July 11, 2007
Glen Sage, W4GHS
VA Section Manager

Field Day marked a flurry of activity in the Virginia Section. I receive about twice as many Field Day messages sent to the Section Manager as last year. There was also an increase in the use of digital modes to send this traffic. I enjoyed my visits at each Field Day location that I was able to visit. The fellowship, meals and new ideas that I picked up provided a wonderful day of hamming for me. The SEC Henry Wyatt, K4YCR and Assistant SEC Dave Damon K4DND were also out making rounds visiting other Field Day sites.

It was great to see the large cross section of those attending the event. There were public officials there to learn more about how Amateur Radio could be of assistance to their agencies. You could see non-hams wanting to discover what this hobby might have to offer them and what means it would offer them to be of public service to their communities. There were both young and older hams operating side by side in a hobby that transcends generational barriers.

We just received the Simulated Emergency Test results from last years SET and found that the Virginia Section had moved from 7th in the nation to 2nd place in national scoring. This indicates a strong interest in emergency communication participation. Last year we only had 4 ARES units that submitted a SET report compared to 14 jurisdictions that reported on SET activity this year. We have also been working more closely with supporting the Virginia Department of Emergency Management in their emergency communications exercises. The RACES station at the Virginia EOC has been available for support of our local exercises each time that it has been requested. All of this growth, preparation and activity are vital if we are to be prepared for the unset of the peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season.

Our Assistant Section Manager, Dan Edwards, AG4YU serves as Webmaster for both the section and the ARES website and has been working diligently behind the scenes to update our websites. A major part of this improvement will be a dynamic registration form for both ARES and also for qualified hams to register for our Emergency Response Teams. A major emphasis is being placed on security of information that is submitted. This new system will allow instant updating of informational changes. Those making updates will not have to have a printout of their last registration to see what changes need to be made. They will be able to view their own registration information but will not be able to view other members unless they are in a leadership role. This will provide a means of submitting current contact information, new training that has been completed or other vital information. When this task is completed it will allows us to provide a stronger and better-organized approach to mutual support within the section. The ARRL is working on a national database to provide a better response to major disasters that exceed the resources of local or sectional resources.

The Section Cabinet is now involved in development of a section “Emergency Communications Plan”. The cabinet has been exploring different section plans from other areas. Cabinet members are writing drafts of specialized areas where they have expertise. When the plan is complete it will provide an important guide for those involved in leadership and for the rank and file of emergency communications within the section.

In the future we will have increasing pressure from served agencies to be well prepared and consistent in our training requirements. It is important that we provide multi options for those needing to complete emergency communications courses EC-001, EC-002 and EC-003. The online course has a $45.00 tuition required. The manual cost is another $19.95. There are no longer grants to cover the cost of these courses. A number of sections have been certifying students through the other three options. These are hybrid classes with a cost of $20.00. Onsite classes can be taken with Certified Instructors and Certified Examiners administering the test, with a cost $10.00. The last option is self-study and taking the $10.00 exam. The ICS and NIMS classes are still available free of charge as online courses and can be taken as onsite classes.

Volunteers for almost all agencies are being required to prepare by completing more courses and demonstrating their ability to perform the task for which they volunteer. Amateur Radio will not be exempt from this trend.

73,
Glen Sage, W4GHS
Virginia Section Manager

June 15, 2007
Glen Sage, W4GHS
VA Section Manager

The month of May has been marked by several Simulated Emergency Test in the section. One of these major events was the Dulles International Airport Triennial Airport Emergency Plan Exercise on Saturday, May 5th. This event simulated a plane crash and was responded to by a number of county, state and federal agencies. Amateur Radio was a major player in the exercise with around 150 hams taking part. APRS was used for tracking all the vehicles used to transport victims to local medical facilities. The Virginia Section Manager participated as a VIP observer. The communications role, handled by the local ARES units was handled in a very effective way.

There appears to be a lot of excitement in the Amateur Radio community in anticipation of this year's Field Day. This is an important happening that brings out many hams that may not be active in the monthly activities of their clubs but see this as a "must attend" event. Field Day provides an ideal time to renew acquaintances, meet old friends, to introduce Amateur Radio to the public, to allow public officials and agency people to become better acquainted with our emergency capability. It also allows us to brush up on operating skills and use it to introduce new hams to HF operations.

One opportunity that we can miss is that of inviting new hams to the setup for Field Day. It is common to find the same people year after year caring for the setup. This new skill could be a real aid in their setting up their own station. I hope to hear each of you on Field Day. Those wishing to generate a packet message to the SM can do so by addressing the message to W4GHS@W1SLS.#d14.VA.USA.NOAM. You receive extra credit for sending a FD
message to the SM.

