October 13, 2007
Glen Sage, W4GHS
VA Section Manager

September is the time that the hamfest season is winding down. The Virginia Beach hamfest had an outstanding forum with a focus on the Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications ConferenceGlobal Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference. Henry Wyatt, K4YCR our Section Emergency Coordinator reviewed some of the new modes that are making a strong contribution in Amateur Radio’s response to disasters. The attendance and interest was good at this forum

Some of these modes are growing in popularity across the Commonwealth of Virginia. These include Echolink, IRLP, D-STAR and Winlink 2000. Chip64 is being used as the HF digital mode of choice for our Virginia Digital Net held each weekday evening at 1915 (7:15 pm EST).

Planning for the 2007 SET has been in high gear during September. One of the major goals of the Simulated Emergency Test is to make it a section-wide scenario. This type of event requires the ability to utilize ARES / RACES units at every level, section, district and local levels. To involve hams across the state also means that we have areas that are not part of the impact area to act in a supportive role to those that are directly involved. Beyond section-wide involvement we are using our NTS system as an active and involved part of the SET. All the practice that NTS goes though on a daily basis is designed to develop skills that provide valuable communications skills that allow for the rapid and accurate passing of traffic during communications emergencies. The NTS traffic will be formatted in Radiogram format. The emergency nets will be passing their traffic in ICS-213 (General Message Forms). In this way ARES units become familiar with both forms. There also will be verbal tactical messages used in support of responders. Next month we will review how our emergency exercise played out.

Amateur Radio operators within the section continue to be supportive of their local public service events. This gives our hobby great exposure to the general public, provides a recruiting tool to interest new prospective hams and sharpens our communications skills. Thanks to all those that send in regular reports of these public service events. We try to pass these on to our Webmaster, Dan Edwards, AG4YU for publication on the Section Website.

If this was 1980 and the question was raised, “What is the greatest threat to the growth and health of Amateur Radio” the answer would probably be restrictive antenna structure and tower codes and restrictions. Here we are a quarter of a century later we have PRB-1 our federal preemptive law that requires reasonable accommodations for Amateur Radio antennas and towers. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, we have the added protection of § 15.2-2293.1. This addition to the Code of Virginia in 1998 not only insured reasonable accommodations to erect effective antenna structure but also gave a detailed description as to what is a reasonable height and is based on population density. This code calls for a maximum height of 75 feet for jurisdictions with a population of 120 people per square mile and a height of 200 feet for jurisdictions of less than 120 people per square mile. With all this in place you would think that attempts at unreasonable codes would have vanished. This has not been the case. With the advent of the proliferation of cell towers, municipalities and counties have rushed to enact ordinances to curb this problem. The problem is that there are counties that have attempted to use this code to apply to all towers. New tower codes have “cell tower code” written all over them but some jurisdictions have tried to encompass Amateur Radio towers as well. Citizens that reside in developments where they have purchased property without CC&R that prohibit towers are attempting to use these cell tower type codes to purge their neighborhood of Amateur Radio towers. One ham has been placed in a position that he and his wife have had to secure legal counsel to protect the presence of their tower. In time, the preemptive federal and state law will prevail but this can be a painful process if it happens to you. The 20,000+ hams across the Commonwealth need to be supportive of resolving this issue before it becomes a broader trend.

In researching this problem, I have discovered a number of counties that must have copied a code from other county codes limiting Amateur Radio towers to a maximum of 50 feet. Some of these codes have been enacted since the passing of § 15.2-2293.1 and most of the counties would have an entitlement of a 200 ft maximum tower height under 15.2-2293.1. Counties that stipulate 50 feet maximum for Amateur Radio towers are in violation of state code. Most of these tower codes written as 50 ft maximum height are located in SW Virginia. Now is the time to get these codes corrected, not when you get ready to construct your tower.

73,
Glen Sage, W4GHS
Virginia Section Manager

September 22, 2007
Glen Sage, W4GHS
VA Section Manager

We are currently in the middle of the Atlantic hurricane season, which is a time of real concern especially on the east coast of the section. In order to be in a position to support districts, counties and municipalities in vulnerable areas we have started active recruitment for the Emergency Response Teams. The purpose is to have people in place for rapid deployment if required. Those persons volunteering are required to have completed ARECC, level one (EC-001) and have the recommendation of their EC or DEC. Following this year’s hurricane season the requirements that were outlined by the ARRL National Emergency Response Planning Committee will be the minimum training requirements. Bart Bartholomew, N3GQ is continuing to work on the overall description and function of this group. Henry Wyatt, K4YCR our SEC is handling the registrations for the ERT. If there is a crisis in your local area that exceeds your resources, the EC or DEC should contact Henry Wyatt for deployment of the ERT.

