A California-based leader in a disaster response organization seeks local assistance as he plans a potential special event station during the organization’s conference in Fort Wayne in September.
Phil Zabell, KI6SMN wrote in an email message to FWRC president Carole Burke, WB9RUS about tentative plans for special event station W9E to operate during the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod National Disaster Response Conference. The conference is scheduled for September 28 through September 30 on the campus of Concordia Theological Seminary, 6600 N. Clinton Street, Fort Wayne.
Zabell apparently wrote Burke to inform the FWRC of his tentative plans and to solicit any ideas or suggestions. His original message (below) does not explicitly request assistance. In a subsequent message to Al Burke, WB9SSE, however, Zabell wrote, “One of the major ways FWRC could be of help to me would be as operators and possibly providing equipment during the event.”
As planned, the station would operate on SSB on the 20-meter and 40-meter bands, on DMR and on Echolink. Zabell indicated in his second message that he plans to drive to the conference from California and bring with him “an 857, G90, and 800D along with Buddipole, 2m/70cm magmount and possibly another antenna.”
Zabell’s original message, however, indicates considerable uncertainty regarding whether the special event station will exist. For example, he wrote that had not yet obtained permission from the conference or campus to set up a ham radio station.
Fort Wayne Radio Club leaders decided to make this information available to all members, and to encourage anyone who is interested in Zabell’s project to contact him directly, using the information in the message below.
From: Philip W. Zabell <pzcard@yahoo.com>
Date: Aug 3, 2022 11:00 PM
Subject: Possible Special Event Station 9/28-30/22: W9E
To: president@fwrc.info
Cc: N6JOA Charlie <n6joa.calif@gmail.com>
Hi! My name is Phil (KI6SMN). I live in northern California and I’m the District Disaster Response Coordinator (DDRC) for the California, Nevada, Hawaii District (CNH) of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). While I have been granted the use of the W9E call for an event taking place in Ft. Wayne 9/28-30, this is a work in progress with a number of loose ends needing to come together before it’s a done deal.
I have been in contact with N9MTF concerning the use of his DMR repeater and he has granted permission.
I am writing you to inform you of this possible event & to make initial contact as I expect additional contacts will materialize if this all comes together.
Here is a prototype of a QSL card (subject to change/editing) I hope to get printed up.
The image forming the background for the QSL card is the location of the conference which is Concordia Theological Seminary on Clinton St in the northern part of Ft. Wayne.
I have a number of logistics issues to work through in order for the idea described here to become a reality.
- I have to register for the conference.
- I have to decide if I will drive to Ft. Wayne or fly.
- If I fly I have to figure out how I will get my equipment to Ft. Wayne (buddipole, batteries, radio, EFHW, etc)
- Coordinate with the campus to set up the station
- Coordinate with the conference organizers to have their approval for doing all of this
- Arrange for operators to be available for the QSOs
Cc’d on this post is net control (N6JOA, Charlie Porter, Davis, CA) for our Monday night Tri-LERT Net (Tri Lutheran Emergency Response Team) which meets on talk group 310703 at 1930 hours PDT. Please feel free to join us. Net control calls for stations beginning with the Eastern Time Zone and working through all the time zones for all 50 states ending with Hawaii.
The Tri-LERT Net coordinates with a national HF net which takes place on Tuesdays beginning at 1830 hours PDT. That net is called the Lutheran Amateur Radio Support Net (LARSN) and the group usually starts on Echolink [KD7HLQ-L] to establish what 40m FQ will be used that evening. If 40 is not propagating very well, LARSN also attempts QSOs on 20. K4AFN is one of the operators who is active with LARSN. His QTH is Sierra Vista, AZ.
While the aforementioned nets have been organized by the Lutheran community, all operators are welcome who have an interest in emergency communications.
I’ll look forward to hearing from you and would welcome any ideas or suggestions. I will keep you informed as to the progress of my planning.
73,
Rev (em) Philip W Zabell
DDRC for CNH District
KI6SMN
530-520-1458