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The
Straight Key 
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McArc
Newsletter - Online
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Summer
2008
Since 1997
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Field Day 2008 The
America Radio Relay League (ARRL) calls it their "flagship operating
event." According to the ARRL, "Field Day, held the fourth full
weekend in June, brings together new and experienced hams for 24 hours
of operating fun."
The first Field Day was in 1933. Field
Day was designed to test operators' skills in setting up and operating
radio equipment in situations where there is limited or no
electrical power. Field Day simulates the conditions that can occur
during a hurricane, tornado or other emergency, and even man-made
disasters. Field Day is an ARRL sponsored event. Organizations,
clubs, and individuals participate in Field Day. To find out how
to particpate in Field Day in your area, visit the ARRL web site. For rules and forms, visit the ARRL Field Day rules page. To find where McArc is having Field Day, contact Tom Taylor at W 5 V E I @ s w b e l l . n e t.
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KD5DX Coming Soon to Castroville Before
it was KD5DX, before it moved to Dunlay, the McArc 2 meter repeater was
on the ridge overlooking Castroville. After several years without
a repeater in Castroville, the hardworking McArc repeater committee
began the process of installing a repeater back on the ridge. The
first step in the process was erecting a tower and installing the
antenna and feedline. Next the 147.200 MHz repeater will be moved
from its temporary location to the Castroville repeater site.
Listen for the 147.200 in Castroville soon.
Contact Walter Hock/KK5LO or Curtis Lechner/N5VLV for more details.
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FCC Says- No To
Code!
As hard as it may be to believe the FCC has finally dropped the code
requirement for ALL amateur license classes. According to an email
blast news letter from the ARRL to Volunteer Examiners (VE's) the "FCC
modifies the Amateur Radio Service rules by eliminating the Morse code
exam requirements. The effective date of the FCC's action will be
20 days after publication in the Federal Register -- most likely in
Februrary."
The ARRL news letter continued "In an historic move, the FCC has
acted to drop the Morse code test requirement for all Amateur Radio
license classes. The Commission adopted the long-awaited "Morse code"
proceeding (WT Docket 05-235), and released it December 19. The FCC's
action will eliminate the Morse code test as a licensing requirement to
operate on HF."
What does it mean for Technicians? The League offers the
following.
Technicians Gain Operating Privileges
Once the changes are in effect, all Technician licensees -- whether or
not they have passed a Morse code examination -- will have "Tech Plus"
operating privileges. This means you will have all of your current
VHF/UHF and above frequencies and also will have access to the
Novice/Technician Plus frequencies on HF.
No Morse Code Test to Upgrade
Technicians can upgrade to General by passing the General (Element 3)
written exam and to Amateur Extra by also passing the Extra (Element 4)
written exam. No Morse code test will be required. Visit the ARRL VEC
exam search web page http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.phtml for
test session locations.
For additional details visit the
American Radio Relay League at
www.ARRL.org.
How Do I Upgrade
Without Code?
Now that the FCC has dropped the Morse code exam requirement, you may be
interested to know what it takes to upgrade. The ARRL has been
answering telephone calls non-stop since the announcement was made to
drop the code. To help alleviate some of the telephone backlog,
they sent out a an email blast news letter with the following
information.
Navigating through the Upgrade Process
1. Technician Amateurs who wish to upgrade to General have a couple
of options.
a. We recommend that Technician licensees who have NOT yet passed
the General written exam (Element 3) wait until the new rules take
effect to upgrade. At a session, the candidate must present a photo
ID and their current license, pay the $14 test session fee and fill
out the NCVEC form 605. If the Element 3 written exam is passed, the
VE team will issue the candidate a CSCE for the upgrade to a general
class license.
b. Technician licensees who have already passed the General
written exam (Element 3) or wish to pass the General written exam
before the rules take effect, will then have to apply for the
upgrade at a VE session once the new rules are in place. At a
session, the candidate must present a photo ID, their current
license and the non-expired CSCE document, pay the $14 test session
fee and fill out a NCVEC form 605. If the Element 3 written exam
credit is valid, the VE team will issue the candidate a CSCE for the
upgrade to a general class license. If the CSCE for Element 3 credit
has expired (a CSCE is only valid for 365 days), you will have to
retake the examination element in order to receive the credit toward
your upgrade.