Attempts at restrictive local tower restrictions have surfaced again in Virginia. Following the federal preemption on Amateur Radio towers (PBR-1) we were able to very quickly reason with local zoning people and Board of Supervisors. Most localities quickly backed off these tower codes when it came to application to Amateur Radio towers. Those that failed to see this federal preemption as applying to their city or county lost suits in court.

Virginia became one of the first states to pass a state version of this preemption. It is now part of the Code of Virginia (15.5-2293.1). The code contains the much of the same wording as PBR-1, that localities must have
codes that "shall reasonably accommodate radio antenna". The Virginia law allows for antenna structures of 200 ft in low population density areas and 75 ft in height for high-density populations. Franklin County in Virginia has adapted a code that requires a set back of 120 % of your antenna height from another parcel and 500 foot from a dwelling on a neighboring parcel. This code also requires a set back of 120 % from your dwelling. If you had a 100 ft tower with a UHF antenna on top of the tower, you would have a minimum of 240 feet of coax just to reach the outer wall of your house. Can you image the losses at 450 MHz?

This Franklin County code would make it impossible for any ham in a residential section to comply with the set back requirements. There are a number of other restrictive items in this code that was drafted to primarily govern cell towers but included all towers in its adoption. The cost of compliance is prohibitive to the average citizen but would be reasonable for a commercial tower providing huge monthly revenues.

The Franklin County code is in violation of both the letter and the spirit of PBR-1 and 15.2-2293.1 Code of Virginia. This code doesn't "reasonably accommodate an Amateur Radio Antenna." The surrounding counties have adapted
a code that have complied with PBR-1 and the Code of Virginia. Franklin County has cited a local ham Phil Jung, K9PJ as being in violation of the code and is requiring a $200.00 fee to appeal their finding.

If this issue cannot be resolved with reasoning with Franklin County, the entire Amateur Radio community across Virginia needs to stand behind the proper resolution. There are over 20,000 licensed Amateur Radio operators in the Commonwealth and we need to unite behind this struggle. If it happens in Franklin County, your county may be next.

73,
Glen Sage, W4GHS
Virginia Section Manager

May 16, 2007
Glen Sage, W4GHS
VA Section Manager

The month of April has been active as a number of special event stations prepare to operate during the 400th Anniversary Celebration at Jamestown and the site of the first landing of English settlement in America. Other special event stations are planned for later in the year.

The section traffic system continues to experiment with a new digital mode on HF. This is the VDN that is held each weekday on 3.578 USB at 1915 EDT, utilizing the Chip64 mode. Additional stations are being heard on this net as others are installing the software that is required for using their soundcard to operate this mode.

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management conducted their annual disaster exercise during April. This was a multi-day drill this year for the first time and Amateur Radio participated on 2 days of this exercise. The VDEM RACES station was up and running on both April 25th and 26th. The drill was a simulation of a category 3 hurricane hitting the SE coast of Virginia and moving north into northern Virginia. Amateur Radio stations were up and running along the entire path of this simulated storm and there was a flurry of activity from stations across the Commonwealth in support of this exercise. The ODEN was operating on both 75 meters SSB, 40 meters SSB and digital on 75 meters and 440 and 2 meter packet. CW nets operated on HF. Propagation was poor on 40 and 75 meters but still supported needed traffic requirements via the use of relay. We also used the long-range capabilities of some of the broad coverage mountain top repeaters that exist within our state. Some of these allowed for traffic to be passed over 200 miles without requiring linking.

Participation between the VDEM and field operations were as follows; VDEM / VEOC RACES was able to provide enough radio operators from the local amateur community to handle all of the emergency traffic was passed to the VEOC by the participating localities and agencies that included:

• VDH EOC
• Norfolk Medical Examiners Office
• Newport News EOC
• VA Beach EOC
• Norfolk EOC
• Spotsylvania EOC
• Carroll Co EOC
• Portsmouth EOC
• James City Co EOC
• Norfolk Sentara Hospital
• NWS Blacksburg
• Loudoun Co EOC
• Prince William Co EOC
• Buckingham Co EOC
• Charlottesville
• Albemarle EOC
• Hertford Co NC EOC
• Winslow CNC EOC
• NWS Sterling Va.

There were 142 contacts made on HF, VHF and packet modes including normal check ins, Initial Damage Assessments, Local Situation Reports and Resource Requests.

A number of other stations were active within their local area and would not be a part of the records of VDEM. I encourage all jurisdictions to complete their Simulated Emergency Test (SET) reports and send them to Steve Ewald, WV1X at the ARRL along with a copy to our SEC, Henry Wyatt, K4YCR. [Ed note: click on the BLUE callsigns to send email]

73,
Glen Sage, W4GHS
Virginia Section Manager