HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024!!!

2023 sure ended in a way that made us glad it’s over! As many of you know, my primary laptop had a corrupted partition a couple days before Christmas. With the help of some great AmRRON Corps IT guys, we got it repaired, restored, and backed up this Friday (over a week of downtime). On top of that, our @amrron.com email server maxed out. All emails to/from that domain failed to deliver. That is now resolved and emails are (should be) back to normal ops.

///// ACTION ITEM FOR ALL AMRRON OPERATORS /////

BACK UP YOUR DATA! This is an extremely important action item for AmRRON operators, and should be a top priority for 2024.

Although I had backed up my files, it had been a while. After repairing the damaged partition and was able to successfully boot up my computer, I immediately backed up the entire hard drive using Clonezilla.

However, since then I’ve discovered the much more user friendly Rescuezilla, especially for those who aren’t comfortable in a command-line, DOS kind of environment. It’s free and easy to set up. There’s a great tutorial video that will walk you through the process. It’s easier than you think, and WAY less of a headache than losing months (or years) of important data.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJbqcHmi10

Unfortunately this means that I am a more than a week behind a couple of critical projects, namely the Signals Operating Instructions (SOI), Version 5. However, we’ll be working diligently on that and will have it distributed to our Tier 4 (and above) AmRRON Corps stations for peer review for about a week to ten days.

In the meantime, the changes announced in the posting from December 18th, CHANGES in 2024: National and Regional Net Week Schedules, will take effect January 1st, 2024.

This means the AIB will be distributed on schedule tomorrow, MONDAY (Yes, January 1st) at 20:00hrs Zulu (20meter band) and 20:30hrs Zulu (40m band).

NETS THIS WEEK: The National nets (voice and digital), AS WELL AS the Rolling Regional 80m Digital nets will take place on Tuesday.

The Rolling Regional 80m Voice nets will take place on Thursday, at 7pm Local time.

WHERE IS THE NET???

With the new changes come more freedom of movement on the bands, at the discretion of the NCS. If one band is severely degraded and another is more optimum, the NCS may elect to move the net to a more favorable band. For example, from 80m to 40m, regardless of the season.

The NCS may also elect to move up, or down, to avoid QRM (man made interference), or other ongoing activity on the frequency when the net is scheduled to begin).

If you are on the correct frequency at the correct time, and you do not hear the net taking place, first search UP as much as 5kHZ from the scheduled frequency. If nothing copied, then search DOWN below the scheduled frequency as much as 5kHZ. If you still hear no net activity, then QSY to the alternate band. Use the same search technique to find the net if you do not copy the net on the scheduled frequency (UP as much as 5kHZ, and then down as much as 5kHZ until you find the net).

The NCS should leave behind an ANCS or other volunteer for several minutes to relay the message that the net has moved. All stations who copy the message should transmit an acknowledgment before changing frequencies or bands for the benefit of those listening who may be out of range of the NCS, ANCS, or relay station.

Stay tuned! More announcements and guidance to follow over the coming days and weeks.

God bless all of you. Stay safe, and be ready to take to the airwaves. It’s going to be an extremely challenging year ahead.

-JJS (and the AmRRON staff)