West Texas Section News March 2011

3/15/2011

News From Around West Texas.

The mailbox was a little light this month. The lack of radio news probably was because most of us were dealing full time with snow, ice, frozen pipes etc. Ham Radio took a back seat. No lasting damage out here on the ranch but I may have to take out a loan to pay the electric bill. My electric back-up heaters ran 24/7. I thought my “plan of attack” was going down the tube when the rolling electrical blackouts started. Lots of you weren’t as lucky. According to the W5ES Bulletin, the El Paso ARC had a water problem at the clubhouse. Clay (K5TRW) arrived at the site to set up for a VE session and was discovered water covering the floor of the clubhouse about ½ inch deep. Another ham related that he had 4-5 inches of water under his home. About the time that we thought things were getting better, West Texas began to burn. Many of our WTX hams are members of their local Volunteer Fire Departments and they have been very busy. I read news reports from some areas of WTX that rural residents were being kept advised of the danger to their areas by ham radio but I haven’t been able to verify amateur radio involvement. The mesquites aren’t out yet but I’m ready for Spring.

With spring on its way, it is time to head for the Midland Hamfest. The West Texas ARRL Section Convention and the Midland ARC St. Patrick’s Day Hamfest will be on March 19, 2011. Table sales are ahead of last year and it looks to be a great event. West Gulf Vice-Director John Robert Stratton (N5AUS) will assist with our ARRL Forum at 10:00 A.M. and update us on how amateur radio is faring in this year’s Texas legislative session.

DXCC, VUCC, and WAS card checking services will be centrally located at the ARRL Booth for your convenience this year. Les Bannon WF5E will be available to check your DXCC cards at the ARRL Booth from 9 AM to 11 AM. ARRL Awards Managers Mark Cranford N5XXD, Sara Gail Cranford N5ZMP, and John Dyer AE5B will be available throughout the day to check your cards for other ARRL awards. Please have your application completed before presenting your cards to the checkers. The fee schedule for VUCC changed in 2011. Your checkers have no other information but you must use the new 2011 application

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Awards/VUCC%20App%202011.pdf

The Key City ARC of Abilene is making plans to assist with the Steamin’ Wheels Bike Race. El Paso hams will be working with the Optimist Club to support the city’s annual Easter Parade. The Sun City ARC will have a float in the parade and they have extended an invitation to your SM to ride their float. I appreciate the invitation but had better to pass on the opportunity. I would hate to scare the children. Maybe if they had a Halloween Parade, I could fit in?

Have you sent your letter to your U.S Representative concerning the threat that HR 607 is to our 440 MHz band? If the bill becomes law in its present form, 420-440 MHz and 450-470 MHZ will be auction off to the highest bidder in the name National Security. New York Representative Peter King who is Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee sponsored the bill. King has been a regular on TV lately and certainly is influential in the new House of Representatives. As a result, we can not afford to ignore the threat. Remember that personal letters addressed to your Congressman go to a secure warehouse, miles away from his office, where they are screened for poison, etc. and may not be delivered to his office for months. It is imperative that we contact our House of Representatives member and explain that we oppose HR 607 in its current form. Moe information at

http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-members-respond-to-hr-607

We have a site that makes it easy for you to generate a letter to your Congressman. Go to http://www.kd4pyr.net/HamLetter.htm and enter your callsign. Download and then print your letter. Make sure you SIGN it. Unsigned letters go into the Congressman’s TRASH. After you have signed the letter, mail it to John Chawt, our ARRL representatives in Washington who will then hand deliver your letter to the Congressman’s office. Again, make sure that you SIGN the letter before you mail it.
 

Mailing address

John Chwat
Chwat & Co., 
Suite 103, 625 Slaters Lane, Alexandria, VA 22314
Fax number: (703) 684-7594 
 
Again, make sure that you SIGN the letter.

See you in Midland,

John Dyer

AE5B

West Texas Section Manager

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AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE

Monthly Section Emergency Coordinator Report to ARRL Headquarters

ARRL Section: West Texas Month: February Year: 2011

AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE

Total # of ARES members: 319 Change since last month: 0

DEC's/EC's and Net reporting this month 18 ARES nets active: 15 Number with NTS

liaison: 3

Calls of DEC's/EC's reporting: W5NPR, KM5VM, W5ZOX, KD5KBU, WA5NBP. N5SQK,

KB5HPT, KC5NHV, WT5C, KE5OG, KD4LXC, KE5NYB, KE5GRQ, KE5UAL, WX5SD, KJ5DX,

KB5HGM, KD5HYB

Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 9 Man Hours: 206

Number of public service events this month: 1 Man hours: 12

Number of emergency operations this month: 0 Man hours: 0

Total number of ARES operations this month: 10 Total Man hours 218

Comments SEC:

February saw the start of some of the worse fire situations imaginable in WTX. Many reported multiple large fires in their counties. High winds coupled with low humidity and little to no moisture for several months turned the area in to a tender box. With help from the state resources, they managed to hold losses to a minimum. For those who responded we offer our heart felt thanks for a job well done. Here in Midland we lost a 5-year-old girl due to smoke covering interstate 20 and a 5-vehicle accident. If you see a fireman let them know how much you appreciate there efforts and support them in any way you can.

Hamfest time in Midland is almost here and we look forward to seeing many of you. We will have an ARES table and a sign in sheet. John and Carla will be next door at the ARRL booth so drop by and visit.

J.T. Caldwell WA5ZFH West Texas Section Emergency Coordinator

Following Comments taken from EC Monthly Reports:

Taylor County

:

We held our annual Skywarn training at ACU last Saturday. We had about 120 people in attendance. A ham radio class was announced and we had several people that signed the list indicating an interest. Officials from the National Weather Service, including former Weather Channel meteorologist, Dr. Steve Lyons assisted in the presentation. The city of Abilene has set up a new computer for our use at the Abilene EOC. They have also purchased a rather expensive software package called Weather Defender. We are anxious to start using it. Several ARES members who are also members of the Hamby Volunteer Fire department helped fight a large grass fire in Jones County. Approximately 1000 acres were burned, no structures were lost, although several were threatened. We continue to work on communications exercises for our 19 county region. I’m not sure how much involvement that ham community will have in this exercise, but several hams have attended some of the planning meetings.

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West Texas Net Reports Feb 2011

Name/sessions/checkins 
El Paso Area
 WTRA (K5ELP) Monday Night Net: 4/50
 SCARC Thursday Night (K5WPH) Net: 4/39
 QCWA (W5RO) Chapter 64 Net: 4/37
 El Paso D-Star Net 4/25
Big Bend Area 
 Big Bend Emergency Net: 4/197

 Big Bend 2 Meter Net 4/70
San Angelo Area 
  Concho Valley 2 Meter Net:   4/80
  Tom Green ARES Net:  4/43
Panhandle Area 
  Panhandle Amateur Information Net: 3/23
  Panhandle ARES Net: 2/19
Taylor County ARES Net:  no report
 

Coming Events  

March 19 56^th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Hamfest and West Texas Section ARRL Convention http://www.w5qgg.org/marc/hamfest.html

March 19 BS ARS annual meeting Midland, Texas

April 23 Earth Day 2011 Special Event Station W5E Earth, Texas

May 14 Panhandle ARC Hamfest

June 10-11 ARRL National Convention (Ham-Com 2011) http://www.hamcom.org/

Big Bend Emergency Net/ West Texas Section Net 3922 Khz Sunday at 8:30 AM CST