Category: SATERN

Winter Field Day

Winter Field Day, sponsored by the Winter Field Day Association (WFDA) , and takes place the last full weekend in January.  For 2019 that will be Janurary  26th and 27th.   

“Don’t let those winter doldrums keep you locked up in the house,” the WFDA says. “Get out and play some radio!” The WFDA said it believes that maintaining operating skills should not be limited to fair-weather scenarios.   

There are three entry categories — indoor, outdoor, and home. The rule are similar to those for ARRL Field Day. Operation will take place on all HF bands except 12, 17, 30, and 60 meters, as well as on VHF, UHF, and satellite. The event runs 24 hours. Starting at 1:00 pm CDT on Saturday and running to 1:00 pm on Sunday.   US and Canadian stations exchange call sign, operating category, and ARRL or RAC section.

The Omaha Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) will be participating in Winter Field Day from the local EDS building at 10629 Burt Circle and invites all interested amateur radio operators to participate with them.     At this point everything is still in the planning phase, but so far the plan is to operate as in the Indoor category with at least 2 HF stations one voice station and one digital stations.  The stations will run off of generator and battery power.      Hours of operation will depend on band conditions and the number of participants to work those late night hours.   

If you’d like to participate send an email to winterfd@aksarbenarc.org 
 

FM Hand Held Radio Front Panel Programming

It’s happened or will happen to every amateur radio operator who’s been involved in public service or emergency communications for a while: you get to the drill or event site and your radio isn’t programmed correctly.  You find out the repeater you’ll be using has a CTCSS tone to access it now, or you have the wrong offset, or you don’t even have that frequency in your radio.   NOW WHAT???

With new feature rich radios many of us do not know how to program a radio without a laptop and programming cable, but in the field you may not always have access to those things.    To help use be better able to communicate in those situations,  SATERN will be hosting a “Hand Held Front Panel Programming” class.    – You do not have to be registered with ARES or SATERN to attend.

The class will be held Saturday, February 9th at 1:00 pm at the Salvation Army EDS building at 10629 Burt Circle in Omaha.    So that we are better prepared to assist you, you will need to bring your HT with a fully charged battery and the radio’s manual.    We also ask that you register at this link and let us know that you will be coming :

https://tinyurl.com/y9he2etc

DO NOT BRING THE PROGRAMMING CABLE OR SOFTWARE!  We will not be assisting with computer programming of the radio.

We will go over

  • setting frequencies
  • setting repeater offset and direction
  • setting squelch tones
  • writing to a memory
  • selecting a memory
  • locking and unlocking the radio
  • adjusting volume and squelch

Because of special requirements for P25, DMR, D-Star, Fusion and other digital modes, we will only be covering standard analog FM programming for your radios for this session.

Bob Langsfeld (WB9TZC) Appointed As Central Territory SATERN Coordinator

Central THQ (10/17/2018) – Robert E. Langsfeld (WB9TZC) has been appointed as the new Central Territory SATERN Coordinator by Territorial Disaster Coordinator Kevin Ellers.
Langsfeld holds an FCC Extra Class Amateur Radio License.

In addition, Ellers also appointed former Central Territory SATERN Coordinator Bill Shillington (W9ZCL) and Kenneth Panczyk (W9KMP) as Assistant Territorial SATERN Coordinators. Maj. Michele Heaver (KC8NAI) has been assigned as the staff liaison to SATERN and “to work closely with Bob. She will be scheduling the Territory’s first SATERN strategic conference call soon. Ellers said, “It is my goal to strategically advance the SATERN program in 2019.”

Langsfeld says, “I became interested in radio as a teen, starting out with a citizen’s band radio and a kit-built shortwave radio. Soon I wanted more. I attended a ham radio class. Shortly
afterwards, in the 1970’s, he became an amateur radio operator and immediately began to concentrate on public service and emergency communications. He later became a paid, on call EMA
volunteer and was soon promoted to Team Leader. For the past five (5) years Bob has been the paid EMA Coordinator for the Village of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, where Central Territory
Headquarters is located. He helped the village EMA office earn its State of Illinois accreditation with a program that included different units for volunteers, paid on call responders, public education, ground search teams , CERT and AUXCOMM. Langsfeld also served as the Emergency Communications Chairman with the Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club and the local ARRL ARES
Emergency Coordinator.

