Who or what is ARES / RACES? We see this mentioned in the lexicon of Amateur Radio often, especially in circles of conversation related to community service, and emergency communications and preparedness.

• ARES – Amateur Radio Emergency Service
• RACES – Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service

I am not going to get into the history of the 2 organizations here. If you wish to dip your toe into that murky pond, then Google is as good a starting point as any. It is only relevant to us members of GVARC that in Santa Clara County, ARES/RACES are for all intent and purpose, the same, and use the same operating rules, with the addition of ACS or California Auxiliary Communications Service thrown in for good measure. This significantly reduces bureaucracy and management overhead for the agencies served. One leadership team to rule them all. But in a nutshell, ARES/RACES is the framework under which amateur radio operators train, drill, prepare, and ultimately deploy, in the event of an emergency, or even to support local events. ARES/RACES employs the same ICS (Incident Command System) principles that professional responders and governments use to manage crisis or events.

The Santa Clara County ARES/RACES website can be found here: https://www.scc-ares-races.org

You should take a moment and visit the site, and if you do not have an account, take a moment to create one. Only takes a couple minutes, and it is free.

Once you have your account set up, a great place to start would be Training! Follow the links to the training and events opportunities, such as the annual 2025 Tierra Bella Bicycle Tour, that is held right here in South County each Spring.

Other great options in the training section of the site are:

• Introduction to Emergency Communications
• Fundamentals of Emergency Communications

Take a few moments and familiarize yourselves with the site. Ask questions at the Tuesday net, or at our monthly breakfast.

This is an All-Call to GVARC members to participate in the 2025 Tierra Bella Bike Tour. This even takes place each year around this time and covers the greater Morgan Hill / Gilroy area, right in our own back yard! This is a great way to come and participate with other club members and to use our skills as amateur radio operators to provide support as upwards of 1,000 riders ride routes from Bailey Ave, to Gilroy Hot Springs, Henry Coe State Park, and Redwood Retreat to fit in the various routes of 25, 50, 75, and 100 miles.

We that live here, know that there are many areas along these routes have little to no cellular coverage and that is where amateur radio shines!

There are several types of communicators needed for this event. Some of us will be hosting a rest stop location all day. Others may only come and be a radio operator for a few hours. Others will assist tracking SAG (Supply and Gear) vehicles, etc.

For details about Tierra Bella you can go here: https://tierrabella.org/

Volunteer sign-ups for the radio operations can be found on the Santa Clara ARES/RACES web site on the activities calendar. Click on the link to the activities calendar and sign in. Don’t have a sign in? Create one! It only takes a moment. Then scroll to the 2025 Tierra Bella Bicycle Tour (or click on the link). Then choose one of the available positions that you would like to try. Clicking on each of the available positions provides a details description of each.

You should sign up by the end of the week of April 21st as you may miss important information after as they will make assignments and issue ICS-205 communication plans, etc.

Let’s do this, GVARC!

The GVARC team is on duty at the amazing annual Gilroy Rodeo! Club volunteers are providing communications and emergency management support. Members of the club, lead by Sam, AI6OG, are ensuring communications systems run smoothly for a fun, safe, event for all event attendees and volunteers.

Pictured here are Ray – N6DZK and Sam – AI6OG. Also with us is Billy – W6WKB.

The Modified Mercalli Scale is used as a way to cross reference an earthquakes Richter Scale reading with the perceived impact as reported by the people in the area of the earthquake. Like the Richter scale of 1 thru 10, the Modified Mercalli Scale also has 10 steps.

We use the phonetic “M” or “Mike” to reference the corresponding response. “Modified Mercalli” thus becomes “Mike Mike” for clarity and brevity. For example, when asked for “Mike Mike reports” you may respond with “Mike Mike 4” using the scale below.

Quickly collecting Mike Mike reports over the area hit by a large quake can inform as to where the most severe impact is in a particular area so that resources may be allocated accordingly and proportionately.

You can find more information and even download a printable wallet size card from the Santa Clara County ARES/RACES web site, here.

Or, you can download our “Earthquake Quick Action Card” to see what to do when the ground stops shaking!

In addition to our new monthly simplex net, we are also now switching things up between the W6GGF UHF and VHF repeaters to keep things switched up and make sure we all know how to operate our equipment. Which repeater will be used during the weekly net may be determined by looking at the “Weekly Repeater Schedule” file on the http://www.gvarc.net/nets/ web page.

This past month we conducted our first simplex net. Going forward we will conduct simplex nets on the last Tuesday of the month at the regular 1930 hours net. A new script for this net has been created and sent out to current net controls.

To participate in these new simplex nets, all you have to do is transmit in simplex mode on the output frequency of the repeater at 147.825Mhz. There is no offset as this will be a simplex configuration. However, you will still want a PL tone of 100Mhz. You can add this new channel to your radio and just call it s-ggf-v or something along those lines so you will know it is the simplex version of the repeater.

Or… You can just download the current channel list that we have already already put together for you and load that into your radio. Then you only have to switch from channel 1, to channel 2. Done!

We’re back! GVARC and SBCARA will be at Christmas Hill Park this Saturday starting at 8 AM. We will be running fairly profile. We will be setting up near the barn this year. Things will be relatively relaxed. No ginormous towers. Most, if not all of us, will be using Wolf River Coils verticals. We are expecting to run 5A I think as of right now. Everyone on battery, solar, or generator.

Feel free to swing by and say hi. Due to Covid safety, ad hoc access to radios will be limited, and at the discretion of the station hosts. But we would love for you to swing by in person, and have a chat as it has been a long year apart.

Please bring a mask, especially if you are not vaccinated. And it is anticipated to be a warm day. Be sure you have adequate sun protection and hydration.

GVARC took the opportunity to move club communications and calendaring to groups.io. We have actually been there pretty much for the duration of the Covid lock downs. Emails were sent inviting the known roster emails on at least 2 or more occasions. Email is sent from groups.io each month with the Zoom links for the monthly meeting.

If you have still not joined the group, you can go to groups.io, create an account, and then search for the W6GGF group and ask to join. Or you can also find me on the repeater, or use your old copy of the roster to send me an email so we can send another invite.

Hope to see you at the next monthly Zoom!

Field Day 2019 is quickly approaching. June 22-23 at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy, where we have been for FD for past several years. We plan to operate for the 1 day, Saturday, with 4 stations, plus GOTA (Get On The Air). We are still in the planning phase and there will be a meeting the evening of May 9th at the home of W6BWJ. Please contact him directly for details.