March, April, and May is a great time to spend out of doors in Southern California.  The weather is usually beautiful this time of  year.  Plenty of sunshine, comfortable temperatures, the trees are budding out, and the flowers are in bloom.  This is also the time of year when most civic organizations hold their out door activities.
Many of these organizations ask us (CVARC) to provide them with radio communications support to help them in setting up and coordinating their activity.  Over the years we have established an excellent reputation in providing them with the communications support that they need. It is through these public service activities that CVARC becomes know and appreciated though out the community.
Participating in these activities is a lot of fun. As a participant we have time to enjoy the activity in the same manner as the general public attending the event.  However, we also have the opportunity to participate in the behind the scenes activities, which doubles the fun.
Listed below are the events that we have been asked to participate in.  The list includes all of the events that I know of for the year.  As you can see, most of the events do occur in the spring.  Dates for some of the events are tentative.  There may also be other events that come up that we are not currently aware of.  I will update this chart in coming newsletters so that you will be aware of what events are occurring and when they are scheduled.  To participate in one of these activities, all that you need to do is to contact our CVARC Operations Director, Greg Lane K7SDW.  Greg will give you all the details for the event.   

I hope that you will have an opportunity to participate in some of these activities.  They are a lot of fun.
73  Ken

Date                Event                                     Comments

March 10    Cal Lutheran MS Walk    Sunday 12:30 to 4:00 PM at Cal Lutheran
March 17    Westlake Street Fair      6:30 to 10:00 AM setup, the event runs to 4:00PM
March 22    Santa Paula Drill          8:00 to 12:30 Fire, Police, & School emergency drill
April 6       Simi Valley MS Walk
April 6       Ventura City MS Walk
April 6       County Earthquake         County Earthquake Awareness Week kickoff
April 13     Simi Valley CPC Walk
May 11       Crusin' Conejo              Crusin' Conejo bike race
May 18       Sea To Summit               Sea To Summit bike race
June 22/23 Field Day                     CVARC Field Day activities
July 3        Moorpark Fireworks
Sept.          County Days Parade       Moorpark County Days Parade, in the morning
Oct.           SET                            Simulated Emergency Test
Nov           State Hospital Drill       Ventura County's participation in the drill
Dec. 14       Camarillo Parade           Camarillo Christmas Parade

Sunday March 17 8:30 am at the East Valley Sheriff's Station,  2101 E. Olsen Rd., Thousand Oaks CA 91360

Testing will be for all license classes including the Morse Code element.

ARRL Exam Fee: $10 (check preferred, made out to ARRL VEC)

Candidates are to bring a form of government-issued photo ID.
Candidates for license upgrades must bring a non-returnable copy of their current license and the original FCC issued license.
Walk-in candidates are acceptable, it is not necessary to call and reserve a place.

He will be demonstrating the latest LeCroy 500MHz real time digital scope (prices range from $15,000 to $80,000 for these babies), its care and feeding, and how to use a 'scope in Ham radio, revealing its mysteries with easy to understand examples.  Ron holds a BSEE from Michigan State and an Extra Class ham license, and has been working in the fields of test and measurement for 30 years.  Please invite your friends, ham and non-ham, and join us for a very informative evening.

7:00 PM - 7:30 PM  VOICE 147.93-  pl 127.3 WB6WEY AREA 1
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM  VOICE 147.15+  pl 127.3 WB6ZTQ AREA 3
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM  VOICE 146.97-   pl 127.3 WB6YQN AREA 4
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM  VOICE 145.40-    no pl     N6FL        AREA 5
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM  VOICE 147.975- pl 127.3 N6AHI     AREA  6
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM  VOICE 146.985- pl 127.3 WB6ZTX AREA 7
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM  VOICE   145.28-   pl 100    WB2WIK AREA 8

Don't let the months slip by before Field Day 2002 is upon us.  This topic was discussed at the CVARC Board meeting.  We have a variety of options from which to launch FD 2002.  One option would be to set up in a park, if we can get permission.  The other is to team up with another group.  A third option is to head up to Ventu as last year.  FD is more in the learning and sharing of the emergency preparedness than scoring in the top 15, so give it some thought as how you can give back to the hobby and enjoy doing it.

If any of you are willing to pick a band of operation and lead that band as a Team Captain, then let me know.  We have a variety of members to choose from.  An early start of organization of the bands makes it a whole lot easier to plan a site and the allocations of operators.  Please let me know early what band and mode you would like to chair.  The modes are code, digital, and phone.

Also, if you are willing to serve on the FD Chairmanship committee, also let me know, as there are several "small" tasks, which need to be accomplished between now, and the event.

More on this next month.

73 de Greg, K7SDW, FD 2002 Chairman.

This month Area 2 went to Simi Valley EOC to check out and learn a bit about the operating procedures. Those who attended were Paula, KG6FUM, Mike, KD6IJF, Jonathan, KC6QOQ, and myself.  Lesson learned from attending their site, Bill, KDUQB, was that a toolbox for general repair should be located in the shack.  Area 2 will have to work on that one (Screw drivers, solder, solder iron, general purpose wire, etc.)  Their packet station was not transmitting (Thanks Jonathan for your observation) due to ground wire working itself loose from the mike connector.

I hope that for each of the alternating months for Hospital and EOC equipment check out that our members can schedule their time to visit our liaison areas (Moorpark, Camarrillo, and Oxnard).  It would be a good idea to get inputs from each of the operators what have been their issue each has had to resolve or other equipment issues that might require attention.  Thanks to Larry, Area 3 EOC, for providing the Los Robles Hospital with a printer to attach to our laptop computer.

Keep those batteries charged. 

73 de Greg