Bob Paull, KK6UE, President of VCARS, will be the speaker at the next CVARC meeting on Thursday June 10 at the Elks Lodge on Conejo School Rd. The meeting begins at 7:30 PM with a social session prior to the meeting from 7:00 to 7:30. The topic for the meeting will be preparations for Field Day. Final plans for set up and operations at the Reagan Presidential Library will be presented. Following the presentation you will have an opportunity to sign up for the stations and times that you would like to operate during Field Day. Jim, KE6CWD, will also be collecting money during the meeting for those wishing to have dinner at the site as part of the Field Day activities on Saturday evening June 26. The cost of the dinner is $15 per person. If you would like to sign up for dinner, please have cash available for Jim.

This year CVARC will be joining VCARS at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on June 26 and 27th for Field Day. At the May CVARC General Meeting members voted to accept the VCARS offer to join them at the Reagan Library.

This joint Field Day activity is an excellent opportunity for the two amateur radio clubs to work together. For CVARC members, it provides an opportunity for us to participate in a completely different type of Field Day than we have experienced in the past. When we set up our Field Day stations at the Presidential Library, we will actually become one of the library exhibits. We can expect the public to be visiting our stations and watching us work. There is also a chance that the Press will cover our Field Day activities with an article and pictures appearing the following Monday or Tuesday in the local newspaper. This is a great opportunity to show the public what we can do! It is also an enormous honor and privilege to become part of the library activities and is a powerful example of how well amateur radio is respected at the national level.

VCARS has been issued the N6R (Nancy 6 Ronald) special events call sign for use at the Presidential Library in honor of the former President and First Lady. Mrs. Reagan is our host for Field Day. While on the library grounds the former First Lady is always referred to or addressed as Mrs. Reagan. The chance that she will actually be present is extremely remote, but it is considered improper by the library staff for her to be called by her first name. Even mentioning the reference embodied in our special even call sign should be avoided in the presence of the public or staff members. Occasional use of the names as phonetics on the air is permissible, but should be done judiciously.

As most of you know, Field Day is an official ARRL national amateur radio contest. We will receive points for each station that we work in the 24 hour period from 10 AM Saturday morning to 10 AM Sunday. Plans are to operate our stations QRP (at 10 watts or less). By operating QRP we will receive an additional 2 points for each station that we work. If we operate QRP Battery Power, meaning that all of our stations are completely operated for 24 hours off of batteries, then we will receive 5 additional points for each station worked. VCARS is currently addressing the issues associated with QRP Battery operation, and whether that is a mode that we are capable of supporting.

Currently 12 to 14 stations are tentatively planned for Field Day. CW stations will be set up on 80, 40, 20, and 15 meters. Phone stations are planned for 75, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meters, plus 70 cm. A digital PSK 31 station will operate on 20 meters and perhaps a second one on 40 meters. Set will occur Friday afternoon and evening (June 25). Most of our stations will be set up in the parking area to the left (South) of the library. The 80, 40, and 20 meter CW stations will probably be set up on the hill above (to the South of) the parking area. Set up will be somewhat of a challenge since all of the antennas in the parking area must be “free standing” as we are not allowed to drive support and guy line stakes into the parking area asphalt. The same rule also applies to setting up tents to house our stations. No tent states allowed. But that is what Field Day is all about, demonstrating that we can set up and operate from wherever we are needed should we be called upon to provide emergency radio communications during a natural disaster.

A couple of people may spend Friday night at the site, although most will return home for “a good nights sleep”. The gate to the library grounds will be locked Friday night, so anyone planning to spend the night must take this into account. Activities will resume bright and early Saturday morning with final set up and testing of stations. The Field Day contest actually begins at 10 AM. We, of course, will operate through the night on Saturday. The gate will be closed on Saturday night but not locked, so if someone needs to leave they can.

One of the activities that always makes Field Day a lot of fun is dinner at the site on Saturday evening. The menu for this year’s event includes tri-tip, chicken, cold slaw, chili, rolls, brownies, and soft drinks. The cost for dinner is $15 and must be paid in advance so that VCARS knows how much food to prepare.

