Previous Speakers at SVECS Quarterly Breakfast Meetings

Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (April 26, 2008):

Elaine Gibbons WA6UBE discussed NVIS. For more info, see her NVIS page at http://www.tactical-link.com/nvis_discussion_page.htm

WiFi used in Emergency Communications (January 26, 2008):

by Craig Anderson, N6YXK, member of Silicon Valley Wireless Users Group
http://www.svwux.org

Amateur Television for ARES/RACES Operations (November 3, 2007):

Presentation by Michael Wright, K6MFW

Download PDF of presentation here

ATV presentation photos

Internet links as listed in above presentation PDF

ATV Transmissions on Youtube

Emergency Communications and the ARRL (July 28, 2007):

Presentation by Bob Vallio, W6RGG, Pacific Division Director

Hazmat Safety (April 28, 2007):

Presentation by Dave Parker, Hazmat Coordinator, City of Santa Clara Fire Dept.

Electronics Flea Market (April 14, 2007):

SVECS hosted the coffee/donut stand for the electronics flea market at De Anza College, http://www.electronicsfleamarket.com. SVECS also gives a big Thank You to all who volunteered.

MCI and Amateur Radio Emergency Services (January 27, 2007):

Presentation by Bob Cascone, Supervisor, AMR.

Silent Key - WA6RPI (January 9, 2007)

Art Nilli ~WA6RPI~ became a silent key this past Saturday. Art was a member of SARES as well as a Santa Clara County Assistant District Emergency Coordinator, and long time companion Joanne Wilton ~KG6JTY~. The January 20, 2007 ARES/RACES countywide drill was dedicated to honor Art.

Volunteer of the Year Awards (Dec 14, 2006)

The Santa Clara County Emergency Managers Association awarded Volunteer of the Year awards to volunteers from 12 cities in the county, and one volunteer from Santa Clara County OES; of the thirteen awards presented this year, six went to hams. The following hams were selected by their cities to receive this award: Paul Lufkin, K6PML, Palo Alto; David Platt, AE6EO, Mountain View; Christina Sand, KG6ORH, Saratoga; Smitty Smithwick, W6CS, Los Altos Hills; and Bob Steinberg, K6RPS, San Jose. In addition, Larry Carr, KE6AGJ, was selected by Santa Clara Co OES as their choice as Volunteer of the Year. Congratulations to all.

PG&E Pipeline Safety (October 28, 2006):

Presentation by Tom Crawford, P.E.

Santa Clara County Water District Emergency Services Program (July 22, 2006):

Presentation by Mike Hamer, Utility Operations Manager

Hurricane Katrina Recovery Effort (April 22, 2006):

Presentation by David Chamberlin, N6DWC

Electronics Flea Market (March 11, 2006):

SVECS hosted the coffee/donut stand for the electronics flea market at De Anza College, http://www.asvaro.org/fleamarket. SVECS also gives a big Thank You to all who volunteered.

Hurricane Katrina Emergency Response (January 21, 2006):

by Barbara Cimino, Emergency Manager
City of Palo Alto, Office of Emergency Services

SVECS hosted the coffee/donut stand for the electronics flea market at De Anza College, http://www.electronicsfleamarket.com. SVECS also gives a big Thank You to all who volunteered.

Specifically, Frank Kibbish, Jr. (WB6MRQ) presented on how APRS was used for the CDF Fourth of July fire patrols. He also pointed out how usage of APRS could be applied in emergency communications situations -- both for CDF and other agencies.

Incorporating Amateur Radio into Emergency Prepardness Planning (April 30, 2005):

Steve Garcia, public safety officer with town of Los Altos Hills, discussed incorporating amateur radio into emergency prepardness planning.

California OES Auxiliary Communications Service (January 22, 2005):

Dave Larton, N6JQJ, and Jim Aspinwall, WB9GVF, gave a presentation on the Cal State OES Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS).

Recent Hurricanes and Working with FEMA (October 23, 2004):

Guest speakers Dru Anderson KG6LAD and John Amos KC6TVM, having just returned from the hurricane ravaged southeast, spoke of their experiences while with FEMA.

Electronics Flea Market (September 11, 2004):

SVECS hosted the coffee/hotdog stand at the electronics flea market, http://www.electronicsfleamarket.com. SVECS also gives a big Thank You to all who volunteered.

Union Pacific Railroad Emergency Prepardness (July 24, 2004):

Ernie Sirotek, Jr. discussed Union Pacific Railroad emergency prepardness. Mr. Sirotek is the Regional Manager, Chemical Transportation Safety, for Union Pacific Railroad.

Bay Area Earthquake Studies (April 24, 2004):

Steve Walter from the USGS gave a historic overview of 50 years of earthquake studies in the Bay Area.