2. Post Session Process
The VE Team must prepare and mail all session paperwork to the
coordinating VEC. Once the session arrives at the VEC, in accordance
with FCC rules, the VEC staff must verify all session documentation. All
605 forms and CSCEs must have the candidate’s signature and 3 VE
signatures. The CSCEs used for General written exam element credit must
be validated as being passed within the previous 365 days and/or the
test documents must be confirmed as being passed. Finally, the session
data and information from the 605 forms can then be keyed and submitted
to the FCC. The upgrade should appear in the FCC database http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/
within a few hours and a new license copy will arrive in the mail in 7
to 10 days.
VEC Test Fee
As you can see, much of the same work is involved in both types of
General class upgrades, therefore the administrative costs are embedded
in the process.
The FCC has mandated that all paperwork only upgrades be done through
a VEC via their VE Teams. The processing and administration of FCC
"projects" such as this, actually places a greater demand on all the
VECs. This is not a special case involving only a few people; we expect
to receive a flood of upgrades to General. The paperwork only upgrade is
not automatic for the amateur and the forms may not be sent directly to
the FCC or the VEC office (again the upgrade must occur at a test
session and follow FCC guidelines). The VEC test session fee is
regulated (per annual agreement) by the FCC.
A New Era
When the new rules are in place, we hope you explore your new band
allocations, enjoy your new privileges and have fun!
For additional details visit the
American Radio Relay League at
www.ARRL.org.
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Repeater
News - KD5DX Coming Soon to Castroville Before it was KD5DX, before it moved to Dunlay, the McArc 2 meter
repeater was on the ridge overlooking Castroville. After several years
without a repeater in Castroville, the hardworking McArc repeater
committee began the process of installing a repeater back on the ridge.
The first step in the process was erecting a tower and installing the
antenna and feedline. Next the 147.200 MHz repeater will be moved from
its temporary location to the Castroville repeater site. Listen for
the 147.200 in Castroville soon.
Contact Walter Hock/KK5LO or Curtis Lechner/N5VLV for more details.
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ARRL
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)
ARES has come to Medina County. Our very own president, Ray
Martinez, Jr./N5VRE has been appointed to be the ARES Emergency
Coordinator for Medina County. The process of building an
ARES
team in our county is underway. Thus far, Ray has recruited Walter
Hock/KK5LO, Tom Taylor/KC5NAK and Curtis Lechner/N5VLV to be assistants.
According to Ray, Walter is looking over the training materials and will
be conducting training in the next few months. Tom and Curtis will
help coordinate activities in the West and East half of the county.
The Medina County EC further explained "as the team develops and grows,
we will continue to evaluate how best to serve the county."
Martinez has attended a table top exercise with Medina County first
responders, and county and municipal government officials, conducted by
a Homeland Security contractor on behalf of the State of Texas.
The exercise was an opportunity to network with other Medina County
officials. Ham radio operators were a big hit with those that
understand the importance of the amateur radio service. Martinez
says that he made lots of great contacts and passed out more than a few
business cards. "One thing that I hoped to accomplish was to get a
copy of the county emergency plan so that I can begin to understand how
we fit in," said Martinez. County Judge James Barden's office
provided a copy of the plan.
All licensed amateur radio operators are eligible to participate in
ARES. Medina County amateur radio operators are invited to join
the Medina County
ARES team. Amateurs need not be members of McArc
or any radio club. The only requirement is a desire to serve and
some type of radio equipment. There are any number of ways that
each amateur can be put to work and be a vital part of the Medina County
team.
If you are interested in becoming a part of the Medina County
ARES
team, please contact Ray Martinez, Jr./N5VRE at 830-931-9301 or email at
MedinaEC@mcarc.org. To
download an
ARES brochure from the
American Radio Relay League,
click here.