We are just around the corner from our national Simulation Emergency Test. This year the SET is to take place on October 6th & 7th. A section wide SET is being planned for October 6th. There are local ARES units that have planned local SETS and they are encouraged to continue with their planned event. Our Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator Dave Damon, K4DND is working on the scenario for the section wide exercise.

For ARES units that will be unable to participate on the national SET weekend there is the latitude to select a date between now and the end of November. Remember that the exercise is not complete until you send your SET report to Steve Ewald at the ARRL with a copy to your SEC, Henry Wyatt.

The section traffic system has undergone changes in this past month with STM Steven Krumm, KV4AN stepping down following a year of outstanding service to the section. Art Williams, W4TY has agreed to assume this position. Art has a strong background in NTS and excellent CW traffic handling skills. Let’s all give Art our full support in directing traffic handling within the Virginia Section. Bruce Freund, K7BC has accepted the position of net manager of the Virginia Digital Net. This net is currently using Chip 64 mode on HF to handle traffic and is active each weeknight at 1915 local time.

JOTA (Jamboree on the Air) will be taking place in October. This is the largest Amateur Radio operating event in the world with over 400,000 people being involved. JOTA is held the third weekend in October of each year. JOTA takes place starting Saturday at 00.00 hours local time (12:00 AM) to Sunday, 24.00 hours local time (12:00 PM), though some activity continues over from Friday to Monday to take advantage of long distance (DX) time differences. Rudy Stuteville, KA4PHL is our ASM with responsibility for youth and scouting. Contact Rudy for ideas about setting up a group of scouts to participate from your home or club station.

The Blue Ridge Bonanza is a special event that involves a number of clubs participating from locations scattered along the length of the Blue Ridge Parkway. These include the Roanoke Valley Amateur Radio Club, the Lynchburg ARC, Covington Amateur Radio Club, Forsythe Amateur Radio Club, Franklin County Amateur Radio Club, and the Briarpatch Amateur Radio Club. Locations include, Apple Orchard Mountain, Buena Vista - Mile Post 45.6, Explore Park - Mile Post 115.1, Groundhog Mountain - Mile Post 188.8, Fancy Gap - Mile Post 199.5, Blue Ridge Music Center - Mile Post 213, Cumberland Knob - Mile Post 217.5. This event will run from September 21st, 1300-2100 hours and on September 22, 1300-2100 EDT. All stations will operate on 14.215 through 14.270 and 7.230-7.280. Certificates and QSL cards: To obtain a certificate from any of the special-event stations send your QSO information along with a 9×12 inch self-addressed, stamped envelope to address listed in the announcement. To receive a special event QSL card (when offered), be sure to include a self-addressed, stamped business envelope along with your QSL card and QSO information to Ray Crampton, 1670 Catawba Rd, Troutville, VA 24175. Email address: AB4YZ (at-sign) ARRL (dot) .net

Click here to view the STM report. The SEC report can be viewed by clicking here.

Terry Hebert, operations watch officer for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) continues to work at establishing Amateur Radio support to local Emergency Mangers or other appropriate contacts. The following is from a recent survey by Terry.

Locality Amateur Radio Survey 2007

VDEM is seeking information from emergency managers throughout the Commonwealth about amateur radio capabilities within each jurisdiction's emergency operations center. Please submit the information listed below to Terry Hebert, operations watch officer, Terry.Hebert@vdem.virginia.gov

• The amateur group each locality is working with
• A point of contact and contact information
• The type of amateur radio equipment in use, such as HF, VHF, UHF, packet and other digital radio equipment.

If your locality does not currently have amateur radio capabilities in its EOC and would like to, please indicate this in the e-mail, and VDEM will assist you in acquiring them.

73,
Glen Sage, W4GHS
Virginia Section Manager

August 13, 2007
Glen Sage, W4GHS
VA Section Manager

Work continues to progress on the Virginia Section Emergency Communications Plan. Henry Wyatt, K4YCR our SEC is serving as editor on the project as different section cabinet members are working on various portions of the manual. This document will serve as both a field manual and reference tool by the NTS within Virginia as well as Amateur Radio Emergency Service. This doesn’t eliminate the need for local emergency communications plans and ECs are encouraged to continue to develop and refine their local plans. This will allow local ARES^® units to better understand how they can incorporate the district and section in mutual support for their local ARES^® unit.

We will be making contact with persons that have completed ARECC level one and have expressed an interest in serving on an Emergency Response Team (ERT). Only those that have registered with ARES^® at the section level will be contacted. There will be other qualifications for these teams consistent with the recommendations of the National Emergency Response Planning Committee (NERPC). These include the following minimum standards;

♦ ARRL’s ARECC Level 1
♦ Red Cross combined course in Adult CPR/First Aid Basics
♦ Red Cross online Introduction to Disaster Services
♦ FEMA IS-100 (Introduction to Incident Command System)
♦ FEMA IS-200 (ICS for Single Resource and Initial Action Incidents)
♦ FEMA IS-700 (National Incident Management System)

We will be requiring a criminal background check to ensure that the members do not have a felony conviction as part of their history. This is a requirement in many areas now.

