May 2009 - SM Charles McConnell, W6DPD- ASMs K6YK and N2NS, ACC W6DPD, SEC N6ZFN, OOC N1VM, STM K6RAU, PIC Vacant, TC W6TE.

Greetings from the ARRL San Joaquin Valley Section.

If you desire your club information and events to be listed in Section News, please send the information to w6dpd@arrl.org.  I get very little information.  If your club has a newsletter, please send it to me, email to w6dpd@arrl.org or via U.S Mail.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!  ARRL Field Day is June 27-28, 2009.  September is NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS Month.  The California QSO Party (CQP) is October 3-4, 2009.  Put your county on the air and have fun.  The 66th Fresno Hamfest is October 17, 2009.  (NOTE THE DATE CHANGE.)  The New York State QSO Party is October 17, 2009 for 12 hours.  International DX Convention is April 16-18, 2010 at Visalia CA.

When your affiliated club elects officers for the next year, be sure to update your club’s information on the affiliated club area of the ARRL web page so you club will get any information sent from the ARRL Club department or from the Division Director.  If you fail to update your clubs information for 2 years, your club will be placed in the inactive file.  Your club will be notified if the 2-year period is about to take place. ARRL HQ and the Director use this information on these reports to send information to your club. If the information is not up to date, your club will miss out.

Need to take an Amateur exam? Check the ARRL web page, for exam information.  You can also search for Amateur Radio Classes in your area.

Card Checking in the Section.  You can get cards checked for awards within the section. W6XK, K6ZZ, and W6DPD can check your cards for DXCC in accordance with the rules for field checking.  DXCC card checkers may now check cards dated from Nov. 15, 1945, but no 160-meter cards or cards for deleted entities.  DXCC card checkers may, at their discretion, check cards for WAS, WAC, and VUCC.  W6DPD and K6ZZ can check cards for the CQ Awards, WAZ, DX, Field, and Prefixes.  ARRL Special Service Clubs may appoint a HF awards manager for WAS and a VHF Awards Manager for VUCC.

The Northern California Net (NCN), the Section Traffic Net, meets nightly on 3.533 MHZ at 7 PM Pacific Time.  The slow speed training session of the net meets nightly on 3.533 MHZ at 9 PM Pacific Time.  Handling traffic on CW is a good way to improve your CW skills.  The Daytime Region 6 Traffic Net meets daily at 3:30 pacific time on or near 7.275 MHZ.  The California Traffic Net meets daily on 3.906 MHZ and 6:30 PM local time. The noon time net meets on 7.268.5 MHz.  This net handles a lot of messages. The Golden Bear Amateur Radio Net meets nightly at 7:00 PM local time on 3.975 MHZ. The Mission Trail Net meets nightly on 3.856 MHZ at 8:00 PM local time.

KC6UFL, JoAnn, WB6YDO, John, and N6REV, Mel, are Silent Keys.  They will be missed.

The K6VIS D Star System is located on Blue Ridge at 5,825 feet.  Frequencies are VHF DSTAR Digital Voice 145.450 -, UHF DSTAR Digital Voice 440.050 +, UHF DSTAR Digital Voice 1286.325 -, and UHF DSTAR Digital Data 1255.00 SS.

The W6HHD D Star System operates on 145.13 – and 444.8 + from Mt. Bullion.

September is National Preparedness Month (NPM) and 436 organizations have already registered as Coalition Members! If you have not yet signed up to be a 2009 Coalition Member, visit http://ready.adcouncil.org/ to register. Becoming a Coalition Member means you pledge to promote emergency preparedness during the month of September.  This can be done either by providing information, hosting events and/or sponsoring activities for your customers, members, employees, stakeholders, and communities. Please remember, even if you were a Coalition Member last year, you still need to re-register this year if you intend to participate.

National Preparedness Month Coalition membership is open to all public and private sector organizations for free. Once you register you will receive access to the NPM Web site where you can find a toolkit full of templates, resources, and tips to assist you with promoting emergency preparedness.

Top SJV Section scores in the 2008 ARRL Phone Sweepstakes were 1st WC6H 2nd K6SV, and third N6EE.

Top SJV Section Scores in the 2008 ARRL 160 Meter contest were 1st WC6H, 2nd WS6X, and third K6VOA.

SJV Section Amateurs provided communications support for the March of Dimes 2009 March for Babies.

Kern County Central Valley ARC 2009 officers are pres WI6J, 1st VP K6JLL, 2nd VP N6GOD, sec KD6UQZ and treas KF6YUM.

The Stockton-Delta ARC provided communications support for the Stockton Bike Club’s Delta Century Ride and for the March of Dimes Walkathon, “March for Babies”. 

Congratulations go to AE6QR, AF6CY, WD6GBS, W6TTF, KI6NHT and KG6SYA on successfully completing the ARECC Level One class held in Fresno.

Congratulations to N6EE for scoring 253 and to WA6JRZ for scoring 229 in the 2008 CQ DX Marathon.

Congratulations to W6KAS on winning a prize in the CQ Magazine Golden Giveaway Sweepstakes.