The 1st Wednesday Net will retain the same general format: 

• Part A: 1100 GMRS/FRS check-ins on GMRS Ch.15 simplex (462.550 MHz).

• Part B: 1130 (approx.) Training.

• Part C: 1145, ham check-ins on 70cm and 2m on the WA6KQB repeaters.

We will be changing Part A and Part B a bit. During Part A we will try something new to help map locations with poor reception. As before, we will ask for your name and nearest cross streets, but also ask for your radio type (HT or mobile), your antenna type (rubber duck, longer whip (e.g. Nagoya NA-771G), mobile, or base station (e.g. Diamond X300A) and finally your TX power, high or low for HTs, watts for mobile radios.  Eventually we plan to post this location/radio data with reception reports (Q5-Q1) so everyone can benefit from it.

We encourage everyone to know their Zonehaven/Genasys codes, but we will no longer be asking for it.

Part B will vary from month to month.  Some months, we will repeat training exercises from the past 7 years.  Other months there will be a short presentation about subjects important to emergency communications with Q/A, and other months will be an open discussion.

Note: Check-in is on Channel 15, with alternate Channel 19.

In Part A, at 1100, after the Richmond CWS sirens sound, all GMRS and FRS operators will check in with net control on GMRS Ch.15 simplex, 462.550 MHz. [The NCS may substitute alternate Ch.19 simplex, 462.650 MHz, if Ch.15 encounters severe outside interference. If you do not hear the net on either channel, search nearby GMRS simplex channels.]

In addition to your location (nearest cross streets will help), please report your radio type (HT or mobile), your antenna type (rubber duck, longer whip (e.g. Nagoya NA-771G), mobile, or base station (e.g. Diamond X300A) and finally your TX power, high or low for HTs, watts for mobile radios.  Eventually we plan to post this location/radio data with reception reports (Q5-Q1) so everyone can benefit from it.

Click here for a script template for a GMRS/FRS net.

This is to be determined. 

NCS will first check in all hams with the 70 cm repeater, 444.275 +5 MHz, PL 82.5*, followed by a roll call with the 2 m repeater, 145.110 –0.6 MHz, PL 82.5*.

[Thanks to the Contra Costa Communications Club (4Cs) for permission to use its 70 cm and 2 m WA6KQB repeaters. With solar backup, the WA6KQB repeaters can function independently of PG&E power and serve as valuable stations for emergency communications.]

We practice for efficient and clear transmission. All GMRS radio operators should monitor Part C to learn from the ham operators. (Check this link for information about the various EmComm nets conducted by the Contra Costa Communications Club (4Cs); these nets will provide additional models for your radio procedure.)

The WA6KQB three repeaters are tested every Saturday morning, starting with 2m [145.110 MHz) @ 0900, followed by 70cm  [444.275MHz] @ 0915 and 1.25m [224.300 MHz] @ 0930; all three repeaters use PL 82.5.

*This tone is set using a menu entry in your radio. Consult your manual, because the names of these menu entries varies considerably—for example, in the Yaesu FT-60R it is TN FRQ; for the Baofeng BF-F8HP and BTECH GMRS-V1  it is T-CTCS.

Click here for a script template for a ham net using both the 2m and 70 cm repeaters from 4Cs [WA6KQB].

Click here for a script template for a ham net using the 4Cs [WA6KQB] repeaters.

EmComm Scripts and GMRS Rosters*

Generic GMRS Net Control Script for 1st Wednesday EmComm Part A (4 Mar 2025)

GMRS Roster sorted by Call Sign Suffix,  Licensee First Name

Generic Ham Net Control Script for 1st Wednesday EmComm Part  C  (5 Mar 2025)

Ham Roster sorted by Call Sign Suffix ,  Licensee First Name

Full EmComm Roster

*Rosters all current as of  6 December 2024

Document with Communication Advice for Marina Bay Neighbors

Emergency Communication Advice
(with Assigned GMRS/FRS channels for Marina Bay Communities)

Forms

Damage Assessment Form

ICS Form 309 (Communications Log)

ICS Form 213 (message form modified from the ARRL/ARES radiogram form)

Other Information

Recordings from Past 1st Wednesday EmComm Nets

Radio Programming Information (including CHIRP files, etc.)

