Georgia Section On My Mind

May, 2006

Greetings, all.

Well, are you ready? For Field Day, that is. With the dawning of May upon us, Field Day is right around the corner and will be here and gone before we know it. You know what that means, right? That means that it's time for all of you Georgia clubs (and you eclectic groups, too) to send me some information, PLEASE, about your Field Day plans so I can put all of that information out in next month's newsletter. It doesn't matter whether or not your club is an ARRL affiliate; if you're going to be "doing" field day this year, I'd really appreciate your information so I can share it with the rest of our Georgia hams. (Think of it as free publicity!) This is the fifth year that I've had the pleasure of compiling this list, and your help is very much appreciated. Every year, we have a brand new crop of eager hams who've not yet experienced the unique and memorable pleasure of hanging out for the weekend with a bunch of their fellow hams to string antennas, grill hot dogs, swat mosquitoes, wipe the sweat, cement friendships and.... oh, yeah... make as many contacts as they can with other hams around the country.... who are happily stringing their own antennas, grilling their own hot dogs, swatting.... (you get the picture.) This newsletter is one way to let those new hams, or hams that are simply new to Georgia, know where they can go to participate. If you're going to be setting up in the same location as last year, a simple note that tells me your club name and "same as last year" would be fine. If your group is willing to have visitors to your field day site, help me help you get that information out there for everyone's benefit. I'd appreciate that information as soon as possible. Thanks.

(And although I'm looking for information from ALL over the state, I'm particularly interested in info on south Georgia. Since we've done the tour of north and middle Georgia the past five years, if we make the rounds again this year, we'd like to visit with some of you folks down in the southern part of the state. (Y'all ARE doing the seafood thing again this year, aren't you???)

The deadline for teachers interested in attending one of the Teachers' Institutes this year is coming up on the 15th of this month. The sessions will be held June 19-23 in Roseville, CA; July 24-28 and July 31-August 4 in Newington, CT; August 7-11 in Jersey City, NJ; and August 14-18 in Moorpark, CA. To apply, send a letter on school letterhead, signed by the teacher and a school administrator, stating that you want to attend, and the dates you'd like to attend, in order of preference. Send this to MARK SPENCER, WA4SME, Education and Technology Program Coordinator, 774 Eastside Road, Coleville, CA, 96107. Include contact information that is good during and after school. For more info, see www.arrl.org/FandES/tbp

One last word on the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) competition. It seems that we were a day late and a dollar short on this one. By the time I heard back from the organization, all of the space that was available for any kind of a set-up had long ago been assigned. So, maybe next time...

Paulding/Douglas county ARES EC EMORY GORDY, W4WRO, has been providing a question for his ARES members prior to each week's net and having a competition of sorts to see who can come up with the correct answer... as well as the logic they used to come up with that answer. All of the questions he's posed have been interesting, but the most recent one was downright intriguing. (And special recognition goes out to Paulding ARES member DONNA HUGHS, N4UWF, who came up with the correct answer to this poser, as well as the one from the week before. Way to go, Donna!) Let's see how well YOU can do with it. The answer will be at the end of this newsletter, and I'll even provide a HINT halfway through.... OK, put on your thinking caps, 'cause here it is:

Paulding/Douglas ARES Question of the Week:

Jim and Greg were excellent ops on the ARRL CW traffic circuits prior to Amateur Radio being shutdown at the beginning of WW2. They were also excellent at word games, and after the nets were over, they would challenge each other with encryption/decryption puzzles (even though such activities were against FCC rules).

When war was declared, both (having a penchant for encryption/decryption) signed up for the Signal Corps' spy school, and as fate would have it, Jim ended up in enemy territory attempting to send a life-saving message in CW to his buddy on the other side of the front.

US intelligence had ascertained that the enemy was hiding a package of deadly nerve gas in one of 4 shipments of humanitarian Red Cross packages across the front. US Intel also knew which shipment. At the last second however, the enemy switched the order of shipments. Jim got wind of which shipment was the ringer. Jim (as did Greg) also knew that his messages were being intercepted by the enemy, and that the enemy had all the US crypt books. So Jim thought of the idea of using their old word games....plus a bit of US history, drilled into their heads in school...to encrypt his life-saving message, and thus SAVE THE DAY. Here's what Jim sent (in CW) to Greg:

I GIV RAIN X WEAR LEAD X TOM NANA X I GO A REG

WHICH package contained the deadly gas?

OK, the one-liners for this month, in deference to Mothers Day, will be based on what some mothers might have said...

HUMPTY DUMPTY'S MOTHER: "Humpty, if I've told you once,
I've told you a hundred times not to sit on that wall. But would you listen to me? Nooooo..."

APRIL HIGHLIGHTS

APRIL 29 --- CALHOUN Hamfest --- The Cherokee Capital ARS held its first Hamfest in 1998, and it was a modest little tailgating event. My better half MIKE "THAT'S ME" SWIDERSKI, K4HBI, likes to say that we doubled the attendance when we showed up that first year. It wasn't quite THAT small, but it was an "intimate little affair", and they had the good fortune of holding it on one of those picture-perfect spring days, the kind that could earn us all a wad of money if we could only figure out how to bottle it and sell it. But it was a perfect day to go for a drive and to spend some time outdoors, so we decided to make the trek to Calhoun for that first year's event. We didn't know any of the Cherokee Capital ARS club members back then, but they sure did make us feel welcome. Mike had slung a couple of lounge chairs in the back of the car, and we had a fine time that day, relaxing in the sunshine and meeting new friends. We had such a fine time that we've made the trip up to Calhoun every year since.

They've long since moved their Hamfest to the Sugar Valley Community Center, and have added a handful of commercial vendors along the way. (Rick the SignMan was even there this year.) And then, there's the FOOD.... both breakfast and lunch goodies, prepared by the club chefs, and served up with a smile. (i.e. sausage and biscuits, sausage and gravy, chili, BBQ, good ol' hot dogs, and homemade cookies and brownies)

This year's Hamfest didn't enjoy quite the stellar weather as that first year, but it was a pleasant day, with off-and-on sunshine and moderate temperatures. SANDY DONAHUE, W4RU, and I enjoyed chatting with a bunch of folks at the ARRL booth, and we even signed up a couple of new members. All in all, it was another fine Hamfest.... Good vendors, good boneyard, good food, and good fellowship. (I reckon that makes this a four star event!)

As we've had the pleasure of watching this Hamfest grow from its modest beginnings to become a fixture on our GA Hamfest calendar, and seen the improvements and additions over the years, one thing has remained constant. What hasn't changed at all is the warm welcome from these friendly club members, who continue to make you feel like they're genuinely happy to see you and are glad that you came. And that, my friends, will keep us coming back for more.

Many thanks to the club for hosting another enjoyable event, and to all of you who were able to attend. Hope to see y'all next year.

LITTLE MISS MUFFET'S MOTHER:
"Well, all I've got to say is if you don't get off your tuffet and start cleaning your room,
there's gonna be a lot MORE spiders around here!"

CLUB NEWS

ALBANY ARC --- These folks decided to participate in the GA QSO Party in a big.... and fun.... way. They took their club's emergency communications trailer to Camp Osborne for the day, and combined operating with lots of good fellowship and good food. Thunderstorms may have limited their operating time, but it certainly didn't "rain on their parade" or "dampen their spirits" any. A good time was had by all, thanks to their foresight in securing a pavilion for the day. Club members provided communications and assistance for the recent TOSRV (Tour of Springtime Rural Vistas) again this year, and one club member was an actual participant in the grueling 200 mile bicycling event. CONGRATULATIONS to that intrepid member, GENE CLARK, W4AYK, who certainly hasn't let retirement slow him down a lick.

