Free Online Amateur Radio Operating Class

A free, weekly, 3-hour Amateur Radio operating class will begin on Thursday April 4, 2024 and run through June 20, 2024j at 6:30 PM Eastern Time. The presenters will be experienced folksin the various subjects.

A detailed syllabus will be published before the classes begin. Attend one class or attend them all, but you must register for the classes.

To recieve registration information contact Rol Anders, K3RA at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Subjects will include:

  • All About Operating--A general Introduction
  • Amateur Radio Organizations—Local to International
  • Ham Radio Awards
  • DXing-History and Tips from the Experts
  • QSLing-How to get that needed card for DXCC or WAS
  • VHF/UHF Weak Signal Work and "Roving"
  • Image Operating—Slow Scan and Fast Scan TV
  • Remote Station control over internet
  • Learning CW in the no-code era
  • Digital Modes—From RTTY to FT8 and beyond
  • Contesting—How to get started, tips for the beginner and intermediated contester
  • Logging Software—What's available, how to use
  • Propagation—A general intro to HF Propagation
  • Amateur Satellites—How to get started
  • Portable (backpacking) operation—Tips from an expert
  • Setting Up a Modern (or not so modern) HF Station
  • Lightning Protection and Grounding
  • Traffic Handling
  • Public Service, Emergency Communications

Ham Radio University 2023

Ham Radio University 2023

Registration Is Open For January 7th Ham Radio University On-Line Webinars

With continuing Covid19 restrictions precluding an in-person gathering, the 24th annual Ham Radio University (HRU) educational conference will be held on Saturday, January 7, 2023 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm EST (13:00-20:00 UTC) as a GoToWebinar on-line video conference.

Registration is now open (see below) for HRU's 17 informational presentations by experts in a broad range of Amateur Radio activities including: Building an HF Station; Basic Practical Antennas; Basics of HF Operating; Contesting and DXing; Software Defined Radios; HF Digital Communications; Satellite Communications; Using RaspberryPi Computers in Amateur Radio; Parks on the Air; Cables and Connectors and Shack Grounding.

Presented in memory of Ham Radio University founder, Phil Lewis, N2MUN (SK), HRU 2023 also will be the on-line convention of the NYC-Long Island Section of ARRL.

As in years past, participation in HRU 2023 will be free of charge, with an optional suggested donation of $5.00 – but advance registration is required for each presentation.

Detailed information, including the schedule of forums and advanced registration for each on is online at https://hamradiouniversity.org/forums/.

Special Newsline Tonight!

Special announcements: During this evenings Amateur Radio Newsline George County ARES park event for this Saturday "The Scratching Post" will be one of the special event items promoted by Don Wilbanks and Newsline. Lucedale will be on the map a little larger than usual due to this special two minute recognition hopefully will give a good boost to our first QSO park event.

Volunteers Needed for MS SET 2022

Next Saturday August 6th will be our yearly Statewide Simulated Emergency Test.

We are asking for volunteers to give 15 to 30 minutes of your time on Saturday (7am-7pm) to help in this statewide drill.

When you volunteer please indicate your time frame of morning or afternoon then you'll be added to our local George County scenario and emailed the particulars of your task and time frame. Most of us will be working from the house but we asking for one or two to who be willing to work from the mobile for a short period of time. This is not intended to be a stressful or taxing position so don't be hesitant to volunteer. Please see the Mississippi Statewide SET 2022 (strictly for information purposes) and we will be following the scenario of total internet interruption but its up to GC ARES to develop our own county's situation. We will be making use of our radio equipment whether the repeater, HF voice, digital Winlink, or Wires-X to pass traffic and emails.

Please respond as soon as you can with your ability to participate, and your participation should not be more than 15 to 30 minutes. BTW, if you're outside the state even better we can use you as well so you will not be left out.

Thank you for your dedication.

Please free free to contact General KD4VVZ, with any questions or concerns.

Mississippi Statewide SET 2022

Local nets will be published and coordinated via county emergency coordinators.


