Antennas I Personally Recommend

Antennas I Personally Recommend

This is a reprint of my posting April 7, 2011 by popular request...updated!

Arrow Antenna - OSJ 146/440

 Many people have asked what are the best antennas they should purchase for their homes and/or field emergency communications.  There are many types, lengths and brands of antenna you can purchase or build yourself.  I would like to recommend three specific antennas we have used in the SLC Foothill Net and I have found to be of very good quality and usefulness. 

First, Arrow Antenna makes an excellent 2m/7cm J-Pole antenna.  Product number OSJ 146/440. 

Made from aluminum, this antenna works great for mounting on your house top either on a tri-pod, a chimney, or a metal sewer vent pipe.  Because of it's simple design, you can set this up quickly and use for a semi permanent mobil emergency communications operation.

From the east bench, I am able to reach all the major repeaters throughout the valley, a couple in the Provo area, and several in Ogden area - including Tremonton.  The current price of this antenna is $39



N9TAX - Dual Band 'Slim Jim' J-Pole



Next, there is a gentleman on ebay, N9TAX - Joseph, that sells a great product call a dual band 'Slim Jim' J-Pole. 

This antenna can be supported by many things including trees, ceilings, curtain rods and pretty much anything else you can dream up that will support 6 oz of weight and keep the antenna a couple inches away from solid objects.  It's lightweight for your grab-and-go kit and a super quick install.

This antenna is great for emergency communication activities, field expeditions, hotel rooms and base station use to.  One member of our net hangs it from the ceiling tiles in his 3rd floor office in SLC and communicates all over the valley.  Follow this link for more information on purchasing:  http://cgi.ebay.com/VHF-UHF-Slim-Jim-J-Pole-Dual-Band-2m-70cm-Antenna-jpole-/320520244752.  The current price of this antenna is about $23.

Diamond Dual Band
NR770HA

Finally, if you are looking for a mobile antenna for your vehicle, I recommend the NR770HA from Diamond.

NR770HA mobile antenna

2m 1 1/2 wave , 70 cm 2 5/8 waves

200 watts maximum with a UHF connector

40.2 inches long.

  I use a magnet mount to be able to transfer it between two vehicles – running the coax just inside the weather stripping on the door frame.  If you desire a permanent mount, there are several to choose from.

I am really satisfied with the performance of this antenna both on my vehicle, and as a ‘base station’ setup in the field.  I have taken this antenna and mounted it onto an expandable pole to reach a height of 25 feet.  It works perfectly!! And SWR is well within tolerances.

Eham.net reviewers give the antenna a 5 of 5 rating!!

KC5BYE writes -- Really happy with the performance and the construction. 40" long and sits on top of my Jeep with the base at 67". So the tip is around 8.5 feet off the ground. It doesn’t hurt to look for low hanging trees while driving. The small coil in the center of the antenna does take the shock and has not bent on the two times it has been clipped.

The performance is excellent so far. Just having it hooked up to a 5 watt HT and I am getting every repeater in the city plus hitting out of town machines. Diamond says there is 3dB on 2m and 5.5 dB on 70cm. I have had no complaints on my signal and some are surprised when I tell them I am running 5 watts.

The antenna is rated at 200 watts so there is room to play with. My model came in black which looks better against my Cherokee and doesn’t stand out like a silver antenna. This is a replacement for a Comet(Maldol) AX 95. The AX95 base is made from plastic. I didn’t find this out till I opened the hatchback with the antenna in the down position. Which in turn cracked the antenna base and turned it into spare parts. If I had known that ahead of time I wouldn't have purchased the Maldol. The NR770 is metal and solid. This antenna looks good, feels solid and performs very well.

For the solid construction, functionality and versatility of this antenna, I recommend this mobile antenna to all.  The current price of this antenna is around $55 and the mounts start at around $16.

But, don't take my word for it.  'Google' all three antenna and read what others have to say about them.  The website eham.net is a good starting point filled with many reviews.

IS CERT THE FUTURE OF ARES?

IS CERT THE FUTURE OF ARES?

From May 2011 QST © ARRL

David Coursey, N5FDL

n5fdl@arrl.net

Here is a statistic I like to toss around, because it explains the future of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service,^® at least in my part of the world. It starts with a question: “What is the largest, best-organized, and best-trained Amateur Radio emergency group in San Joaquin County? Is it ARES? RACES? A ham club?” No, it is the Community Emer­gency Response Team (CERT) in the City of Tracy, the Californiacommunity of 80,000 where I live.

