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Desert RATS Newsletter
April 2026
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Presidents Message
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Hello and welcome to April! Wasn't that annual picnic fun? I can't wait for next year, hopefully with cooler temperatures! Coming up on Saturday, April 18 at 10am is our monthly meeting featuring Mark KO6FMN, who is going to talk about how local HOA's keep themselves prepared for disasters as well as the role CERT training has in community resilience. See below for the details.
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ARES News. Two events for ARES members and those interested are coming up in April, and I want to put those on your radar. The first is an "ARES Bootcamp" that we will be holding on Saturday, April 25 from 10;30am to 3pm at the Cathedral City Library. I think there will be something for everyone, both new and experienced. This is open to all ARES members and any ham who might be interested. An RSVP link will be provided or you can RSVP to me directly at prez@desertrats.us. Please review the material on our club ARES page here.
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The following week, on Thursday April 30, we will be joining with ARES groups from throughout Southern California to participate in the Beacon Exercise, which is a large-scale earthquake drill that is being held statewide. More information about the drill can be found below. We will be doing an on-air information net as well as a few practice deployments to locations near our homes.
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Looking Ahead. The board, especially our secretary, Gavin K6GAV, has been working on an update to our club bylaws. The second draft, with changes based on your comments, will be making the rounds. Please give it a look and let us know what you think.
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Volunteers needed! Members of or club often talk about special interest areas and there was quite a bit of interest in these in our membership survey from last year. So it’s time for a few interested people to help with special interest groups! It’s not a big job…just see who is interested and put together some activities. Right now I would love to find someone to take on a Meshtastic Special Interest Group as well as someone for a POTA/SOTA Special Interest Group. Training will be provided for these simple roles. Let me know if you can help!
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Did you know that the club has many nets each month, one of which is our New Ham’s Net? Held on the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30pm on our main club repeater, its a great opportunity for new hams to get questions answered and chat a bit on the air without any worry of making mistakes (mic fright). Please join us, it’s fun!
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Well RATS, that’s about all I have for now. Till next time, keep your batteries charged and I will see you on the radio.
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April Meeting
Our next meeting will be on Saturday, April 18th at 10:00 a.m.
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CERT and HOA's
In this presentation, Mark will discuss the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program and how its principles are applied at the neighborhood level within the Heritage Palms community.
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He will share how their Emergency Preparedness Committee organizes residents, conducts drills, and operates their Emergency Operations Center, along with the communications strategy used during training exercises and potential real-world deployments.
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The talk will also highlight the role amateur radio can play in supporting community response efforts when traditional communications systems are unavailable, and will include key takeaways from CERT training along with resources for those interested in learning more or getting involved.
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Mark West (KO6FMN) is a retired technology executive and active community volunteer focused on emergency preparedness and resilience. He serves as a CERT instructor with the City of Indio and leads preparedness efforts at Heritage Palms, where he chairs the Emergency Preparedness Committee and the community’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC). A General Class Amateur Radio operator and member of the Desert Rats Amateur Radio Club,
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Mark is particularly interested in how amateur radio can support neighborhood-level communications during emergencies when normal systems fail. Prior to retirement, Mark worked in technology and consulting with companies including Cisco, Deloitte Consulting, and Oracle, and later co-founded a consulting firm specializing in Business Intelligence, helping organizations across many industries use data to improve decision-making.
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Membership
We have four new members in March:
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Please welcome them to the RATS!
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Dues for 2026 are due. Besides PayPal or check, Zelle can now be used. It is also very helpful to fill out a membership form to confirm contact information. When using Zelle, please note your name and call in the notes.
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May Meeting
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Our May Club meeting is special!
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The meeting is on Tuesday, May 19th at 3:00 p.m. and will be a field trip to the Rancho Mirage Observatory, located at the Library (directions here). We will enjoy a private tour of the facility and a talk by the astronomer Eric McLaughlin.
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The tour will include will using the Lunt Solar Systems H-Alpha telescope and learning about the role that sunspots and Sun prominences play in Radio propagation
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More information will be sent out as we get closer to the date.
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Upcoming Events
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ARES Bootcamp April 25th
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We will be holding an "ARES Bootcamp" on Saturday, April 25 from 10am to 3pm at the Cathedral City Library. There will be something for everyone, both new and experienced. This is open to all ARES members and any ham who might be interested.
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On Thursday April 30, we will be joining with ARES groups from throughout Southern California to participate in the Beacon Exercise, which is a large-scale earthquake drill that is being held statewide. More information about the drill can be found here.
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We will be doing an on-air information net as well as a few practice deployments to locations near our homes.
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Note you do not need to be an ARES member to participate in our Boot Camp, and you do not need to be an ARES member to participate in the drill. We welcome everyone who would like to participate and learn.
