Horribly Hilly Hundreds 2023

The date has been set for the Horribly Hilly Hundreds for 2023. The bikes will ride on Saturday, June 17, 2023. Tom, W9TDP is already compiling a list of hams who are interested in volunteering for the day. If you can staff a rest stop, drive a SAG Vehicle, staff Net Control, ride “shot-gun” or various other communications tasks we have for the day drop a email to Tom at W9TDP <at> arrl.net.

Winlink Presentation Feb 23, 2023

At our monthly meeting on Feb 23 we revisited Winlink. Jeff, KC9UNZ lead the presentation with help from Tom, W9TDP sending winlink messages from Florida. Please see below for a recording of the presentation, and link to the slide deck and a note about the winlink error we ran into.

From time to time when starting an RF session on winlink, if you get the computer port incorrect (in the case of tonight’s presentation it was a packet Winlink session) the program will hang if it is the incorrect port. Sometimes the session will time out and let you go back to settings and correct your port, but, sometimes it just freezes forever and makes you look stupid during a presentation! I am including a link to a post that shows you how to clear the lock and try again (this time with a different port).

Winlink Presentation Slide Deck

Video of Winlink Presentation

Fixing the Port Freeze

Here is where you can find information about fixing the frozen port: https://jeffrey.fillian.com/2023/03/20/help-my-winlink-packet-session-froze-because-my-port-was-wrong/

2023 Monthly Meeting Schedule

We have a tentative schedule of monthly meeting subjects for 2023. Thanks so much for the ideas that came out of the January meeting. For some we have presenters and others we are looking for expertise to either lead the presentation or add expertise. Let us know at kc9unz@arrl.net if you have some expertise to contribute or ideas for the open evenings. Our meetings usually start at 7:00 PM at Space Place, 2300 Park Street, Madison and we usually offer a hybrid option for unable to come. The Zoom connection information in unique for each meeting and will be emailed to Dane/Iowa county ARES/RACES members about a week before the meeting. If you need the zoom information and do not receive the email please send a request with your Call Sign to kc9unz@arrl.net.

  • Feb 23: Winlink – Jeff
  • Mar 30: Understanding Weather Radar and how it’s used in Skywarn – Chad
  • Apr 27: J-pole Show and tell and Build project
  • May 25: Tabletop Exercise
  • Jun 29: Cross-Banding how and why – Luke
  • Jul 27: Dane County EOC Visit (if it is ready)
  • Aug 31: Station setup for public service and emergency (outside show and tell)
  • Sep 28: Visit a Hospital (the new UW Radio room should be ready?)
  • Oct 26: TBD
  • Nov 30: TBD
  • Dec 28: TBD

Save the Date: SIMCOM 2023

SIMCOM 2023 – May 3-5

The SIMCOM Planning team is working on SIMCOM 2023 activities. Please plan on joining us for a 2 days of field training, in the Wisconsin Emergency Management East Central and West Central regions (exact locations TBD), focusing on communications. Watch for signup in early March 2023.

Results From January 2023 meeting

Dane ARES folk met in a hybrid meeting on January 26 at Space Place and Zoom. The major agenda from the meeting was to find out what members felt should be important about our work this year. We split into groups and discussed and then came back together to share results.

We also requested that each Ham that is interested in public service through ARES/RACES for 2023 send a message to KC9UNZ indicating so. This is a messaging activity as well. You can send your message, preferably using an ICS213 form one of 3 ways.

  • Winlink – to KC9UNZ
  • Voice Message during one of our Wednesday Net Meetings
  • Fill out an ICS 213 and hand it to Jeff at one of our in-person meetings

You can find links to forms below. For further instructions please take a look at the link to the notes from the meeting.

Attached here are the notes from the meeting.

Here is an example of a Confirmation Winlink Message

Here is a link to the official ICS213 form.