Aside from the ARECC level 1 training we will phase in the other course requirements to allow team members time to achieve the other qualifications by July of 2008.

Our ASM Dan Edwards continues to work on programming of an interactive Virginia Section Registrations form. This will allow ARES^® members and all section appointees to view and update their files as changes are made in the contact information as well as personal or station capabilities. Your information will be password protected

Scholarships Awarded!

Congratulations to those Amateur Radio licensees within our section that were recently awarded scholarships by The Foundation For Amateur Radio. These include the following hams.

• Andrew M Krumm, KG4OTL of Greenbackville Virginia
  $1,000 from the Naticoke Amateur Radio Club
• Seth T. Price, N3MRA of Blacksburg Virginia
  $1,000 from the 10-10 International Net Scholarship
• Hao Q: Li, KI4LDJ of Fairfax Virginia
  $1,500 from the Mary Lou Brown Memorial Scholarship

Thank You

We would like to thank Steve Krumm, KV4AN for providing a steady hand of leadership as our Section Traffic Manager. Steve has served not only as traffic manager but also has assumed net control of traffic nets in their day-to-day operation. Steven plans to continue to be active in the NTS but be passing the responsibility of STM to Art Williams, W4TY. Let’s give Art our support as he assumes this new responsibility.

Tower Ordinances

Since PRB-1 was enacted as the federal preemption of state and local regulations pertaining to Amateur radio facilities, we have seen state after state adapt a state law to clarify support of these efforts at the state level. The Commonwealth of Virginia was one of the earlier states to adapt a state code compatible with the national preemption. Virginia’s was also one of the strongest and clearest enacted to date. As a result most localities that have written tower coding in the commonwealth since 1998 have researched and followed the requirements of this statue to provide for a “reasonable accommodation” for Amateur Radio antennas in regard to the placement, and screening heights of Amateur Radio antennas. Localities are to “impose the minimum regulation necessary to accomplish the locality’s legitimate purpose.”

Amateur Radio has encountered a real problem with antenna instillations in Franklin County Virginia. Recently I attended a Franklin County Zoning Board meeting in which a decision to uphold citing a local ham for tower construction was upheld by the board. The board was acting on their county code that was adapted since the Virginia Code of Virginia 15.2-2293.1 was passed and signed into law.

The Amateur Radio Licensee, in question, had researched the property prior to his purchasing the land and was assured that there was no CC&R associated with his lot of about 1.25 acres. He obtained permission from the homeowner’s association board prior to his construction project and also checked with the local building inspector to see if a permit was necessary prior to the erection of his tower. He was told that a permit was not required.

Franklin County government has been very supportive of Amateur Radio in the county and there is a very active ARES^® unit in the county supporting both local government and local agencies. It is hoped that this issue can be resolved in the near future. It is the feeling of many of the Amateur Radio operators in the county that the county adapted a tower code out of concerns over the proliferation cell towers in the area. The problem is that the entire maze of restrictions applied to these towers has been superimposed unto Amateur Radio towers. It appears that the language of this county ordinance may have been borrowed from another document and was never intended as a document to allow for “a reasonable accommodation” for Amateur Radio.

Some of these restrictions include such requirements as “each applicant for a tower shall provide the department of planning and community development with an inventory of its existing facilities that are within the jurisdiction” or within 5 miles of its border. You are required to verify evidence of the lack of antenna space on an existing tower. An engineering report certifying that the proposed tower is compatible for a minimum of (4) users must be submitted by the applicant. All towers shall set back from any property line a distance of (120) percent of the tower height and can’t be situated within 500 feet of residential dwelling unit located on a adjacent parcel except this setback will not apply to residential dwellings on the property owner etc, etc.

Any reasonable person can see this is not even close to making a “reasonable accommodation as both state and federal preemption requires. Nor does it represent minimum regulations necessary. The neighboring county to the north (Roanoke County) has a much higher population density and their code for Amateur Radio towers has a 40 % rather than a 120 % setback requirement. Roanoke doesn’t have a 500 ft setback from a dwelling, the 40% of tower height is the requirement. Towers do not collapse by shearing at the bottom and falling full length. I have not found any jurisdictions in the Commonwealth of Virginia that have attempted to apply this type of code to Amateur Radio structures. If this proceeds to litigation, Franklin County would have an impossible task of defending this code as being a “reasonable accommodation” or “representing the minimum regulations necessary”. This type of local code needs to be a concern to all the 20,000 plus hams in Virginia and the 700,000 plus Amateur Radio operators across the nation. As Section Manager I will continue to keep the Amateur Radio community informed of developments.

73,
Glen Sage, W4GHS
Virginia Section Manager