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Ham Shack

A PUBLICATION OF THE RIO HONDO AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

Founded March 8, 1976 By WA6GEV & WA6WFC

Important Dates May

7th RHARC NET 12th RHARC Meeting

7:00 PM @ 15390 Lambert Rd. Whittier,

CA 90604 14th RHARC NET 21st RHARC NET

26th RHARC Board Meeting 7pm @ 11139

Washington Blvd. WHITTIER, CA 90606

28h RHARC NET

June 4th RHARC NET

9th RHARC Meeting 11th RHARC NET 18th RHARC NET

23th RHARC Board Meeting

25th RHARC NET 28 & 29th FIELD DAY

July 2nd RHARC NET 9th RHARC NET

14th RHARC Meeting 16th RHARC NET 23rd RHARC NET

28th RHARC Board Meeting

30th RHARC NET

Join the Rio Hondo ARC Net every Wednesday evening at 8 PM on any of our Repeaters: at 146.175 MHz (+), PL 156.7 Hz; at 223.94 MHz (-), PL 100 Hz; or at 445.560 MHz(-), PL 100 Hz. All Hams are invited to participate!

Field Day is in the Air! In just over a month we will be setting up on Sierra High Schools back field! We’ll talk more details about Field Day in June, but I wanted to mention it because its more than a fun club event, it’s a disaster communications exercise! This month Yolanda Martinez from the City of Whittier will be speaking to the club about this very topic. Recent earthquake activity in the area is just another reminder that we need to always be prepared at home, at work, and for the community when available! This will be a very informative meeting and I hope to see you all there!

73! Dino Darling – KX6D President Rio Hondo Amateur Radio Club

Presidents Message

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2013 RHARC BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Donald “Dino” Darling, KX6D President

Russell Alpern, KI6ZMX Vice-President

Donald Ocampo, KJ6RXV Secretary/Ham Shack Editor

Bill Leslie, WA6POK Treasurer

Paul In, KI6EL Don Olejnik, W6KAT Board Members

David Haring, K6CJZ Past-President

Tom Polley, WA6GEV Club Trustee

( … ) Equipment Trustee

Joe Provenza, W6UPN Dino Kitsios, KF6ECO Repeater Committee

Board Meetings are held at IHOP on the last Monday of the month at the IHOP Restaurant on Washington Blvd in the Santa Fe Springs Market Place Shopping Center, at 7:00 PM.

Ham Shack is published monthly. Advertisements are welcomed.

President Dino Darling (KX6D) called the meeting to order at 7:25 PM and led the Pledge of Allegiance at the Parnell Park Community Center. Introductions of members and guests were as follows: Vi Barrett (W6CBA), Bill Leslie (WA6POK), John Foley (KA6SED), Hank Welch (W6HTW), Tom Calderwood (KR6CKT), Rick Norton (WM6M), Don Olejnik (W6KAT), Manuel Cajina (KK6KDO), Henry Marquez (WA6HXA), Dave Haring (K6CJZ), Pete Salcido (KK6DRW), Don Rudd (KJ6RUJ), Richard Hodge III (KJ6GHW), Dick Palmer (WA6JDH), Lloyd Hendrickson (K6NQY), Russ Alpern (KI6ZMX), Paul In (KI6EL), guests Arnie Shatz (N6HC) and Johnny DeCicco & Guest.

Reports: (1) Bill gave the Treasurer's report with the Savings Account balance at $1,419.17 and Checking Account balance at $4,357.95. (2) Dave is still looking for more volunteers for the 5K walk-run for the Shelters Right Hand for Abused Women and Children on  April 26. He wants the volunteers to meet at the corner of Painter and Hadley at 7:30 AM. (3) Field Day 2014 will be a huge event for the Club since Dino, our FD coordinator has literally layed the groundwork for this big event by walking the field of Sierra Vista High School located between Greenleaf and Painter. He has made arrangements with Bob Whittenberg (KK6CKI), the Director of Business Services for the Whittier School District for the use of the field. See the photo depicting the location of the field with a yellow line running from NW to SE about 630 feet long which will be the line of dipole antennas to be located. Dino will have field coordinates for each of the antenna location for those who need to provide the information in the  contacts. Dino will have antennas for all the bands that we can work. Don (W6KAT) made a point that all submittals of field day results must be submitted on time with the ARRL and Dino has taken the responsibility of the submittal to ARRL. Dino wants this year's field day for everyone to participate and have fun in either setting up, operating and taking down. Remember, Field Day is the last full weekend of June. There will be more information for the field day setup in the next two meetings and signups for band usage are encouraged so we know that all the bands are being covered for the event.

