The West Central Ohio Amateur Radio Association is a group of amateur radio operators based in the Dayton, Columbus, and surrounding regions. This group has formed around systems that originally were developed under the old Kettering Medical Center Amateur Radio Association (KMCARA). It is wholly independent of the Kettering Medical Center (KMC) and the KMCARA but does have some working relations with the KMC through memorandums of understanding with KMC.

March WCOARA Meeting

The March West Central Ohio Amateur Radio Association Meeting is scheduled to occur at 7:00 P.M., Monday, 19 March 2012, in the Schuster Conference Room, in the Charles F. Kettering Hospital, Kettering, Ohio. We have no speaker for the meeting.

No WCOARA Meeting was held in February

As previously reported, at the January Meeting, it was suggested by members present at the WCOARA meeting, that we not hold a meeting in February, unless new business that would merit holding a meeting should arise. Consequently, no WCOARA Meeting was held in February. Incidentally, nobody took advantage of the opportunity to take their president out, to a restaurant, to celebrate President’s Day.

WCOARA Repeater Systems Repair and Upgrade Information

Little information, beyond that previously reported, is available concerning the status of our repeater systems. Recently, Shirley N8LX, was in the Columbus area, but she was unable to speak to Lynden, using the repeater, although she was able to hear Lynden, but with a lot of noise. It is not clear whether the problem she was experiencing was due to not being able to key-up the repeater in Columbus, or, if instead, the repeater was not transmitting the signal back to Dayton. In either of these instances there is no reset beep on the Columbus repeater, since it is generated at the hospital in Kettering. To compound the testing problem, at the time, the Dayton repeater was being operated in the bypass mode, because of white noise being received at the transmitter site, over the radio link from the hospital. In the backup mode, the repeater controls in the hospital are bypassed, and, consequently, there is no reset beep on the repeater, either in Dayton or Columbus. With no reset beep, you have to hear the squelch tail when the repeater drops after keying it up, and Shirley was not sure whether she heard the squelch tail. Since the beep is back, Shirley plans to arrange to test the repeater with someone in Columbus, over the next few days. She intends to enter the code to turn the repeater on in Columbus site, and then check if it is working. It is of course possible that the power supply at the Columbus site has failed, in which case she will not be able to turn repeater back on. This is a possibility because we cannot be certain that Shirley was hearing Lynden over the Columbus repeater or directly from Dayton. Hopefully, Shirley’s test will allow us to distinguish between these two possibilities.

Before the 7 March ARES net, Shirley returned the repeater to its normal operating mode, and the noise that had been heard in several earlier attempts to return to the normal mode was gone, and, so far, has not returned. We do not know the origin of this noise, which could have been generated either in the hospital, or by another source on the link frequency. The noise could be heard on both the 1.25 and 2-meter repeater output frequencies, with nothing being received on the receiver input frequencies. It was this fact that caused us to conclude that the noise was being received over the link frequency from the hospital.

In a conversation with Bill on 15 March 2012, it was learned that Bill has replaced an integrated circuit in the Mason 2-meter remote receiver, and he is about to start replacing the driver and final transistors in the 70-cm link transmitter. This is a difficult task because these components are contained within metal shielding.

Upcoming Events

1. Presently we have two WCOARA-sponsored public service events to support this year. A Channel 16's Great TV Auction is scheduled for the week of 23 to 28 April 2012. We will again need help to escort their telephone volunteers to their vehicles. B. The Walk for Women’s Wellness should occur on 6 May 2012, the first Sunday afternoon in May. This event will also need operators to staff it. We have not yet been contacted to support either of these events.

2. 2012 Field Day As previously reported it has been decided that our 2012 Field Day will be planned, organized and run, the same as it was last year. Since no specific person will be designated to lead the event, and members will assume the responsibility for carrying out the necessary organizational tasks, as required, guidance for running field day will be supplied by our members at or before the 18 June 2012 WCOARA Meeting. Pat, N8WAA, agreed to make the arrangements for the Wright State University Picnic Shelter to hold field day.

4. WCOARA Summer Social Gathering At the January WCOARA meeting, it was agreed that we should hold our summer social gathering at the Dayton Mall Golden Corral, on Sunday, 5 August 2012. Jeannette, KD8AFR, volunteered to make the arrangements with the Golden Corral.

