Ralph

Ralph Sea Biscuit Keusink was born May 31, 1997 and died of multiple problems with old age on June 6, 2010.

He attended every PBARC Annual Meeting from age 3 months to last fall. Hams stopped to pet him and little old ladies offered their cheeks for a kiss as he grinned out the back window of his Blazer. He could count to five and knew that five dog biscuits was more than two dog biscuits.

Ralph loved all people and was good with babies, cats and squirrels. He is missed.
- Polly Keusink (N7SJH)

PBARC Members Assist in Traffic Accident Response

On Sunday evening, November 15th, Mei Tang (KE7YUH), travelling along HWY 101, came upon the scene of a single-car accident at the Rainbow Rock weigh station. Unable to get a reliable signal with her mobile phone, Mei used her HT to call a "mayday" on the club repeater and was answered by Karen Carr (KE7KAP). The information was relayed to the 911 operator, and emergency personnel arrived shortly thereafter. Luckily, the accident was not serious. Good work Mei and Karen!
- Don Carr (KE7LBI)

2010 Officers Elected

Election of 2010 officers was held at the 2009 annual picnic and meeting at Loeb State Park.
- Don Carr (KE7LBI)

At Last! PBARC Repeaters Listed In New Directory

After more than three years of efforts by Pelican Bay Amateur Radio Club (PBARC) officers, the group’s two 2-meter repeaters are listed in the new ARRL (American Radio Relay League) Directory. Listings for the directory must be
submitted by a coordinating agency, in this case the ORRC (Oregon Region Relay Council.) In January the ORRC notified PBARC president Bob Wilkinson (W7VN) that both repeaters, on 146.960 and 146.840MHz, were “coordinated”.
The ARRL Repeater Directory was released in early April and the listings were printed in it.

Many Ham radio operators use the directory, particularly when traveling, because it lists the frequencies of 2-meter repeaters throughout the United States. It is useful and sometimes critical that mobile stations can make contact when accidents occur, or just to get information or help from local people about the area.

Soon after coordination PBARC received a request from William Sawders
(K7ZM) in La Pine, OR, to use the 146.960 frequency. No objection was made
by the club. The repeater is on Finley Butte at 4,748 feet and trials have caused
no interference here.
- Polly Keusink (N7SJH) Sparks Editor

Curry ARES/RACES Pactor III Station Goes To Work!

Working with our Curry County Emergency Coordinator Albert Harrell, our ARES AEC Phil Barker KB6NZV accomplished a "second first" today, as follows.

Curry County emergency telephone and cell phone service was substantially disrupted due to a motor vehicle accident in Coos County. Phil, who works across the street from our EOC, went over and got an appropriate message from Albert advising OEM of the problem. He successfully transmitted it to OEM via W7ODN using our OADN equipment on Pactor 3. Receipt was verified by OEM.

The HF antenna that Phil used above the EOC had just been put up by Albert and Phil a few days before, and did the job. Propagation conditions were marginal, and the message went at a speed of 200.
Following the first placement of our ARES station (K7URY) into our county EOC, this was our first non-test, official message to be passed via P3 and Winlink2000. I am encouraged and thankful for the accomplishment and believe it may be recognized.

We will be continuing to try to improve the station and get Gold Beach ARES members in for training.
Several ARES members in Curry County are monitoring our repeaters in case of any necessary emergency traffic. The telephone disruption continues to this hour.
-Bob Wilkinson (W7VN), President, Curry ARES EC

Any hams interested in becoming an ARES/RACES member, or members wishing to train on the new rig should contact Bob at 469-1815.

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