Heart of
Alsatian Country (Bicycle) Road Race - Make Your Plans for February
2008
The Castroville Chamber of
Commerce and Holland Racing are hosting a bicycle road race which will
take place Sunday, February 10, with time trials on Saturday, February
9. McArc volunteers are being asked to provide radio support and
Sag wagon support. We will gather at the Alsatian Hotel parking
lot at 0700. Coffee and tacos at Mona's at 0615. There will
be a controlled net on the McArc 2M repeater. The McArc 70cm
repeater will be used for informal traffic.
To volunteer or for more
information contact Walter Hock/KK5LO or
Ray Martinez, Jr./N5VRE. For more event
information or to register to ride go to
TXBRA.org. |
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CAV-100
Bicycle Ride - Make Your Plans for May 2008
The purpose of the
Castroville 100 Annual Veteran’s ride is to honor our veteran’s and
their families especially LCpl Rairdan.. Proceeds generated by
each event will go to the LCpl Rhonald Rairdan Memorial Scholarship fund. The fund provides
scholarships for two graduating Medina Valley AFJROTC seniors,
typically, one young
man and one young lady. The scholarships are awarded based on
merit within the AFJROTC program and overall accomplishments during
their high school education.
Plans are already being
made for the 2008 ride in May. Check back here for more details.
McArc, AARO, SARO, and SARC
members over the last nearly nine years have provided communications, as
a public service, to events such as the Medina Valley Education
Foundation "Medina River Ride", the CAPS "River Ride" and now the
CAV-100. For each event radio amateur volunteers have donated
their time, their talents, their gas, and provided their vehicles and
equipment to help make these events a success. Our volunteers are
assigned at rest stops, shadows, SAG, and net control.
Typically, there are a total of four routes
-- 25 mile, 38 mile, 75 mile, and 100 mile. Each route will have
one SAG riding behind the slowest rider with the 75 and 100 mile routes
having two SAGs each. Add to the four routes seven rest
stops with one radio operator each and at least one shadow and we need
fourteen (14) radio operator volunteers. All operators need a
mobile type radio and SAGs and shadows should be pickup trucks or vans,
SUVs, or station wagons capable of transporting a bicycle.
To volunteer to be a part
of this worthwhile event please contact Ray Martinez, Jr./N5VRE at ~ n 5
v r e @ a r r l . n e t ~ (note- tilde & spaces added to confuse spam
robots). For more information on the
CAV-100 or to register to ride in the event, click here >>
http://pure-env.com/CAV%20100%20Home.htm.
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Meeting Location
After more than seven years meeting at Larry's Restaurant, the time
has come to move on. Larry Arnold has been a solid supporter of
McArc and even offered to vote in the case of a tie (HI HI). The
coffee was always hot, breakfast was always filling, and the prices
didn't break the bank. No we are not leaving Larry's we are just
moving on.
We have come to the realization that in order to better serve the
entire county, we need to be more centrally located. Moving to
Hondo seems like the best way to serve more of the county. Tom
Taylor/W5VEI coordinated with the
City of Hondo to secure the
Hondo
Community Center for our monthly meetings and VE testing.
If there is a down side to the move it is that we are on our own for
breakfast. The
Hondo
Community Center doesn't have breakfast.
There has been some talk among the board about having coffee and
doughnuts as way to raise a few bucks or meeting somewhere for breakfast
before hand or for lunch afterwards. We are, as always, open to
ideas.
Stay tuned for further details. Contact
Ray
Martinez/N5VRE, at ~ n 5 v r e @ a r r l . n e t ~ (note- tilde & spaces
added to confuse spam robots) or 830-931-3307 for more information.
Click here for a MapQuest map to the
Hondo
Community Center -
Map of 1014 18th St Hondo, TX 78861-1815, US.Copyright Medina County Amateur Radio
Corporation, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 - All Rights Reserved
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Copyright Medina County Amateur Radio
Corporation, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 - All Rights Reserved
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