Ventura County Reopens

What will California look like after June 15th?

California has reopened its economy with businesses resuming normal operations (with limited exceptions for mega-events). The new Health Order, effective June 15, replaced previous health orders issued by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). Click Beyond the Blueprint to learn more.

Key Points to Beyond the Blueprint

  • The Tiers, guidance documents, and prevention plans are no longer in effect. Most businesses can resume normal operations (how they conduct business with their customers.)
  • There are no limitations on capacity or physical distancing of attendees, customers, or guests.
  • Businesses with employees must continue to follow the Cal/OSHA Covid-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS). This includes mask-wearing and other preventive measures. Click to read the ETS.
  • Mega Events are characterized by large crowds greater than 5,000 (indoors) and 10,000 (outdoors) attendees. These events must still follow limited guidance and prevention guidance.

Brett Price KM6VFW-SK

Brett Price KM6VFW-SK

We are saddened to report that ACS member and CVARC President Brett Price-KM6VFW passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, May 9, 2021.  Brett just celebrated his 71st birthday on May 2nd.

He is survived by two sons, Andrew and Kevin and a fiancee, Shirlee Huffman. There will be a small family service in the future in the Lake Tahoe area where Brett had requested his ashes be scattered, near those of his father.

Brett spent four decades working as an attorney. He has represented governmental entities, public and private companies, and individuals in the areas of property tax law and civil litigation, commercial and business law, oil and gas law, energy resource law, construction law, real estate and bankruptcy matters.

Brett was in his second term as CVARC President.  His commitment to ACS and efforts in advancing amateur radio will be greatly missed.

VC ARES Member Aids Sheriff in Finding Missing Hiker

(credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department)

A 45-year-old hiker who was reported missing after he texted a friend that he was lost in Angeles National Forest has been found. VC ARES member and satellite mapping enthusiast Ben Kuo-AI6YR, working from a cell phone photograph, helped authorities pinpoint the hiker’s location. View this interesting Twitter thread in which Ben explains how he was able to geolocate the hiker using only the general area and the grainy photograph on the left. Ben’s efforts resulted in nationwide attention from the New York Times to Good Morning America.

Screen shot of Ben-AI6YR being interviewed by Channel 7, KABC TV, Los Angeles.

Ventura County Moves to Orange Tier

Ventura County moved to the State’s Orange Tier effective Wednesday, April 7 at 12:01 am. The California Department of Public Health announced that the County has met the State’s metrics to move forward.

“This progress, thanks to the hard work of our community members, means that our restaurants, retailers, gyms and other businesses can open to more customers which will help keep doors open, grow jobs in industries that were hit hard during the height of the pandemic and get us moving forward on the recovery path,” said County Executive Officer Michael Powers. “This is the time to keep it local in supporting our businesses.”

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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

Ventura County Moves to Red Tier

Ventura County moved to the State’s Red Tier beginning 12:01 am Wednesday, March 17, 2021. “This is great news for our community and an opportunity to work together to support our local businesses as we move forward in reopening our economy,” said County Executive Officer, Michael Powers. In alignment with the state’s reopening framework, masking, distancing, and infection control practices remain in place.

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March 1 ACS-ARES Meeting on Zoom

Below is the information about our virtual ACS-ARES meeting on March 1, 2021. Please note that it starts at 7:00 P.M. (1900 PDT) rather than our traditional 7:30.

The meeting is open to all. Members, non-members, and the curious. Anyone interested in what we do is encouraged to attend. Feel free to pass on this information to others you believe might be interested. This is a chance to put a face to the people you may only know as a voice on the radio while remaining safely at home. We look forward to hearing about your unique ham experience during this difficult time.

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New HF Go Kit

We have a new ACS-ARES go kit. It should be a very useful addition to our inventory. It was purchased with funds from the VCSO OES. Their support is greatly appreciated. It will operate from 3.5MHz to 440 MHz. The Kenwood radio has a built in GPS and TNC for packet. The Yaesu has a built in sound card for VARA and other digital modes.

Primary use will be Winlink, but can be deployed as needed. In addition to what you see, there is a built-in 50 Amp Hour Bioenno Power Lithium Iron Phosphate battery and a West Mountain Radio PowerGate. If we ever have meetings in person again, I will bring it along.

73 Rob

January 4 ACS-ARES Meeting on Zoom

Below is the information about our virtual ACS-ARES meeting for January 04, 2021. Please note that it starts at 7:00 P.M. (1900 PDT) rather than our traditional 7:30.

The meeting is open to all. Members, non-members, and the curious. Anyone interested in what we do is encouraged to attend. Feel free to pass on this information to others you believe might be interested. This is a chance to put a face to the people you may only know as a voice on the radio while remaining safely at home. We look forward to hearing about your unique Ham experience during this difficult time.

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