The Field Day contest officially ends at 10 AM on Sunday morning. With everyone pitching in to help, we should have the stations all dismantled, the area cleaned up, and be ready to leave the site at about noon on Sunday.

With VCARS and CVARC joining forces, this should be an exceptionally fun Field Day. I hope that you will be able to attend. If you can not stay for the entire 24 hours, then come up to visit and operate whenever you can for as long as you can. It will be a fun event!

Operating Amateur Radio Field Day from the grounds of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library provides VCARS, CVARC, and amateur radio with a great opportunity for public exposure, both as a result of direct contact with members of the public who happen to be visiting the facility and because the location lends the event an air of importance in the eyes of the media. However, along with the rewards come some challenges that some participants in past Field Days may not be familiar with. The privilege of holding the event at the facility is one that VCARS members value highly and thus we must take care to be especially considerate guests. The following are some rules and guidelines to be kept in mind during the planning process and the weekend of the event:

1. All personnel must be aware that while on the library grounds the former First Lady is always referred to or addressed as “Mrs. Reagan.” The chance that she will actually be present is extremely remote, but it is considered improper by the staff for her to be called by her first name. Even mentioning the reference embodied in our special event call sign, N6R (Nancy-6-Ronald) should be avoided in the presence of the public or staff members. Occasional use of the names as phonetics on the air is permissible, but should be done judiciously.

2. Antenna supports are a challenge. All band captains must plan their antenna installations carefully in advance and discuss it with the event chairman. Most stations will be situated on asphalt or concrete surfaces. This has implications for the ways in which masts, towers and guy lines are secured. No stakes may be driven into lawns or shrubbery because of possible damage to the plant materials and/or irrigation lines. Guy lines may not be attached to trees or shrubs. There are a few areas where unlandscaped soil may be available for driving stakes, etc., but no one should assume they will be able to drive stakes. Attaching masts to our own vehicles is a recommended method as is using our vehicles as attachment points for guy lines. There will be at least one freestanding portable tower on the site and arrangements may be made to use it for rotatable beams or as a support for wire antennas. There are a few guard rails and parking lot light standards that may possibly be used to secure guy lines, but permission to use these should be secured from the event chairman in advance.

3. No alcohol consumption is permitted during the hours the grounds are open to the public. After closing time, moderate use of alcoholic beverages is allowed.

4. We must avoid inconveniencing the visitors to the library. If they are interested in our operations we should be gracious and answer their questions and explain our activity and our presence. Remember, this is a chance to promote the hobby and to make a good impression with our professionalism.

5. The library staff and security personnel will all be briefed as to our event and the parameters of it. Expect them to be friendly and, in some cases, interested in our activities. They typically do not interfere with our operations, but in all cases, “their word is law.” Keep in mind that the security is understated but thorough; consider that someone is watching at all times.

6. We will have 24-hour access, although the number of vehicle entries and exits after hours should be minimized. The main gate will be kept closed but not locked (on Saturday night). If you have occasion to pass through it, be certain to close it.

7. Operating positions should be kept tidy and all trash should be disposed of properly. The event co-chairmen will “police” the area regularly during the event as well as at the end of the Field Day exercise to make sure we leave the facility in as good or better condition than when we arrived.

Hugh Bosma, KF6HHS, and I had the pleasure of providing the cross band repeater station on Reyes Peak for this year’s Sea To Summit bike ride. In many ways this adventure was much like a DX-pedition.

