All ARES members and others interested in joining ARES are invited to the next meeting on Thurs 11/7 at the Nevada County Airport Admin Building. Meeting begins at 18:30hrs. Topic for discussion is review of last Saturday’s SET. What went well, what can be done better or differently, what other exercises should be added for next time.

Saturday, November 2
8:00A – 10:00A

ARES annual Simulated Emergency Training Exercise starts at 8:00A with a Resource Net on W6DD repeater system: 147.285 + 136.5 or 151.4 or 147.015 + 151.4. NC ARES members are requested to check-in and participate. Details in this week’s email.

Non-ARES stations are welcome to participate by checking-in when called (about 8:15A). Winlink equipped stations located in Nevada County are encouraged to report the current conditions at their location using a Winlink Field Situation Report Form. Send form to tactical address NCOES via radio or telnet.

Nevada County ARES welcomes a new member:

Michael Schaub, KI7RQ
Michael is an Amateur Extra Class and joins ARES as a served agency representative working for Western Sierra Medical Center.

Tonight we welcome a new member, Martin Hadley, W7IPA. Martin is an amateur General class and lives in Grass Valley. Welcome Martin.

The first meeting in March will be held at the Nevada County Rood Center in the EOC. Doors will open at about 6:15P. The meeting will begin at 6:30P. The agenda includes testing the EOC radio equipment and giving members time to learn about the gear. If you arrive late, please call in on the radio.

The final meeting of 2023 will be held on Thursday, December 7, 2023 at 18:00hrs.
All ARES Members and their spouses are invited to this social gathering. Please RSVP to N6ERL so we know how many are coming. NOTE the early start time. Location is NC Airport.

Saturday October 28, 2023 Nevada County ARES will activate the Nevada County Emergency Operations Center (NC EOC) for the annual Simulated Emergency Test with the assistance of Nevada County Office of Emergency Services (NC OES). All amateur radio operators are invited to check-in with the ARES Net starting at approximately 08:45 PDT. The Net is hosted on NC ARC repeater system: 147.285+ (136.5 or 151.4).

The SET begins at 08:00 PDT with call-up of ARES members. The simulated event is a heavy snow fall that disrupts normal cell phone communication and utility power. ARES members and other amateur radio operators in Nevada County should monitor the repeater. One of the first elements of the SET will be a request from Net Control to send a Winlink message via radio or telnet with an attached Winlink GIS-Mapping Form – Situation Report.txt indicating simulated conditions at their QTH. Message is addressed to tactical address NCOES. ARES members AND ALL Nevada County based stations may participate by sending a Winlink Sit Rep message to NCOES.

For the first time, members of the Nevada County Neighborhood Radio Watch program will be participating in the SET. Messages will be sent to and from neighborhoods using the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS).

The SET will include a contact with an ARMY MARS station as part of the 2023 SET-DOD Interop Exercise. Last year over 1,400 amateur radio operators were part of the exercise. This year N6ERL will setup a portable HF station at Nevada County Airport on 40M (NVIS) and will contact a MARS station in Coulterville, CA using Vara HF.

For more information, contact N6ERL@arrl.net

Great Shakeout is October 19, 2023 at 10:19L. Amateur Radio operators are asked to participate using Winlink to send a DYFI Form to USGS at about that time or anytime during the day. Details are available for download here:

Save the date: Saturday, October 28 8:00-10:30 – NC ARES will conduct a Simulated Emergency Test Exercise. NCARES Members will activate the station at the NC EOC and will also work from their home stations during the exercise.

All Nevada County radio operators are encouraged to monitor the local W6DD repeater system 147.285 beginning at 8:00L. ALL stations will have an opportunity to check-in to the Emergency Net, so please let us know you are listening when the call goes out for non-member check-ins.

Check this post for additional information.

The first of two Solar Eclipse events happens Saturday, October 14. This will be an annular eclipse. The event, as viewed from Grass Valley, begins at 08:05. The partial eclipse reaches maximum at 09:20 (0.882 Magnitude). The event ends at 10:43 for a duration of 2 hr, 38 min. As with all solar events, use solar eye protection (not sun glasses) or indirect viewing methods (e.g. pin-hole camera). CLICK FOR Eclipses in Grass Valley

Ham Radio stations will be active during the eclipse making contacts on VHF/HF bands for the benefit of NASA researchers. Join the Solar Eclipse QSO Party! For details: CLICK HERE