Monthly CCARC Meetup 2/11

QST Calling all Cedar Creek Area Amateur Radio Operators

Come join us for Breakfast and a Club Meeting.

Gun Barrel City Dairy Queen

• 8 A.M. Breakfast
• 9 A.M. Meeting

“The Ham Band” Video in HD

The Ham Band, a musical group of hams released an amazing video to YouTube several years ago. They recently rereleased it in HD. Take a look and listen.. fun stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8TXmwOpjJs

Emergency Communications Training

Here are links for the emergency management training mentioned on the Henderson County ARES net today:

• FEMA Courses  (recommend IS-100, 200 and 700)
• ARRL Intro to Emergency Communication, Course # EC-001
• Incident Command System General Message Form, Form ICS-213

SKYWARN Classes Announced

SKYWARN classes for north and east Texas are now on the National Weather Service D/FW website.  Kaufman County is set for Wednesday, Feb. 15 and Henderson County on Tuesday, March 27. Full listing is at:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/skywarnsch.php?file=sptrsch

Repeater Site Photos

Repeater at the School

Here’s a shot of the repeater cabinet at the school. The power supply is at the top, the white unit is the ACC repeater controller, and the  Kenwood repeater is mounted just below. Click on the photo for a larger image.

Two Meter and 440 Antennas

 

 

 Here is the two meter repeater antenna; the 440 MHz link antenna is on the right.

 

TNX to Ed, K8MKN, for the photos.

Monthly Meetup January 14

CQ – CQ – CQ

Calling all Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Operators

CCARC Monthly Meeting – 8AM Breakfast – 9AM Meeting

Saturday – January 14th – Gun Barrel City – Dairy Queen

Come join us for Breakfast and Club Meeting

Member List 2011

Here’s a current list of members:

• WB4SJN,  Bob Allen, Mabank
• W8LUP, Carl Baumgardner, Gun Barrel City
• W5COL, Don Bertas, Gun Barrel City
• KD5OCW, Barry Brown, Mabank
• K8MKN, Ed Busch, Mabank
• N5CSU, Rich Casey, Gun Barrel City
• WB5RBL, Thomas Cook, Mabank
• KF5HSN, Bob Gosson, Gun Barrel City
• KA5Y, Tex Herson, Trinidad
• KA5IPF, Cliff Holland, Mabank
• N5ZFB, Jeff Irion, Mabank
• NG5R, Dale Richards, Malakoff
• KC5EKM,  Bill Moos, Mabank
• KE5OFL, Jim Myers, Trinidad
• KE5WUT, Bill Saylor, Mabank
• KB5MT, Jim Wallace, Mabank
• N5SER, Charles Wells, Kemp
• KE5DTA, Mike Wertz, Mabank
• W5BRG, George Yarger, Mabank

Hams Help the Community and Vice Versa!

by Ed Busch, K8MKN

The Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Club has gone to new heights.  They are the folks who provide emergency communications during disasters.  Each “ham” has his/her own portable communications equipment, so even when cell, regular telephone and the Internet are wiped out, hams can continue to communicate.

 But they had a problem:  the current relay system or repeater, was a little too far away from where portable, walkie-talkie operation was needed.  That would be mainly in and around ETMC Emergency facilities, as well as the Mabank and Gun Barrel City police and fire buildings.

So they literally needed to go to new heights to establish a more Northern repeater location to supplement their existing equipment.  And there, shining on a hilltop in Gun Barrel City is Southside Elementary school.  It even had an unused 40-foot tower waiting for them!

So began the odyssey of contacting the Mabank Independent School District and many of the local police and fire people in the area.

Southside Elementary fit their needs perfectly and they found a very receptive Assistant Superintendent of MISD schools, Scott Adams, to get them started.  Through Scott they next connected with Hunter Fisher and Steve Templin of the facilities department of MISD.  The response was:  how soon do you want to start?

Shortly after school broke for the summer, Steve and his people pulled cables through the ceiling and pretty well did all the heavy lifting for the installation.  Steve was even the top man on the ladder to install the new antennas.

They couldn’t quite reach the top of the tower with the Mabank City bucket truck from Ronnie Tuttle, so next up was Ricky Myrick at the Mabank Volunteer Fire Department.  They arranged a date and their people got a fire truck and operator and put two antennas atop the existing tower.

That is a lot of busy folks taking time and devoting equipment for the project.  That system now reaches out about 25 miles and more importantly allows walkie-talkie service to ETMC emergency facilities and area police and fire buildings as well.  That type of portable capability is fundamentally important during any emergency.

The purchase of the new equipment was helped by local donations and especially the Walmart Foundation.

They hope to further develop this site with solar cells and battery backup so it can operate through most any disaster.

That was some of their summer – how was yours?

If you want more information about ham radio, go to www.arrl.org or the local site at www.k5ccl.org

Or visit the club.  They meet the second Saturday of each month at the Dairy Queen in Gun Barrel City.  Meetings start at 9am.

2011 Dues are Due!

QST!  All members should now have their 2011 dues paid. Our membership year begins June 1st. We’ll shortly be publishing a member list (call, first name and city) on the website and hope to include you!

We invite all area amateurs to join the Cedar Creek ARC! Dues are officially $12 per year (due each June), but unofficially, most of us kick in $20. These funds support the costs of the repeater.  Our address is:

CCARC
PO Box 388
Mabank, TX 75147

ARES Net

Join us for the next ARES net, to be held on the CCARC repeater on August 20 at 0830.