Help needed for the inaugural McHenry County Century Bike Run on Sunday, May 30.

The run starts in Lake in the Hills and proceeds to Union Illinois. Riders then have a choice of 4 loops.

The ride starts at 6:30 AM, and stops by 3:00 PM.

Hams supply rider and logistics support, called SAG (Support and Gear), consisting of riding the routes, assisting riders and notifying the event coordinators of any problems.

The bike club will reimburse for mileage. Ham friendly maps and a reference sheet provided.

Even if you can only spare a few hours, your help is needed and appreciated! Please pass this on to those who might be interested.

New HAM Welcome. Come out and join Wendel N9REP and the group This is a great way to “Play Radio”!

https://raceroster.com/events/2021/40411/mchenry-county-century-ride

Please contact Wendell Smith (N9REP) with any questions or comments at wjsmith@ameritech.net.

To participate please sign up at the following links:  https://www.weather.gov/lot/spotter_talk

On Monday, February 8, 2021, at 7 PM the DuPage ARES Regular Team Meeting (via Zoom) will feature a special presentation on a developing relationship and mission for amateur emergency communications.Tom Beebe, W9RY, will be presenting on “Did You Feel It?” . . . a program from the US Geological Survey which is in turn developing a relationship with the radio amateur community to create relationships to gather information in the event of an earthquake. Those of you who have seen Thom’s presentation at WCRA Hamfest can attest to the worth of this presentation. Anybody is welcome to join the meeting, whether your are an ARES member or not. Even if your situation and time limits your emcomm activities at present, the knowledge Thom will present will be very good to have “in your hip pocket,” so to speak. Some of you may ask . . . earthquakes? This isn’t Southern California, and the New Madrid and Wabash faults are way down south. I hate to disillusion you, but peculiarities of Illinois geology mean that any tremors will be carried stronger and further by MANY orders of magnitude here. Also, please think how much critical infrastructure – roads, railroads, pipelines, power grid . . . just for starters cross the Mississippi or Wabash or Ohio along our borders. Thom will explain, and will tell you how amateurs are uniquely able to help. It is not just about the earthquake threat but how our operational capabilities can be put to use. This presentation is definitely worth your time. So please join us on February 8.The Zoom info for this what I call the “Elmer” zoom channel, not our regular DuPage ARES meeting place.

https://zoom.us/j/666446520…

Meeting ID: 666 446 520
Password: 545871

Thank you,

David Harr K9GSW (ex-KF9IO — I took my 1957 call back)

DuPage County ARES Emergency Coordinator

I am sad to report that former RACES and ARES member and Scouting advocate Steve James (KA9NPT) passed away on January 23rd after battling cancer and other serious health conditions. Steve spent his last days at a palliative care center in Belvidere where his attitude throughout was one of positivity.

Because of the pandemic, the family said there will be no funeral service.  Steve was 74. 

From the IL ARES DEC/EC Meeting – Center testing on the 15^th of each month at 1900 hours Illinois time for two hours The months and days are indicated below for 2021. Each year the 15^th will remain the same but day of week will obviously change.

January (Friday)  -Winlink message (HF radio to inside-Illinois gateway to another operator Call Sign)

February (Monday) – Wellness net on 3.905 LSB/Echolink WB0VTM-L/Illinois Link TG

March (Monday )- Winlink messages P2P HF (3.570 USB)

April (Thursday) – HF Simplex test on 146.52000 FM or 144.20000 USB

May (Saturday) – VHF Simplex message across State of Illinois at several locations (South to North, West to East)

June (Tuesday) – Winlink message (HF radio to out-of-State gateway (internet) to Email address)

July (Thursday) – Winlink message (HF radio to out-of-State gateway (internet) to another operator Call Sign)

August (Sunday) – HF 60 meter test (Channel 1 5330.5 Dial USB)

September (Wednesday) – 6 meter test (50.12500 USB) or

October (Friday)  – Family Radio Service test (Channel 1, 0 no encode/decode)

November (Monday) – CW test (3.522 Mhz  < 5 WPM straight key or two wires)

December (Wednesday) – Winlink P2P test (FM 145.61000) or HF

DuPage has announced that the 2021 Advanced Severe Weather Seminar will not be held next year. Since DuPage needed to start planning for it now and the odds are low that large gatherings will be allowed in March, they decided to not hold the even this year.

At this point, we would expect the same to happen with NWS spotter trainings in Q1-2021 that McHenry County EMA sponsors . NWS already has run this same training virtual online and we expect to see same for next year.

On November 24, 2020  the RMS gateway site has been updated to allow Digi directly through the TNC.

We will now beacon: IDEN Woodstock IL EN52si K9ESV-10 Digi DESV Node NESV BBS PESV McHenry County IL www.McRACES.Org

McHenry County Winlink-RMS packet gateway on 145.610 Simplex No PL.  More information on the Winlink system can be found at the link for the Live System Information. Stations, status and frequency information are all at this link.  https://winlink.org/RMSChannels.