ALFORD MEMORIAL ARC --- "Feed them, and they will come..." Prior to the April meeting, a cook-out of hot dogs and hamburgers, with all of the fixings, was provided in the parking lot of the meeting place. What a great idea! Not only is RANDY BASSETT, KR4NQ, a great Hamfest chairman; he proved to be a pretty darned good cook, too! The weather was ideal, and the turn-out was terrific, allowing for some great fellowship and socializing prior to the meeting. It was such a success that there'll be a repeat performance before the May meeting, too, with possibly an ice cream social scheduled prior to the June meeting. Once everyone went inside for the meeting itself, STEVE GARRISON, N4SEG, did a presentation on one of his first computers, an ALTAIR 8800, (if I remember correctly) which was a computer purchased and built on the installment plan..... when you sent in a payment, they sent you another part of the computer. It was quite interesting, and made quite evident that, when it comes to computers, we've come a long way, baby...

CENTRAL GA ARC and MIDDLE GA RA --- On March 25, members of both clubs worked together for a Red Cross Day in Warner Robins. They moved cables, cleaned out, and started work on a tower project to replace the main two antennas. This isn't the first time that members of these clubs have worked together, and it certainly won't be the last. In fact, these are two of the five clubs who have all been working together to sponsor the Heart of Georgia Hamfest, coming up on May 13 at the Peach Shops at Byron. (The other clubs are Macon ARC, Milledgeville ARC, and Macon-Bibb EMA ARG) These folks have done a fine job of spreading the word on this event, and I'm hopeful of a big turnout. FRANK BUTLER, W4RH, our Southeastern Director, and Director of Vice SANDY DONAHUE, W4RU, are planning to be there. Hope YOU will be, too. Middle GA RA members will also be participating in this year's Young Astronaut Day, to be held on May 6 at Robins AFB museum, providing hands-on radio technical seminars, as well as operating a VHF/HF station for all of the aspiring astronauts from all over the state who will be in attendance.

COLUMBIA COUNTY ARC --- These folks must be doing something right, because this club, one of our newest in the state, already has 73 members, and is still growing. At the April meeting, ACE NORTON, W4WTA, gave a tutorial on the features and functions of the 146.985 repeater. Plans are in the works for possibly doing a radio demonstration at the local library to highlight amateur radio and the ARRL's "Hello" PR campaign.

CHEROKEE CAPITAL ARS and DALTON ARC --- These folks will be pooling their resources to hold a joint fox hunt and picnic on May 29. To participate, listen for KG4RSU, CECIL CLEMENTS, at 9AM, who will announce the starting point for the hunt, on 146.805, 147.135, 443.675, and 443.00. The hunt itself will begin at 10AM, and individuals and groups are invited to participate. The first fox, better suited for beginners, will transmit every ten minutes for 30-60 seconds on the DARC repeater, 145.230. The second fox is a bit more wily and best suited for more advanced hunters who are in good physical condition. It will transmit an intermittent signal on 146.550FM. Actual location will be announced at 11:30 AM for those wanting to join in the cook-out. (Clubs will provide the grills; bring your own items to throw on the grill, plus a little something to share with the group, like dessert or a side dish.)

COLUMBUS ARC --- At the March 14, 2006 meeting of the Columbus City Council, Mayor Robert S. Poydasheff proclaimed the day as Hams Day in Columbus, in recognition of the time and talents given by hams in helping the community prepare for a communications emergency, for their participation in emergency preparedness classes, and their volunteerism, dedication and professionalism in their cooperation with and contributions to the Columbus Regional Homeland Security Board. Club members present at the Council meeting were introduced. The Council meetings are televised on the local government access cable channel and are replayed twice daily for a week. Thirteen members of ARES from the Columbus ARC were treated to a tour of the HazMat truck on April 20, 2006. Capt. Bahde, Lt. Horne and Sgt. Ligon of Columbus Fire and Emergency Medical Services were very gracious in taking their time to demonstrate the equipment on the truck and letting members handle and inspect the equipment. If an emergency arises and we are asked to assist with communications, we will have an idea of what is aboard the truck and how the equipment is used. The tour opportunity also provided a means for the HazMat crew to become familiar with ham radio and to meet our members. (de SUE GODWIN, W4SUE, CARC PIO)

GATEWAY ARC --- Cleveland, GA- At the May 15 meeting, NED MOUNTAIN, WC4X, will be presenting a fascinating program on his adventures in the realm of HF "Bicycle Mobile" operations.

GWINNETT ARS --- SANDY DONAHUE, W4RU, and I did the program for the April club meeting, and even if I did have to draft my own cheering section, it was still fun to WOW 'em. Sandy presented a power point on the ARRL's grassroots program, which is geared towards awareness and action on legislation that can effect amateur radio. It was also a pleasure to give special recognition to two of the club members who have done much to "inspire the next generation", EARL WHATLEY, AF4FG, and STEVE BACK, WB2OGY. Coming up next month, on May 9, BOB ALLPHIN, K4UEE, will be doing a presentation on the Peter One DX-pedition. This may be your last chance to see it locally until after Dayton! www.gars.org 

KENNEHOOCHEE ARC --- EMORY GORDY, W4RO, provided a very interesting presentation on BPL in Georgia at the April meeting, and coming up in May, WILL PETERS, WB4BRA, will be talking about "everything digital with a sound card". NOTE: The May 2 meeting will be held the Burris Auditorium on the Southern Polytechnic State University campus in Marietta, just a temporary switch in meeting place for this one meeting. Talk-in 146.880

LANIERLAND ARC --- The April club meeting for these folks featured a special speaker, MIKE CAMPBELL, the Bioterrorism/Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for District Two Public Health. He filled club members in on the Strategic National Stockpile, and on how amateur radio operators can support Public Health in the event of a disaster.

NORTHEAST GA ARC --- It was our pleasure to join these fine folks for their April meeting up in the lovely town of Commerce. They were even kind enough to provide possible "talking points" for the presentation ahead of time: on spectrum defense, reaching out to young people, and keeping hams interested and active in the hobby, which was very much appreciated. (Beats taking about something they DON'T want to hear!) Many thanks LARRY OSBORNE, WT4XX, club president and ex-Baltimore boy, and his lovely bride ELLEN, KB7MCE, for their pre-meeting hospitality, and to all of the club members for making us feel so welcome. We really enjoyed our visit with you.

NORTH FULTON ARL --- Members held their annual spring foxhunt on April 29. The meeting place for monthly meetings will no longer be the Southern Skillet, due to its closure. (Doggone it! They had the BEST catfish!) The April meeting was held at Sonny's BBQ, but I'm unsure whether this will be its permanent meeting location or not. Listen to the 145.47 repeater for announcements on upcoming meetings.

NORTH GEORGIA ARC --- Dahlonega, GA- NED MOUNTAIN, WC4X, will be providing the program at the May 15 meeting on his experiences with HF "Bicycle Mobile" operations. (and also at the Gateway ARC meeting in Cleveland the next evening... so you have TWO opportunities to see this fine program. And it really IS an interesting program)

QCWA, CHAPTER 49 --- GEORGE NICHOLSON, N4GRN, provided a terrific program at the April meeting on his experiences on the Peter One DX-pedition. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all who were in attendance. Member ANDY FUNK, KB7UV, who re-located to Texas just a few days after the meeting, also provided a mini-Hamfest from the back of his car following the meeting. (It's easier to sell it than it is to move it!) Best wishes to Andy in his new QTH. And kudos to SANDY DONAHUE, W4RU, for the great job he's done in providing such terrific programs for all of the QCWA meetings. Next meeting: June 17.