West Contra Costa (WCC) is a collective of five cities plus county neighborhoods that will have to stand together with mutual aid should a major earthquake, wildfire spread, chemical spill or other major calamity occur. Each jurisdiction should set up its own Emergency Operation Center (EOC), or equivalent, and ask the Contra Costa County (CCC) EOC in Martinez for additional assistance, should they be overwhelmed by conditions. But WCC presently lacks direct contact with the CCC-EOC, should normal communication systems fail. First responders in CCC use county East Bay Regional Communications System (EBRCS) radios only. Call centers usually have been backed up by Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers.

The 2025 BEACON exercise of the CCC-EOC on May 1 revealed that no ham radio room exists in the new Martinez building. ARES volunteers had to set up a mobile ham station to run the May 1 test. Additionally, WCC operators relied upon the W6CX repeater system on top of Mount Diablo to contact the CCC-EOC in Martinez.

WCC cities also have limited or nonexistent message handling teams. Neighborhood Emergency Communication for mutual aid would work faster than waiting for government rescue. Even more reason to practice neighborhood EmComm regularly.

It's obvious that at least two operators are required to communicate on 2-way radios. Not so obvious is that trained radio teams are critical at neighborhood communication hubs, incident command posts, and temporary evacuation sites. Also less obvious is the importance of tall high gain antennas, stationary or portable, at these sites. Antenna height is more important than  the radio power setting. Every time an antenna height doubles, its range increases by 50%

1st Wednesday@ 11:00 in 2024 will continue rotation through Net Control neighborhood teams practicing with tall high-gain antennas. This series was launched on November 1 by the Richmond Annex team at the Huntington Senior Center. On December 6, Bayfront Neighbors in Marina Bay hosted the Net Control Station.

January 3 will produce two firsts:

• The Ken 6 team will lead as Net Control from the hils of Kensington. Using a Diamond X330A antenna at 26’ above grade, the Ken 6 ABC team will be located at Lat-Long 37.9047, -122.2813.

• Brickyard Landing in Pt. Richmond will test its new Diamond X300A antenna mounted on a 25' mast.

Here is the (tentative) 2024 schedule for Net Control:

3 Jan: Ken 6

7 Feb: Breakers Neighbors

6 Mar: [Brickyard Landing]

3 Apr: [Shores Neighbors]

1 May: [Marina Bay Condos Neighbors]

N.B. Fenton support is available to assist any neighborhood team. Jay can help set up and pre-test your radio - antenna rig in advance. We offer loaner portable radio + antenna, when needed. Jay can substitute as either a GMRS or ham Net Control if your team lacks a Part A or Part C Net Control. During each exercise, Karen can serve as Assistant Net Control from the Fenton garage in Marina Bay.

Contact karenleongfenton@gmail.com to volunteer your team for a 1st Wednesday @11:00 – noon event.

For line-of-sight communication, antenna height has more influence than radio power in boosting transmission. Review the radio range table/graph, below, to see the difference between the impact on transmission distance of antenna height and radio power.

The important takeaway from both these versions is that, for 1- and 5-Watt handheld radio power settings,  the biggest proportional improvement in transmission distance per foot of height is achieved in the first 30-35 feet. When the antenna is raised from 15 to 50 feet, the potential transmission distance doubles. The next doubling (from 10 to 20 miles for 5 Watt and 8 to 17 miles for 1 Watt) takes an additional 250 feet of elevation.

If you would like to meet the challenge of being a GMRS or ham NCS in a future 1st Wednesday net, you will need a good signal location in order to reach our entire simplex network, which extends from Kensington to Richmond Hilltop and beyond. Or you can operate at the Fenton garage base station in Marina Bay. Contact Karen for information.

Two-way Radio Range Table and Graph 

Here's useful information that will help in understanding the relationship between transmission power and distance. There are two versions: the first is a readable version of a GIF from Express Radio; the second is a graphic version of the same data (also from Express Radio).

The important takeaway from both these versions is that, for 1- and 5-Watt handheld radio power settings,  the biggest proportional improvement in transmission distance per foot of height is achieved in the first 30-35 feet. When the antenna is raised from 15 to 50 feet, the potential transmission distance doubles. The next doubling (from 10 to 20 miles for 5 Watt and 8 to 17 miles for 1 Watt) takes an addional 250 feet of height.

