Northbrook Canoe Challenge

The annual Northbrook Canoe Challenge to support research for Cerebral Palsy is a big support event for CCAR. Our operators are placed at multiple points along the Brandywine Creek to ensure the accurate reporting of the progress of the event participants and to report and prevent safety issues. Participants are bussed, along with canoes, to the launch location at Mortonville, and then proceed to canoe to the take out location at the Northbrook Canoe Company.

Information about the event from the event organizers can be found at: https://www.ccdisability.org/events/

 

VARA Network

Listing of the digipeaters and host that make up the CCAR VARA network. All are on 145.67 MHz. The digis support both both digipeating and broadcasting. Digis are utilized if a direct connection to W3EOC-10 cannot be made. Up to 2 digis can be used to create a path (i.e. your station to W3EOC-10 via KE3HG-4, W3EOC-6

Click here for a map showing the locations.

W3EOC-10 Post Office in 026 (2 meter RF link only. No internet connection)

W3EOC-4 Digi in 026

W3EOC-6 Digi Charlestown

W3EOC-3 Digi Roxborough 

N3MEL-4 Digi West Bradford

KB3PCY-4 Digi Kennett Square

KE3HG-4 Digi North Coventry

K3JV-4 Digi Morgantown

Marshalton Triathlon – October 2, 2022

After a two year hiatus, the Marshalton Triathlon is ready to make a comeback!
The triathlon is a great event for CCAR operators to provide community service. We have been providing communications support for this event since its inception and have proven to be a valuable part of the event.
This year’s event is being held on Sunday – October 2nd. The event starts at the West Bradford Fire Company in Marshalton, and the participants will be bicycling 2.4 miles down to the Brandywine River…canoeing on the Brandywine…fast walking back to their bicycles…and, bicycling back up to the Fire Station. We have operators placed along the entire route and provide spotting and safety support.
Here’s a link to the official website:
https://marshaltontriathlon.net
We need operators for all locations. Operators will need to be in place at assigned locations by 7:30am. Depending upon how many people participate, the last heat will be completed by approximately 3:00pm. Typically, we wrap up before that. Lunches are provided and are delivered right to our operators. This is a very fun and simple event to operate for. All that is required is an HT. Depending upon the assigned location, operators either sit in your car, or a folding chair.
Please consider volunteering to be an operator. If you are interested, please contact me, via email at: jim.harris1@verizon.net
If you wish to be assigned to a specific location, please let me know, and I should be able to accommodate you.
Thanks, once again, for all you do to support CCAR and the communities of Chester County.
Jim Harris – WA3NOA

SkyWarn

Chester County SKYWARN

The SKYWARN program was developed in the early 1970s to promote a cooperative effort between the National Weather Service and communities. The program is focused on the storm spotter, a trained individual who reports wind gusts, hail size, rainfall, and cloud formations that could signal a developing tornado or provide “ground truth” where other observations are lacking. Another part of SKYWARN is distributing National Weather Service information.

The National Weather Service or the emergency management agency within the community organizes and trains spotters, and handles the distribution of NWS watches and warnings. In Chester County, Pennsylvania, the NWS office in Mt. Holly, New Jersey together with the Chester County Department of Emergency Services take the lead. Because of the utility of amateur radio in these tasks (often under abnormal conditions) many spotters are also amateur radio operators. In Chester County, most trained spotters are also CCAR members. CCAR considers SKYWARN support to be an important function. However, an amateur radio license is not required to be a SKYWARN spotter.

SKYWARN spotters are not by definition “Storm Chasers”. While their functions and methods are similar, the spotter stays close to home and usually has ties to a local agency. Storm chasers often cover hundreds of miles a day. The term Storm Chaser covers a wide variety of people. Some are meteorologists doing specific research or are gathering basic information (like video) for training and comparison to radar data. Others chase storms to provide live information for the media, and others simply do it for the thrill. Storm Spotting and Storm Chasing is dangerous and should not be done without proper training, experience and equipment.

The National Weather Service Forecast Office at Mt. Holly, NJ conducts spotter training classes in our area. These sessions are generally open to the public, but many hosts require advance registration because of space limitations. Additional information can be found at http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/phi/skywarn/index.html. CCAR normally hosts a SKYWARN training session each year, but this training can be completed at any scheduled session. The current training schedule is published here:
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/phi/skywarn/training.html

CCAR members who complete SKYWARN training are eligible to receive a NOAA Weather Radio issued by the Chester County Department of Emergency Services. This is a valuable benefit to CCAR members. Also, depending upon location and an agreement with the County, these members have the opportunity to host Chester County-owned weather instruments on their property.

D-Star Repeaters

CCAR D-Star Repeaters

W3EOC at Pocopson, Pennsylvania, Decommissioned.

