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Desert RATS Newsletter
November 2025
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Presidents Message
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I hope everyone had a good Veterans Day. Several of the ARES members were working comms at the Palm Springs Veterans Day Parade. It was kicked off by a fly over of a P-51 Mustang, a T-28 Trojan and a C-47. All from the Palm Springs Air Museum. Thanks to all of our Vets out there.
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Today, November 12, is an interesting day. The bands are dead. Reports on a "magnetic tsunami", a major geomagnetic storm caused by a series of powerful solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that have hit Earth. So if you are having trouble with your cell or satTV, that could be why.
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Here in the RATS newsletter you will see some things to watch for. There is the RATS election slate. Elections will be held at the November RATS Zoom meeting.
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Also there is info on the RATS Holiday Party. You must RSVP for this so we can give the restaurant an accurate head count for the event. Cost will be $20 at the door. Drinks are on your own, but the RATS will pick up the rest of the tab. We'll have some raffle prizes there as well.
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Check out the info on the November RATS zoom meeting. The speaker will be Dennis W6DQ and the topic will be all about time and what you don't know about it. Dennis has spoken to the RATS before. Once on doing moon bounce using a 120ft dish and one on the dismantling of the VOA station here in California.
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At the end of January is Winter Field Day. That is always fun and we have several RVers all set for the event. As always, there will be lots of demonstrations, chances for all classes of hams to get on HF and just generally a good time.
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I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving Holiday. See you on the bands.
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President Desert RATS ARC
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November 2025 Meeting
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 18th at 7:00 p.m.
It will be a Zoom Meeting, and details will be sent out on Monday prior to the meeting.
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Do You Know What Time It Is?
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Dennis Kidder W6DQ will be presenting
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Dennis will present a history of precision time and frequency measurement. You will discover why we use seconds, minutes and hours. He will cover the origins of timekeeping, how things improved over the centuries and why precision time is necessary today.
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First licensed in 1969 as WN6NIA and in 1970, WA6NIA, Dennis was eventually granted the callsign of one of his High School Elmers, Chek Titcomb, W6DQ. Retired after 40+ years as a system engineer in various fields, he now enjoys the leisure life with his wife Lisa (KF6QNG) in home on 5 acres in rural Inyokern, California. His interests there continue to be the collection and preservation of vintage radio gear, especially those of Collins Radio, as well as building a state-of-the-art ham station.
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Membership
We have a new member for October:
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Joe Racco KC7JOE - Lifetime
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Please welcome him to the RATS.
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Dues are due on January 2026, and a reminder will be sent out at that time.
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Board Elections In November
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We will be having annual Board elections at the November Meeting. If you are interested in running for a position, please notify the Club Secretary here.
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So far, we have the current nominees:
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Vice President: Rick – N6PSP
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Director at Large: Guy – KS6F
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Director at Large: Mark – KD6SEC
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Director at Large: Shane – KO6JGR
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Membership: Annie - KJ6QWC
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Christmas PARTY!
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We will be having our annual Christmas Party at the Old Spaghetti Factory on December 16th.
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Please RSVP Here
Tuesday, December 16th 2025
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We will have a fixed menu for $20 per person, paid by cash or check at the door (no Credit Cards). Guests will have a choice of:
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Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce (Vegan/Vegetarian).
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We will cover the cost of Salad, bread, desert, and non-alcoholic drinks (coffee and soft drinks). Guests will pay for any other beverage.
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Please RSVP Here
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ARES News
Don Stouder, ARES Emergency Coordinator
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As I write this, we have just completed our first parade! 13 members of the ARES team provided back-up communications for the production team running the Veteran’s Day Parade in downtown Palm Springs. We activated the Incident Command System, used TAC callsigns, and covered various areas in staging and along the parade route. Other than some minor radio issues here and there, everything went quite smoothly. Net Control and Situational Awareness were ably provided by Mark KD6SEC and Rick N6PSP from their home stations. My thanks to the ARES communicators that joined us in the field including Glenn WB6RLC, Earl KJ6DQR, Julie KJ6FYY, Steve KD6HWX, Guy KS6F, Kevin KN6EWP, Allan KB7THX, Richard KJ7OTK, Don AE0TU, and Patsy KJ6GKS. Great job you guys!!
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Our next parade will be the Festival of Lights in downtown Palm Springs on Saturday, December 6. This will be slightly longer by a few blocks and a much bigger crowd. We could use a few more volunteers, so if you are interested please reach out to me.
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In the meantime, there looks to be some incoming weather this weekend. Keep those batteries charged and I will see you on the radio!
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Dr. Don Stouder | ARES Emergency Coordinator
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VP, Desert RATS Amateur Radio Club
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Hamshack Hotline 550-1145
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Zoleo Satellite: donstouder | 1-231-307-1670
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Coachella Valley GMRS
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In his presentation “Future Proofing ARES”, Don Stouder, N1GAY, mentioned the powerful GMRS Repeater operated by the Coachella Valley GMRS Association as a valuable emergency resource here in the valley.
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The CV GMRS group operates a website where you can get more information about the GMRS team and the repeater system they operate.
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You can also join up or donate to keeping this important resource up and running by clicking here.
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Do You Use JTAlert?
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Many of us who use FT-8 do so using the WSJT-X / JTAlert combination. There is a new version of JTAlert out (version 2.81.1) available from the HamApps website here. The new version requires the .NET 8 desktop runtime, which is also available through the site. Note also that Windows 7 & 8 are no longer officially supported.
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If you are planning to upgrade, it might pay to check that you are running the latest version of WSJT-X as well. The latest version is v2.7.0 and it is available from the website here.
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Desert RATS Remote Station Access
The Desert RATS operate a remote VHF/UHF radio station that can be used by Club Members who may not be able to communicate with Coachella Valley repeaters. The unit is a Kenwood TM-D700 housed in Cathedral City and can access all repeaters in the area.
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The unit is remotely operated using the RemoteHams application running on a Windows computer. After logging in to RemoteHams, a user can listen and talk through the radio to our repeater. For example, this is useful if you wish to attend our Monday night NET from a remote location.
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For example, recently Jim, KN6QLC was able to use the remote station from an aircraft while flying from Amsterdam to Houston to make a QSO with a local ham here in the Valley.
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We have prepared a document that describes how to set up and access the remote station. Members can access the document from our library here.
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Note: you must be a member and have an online account to access our Document Library page. If you are not a member, you can join up here. If you are a member and do not have an online account, you can get one here.
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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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Lots Of Items For Sale
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We have many items for sale – including radios, antennas cables, connectors and accessories. Check with us before you decide to buy commercially – we could save you quite a lot of money.
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A partial list of equipment is on our Equipment for sale web page here. If you are looking for anything specific, let us know here. We’ll get back to you with price and availability.
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Note: you must be a member and have an online account to access our For Sale page. If you are not a member, you can join up here. If you are a member and do not have an online account, you can get one 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: Glenn Morrison – WB6RLC
Club Vice-President: Don Stouder, N1GAY
Club Treasurer: Jim Haggerty - KN6QLC
Club Secretary:Gavin Schutz – K6GAV
Membership: Anne Larson - KJ6QWC
Directors
Guy Chabot - KS6F
Mark Johnston - KD6SEC
Rick Lee - N6PSP
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