SITUATION

The MS Section of ARES will conduct the statewide SET on Saturday 6 August 2022 from 7AM-7PM.

Disruptive factors simulated during the Test:

  1. A wide area Cyber Attack on Infrastructure and the Internet in the Mid-South
  2. Emergency Communications Support for served agencies and utility service providers
  3. Hardline and Wireless Communications Infrastructure Disruptions
  4. Major disruptions of internet-based communications systems

AMATEUR RADIO OPERATOR ROLES

ARES and Non-Member ARES operators will provide simulated emergency communications in support of Public Safety, Public Service, State, and Local Government entities from 7AM-7PM on 6 Aug 2022.

PURPOSE OF THE SET

The main purpose of the SET is to evaluate strengths and weaknesses in Amateur Radio emergency preparedness as well as to demonstrate amateur radio to our served agencies and the public.

ACTIONS DURING THE EVENT

  • ARES team members will be operating from home stations, mobile and portable locations. We will deploy to EOC's and at other served agency locations during the SET.
  • We will be using HF, VHF, UHF, Analog Voice, SSB, Digital voice and data.
  • County Emergency Coordinators will be responsible for the actual SET operations in their respective county(s) as well as the rallying efforts of the supporting ARES teams and other amateur radio operators in their local and regional areas.
  • ARES Team members will provide emergency and welfare communications between local emergency responders, other public safety, and public service organizations.
  • The overall control of the SET is by the MS Section Emergency Coordinator (KC5IMN). The SEC will maintain control of the event via a script that defines a cyber event, its impacts, and mitigations over a 12-hour period on 6 Aug 2022.

MISSION

It is the mission of the Mississippi Section Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) to serve as the coordinating point for amateur radio operators and their served agencies in the event of a communications emergency.

ARES is a national level volunteer organization whose purpose is to serve the public by providing licensed, certified, and competent Amateur Radio communications to federal, state, county, and local government agencies, as well as to nonprofit disaster relief organizations.

The primary activity of ARES is to provide emergency communications during disasters or remarkable events such as severe weather (hurricanes, flashfloods, ice storms), power failures, large area events (parades, marathons, races, walks, bicycle tours), etc. During an event, ARES will supplement public service communications or stand in the place of primary normal communications when other channels become unavailable. ARES will operate before, during, and after major disasters.

EXECUTION

Each Emergency Coordinator should strategically station their supporting amateur radio operators to maximize their ability to communicate with state and county emergency operations centers (EOC) as well as impacted public safety and public service organizations to pass simulated emergency and health/welfare traffic via voice and digital modes.

SET SCENARIO AND SCRIPT

The SET Scenario this year is a Cyber Event impacting the entire state of Mississippi.

OUR EVENT

Adversaries against the United States will launch a coordinated cyber-attack on or about 6 August 2022. Any internet communication service in the state of Mississippi is susceptible to disruption during this 12-hour event. Think about other disruptions to:

  1. Gas stations,
  2. Grocery stores,
  3. Electricity providers,
  4. Hospitals and Emergency Room services
  5. Commercial air and ground transportation,
  6. Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems

SCADA systems are software and hardware elements that allow industrial organizations to: Control industrial processes locally or at remote locations. Monitor, gather, and process real-time data via internet connectivity.

For 2022, we are incorporating YSF and DMR hotspots along with regional and local HF NVIS voice and data networks. I hope to persuade individual operators to go mobile and activate high-level locations to deploy temporary repeaters, digital hot-spots, or work simplex comms. Also, we want to run a couple of hours where all stations use emergency or backup power and no more than ten watts ERP (or less) for that timeframe.

The SEC will keep the event tactical in nature announcing specific impacts via local and regional radio links. Receiving stations must relay the simulated impacts reports back to the MSN/MSPN and digital HF/VHF networks for statewide distribution.

The exact script for the exercise will not be released until the day of the event and then only in phases as the day progresses (several day’s events will be jammed into this 12-hour script). Specific guidelines for responses and passing traffic will be rolled out just prior to the event and for this year, online reporting of contacts will be required after the SET is complete.

