[HIham] Pacific SM Report

[kh6fnb at gmail.com]

SM Report

This report is for part of January 2012 and most of February 2012.  

 

We regret to report that Judith Ah Sam, WH6JL, passed away on December 30,
2011. She is the wife of Henry Ah Sam, KH6GQM.  They are from Kapaau in
North Hawaii.  

 

We also note the passing of Edward Dung, NH6WI, on Saturday Feb 25 at his
home.  He was a regular participant of the EARC nightly nets and enjoyed
passing on the weather reports each night on the nets. Despite his severe
disability Edward maintained a weather information web page on his own and
would memorize the weather reports he provided on both the EARC and Army
MARS nets. As this just happened we have no other information to share with
you at this time. We will be keeping in touch with the family and any
memorial plans will be shared with you all as soon as we know.  Tnx to
Wayne, KH6MEI, for the information.

A new D-STAR repeater began operations on Diamond Head on February 21, 2012.
The KH6HPZ B repeater is on 442.000+ MHz, currently operating two watts into
a 3 dB antenna. Coverage has been verified from Hawaii Kai to West Oahu.
The repeater is an open repeater, with priority for emergency communications
during times of emergency. The specific tasking of this repeater has yet to
be determined, and is being worked on. The repeater is currently operating
in standalone mode, with the future goal of establishing the DSTAR gateway.
It is a joint project of the amateur radio community, State Civil Defense
and ICOM America.  Thanks to the support of Robin AH6CP, Clem KH7HO, Jeff
AH6IX, Wayne KH6MEI, Rick KH7O, Chris NH6QH, Tony KH6TG and especially to
Ron AH6RH who provided the information for this write up.

 

The annual Simulated Emergency Test or SET will be Saturday October 6, 2012
from 9 to noon HST.  This year's scenario has not been publicized yet.  In
the past it has been a Hurricane or Tsunami.   

 

The Big Island "International" Hamfest is set for Saturday October 27, 2012.
It will be at the Keaau Community Center instead of Waimea this year.  The
center is already reserved.  There are two large rooms and a lanai area.
Rent for the hall is $100 with a $200 deposit so donations are greatly
appreciated.  There are still a few details to be worked out.  We expect to
have VE testing in the afternoon and perhaps a couple special speakers.  As
in the past, entrance is free with a mandatory sign in sheet.  There will be
a donation jar to cover expenses and we expect to have a few door prizes.
More details will be available later.

 

On February 22 ARRL VE exams were given at the LDS church on Ponahawai
Street with one new General and four Technicians passing.  There was an
Emergency Preparedness Fair on February 18 at the LDS church on Kilauea St.
Quite a few BIARC members showed up.  There was a Ham Radio display.

 

Kid's day was January 7, 2012.  This year Lloyd Cabral, KH6LC, opened his
shack making 271 contacts and hosting the local Kids Day visit again. He was
also running streaming live video.  Check out the website www.kh6lc.com.
Let's hope more Hawaii Stations get on the air this coming year.  An article
appears on page 91 of December 2011 QST.  There are a lot of pictures on
Lloyd's website.  Good Job!

 

Kauai ARC VE team recently had one general and five Technicians pass exams.
Congratulations to all.  On 

Saturday, January 21, 2012, they had a Fox Hunt.  There was a special
meeting on January 23 on Fldigi which is a Digital Communication mode.  The
program was presented by Robert Anderson, KH6AS and Tad Miura, NH7YS.  The
regular KARC meeting was February 6.  On February 11th they had a one day
study session followed by another License Exam.  Every Saturday there is a
breakfast at the Feral Pig located in Harbor Mall Nawiliwili.  Folks begin
arriving at 7:30AM.  Be sure and get your parking ticked validated.  A new
Ham Orientation Session will be Monday, Feb 27th.  These sessions are
primarily designed for those who just got their License.  The next regular
meeting will be Monday March 5th at 19:00 (7pm) at the KIUC Conference Room.
Would you like to see a morning 2-meter net? We're considering initiating a
once-a-week, morning net on the 2-meter repeaters. It would be sponsored by
the American Red Cross Area Office. If you would like to give some input on
this idea, or have questions, please e-mail the Activities Chair. This would
be, of course, in addition to our regular Monday night net, and the EmComm
net on Thursday evenings. The KARC website is: http://www.kauaiarc.org/
for more information.   Mahalo and 73, Elaine Albertson,  AH6TA, Activities
Chair, Kauai ARC

