: drill, jensie

Agenda for our next 2-Meter Critical Mass session on September 20, 2020

Posted on September 3, 2020 by Dale Komai

Hi all,

Our September critical mass will be delivered via Zoom on September 20, 2020 at 1030 hours.

Our topics this month include:

1. Avoiding stuck mikes.
2. Accessing ham resources online.
3. A shameless plug for joining ARRL!
4. Walkthrough of the new “On the Air” magazine for new hams.

ARRL members can download issues for free. If you are not an ARRL member, you can download a sample copy by completing a brief form on http://www.arrl.org/ota-sample

I will send another email with zoom credentials the week prior.

73,

Rob. NZ6J

Posted in ARRL News, Club Events, Education
Tags: critical mass

Agenda for North Bay 2-Meter Critical Mass August 16, 2020

Posted on August 15, 2020 by Dale Komai

Here’s a followup message from Doug KF6AKU, and a reminder about the Critical Mass Zoom meeting this coming Sunday:

First, Doug will ask each person (as he IDs her/him) to checkin with name and callsign, using the NATO phonetic alphabet or both. Then he will ask Brian Cooley to run the 6-minute video on best practices.

Our general topic, as you know, is operating in a directed net.

Here are some discussion topics and questions—again, Doug asks that you come prepared with your own questions, pet peeves, and suggestions. Scroll down for the Zoom link:

Why say the station to be called first?
What’s the reason for “this is?”
What does “over-ID” mean? When should I use my callsign?
Why use tacticals? Keeping them short, like Bofax.
The Net Control operator has two principal duties—what are they?
What’s the role of the scribe at net control?
What’s the role of the runner at net control? (Hint: the person “in charge” at net control is the event organizer, not the radio operator.)
What’s it like at net control when more than one repeater is being used at a far-flung event? (Both in terms of de-sense and information overload)
How to prevent doubling?

On another topic: since it appears that almost, if not all, of our events will be cancelled or turned virtual this season, we will hold another in-the-field drill on the date of the now-cancelled Jensie: Sunday, September 27^th. More information to follow next month.

But a question has arisen: if we’re going to field only two in-the-field drills, will it still take three events for an operator to earn his Public Service Gold Star for 2020? Our President, Curtis Ardourel, spent an afternoon in deep ponder. His answer? Attend both events and at least one Critical Mass and a 2020 star will be yours at next Spring’s kickoff of the 2021 season. How’s that for a positive attitude?

Looking forward to see you on the Zoom screen this Sunday at 10:30—after you check into the MARS Sunday morning net.

Cordially,

Doug Slusher KF6AKU and his trusty scribe Michael K6MLF

Posted in Club Events, Public Service
Tags: critical mass

Signal performance at Pine Mountain during the Marin Century 2020 drill

Posted on August 6, 2020 by Dale Komai

Hi Michael and Rob,

Here’s a photo of my Pine Mt. setup, and confirming the results you should have. I was using the mag mount on the roof (hard to see behind battery) – Diamond SG-7500, plus TM-V71 at 50 W. Power was an aging 14 Ah AGM with folding solar on the car roof. Without the solar and running that much power, battery voltage was pretty quickly down to 12.4V. Good thing it was sunny. Next time, I’ll bring the LiFePO.

Circuit merit

Repeater	In (my signal)	Out (my report for repeater CM)
Tam	4+	5
Barnabe	3+	5
Bahia	3	5
English Hill	5	4
Sonoma	4*	4+*

* For Sonoma Mt., my CM-In of 4 was reported by KM6AOW. The repeater CM-Out of 4+ was me listening to K6SHO (Nicasio) and KI6LNB (Fairfax Pavilion). NCS was not as clear through the repeater, so I think Stafford Lake è Sonoma Mt. path is not great.

Cheers,

Rob Ireson K6RGI

Posted in Public Service
Tags: diamond sg, ireson, marin century, pine mountain

Post Event Feedback About The August 1st Marin Century Drill

Posted on August 6, 2020 by Dale Komai

Report provided by Rob Rowlands (edited):

Hi all,

I think we all enjoyed getting out on Saturday – even the Comm Truck seemed eager to deploy!

Net control was set up at Stafford Lake and roll call began soon after 10am. Michael chose to operate from Bofax to support those locations that could only use Tam West. Pam and Stan Witherspoon did an excellent 2 hour stint at net control.

Steve KB6HOH acted as doorman on the simulcast system to keep Net Control honest! We are still not allowing enough time for missed stations to check in and I’m the worst culprit!

Some observations:

1. Bahia had interesting reach into places like Tennessee Valley, but clearly is no substitute for Big Rock in north Marin and Sonoma.
2. English Hill continues to be a great adjunct to our Marin repeaters.
3. Tam UHF 443.250 continues to show its big footprint, extending to Valley Ford.
4. The role KB6HOH took on as a home based adjunct to net control might be a good addition to future public service events, if we ever have any.

