Upcoming Section Hamfests and Conventions

• October 12 10 am - 3 pm PT - ARRL SV Section Amateur Radio Exhibit at Special Event Station N6M at Rocklin Maker Faire, Sierra College Campus, Rocklin CA
• October 12 - 8 am PT - Redding Hamfest, at Bentronics, 141 Locust St, Redding, CA
• October 18-20 - ARRL Pacificon Division Convention, San Ramon, CA

Announcements

October 12, 2024 ARRL Amateur Radio Exhibit at the Rocklin Maker Faire

The ARRL Sacramento Valley Section will host a  public outreach exhibit promoting Amateur Radio and our local clubs at the Rocklin Maker Faire at Sierra College in Rocklin, 5100 Rocklin Rd, Rocklin, CA 95677 on Saturday October 12, 2024 from 10 am - 3 pm.   Admission and parking are free! 

Participating ARRL Section Clubs will host displays of amateur radio equipment, antenna and DIY projects, Morse Code practice stations, and offering hands-on activities and opportunities for attendees to learn about many fascinating facets of amateur radio and to communicate on the air with amateur radio operators via an operational on-site Special Event Station N6M.  The Rocklin Maker Faire will feature many other activities and exhibits of interest to the entire family and all ages.

We will offer literature and information on licensing, local clubs, the ARRL and amateur radio's role in community service, public safety, and promoting careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. 

Llicensed radio amateurs interested in participating in our exhibit or for further information please email kp4md@arrl.org

Support the October 18-20 Annual Worldwide Jamboree on the Air

Reach out to local Scout groups to offer communications support for Worldwide Jamboree on the Air!  Over 1,000,000 scouts participate in this annual get-together over the air waves.  Read full details at https://www.arrl.org/jamboree-on-the-air-jota

Our Thursday evening, October 17, our ARRL Sacramento Valley Section HF Net will be conducted on 3880 kHz LSB +/- 3 kHz for QRM.  Seasonal propagation changes cause us to move our HF net in autumn to 80 meters.

ARRL Section Members Give Amateur Radio Talks at NorCal RV Club Rallies

On September 12 Airstream RV Club International Region 12 members participated in the Introduction to Ham Radio workshop presented by SacValley President and ARRL SV Affiliated Club Coordinator, James Goldstene, AE6JG, and James Aspinwall, NO1PC at their Rally in South Lake Tahoe, CA. James gave a live demonstration of HF communications on 40m SSB QSOs with Jim Zheng, W6JCZ, at Ham Radio Outlet in Sacramento, ARRL Sacramento EC Jay Ballinger, N6SAC, ARRL Sac Valley SM, Carol Milazzo, KP4MD in Citrus Heights, and others.  Participants really enjoyed the workshop and commented on how well organized and informative the presentation was. James is a teacher after all! Thank you James and all that participated!

On September 5, James Goldstene, AE6JG, also gave an introduction to amateur radio talk to about 15 members of three Airstream RV Clubs at their joint "Silver in Cascadia" Rally at the McCloud RV Park near Mt. Shasta, CA.  "We used a sling shot to get a Chameleon EFHW up in the air and hit Mexico and Haiti."  See photos on our arrlsacvalley.org website.

September 21 WPARC Hamfest in Lincoln

The weather was excellent and attendance good at the Hamfest.  Congratulations to the Western Placer Amateur Radio Club on another successful Hamfest and thanks to all who stopped by our ARRL Section booth!

Section Manager arrl.org Email Address Restored.  Please address email for the Sacramento Valley Section Manager to kp4md@arrl.org  Thank you.

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ARRL Urges Comments Against New Threat to the Amateur Radio 902-928 MHz Band

ARRL is preparing comments urging protection of existing and future amateur uses in the Amateur Radio 902-928 MHz Band

The FCC accepted for public comment a Petition for Rulemaking filed by NextNav Inc., a licensee in the 900-MHz Location and Monitoring Service (LMS), to completely reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band and replace the LMS with high-powered 5G cellular and related location services.