SILVER COMET ARS --- (Hiram, Ga 04/14/2006) The Silvercomet ARS is working on antenna projects for members. The next meeting May 2nd 7pm at the Paulding Chamber on Rte 278 Dallas. We will feature "Building HF Antennas Cheap that REALLY WORK". The first part of the presentation last meeting will carry into the May meeting. The instruction will show how a simple wire antenna can have gain and help you work a lot of stations on a budget. After the presentation we will be giving away a complete HF Wire antenna ready to build to one lucky attendee to the meeting, should be GREAT FUN. Also our 2006 Field Day site has been secured and W4WRO SilverComet ARS Field Day Director will say a few words about Field Day. The June meeting we will be all FD 2006 info. Speaking of W4WRO ARRL Statewide BPL Leader, Emory spoke at the The Kennehoochee Amateur Radio Club meeting in April and fielded a LOT of QUESTIONS. KI4MDU Tom has put a Telpac Gateway on the air in Hiram on 145.730 and is doing testing for the next several weeks, the call is KI4MDU-10. Tom will update us at the May meeting on the progress. Summer is almost here remember all the Hamfests go into full swing and it's ANTENNA WEATHER. Remember our website at www.silvercometars.com (de LEE MCDANIEL, WB4QOJ, SCARS President)

SEDX CLUB --- Well, these folks held their April meeting at a special location to accommodate a larger crowd, but they had no idea just how much larger that crowd was gonna be. A little bird (actually a rather big bird named SANDY DONAHUE, W4RU) told me that about 125 people showed up to enjoy the special program on the Peter One DX-pedition. They were hoping to draw maybe 70 or so, so they were quite thrilled with the turn-out, I'm sure. The wait staff may have been a bit overwhelmed, but attendees certainly weren't disappointed in the program. If you missed it, there's still another opportunity to see this terrific presentation at the upcoming Gwinnett ARS meeting on May 9. (Or you COULD trek up to Dayton for their little fest...)

STATESBORO ARS --- Elections were held recently and these folks selected the following slate of new officers: President- BRAIN KOEHLER, KE4TYQ; VP-CLARK WARK, KI4GYT; Secretary- BUDDY HORNE, AJ4BH; and Treasurer- MARSHALL THIGPEN- W4IS. Best wishes to these officers and the club members for another successful and enjoyable year.

THOMASVILLE ARC --- Members once again provided communications for the TOSRV (Tour of Springtime Rural Vistas) bicycling event, and are making plans to do the same for the Peacock Day events, coming up on May 13. With club president MIKE BROWN, KE4FGF, serving as the Thomas and Grady county EC, interest has blossomed among club members regarding emergency communications, and TEN club members have signed up to become ARES members. Coming up on May 15 and May 17, Grady county will be holding an emergency drill, with a tabletop exercise on Monday, and a full-scale exercise on Wednesday. Some of these new ARES members from the club will be participating in this drill.

NOTE: Many many thanks to those of you who take the time to send me "cut-and-paste" type information on your club's activities. This is MUCH easier for me than trying to pull this stuff out of "thin air"...

MICELANGELO'S MOTHER: "Mike, can't you paint on walls like other children?
Do you have any IDEA how hard it is to get that stuff off the ceiling?"

ARES NEWS

**The following was posted on the GA ARES reflector by PAUL PESCITELLI, K4UJ. In case you missed it, it is worth repeating. It is a report from RAY NOVAK, of ICOM America, and it was intended for public dissemination. So, FYI:

Early in 2006, Icom and several other vendors were asked to participate in a demonstration for FEMA and the US Army. The demonstration was designed to illustrate possible solutions to some of the communications issues experienced during responses to hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year.

In mid-February, the vendors and some volunteers gathered discretely to show the capabilities of an integrated communications design that included high-speed network connectivity via satellite, multiple mechanisms to transport network data, WIFI, and interconnected voice capabilities via VOIP, standard FM, and digital voice with D-Star.

The premise of the exercise was to illustrate a group of 1st responders actually being deployed, then having that team relay vital tactical and strategic information to other team members hundreds to thousands of miles away, and provide a seamless integration of this information into existing networks. The operation required full integration of voice and data networks, along with adding significant data capability to individuals in the response team.

While there were many items covered in our demonstration, I will focus just on the Amateur Radio portion of this demonstration.

Demonstration Overview:

Both tactical and strategic communications relayed to the proper authorities through an integrated voice and data network.

Long Haul Communications:

For the long haul communications, both FEMA and the US ARMY requested that our focus shift from HF to new and more robust communication methods. One comment that was made during the demonstration was "Why say it, when you can send it"? This underscored the importance of concise, accurate communications capabilities.

Thus the primary focus was data, data, and more data. The government agencies obviously have satellite data solutions. The most recent solution to come on line is Hugh's R-BGAN Satellite solution. For those that are interested, here is a great resource of information on the R-BGAN technology: http://www.aosusa.com/bgan.html

With the bandwidth that was available with the R-BGAN technology, there was a lot of normal, everyday type communications being provided via network as well as VOIP communications. I realize that none of this really pertains to amateur radio, but this needed to be shared so you see how D-STAR integrated seamlessly into the local communications network.

Now to the core of the D-STAR demonstration! There were some specific requests from FEMA and the US ARMY that needed to be addressed for the 1st Responder's. Here are some of them, and how we were able to immediately meet the requirements with D-Star's simultaneous voice and data capabilities:

* 1st Responder communications identification

D-STAR's Automatic Callsign TX with voice communications

* 1st Responder location (when landmarks are either below water level or no longer standing)

D-STAR GPS/callsign along with voice communications

* 1st Responder assessment data

Transmission of data files using same site repeater structure as voice
communications

* Last mile (really 30 mile) data coverage

Combination of 1kbps and 128kbps data

1kbps = small data files from "in-field' responders
128kbps = mobile officials retain data connectivity for E-Mail or WLAN network
128kbps = level 2 communications networks outside WIFI range (connected to SATCOM data)

While some laughed at the 1kbps data, it was really effective in moving FEMA incident type reports. What we did was store the data locally, then pushed a CSV file over the 1kbps data stream. Once the file was received, the server expanded and populated a website with the details.

From the comments heard at the exercise, it was apparent that our traditional thoughts of providing "out of area" communications with HF should shift to providing "in-area" augmentation of data and voice capabilities. These functions won't replace our existing agreements and relationships with served agencies. But if we can add these new capabilities to our offerings, our services become much more attractive to some of the federal agencies.

We all agreed that the exercise was a huge success. While we can't share any of the specific details about the exercise and we don't know anything about future government directions, we do know that there is significant interest in expanding data communications capabilities for Emergency Communications. We were proud to be able to quickly respond and satisfy the requirements of the exercise organizers. We successfully demonstrated the capabilities of both the D-Star technology, and the spirit of the Amateur Radio community.

GWINNETT COUNTY ARES--- Gwinnett ARES Explores Voice over IP and PBX Technology:
As of March 25, 2006 Gwinnett ARES applied for and received an TRIP (Telephone Routing Internet Protocol) ITAD Internet Telephony Administrative Domain). Currently Gwinnett ARES is now listed on the TRIP list from IANA http://www.iana.org/assignments/trip-parameters.