Program: Dino introduced our guest speaker for the evening as the big and well-known DXer: Arnie Shatz, who is no stranger to the Club since his last presentation was in May 2013.  Arnie's presentation was on the FT5ZM Amsterdam Island which was his ninth major dxpedition, complete with a fascinating slide show made during the month of February 2014. The dxpedition team was made up of amateur radio operators from many countries around the world and it took him 30 hours to go from Los Angeles to Perth, Australia with a stopover in Hong Kong. Amsterdam Island is located west of Perth in the Indian Ocean. Then it took another nine days by ship to get to the island. It is the 4th most needed DX location in the ham radio community. The team set up two stations on the island, one higher than the other and it was very dangerous to go between the two stations in the dark due to the terrain of crushed lava rock which was hidden away by long weeds or shrubs. They made 170,000 contacts with 36,000 unique call signs. The entire dxpedition cost $450,000 which was funded by many entities. Thank you, Arnie, for a wonderful presentation.

Adjournment: There were no further business or announcements and the meeting was adjourned at 9:08 PM. Respectfully submitted, Paul In (KI6EL) Substitute Secretary

Rio Hondo Amateur Radio Club Minutes of April 14, 2014

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Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by President Dino Darling (KX6D). Members present at the meeting were: David Haring (K6CJZ), Don Olejnik (W6KAT), Bill Leslie (WA6POK), Russell Alpern (KI6ZMX), Jacqueline Darling (K6RIX) and Paul In (KI6EL).

Board & Committee Reports: The guest speaker for the May meeting has not been determined but will be announced in the Ham Shack. Dave is working on having Whittier's emergency coordinator to speak to the Club. Treasurer's report was made by Bill with the checking account at $4,084.96 and Savings at $1,919.30. The Club's liability insurance was renewed with Hayes Company. Don submitted receipts for donuts that were purchased for the February 2014 Technician License training class and asked for reimbursement. Excess funds collected from the training class were turned in to the treasurer from Vi Barrett (W6CBA). These funds will be used for the reimbursement of $20.00 to Don. Paul has been working with Donald Ocampo (KJ6RXV) on his email distribution list for the Ham Shack and determining who has not renewed their membership for 2014. A new roster including newly licensed hams from the October 2013 and February 2014 Technician training classes is being prepared. The newly licensed hams have been granted a year's membership in the Club. The Technician License training class scheduled in May for the US Forest Department has not been set. Vi was to contact the forest department and set a date. Don indicated that he will not be available to teach during May 16 to 18. The class could be held either the 4th or 5th weekend. Dino has sent a letter to Rod Hill (KE6CZD) for a discussion on the relocation of the Club's repeater antenna. Access to the site will also be an issue for the Club, too. Dave reported on the Whittier 5K walk/run for the Shelters Right Hand held on Saturday, April 26, which went very well with ten volunteers situated at key locations along the route. Dino also set up a command post at Central Park and coordinated the reports from the volunteers to the Shelters Right Hand walk/run director.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR MEMBERS BORN IN THE MONTH OF MAY

RHARC BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING - MARCH 31, 2014

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Rick Norton (WM6M) was assigned to ride with the Poop-out vehicle and provided up to the minute reports on the lead or last walker/runner. Our Club has provided emergency communications for this event for many years and we have always been commended for our efforts. Dave also reported that there have been 10 signups for the Disaster Emergency Communications for Whittier. More signups are encouraged and a meeting will be held as soon as everyone has their pictures taken and IDs issued.

Old Business: Dino discussed the relocation of the antenna for the repeater system as requested by the City of Whittier. A new hardline is proposed to connect the antenna to the repeater system. Field Day site has been approved by the Whittier School District and will be located on the Sierra Vista High School grounds between Greenleaf and Painter Avenues. Dino has been in contact with Hayes Company to provide a liability insurance rider for the school district . He will also do the same for the Club's repeater site at the water tank at the end of Greenleaf Avenue for the City of Whittier. The school grounds will be opened for our vehicles and also rest room facilities have been arranged. Dino wants new Club members to participate and get on the air so a special station (GOTA) will be reserved for that purpose. An announcement will be placed in the Whittier newspaper and also to public officials to publicize our event.

New Business: The next Board Meeting will be on May 26, 2014 - Memorial Day.