All amateurs are urged to file their own comments describing their activities in this band and the expected effect of the proposed changes:

MORE INFO tinyurl.com/2z6dvhwc

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Redding Veterans' RC W6VET Veterans' Day Special Event      

The 2023 Special Event Station Celebrating Veterans at W6VET was a success, especially for me, the operator, K6WK, Mike.  However, "success" as a term does not describe fully the impact that operating on this SES has had on me.  I enjoyed talking to all the Veterans, families of Veterans, and supporters of Veterans.  I got tongue tied a few times, I was in need of a rest, also,...to assimilate the "happening-input of life experiences" into my consciousness....  This was an experience for me, which stands above nearly every post-service experience as a US ARMY VETERAN that I can remember.  Thank you to all who made contact, and especially to those who could not get through because of my long windedness.  I hope to work you soon.  This is our second Annual Special Event Station on Veterans Day at W6VET.  73  - Michael, K6WK

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2023 ARRL Pacificon Forum:
"Dealing with Intentional Interference"      

Intentional interference is increasingly reported in our section and elsewhere around the nation.  At the 2023 ARRL Pacificon Convention forum entitled "Dealing with Intentional Interference" ARRL and other amateur radio leadership presented and discussed resources and strategies to assist radio amateurs, clubs, groups and repeater owners in controlling this problem.  

Local direction finding (DF) teams have been organizing to collect evidence of these incidents. 
If you experience intentional interference, here below are several ways that you can immediately assist:

1. Dealing with a deliberate jammer is emotionally difficult. But if we’re to successfully get rid of them, everyone involved (and I do mean every single ham) must remain calm. We must also be patient, as it can take a while.

2. This may be the most important of all; do not attempt to engage with the jammer, or even acknowledge their presence. Although some of them may do what they do because they have a beef with the repeater owner, club, or another ham; most jammers do it for the same reason others engage in destructive behavior; to get attention. We must deny them that attention. So, control your anger and don’t tell them to stop, threaten them or even acknowledge that the interference is occurring.

3. If the level of interference allows it, continue with your QSO or net as if the interference was not there.
   If conversation is not possible, you may be able to QSY to an alternate frequency.  Otherwise, just sign off as if you’ve naturally finished and go radio silent until the jammer leaves. They may return when you do, so you’ll have to do this several times, until they get the message that they won’t get the satisfaction they’re looking for.

4. Do not discuss the jammer on the air, even when jamming is not present.  Understand that just one ham losing control and engaging with the jammer or acknowledging the interference, even in passing, is enough to undo the efforts of everyone else.

5. In case of repeater interference, each repeater owner has the ability--or should have the ability--to constantly monitor the repeater and if all else fails shut it down in instances of abuse.   Running a repeater is not much different than allowing access to your home base station by anyone who wants to use it.

6. Control operators can and should immediately disable the repeater when any illegal activity occurs, and keep it disabled until attempts at the illegal activity end. They can monitor the repeater’s input frequency for this.

7. You should report a repeater's failure to control intentional interference to the ARRL-FCC Volunteer Monitor (VM) program. 
   Collect and submit recordings of the interference marking the date, time and frequency as evidence. 
   The ARRL-FCC VM program has the resources to motivate owners to control their repeaters responsibly.

How To Report A Possible Violation to the ARRL-FCC VM Program

To report clear violations of FCC Part 97, particularly instances of unlicensed operation, repeated deliberate interference, and operation outside of a licensee’s authorized frequencies, send the report via email to Riley Hollingsworth (K4ZDH), ARRL Volunteer Monitor Administrator, at K4ZDH@arrl.net.

Important: include the following information in your report…

- Frequency (MHz) of incident:
- Time of incident (UTC):
- Date of incident:
- Call sign(s) of station(s) being reported:
  - If a repeater, call sign of repeater involved:
- Description of alleged incident being reported:
- Your full name (person submitting report)
- Your call sign:
- Your email address:
- Your phone number:

All reports will be acknowledged, reviewed, and the person submitting the report will receive a response as quickly as possible.

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