GOALS

● Your goal is to establish voice and data communications with and for state and county emergency management organizations and served agencies at as many EOC’s as we can activate.

● We should operate via the modes and bands listed above, but also reach out to your elected/appointed officials in your county and hand deliver to them the ARES SET Briefing letter; so, they can know who we are and what we are doing.

Individual DEC’s and EC’s, AEC’s, and Net Control operators are free to ad-hoc their responses and simulated traffic around the elements of this event. However, unlike previous SET’s in Mississippi, the SEC will be sending out routine and emergency notifications to ARES team members with specific communications tasking. Understanding that there can be only limited use of landlines, cell phones, or internet communications to pass traffic for this event. To get credit for the use of emergency power, an operator must really use emergency power for the times that you participate in this event.

Before 7PM 6 Aug 2022, we hope to have simulated an emergency communication for as many counties in Mississippi as we can. We also hope to coordinate with our adjacent state’s ARES organizations and pass simulated traffic back and forth with them.

COMMAND AND SIGNALS

The MS Section ARES SEC will be in command of the SET for the duration of the event.

Signal Instructions and information- always be safe and respectful of other people and operators as for the duration of the SET. All FCC rules apply regarding the passing of simulated and test radio traffic. All transmissions should be prefaced with and indicate that this is a drill, it is not real, and it is only a test. All transmissions should end with this caveat that they are only a test.

An example could be, “AA1NA from KC5IMN, this is a test, this is not real, this is a drill, Hinds County EMA is reporting the need to open emergency lodging for stranded travelers on Interstate 20. Request immediate assistance from county and state road crews. This is a drill, this is not real, this is a test.”

The use of tactical callsigns is encouraged if every station identifies fully every 10 minutes.

Command and Control- The Section Emergency Coordinator, Robert Hayes KC5IMN, shall initiate and terminate the event with a voice call over 3862 KHz to the on-duty net control operator. That net control operator will be responsible for the outflow of event information to all the DEC’s, EC’s, Served Agencies and their EOC’s.

Real Emergencies- If a real emergency occurs during the SET, KC5IMN, AA1NA, or W5XX (Malcolm Keown, Section Manager for Mississippi) can terminate the SET and allow ARES members to respond to their local served agencies.

HF Voice Frequencies in use:

  1. 3862KHz (MS ARES PRIMARY),
  2. 7238KHz (MS ARES Daytime 40 Meter), and
  3. 53715 KHz (Intra-State 60 Meter Coordination Net)

Local nets will be published and coordinated via county emergency coordinators.

ICS-205 Form for MS ARES is HERE

Digital Workflows and frequencies for this SET are located HERE.

2022 Monthly Meeting Topics and Events

February: New Ham Radio Operator Introduction to the Hobby, Session One.
NOTE: Meeting moved to the THIRD Saturday for this month only.

  • Pro's and Con's to hand held, base and mobile radios.
  • Radio manufacturers, ease of use, cost, performance and best starter radio comparison.

March: (Testing Session) John Glass: CPR Training

April: New Ham Radio Operator Introduction to the Hobby, Session Two

  • Batteries
  • Power Supplies
  • Coax
  • Antennas
  • Connectors
  • Programming Software
  • Advanced Radio Comparison

May: Hurricane Season Presentation & Push-Up Pole Installation

June: Field Day Preparations

  • George County ARES/Ham Radio Activity: (Field Day - June 25th & 26th 2022)
  • George County ARES Activity: Testing Session at Field Day Event

July: Antenna Launcher Building Project.

August: What is, and How to Use Group Call on Your Radio
George County ARES/Ham Radio Activity: Simulated Emergency Test (SET), (Tentatively scheduled for the first weekend in August.)

September: (Testing Session) HF Radio

  • Cost
  • Features to look for
  • Manufacturers
  • Radio Comparisons

October: Explanation of Memory Types & Memory Banks on Our Radios and how to make good use of them.

November: (Testing Session) Open Topic

December: Christmas Luncheon and Ham Radio Password