Involvement of the Marin Cyclists

Some organizers of the Marin Century informally rode the “Metric Century” from Terra Linda through Nicasio, Hicks Valley Road, Walker Creek, Marshall Wall, Point Reyes, Tocaloma, Nicasio and back to Terra Linda. They started earlier than us so we wouldn’t see them until Walker Creek. We agreed that they would look for likely hams, and if possible, let operators know they are passing through. There was no need to forward names to net control unless there was an emergency. The bicyclists were contacted by Chris on his Moto, Dirck at Walker Creek and Brian at Nicasio, though difficult to tell those nostalgic Century riders from the throng!

Simplex Frequencies

We asked radio operators to chat with their colleagues using simplex frequencies as they changed over assignments. The simplex frequencies were:

North Marin 147.585
Central Marin 147.510
West Marin 147.465
South Marin 147.555

We wrapped up net control at 1253. The results are being crunched into a google sheet that will be circulated, together with a map showing what works where.

Best regards,
Rob Rowlands NZ6J

Posted in Public Service
Tags: marin century, rowlands

ZBC, Dirt Fondo, and Adventure Revival now virtual events and Jensie has been canceled

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Dale Komai

Good morning, colleagues—

MCBC and ZBC have made the good decision to turn their events virtual—which means their members are urged to go out on the courses in small groups on their own without support. That means no radio support will be needed this year.

So you may remove August 15th, September 12th, and September 26th from your calendars. THANK YOU for being willing and prepared to provide radio support for these public service events. We’re hoping, of course, that we will be needed in the future.

Go to the sidebar on the home page to download the latest version of our season’s signup list.

Seven-three,

Michael K6MLF and Rob NZ6J

Posted in Public Service
Tags: dirt fondo, jensie, mcbc, zbc

Marin Century bike event drill Saturday August 1

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Dale Komai

MARS is holding a drill on Saturday 1 August in place of the Marin Century bike event that would have been held on that date.

This will be exciting for those of us cooped up, sheltering in place, these last 4 months as we will be going in the field to test out our radio coverage! We can only do this however if we adhere strictly to the Covid 19 guidelines (see sidebar on home page) that Michael has published.

Here’s some suggested rules for the event:

Only one operator at each location unless its a family cohort.
Only operate from your vehicle
Wear a mask if communicating through your windows.
Park safely outside the site. We have no permission to use any sites
Please only use high power (25W+) mobile radios – no HTs.
No face to face socializing outside your vehicles at any location. Use a simplex frequency to chat.
Each location’s duty is for exactly one hour. If you put up antennas external to your vehicle please pack them up before the next operator arrives.
There may be some cyclists from the Century organization, Marin Cyclists, riding some of the course unofficially. They are being asked to look for the operators at each site, so try to identify your vehicle somehow. Creativity folks! Ask for their names and forward names and arrival times to net control.
Please access the google sheet for the event at https://tinyurl.com/y4rezzt2, You should populate the sheet with your desired location and time slot(s). If you can only operate for 1 hour, I suggest choosing the 11am slot. No one can operate for all three slots obviously!
We will be operating primarily on the Mt Tam simulcast system. We may also need to use Tam West, Sonoma Mountain or English Hill. Be kind on Net Control if you don’t receive their attention immediately as they may be on the other repeaters.`
Please don’t tailgate! Leave a several second pause before keying up your radio to allow others access to Net Control.

If unsure of the site location please see our website https://tinyurl.com/y2y99jpf or call me. Note that Net control is at Stafford Lake, not Terra Linda high school.

Repeaters

Simulcast

Mt Tam	146.700	PL 179.9
Bahia	146.700	PL 203.5
Mt Barnabe	147.700	PL 167.9

Others

Tam West	147.330	PL 192.8
Sonoma Mtn	146.910	PL 88.5
English Hill	147.315	PL 88.5

Major Caveat

Given the Covid-19 situation in Marin County we may have to shut the event down! Listen to the simulcast system before leaving home. We have never staged an event like this before, so there’s sure to be questions and comments! Feel free to contact either of us.

73,

Rob Rowlands NZ6J 415 849 5667
Michael Fischer K6MLF 415 519`2201

Posted in Public Service
Tags: drill

2 Meter Critical Mass on Zoom July 19, 2020

Posted on July 15, 2020 by Dale Komai

Hello, North Bay 2-Meter Critical Mass colleagues—

Once again we will meet on Zoom; Marin County is one of the COVID-19 hotspots, and there’s no need for us to take chances during this ongoing pandemic. But here’s a change: as long as we meet on Zoom, we will start at 1030. We’ve found that trying to check into the Marin Amateur Radio Society’s Sunday morning net at the same time that we’re attending a Zoom session simply doesn’t work. But we DO encourage you to check into the net before 1030!