What does all this mean? Well, ITAD is kind of like DNS or the phonebook. You look up the entity you wish to call and it provides an exchange number. This number is then verified with the TRIP list and is routed to the registered VOiP gateway.

This means that Gwinnett ARES and its members will be able to experiment with VOiP by utilizing a SIP gateway that is registered to their own organization. We will be able to provision SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) addresses.

The overall goal is to experiment with deploying a fully functional PBX that uses VOiP to route phone calls between the Gwinnett ARES Mobile Communications facility and the Emergency Operations Center. This will provide flexibility for point to point strategic communications.

Gwinnett ARES fully expects to couple the VOiP technology with the HSMM (High Speed Multi Media) infrastructure that is being deployed. If the mobile communications facility is deployed in the county and it can gain internet access via the HSMM network, you could place phone calls directly to the MCF from anywhere in the world utilizing VOiP. (de PAUL PESCITELLI, K4UJ)
http://www.dx-is.com
http://www.openhsmm.org

HOUSTON COUNTY --- These folks, led by EC JOHN LOUTH, WB4EEL, have been very active in recruiting new members who are committed to providing emergency communications for the Red Cross and the community. They participated in a drill with the Houston County Middle Georgia Red Cross Chapter, and as soon as they complete installation of a new antenna at the Red Cross center, plans are to implement WinLink and echolink from that office.

MADISON COUNTY ARES --- Since the first Monday in April, these folks have been holding a weekly net on the N4ALE repeater, 147.300 (+) PL 123, at 7:30 PM.

NORTH FULTON ARES --- This net still meets every Sunday at 7:30 PM, on the N4CLA repeater, 145.470(-) PL 100. This group is undergoing a re-building process, and all of you in the area, especially you North Fulton folks, are encouraged to check in with EC VICTOR WASILOV, KI4HPX and to support these efforts. He is an enthusiastic leader, but he can't do it alone. Get involved!

PAULDING/ DOUGLAS COUNTY ARES --- (Dallas, Ga. 04/14/2006) Paulding/Douglas County ARES NETS are growing. The NET meets each Thursday at 8pm local time on 146.955 (-)77hz tone located in Dallas, Ga. The NET is a training environment with traffic passed each week. Also DIGITAL training is being worked on by WB3ILX, KI4MDU and WB4QOJ. W4WRO EC Paulding/Douglas County ARES has started a very interesting way to help bring ARES members to the NET. Each week W4WRO puts out a question on the Paulding ARES mail reflector and members guess the answer. This has been great fun and increased interest. FEMA courses are on the front burner and a lot of Paulding/Douglas County ARES members have completed the FEMA 100 and 700 courses. Paulding County EMA is asking that all be compliant by fall 2006. First responders need to have this completed. All ARES members should send W4WRO an email if you have completed or are interested in these courses. w4wro@pauldingares.com Do not forget Field Day 2006 is just around the corner. Get ready with your JUMP KITS and have those batteries CHARGED. Remember our website www.pauldingares.com (de LEE MCDANIEL, WB4QOJ, AEC Paulding/Douglas County ARES)

WALTON COUNTY ARES --- These folks will be holding their first net on their new 442.050 (+) PL 77 repeater on May 9 at 8PM. And the first meeting for the Walton County Emergency Radio Club will be held on May 24 at 8PM at the Walton County East Annex building on Tom Brewer Road near Highway 78 (same building as the Walton PD) http://wcerc.org/ 

**Is YOUR ARES group 501(c)(3)??? FYI, the Gwinnett ARES group recently received a $3000 grant from Home Depot. If your group is a 501(c)(3) non-profit group, you are eligible to apply for a grant from your local Home Depot. It's worth a shot... (And CONGRATULATIONS to Gwinnett ARES)

ABE LINCOLN'S MOTHER: "Again with the stovepipe hat, Abe?
Can't you just wear a baseball cap like the other kids?"

THE NATURE OF DISASTERS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR AMATEUR RADIO

The following is a presentation that was given by one of our ham friends from north of the border, TOM COX, VE6TOX, at the Communications Academy 2006, held at the beginning of April in Burien, WA. Tom is very active in emergency communications and has an excellent website, where you can find many other presentations to give you an overview of emergency communications in Canada. www.amateurradio.ca Many thanks to JOHN KRAUS, KC4ZGQ, for sending this presentation to me, and to Tom, who graciously agreed to let me share it with all of you.

DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES

Disasters are not simply big emergencies. They are unique and distinct. In trying to learn how to prepare for disasters, we make the mistake of looking at the disaster in retrospect. This leads to the same mistakes being made almost every time and the same "lessons learned" being written for almost every disaster report.

Emergencies are what the emergency services train for and respond to every day. A disaster is something that they rarely train for and may only happen once or twice in a lifetime.

Dictionary definitions for emergencies usually include "a sudden, unforeseen happening which requires action to correct or to protect lives and/or property."

Dictionary definitions for disasters are very similar. For example "A disaster is a tragic event that disrupts the normal routine of life, causing loss of property and life and suffering". There may also be a statement "overwhelming local resources."

The legal definition might humorously be stated as "It isn't an emergency until the government says it is" (Declaration of a state of emergency).

A declaration of a state of emergency is usually done for disasters ­ not emergencies.

To show the unique character of a disaster, try throwing more police, fire or ambulance personnel and see if that would make any difference. If not, you are looking at a disaster.

Fast developing local disasters are caused by explosions and tornadoes. Slow developing local disasters are caused by sink holes and water main breaks.

Fast developing regional disasters are caused by earthquakes and tsunamis. Slow developing regional disasters are caused by hurricanes, wildfires and pandemics.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DISASTERS

While the characteristics below are almost invariably found with all disasters, an important caveat must be added that it is possible that some of these things will not occur with any particular disaster.

It is an unusual event. Society learns quickly to cope with usual events and it becomes either routine or an emergency. Disasters, by their nature, are distinct from emergencies because they do not happen all the time. [Unusual, but not unexpected. It is common knowledge that California has frequent earthquakes and Florida has hurricanes.]

Communications fail. This is one of the defining characteristics that separate an emergency (communications still work) and a disaster. The problem is that there are over 40 different ways that communications fail - many of which Amateur Radio cannot solve or is only of limited assistance. For example:
- Equipment failure - repeater off the air, tower destroyed, dispatch center collapse.
- Frequency overuse - listening to dozens of firemen calling "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" all at once during 9/11/2001 clearly illustrates that nobody's Mayday were being understood. Very little information aside from "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" got over the radios.
- Battery failure - batteries get used up at an incredibly fast rate during disasters.
- Inability to reach specific organizations, individuals or sites.
- Radios for agencies are not frequency agile and couldn't talk to one another.
- Passing of incorrect or partially correct information.
- Misunderstanding the information presented or not acting properly upon it.

Phones work. They may not work 100%, but they work. If they don't work, they will be fixed soon. If they do work, people won't use Amateur Radio.

The scope or extent is uncertain. With unusual events occurring compounded by communications failure, it is no surprise that disasters invariably result in nobody knowing the full extent of how bad things are.

The worst hit areas are the last to be responded to. Areas slightly affected scream the loudest because they still have phones working or alternate forms of communications. The worst hit areas lose all forms of communications and are simply forgotten due to the noise from elsewhere.