The bike ride is held each May. It begins at the Teen Challenge Center on Hwy 33 in Ventura, follows Hwy 33 North through Ojai and up the Los Padres Mountains to Pine Mountain Summit. After reaching the summit, the route turns North East following Lockwood Valley Road to Lake of the Woods, turns North West along Cuddy Valley Road, and finally up to the finish at Mt. Pinos. The ride is a 100 miles long and travels from sea level in Ventura to over 8,000 feet at Mt. Pinos. Ventura County ARES/RACES provides radio coverage for the event each year with radio operators located at each of the rest stops along the route, in vehicles (rovers) that patrol the route providing assistance to bikers as needed, and at the Mt. Pinos finish line. The problem is that the rest stop radio operators and rovers along Hwy 33 can not communicate with the rest stops or rovers on Lockwood Valley Road nor with the event coordinators at the finish line on Mt. Pinos because Pine Mountain is in the way. The solution is to place a cross band repeater on Reyes Peak to relay signals from operators along Hwy 33 over Pine Mountain to Lockwood Valley and Mt. Pinos. Setting up and operating the relay station was the assignment given to Hugh and I.

The problem facing us was that we only had sketchy information on where we were suppose to set up the relay station. Neither of us had ever been up to Reyes Peak. In fact, all that we really knew was that a road of dubious quality branched off Hwy 33 at Pine Mountain Summit and wound its way precariously up to Reyes Peak, the highest peak on Pine Mountain. Someplace along that road we were suppose to set up the cross band repeater station.

Since we had no idea of what to expect or what we would find on Reyes Peak, we could assume nothing. We needed a 2 meter beam antenna that we could point South to pick up the signals from operators along Hwy 33 as it cut its way up through the mountains. We also needed a 440 MHz antenna to rebroadcast those signals to Mt. Pinos. The antennas had to be self supporting since the ground at Reyes Peak could be solid rock making it impossible to drive antenna guy wire stakes into the ground. The radio equipment, of course, had to be capable of receiving signals on 2 meters and retransmitting them on 440 MHz, and visa versa (capable of cross band repeating). And the radios had to be battery powered, no AC power available on Reyes Peak. We had been given an important mission, we could not fail. That meant that we also had to bring along spare equipment, parts, and tools to make repairs in the field if we had too. We also had to bring a table and chairs so that we would have someplace to set up and operate the radio station. We could not count on a nice handy picnic table, and in fact there wasn’t any. In addition, we had to worry about clothing, food, and water. If we didn’t bring it with us we wouldn’t have it. We were warned that it could be very cold on Reyes Peak in the early morning hours and get very hot by mid day.

It took us well over a week to get prepared for this adventure. The most difficult problem was building the self-supporting antennas. The solution was to use two heavy umbrella stands, one for each antenna. Each antenna was mounted on a 10 foot pole which was then slid into an umbrella stand. A vertical antenna was used for 440 MHz which was relatively easy to mount. The 2 meter beam was a different story. It was not light and its size created considerable torque mounted on top of its antenna pole. We were afraid that it would tip over its umbrella stand and be pretty badly banged up when it hit the ground. To solve this problem we made four wooden 7 foot legs that extended horizontally out in a radial direction from the umbrella stand base. Seven feet was selected since legs any longer than that would not fit into my mini van. With the 7 foot legs installed, the umbrella stand had a 14 foot base. No chance of the antenna tipping over.

We used two cars for the expedition, my mini van loaded with all of our equipment and supplies and Hugh’s little red Hyundai, affectionally know as the porcupine because of all the antennas mounted on its roof, as the lead car. This turned out to be a wise decision. We left Thousand Oaks at 5:30 Saturday morning for our trip to Reyes Peak, communicating via simplex radio between the two cars as we drove along. It was actually a very pretty drive up Hwy 33 with the low sun angle on the mountains. The real adventure began when we left Hwy 33 and started up the road, if you can call it that, to Reyes Peak. The road is one lane wide, maybe one and a half lanes wide is some places. In the distant past it had been paved, but not any more. There were short stretch of broken asphalt. The rest was dirt and lots of pot holes. The low sun angle that had made the mountains so pretty was also a real joy. Going up the road we had to drive right into the sun. The glare was so bad, at times it was difficult to see the road. With his small car, Hugh was able to drive ahead and warn me via radio of any cars coming down the road the other direction so I could find a wide spot to pull off till the other car passed. We did encounter a couple of cars. Hugh surveyed the area as he drove ahead looking for a suitable place to set up the relay station, including several campgrounds along the way. None were acceptable for a relay station. Finally at 7,050 feet elevation, 6.8 miles up the road (a quarter of a mile from the road’s end) at coordinates N34o 38’ 6.9” and W119o 17’ 57.9”, Hugh found a suitable location. The site was a pull off area along the side of the road large enough to park the cars and to set up the antennas, table, and radio equipment. The site even had several tall pine trees for shade later in the day. Best of all, the site had an excellent view of Mt. Pinos to the North and the length of Hwy 33 to the South. It had taken us about 2 hours to drive up to the location from Thousand Oaks.

