Introduction and Executive Summary for N6R’s 2024 Field Day event

The Ventura County Amateur Radio Society (VCARS) has been privileged to hold its annual “Field Day” event on the grounds of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum since 2001. The Presidential Library provides an ideal location for this weekend event: partially because of its location, partially because of its resources, partially because of the status and prestige that the Presidential Library holds, and partially because of the way in which members of the public are drawn to both the facility and the Field Day event in a synergistic way. In all, Field Day is an event that allows local Amateur Radio Operators (“Hams”) an opportunity to sharpen their operating skills and promote their hobby, a hobby that is as old as radio communication itself. What better place to showcase communications skills, than at a nationally recognized facility dedicated to one of our country’s greatest communicators.

For those not already familiar with the event, “Field Day” is an annual “operating event” organized and promoted by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the national organization promoting and supporting the Amateur Radio hobby. The event is always held during the fourth full-weekend in June; in 2024, this falls on June 22-23. The purpose of the event is to provide an opportunity for licensed Hams to challenge themselves by operating under non-ideal conditions, such as might be encountered during an emergency or disaster. As an intended part of the event, our participants must transport equipment and supplies, erect temporary shelters and antenna structures, utilize portable power sources, and operate radio stations for twenty-four consecutive hours (from 11 am on 6/22 through 11 am on 6/23). During that period we attempt to contact as many Amateur Radio stations as possible, exchanging certain prescribed information. In past years, Field Day events at this location have netted many thousands of two-way contacts, and for each of the past several years (with only a handful of stations) our contacts typically extended to all of the (50) United States and several other countries.

Past participants of this event at the Reagan Presidential Library have included members and guests from several local Amateur Radio clubs and organizations. This year, members from the Ventura County Amateur Radio Society (VCARS) will combine efforts with members from the Simi Settlers Amateur Radio Club (SSARC) to organize the event; and during the event’s operation, we will be joined by several other (non-affiliated, invited) Hams from the local area. Interested Hams, public officials, and members of the Press may contact either Vern Potter (W6NCT, Event Chairman, W6NCT@arrl.net), or Stu Sheldon (AG6AG, Event PIO, AG6AG@arrl.net) for additional information about the event.

A Message Regarding License Cost Increases

When I originally went to either “https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/” or “https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings”, and initially ONLY entered in  “20-270”, the best that I could find were a bunch of other peoples comments.  Doing this, I didn’t see an obvious way to add a comment of my own.

Then I came across an easy to follow document from another Ham, which walked me through the easy steps to get a basic description of the proposed change, and submit a comment to the FCC about their Licensing fee proposal.  If you want to submit your own comment (which I highly recommend that you do), it helps if you review some of the other comments (for ideas,…), and write up what you want to say first; then just follow the simple steps (paraphrased and embellished below).  Be aware that the FCC’s online form accepts a variety of formats for attachments (e.g., PDF, txt, ppt, pptx, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, rtf, dwg,…); I used PDF.

Referenced Document

STEPS:

  • Go to “https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings“.
  • In the first box, type “20-270“; it should display a couple options to choose from.
  • Select the “Amendment of the Schedule of Application Fees…“.
  • Then fill out the remainder of the required fields, including,…
    • Name
    • Email
    • Type of filing (i.e., select “COMMENT”)
    • Address of … (i.e., select “Filer”)
    • Address, City, State, Zip (i.e., enter your mailing address)
  • Drop in the file containing your Comments to the FCC regarding the proposed fee assessment.
  • I recommend that you check the box requesting an “Email Confirmation“.
  • Review what you typed (i.e., just in case,…)
    • If it looks OK, select to “Continue to review screen“.
  • If anything is invalid (or missing) in the basic things you filled in, it’ll complain, with an explanation at the top of the page.
    • If your basic entries were OK and complete, it’ll progress to a “Review page”.
  • Review it all again (just to be sure).  If there are any problems, go back and fix them.
    • Once everything looks good, select “Submit“.
  • It should return with a “Confirmation” screen, to acknowledge that your comment was submitted.
  • Now, you are basically done;
    • … but if you had requested an “Email Confirmation” (see above), then you should receive an Email acknowledgement as well.  Mine only took a few minutes.

Feel free to share this information with the other Hams. 

We should try to get as many people as we can to submit comments to the FCC. 
(NOTE:  you don’t have to be a licensed Ham to submit a comment!)

Be well.

Vern

County Wide Zoom Meeting About Field Day!

Please join us for the County Wide Zoom Meeting About Field Day. The meeting starts at 19:00 Hrs. PST on June 17, 2020. We will be covering the County Wide Events and answering questions regarding Field Day in general.

Stu AG6AG is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: County Wide Field Day Events
Time: Jun 17, 2020 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85937919877?pwd=UDhOVGRRS3ozcDEyaktmc2F6RTdPZz09

Meeting ID: 859 3791 9877
Password: 394854
One tap mobile
+16699009128,,85937919877#,,,,0#,,394854# US (San Jose)
+12532158782,,85937919877#,,,,0#,,394854# US (Tacoma)

Dial by your location
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 859 3791 9877
Password: 394854

Thanks to all!

— Stu

Six Ways to Get the Most Out of Field Day Even If We Can’t Be Together

There are several special amateur radio initiatives planned in Ventura County during Field Day 2020, June 27-28th.  The COVID-19 crisis makes us unable to gather in large groups as we have in the past. We are attempting to recapture some of the camaraderie and fellowship among hams in other ways by making the following options available for those who choose to participate in them.  Nothing here is compulsory.  The idea is to have some fun.  Feel free to participate in whatever interests you.

Continue reading

New Website: SkyWave-Radio the study of HF radio communications

Our own Ken (KJ6RZ) has created a web site all about HF communications and Propagation.

“The purpose of this site is the study of HF radio communications. I hope to provide information that bridges the gap between the simple and very complex.

Finally, it is intended that this be an open source website meaning that you are free to use the information provided here for non-commercial applications. Particularly for articles that you may be writing, club newsletters, and club presentations.

It is hoped that you find this web site interesting, informative, and above all useful.

Visit the site here…

— Stu

Turn on you radios and join the group!

Since we are all stuck at home, a small group of us think that this is a marvelous time to get on the air! Also, with many of us being considered in the ‘High Risk’ group for Corona, it would be a great way to communicate our individual situations with each other.

We would like to propose an informal meetup on the Bozo Repeater lasting 30 mins. every day at 09:00, 12:00, 18:00 and 21:00 local time. A place where local hams can reach out to each other and exercise their radios and their skills.

Mind you, this would not be a formal net, but just a set time to gather on the repeater and interact. No pressure, and no requirements, just a group of hams having fun and chatting!

The Bozo Repeater operates with the following settings:

Frequency:147.885MHz
Offset:
PL:127.3

If you are having trouble setting on the repeater or need assistance, please feel free to reach out via email to AG6AG stu@ag6ag.org for help!

Please join the crowd!

Stu AG6AG

Staying ahead of the fires…

As an amateur radio operator, we often find ourselves exchanging and relaying information about fires and other emergencies and disasters. For those that stepped up and helped keep the folks without power informed of the movements and evacuation area changes for the Easy and Maria Fires, I salute you all!

Thanks to Rick Slater for providing this picture from Randy Latimer. This was a shot of Randy’s plane at Santa Paula Airport during the early hours of the Maria Fire.