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CERT Mixer
Coincident with our May meeting, CVDPN CERT will be hosting a mixer at the Library. The RATS will have a table to demonstrate some basic communications tech used in disasters.
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Everybody is welcome to attend. You do not need to be a member of the RATS, CERT or ARES to attend this event.
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PAPA System Coachella Valley Lunch
PAPA will be meeting in-person on Saturday May 2nd, 2026 at 11am at Denny’s Thousand Palms. Everyone is welcome to come on out for a chance to meet and visit with your on-air friends!
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• Please RSVP Here
• Ham License Testing @ 9:30am: Register in advance HERE (no walk-ins)
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Cove Cities CERT Training May 17 - 19
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June 5th - June 7th, 2026
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Desert RATS Picnic Recap
We held our annual picnic at Lake Cahuilla Veterans park a couple of weeks ago. Despite the unseasonably warm conditions, about 30 attendees enjoyed the hamburgers, brats, hot dogs with all sorts of accoutrements.
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Here a few photos from the event:
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RATS President Don, N1GAY (R) showing new RATS member Terry, W7TLG his brand new Yaesu FTX-1 all mode wide coverage SDR radio, complete with Magloop antenna and portable battery pack.
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Lis, K6NDC keeping cool with her solar panel powered turbo portable fan.
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A Little Bit Of Club History
With our ARES Bootcamp coming up on April 25th here are a couple of nuggets from the past. It seems the Amateur Community has been active providing emergency services assistance to the community for at least 50 years!
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These news items are from 1975.
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Here is a little history on ARES. More is available here.
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In the United States and Canada, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is a corps of trained amateur radio operator volunteers organized to assist in public service and emergency communications. It is organized and sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC).
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Communication failures have been a defining part of natural disasters and even some human-generated events. Amateur radio provides a means of communication "when all else fails".
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Amateur radio operators belonging to ARES (and its predecessor, the Amateur Radio Emergency Corps) have responded to local and regional disasters since the 1930s, including the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the category 5 storms Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Michael, and the Joplin tornado. During the Katrina event, more than one thousand ARES volunteers assisted in the aftermath and provided communications for the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and other individuals related to the relief effort. After Katrina, Hancock County Mississippi had lost all contact with the outside world, except through ARES operators who served as 911 dispatchers and message relayers.
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ARES has deployed for a variety of other emergencies and disasters, including the 2003 North America blackout. The blackout covered a wide geographical area of North America. In the United States its scope included Cleveland, Detroit, and New York City.
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Want To Know What's Happening?
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The best way to be fully informed about Amateur Radio activities here in the Coachella Valley is to tune into the RATS Monday Night Net.
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The net is conducted every Monday at 7:00 p.m. on the Edom Hill repeater (146.94 – 107.2) and features announcements about club and ARES activities.
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A Note on Amateur Radio Testing Resources
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Remote Testing for amateur licensing is available from the Greater Los Angeles Amateur Radio Group (GLAARG)
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GLAARG is one of the 14 FCC-recognized Volunteer-Exam Coordinators conducting amateur radio exams. GLAARG is a VEC testing organization, not a radio club. Our exam fee is $10 for remote exams and $10 for in-person exams. Exam fees are waived for minors, students with a current ID, first responders, Active Military, Veterans, and GLAARG VEs upgrading to Extra.
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For more information on times for the online testing please see the GLAARG website here.
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Note that GLAARG also offers in-person testing when COVID regulations permit.
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Other Testing Resources
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The ARRL is facilitating video supervised on-line examinations. This testing is made available by video from a number of Clubs.
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For more information, the ARRL website for remote testing is available here.
Also, Marc – N9WIB has assembled a series of technician class license tutorials. There are 20 presentations covering all the topics related to getting your initial ham radio license and all are posted on YouTube. This content is free and open to all Amateur Radio Clubs to use as an educational tool. Links and further information are available on his website here.
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ARRL Podcasts Schedule
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The On The AIR podcast is a monthly companion to On Air magazine, a magazine for beginner-to-intermediate ham radio operators, produced by the ARRL. The podcast and other interesting publications are available here.
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Listen to ARRL Audio News, available every Friday. ARRL Audio News is a summary of the week's top news stories in the world of amateur radio and ARRL, along with interviews and other features.
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The On the Air podcast and ARRL Audio News are available on blubrry, iTunes, and Apple Podcasts.
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Club President: Don Stouder, N1GAY
Club Vice-President: Rick Lee - N6PSP
Club Treasurer: Jim Haggerty - KN6QLC
Club Secretary: Gavin Schutz – K6GAV
Directors
Guy Chabot - KS6F
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Mark Johnston - KD6SEC
Shane Meyer - KO6JGR
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President Emeritus: Glenn Morrison – WB6RLC
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Membership: Anne Larson - KJ6QWC
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