Blackberry REACT September Newsletter

**Quick Clicks**

Hammacher Schlemmer is a toy company that is offering the "Authentic Radiomann Kit." http://www.hammacher.com/publish/72462.asp# Apparently this is the 70th Anniversary of the introduction of the German Radiomann, and this proud replica uses tubes, dials, and is pictured with a wood cabinet with gold foil lettering that appears to say "Authentic Radiomann." It is a kit and costs $120. Unlike the original, the present-day kit requires 8 AA batteries.

There are a couple of Web sites for consideration in emergency communications for the rest of us: http://www.emcomus.org/commwp.html is the link to the National Emergency Alert Notification System, cleverly acronymed as EMCOM, and http://www.nationalsos.com/ is for the National SOS Radio Network. Both sites promote the use of FRS, GMRS, and ham radio by the average neighbor (assuming appropriate licenses where required) to provide communications in the event of a disaster.

Most NVIS radio communications takes place on HF bands outside the license of Technicians, but Gary Wilson has an article on building and NVIS antenna that also works on 2 meters: http://www.w0ipl.com/ECom/NVIS/K2GW-NVIS.htm It is my understanding that most ARES NVIS comms take place on 75M, and I have links to NVIS Web pages at http://del.icio.us/philip/NVIS

**Events**

San Mateo County is having its annual Emergency Preparation Fair at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds on Saturday, September 30, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Louise and I went last year, and there was a large number of booths where they gave away some nice stuff - grab and go bags, for example. Phil Henderson and Jon Mosby will be representing Blackberry REACT and are looking for additional volunteers.

Louise and I were at Burning Man on either side of Labor Day weekend. We have photographs of Special Event Station N7B from 2005 when I operated on HF with Louise doing logging duties: http://civex.smugmug.com/gallery/1090934 Note the dust. I can't imagine bringing my ham radio and laptop out and leaving them out for that length of time. Oh, well... . We also took photos in 2005 of any interesting antennas we saw: http://civex.smugmug.com/gallery/1088444 There is an incredible amount of radio traffic out there, with FRS almost completely unuseable, people moving to unlicensed use of GMRS, and there is a noon talk net on 2M. One of the trucks we show has WiFi antennas - the DJ operates in the truck, and the sound is transmitted wirelessly to the huge speakers on the playa. We'll be putting radio-related photos up this year as well, so drop by http://civex.smugmug.com/Other and see if we have them up yet.

**HAM CLASS ON OCTOBER 22**

Ross Peterson is offering the next ham class on October 22, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at Washington Hospital West in Fremont; the fee is $30. Takers may now register online at http://www.baears.com (the Bay Area Educational Amateur Radio Society) where you will find more information and a .pdf copy of the flyer.

**NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH**

September is the DHS's National Preparedness Month. Stop by http://www.bloglines.com/blog/CivilizedExplorer for links to ARRL, DHS, and other resources for promoting preparedness and ham radio.

**Updates**

None.