ShakeOut 2022 is on October 20th, 10:20 A.M.

Thursday, October 20th, is the Great California ShakeOut, and ACS will conduct an exercise that you can do from home or work.  We will have a voice check-in on ACS channel 9 (145.200 – PL 127.3) and Winlink check-ins using the USGS form.

The time of the mock earthquake is 10:20 A.M.  Please check in by voice 10:20 and 10:45 A.M. using your member number and FCC call sign.   If you have only a handheld radio, look for a high, clear spot to operate from.  An external antenna will generally provide better results than will a stock handheld-mounted antenna

If you have Winlink capability, please also send a Winlink DYFI form using the built-in template to DYFI@vccomm.org after 10:30 A.M.  Please include your location’s latitude and longitude (decimal degrees with the longitude being a negative number) on your Winlink check-in form, as we will be mapping the results.   If you are unsuccessful, wait a few minutes and try again. 

Link to our exercise plan.

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California ShakeOut Exercise Set For October 23

Exercise plan and timeline:

  • Exercise has a digital element consisting of Winlink messages (DYFI and Welfare via VHF and HF, and a phone element using VHF simplex
  • Date: Saturday Oct 23rd
  • Simulated Quake timeline 9:15am approx.
    • Winlink activity 9:15 to 10 am, VHF/HF as you are able
      • Check your house as you would if there had been a real quake.
      • Send DYFI message to USGS, CC to dyfi@vccomm.org
      • In the Optional Exercise Field of the DYFI form, please enter” SOCAL ARES Shakeout 2021.”
      • Send a welfare message to your out-of-town friends and family.  Members are encouraged to send messages for their neighbors.
    • Phone Simplex VHF check-in 10 to 11am, using 145.615 MHz, VC ACS/ARES Channel 19
      • Rob, W6RH, will go up to Rasnow and call for check ins.  This is a good opportunity to see who you can hear across the county.
  • Email updates via CVARC main group

ACS Members Invited to Learn Winlink

ARES LAX NW District, LA EmComm group and WaveTalkers are running another round of their Winlink Basics for EmComm course every Friday and Sunday at 2pm PST for the next few weeks.  The Friday and Sunday sessions are repeats of the same material so feel free to join either session live, link below, or catch the recordings on WaveTalkers. http://wavetalkers.com

Session 1: Winlink Basics, was last week, and the recordings for those sessions can be accessed here: https://courses.wavetalkers.com/courses/winlink/lectures/16789262 . 

Session 2: Getting on The Air With Winlink Over Telnet, starts today at 2pm PST and will be repeated live on Sunday at 2pm PST.   All course sessions are being live streamed at my WaveTalkers site: http://wavetalkers.com and links to the Live Zoom sessions, previous course sessions, and show notes are available by joining the class.

The course being conducted live via Zoom and all Zoom sessions are limited to 100 participants.

ARES and ACS members are welcome to join the LIVE Zoom session at:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9905081876?pwd=UDhpenoxeXkzZXpMYTJXK2NNRGpsZz09

New Ventura ACS/ARES Check-In Template for Winlink

There is a new custom Winlink template to be used for weekly ACS/ARES check-ins. When checking in, send your Winlink Message to: winlink@vccomm.org. It will be automatically processed and if everything looks good, you should receive an email confirmation to your Winlink address within 10 minutes.

You can download the template via This Link

Once unzipped, place all three template files (not the “Instructions” directory or this file) in your “RMS Express\Global Folders\Templates\” directory and you will see the new template under the the “Global” list.

Restart Winlink and you should be set. If you have questions, feel free to contact Stu Sheldon-AG6AG at stu@ag6ag.org.