KB3SLR at Bucktown, Pennsylvania, (Northern Chester County and beyond). No gateway, system operational:

Call SignOutput FrequencyOffset (MHz)Mode
KB3SLR A1255.6000 MHz+12DV
KB3SLR B445.08125 MHz-5DV
KB3SLR A1297.5000 MHzsimplexDD

KB3SLS at Charlestown (Devault), Pennsylvania, (Northern Chester County and beyond) there is currently no gateway, system operational:

Call SignOutput FrequencyOffset (MHz)Mode
KB3SLS A1255.700 MHz+12DV
KB3SLS B440.00625 MHz+5DV
KB3SLS A1297.900 MHzsimplexDD

Register to use the D-Star Gateways

Without registering, you can use our repeaters locally. If you want to connect to distant repeaters and users on other repeaters, you need to register as a gateway user. One registration at your closest repeater with a gateway is good for all on the worldwide network.

To register, read and follow the instructions at
http://www.dstargateway.org/D-Star_Registration.html.

Setting Up Your Radio…

All the below information (and more) is reflected in the settings you can get from the “D-Star Calculator” at http://www.dstarinfo.com/Calculator/DSTAR%20Web%20Calculator.aspx. Give it a try!

By now you know that we need to program some information into our radios for them to work properly. ”MyCALL, UrCALL, RPT1 C and RPT2 C” are the parameters we are going to set up. It is a good idea to set up a memory channel for each system and combination of cross band options you plan to use. This lets you get on the air quickly by having the info already programmed in your radio… just turn to a memory channel and go.

MyCALL

This identifies your radio. If you have more than one ham in the house, program each call into a different memory. That way, several users can borrow your radio and talk to their friends.

UrCALL

This is the station you want to talk to. Most of the time we set this to “CQCQCQ” as we will be calling “CQ” or doing ragchew/roundtable work. “But what if I don’t want to listen to all the traffic on the frequency?” No problem, D-Star has the Call Sign Squelch (CSS) feature. It is similar to tone squelch (or PL or CTCSS) in that the radio is unmuted when a specific callsign is heard. So, if the station you want to contact has CSS enabled, set UrCALL to their callsign and they will hear you. Again, use the memories to save frequently used setups.

RPT1 CALL

This is the callsign of the local repeater you want to use. We need to enter more than just the callsign as most D-STAR systems have multiple ports. The 8th character in this field is the “switch”, and routes your data to the proper port. Insert spaces as necessary so that the switch is in the 8th position. (The “-” represents a space below.) D-STAR “switch” convention designates ‘A’ as 1.2 GHz, ‘B’ as 70cm and ‘C’ as 2 meters. ‘G’ is for gateway and ‘S’ is for server. Here is the W3EOC system, a typical 4-port configuration with gateway:

1.2 GHz DIGITAL DATAW3EOC_ _A
1.2 GHz DIGITAL VOICE REPEATERW3EOC_ _A
70cm DIGITAL VOICE REPEATERW3EOC_ _B
2 METER DIGITAL VOICE REPEATERW3EOC_ _C
GATEWAYW3EOC_ _G

So, to call my friend who has CSS enabled, on our 70cm port, I need to enter his call in UrCALL and the repeater 70cm port call in RPT1 C like this:

UrCALL: W3WA
RPT1 C: W3EOC**B

To call “CQ” or for ragchew/roundtable/net work, enter “CQCQCQ” for UrCALL.

To call out to all the DV ports from the 70cm port, use / in front of the repeater callsign like this:

RPT1 C: /W3EOC*B
(Note that there is only one space before the ‘B’ this time. Eight characters total, and the ‘switch’ must be in the eighth position!) Pretty handy that /, now isn’t it?

RPT2 CALL

Here is how you work crossband on your local repeater or use the gateway to contact your friend across the globe. To work crossband, enter the callsign of the other port you wish to use for RPT2 C. To use the gateway, enter G for the 8th character. The gateway accesses a database to find where the UrCALL was last heard and will send your data to that system… pretty cool, eh? Here’s a trick… to call “CQ” on the 2 meter port of a distant repeater using the gateway, enter “/K5TIT*C” in UrCALL. Now you will be heard by all the folks listening on 2 meters in Texas! Again, the ‘/’ comes in real handy.

Summary

Here is a table summarizing what we have just covered. The first three columns demonstrate calling “CQ” on simplex, the 70cm local repeater port and on both 70cm and the 2 meter port. The fourth demonstrates calling “CQ” on all the local repeater ports of the W3EOC system. The fifth demonstrates calling a specific station, AC5RA, using the gateway, while the last shows how to call “CQ” through the gateway to a remote system 2 meter port, in this case K5TIT. In each case you are transmitting on 70cm.

SettingMyCALLUrCALLRPT1RPT2
SIMPLEXW3QACQCQCQoffoff
70cm REPEATERW3QACQCQCQW3EOC**Boff
70cm / 2M CROSSBAND REPEATERW3QACQCQCQW3EOC**BW3EOC**C
REPEATER SYSTEM “ALL CALL”W3QACQCQCQ/W3EOC*Boff
GATEWAYW3QAAC5RAW3EOC**BW3EOC**G
GATEWAY CQW3QA/K5TIT*CW3EOC**BW3EOC**G

‘*’ indicates a space.
Remember: Call sign fields have eight positions for characters, and the last one is where the ‘switch’ need to be. Adjust spaces accordingly, or be frustrated!

