January - February SEPAR Report

Winter happenings

It is time again to look forward to a new year and also to look back at our learnings and successes in 2023.

What a good year 2023 was for renewing our SEPAR program.

Our radio community in both our Club (Surrey Amateur Radio Communications -SARC) and emergency program (Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio -SEPAR) have grown. We have had so many new ideas and opportunities we haven’t been able to get to all of them.

Relationships and Community

Many of the areas of success an outside observer would say have nothing to do with the emergency program. Some of the activities by design are just fun. (Annual Foxhunt, Parks on the Air, Christmas Potluck etc.) However, one of our biggest successes is the growing community of amateur radio operators.

In emergency management it is often said “relationships are key”, “it is not what you know but who you know”. We are seeing that many individuals with diverse backgrounds being willing to help and contribute to SEPAR. This ensures we have a successful core group to work in and on the Emergency Program.

I have heard comments from many of our people about how happy they are to have found our radio group in Surrey. They have found a community.

Regular Meetings

Weekly we meet for Breakfast at a local Denny’s restaurant. Each week there are between 15-20 individuals coming with a core attendance of about 12 every week. After this we move over to the OTC (Operations and Training Center) with many other different individuals coming there. Some weeks we run a class, others we build a project (thanks Dino VE7NX for leading this) while at the same time having some participate in contest using the radio stations.

We are very fortunate to be able to offer licensing classes throughout the year. The students also get a one-year membership in the club to participate in the activities. This helps bring them into our community building relationships, introducing them to the SEPAR program. It also helps them get on the air. We are seeing volunteer numbers in the Emergency Program increasing almost monthly.

At our breakfast often the emergency program is discussed and what we need to work on next is planned. At breakfast about 6 weeks ago we talked about the Radio Room we have at Fire Hall 1 (where the cities EOC is located). Since COVID it has only been active about once per month to test the Inter-Municipal Emergency Radio System (IMERS). This has been led by Ron VE7VTA for the last couple of years. The Winlink Station was very old and some of the radios had been disconnected, with the HF station to have a known issue with the HF antenna.

Another couple of SEPAR members, Ion (VE7NL) and his son Jean Luc (VA7JLU) have also give their time to try and keep our Winlink stations active and support our documentation plans. Ion has spent hundreds of hours working on a documentation manual and with renewed support from others we hope that this can be expanded and completed.

So, a few weeks back a group went over for a visit and things then really began to move along. A list was made, and whirlwind of activity began. It started with checking which radios would work, connecting antennas etc. and trying to rebuild an accurate list of frequencies that would be programmed into all the radios. Horace VA7XHB took the lead on this. (He also is the person who helps program radios with the same list on Saturday mornings for people who come to the OTC). This frequency list is coordinated with surrounding municipalities and has many of the area repeaters and simplex frequencies. Reg VE7ZEB set up a Trello group to communicate tasks and their status.

He recently sent out a couple of email detailing the work by so many individuals and has given me permission to share (edited versions) as part of the report:

Fire Hall 1 Radio Room

Email #1:

Everyone,

I'm sending this email out after having a chat with Gord at the SARC meeting tonight.  The topic is the SEPAR radio room at Firehall 1 which has fallen into a state where it could use some attention.  The immediate goal is to get everything in that room working.

Gord, as discussed, I've sent this to the people I thought appropriate, but if others should be included, please reply to all and add them to the list.

Computer

Status:

The new video cable was deployed, and the computer now boots, and one can log in correctly.

Radios

Status:

· Radio 1: Powers on, no tail on the repeater, no response to radio checks.  Unknown if this is functional.

· Radio 2: Does not power on.

· Radio 3: Powers on but is not set up for regular repeaters.  Marked digital.

· Radio 4: Working and tested.

· HF Radio: not tested but it does power up.

Tasks:

1. We need to get all five radios working.

Misc

Erika fixed the clocks.  She put a new battery in each and correctly set the UTC and Local times.

This is an amazing radio room, and we are lucky to have it.  Horace is already working on programming the Icoms.  If anyone else wants to play a more active role in getting this facility more functional, please let Gord know and/or reply to all in this email.

Several of us (Gord, Erika, and myself for now) are tentatively planning to visit Firehall 1 after breakfast every Saturday for the foreseeable future.  Everyone is welcome to join us and I would be happy if you do.  This should happen at approximately 9:30 a.m. and the goal of these informal meetings will be to do small tasks right then and there, and to set out a handful of tasks for the coming week.  If a few people give the room half an hour now and then, this will become one of the best radio rooms in the city.

If you can, make it on Saturday after breakfast, that's great and I look forward to seeing you there.  If not, expect another email after Saturday, at which point I should have more detail on exactly what needs to be done to get the radios working.

Best,

Reg VA7ZEB

 

Email #2

Everyone,

It's hard to believe my first email to the group was only 2 and a half weeks ago.  Much has been done.  Trello is our place to participate in the ongoing discussion on this, but I'm sending out this email update as I know some of you aren't following the Trello yet.

