December 14, 2022 – During this evening’s net, the subject of code (CW) transmission drew a great deal of attention. Here are some of the resources that were mentioned:

  • The ARRL code practice files page. This page provides a number of practice transmissions at various speeds.
  • Valley Radio Club sponsors a “Slow Code Net” on Thursdays at 8:30 pm on 28.450 MHz for practicing slow Morse code. The net is managed by Scott Rosenfeld, N7JI. You will find more information on the VRC’s Local Nets page.

Gerry Brown KK7GAB, Thia Bell KJ7CNH, and Mike McCornack KJ7HCH collaborated on a brochure to introduce community members to Eugene EmComm and what we do. A PDF version of the brochure can be downloaded and printed out here. After printing it out 2-sided (use the “Short Side” option if you do duplex printing) do a standard tri-fold to create a sharable brochure.


Folding a Standard Tri-Fold Brochure

Starting with the brochure laying on a flat surface with the brochure front and back information sections facing down, make a fold from the right side of the paper, 1/3 of the way in from the right side of the sheet. Then fold in the left one-third of the sheet to meet the right edge of the brochure.

For the more compulsive (I count myself a member of this group), you can score the paper before folding to make the folds easier to do, and providing a cleaner finished look. With the sheet laying front section down as described above, make one vertical score 3-11/16″ from the left, and a second vertical score 7-3/8″ from the left. If you happen to have a rotary paper cutter, scoring blades are available which make this task simple and quick.


Dam Safety Risk and Flood Inundation Mapping

Presentation & Discussion

November 14, 2022
7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting – https://tinyurl.com/DamSafetyMeeting

Ready NW Eugene* and River Road Community Organization (RRCO) are inviting you to join a zoom presentation and discussion with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on Dam Safety Risk and Flood Inundation Mapping in the Eugene/Springfield area.

The purpose of this November 14th presentation is to inform the community, understand how to read the inundation maps, and to start an ongoing dialogue on this important topic. It is expected that this presentation is one of many discussions that we will have in the future on related topics, such as emergency alert systems or plans for rescue and evacuation in the event of a dam breach.

We invite you to attend and participate in the community conversation. You can find more details about the contents of this presentation in our Briefing Paper -> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cUO27IJv_cb4I5wLtBbtG30eNdHILss5/edit.

Feel free to send your RSVP or questions to ReadyNWEugene@gmail.com ahead of the presentation.

* Ready NW Eugene is a collaboration of the emergency preparedness teams within the River Road Community Organization, Active Bethel Community, and Santa Clara Community Organizations.

Gerry, KK7GAB at the EmComm booth

by Thia Bell, KJ7CNH

At Jerry’s Home Improvement Center’s safety day, October 8, 2022, both booths, CERT and EmComm, appeared to be fielding a steady stream of visiting families, kids and other curious responders.

The wildfire smoke seemed to hug the hills or at least was more visible there, and more people were wearing masks than I’ve seen lately, so it’s a good reminder those big particulates are still out there.

Meanwhile it is rather surprising how many people throughout Eugene, and south to Drain, felt the 4.4 quake Friday 40 mi north, or about 14 mi NE of Sweet Home. Although I was awake at 5:52 am, I did not feel a thing!  Perhaps it is fortunate it did not reach  the 4.5 threshold to trigger the Shake Alert warning system to send us ducking for cover. The proximity to the large Green Peter Dam and reservoir on the Santiam still seems a concern.

Coincidentally, Ready Friendly is holding a virtual tabletop evacuation discussion in a mock dam breach scenario after a simulated earthquake 10/20, the evening of the Great ShakeOut. More info and zoom link at www.friendlyareaneighbors.org.

Ready NW Eugene is following this on Nov 14 with a Dam Safety presentation by the US Army Corps of Engineers with lots of Q&A to find out more about the current status and risks of the Willamette River dams in our watershed.

Extra-large solar flares are said to be triggering M4.0s that could precede larger ones in next several days, in one theory. Or full moon in others.  Of course, staying alert with batteries charged never hurts.

Following discussion on the October 5, 2022 Net, here is a modified version of Gerry Brown’s (KK7GAB) numbering scheme for the ICS-213 forms. Those filling out the forms would number them using their four letter* neighborhood code, followed by a three digit number, e.g. “NWABxxx” or “S2FAxxx”, where “xxx” is a serial number beginning with 000.

*The numbered southeast neighborhoods are identified only by the abbreviation “S” and the neighborhood number; “SE1SN” becomes “S1SN” to adhere to the four character standard.

RegionNeighborhoodAbbrev.
Northwest (NW)
Active Bethel CitizensNWAB
Industrial Corridor Community OrganizationNWIC
River Road Community OrganizationNWRR
Santa Clara Community OrganizationNWSC
Trainsong NeighborsNWTN
Northeast (NE)
Cal Young Neighborhood AssociationNECY
Goodpasture Island NeighborsNEGI
Harlow NeighborsNEHN
Northeast NeighborsNENN
Southwest (SW)
Churchill Area NeighborsSWCA
Far West Neighborhood AssociationSWFW
West Eugene Community OrganizationSWWE
Southeast 1 (SE1)
Southeast NeighborsS1SN
Southwest Hills Neighborhood AssociationS1SH
Southeast 2 (SE2)
Downtown Neighborhood AssociationS2DN
Friendly Area NeighborsS2FA
Jefferson Westside NeighborsS2JW
West University NeighborsS2WU
Whiteaker Community CouncilS2WC
Southeast 3 (SE3)
Amazon Neighbors AssociationS3AN
Fairmount NeighborsS3FN
Laurel Hill Valley CitizensS3LH
South University Neighborhood AssociationS3SU

Following up on the suggestion of a uniform numbering scheme by Gerry, KK7GAB during our debrief on September 24, 2022, here is a suggested list of abbreviations we might use on our ICS-213 forms as neighborhood hams. For example, in Northwest Santa Clara, the forms would be numbered NW-SC-001.

RegionNeighborhoodFullBrief
Northwest (NW)
Active Bethel CitizensNW-ABCNW-AB
Industrial Corridor Community OrganizationNW-ICCONW-IC
River Road Community OrganizationNW-RRCONW-RR
Santa Clara Community OrganizationNW-SCCONW-SC
Trainsong NeighborsNW-TNNW-TN
Northeast (NE)
Cal Young Neighborhood AssociationNE-CYNANE-CY
Goodpasture Island NeighborsNE-GINNE-GI
Harlow NeighborsNE-HNNE-HN
Northeast NeighborsNE-NNNE-NN
Southwest (SW)
Churchill Area NeighborsSW-CANSW-CA
Far West Neighborhood AssociationSW-FWNASW-FW
West Eugene Community OrganizationSW-WECOSW-WE
Southeast 1 (SE1)
Southeast NeighborsSE1-SNSE1-SN
Southwest Hills Neighborhood AssociationSE1-SHNASE1-SH
Southeast 2 (SE2)
Downtown Neighborhood AssociationSE2-DNASE2-DN
Friendly Area NeighborsSE2-FANSE2-FA
Jefferson Westside NeighborsSE2-JWNSE2-JW
West University NeighborsSE2-WUNSE2-WU
Whiteaker Community CouncilSE2-WCCSE2-WC
Southeast 3 (SE3)
Amazon Neighbors AssociationSE3-ANASE3-AN
Fairmount NeighborsSE3-FNSE3-FN
Laurel Hill Valley CitizensSE3-LHVCSE3-LH
South University Neighborhood AssociationSE3-SUNASE3-SU