Emergency Communications Procedures (January 24, 2004):

Our planned speaker Holly Milnes, a dispatcher for Moffett Field Police Department, was to discuss techniques used for good radio communications. She had to tend to a more important matters that Saturday so Bob Gundrum, KG6MOL, substituted. Bob worked many years as a fire department dispatcher.

A dispatcher is a first responder to a link in a chain of emergency services. Other items discussed were what kind of people make successful dispatchers, required skills, official job requirements, preparation, and time tested techniques that work.

Hardcopies of the paper "Radio 101 Techniques for the Field" were distributed at the meeting. This paper was authored by Linda Olmstead, a dispatcher for the CHP in Monterey. A PDF can be downloaded here, http://www.svecs.net/Radio101.pdf. See Linda's webpage at http://www.gryeyes.com

Website editor's note: I later talked to Holly and she mentioned Evergreen College has a 3-week dispatcher course that leads to certification. Other tips she suggested were use the words "affirmative" or "negative," not "yes" or "no" ("no" can be mis-heard as "go").

Micro RAWS, a Remote Automated Weather Station (October 25, 2003):

The October 25th SVECS breakfast was a free breakfast to thank the volunteers who helped with the SVECS hosting of the Foothill Electronics Flea Market in August.

The speaker was Ben Vickers, WB6FRM. He demonstrated the Micro RAWS, a Remote Automated Weather Station deployed by CDF near wildfires to help plan firefighting operations.

Data from Raws Obs stations can be found at the National RAWS Data Server: http://raws.boi.noaa.gov/rawsobs.html

Foothill Electronics Flea Market (August 9, 2003):

SVECS hosted the coffee/hotdog stand at the Foothill College flea market, http://www.electronicsfleamarket.com. SVECS also gives a big Thank You to all who volunteered.

Here are some photos taken during a lull from the crowds. SVECS featured most delicious hotdogs.

Disaster Medical Assistance Team (July 26, 2003):

David Lipin, commander of the California Bay Area DMAT CA-6, discussed the purpose and activities of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team. Please see their website at http://dmatca6.org.

Transmitter Hunting and Equipment (April 26, 2003):

Rich Harrington, KN6FW, discussed transmitter hunting and the equipment used. He demonstrated various antennas, techniques using handhelds in close proximity of transmitters, and showed the kinds of systems including the MicroFinder Doppler RDF. For webpages of interest please see http://www.thunt.org (Transmitter hunting in the San Francisco Bay-Area) and http://www.ahha-doppler.com (MicroFinder Doppler RDF).

Notes from talk by Rich: Steps to locating a transmitter:

1. Get on a high mountain.


2. Body fade with a HT, unreliable but easy.


3. Use a beam antenna with an attenuator. 5 to 10 degrees of accuracy.


4. Use a “time of arrival” set which is more accurate than a beam but cannot tell if in front or behind.


5. Use an interferometer (also needs an attenuator) which are two beams 180 degrees out of phase with each other. This gives one degree of accuracy.


6. Use a doppler, electronically measuring the phase of antennas rotating very fast, but doppler lies a lot.


7. Use triangulation but this has high mileage.


8. Draw bearings on topo maps.


9. Transmitters are always near roads.


10. Lay an HT on seat of car, it will pick up signal when near.
          a. then go to a paperclip antenna.
          b. then remove antenna and that’s when you start walking.


11. When 300 to 400 feet, use an aluminum foil can for a HT. Further down the tube, the worst the signal gets.


12. Time of Arrival set will work far and near.


13. Use 3rd harmonic, almost all transmitters have this. Tune to this when close.


14. Image frequency: 2X the IF is also very sensitive when close.


15. Also use the off frequency.


16. Use your eyes and look for an antenna.


17. Use a signal strength system when near.

Other suggestions:

Rule 1: Follow your initial bearing.
Rule 2: Get back on to initial bearing.
GPS is handy for bearing on mountain roads.
Also carry emergency supplies like a flashlight, snacks, water, and raincoat.
This book on T-Hunting is the bible:
Transmitter Hunting, by Joseph Moell, KčOV, and Thomas Curlee, WB6UZZ.

HF Backpacks (Jan 25, 2003):

Bonnie Crystal, KQ6XA, presented portable battery powered HF radios, a valuable adjunct to VHF/UHF communications for ARES/RACES.

Bonnie Crystal is a RF engineer, inventor, author and columnist, and also co-founder of Telegen and Telisar. Please see her website at http://www.qsl.net/kq6xa

Santa Clara Sheriff's Dept. Search and Rescue (Oct 26, 2002):

Doug Mincey discussed the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Department SAR purpose, experiences, and equipment used. Doug also displayed the team’s truck, gear, and radio systems.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff Search and Rescue Team is comprised entirely of unpaid volunteers. The teams mission includes urban, rural and wilderness SAR; Evidence search and public education. Please see their website at http://www.sccssar.org.

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