 

The Honolulu Amateur Radio Club is a group of hams interested in amateur
radio and good fellowship. They meet on the 3rd Saturday at 9:00 AM on odd
months only (January, March, May, July, September and November).  HARC
maintains the NCDXF HF Beacon station for Hawaii as KH6WO.  There are HF
beacons in many countries. HARC and the BYUH radio club provide the Hawaii
beacon service. For beacon information, check http://www.ncdxf.org and click
on BEACONS.  The Beacon is a TS-50 with a control box which is linked to GPS
time and keeps the time exact as well as changing the power 100/10/1 watt.
The NCDXF, in cooperation with the IARU, constructed and operates a
worldwide network of high-frequency radio beacons on 14.100, 18.110, 21.150,
24.930, and 28.200 megahertz. The speaker at the last meeting on January 21
was John Raymond, the resident Engineer of the Honolulu FCC office during
the time of the TV transition to digital. John is a member of HARC.  John
Peter, K1ER, president of HARC; reports that now is a very good time for DX
with the solar cycle at a high point and many new DX stations on the air.
Need an Amateur or Commercial license Exam?  Call Lee Wical, KH6BZF, for
information on test schedules. HARC next meets on the third Saturday March
17 at 9AM at Sizzlers.  

 

The Emergency ARC meets on the third Tuesday at the Fleet Reserve
Association Branch 46-891 Valkenburgh Street Honolulu, HI 96818-4400.  The
topic for the last meeting on January 17 was Power Pole connectors.  They
also met on February 21.  Their website reports there were three upgrades so
far in 2012.  See:  http://www.earchi.org/index.html for more information.
Next meeting is March 20 at 7PM.

 

The Koolau ARC will meet next on Saturday, March 10, 2012 9:30AM Kaneohe
Ho'omaluhia Park (Botanical Garden) Visitor's Center.  Their website has
some interesting statistics about the number of hams in Hawaii.  See:
http://www.karc.net/ .

 

The Maui ARC normally meets on the second Wednesday at the CD EOC room.
Their website is: http://www.kh6rs.org/ The 2012 officers are the same as
2011. They are: President:  Diane, KH6PO; Vice President: Joe, AH6RQ;
Secretary: Kent, KH6CJJ & Treasurer: Steve, KH7SWT.   The 2012 VE schedule
is Saturday April 7, August 4 and December 1 at 9AM at the County CD EOC
room (this is a change).  For more information send an email to
kh6h at arrl.net or call Mel, KH6H, at 250-4591 and leave a voice mail. This
should be done at least two weeks before a scheduled exam.

 

BIARC holds monthly meetings on the second Saturday of each month at 2:00
P.M. at the Keaau Community Center.  Last month's meeting was on January 14
and featured a talk on Ulithi Atoll and "Federai" Island.  This month Joe
Owen, KO4RR, was the speaker on February 11th.  He gave a talk on the
DXpedition to Scarborough Reef.  Joe Speroni , AH0A, also gave a briefing on
the last Hawaii QSO party and especially the group that went to Molokai's
Kalaupapa Peninsula.  This year's QSO party will be the last weekend in
August.  Next month's BIARC meeting will be March 10 and will ask the
question "what happens to your equipment after you pass on".  The speaker
will be Vice President Doug, WH6DTD.  BIARC also has a weekly lunch on
Friday at the Hokulani Steak House in Keaau.  See:  www.biarc.net for more
information.  There have been several small earthquakes with the strongest
on January 22 and February 22.  In both cases the BIWARN repeater system was
activated almost immediately however there was no reported damage or
problems.  The February 22 events were preceded by a series of five
explosions of unknown origin.  The best guess is something in the air like a
sonic boom or perhaps space stuff entering the atmosphere.

 

Ralph Fontaine AH6RF and Maureen Fontaine, KH6MF were on the island of
Hawaii for a couple days.  Several people met them for lunch at Hokulani
Steak House in the Keaau Shopping Center. It was good to see Ralph and
Maureen again.  Ralph helped get our BIWARN repeater system modernized
before they moved to Washington State.  There has been snow on Mauna Kea and
Mauna Loa.  It is nice to see from a distance.

