• Wednesdays, 7:00 pm CW Class and antenna discussion, VA Air & Space Center
• 2nd, Sat., 6:30 am Running Crab 15 K Race, owntown Hampton
• 4th, Mon., 6:00 pm NNACT meeting
• 5th, Tue., 7:30 pm SPARK meeting
• 6th, Wed., 7:30 pm PARC business meeting
• 11th - 15th, 7:15 pm HPT BoD meeting this week, day tbd
• 9th, Sat., 10:00 am PEARS meeting
• 20th, Wed., 7:30 pm PARC program meeting
• 23rd - 24th, Sat. & Sun., FIELD DAY, Northampton Church of Christ
• 30th, Sat., 8:30 am HPT breakfast meeting

• Wednesdays, 7:00 pm CW Class and antenna discussion, V ©A Air & Space Center
• 3rd, Tue., 7:30 pm SPARK meeting
• 4th, Wed., 7:30 pm PARC business meeting
• 9th - 13th, 7:15 pm HPT BoD meeting this week, day tbd
• 14th, Sat., 8:30 am Disaster Volunteer Day - see article below
• 18th, Wed., 7:30 pm PARC program meeting
• 28th, Sat., 8:30 am HPT breakfast meeting
• 28th, Sat., 9:00 am Gloucester Test Sessio

An emergency communications amateur radio training net was conducted on Thursday, March 22, 2007, from the Gloucester County Emergency Command and Communications trailer in Gloucester County, by Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Ass't to the Section Emergency Coordinator -Training and County Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) Radio Officer, Joe Safranek/K4JJS, and Randy Pryor/WB7URZ, President of the Middle Peninsula Amateur Radio Club.  The mobile unit contains several different public service radio systems plus amateur radio equipment.  There is also amateur radio equipment installed in the Gloucester County Emergency Operations Center.  Amateur radio or "ham radio" operators have a long tradition of providing emergency communications to government at all levels and to local communities whenever the need arises.  To sharpen proficiency skills, "on the air" training nets are conducted on various ham radio-assigned frequencies providing the operators hands-on experience in practicing emergency communications skills.  A radio "net" consists of a group of operators working on a particular frequency led by a net control station (NCS) or leader of the net.  The NCS is the "traffic cop" for the net where all of the radio traffic is initially directed to this station and then forwarded to others on the net as required.  Ham operators can send information by various means including voice contacts with other stations, digital systems providing an email type capability, and even transmit video utilizing amateur television.  There are even ham radio stations set up for use by the astronauts on the International Space Station.

On this special net evening, a regional multi-radio-band (VHF/UHF) emergency communications training radio net comprised of 12 different radio repeater systems were linked together into the Gloucester 145.37 machine by way of direct linking or remote base operations. Fifty-three amateur radio operators from Districts 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11 checked into the net encompassing an area from Louisa County to the northwest, east to the ocean, and south down into North Carolina.  This is believed to be the largest VHF/UHF linked net set up in the eastern portion of Virginia covering an estimated 9,000 square miles of Virginia and North Carolina.  Special thanks were sent out to all of the hams who participated including the control operators and owners of the various systems, Virginia RACES, Inc., for linking in with a portion of t he VA Hospital Disaster System, all of the ARES and RACES personnel who checked into the net, personnel assigned or attached to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and special thanks to the Gloucester County Sheriff's Department, specifically Lt Vince Rose/KG4KQL, for setting up the mobile communications trailer for us.  The following repeaters were linked into this system for the special net:

  W4HZL-145.37 MHz  - Gloucester County
  KF4ADM - 145.41 - Norge, James City County
  WT4RA-147.195 - Smithfield
  KG4BKI-444.825 - Franklin
  KG4YJB-444.275 - Prince George County
  W4VCU-147.180 - Richmond
  W4VCU-444.975 - Richmond
  K4SRM-147.390 - Petersburg
  K4SRM-444.900 - Petersburg
  W4VB - 145.330 - Norfolk - by Remote Base Via KG4BKI 444.825 Franklin
  W4VB -  442.950 - Norfolk - by Remote Base Via 444.825 Franklin
  WB4PVT -224.540 - Hampton

There is an ongoing dialog with the various groups represented on this net with discussions as to where to proceed from this point including such things as training of personnel in net operations, setting schedules for more training nets, rotation of "lead repeater" and net control station assignments for upcoming drills, etc.  Over all, this net went very well with many, many favorable comments received along with suggestions as to how we can improve on the methods used to conduct these nets.  It just goes to prove that when dedicated amateur radio operators set their mind on performing the emergency communications mission to the best of their ability, it does not matter whose "patch" they are wearing, as they, in the best traditions of the amateur service, are there to support their communities in times of need.  District 7's motto, "Preparing today for tomorrow's needs" certainly applies to training events such as this one.

Anyone with an interest in learning more about ham radio is encouraged to contact Joe Safranek, K4JJS, at 693-6537 or email k4jjs©arrl.net.  Those with scanners who would like to listen in on some of the ham radio conversations can set the scanner to receive the frequency 145.37 MHz in the Gloucester County area.

Credits:  Story by Joe Safranek, K4JJS, Ass't to the Section Emergency Coordinator-Training, Gloucester County RACES Radio Officer

Map graphic by Rob Turner, KG4YJB
Photos by Mark Lowell, N1LO

22Mar07 updated repeater coverage.jpg:  Approximated coverage of the special net net using range rings based on average availability of the individual repeater being accessed by a 50 watt mobile VHF transceiver.

Vince and Joe inside the Gloucester Comm Trailer.jpg: Lt Vince Rose, left, Gloucester County Sheriff's department with Joe Safranek, K4JJS, County RACES Radio Officer, conducting an amateur radio emergency communications training net covering a major portion of Eastern Virginia and northeast North Carolina.

Vince and Joe with Gloucester Comm Trailer.jpg:  Lt Vince Rose, KG4KQL, Gloucester County Sheriff's Department, left, standing outside the Gloucester County Mobile Emergency Command and Communications trailer along with county RACES Radio Officer Joe Safranek, K4JJS.

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[information from SERA Repeater Journal, except 146.940]

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BoD - Board of Directors
DEC – District Emergency Coordinator (ARES)
EC – Emergency Coordinator (ARES) (of a locality)
HPT - Hampton Public-Service Team
LPEN - Lower Peninsula Emergency Net
MPARC - Middle Peninsula Amateur Radio Club, (Gloucester/Mathews = County)
NNACT - Newport News Amateur Communications Team
PARC - Peninsula Amateur Radio Club
PEARS - Peninsula Electronic Amateur Radio Society
SPARK - Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Klub