River City ARCS Nets

Wednesday 2 meter, 10 meter and SSTV Nets. Saturday 40 meter Roundtable Net.

Net Control Help Wanted!  Follow the Net Control Script
Take this opportunity to broaden your radio operating skill as a Net Control Operator! 
Format:  After stations check in, net control calls for traffic, then polls check ins for comments on a topic.  All member & visiting stations are welcome to check in to our nets.  Please program our Backup 145.25 MHz FM Repeater settings into your radio's memory in case of a Primary Repeater outage.

All members and visitors are welcome to check into our nets.  

List of other Sacramento Valley Section Nets

N6NA Emergency Backup 2 meter Repeater

River City ARCS has a emergency backup for our N6NA repeater on 145.250 MHz with the following settings:

• Output Frequency: 145.250 MHz

• Input Frequency:    144.650 MHz

• Offset: Negative (-600 kHz)

• Location: West side of Sacramento Valley near Zamora

• PL/CTCSS: 123.0 Hz (set your receiver to carrier squelch, not tone decode)

Our regular repeater users should now program a separate memory in their radios with the same frequencies as our primary repeater, but with the 123.0 Hz PL tone and carrier squelch (no tone decode) for the backup repeater.

Our N6NA backup is a stand-alone repeater with no remote receivers or AllStar/EchoLink access.  Our control operators will activate it only when our primary repeater is offline for practice nets on the third Wednesday of each month and in case of equipment failure or power outage.  Program your radios now and be ready for our emergency practice nets and future emergencies! 

We held a simplex net on the 145.25 MHz repeater frequency when the October 9, 2019 PG&E power shut-off took the N6NA repeater offline.  Many of the 20 stations that checked in were prepared to operate simplex on the 145.25 MHz repeater output frequency, but several were still transmitting on 144.65 MHz, so net control had to monitor both the repeater output and input frequencies for check-ins.  Greg KK6WSP assisted with relays for check-ins that net control could not hear.

Whenever there is a repeater outage, net control will announce that a simplex net will be held on our 145.25 MHz repeater frequency.  The simplex net (where you both transmit and receive on 145.25 MHz) is our fallback option to maintain communications in the event of a repeater outage due to equipment malfunction or power failure.  For this reason, those who regularly check into the net should program the 145.25 MHz simplex frequency (zero offset and no PL tone) into a separate memory position on their radios. 

When the repeater and remote receivers are offline, communications will be limited to line-of-sight among all net stations and it will be harder for many to hear each other.  Those who use handheld radios with attached flexible antennas will be limited to 1 to 2 miles line of sight range.

To prepare yourself for net operation during a repeater outage:

1. Program a memory in your radio for our emergency backup repeater (145.250 MHz, negative offset, PL 123.0 Hz),

2. If possible, use a rooftop antenna mounted as high as possible and in the clear,

3. If possible, use 25 or 50 watts transmit power,

4. Have a charged battery power source available in case of a power outage