GWEN Seminar - Thursday July 22, 2009 v00

Greetings all,

A meeting will be held on Thursday 22nd of July at the Salvation Army building annex at 400 Niagara St. in St. Catharines. Dave Lawrence VA3ORP will be in town to give us a power point presentation on Transmission lines and Antenna theory. The meeting will start at 6pm and probably run til 9pm. At present we have room for about 12 people in the limited space made available. If you are interested in the theory behind transmission lines and antennas please let me know by return email.

David Wilson VE3BBN@gmail.com

 GWEN Exercise - Sunday August 9, 2009 v00

From: david Lawrence
Subject: Warning Order - GWEN 20090809
To: ... various ...
Cc: ... and further ...
Received: Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 5:08 PM

WARNING ORDER - GWEN 20090809

SITUATION. Effective exploitation of Ground-Wave (GW) for ARES work
requires that users become familiar with this mode of propagation and that
they develop confidence in their equipment, procedures and operating
skills. This goal can best be achieved through on-air practice.

MISSION. On Sunday morning, 9 August 2009, ARES GWEN Sections will
conduct long-range ground-wave test.

EXECUTION. This operation will be conducted in two parts. In Part I,
each GWEN Section will operate independently to assess maximum GW range in
their area. Both fixed and deployed stations will be used for this part
and off-grid operations are encouraged. (Note: This may also be an
opportunity to assess VHF performance - both direct and via repeaters.)
In Part II, Control Stations from each Section will meet via NVIS to
assess this propagation mode and to conduct a "hot wash-up" of the
exercise. To date, two Sections have expressed an interest in this
exercise (Niagara GWEN and Frontenac GWEN).

ACTION. Please give this Warning Order wide distribution. ARES Groups
wishing to participate should contact David Lawrence, VA3ORP, Frontenac
ARES Training Officer at "va3orp@kos.net" not later than 26 July to be
added to distribution list for Operations Order. Please acknowledge
receipt of this Order via return email to "va3orp@kos.net".

D. Lawrence, VA3ORP
Trg O, FCARES
07 2048Z Jul 09

Distribution List
Action Info
VE3BBN VE3BDB
VE3SIQ VE3CBK
VA3GST VE3OGA
VE3EZP VE3CLQ

For VE3BBN (Niagara GWEN): Your comments welcome. Op Order will have
details for all Sections that are participating. We need to identify our
data collection requirements (locations, antenna configuration, power,
signal reports, local terrain, etc ?)

For VE3SIQ (Frontenac ARES): Suggest we conduct this exercise in
conjunction with Verona Festival. Saturday can be a "Demonstration Day"
for the public to showcase the amateur radio service generally and ARES in
particular. On Sunday morning we can run this as an HF Ground-Wave and
VHF exercise and then finish up with the NVIS sked. Request your approval
for FCARES participation. Do you have a points-of-contact for other ARES
Groups who might wish to participate?

For VA3GST: Are you available for this exercise? Also, if Warren in
Napanee is available, we could establish a three-station GW net about 40
km on a side and over quite different terrains. For VHF, there is high
ground between you and Verona. It would be useful to know if this blocks
the signal.

D.Lawrence, VA3ORP

 Meeting Notice - Thursday June 25th, 2009 v00

 GWEN Exercises - Sunday May 24, 2009 v02

Greetings All, just a few words to let you know the test of the ARES GWEN was a complete success. The Frontenac GWEN also particpated with two operators on their end. The NCS was John va3gst and Dave va3orp (out station).

Niagara was represented by Peter va3wet (portable out station), Alex ve3als (base out station) and David ve3bbn NCS (base).

Signals from both ends of the lake were Q5 and a good solid copy. Traffic was passed between both ways using the NTS form.

Other amateurs were observing the goings on from Haliburton, Picton and Pickering. They were George ve3siq, Bill ve3clq, Doug ve3zdg, Les ve3ltx and Russ ve3fi. From the interest they showed at the hot washup we may be expanding GWEN even further into Southern Ontario.

We hope to have another test in the near future, and also hope to see GWEN grow in numbers.

Frontenac - Vertical Antenna

Frontenac - Exercise station

Niagara - Main Rig
© Peter Teminski, VA3WET

Niagara - Exercise station
© Peter Teminski, VA3WET

Niagara - Operator's position
© Peter Teminski, VA3WET

Niagara - Antenna sight line
© Peter Teminski, VA3WET

Niagara - Multi-band Butternut
© Peter Teminski, VA3WET

 GWEN Exercises - Sunday May 24, 2009 v01

Ref: Op O GWEN 20090524 (dated 16 1708 Q May 2009)

1. Many thanks for the comments on reference Op Order.

2. For David (VE3BBN), I concur with the suggestion to shift the
operating frequencies away from the vicinity of the OntARS
net. See changes below.

3. For Bill (VE3CLQ), I would be happy to expand this exercise to
include participation from the Haliburton and Prince Edward
County groups, however, I don't want their participation to
upset the timings. Suggest that they monitor our NVIS & GW
activities and then join us for the "hot wash-up". See
changes below. Please pass this into to those Groups.

