ORCA A.R.E.S. Newsletter August 1, 1998

<Announcements / Calendar>

• Meeting schedule: September 5 October 3 November 7 December 5
• Monthly Fire Station net: Thursday, August 6

Barbecue!

The August meeting at Leona Lodge is one to not miss. Our keynote speaker will be Henry Renteria. He will present a slide show to cover what's changing in the city and what's happening with the new EOC construction. The ARES/RACES meeting will be followed by a short VHF Repeaters quarterly meeting, after which we will fire up the coals for a potluck barbecue. Please bring one of the following: a barbecue food, drinks, salad, appetizer or dessert. Tune in to the Thursday net to coordinate with each other, so that we won't all bring chips. The BBQ is expected to run from 11:30 AM to about 2 PM.

The September 5 (Labor Day Weekend) meeting will also be at Leona Lodge.

<RACES Report>

The mutual aid exercise between the Fire Departments of the cities of Berkeley and Oakland began late on Field Day morning and lasted a bit longer than expected. It was a successful exercise in that it helped the Fire Department identify weaknesses in its communications system and demonstrated the reliability of Amateur Radio to overcome the problems. Participating were Chris,KQ6JZ, Richard KO6TI, Louie K6MDH,Jim KB6MYV, Chris KE6MQW, Art K6THD, Adele KE6HKY, Robin KD6OAQ, Robin KF6CZL, David KF6EPQ, Mike W6UAB, and Mark N6RCG.

A Fire Patrol activation of ARES/RACES volunteers occurred on July 4. No fires were spotted although there were at least two reports of illegal fireworks and two reports of clogged streets. We received press coverage from channels 2 and 5, which aired their reports, as well as a mention the following week on Amateur Radio Newsline. Thanks to Chris KQ6JZ, Kathy KE6SSY, David WB6NER, Mark N6RCG, Louie K6MDH, Richard KO6TI, Herb W6CUY, Roger KE6STE, Dave KF6GRL, Margery KF6GTT, Adele KE6HKY, Art W6THD, George W6BUR, Kathy KF6GZY, Robin KD6OAQ, and Jim K6LWA for 75 operator hours of volunteer work.

<Special Events>

Field Day: Setup started late due to the MRA exercise. There was some trouble assembling the beam, requiring the U-bolts to be replaced, requiring trips to the hardware store and various homes, but the station finally got on the air about 5PM. Each year the group tries something new. This year it was computer logging, and although the points were being tallied for a different kind of contest, the thrill of seeing the numbers rack up motivated some to work harder. The final count is not in yet, but there were over 400 exchanges, with multipliers to take the points to over 800. Add on the bonuses and we're looking at 1500+ points.

<ORCA Web Site>

Continued problems with the Oakland ARES web site has prompted us to move it elsewhere. As part of the restructuring with ORCA, it seemed reasonable to also establish an ORCA web site, so that's what has happened. Look for us now at: http://www.qsl.net/orca/ The original Oakland ARES web site is just one click away. As special interest groups start to form, their activities will appear on the site.

<Tidbits>

Web sightings: Hills Emergency Forum, a group of East Bay organizations (Oakland, Berkeley, EBMUD, LBL) working on pre-emergency planning: http://www-ehs.lbl.gov/hills

New! VHF Repeaters, Inc. http://www.qsl.net/wb6ndj/

Directions To Leona Lodge: From 13 south: take the Redwood/Carson exit, straight at light onto the frontage road, Aliso Ave, left under the freeway at Carson, right at Mountain. Lodge is on left about 0.1 mile.

<Attendance Sheet>

The ORCA ARES meeting came to order at Kaiser Regional at 9:00 AM. Present were:

Adele Bertaud	KE6HKY		Louis Cobet	K6MDH		Margery Service	KF6GTT
Herbert Bowen	WA6CUY		Rick Davis	N6ZWI		Donald Street	K6EHQ
Chris Burgardt	KQ6JZ		Bob Firehock	KE6IUE		Jim Tiemstra	K6JAT
Kathy Burgardt	KE6SSY		David Otey	WB6NER		Brian Treusch	W6LL
Jim Carter	K6LWA		Jim Ploss	KB6MYV		Mark Violet	N6RCG

Meetings are normally held on the first Saturday of each month.