Langsfeld has just recently retired from his positions with both locall EMA and the Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club and has become involved with The Salvation Army and SATERN in his retirement

About SATERN

Salvation Army Disaster Services

The Salvation Army began offering assistance to disaster survivors after a major hurricane hit Galveston, TX in September 1900, destroying the coastal city and killing thousands of people. At the request of The Salvation Army’s National Commander, Frederick Booth-Tucker, officers (the clergy of The Salvation Army) from across the country moved into the Galveston area to help feed and shelter the thousands of survivors, while also providing much needed emotional and spiritual support.

Since then, The Salvation Army has responded to numerous natural disasters, transportation accidents, civil unrest situations and terrorist attacks. By providing beverages, meals, and emotional and spiritual care to first-responders and survivors, The Salvation Army strives to bring hope and healing to people who find themselves in the midst of extremely difficult situations.

SATERN is an all volunteer organization made up of currently licensed amateur radio operators. The volunteer their time and efforts toward aiding The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services ministry. Many of us are also volunteers in such all volunteer organizations as SKYWARN, ARES, and others. Some have completed the FEMA online training, or EDS Incident Command training, SKYWARN training, or ARES Emergency Communications training.

SATERN has local organizations in all 50 states and Canada, as well as many other parts of the world. The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network has demonstrated its effectiveness by providing essential radio communication services in countless disaster situations, including:

 

Hurricane Andrew Northridge earthquake
Plainfield, Ill. tornado Florida wildfires
Mississipi River floods Hurricane Mitch
Oklahoma bombing Oklahoma City Tornado
Hurricane Marilyn Hurricane Keith
North Dakota floods Hurricane Katrina
New York City Ground Zero 9/11/2001 Hurricane Maria (Puerto Rico & USVI) 22 days
Hurricane Harvey

SATERN is in service to aid The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) ministry and provide communications and other technical assistance to EDS to enhance the response and effectiveness of what EDS does.

SATERN may assist in handling Health and Welfare requests in times of emergency where normal communication media fails.

SATERN will also partner with cooperating emergency responders and / or disaster relief agencies, where needed, to provide communications media where infrastructure service has been interrupted or where the infrastructure has been destroyed.

SATERN To Be Promoted At Multiple National Events In May

NHQ, Alexandria, VA (04/12/2018) – Part of SATERN’s  Strategic Plan is to increase awareness of SATERN within and
outside of The Salvation Army. In May, National SATERN Liaison Bill Feist (WB8BZH) will advance that part of the
Strategic Plan by speaking at several national conferences.

The first presentation will be at the National Community Relations & Development (CRD) and Emergency Disaster
Services (EDS) Conference in Indianapolis, IN. Feist will present “It Really Can All Fail!” about SATERN’s response to
the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

A week later, Feist will co-present with ARRL Preparedness Manager Mike Corey (KI1U) and Jacqueline A. Yannacci,
American Red Cross Director of Community Mobilization Partnerships at the National VOAD (Voluntary Organizations
Active in Disasters) Conference in Providence, RI. The talk entitled, “American Red Cross – ARRL Response to Hurricane
Maria: Amateur Radio Support for Disaster Operations”, will discuss the partnership between the American Red Cross, the
ARRL and SATERN in providing Amateur Radio communications for Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.

The next week, Feist will present several times at the Dayton Hamvention in Xenia, OH. On Saturday, 19 May, he will
present, “It Really Can All Fail!” and will also be part of a Partnership Panel Discussion and an FCC Disaster EmComm
Public Workshop. He will also do a brief presentation at the ARRL Booth that weekend.

PATRIOT North

VOLK FIELD AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Wis. — When a natural disaster strikes, the efforts of government and civilian organizations are required to support relief operations. Coordination among these organizations may occur after a tornado, flooding, a HAZMAT incident, or another type of state emergency. National Guard units along with state and civilian agencies work together to provide life-saving services and emergency response.

PATRIOT North 2017 exercise, conducted in July of 2017, is a domestic operations (DOMOPS) exercise that provides an opportunity for these organizations to coordinate realistic and relevant training to prepare for a disaster or state emergency.

Read the entire article 

Weekly SATERN Nets

The International SATERN SSB Voice net is on  14.265.0 MHz – Monday – Saturday at 10:00 am Central Time

The International SATERN Digital net is on 14.065.0 MHz  on Saturday at 12:00 noon Central Time

The Central Territory  SATERN SSB Voice net is  on 7.265.0 MHz on Saturday at 9:30 am Central Time

Omaha SATERN should check into the Douglas County ARES FM Voice net 146.940(-) MHz on Sunday at 9:00 pm CDT