May2001

SOUTH GEORGIAN BAY WEST SIMCOE AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE

Monthly Report

Submitted to: ARES Central Ontario District DEC

Subject: Central Ontario District Emergency Coordinator Report

Report Month/Year: June, 2003

Date Submitted: July 1, 2003

EC Area of Responsibility: South Georgian Bay West Simcoe County

EC Name and Callsign: Darren Lortie VE3REK

EC's Email Address: [email protected]

Club Names: South Georgian Bay ARC / Blue Mountain ARC

ARES Members this Report: 31

Registered Stations Increase/Decrease since last report: 0

Local Net Name: South Georgian Bay West Simcoe ARES Net

Number of Net Sessions / Check-ins 3 Nets / 19 Check-ins - 2 Formal Traffic (1 Sent - 1 Rec'd)

Section Net Name: Ontario ARES Net - 7.150 MHz

NTS Net: OPN & OSN

Comments: Monthly net schedule has been suspended for the Months of July and August as a break to allow summer time holidays.
Field day held in Wasaga Beach at the Wasaga Stars arena. Station setup began at approximately 10 am with the erection of 3 towers consisting of 2 meter verticals, 2 meter beams, 6 meter loops, a G5RV and a 40 meter loop antenna. Operating station was located in a tent trailer which allowed the operators to get out of the noise from the visiting stations and operate the radio. A display area was set up for anyone who was interested in seeing packet, APRS, voice, airmail and SSTV demonstrations. We were visited by one municipal official and a number of ham operators from outside the local area. 6 hams and 2 XYL's braved the weather and spent the entire weekend camped out in tents and motor homes located on the grounds of the field day site. Power for the weekend was supplied by a Honda 5 kW generator running continuously. Station operations had to be halted and antennas disconnected on 2 occasions while severe thunderstorms including a tornado warning occurred. Each lasted approximately 30 minutes. Startup was slow with a grounding problem occurring. AC was being fed through the radio up to the antenna, and the inability to tune the antennas on any band were the symptoms. When up the tower to check the antennas, AC was felt at the feed points. A ground stake was driven into the ground beside the trailer, with ground wires running to the radio, tuner, line voltage conditioner and computer. Once these items were grounded, the antennas tuned perfectly and the station was operated successfully. Even with the downtime of approximately 30 minutes to solve the grounding issue and 1 hour lost for the two storms, more than 450 stations were worked during the weekend. A great job was done, and a good time was had by all. Preparations for next years field day were being made while station tear down began.
Updates to the SGBWS ARES manual have been started and will be distributed to the registered stations when complete.
NTS Liaison Station - Ken - VA3KEW, 0 traffic to / from ARES group to the OSN and the OPN. Local traffic = 1 message.
OBS - VA3KNR - Doug, read 3 Bulletins.
ARES data updated on local club web site and ARES web site
weekly.

Submitted to:	ARES Central Ontario District DEC
Subject:	Central Ontario District Emergency Coordinator Report
Report Month/Year:	June, 2003
Date Submitted:	July 1, 2003
EC Area of Responsibility:	South Georgian Bay West Simcoe County
EC Name and Callsign:	Darren Lortie VE3REK
EC's Email Address:	[email protected]
Club Names:	South Georgian Bay ARC / Blue Mountain ARC
ARES Members this Report:	31
Registered Stations Increase/Decrease since last report:	0
Local Net Name:	South Georgian Bay West Simcoe ARES Net
Number of Net Sessions / Check-ins	3 Nets / 19 Check-ins - 2 Formal Traffic (1 Sent - 1 Rec'd)
Section Net Name:	Ontario ARES Net - 7.150 MHz
NTS Net:	OPN & OSN
Comments:	Monthly net schedule has been suspended for the Months of July and August as a break to allow summer time holidays. Field day held in Wasaga Beach at the Wasaga Stars arena. Station setup began at approximately 10 am with the erection of 3 towers consisting of 2 meter verticals, 2 meter beams, 6 meter loops, a G5RV and a 40 meter loop antenna. Operating station was located in a tent trailer which allowed the operators to get out of the noise from the visiting stations and operate the radio. A display area was set up for anyone who was interested in seeing packet, APRS, voice, airmail and SSTV demonstrations. We were visited by one municipal official and a number of ham operators from outside the local area. 6 hams and 2 XYL's braved the weather and spent the entire weekend camped out in tents and motor homes located on the grounds of the field day site. Power for the weekend was supplied by a Honda 5 kW generator running continuously. Station operations had to be halted and antennas disconnected on 2 occasions while severe thunderstorms including a tornado warning occurred. Each lasted approximately 30 minutes. Startup was slow with a grounding problem occurring. AC was being fed through the radio up to the antenna, and the inability to tune the antennas on any band were the symptoms. When up the tower to check the antennas, AC was felt at the feed points. A ground stake was driven into the ground beside the trailer, with ground wires running to the radio, tuner, line voltage conditioner and computer. Once these items were grounded, the antennas tuned perfectly and the station was operated successfully. Even with the downtime of approximately 30 minutes to solve the grounding issue and 1 hour lost for the two storms, more than 450 stations were worked during the weekend. A great job was done, and a good time was had by all. Preparations for next years field day were being made while station tear down began. Updates to the SGBWS ARES manual have been started and will be distributed to the registered stations when complete. NTS Liaison Station - Ken - VA3KEW, 0 traffic to / from ARES group to the OSN and the OPN. Local traffic = 1 message. OBS - VA3KNR - Doug, read 3 Bulletins. ARES data updated on local club web site and ARES web site weekly.