Lack of information - due to the widespread scope of a disaster, EVERYTHING is affected. As a result, there is a tremendous need to find out what roads are out and what roads are intact, what vital services are destroyed and which ones can easily be repaired, where the greatest number of casualties and evacuees are to be found and what buildings are intact for recovery use or have been destroyed.
You basically need information on every single aspect of government and business and homes in an instant. Combined with communications failures, you are not going to get the information you need. [What ever you can see, it is never the whole picture.]

Misinformation - it is very, very easy for information to be misconstrued, rumors to be stated as facts and honest mistakes to become absolute facts when dealing with a disaster. When massive amounts of information are required, it is easy for wrong information to slip in. Disasters are full of examples of "Wrong
Information".

People die. While the emergency services deal with death on a daily or weekly basis, the sheer number of deaths can have a profound and traumatic effect on both responders and those affected. Emergency responders have trouble "switching gears" when faced with body parts and dozens or hundreds of casualties and the public is shocked to see bodies lying on the streets for days.

Emergency services and government will be equally affected. Fire halls are destroyed by tornadoes. City halls are flooded out. 911 centers collapse. While cases of emergency workers abandoning their posts are extremely rare, it is hard to respond to a disaster when your fire truck is crushed and all the water mains have been broken.

Hospitals will be amongst the most affected. Hospitals are almost invariably affected by the disaster. Whether the disaster damages the building itself, the contents of the buildings are disrupted (few hospitals are earthquake proofed), or staff is unable to get to or from the hospital, the hospitals are the first to feel the effects. Hospitals are expensive to build and many are kept longer than the average building because they are just too expensive to replace. As a result, they can be more fragile.

Things get worse. In emergencies, the arrival of the emergency services usually results in things getting better fairly rapidly. Casualties are taken to hospital, fires put out, bad people are arrested. In disasters, the limited resources of the emergency services and the fact that they have been affected as well usually results in a continuation of things deteriorating. When the fire
truck is crushed and the water mains are broken, the arrival of the firefighters has no effect on the disaster and the situation continues to deteriorate.

Things get better or they get worse. Disasters never stay exactly the same. This means your response environment will constantly be changing and the situation you were in an hour ago may be completely different now.

Things will last much, much, much longer than you expect. There is a tendency for everyone to think that after an earthquake or a hurricane or any disaster that things will be cleaned up in a week or two. Months later, as society continues to struggle with rebuilding, they realize that the recovery will be years in the making.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DISASTER RESPONSE

Emergencies are taken care of on a local level - it is what emergency services are staffed and trained to do. By definition, anything that is beyond the capabilities of the local services or severely impacts the local emergency services requires outside help. As well, disasters often cross local jurisdictional boundaries. This means that you will have multiple organizations responding. You have no idea what that means until you see it! [In a Detroit plane crash, there were 69 fire departments and a total of 288 different organizations which eventually responded.]

Convergence of Responder. Everyone and their (Search and Rescue) dog comes. This includes off-duty, retired, probationary, volunteer, fired and wanna-be personnel.

Convergence of Organizations - Red Cross, Salvation Army, church groups, Disaster Child Services, SPCA, ARES, RACES, CERT.... Dozens or hundreds of organizations will arrive.

Convergence of Media - local outlets are augmented by regional, national and international media looking for unique stories.

Convergence of Relatives - especially if children are affected, every relative will come looking for missing family members.

Convergence of Volunteers - emergency services will be overwhelmed with something they rarely allow otherwise with the addition of volunteers.

Convergence of Equipment and Supplies - because the exact needs are unknown, supplies will be ordered approximately three times more or three times less than what is actually required. The lack of information on the scope of the disaster, the numbers of people affected and the most severely affected areas means that supplies will be poorly allocated.

Convergence of Spectators. They will interfere with the responders trying to reach the scene.

"Who is in charge" becomes a major issue. Legal requirements, multi-jurisdictional devastation, multiple agencies, conflicting priorities mean much time is spent initially picking the top person or much more time will be spent debating and working against one another.

Situation reports are given infrequently and are not updated. Emergency organizations may know that their situation has changed, but they rarely advise outside organizations, agencies or the public because they never do it on a regular basis.

Rumors start in the absence of reliable government or response agency information. Spontaneous sources of information will spring up in the absence of a widespread, easily accessible official source of information. Emergency services will turn to these ad-hoc sources because they too are not getting all the information they need.

Logistics issues become huge. Not only does the over- or under-supply of scarce resources cause problems, but the transportation issues become huge. Which roads are blocked? What bridges are out? What streets are gridlocked by fleeing evacuees and responding agencies and relatives?

Logistics issues become huge with the allocation of scarce resources. Who gets the ten generators when there are thousands of needs? The hospitals? The reception centers? The fire halls? The water supply? The gas stations to supply fuel for the fire trucks? The utility companies? The Red Cross? The Amateur Radio operators?

Financial issues are ignored until later. There is an attitude in the disaster response of "someone will pay for this." At the end of the day, the government says "Let's see the purchase order. Let's see the receipts. Let's see the authorization." Issues like "If everyone else is donating meals for the responders, why should McDonalds be the only one to get paid?" or "Why are urban
firefighters being paid seven times the amount of forest fire fighters for doing the same job side-by-side?"

With fire trucks destroyed, roads blocked, water mains broken, emergency response becomes very, very creative. This creates unusual responses and unusual locations. Whatever works!

Unusual responses include things like:
- Firefighters using bulldozers or helicopters rather than ladders and hoses.
- Inmates being used to cook for the first responders.
- Garbage dumpsters used to transport essential supplies.
- Naval vessels being used to power reception centers.
- Trains being run down streets with no rails in order to supply power to reception centers and government buildings.
- Firefighters using heavy dump trucks to reach flood victims.

Unusual responses result in unusual locations being used, for
example:
- Airport terminals used as hospitals.
- Burger joints being used as police headquarters
- Breweries used to supply water for hundreds of thousands of people.
- Highways and roads used as landing pads and jails.

Incident Command will be used to organize the response. It is the best system in the world at this time for disaster response and deals directly with many of the most critical management, safety and logistical issues that arise in every disaster.

There will be confusion because different agencies use different versions of incident command, agencies take only the parts of incident command that they like and disregard the rest, and new positions and titles are added to keep people happy or reflect their normal organizational structure.

If there is one phone left in the entire country, responders will attempt to make communications by phone because that is what they know and that is what they are comfortable with. In a disaster, there is no time to learn how to use a satellite phone, a radio or any other type of communications system.

At the end of the day, there will be a huge effort to list the "lessons learned". This will be given to the people who have just learned the lessons of this once-in-a-lifetime experience and will be ignored by those who are about to go through a disaster.

NATURE OF AMATEUR RADIO

Amateur Radio has a nature that makes it extremely useful in disasters. It also has a nature that makes it extremely un-useful in disasters.

Nobody knows what Amateur Radio is or does.

When communications fail, Amateur Radio comes on.

Amateur Radio never has to physically converge - if you have one ham "on the inside" everyone else can monitor and stay out of the way until needed.

Amateur Radio is dispersed, which helps with the damage assessment and defining the exact boundaries or scope of a disaster.

Amateur Radio is less likely to be forced off the air because it has equipment redundancy (every ham seems to have 10 radios), alternate power supplies and is willing to take as many car batteries as required to keep communications going.

Amateur Radio is not tied to the specific locations, agencies, types of disaster and can be flexibly used for multiple types of disaster.