Tracy CERT, operated by the fire depart­ment, requires its volunteer team leaders to be licensed amateurs, capable of providing longer-distance communication when their teams are in the field. IndividualCERT members who are not hams use short-distance Family Radio Service (FRS) radios to communicate with their leaders. Of the 45 responder-qualified members of Tracy CERT, more than two dozen have become licensed amateurs, most through a series of one day “HamCram” licensing events.

We follow the HamCram with training to get the new hams familiar with their radios, our frequency plan and net operation. (We have standardized on Yaesu FT-270, FT-60 and the discontinued VX-170 handheld transceivers.) No other group in our county has as many members that are as broadly trained. Almost all of the CERT hams are also ARES members. Since CERT is their primary affiliation, that’s how I count them.

Every CERT member is required to par­ticipate in at least 24 hours of CERT train­ing, attend meetings and training sessions at least occasionally. All members have basic Incident Command System (ICS) training and have been fingerprinted and passed background checks. Each member is also a State of Californiaregistered Disaster Service Worker.

Tracy is not the only city in our county with hams in its CERT program. In neighbor­ing Manteca, the police department CERT group has several hams. We are in the process of training perhaps a dozen more. The fire department has its own group with a half-dozen ham members with some overlapping with CERTmembership.

How is this the Future?

People get into CERT because they are interested in preparedness for their families and neighborhoods. Many have a strong “do-gooder” instinct looking for an outlet. CERT activities require communication. Whether day-to-day training, community events or an actual emergency, CERT members need to talk with one another, CERT leadership and their sponsoring agencies.

While some CERT groups have access to public safety radio systems, these don’t offer the flexibility and “When All Else Fails” capability that Amateur Radio does. Members also don’t get public safety radios to take home. I “sell” Amateur Radio to CERT members as a valuable tool for helping their community andCERT team that also hap­pens to be a fun and interesting hobby if they choose to head in that direction.

The Role of the HamCram

Once sold, the CERT member needs a quick and easy way to get licensed and radio-trained enough to perform their CERT mis­sions using ham gear. Enter the HamCram, a one day cram session — reading the question pools and answers repeatedly — that ends with the Technician exam.

I always — and only half-jokingly — warn attendees that they are likely to know less about radio when they leave the Ham­Cram than when they arrived. Still, we have a 90 percent success rate, which makes it easy to build a cadre of hams within a CERT organization.

We follow up with training in how to use a radio and lots of ham propaganda to try to make these new HamCram hams more interested in the hobby. Probably 15 percent take the bait, and the other 85 percent have at least received a good introduction to the capabilities of Amateur Radio. Some of our CERT members are upgrading and starting to get onto HF.

Why ARES Needs CERT

One of the problems many ARES groups and clubs face is the graying of Amateur Radio. Our average age is somewhere in the mid-60s, meaning many hams aren’t the active public servants they used to be. The pool of traditional “I am really interested in radio” young hams seems to have mostly dried up, our hobby replaced by the Internet and video games in the lives of people both young and old.

Our CERT members tend toward soccer moms and their husbands more than retir­ees. They are already signed-up for CERT activities, so getting some of them involved in non-CERT ARES activities is not much of a stretch.

Thus, Tracy CERT has created a pool of licensed operators who can respond either as CERT-trained ARES members or as ARES-trained CERT members, depending on the mission. The Tracy ARES group includes both CERT and non-CERT members, who work together in training and response op­erations.

Our non-CERT hams provide advanced ARES and communications capabilities that support CERTleadership and their members in the field. This works out quite well and without the friction that sometimes occurs in other locations. Does this mean CERT is taking over ARES, or vice versa? Hardly.

While our memberships overlap, each side has core members who think of themselves primarily as either a ham or a CERT member. They have their meetings, we have ours, and sometimes we meet together. Members of one can attend the other group’s training.

This works out quite well, in no small part because Tracy CERT and the Tracy Amateur Radio Club are both young organizations that grew up side-by-side. More established organizations might have to work harder to make ARES and CERT behave as the sister organizations they should be.

Key Points

CERT organizations can provide the new blood that many ARES groups and ham clubs need. CERTmembers may be younger than the general Amateur population and come with a predisposition toward active com­munity service. Amateur Radio provides communications that CERT needs. ARES can provide training, technology and communica­tions leadership to CERT groups.

HamCrams are key to getting CERT members licensed easily and quickly, but must be followed by ongoing communica­tions training. Having standardized radios, all programmed alike, makes it easier for ARES to support CERT members and their communications needs.