I got the Windows 11 computer working and on the Internet.  Feel free to use it as needed for SEPAR matters.

 

Horace got all the Icom 2820 radios programmed.  We called out on every single repeater and asked for signal reports.  Every repeater that didn't at least trigger was dumped from the list, as there's no reason to have repeaters programmed in that you can't reach.  Some repeaters had users report that we were unreadable, and those repeaters were dumped, too.  At some point I would like to get a mobile radio programmed in with all those frequencies and take it out of the firehall to test if we are getting a clean signal in.  Again, there's no point in having repeaters programmed which we can't communicate on.

Manvir (VA7BKI) installed the shelf and cleaned up the HT situation totally.  He really did a clean job of it, and it looks great.  At some point, we need to figure out what we're doing with all those HTs, but that can wait for now. Erika (VA7ISI) got the whiteboard looking new and we put up a little shelf for the markers, eraser and fluid.

Mike (VE7YEG) bought RT Systems for us at his own expense and is working on installing that and testing the antennas on each radio.   He's also working with Rob (VE7CZV) to install software for the visually impaired, which I think is amazing.

I will leave the remaining to-do list on Trello, but I just wanted to acknowledge the great work people have done so far.  The radio room is already usable in emergencies, which is a great accomplishment.

Best,

Reg VA7ZEB

 

Email #3

Everyone,

We had another great meeting at Hall 1 today. Erika (VA7ISI) and Adrian (VE7YEP) are heroes for doing a serious cleaning.  There was a thick layer of dust on the top of the cabinets. It's gone. You can run your finger on the top of the cabinets now and it will come back clean.  Every surface has been dusted and then wiped down with water and cleaner. They also spent a ton of time piling up candidates for storage/recycling which were taken to the OTC today.  The room is spotless now, and no longer looks like a storage room.  I might note that Erika has more energy than Adrian and I have combined.

Even the (previously) totally disgusting air vent has been cleaned and looks great now.

Jaspal's (VE7JB) donation of an air purifier should help to keep things cleaner in the future.

Jeannie (VA7QLT) and Erika also spent a lot of time pruning some of the papers for either retention, review, or disposal.

Rob has tested his braille reader and that's working perfectly.  Mike was invaluable in setting that up, too.  I think it's amazing that we have an emergency radio room that is accessible to the visually impaired.

The Winlink station on the Toughbook has been taken down and Station A is now fully open for general use.  All the junk equipment above the cupboards has been taken down and either moved to the OTC for storage or has been placed somewhere accessible.

Erika really wants an electronic sign on the door.  Doug (VA7JDJ) has agreed to investigate that and possibly take on the project if his investigation deems it feasible.  Both Mike and Erika have ideas on the sign so I would suggest you communicate with them before starting anything, Doug. 

Gord and Stan are going to try to get the HF radio functional.  That's the last non-functional radio in the room and I would absolutely love to get it functional so I hope this can become a priority. Gentlemen, I'm happy to help where I can, and I'd like to join you for the trip to the roof if possible as I have never been up there.  When we're up there, I'd really like to document which VHF antennas belong to which radio.

Mike has done his Nano VNA testing. Mike’s exact data will be up on our Trello shortly so if anyone sees any points of concern there, please let the group know.

Very importantly, after today, the vibe in the radio room has totally changed from being a storage room a couple of months ago to being a vibrant, active radio room in which everything (except the HF rig which we're working on) is fully functional and where a radio operator could work for many hours comfortably.

I doubt there will be another update until next year.  I also don't expect any more Saturday meetings at Hall 1 until next year.  Thank you all so much for the work you've put in.   This is now one of the best radio rooms in the city.  Next year, we'll update our procedures for the rooms use, so keep ideas on that flowing.  Merry Christmas if I don't see you before then.

Best,

Reg VA7ZEB

 

We will continue to keep you updated on the work done as there is still much work to be done.

Over the past year there have been so many other things done by many not mentioned in this Hall 1 review. Steve (VE7SXM - President of SARC) and John (VA7XB SARC Vice President) both spent hours working on updating the SEPAR Trailer. John also one through each of the grab and go kits to ensure they were complete and note any deficiencies requiring repair.

John VE7TI and Stan VE7NF both spent countless hours teaching the radio licensing course and subsequent workshops to assist students get licensed.

Larry VE7LXB has been tireless in supporting the newly licensed with the Get on the Air (GOTA) Net and fielding so many questions from the newly licensed and asking for further help from the “Elmers” group when needed.

In the background we have Jeremy VE7TMY our Secretary who does such a great job with the paperwork and website maintenance, and Scott VE7HA our treasurer who so carefully looks after finances.

Lastly there are too many to call out regarding the OTC. We have help cleaning leaves off the roof, cleaning bathrooms, maintaining radio stations and antennas and so many little items.

As I started describing earlier it is the relationship and the community with regular meetings that have given the support for the SEPAR program to ensure a healthy vibrant volunteer program for the city.

I look forward to sharing what we will do in 2024.

I wish everyone a very Happy New Year.

~ Gord Kirk VA7GK
SEPAR Coordinator