 

The Kona Amateur Radio Society meets on the third Sunday of each month.  The
last meeting was February 19th and the food theme was Cajun (celebrating
Mardi Gras).  The next meeting will be March 18th with an Irish theme
(celebrating Saint Patrick).  The 147.16+ repeater is back on the air from a
private residence for the time being. Their website is:
http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/~veillet/hwars.html  .

 

 

The Kohala Hamakua Radio Club last met on Wednesday February 8 at the
Hualalai conference room of the W.M. Keck Observatory HQ at 7PM.  This is
their new EVEN month meeting place which is the 2nd Wednesday 1900W.  Your
SM went to the December meeting and it is a very nice place. On odd months
they meet on the second Sunday in Kapa'au at the Hisaoka Gym conference room
in King Kam Park at 2PM.  Enter in the rear of the building.  Your SM wants
to especially thank Len Winkler, KH7LW, for keeping their website current.
It makes writing the SM report a lot easier.  The next meeting is Sunday,
March 11, 2012 at 2PM.  http://www.hamradioandmore.com/khrc.htm

 

Marianas ARC  https://sites.google.com/site/ah2gmarc/home  They meet on the
first Tue at 7PM.

 

Waikiki ARC
http://www.arrl.org/Groups/view/waikiki-amateur-radio-club/type:club  They
have breakfast every Tuesday at 7AM at Sizzlers Pearl Ridge.  The website is
the ARRL club listing site.

Honolulu DX Club http://www.arrl.org/Groups/view/honolulu-dx-club/type:club
We ran the two club listings together because they meet at the same time and
use the a generic ARRL web site.

 

Hilo ARC
http://www.arrl.org/Groups/view/hilo-amateur-radio-club-hilo-arc/type:club 

Hawaii DX association   http://hawaii.dx.tripod.com/  

Hawaii QRP Club  http://hiqrpclub.homestead.com/  

Dean Manley KH6B, representing the Hawaii QRP club (KH6AA) reminded us of
the coming events:

Saturday August 11, 2012 the Hilo ARC 81st Summer Potluck Picnic at Wailoa
River State Park in Hilo.

 

According to Amateur Radio NewslineT  RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO RESPONDS TO
PHILIPPINE QUAKE

Rescuers assisted by armed forces are hard at work searching for survivors
in the quake that hit central Philippines. The 6.8 temblor shook the country
on Monday, February 6th. At least 56 are confirmed dead and thousands are
homeless. And soon after the shaking ended ham radio operators were asked to
provide what appears to be a first response effort.

 

Also according to Amateur Radio NewslineT  In the United States, word that
the new rules governing ham radio operations in the 5 MHz or 60 meter
spectrum take effect on March 5th.  This after a notice to that affect
appeared in the February 3rd edition of the United States Federal Register.
As previously reported, last November the FCC released a Report and Order
detailing new rules for the 5 MHz Amateur Radio band.  You can read the
entire Federal Register item explaining the 5 MHz changes at 

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-02-03/pdf/2012-2477.pdf   but be
prepared to wade through an excess of verbiage to get to the meat.

 

The 2012 World Radiocommunications Conference, better known as WRC 12 has
come to a close. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the Newsroom with some good
news for ham radio:  At its Plenary meeting held on February 14th, the World
Radio communication Conference approved a new secondary frequency allocation
to the Amateur Radio Service from 472 to 479 kHz. Having passed its First
and Second Readings it is normally a formality that this change be included
in the conference's Final Acts when the gathering concludes and the Table of
Frequency Allocations would then be amended accordingly.  As a secondary
user, amateur radio shares 472 to 479 kHz with the Maritime Mobile Service
which is the primary user in all three ITU Regions and with the Aeronautical
Radio navigation Service which is a Secondary user except as noted in the
footnotes.

 

The Great Aloha Run was held February 20.  Thanks to all that helped provide
communications.

 

The ARRL Field Day: 2012 Field Day Packet is now available for download from
ARRL.  It will be held June 23-24, 2012 which is the fourth full weekend in
June.

	

The ARRL national convention AKA Pacificon 2012 will be held October 12 to
14 at the Santa Clara Marriott.  

 

73, 

 

Bob Schneider, AH6J

Pacific Section Manager

 

ARRL, the national association for Amateur RadioT

808-966-8146  Cell 808-345-6390

 <mailto:ah6j at arrl.org> ah6j at arrl.org