[HCARC] Texas Radio Roundup

[Terry Hipskind]

The Texas Red Cross Radio Roundup

This round up is sponsored by the CENTEX and Gulf Red Cross Regions.

All Red Cross Radio Amateur Operators in Texas are invited to check into our

special event - The Red Cross Radio Roundup. This event is open to Red Cross

Amateur Radio Operators - and ARES Red Cross support teams and Club

stations.

There are four nets you can participate in.

I) Echolink (and or IRLP VHF/UHF) net;

II) 2 HF Nets, and

III) a Digital Net.

Please check into as many of these nets as your license and

capabilities allow.

Radioless Hams - Please get signed up for Echolink at a minimum.

You can also use your chapter station. Or find a nearby Hospital station

or radio club station that you can use. Many ARES organizations also

have Go-kits that may benefit from some testing. So reach out and plug

in. Email me if you need to know who the ARES EC is for your county,

or try to find this out on the web.

Under our MOU with ARES both organizations promote joint

membership. So you should also consider joining your local

ARES group to improve your operations skills.

Please keep copies of the TX State Red Cross ICS 217. Place one

copy with each of your Home station, Mobile Station, portable go kits.

Also place one in your radio room and chapter Disaster Plan.

These nets are directed nets. You cannot go wrong if you follow the

instructions of Net Control.

Instructions for each net are below

I Echolink Net

In the event of an emergency we would link our counties together using

an Echolink / IRLP bridge. This bridge is available on an as needed

basis.

Echolink software is available at http://www.echolink.org/

Start Echolink.

Under Stations select find. Search for "echotest". This will allow you to

test your microphone and Audio settings.

Now search for "DCF-ARC". This stands for Disaster Communications

Forum - American Red Cross. This bridge is available in emergencies

on an as needed basis without any formal permission.

Add DCF-ARC to your "favorite" stations. If you want to test there is a

regular weekly nets held 8PM CDT on Sunday for Red Cross folks.

If you have a local IRLP repeater it can be bridged to the net. Please

get permission from your local repeater trustee if you intend to do this.

The node numbers are [IRLP 9257 EchoLink 336037]). If you need

further instructions email kf5fuz at arrl.net

This net is scheduled for Wednesday June 11, 2013 at 18:30 CDT

(23:30z).

We will be checking in by chapter.

When called on please give your Call sign and county. You can also

briefly add your group function - For Example "Mass Care", "DAT

Team", or "DST"

You will also be able to check in via the text box. Please put ** in front

of your check in message.

We will call for check-ins by chapter and region - Each station

would "check in" and identify by Call Sign, Name, principle Red

Cross Group, and County.

If you are in an organization supporting Red Cross you can identify

by giving Call Sign, Name, Organization, and County. For example

KG5LT, Dale, Brown County ARES, serving Red Cross.

This is a directed net. Please follow the directions of net control.

II HF net -

Under agreement with South Texas ARES their June 9, 2014 Monday

Night 19:30 CDT Net (3.873MHz) will be a special net.

On this net Red Cross volunteers and collocated stations can check in

and state "Red Cross" as their affiliation. So give your call sign slowly

and phonetically using ITU phonetics. Then say "Red Cross".

For example I would say "This is" (pause to check for doubles) "Kilo

Foxtrot Five Foxtrot Uniform Zulu - Red Cross" and then wait for Net

Control to acknowledge my call.

This is a directed net, so please listen to the instructions from Net

Control.

Please check in by your County!

This will be by section (North or West) if you are in North or West Texas

Section.

If you are part of South Texas Section then you check in by

district.

Districts and counties will be announced by Net Control. If you need a

listing of districts and counties, then email me or see the South Texas

ARES web site: http://www.arrlstx.org/index.php/ares

NORTH TEXAS NET - -

Operators in all counties are invited, but most especially Operators in

counties in North Texas ARES section are encouraged to check into the

North Texas ARES information net Wedneday June 11, at 20:30 CDT

on 3860+/-. This is in addition to the STX net.

III) Digital Check in

Red Cross Hams send email via VHF/UHF Packet and/or HF WINLINK/Pactor/or

Robust Packet to W5KA at winlink.org , KD5WHD at winlink.org, and TXRCAUSDST@

winlink.org .

Please identify your Name, organization, and county.

Do this by Midnight CDT 06/11/14

Please indicate the station you are sending it by and the mode. HF,

Packet, and Telnet based emails are appreciated.

Sample:

To: W5KA,KD5WHD,TXRCAUS-DST

Cc: <your email address>

Subject: Check in VHF

Check in N5TW-13 on 145.030.

Fred Good Ham, Red Cross / Travis County ARES

Sample 2

To: W5KA,KD5WHD,TXRCAUS-DST

Cc: <your email address>

Subject: Check in telnet

Check in via Telnet.

Fred Good Ham, Red Cross / Travis County ARES

Sample 3

To: W5KA,KD5WHD,TXRCAUS-DST

Cc: <your email address>

Subject: Check in HF

Check in via HF WINMOR on K5AEA-5 on 7.1045MHz.

Fred Good Ham, Red Cross / Travis County ARES