Presentations at Upcoming WCOARA Meetings

As previously reported, it was decided at the January WCOARA meeting that we should suspend inviting outside speakers to our meetings until we have sufficient attendance to justify making the invitations.

Brad Templin, W8NCI, has proposed holding one of our meeting at the airport he is associated with. He said that we could look at some of the older aircraft housed there, and, weather permitting, could grille out. What do you think of this idea, possibly for the April meeting, since we have no meeting in May?

Emil Constantine, KC8HYK, is Recuperating

Emil contacted Keith, KB8GYB, on Sunday, 4 March 2012, to update him on Emil’s condition following knee replacement surgery in the middle of the preceding week. Emil said he was in the Sycamore Glen Health Center, for rehabilitation following the surgery. He said that he had experienced unexpected pain following the procedure and, following ultrasound tests, was diagnosed with the complication of blood clots. In a conversation, two days later, Emil said that he was on medications to dissolve the clots, and was about to start the rehabilitation, which is now expected to take longer than normal, due to the complication.

Hospital Volunteer Status for Hams

At the March meeting, the members of the WCOARA need to decide whether they want to accept the Hospital Volunteer Status that Kettering Health Network’s is offering. To qualify for hospital amateur radio volunteer status, our members need to be willing to be vaccinated for Tuberculosis, and to receive hospital volunteer training at one of our meetings. Becoming hospital volunteers would allow the hospital to issue members hospital identification cards, and offers other benefits described in an earlier newsletter. If the members decide to accept the KHN’s offer to be hospital volunteers, then we will try to arrange the training for the 18 June 2012 WCOARA Meeting. The Mound ARA has already had the training and become KHN volunteers.

As the president of the WCOARA, I do not personally see any problem with our members becoming KHN volunteers, however, this is up to the membership to decide. Because many of our members have been unable to attend recent WCOARA meetings, I am asking those of you who are unable to attend the March meeting to contact me at kb8gyb@arrl.net, or by telephone, at (937) 878-5386, to express your views on whether or not we should accept KHN Hospital Volunteer status. If possible, please try to contact me before the March WCOARA meeting, since I would like to hold a vote on this issue, at that time.

Huber Heights Amateur Radio Club (HHARC)

As previously reported, Keith, KB8GYB, sent an E-mail to Vance Mosser, President of the Huber Heights Amateur Radio Club (HHARC), on 27 January 2012, to make them aware that the Kettering Health Network needs their help at its Huber Heights facility. To date, no response to this E-mail has been received.

Response from Montgomery County Emergency Coordinator

Following the issuance of the February WCOARA Newsletter, Keith, KB8GYB, received an E-mail from Rob Flory, KA5RUC, the Montgomery County Emergency Coordinator, on 18 February 2012, entitled “Club Liaison to Montgomery County ARES.” This E-mail and Keith’s response to it, entitled “Information on the WCOARA and response to Club Liaison to Montgomery County ARES,” was E-mailed to all members on 27 February 2012, to keep our members informed.

On 6 March 2012, the following response was received from Rob:

“Thanks for taking the time to respond back in regards to the Club Liaison request. I understand fully your club’s restraints. My goal is to keep an open dialog with all organizations and break down and repair any barriers that may have been raised from previous administrations. With knowing what your mission is, it will allow me to help promote/steer other hams in your direction.

I have a difficult task here within Montgomery County. There are approximately 286 hams that have registered to be an ARES member for Montgomery County since 2000. Little less than 100 have acknowledged my request for updating their information and qualifications. Trying to find out where our areas of weakness are is important. I know of at least one hospital that does not have any amateur radio equipment installed. With any disaster, I’m sure we would have plenty of hams coming out of the woodworks to help out.

Once again Keith, thanks for your input.

The relationship of the WCOARA, and of its individual members, to ARES at the county and district levels is up to the members to decide, so it would probably be appropriate to discuss this relationship at our upcoming meeting.

WCOARA Membership Dues

Our March meeting is the end of the grace period for paying WCOARA dues for the coming year. Dues are $15, for the first member of a family, and $8, for each additional family member, to have full membership, and voting rights. The WCOARA requires a minimum contribution of $10 for associate members. Since dues and contributions are our only source of income, please pay as soon as possible. If you are unable to attend the March meeting, please mail your dues payment to the following address:

West Central Ohio Amateur Radio Association (WCOARA), 3535 Southern Blvd., Kettering, Ohio 45429-1298

An update of WCOARA Membership Information