Amateur Radio is a scarce resource - despite having thousands of hams, many are too old to respond, many are physically unfit to respond, many only want to do CW or contesting or DXing and have never participated in any emergency training. If you expect 100 hams, you will get 10.

Amateur Radio is one of the worst at giving situation reports despite the fact that everyone can hear them and would be informed.

Amateur Radio doesn't make itself user-friendly - nobody knows who you can talk to, how to use an NTS form, or where you are to use you.

Messages sent by Amateur Radio have a much lower chance of getting responded to. This is because there may be no answer available, the message got to the wrong person, the person who got the message has much higher priorities, because the message is tied up in the Amateur Radio paperwork pile or because the sending and receiving operators never followed up to see why an answer hadn't come through. The end result is that people are appreciative of any messages that do get responded to but the majority of messages never get an answer.

IMPLICATIONS FOR AMATEUR RADIO

If Incident Command is the best management system in the world, use it to structure your Amateur Radio response.

Don't wait to be called. Even if you are told not to respond, you can still prepare your group and monitor the situation. It is better to ramp up fast and then stand down rather than to wait until being called and working from a catch-up position. [Every post disaster lessons learned review includes emergency services saying they should have ramped up earlier, instead of trying to play catch up.]

Send one person to the EOC or calling agency. This requires you to have a working relationship with the government and served agencies. If they tell you they will call you only if they need you, it is time to do a presentation on "If all communications have failed, why do you suddenly think you will be able to contact Amateur Radio?"

Amateur Radio is a scarce resource. You will not be able to cover all locations requiring communications.

Avoid being sent to useless locations - use your expertise to make suggestions on where amateur communications can be of greatest use.

If the disaster is widespread and Amateur Radio is dispersed, use Amateur Radio to assemble a systematic and thorough report on what areas are affected.

Look for black holes. Areas with no amateur to give a good or bad damage assessment must be ruled out by having someone take a look. If the area is not affected, the emergency services need to know. If it has been devastated, the emergency services need to know.

If the disaster is widespread and Amateur Radio is dispersed, expect that Amateur Radio will be unable to move easily due to blocked roads, traffic congestion or damaged bridges.

Just like the emergency services may be equally affected as the general population, so will Amateur Radio. Repeaters may be working or out-of-service. Be prepared to use both simplex and repeater and not train on just one or the other.

People will insist on using phones and phones will be a huge priority for the response - the faster the phone system is repaired, the faster the response will be able to work. Anyone who has taken the time to compile a list of cell phone numbers for key people will become the stars of emergency communications.

When phones come back on, start to stand your members down rather than burning them out.

Use your system to give constant and regular situation reports. In the absence of official reports, talk only about your Amateur Radio response.

Don't expect people to know who you can talk to or how to send messages. You are going to have to put up big signs that are welcoming, let people know who you can talk to (where are your stations?) and help them through the messaging process.

Spend as much time as possible following up on messages and trying to close the loop.

Get into digital communications. The more you can do here, the more useful you will be in a disaster. If volumes of traffic are an issue for all disaster response, then voice messaging no longer cuts it. [An average of just 6 NTS type messages can be sent each hour by voice.]

STRUCTURING YOUR RESPONSE

Use a formal and complete Incident Command response including organization, objectives, terminology and operational periods. [Use it to manage the Amateur Radio response outside of the incident area. Within the incident area, you fall under the existing Incident Command.]

Have a set of SOPS to help each person [in the ICS structure] to do their job.

Send regular situation reports over the air and post them on the internet as well. Assign one person to ensure the nets get the latest and read the latest situation reports on the air - a minimum once an hour on operations frequencies and once every 15 minutes on check-in frequencies.

On an individual basis, make a cup of coffee. [This gives you time to mentally get prepared to go.]

Grab & Go bags should be one bag for personal gear (waterproof) and one for a single station set-up. If one person can't carry it, it is too much.

Use spares. It is a requirement of Incident Command and gives huge operational flexibility to your group. Spares give you flexibility. Who takes over if you cannot?

Station spares at the hospitals first. If the hospitals can be ruled out because this is not a mass-casualty incident, then look for unusual locations. [The peak of hospital use is post-disaster.]

Reception centers may not be used or may have enough phones depending on the nature of the emergency. Don't tie yourself up there if you aren't needed.

Inform surrounding clubs. Don't be an example of why Amateur Radio operators are often the worst communicators. [Notify them early in your response.]

Omit things from your Incident Command System and Standard Operating Procedures by conscious and methodical intent rather than simply forgetting to do it. If you don't need a safety officer, don't assign one, but don't forget it!

Use non-hams to assist. They can do member callout, logging of net traffic, writing situation reports, updating other clubs, covering for bathroom breaks, providing logistics support, timing situation reports, taking pictures.

Take pictures. It makes your "Lessons Learned" much more interesting even if nobody learns your lessons.

Be flexible! Disasters are never what you thought they were going to be.

OTHER GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT DISASTERS - FOR THE FUN OF IT

Things happen faster than you can react or think about.

Things don't work and things go wrong.

There are no right answers, especially when information is unavailable or incorrect.

Any decision you make will be determined by others, who were not there, to be the wrong decision.

Evacuating a city is like moving it over 10 miles and then having everyone say, "Okay, we moved. Now you must supply everything to us and take care of every single problem we have."

Lessons learned are "lessons listed" rather than anything people learn.

Donations are a nightmare and are often called "the second disaster". Amateur Radio can be a big help at donation warehouses.

Backup generators fail. Over half of them fail in the first 24-48 hours.

Some problems are not solvable.

Rumors start in the absence of reliable official information.

It takes a while to get organized.

Key people will be missing - out of touch, out of region, or dead.

If you don't know the key people, you won't be allowed in to the emergency response. If they know you, they will let you in.

Most people don't learn from disasters. People in tornado alley don't all have tornado cellars and people rebuild in floodplains.

People don't have 72-hours of supplies and expect the government to provide everything in that period that might be required.

People are unrealistic in what they expect the responders to do.

Reception centers or evacuation centers are the last place people want to stay and will be completely empty unless it is the only available place to stay (at which point it becomes full to overflowing).

No matter how many frequencies you have, you can only listen to one or two at the most. Emergency organizations wanting more frequencies will still experience communications failures.

No matter how much interoperability you have, you can only listen to one frequency and one person at a time. Adding more people onto a single frequency only clogs the frequency to a greater degree.

The media may be the only source of reliable information because the municipal information representatives are spending too much time massaging and spinning the limited information they have.

Nobody has the total picture or will ever know exactly what happened. All decisions made in this situation risk being the wrong decisions.

If you wait to be called, you will likely never be called because they have too many other issues or can't find your number when they finally do want to call you.

You can find additional presentations from this emcomm gathering at http://commacademy.org/2006/handouts.php

JACK BAUER'S MOTHER: "Can't you just sit STILL for once, Jack?
MUST you get into mischief twenty-four hours a day?"