Our agenda for this month:

A quick phonetic-alphabet practice: I will call the roll as I see each of your pictures or names pop up—please identify yourself with name and callsign, both using the NATO phonetic alphabet.
We will discuss, point-by-point, the draft COVID-19 protocol (attached) that we intend to employ for whatever public service events that are to be held in the near future. We’ll be interested in your feedback and advice. The MARS board will consider this protocol at its August meeting, in advance of the August 15 Dirt Fondo, which has been confirmed.
We will receive a presentation on radio communications with (and within) the nascent Neighborhood Response Groups that are being formed in some of Marin’s communities. Most of our communities have long-established CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams,) whose members have received 20 hours of training in search & rescue, radio protocol, shelter management, triage, first aid, traffic control, etc. But those trained members are thin on the ground in many neighborhoods. The NRGs are intended to be most knowledgeable about the needs and resources of their immediate neighborhood. Block Captains, each responsible for 10-20 houses, will be the building blocks for NRGs. Each NRG will have a command post to which the Block Captains will report. NGRs will be using FRS/GMRS radios to communicate within their neighborhoods. How will licensed radio operators communicate with them? How will CERT and RACES communicate with them? Skip, Ann, Rob and Cooley will give us a briefing on NRGs and their comm plans.

Please plan to attend this Zoom session—and pass the word to currently-licensed radio ops, or to those who are seeking their licenses!

Here’s the link:

Michael Fischer is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4256661120

Posted in Club Events, Public Service
Tags: cert, covid19, critical mass, races

2-Meter Critical Mass will be held Sunday June 21 on Zoom!

Posted on June 19, 2020 by Milt Hyams

Colleagues:

We will hold our June Critical Mass training/exercise this coming Sunday, June 21st, at 1000, on Zoom. Your invitation to Zoom will follow along with your credentials.

The topic of our training this weekend will be Repeaters. We have done quite a bit of training on repeater procedures and protocol in our prior sessions. After we use our newly reconfigured simulcast repeater system to check into the Sunday Net, Doug and I will discuss the basic components of a FM voice repeater system, how our simulcast system works and introduce you to each of the repeater sites in our system. This will include an introduction to our newest site on Bahia Ridge in Novato.

I have also attached the draft operating protocol for our public service operations under the current COVID 19 pandemic. This protocol is based upon specific direction given the organizations we support by the Marin Department of Health as an express condition of their being allowed to conduct their events. Michael Fischer has submitted the attached protocol to the County for their review and approval. We are asking you to review this document and give feedback to Michael on any issues you see or that we may have missed. We will attempt to train under these conditions and this protocol at our next Critical Mass in July in preparation for our Public Service Marin Century Training Drill on August 1st and our first live Public Service exercises which start later than month. Please send your comments to Michael at fischer@igc.org or michaelfischer149@gmail.com.

You will hear from me again with your Zoom invitation/credentials and will see you all on Sunday.

Thanks and 73,

Milt – – KM6ASI

Posted in Club Events, Public Service
Tags: bahia ridge, critical mass, repeaters, zoom

A very different Field Day this year

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Curtis Ardourel

Greetings!

As we have in the past this year we are once again partnering with The Redwood Empire DX Association. The following is the email that was sent out to the REDXA Field Day group and I am forwarding to you.

-Curtis Ardourel WA6UDS

— Forwarded Message —

Greetings Field Day ops!

As we discussed at our REDXA Zoom meeting on Wednesday, the Marin Rod & Gun Club remains closed and so we will not be able to do our annual FD event from there as we have done for the past many years. In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, ARRL has made temporary rules changes to allow for individual operations from home stations running with existing antennas and commercial power (Class D) to make points by contacting Class D stations. Further, the temporary rules allow individual operators to combine their scores for club competition. Full details on how this works can be found here:

http://www.arrl.org/temporary-rule-waivers-for-arrl-field-day-2020

Since we have done a joint Field Day effort with the Marin Amateur Radio Society for many years, I reached out their president, Curtis, WA6UDS, to see if they would be willing to partner with us again this year under the temporary ARRL rules. Last night, their Board of Directors met and approved the plan so we will be able to aggregate the scores of all of the members of both clubs and submitting them under a single club name. The club name is important since we all will need to use the exact same spelling in order to get the scores aggregated. In previous years, we have submitted our scores under “REDXA/MARS”, so I propose that we all use that exact club name (without the quotes) when submitting our scores individually this year.

Amateur radio has a long and proud history of providing communications under a wide variety of emergency situations and this will be an opportunity to demonstrate that we can operate effectively but safely even in the current pandemic, so I hope that as many of us as possible will be active on Field Day weekend this year!

Ron Castro, N6IE
Field Day Chairman
Redwood Empire DX Assn.

2020 Field Day is June 27-28.
Please join us!

Club Call: W6KB

Posted in ARRL News, Club Events
Tags: field day