Nets and Repeater

K9ESV repeater

The primary repeater for the operation of our group is the K9ESV repeater located in Woodstock Illinois with operating frequencies 146.835 out, 146.235 in, and with PL of 91.5. With its antenna located on the public services radio tower at the county Government Center, the repeater covers the entire county and well beyond that.

In addition to providing reliable county-wide coverage, the repeater is capable of broadcasting National Weather Service Watches and Warnings as well as paging alert tones. This provides us with an easy way to alert and activate our volunteers as well as keep the general public informed about any potential hazards. Contact W9ZE (w9ze@arrl.net) for more information on the paging tones.

 

Net operations

The official RACES/ARES weekly net is conducted on Monday nights at 20:00 CST. This a formal, directed net conducted by trained net control operators. All check-ins are welcome, as we are always looking to expand our ranks and involve more hams in the county. The purpose of this net is to provide a single point of contact for all trained RACES & ARES operators in McHenry County, to test emergency communications procedures, and to provide information pertinent to the operations of the group. In addition to weekly check in, the net is used to keep our members appraised about upcoming public service events, training, group announcements and other ham radio related events.

Most common emergency net activations in our county are severe weather activations. During these nets, our members create a weather monitoring net across the county to keep an eye on any developing storms and report any hazards. Most of our members are also trained storm spotters and any hazardous weather reports are forwarded directly to National Weather Service.

 

Net Control Stations for 2023/2024 (Revised 01/2023)

Monday Night Net Control Stations

DATE NET CONTROL STATION DATE NET CONTROL STATION
12/19/2022 Dulaney 7/17/2023 Zelz
12/26/2022 No Net 7/24/2023 Zwierzycki
1/2/2023 Lubow 7/31/2023 Dewey
1/9/2023 Zelz 8/7/2023 Dulaney
1/16/2023 Zwierzycki 8/14/2023 Finnegan
1/23/2023 McGrath 8/21/2023 Leracz
1/30/2023 Dewey 8/28/2023 Lubow
2/6/2023 Finnegan 9/4/2023 McGrath
2/13/2023 Leracz 9/11/2023 Wiegel
2/20/2023 Lubow 9/18/2023 Zelz
2/27/2023 McGrath 9/25/2023 Zwierzycki
3/6/2023 Wiegel 10/2/2023 Dewey
3/13/2023 Zelz 10/9/2023 Dulaney
3/20/2023 Dewey 10/16/2023 Finnegan
3/27/2023 Zwierzycki 10/23/2023 Leracz
4/3/2023 Dulaney 10/30/2023 Lubow
4/10/2023 Finnegan 11/6/2023 McGrath
4/17/2023 Leracz 11/13/2023 Wiegel
4/24/2023 Lubow 11/20/2023 Zelz
5/1/2023 McGrath 11/27/2023 Zwierzycki
5/8/2023 Wiegel 12/4/2023 Dewey
5/15/2023 Zelz 12/11/2023 Dulaney
5/22/2023 Leracz 12/18/2023 Finnegan
5/29/2023 No Net 12/25/2023 No Net
6/5/2023 Lubow 1/1/2024 No Net
6/12/2023 Finnegan 1/8/2024 McGrath
6/19/2023 No Net 1/15/2024 Wiegel
6/26/2023 Dewey 1/22/2024 Zelz
7/3/2023 No Net 1/29/2024 Zwierzycki
7/10/2023 Wiegel
Net Control Operators are encouraged to exchange time slots with each other to best fit their schedules

 

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