CERT and ARES working closely to­gether expands the capabilities of both groups. While CERT is not a traditional entry to Amateur Radio, CERT members are naturals for carrying out our public service commitment to the FCC and the American people. This article is intended to introduce you to the possibilities of CERT and ARES working closely together. Your situation will surely be different from mine.

Still, Amateur Radio and CERT each have something the other needs — people and communications — so it’s worth the effort to make the relationship work.

David Coursey, N5FDL, is Emergency Co­ordinator of San Joaquin County (CA) ARES, leader of the Tracy ARC, and a member of Tracy CERT. Visit his blog at n5fdl.com. His e-mail address is n5fdl.arrl.net.

Additional information on organizing a HamCram can

'Communicating' is a critical element of preparedness

'Communicating' is a critical element of preparedness

On March 1, 2011 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints published an article relating to communication and preparedness.  It was published Tuesday, March 1,2011.  Check it out at the following link:

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/60548/Communicating-is-a-critical-element-of-preparedness.html

Loma Prieta, CA 1989 Earthquake Audio

Loma Prieta, CA 1989 Earthquake Audio

Follow the link below to access a website that contains audio recording of a Ham repeater being used to coordinate reporting efforts just after the Loma Prieta, CA Earthquake in 1989.

Hear damage reports being called into the W6ASH (SPECS) Ham Repeater's Net Control station.
Hear the excitement and fear as aftershocks happen during the net.
http://homepage.mac.com/n6oim/loma/

From the web site:
Excuse the open microphone, it's all I could do at the time.
I started the tape about 10 minutes after the main event. Seconds before I
pushed record, we had a Mag 5x aftershock. If you listen closely, you can
hear my neighbor's alarm sounding in the background. There were several
more aftershocks that happened during the taping. One knocked my phone
off the hook. You can hear the alert beeps. One aftershock interrupted the net
due to net control having to leave the Sunnyvale Fire Station he was in. I pulled
out my generator at dusk and we had the whole neighborhood at our house
watching the news. We were without PG&E Power for 3 days after the event!
The night of the quake around 11:00pm, I was called to open a Red Cross
Shelter at the Senior Center in Mountain View. I checked people in all night,
but in the morning the city condemned the building due to damage. We moved
the shelter to the Rengstorff Park Recreation Center where I finished my shift.

HAM radios come to the rescue during Utah wind storm

HAM radios come to the rescue during Utah wind storm

Communications were tough for dispatchers during Thursday's massive wind storm. So to help get the word through faster, a special team of HAM radio operators was called in to help.

Read the article at KSL.COM...follow this link:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18335745&title=ham-radios-come-to-the-rescue-during-utah-wind-storm

Space Station Crew Uses HAM Radio to Call Earth

Space Station Crew Uses HAM Radio to Call Earth

Radio Grab & Go Kit Modular Concept

Radio Grab & Go Kit Modular Concept

For those that are planning to assist with communications during an emergency, a 'grab-and-go' kit is essential. 

Dan O'Connor, KE7HLR has prepared a document related to Ham grab-and-go kits. He uses a "modular" concept that I have looked at and really like.

"Ideally, your Go-Kit should be divided into small, easily-transportable modules, based on expected Type of Assignment, Length of Assignment, and Storage Location.

Go-Kit modules should supplement each other with additional equipment and supplies, to extend your
capabilities and endurance."

I have posted a link to the document on the main page under Ham Documents.  The direct link is...

http://www.ke7hlr.com/emcomm/ecw08/personal_go-kit_handout.pdf

SLC SE Division Emergency Communications Net

SLC SE Division Emergency Communications Net

Amateur (HAM) radio operators in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area are encouraged to participate in the SLC SE Division Emergency Communications Net. 

Thursdays, 9 p.m. on 147.50 MHz simplex.

Check-in is first by the seven community council areas of the division (Yalecrest, Foothill/Sunnyside, Sunnyside East Association, Wasatch Hollow, Bonneville Hills, East Bench, and Sugar House).  Visitors outside the division are invited to check in afterwards.  Everyone is welcome to participate, including giving announcements, asking questions and proposing topics of emergency communications and other preparedness for discussion.

Please spread the word, including to people who may not be licensed in amateur radio but are interested in emergency communications, even inviting them to listen in from your radio station.  You never know when one of those people may be interested in becoming a scribe, even if he/she does not want to become licensed, as is already the case in one of our areas!

Amateur radio today - hosted by Walter Cronkite

Amateur radio today - hosted by Walter Cronkite

Everyone should check out this YouTube video with Walter Cronkite speaking on Amateur Radio Communications: