To members and friends of the Richfield Amateur Radio Club; Please join us on Wednesday, December 16th on the Zoom application at 7 pm. Look for an email with the meeting particulars. We have had some members note that they are not receiving club emails, so check your spam/junk bucket.
Also, the January, 2021 meeting will have elections for President, Vice-president and Secretary. If you are interested in running for one of the offices, please email the club at: w0rrc.rarc@gmail.com
Starting this Thursday, October 1st, the RARC weekly net will be held on the W0RRC VHF repeater at 6:30, FM. WiresX connection to the MN/WIS room for System Fusion is disconnected at this time. Please join us for a round table discussion.
The RARC August meeting will be held in person this Wednesday at 7:00 pm on the lower patio on the south side of the Richfield Community Center. Please apply all of the new precautions of distancing and masks.
In the event of inclement weather, the meeting will be held on air, 444.475 +5 tone 118.8, and an Email will be sent to members by 3 pm, and this space will also have a notice.
Richfield Community Center, 7000 Nicollet Avenue South, 55423
RARC will meet on the lower level patio on the south side of the Richfield Community Center, 7000 Nicollet Ave, 55423. This will be outdoors at 7:00 p.m. Bring a chair and the personal protective equipment we are all accustomed to now. The weather looks promising at this point, but if it turns inclement, an email will be sent out and a notice on this website will be made regarding holding the meeting on the air at 444.475 UHF repeater.
Due to concerns for the health of the members of the Richfield Amateur Radio Club and the Bloomington Amateur Radio Association, field day 2020 will be different. We can operate as independant stations and count contacts as a club. Please follow this link for the rule from the ARRL: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2020-05-28 We will use N1MMlogger software, as we have in the past.
Hennepin County Emergency Management (HCEM) will be conducting their Spring Simulated Emergency Test (SET) this Saturday May 30 from 9am till approximately 12 noon. The test involves amateur radio operators and public safety entities sharing specifically requested information via a number of different communications pathways.
The Richfield Radio Club members are invited and encouraged to participate.
Attached is a list of amateur radio frequencies (via an ICS205) which will be utilized for this exercise. This includes the Richfield 444.475 repeater.
Please pass this information along to the club members and let them know that they are welcome and frankly encouraged to check into as many of the nets as they are able.
Here is the exercise scenario:
A global pandemic (Coronavirus –SARS-CoV2) –COVID-19 has infected hundreds of thousands across the globe, killed thousands in the United States and has decimated global economies. As hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans maintain a Government-issued ‘Stay-at-Home” order, communications infrastructure is being taxed beyond capacity. Primary failures include an overloading of the 3-4-5G Cellular systems as well as an overloading of some local internet service providers. Local telecom operators are also experiencing random outages due to malicious cable vandalism. Power is stable for the time being. Due to the infectious nature of the COVID-19 virus, all communications personnel are now working remotely from their homes. No inter-personal contact is being advised as “Social Distancing” is the new normal. The Hennepin County Emergency Operations Center is active with stable conditions and is requesting information from ARES and non-ARES amateur Radio Operators as to the status of critical infrastructure within the County and State of Minnesota and specifically the Twin Cities Metropolitan area.
The HCEOC is requesting the following information from each operator who checks in:
Operators Current Location
Station Power Status
Internet Access and availability
Cellular / Telco Service Status
Current Weather conditions
HCEM looks forward to hearing from all those who can participate.
TO All, RARC Wednesday May 20th, 2020 meeting will be held on the air using the W0RRC 444.475 repeater. We will be discussing Field Day 2020 preparation in the event the Richfield Community Center is open. Also, we will be looking for topics to discuss at future meetings. The meeting starts at 7:00 pm. 444.475 MHz+, PL Tone 118.8 FM.
This Thursday following the RARC Thursday night net, there will be a test of C4FM using simplex mode. Please read the following from Don KC0TJ:
Heads up I will be doing a Fusion on the radio test on 147.525 simplex per MRC’s guidelines this Thursday after Richfield’s 6:30pm net. All are welcome. Make sure you are on (DN) mode only. This is not related to RARC, but I am going coordinate on 444.475 repeater in analog for support. My hope is to test Fusion’s capabilities in simplex. We do not want anyone using any WIRES-X linking. My goals are distance testing compared to FM and usability of fringe communications. If that works I might try DStar another day. Your objective comments during and afterwards would be nice. This is for fun and education. Please make sure you have pretested your settings before you check-in. I monitor 444.475 repeater & 146.520 normally if you want any tech support before this test. One last thing, Fusion transmissions are delay audio, so give a second before talking when keying and give gaps before TXing otherwise we may not RX anything. Again, thanks for your patience for this test.
Due to the current conditions, the Richfield Ameteur Radio Club will hold this month’s meeting on the air. UHF repeater 444.475+ PL 118.8 FM. 1900 CDT (7:00 p.m.). Topics to include Field Day 2020 preperations, and contingencies, if needed.