Adjournment: There were no further business or announcements and the meeting was adjourned at 7:55 PM on the motion from Bill with a second from Dave. Respectfully submitted, Paul In (KI6EL) Substitute Secretary

4th Carlos Adams (KE6QEU) 10th Eileen Stephen (KA6KDN) 14th Donald Ocampo (KJ6RXV) 15th Henry Marquez (WA6HXA) 16th Richard Palmer (WB6JDH)

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Dits & Bits

The next Club meeting on Monday, May 12, will have Yolanda Martinez as our guest speaker. Meeting starts at 7 PM at the Parnell Park Community Center. Arnie Shatz (N6HC) who was our guest speaker at the last Club meeting is a well-known DXer who goes on dxpeditions around the world. His presentation on Amsterdam Island 2014 FT5ZM was excellent and his next dxpedition will be in March 2015. Arnie was our guest speaker a year ago, too and wouldn't it be nice that our President Dino will set up his antenna trailer next year at some convenient location so we can all take a turn at the mike to get that rare DX location? It takes a lot of funds to undertake these dxpeditions and you can make a donation at their website which is www.amsterdamdx.org, I did. Bill Leslie has informed me of the members who have renewed their 2014 membership. I am in the process of updating our membership roster and if your name is not on it, you will be receiving an email with the renewal form. See the enclosed flyer announcing our next Technician License training class beginning on Friday, May 30th at 6 PM at the Whittier Police Station. Please inform your family or friends of our upcoming class. See you all at the meeting!

73, Paul In (KI6EL) Membership

RHARC BAND PLAN

CHANNEL FREQUENCY OFFSET PL ORGANIZATION

1 146.175 MHZ + 600 kHZ 156.7 Hz Whittier EOC W6GNS - RHARC

2 146.175 MHz Simplex 156.7 Hz Whittier EOC Simplex - RHARC

3 145.300 MHz - 600 kHz 156.7 Hz LAC DCS K6CPT Sta A

4 446.520 MHz Simplex ARES

5 146.520 MHz Simplex National Calling Frequency

6 223.940 MHz - 1.6 MHz 100.0 Hz Rio Hondo ARC W6GNS

7 445.560 MHz - 5.0 MHz 100.0 Hz Rio Hondo ARC W6GNS

8 145.510 MHz Simplex Long Beach ARES Net

9 146.145 MHz + 600 kHz 156.7 Hz Long Beach Repeater

10 449.780 MHz - 5.0 MHz 131.8 Hz Long Beach Repeater

11 446.740 MHz - 5.0 Mhz 100.0 Hz 101 DARN System (PV)

12 146.655 MHz - 600 kHz 114.8 Hz La Mirada Rptr KE6UPA

13 146.655 MHz Simplex 114.8 Hz La Mirada Simplex

14 146.970 MHz - 600 Hz 136.5 Hz Orange County Hospital Group

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CAR FOR SALE

2009 FORD FOCUS SEL

53,000 MILES, WELL EQUIPED, STERLING SILVER

$9,900.00, IF INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT

BILL (WA6POK) AT (626) 579-1761

Past Presidents Message This month I would like to thank the following people for their time and effort to make the 5K walk a success. KJ6RXV Donald, KI6EL Paul, W6KAT Don, KX6D Dino, K6RIX Jackie, KJ6RUJ Don, KE6CD Fred, KR6CKT Tom, and KJ6GHW Richard. A BIG thanks to all for helping to continue the great work of the Rio Hondo Amateur Radio Club in serving those in our community of Whittier. There were no incidents for us to report but we were there in case there were any. We did a remarkable job of keeping an eye out on the final participants as they completed the course safely. Secondly, this month is a report on the Emergency Communications group. We now have 9 enrolled with the city of Whittier and they are wanting to get started, Brett Petroff our contact will be setting up a time for he and I to visit all sites and get familiar with them. Once this is complete we will schedule a date (most likely a morning meeting for all involved) to be issued our city ID's and to just state the obvious rules of engagement for the group. After those two things have happened we will be looking at starting a schedule for radio checks. Those of you who wish to be involved with this endeavor will be welcome and the city will be calling for more applicants. Those applicants will probably be processed in a group. We do not want to swamp city time with processing applications on a one by one basis at this time. If all goes well with this (re)startup of the Emergency Communications group, I hope to see us be able to have at least one net a month called from the EOC. Well, that is all for now. It will be summer soon. Field Day is just around the corner. Dave K6CJZ

Photo of Sierra Vista High School located between Greenleaf and Painter.

Photo Courtesy of Paul In

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RIO HONDO AMATEUR RADIO CLUB P. 0. BOX 1781 WHITTIER, CA 90609