By 8 AM we had antennas and equipment set up and where relaying radio traffic. The weather turned out to be perfect, not too cold or hot. The rest of the day was easy. We relaxed, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, and monitored the traffic being relayed by our station.

In the end the relay station turned out to be quite important. A bike rider crashed just past Pine Mountain Summit and had to be air lifted by helicopter to an Oxnard hospital. The radio traffic from the ARES/RACES operators at the scene of the accident was relayed through the Reyes Peak cross band repeater to Mt. Pinos to coordinate the rescue effort.

The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Class will sponsor another "No Code Technician" Amateur Radio License class which is scheduled to begin on July 20, 2004.  This 8 week class will be held on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. and will end on September 7, 2004.  While this class is open to all interested persons, it is being conducted as a "special" for husbands and wives of current Amateur Radio Operators.

The cost for this class is only $20.00 which covers only the cost of class materials including the current edition of "Now You're Talking", the ARR. recommended text book for Technician License students. Those who already have the current text book may attend the class free and will be provided all other class materials at no charge.

Classes are taught at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 3645 Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks.  The church building is just East of Olson Road on Moorpark. Persons interested in attending this class should contact KARL, KE6WVZ at (805) 523-0622 to register for the class.  Space is limited so call now if you wish to take this class.  Husbands and Wives of current "Hams" will enjoy this class.

CALL NOW
73's,    KE6WVZ, KARL

CVARC hosts FCC License Examinations at 8:30 AM on the second Sunday of even numbered months at the Ventura East County Sheriff Station on Olsen Rd. (near the Reagan Library). CVARC conducts exams for all license classes . Exam candidates must bring a form of government issued photo I.D., the original AND a photocopy of any existing license or Certificate of Exam Element Completion, a Social Security (or government issued Taxpayer I.D.) number, and $12 ARRL VE Exam fee (cash is preferred). No advance reservation is necessary, walk-ins are welcome. Advance notice is needed for special circumstances, such as reading the exam to sight-impaired candidates. If you have any questions, contact CVARC VE Coordinator Jeff Reinhardt at 818-706-3853.

Ventura County Area 2 R.A.C.E.S. members are encouraged to check in every Tuesday night at 7:00 pm on the Area 2 Check-in Net. Specific ARES/RACES times and frequencies are as follows:

The Net Controller’s script for the Area 2 weekly RACES check-in net is on the CVARC website, in printable form. Every member is encouraged to periodically serve as net controller. RACES members should remember that their RACES card is issued for only two years. When your card is due to expire call Jackie at the Office of Emergency Services in Ventura for an appointment to renew your card. Call (805) 654-2551 or toll free from the east half of the county at (800) 660-5474. For packet, call coordinator Dan Dicke KE6NYT (805) 983-1401. To register for Red Cross Disaster Services Classes, call (805) 339-2234 ext 0 Ventura County ARES/RACES web site: http://home1.gte.net/res19999/

The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL affiliated Special Service Club. Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month, unless otherwise noted. Meeting location is at the Elks Lodge, 158 Conejo School Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA. Meetings start at 7:30 pm. with a pre-meeting social and technical assistance session, for those who are interested at 7:15 pm. Meetings are open to the public, and members are encouraged to bring their friends.