IC-800 DV Crossband Setup Problem

K3XT could not get the RPT2 setting to “stick.” Since others may have the same problem as Sean, K3XT, I’ll pass along the “solution”.

It isn’t obvious from the manual that after your set up the RPT1 and RPT2 and other call signs that you have to do a ‘memory write’ to store them with the other channel info. So crossband would work for a few seconds, then he would change to a different memory channel to check W3EOC B on 445.075 and lose the RPT2 programming again when he switched back to 2 meters.

Apparently the IC-800 manual implies that the call sign memory is separate from the frequency memory locations.

There are multiple separate memories for storing RPT1 and RPT2 call signs, as well as URCALLs. This IS separate from channel memories and is for convenience (saves you from manually entering each character in any setup). But channel memories ALSO save call signs along with other channel info like a ‘snapshot’ of a setup.

Useful links

FM Repeater System

UHF Linked Repeater System

LocationOutput FrequencyOffset (MHz)PL Tone
West Chester446.525 MHz-5100.0
Bucktown446.175 MHz-5100.0
Oxford448.875 MHz-5100.0
Coatesville441.950 MHz+5100.0

Coatesville Repeater

The Coatesville W3EOC 441.950 FM repeater coverage prediction for mobile stations

The West Chester W3EOC 446.525 FM repeater coverage prediction for mobile stations

Home

Blattae Communicata?

“Cockroaches of Communications”

CCAR members refer to themselves this way because, like the amazing cockroach, our communications survive.

Chester County ARES/RACES (CCAR) provides emergency communications for Chester County Department of Emergency Services (CCDES) from any location within Chester County to locations designated by CCDES. Chester County ARES/RACES also provides communications assistance to other agencies based on coordinated cooperative arrangements with neighboring counties following a request made through CCDES. Registered FCC-licensed amateur radio operators provide 2-way voice and digital communications services on a volunteer basis.

It is the responsibility of individual volunteers to prepare themselves and their personal equipment to provide reliable communications within two hours of activation and be self-sustaining at field assignments for periods up to 72 hours. CCAR provides emergency communications training for its members. CCAR will operate in compliance with the the Chester County Emergency Operations Plan and the Eastern Pennsylvania (EPA) Comms Plan.

For a description of the capabilities and services CCAR has to offer click here.

CANCELED – Skywarn refresher – April 2020

In April, we’ll have a Skywarn refresher/training session for the CCAR team.

The training session will take the place of the April Tech Rally.  There is a chance we’ll need to move to April 18th instead of the 11th, in order to accommodate everyone.

 If you are a CCAR member this is a class that we want everyone to take, and it is expected for anyone in an ARES/RACES group as well.

 PLEASE REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE if you will attend SkyWarn training in April, so I can get an early headcount for the NWS instructor, and schedule a location that will fit everyone.

 Thanks in advance, and as always, thank you for your service to Chester County ARES/RACES, to Chester County DES, and to the residents of Chester County.

Dave Flad / KB3YCK

Emergency Coordinator

Chester County ARES/RACES (CCAR)

CCAR Weekly Drill Message for 03/26/2020

A copy of this week’s drill message can be downloaded from the following location:

<https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r0i4b4ebx49xtc8/AACOYw6sM3yGc1TbYa76HjeYa?dl=0>

All members checking into the CCAR Weekly Information Net should download a copy of the weekly drill message in advance and be prepared to transmit the message if called upon by the Net Control Station. A “scripted” version of the message is included for your reference.

A version of the message formatted for flmsg is included for NBEMS practice after the net.

The handling of formal message traffic is a basic skill we all need to have as emergency communicators. Your participation in this weekly training activity will help to keep your message handling skills sharp.

Questions regarding this activity can be directed to me at wb3gck@arrl.net.

See you on the Net!

73, Craig WB3GCK
CCAR Net Manager

Home-old

Mission Statement

Chester County ARES/RACES (CCAR) provides emergency communications for Chester County Department of Emergency Services (CCDES) from any location within Chester County to locations designated by CCDES. Chester County ARES/RACES also provides communications assistance to other agencies based on coordinated cooperative arrangements with neighboring counties following a request made through CCDES. Registered FCC-licensed amateur radio operators provide 2-way voice and digital communications services on a volunteer basis.

It is the responsibility of individual volunteers to prepare themselves and their personal equipment to provide reliable communications within two hours of activation and be self-sustaining at field assignments for periods up to 72 hours. CCAR provides emergency communications training for its members. CCAR will operate in compliance with the the Chester County Emergency Operations Plan and the Eastern Pennsylvania Section ARES Emergency Plan.