*******HINT for W4WRO's Poser: Think anagrams.**********


ARES REPORT DE DSEC STAN EDWARDS, WA4DYD

The following is reported for March 2006:

Membership: 1,142 Change since last month: 17

Total Net Sessions: 123
Drills, Tests, Training Sessions: 110 Man-hours: 660
Public Service Events: 6 Man-hours: 164
Emergency Operations: 2 Man-hours: 28
Misc. Events: 47 Man-hours: 353

Total Events: 165 Total Man-hours: 1,205

Reporting by District:

West Central 100.0%
Metro Atlanta 90.9%
Northwest 38.5%
Southwest 35.0%
Northeast 21.4%
Southeast 17.9%
Central 15.0%
East Central 14.3%

Total Reporting 27.8%

The following jurisdictions reported for March: Baker, Banks, Bartow, Carroll, Charlton, Cherokee, Clarke/Madison, Clayton/Hentry, Cobb, Decatur, DeKalb, Dodge, Douglas/Paulding, Evans, Fayette, Fulton-North, Gilmer, Grady/Thomas, Gwinnett, Harlson, Houston, Lee, Lowndes, Morgan, Muscogee, Murray/Whitfield, Newton, Oglethorpe, Pierce, Putnam, Rockdale, Sumter, Toombs, Washington, Worth.

GOLDILOCKS' MOTHER: "I've got a bill for a busted chair from the Bear family.
You know anything about this, Goldie?"

NET REPORT DE JIM HANNA, AF4NS, STM

PUBLIC SERVICE HONOR ROLL:

STATION ACTIVITY REPORTS:

Traffic handled (QTC):

*****NOTE: Don't forget the South CARS net, which meets every day from 8 AM until 10 AM and again from noon until 2PM, on 7.251 MHz. A friendly, welcoming group of folks. Especially great company while on the road. I understand that a Trader's Net meets on this same frequency on Wednesday mornings at 10 AM.

***** Other GREAT nets:
QCWA: Saturdays at 9AM on 3857.5 MHz
SE 6M SSB Net: Sundays at 9 PM on 50.145 MHz
SE AM Net: Tuesdays at 7:30 PM on 3885 kc (AM nets ALWAYS meet on kcs...)
Hole in the Wall Net: Wednesdays at 9 PM on 50.135 MHz

"In days of old, when ops were bold and sideband not invented,
the words were passed by pounding brass, and all were quite contented."
Anonymous

AMATEUR RADIO MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY

During National Military Appreciation Month in May, amateur radio operators from all over the world will allow people in their communities to express gratitude to members of the U.S. armed forces over two-way radios. The event, called ARMAD, Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day, will take place May 27.
Founded in Fort Wayne, Ind., the organization will have operators around the world meet in public locations, such as shopping centers, parks, hospitals and sporting events, to allow people in their communities to thank and express support to members of the military, as well as veterans, members of the reserves, the National Guard and coalitions forces. ARMAD also hopes to educate our youth about the sacrifices present and past generations have made to secure America's freedom. ARMAD has been involved in Rally For America, in Fort Wayne. The event attracted more than 25,000 attendees.
For more information, see the group's website. http://www.armad.net/

ALBERT EINSTEIN'S MOTHER: "But Albert, it's your senior picture.
Can't you do SOMETHING with your hair? Styling gel, mousse, SOMETHING...?"

SECTION NOTABLES

**CONGRATULATIONS to WALTER CHILDS, KQ4SF, who has finally gone home from the assisted living facility to his new home sweet home. Walter suffered a terrible accident on the job back in 2002, and his rehabilitation and recovery has been a long and arduous one. Thanks to his determination and faith, and the loving support of his family and friends, especially his ham friends in the Thomasville ARC, he has finally beaten the odds and prevailed. His story is an inspirational one, and I'm thrilled that he is finally back home again. Club members are already planning an antenna party at Walter's new home. Welcome home, Walter. Welcome home.

**If you checked out some of the contesting results that were posted in the May issue of QST, you should've noticed some familiar GA callsigns in there. In the California QSO party, JOHN LANEY, K4BAI, PAUL NEWBERRY, N4PN, and NEAL SULMEYER, K4EA, all placed in the TOP TEN for non-California participants. Also, ROBERT WILCOX, NA4BW, placed in the TOP TWO for operating single-op QRP, and that's for ALL participants, both inside and outside of California. Also, in the ARRL Sweepstakes, CW, regional leaders for the southeast included Georgia JOHN LANEY, K4BAI, PAUL NEWBERRY, N4PN, (noticing a pattern here?)and HAROLD KENNEDY, N4GG, were listed as regional leaders in the Southeastern division. CONGRATULATIONS to all of these fine operators. (If there were other GA operators in there who have other than a 4 callsign, I apologize for not pulling you out of the pile of callsigns that were listed.) If YOU are interested in contesting, and in honing your operating skills, I direct you to the http://secc.contesting.com website. Even in this low spot in the cycle, these are the folks who continue to make those contacts.

**We have a whole host of terrific instructors around the state, and thanks to their stellar efforts, the number of Georgia hams continue to grow. (over SIXTY new Georgia hams last month alone!) But let me tell you about one of our instructors who goes the extra mile. ALTON HIGGINS, W4VFZ, our EC in Towns county, taught a class which included a number of Red Cross volunteers, and thanks to his efforts, most of them have gone on to get their licenses. (A few others will be taking the test to get theirs at the end of the month.) But was Al contented to leave it at that? NO, he sure wasn't. Now that the classes are over, he holds monthly meetings at his home for these folks, an informal kind of "club", where they have technical discussions and do construction projects. He says that the first project "being a battery charger for HTs that can be left on indefinitely without over-charging the battery, will power the HT direct if the batteries fail, and uses the "burping" method of charging which is now the preferred method. The next project will probably be a 2 meter SWR, etc.). All members have already built a 2 meter "J" pole antenna that I designed and that has really good SWR over the 2 meter band." So, THREE CHEERS to Al, who is following up with his former students to insure that they continue to learn and grow in the hobby.

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S MOTHER: "The next time I catch you throwing money across the Potomac,
you can kiss your allowance good-bye, young man!"

PIGLETS (AKA YOUNG HAMS)

**WELCOME TO THE WORLD to future piglet ALEX CHARLES BLOCK, a great big bouncing boy recently born to proud mom LAURA BLOCK, KG4WQT, and her husband.

**CONGRATULATIONS to third-grader ANDREW BARNHARDT, who recently earned his technician class license.

**CONGRATULATIONS, also, to KALYN MATTHEWS, who celebrated her 15th birthday in a rather special way... by earning her technician class license. (And a very happy belated birthday to her, too!)

**BOY SCOUT SPECIAL EVENT APRIL 22-- The Sierra Amateur Radio Club (SARC) in Ridgecrest, California, will be offering an Amateur Radio demonstration at the Kern Area Boy Scout Camporall on Saturday, April 22. They will be using call sign K2BSA/6. SARC plans to set up a solar-powered low power HF station with a multi-band antenna. They will be using the 40 and 20 meter bands, and if conditions permit, the 17 meter band, along with the SO-50 and VO-52 satellites.
Boys ages 11-18 will be participating, as well as adults, and for many of them this will be their fist exposure to ham radio. With your help and participation, this is a great way to get the younger generation involved in Amateur Radio. QSLs can be sent via MIKE HERR, WA6ARA.

** Although 12-year-old JORDEN LAWSON, KI4NBW, technically hails from south of the GA line, he and his family are active members of the Thomasville ARC, and I hereby proclaim them all to be "honorary" Georgians. Jorden recently sent the following message to Thomasville ARC president MIKE BROWN, KE4FGF, to tell him about an exciting development, a new ham club just for kids:

My family and I have had a very fun time with Amateur Radio, so we decided to start a club for kids. My mother called the 4H office and set up a date. Three other boys came with their parents and Mr. Lilly (the club coordinator) told us that we needed to learn the 4H pledge.
I pledge:
My head to clearer thinking
My heart to greater loyalty
My hands to larger service
My health to better living
For my club, my community, my country and my world.