Table version.

Graph version.

Since we first launched 1st Wednesday @ 11:00 in December 2018 as a GMRS training net, our numbers have averaged over 3 dozen GMRS/FRS and 2 dozen ham players each month. Not bad for a mid-week, mid-day event. However, folks who work away from Richmond or cannot take an early lunch break miss out on the fun and challenge. Maybe they can now play and test in similar fashion on Saturday mornings.

The WA6KQB triple repeater nets are anchored by Net Control Alvin Todd KK6UQX every Saturday morning.

·   09:00       145.1100 – 0.6 MHz, PL 82.5

·   09:15        444.2750 + 5, MHz, PL 82.5

·   09:30       224.3000 – 1.6 MHz, PL 82.5

These small ham nets don’t take a lot of time to check in. GMRS operators can’t call, but they can listen to the ham nets in VFO mode on their GMRS radios, a good way to learn how the “big guys” talk.

EmComm neighborhoods are booking radio exercises to follow the 09:30 net. Operators from other neighborhoods are invited to join in. North and East Richmond CERT practices its radio team on 2nd Saturdays, 10:00. To learn more, send an email to Alvin Todd, amchibi9@gmail.com.

Thanks to Kenoli Oleari [KB6EMG / WROZ773], we have a new mapping tool. Kenoli printed copies of a 30” x 45” USGS topographic map of Richmond with adjacent areas. With our emphasis on simplex communication, this map will enable us to see how West County stations are able to signal one another despite surrounding hills. You can download a PDF copy of this map at this link: Files and Other Resources.

Stations in zip code 94803 often cannot reach one another or beyond the hills surrounding El Sobrante. In 2021 we formed the 94803 EmComm Project to test whether the WA6KQB repeaters would overcome hilly blockage. These ham repeaters make a difference, but simplex signals usually fail. One of the ham operators in 94803 has now permanently installed a Diamond X300A antenna on the roof and three ham operators in that neighborhood can now transmit using simplex to El Cerrito and Richmond.

Operators are required to abide by all FCC rules of operation and to use FCC Part 95 type-accepted radios.

A GMRS license is required to transmit at more than 2 Watts (W) of power on GMRS channels.
N.B. Power output is limited to 0.5 W for Channels 8-15, regardless of radio or license status. The GMRS license fee is $35, may be used by members of an entire household and is renewable. For a guide to obtaining a GMRS license, check out this link from Quality Two-Way Radios.

A ham license is required for transmission on ham frequencies. The ham license fee is now $35. For tips on getting a ham license easily online, see the information provided by the Silicon Valley VE Group
at this link: http://www.svve.org

Ham radios are not authorized for transmission on GMRS frequencies but they may be used to monitor them.

Most GMRS radios can monitor but are unable to transmit on ham frequencies.

All FRS radios can operate only on FRS/GMRS simplex frequencies.

Follow this link to find a discussion of 3 methods of communicating your location on the earth. We have also provided the results of our experiences, when we tested each during an EmComm Net on 2 February 2022.

Our 1st Wednesday @ 1100 testing has demonstrated that using a dedicated GMRS repeater won't work well for several reasons:

a. Too many competing GMRS repeaters in the Bay Area already exist that create traffic interference & confusion, especially when other nets actively operate or during emergency response.

b. Even GMRS simplex, which can use only 15 available channels, suffers from competition from other traffic. Simplex is OK to use by local West Contra Costa (WCC) neighborhood nets but requires that a protocol be developed to handle interference. 1st Wednesday @ 1100, as a wide area net (WAN), tests Channels 15-22 at 5-50 Watts. We recommend that local area nets (LAN) use Channels 1-7 at 5 Watts, or Channels 8‑14 sat 0.5 Watts, to avoid interference from GMRS repeaters.

c. The hilly terrain in WCC blocks the ability of some neighborhoods to communicate with others. It is better to use simplex relay techniques to overcome obstacles rather than investing in a costly GMRS repeater system.

