Arizona Emergency Net - Maricopa

Where & When

From the aen-mar website: Mondays, 9:00 p.m. local time. The Mt. Ord 146.92(- offset) or the Shaw Butte 147.24(+) repeater. Both require 162.2 Hz tone.

Participation & Notes

Monday, Dec 6 2010 - Topic was battery power, we were asked to switch to battery. Pulled out my Powerstation PS1100 that I keep in the back of the van for jumpstarts and plugged my FT2900R into it, worked like a charm. Signed in to the net, but then had to leave early (plus forgot to set my radio to tone for the net darn it, so my sign in was screwed up.)

Monday, Nov 1 2010 - Checked in. Topic was "confidential information." All sign-ins suggested information that requires confidentiality. Covered mainly event considerations, with some emcomm discussion.

Monday, Oct 25 2010 - Checked in. Subject was FRS radios. All sign-ins noted the number of radios they owned. We covered how FRS radios may be useful in emergency communications and other items relating to effective use of FRS.

Simplex Emcomm, Mesa

Where & When

Meets Sunday nights at 9pm @ 144.330. Simplex, mainly low-power and mainly in and around Mesa.

Participation & Notes

Sunday, Dec 5 2010 - Finally, success. I was able to hear net control and some of the check-ins. I was also able to check in myself. I will tune the antenna and try again for a better rx next week. I am also hoping to do some testing with members of the net for lower power tx. Also considering possibly a pre-amp for better rx, but I need to do more research on that...

Sunday, Nov 21 2010 - Ok, I have this new antenna in place in hopes of being able to copy and communicate with this net. I started listening with the squelch open and a better monitor at 8:45p. Sadly, 9p just rolled around and I hear absolutely nothing. Swapped back to the omni where I was pickup up net control last time, but nothing still. Might be that there is simply no net tonight. Wouldn't that figure. 9:09p, hearing a few voices, but they are as faint as the omni was last time I copied on this net. Just had a thought... it did rain today, and from what I've been told this net is folks on HT's standing on roof tops... could simply be that they didn't want to go up in the weather. Guess I'll just have to keep trying with this antenna for contacts out that direction to see if it really does work. 9:30p... giving up for now, will try again on this antenna next weekend I suppose.

Sunday, Nov 7 2010 - Listened 8:45p to 9:25p again with the squelch open, this time with headphones instead of the built-in speaker. I could actually hear the net controller roll calling, but only copied parts. Every once in a while I could here parts of conversation. I realize I need to change my antenna situation, but I'm always curious if someone will pop up on the net with something stronger than an HT, or perhaps closer to me than some of the other participants. I have a few strong reasons for wanting to participate in this net, so I won't be giving up on it.

Sunday, Oct 31 2010 - Listened for a short time, antenna was raised to 20', up from last attempt, no other changes. Did not have time to listen the full time. Could hear some chatter with squelch all the way open, but copied nothing solid. Will need to do something more directional with higher gain and upgrade feed line.

Sunday, Oct 24 2010 - Listened, but only copied one station. Will continue to work on signal so I can copy this net.