4. Please amend reference as follows:
- shift frequencies down by 100 kHz
i.e. Frontenac Base/Out-Stn to 3.665 MHz (3.664 cw)
Niagara Base/Out-Stn to 3.670 MHz (3.669 cw)
Frontenac Base/Niagara Base to 3.665 MHz (3.664 cw)

- "hot wash-up" to be on 3.665 MHz and may include representatives
from other ARES Groups that have been monitoring this exercise.

- all other details remain as published in Ref.

5. Suggest that formal message traffic noted in para 3. b. (1) (b) of
Ref be brief and to the point. Following may serve as an example:

Nr. 001   R   VA3ORP   ARL 16     Arden, ON     (time)     24 May
      
 
      
Niagara GWEN
      
in the field
      
 
      
Greetings  from       Frontenac  ARES       X        
 
      
This       message    being      sent       by       
 
      
GW         and        NVIS       X          HF       
 
      
rocks                                                
 
      
                      Dave Lawrence

 GWEN Exercises - Sunday May 24, 2009 v01

Gentlemen;

The following Op Order details my proposal as an "add on" to the
upcoming Frontenac County ARES exercise. Comments welcome. (attachment
is the same as what follows but may survive transmission without as
many formatting changes)

Frontenac GWEN
c/o 1309 Sunbury Rd., R.R. #2
Inverary, ON K0H 1X0

16 1708 Q May 2009

OPERATION ORDER - GWEN 20090524

Time Zone Used Throughout This Order is: QUEBEC (Eastern Daylight Time,
UTC - 4 hrs)

1. SITUATION. To develop confidence in the use of HF for ARES work, it
is necessary to conduct regular exercises in which Near Vertical
Incident Skywave (NVIS) and Ground Wave (GW) modes of propagation
are used. This work can easily be incorporated into regularly
scheduled ARES exercises.

2. MISSION. On Sunday, 24 May 2009, Niagara GWEN and Frontenac GWEN
will use a combination of GW and NVIS to pass formal message
traffic.

3. EXECUTION.

A. General Outline. Each of the Groups (Frontenac GWEN and Niagara
GWEN) will establish a Base Station for both NVIS and GW. In
addition they will each establish one Out-Station with a GW
capability at a distance of 25 to 50 km from their base station.
The objective of this exercise is to relay NTS message traffic
between the two Out-Station. This will be done by first using
GW between the Out-Stations and their Base Stations. Then NVIS
will be used to relay the messages between the two Base Stations.
Finally, the Base Stations will deliver the message to their own
Out-Station via GW.

B. Grouping and Tasks.
1) Frontenac GWEN
a) Grouping: - VA3ORP and VA3GST
b) Tasks
- establish and operate NVIS and GW stations per this
order
- prepare exercise traffic and distribute via email NLT
20 May 09
- review and practice procedures for passing NTS traffic
in voice and CW
- prepare After Action report
2) Niagara GWEN
a) Grouping - VE3BBN and (TBD)
b) Tasks
- establish and operate NVIS and GW stations per this
order
- review and practice procedures for passing NTS traffic
in voice and CW
- submit comments for After Action report
C. Coordinating Instructions..
1) Date - Sunday, 24 May 2009
2) Time
- 1030 - Base Stations establish contact with their Out-
Stations and collect messages
- 1045 - Frontenac Base and Niagara Base establish contact
and pass messages
- 1100 - Base Stations relay messages to their Out-Stations
- 1115 - all stns attempt to meet on 3.765 MHz LSB for
"hot wash-up"
- 1130 - end-ex
3) Mode - LSB voice (primary); CW (alternate)
4) Frequency
- Frontenac Base/Out-Station - LSB - 3.765 MHz; CW 3.764 MHz
(1 kHz lower)
- Niagara Base/Out-Station - LSB - 3.770 MHz; CW 3.669 MHz
(1 kHz lower)
- Frontenac Base/Niagara Base - LSB - 3.765 MHz; CW 3.764 MHz
(1 kHz lower)
(all frequencies are +/- 20 kHz for QRM)
5) NCS
- between Base and Out-Stations, the Base station will act as
Control
- between Frontenac Base and Niagara Base stations, Niagara
will act as Control
6) Callsigns
- individual Industry Canada issued callsigns to be used for
identification
7) Observations
- observations, comments and suggestions to be passed to
"<va3orp@kos.net>" within 24 hrs of end-ex.

4. SERVICE SUPPORT. Nil. Groups and out-stations to use own resources.
Reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses is NOT authorized.

5. COMMAND AND SIGNAL.
David Lawrence, VA3ORP is in command of this exercise. He may be
reached at 613-387-2094 (home); 613-214-1806 (cell) or "<va3orp@kos.net>.
net" (email). He will operate the Frontenac GWEN Out-Station from
Arden, Ontario. 2IC for this exercise will be David Wilson, VE3BBN.
He may be reached at "ve3bbn@yahoo.ca". He will operate the Niagara
Base Station from his home QTH.

(original signed by)

D.G. Lawrence, VA3ORP
NCS, Frontenac GWEN

Action Addressees to acknowledge receipt of this Order via return email
to "va3orp@kos.net"

Distribution List

Action Info
VA3GST VE3SIQ
VE3BBN VE3CLQ VE3CBK