In light of the current disaster news – near and far - our experimenting with a Simplex system for our local NERT Net is quite timely.

This Wednesday’s Net Roll Call (1-20-10) will continue to use Simplex frequencies ONLY. In addition, we will be conducting two separate nets simultaneously; one for the West Side CERN radio operators (146.460) and another for the East Side CERN Hams (146.535).

Both Nets will have a five-minute announcement made at 1855 Hours (6:55 p.m.) on their respective Simplex frequency. These directed nets will start at 1900 Hours (7:00 p.m.) After the roll call has been completed, but before there is a call for late and guest check-ins, each NERT Net Control will transmit a sample message of his/her choice (similar to our City-wide field exercises) in order that each of us may practice recording the message using the attached ACS Message Form for the South County Operational Area.

On June 28 our friends from the Sonoma County ACS (Auxillary Communications Services) lent their Ham skills to the American Lung Association of California's Breathe Easy Ride. Several of our felllow hams positioned themselves at the ride's rest stops and throughout the bicycle courses to provide communications backup.