d. WCC is geographical area extends too far north-south for widespread GMRS simplex coverage, even when tall high‑gain antennas are strategically located. FCC restricts GMRS to a maximum of 50 Watts transmission. Ham simplex coverage does not have this 50-Watt restriction.

e. Two WCC ridges—Wildcat Canyon Ridge and Sobrante Ridge—block most simplex transmissions between the 94803 ZIP code and the southwest Richmond area. No GMRS repeater location has been found that enables communication with that 94803 area. Here's a link to a recording of our EmComm from 4 September 2024. During this session, Jay Fenton was able to contact Marina Bay from Hilltop Green in the 94803 ZIP Code area.

f. Even if investment in one or more GMRS repeater systems were made, direct communication is not permitted with the EOC. RACES and ARES uses only the amateur radio (ham) frequencies, not GMRS. Thus, WCCERG would better develop a ham-GMRS interface to communicate within and between neighborhoods and with the EOC. (See diagram here.)

Click here to learn what goes on during the net. 

Script Templates for Net Control

Click here for a script template for a GMRS/FRS net.

Click here for a script template for a ham net using both the 2m and 70 cm repeaters from 4Cs [WA6KQB].

Click here for a script template for a ham net using 4Cs [WA6KQB] and Walt Pyle's [WA6DUR] repeaters.

IMPORTANT NOTE
We would like to keep better track of the equipment used in the neighborhoods. Please complete this Google form and resubmit it whenever you change your radio, your antenna or your location. Thanks very much.

7 takeaways from the 2025 BEACON drill on May 1:

• San Ramon Valley CERT monitored the ham drill with GMRS radios.

• Richmond CERT had the busiest CCC team at BEACON.

• Richmond Comm Center handled 20+ CERT messages on 147.450 MHz.

• RCC contacted the “CCC EOC” via the Mt. Diablo W6CX repeater.

• The WA6KQB 145.110 repeater could not make contact with the CCC EOC.

• Without a usable radio room, CCC EOC relied upon Mount Diablo Radio Club's assistance.

A recording of the BEACON drill as observed in Marina Bay is available here on the website.

The 2025 BEACON drill demonstrated that West County cannot rely upon Contra Costa County for EmComm when the power grids, cell towers and internet outages occur. Richmond ham operators were able to respond within 48 hours for a call to drill, successfully testing radio contact with the Richmond Communication Center.

Although WA6KQB works well reaching all West County and across the bay, a partial test of the WA6KQB repeater system found it was unable to contact the county seat in Martinez.The two main central county repeater systems – WA6HAM and W6CX - are reachable from the Richmond civic center. W6CX on Mt. Diablo was drafted for the primary net in the CCC BEACON exercise.

Because the CCC EOC in Martinez lacks an operational radio room, members of MDARC, club owner of W6CX, set up a temporary simulated EOC station on the balcony of the radio room for the exercise. No explanation or timeline has been stated when the EOC radio room will be activated.

West County residents have organized and practiced for years to be more self-sufficient and for mutual aid. BEACON demonstrated that we must continue to practice.

On May 1, less than 3 days after receiving permission to join the 2025 BEACON Exercise, a team of volunteers helped test ham communication between the Richmond Communication Center (RCC) and a simulated County Emergency Operation Center in Martinez. Net Control David Swanson KJ6AAT, assisted by Diane Richwine KK6RED at the RCC, handled over 20 field messages called in by 8 operators on 147.450 simplex. David re-transmitted a few messages via the W6CX repeater to Martinez.

Individuals can listen here to the Contra Costa County 2025 BEACON exercise as recorded in Marina Bay. Some interesting snippets can be heard on the recording:

• The exercise began on the WA6HAM repeater, with some confusion when instructed to change to the WA6CX repeater.

• San Ramon Valley CERT non-hams monitored in GMRS - VFO mode.

• Chris Harwood AA6AT in Richmond was assigned to oversee HF and Winlink communication.

• Net Control K6ZA started the W6CX BEACON drill. [after 27 recorded min.]

• Richmond RCC drill started  [after 46 recorded min.]

• Complications were created by dual receive/watch and Echolink settings.

Thanks to the 2025 BEACON for validating the importance of West Contra Costa ham and GMRS net training.

The full description of the exercise can be found here.