Then after we learned it, he asked us if we knew what 4H stood for. I said head, heart, hands, and health. Then he said we needed to elect officers. I was voted President. Cameron Merritt is 12 years old, very smart and has an interest in electronics. He was voted Vice President. Richard White is 9 years old, and his dad has been a ham for 12 years. Richard was voted in as Treasurer. Robert White is his brother; he is 11 years old. He was voted Secretary. The last position was filled by Sarah Hunt, my sister. She filled in as Sergeant at Arms. I didn't know what that was at first, but it just means if someone talks out of turn in a business meeting, she tells them to raise their hand first.

We needed material to get everyone licensed. So I called Gordon West and asked him if he could donate some material. I was nervous talking with the "Ham of the Year" but he was very nice and patient with me. He sounded younger than his picture. He also sounded excited that I became a Ham at 12 years old. He said he could help by providing us our books. So at our last meeting we discussed how we would be studying the books. And Mr. Russ White (KC7GHI) gave us a little background lesson on simplex and duplex radio operation, and frequency modulation. We will start studying as soon as the material gets here, and hopefully we'll have some young hams soon.

We are hoping to do some fund raising activities so that we can pay for the tests and get some good equipment. If anyone has some ideas on fundraisers we are open for suggestions!

I am very excited about this club, and hope that we can encourage more youngsters to be Hamsters. If anyone wants to visit our club meetings or training sessions, please call 850-342-1066 to ask for directions and times, we would love to have you as our guest.

73, Jorden, KI4NBW, President, Jefferson County Hamsters

JONAH'S MOTHER: "That's a nice story,
Jonah, but you'd better tell me where you've REALLY been for the past three days, or you're grounded!"

UPCOMING EVENTS

MAY 6 --- PICNIC, co-sponsored by the Georgia Single Sideband Association, the Georgia Cracker Radio Club, and the Old Buzzards Group, at Indian Springs State Park, near Jackson, Pavilion #4, beginning at 10AM. Bring a covered dish to share. Be prepared to do some serious eating and some not-so-serious toe-tapping.

MAY 13 --- HEART OF GEORGIA Hamfest --- Five clubs have pooled their resources to come up with a fun tailgating event for our enjoyment. Sponsored by the Macon ARC, the Central GA ARC, the Middle GA RA, the Milledgeville ARC, and the Macon-Bibb EMA ARG, this event will be kicked off at 8AM in the parking lot of the Peach Shops at Byron, exit 149 off of I-75. They will also be running a special event station from this location, W4M. Sounds like fun... hope to see you there.

MAY 13 --- PICNIC, sponsored by the GA Traffic and Emergency Net, at area #6 at Indian Springs State Park, at 1PM. (This allows you time to go to the Hamfest in Byron in the morning, then stop to pick up something to offer for a potluck lunch, and then join with some of the state's best traffic handlers to break bread and share some good ol' fashioned fellowship...)

MAY 6-7 --- Birmingham, AL, Hamfest

MAY 13-1 5--- Armed Forces Day Celebration, with military-amateur cross-band communications from numerous military stations to a variety of amateur bands. Plus a Department of Defense message test via various digital modes. See details at www.netcom.army.mil/mars/news/ 

["The heritage of freedom must be guarded as carefully in peace as it was in war. Faith, not suspicion, must be the key to our relationships. Sacrifice, not selfishness, must be the eternal price of liberty. Vigilance, not appeasement, is the byword of living freedoms." GENERAL OMAR BRADLEY, Armed Forces Day, 1950 Armed Forces Day was established in 1949 by PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN, to recognize the unification of the Armed Forces under the Department of Defense and to acknowledge the extraordinary dedication of Americans in uniform standing ready in harm's way at home and around the world. PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER said, "It is fitting and proper that we devote one day each year to paying special tribute to those whose constancy and courage constitute one of the bulwarks guarding the freedom of this nation and the peace of the free world."] de WB4ZOJ

MAY 14 --- MOTHERS DAY

Your mother is always with you. She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street, she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks, she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well. Your mother lives inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in every tear drop. She's the place you came from, your first home; and she's the map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love and your first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you. Not time... not space... not even death.

MAY 15 --- DEADLINE for applications for this year's Teachers Institutes. For more info, please see http://www.arrl.org/FandES/tbp/

MAY 19-21 --- DAYTON HAMVENTION (Y'know, that little shindig up north...)

MAY 24 --- HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my better half (37 years and counting!) He keeps telling people that the secret to our longevity is contained in two little words.... "Yes, dear...." (but I ain't sayin' which one of us says them the most!)

MAY 27-28 --- CQ WW WPX Contest 160M- 10M CW www.cqwpx.com

MAY 29 --- MEMORIAL DAY "Freedom is not free" (Inscription on the Korean War Memorial in Washington, DC)

JUNE 2-4 --- Special Olympics Georgia. Multiple events held on the Emory campus, Atlanta. STEVE GARRISON, N4SEG, is once again serving as the communications coordinator, and he's counting on the ham community to volunteer. It'll be an experience that you'll never forget. N4seg@arrl.net 

JUNE 3 --- Atlanta Hamfest, at Jim Miller Park in Marietta

SUPERMAN'S MOTHER: "Clark, your father and I have discussed it,
and we've decided you can have a telephone in your room,
after all. Now will you PLEASE stop spending so much of your time in those nasty telephone booths?"

SILENT KEYS

JAMES BROWN, JR. N4ETV
MARTHA CURRY K4MQO
HARVEY HARRISON, JR. KD4YBM

Heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of each of these fine people.

Well, folks, that's about it for now. Until next time, this is AF4FO, signing clear. Take care of yourselves. And each other. And hey! Don't forget to send me that info on your field day plans!

Oh YEAH, I reckon that you might like to have the ANSWER to the Paulding ARES poser, huh? Here it is:

The Secret Message (see the question at beginning of newsletter):
I GIV RAIN X WEAR LEAD X TOM NANA X I GO A REG

ANSWER: Package number three was the deadly nerve gas. An X in CW QTC (traffic) indicates, End of sentence/group, Next sentence/group to begin. It would be the same as X-Ray when passing phone traffic. Also, spaces in CW are relative, and the person on the receiving end has to interpret. It really helps to get used to the way a person sends their QTC. Practice, Practice, Practice (Like the CW GTN ....Georgia Training Net every night at 9 PM on 3702 KHz). After a while you begin to get a feel for the other guy's style.

So if you take out the X's:
I GIV RAIN WEAR LEAD TOM NANA I GO A REG

And run the letters of each group together:
IGIVRAIN WEARLEAD TOMNANA IGOAREG

And think of each group as an anagram (ANAGRAM: a word or phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word of phrase):

IGIVRAIN = VIRGINIA WEARLEAD = DELAWARE
TOMNANA = MONTANA IGOAREG = GEORGIA

Of the four, Montana was NOT one of the 13 original colonies (Jim and Greg would have studied the same "formal" US History in school...They had "the thirteen original colonies" drilled into their heads).

Therefore, Montana, being in position number three, was the "ODD-MAN-OUT"... the package of deadly nerve gas!

THOMAS EDISON'S MOTHER: "Of course I'm proud that you invented the electric light bulb,
Thomas. Now, turn off that light and get into bed!"

73, Susan af4fo@arrl.org   (Send me your news and tech tips!!)
ARRL Georgia Section Manager

No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However,
a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

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