[Oremem/Idamem] All Oregon Army MARS Members

[leo]

Greetings Everyone,

Great checkin list for 1st re-activation of our digital training net on
Saturday mornings - we had 9 checkins!  Propagation was terrible as we had a
severe solar magnetic storm that knocked out digital and voice with many
stations on KFC.  AAR0JY was the NCS and she advised everyone on the
AAM0RA/A net that we would be using an alternate frequency on the AAM0RD/B
digital nets of KDD if propagation is too bad for digital net operations on
KFC...that is without offsets on both frequencies.

Oregon digital training nets on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday is
expanding its operations by using more modes - we use AMTOR on Mondays,
AMTOR on Wednesdays, and PACTOR on Fridays.  Saturday nets open on AMTOR.
That being said, know also that we will be changing modal operations from
the opening mode to test the PSK sound card modes as stations with those
capabilities allows.  Voice will also be used at the discretion of the NCS.
Lots of opportunities to enlarge one's experience with their digital modes,
learn digital net procedures and protocols, test and expand one's use of
their software(s), and get the kinks out of one's familiarity with equipment
and net skills.  We also have a lot of fun, but don't let that get around or
everyone will want to check into the nets!

Our State Gateway has been upgraded to Region 10 Gateway status with the
following changes:

Callsign:  AT0TFC
Sked: Daily 1105 PDT to 1630 PDT on KDI  LSB no offset
         Daily  1805 PDT to 2330 PDT on KDI  LSB no offset

Be sure to use the new callsign, AT0 (zero)TFC, that's AT0TFC, as the
software (Winlink 2.9) will only recognize one callsign.  The system has
been proofed out and there are bulletins and training material with a goodly
amount of informational material for all to use. We welcome all MARS members
to use AT0TFC often.

Great work on the past Western Annual emergency exercise - kudos all around!
HQ is quite happy with the results - over 500 pieces of traffic sent to HQ.
We did our part although more stations participation would have been
commendable.

Thanks for your assistance and patience in getting the Region 10 Gateway up
and running.  It was a team effort and quite a few members put in extra time
to prove the Gateway operation.

73's
leo
AAR0NH