MIRO Newsletter for MAY 2014 EMERGENCY PRACTICE NET REMINDER: Thursday, MAY 8th, 7:00 PM Charlie Kaminski KC7NDQ - NET CONTROL The net will be conducted on the VHF MIRO repeater frequency of 147.160+ MHz, with a CTCSS tone of 146.2 Hz. Check-in will be by region. After the VHF net check-ins are complete, the net will move to VHF Simplex on 147.440 MHz for a roll call of those who checked in on the VHF repeater. This time we will have cross-band capability in operation on First Hill, which should improve the ability to communicate on the Simplex frequency. In the event of a VHF repeater failure, the net will switch to the UHF repeater on 440.150+ MHz. MEETING NOTICE: Thursday, May 15th At the North Fire Station THE MEETING WILL START PROMPTLY AT 7:00 PM MIRO Meeting at the North Fire Station - This regular monthly meeting features Officer Jennifer Franklin KF7SHU with her report on Mercer Island Emergency Preparedness and the goals of the up-coming May 30, 2014 School Shooter exercise. NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS: News • High School Ham Club organized! Alex Banbury KE7WUD has been working hard with assistance from his father John Banbury AG7N to form a high school ham club. It has been started and even been on the air under the direction of Alex. Hearty congratulations Alex! Please call on any of your fellow MIRO members for assistance when you need it. • Social Net Reminder – Every Friday at 12 Noon on the VHF repeater a social net for practice and chat. The more the merrier! This is an opportunity for new hams to practice, un-licensed potential hams to participate under supervision of a licensed ham and the rest of us to stay in touch. Upcoming Events: • Thursday, Jun 19th, 7 - 8:30 PM: MIRO Meeting at the North Fire Station - This regular monthly meeting will focus on the Luther Burbank Park, June 28th & 29th ARRL Field Day plans. This will be a joint effort between Boeing Employees Amateur Radio Society (BEARS) and MIRO and will be an opportunity to see hams in operation. While the stations being operated by the BEARS and experienced MIRO HF operators are in a contest to make the most contacts, MIRO will be operating a GOTA station that will provide an opportunity for our inexperienced HF operators to make contacts. It will also be a MIRO April 2013 Newsletter Page 2 station that non-licensed people can make their first calls on amateur radio frequencies under the supervision of a licensed operator. We will be setting up a rotation schedule to support the GOTA station. In addition we will be inviting our City Council members, Mercer Island officials and legislative representatives to visit. Having MIRO members to accompany them and explain what is happening will be critical. We will need several members to act as knowledgeable guides. • Saturday July 12th & 13th: Mercer Island’s 24th Annual Community Festival 10 AM Saturday Parade MIRO members will march in the parade with the Emergency Service Community Volunteers lead by Officer Jennifer Franklin. This is always a fun event and an opportunity to be waved to and thanked by the people of Mercer Island. Sat & Sun 10 AM – 5 PM MIRO BOOTH next to MI POLICE DEPT BOOTH Following the parade the MIRO booth will be in operation next to the City Emergency Preparedness booth. David Uhler W7DDU will be organizing the setup, shifts and teardown of the booth. He will be in contact with all our members for shift signups. We intend to have a radio set up in the booth so people interested in becoming hams have the opportunity to use a radio. We will have need for people to monitor the VHF repeater to be able to respond to these aspiring hams. If you are willing to monitor you can avoid booth duty! MIRO March Activity Report: During April 2014, 22 MIRO members put in a total of 111 hours of volunteer time in support of 14 public service events and 5 nets. They drove 251 miles in support of these activities. We currently have 54 active members. MIRO MEMBER PROFILE DALE BRETSCHNEIDER KE7CGC Dale Bretschneider got his ham license November 11, 2004 having retired with the rank of Captain from a 26-year career as a Commissioned Officer with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. During our island emergency preparedness earthquake drills you will usually find Dale on Well Operations Duty at the Emergency Well. He enjoys the operational and mechanical nature of the well operation and with his handheld radio; he is able to coordinate well operations with net control and EOC as necessary. Retirement has not slowed Dale at all. He served 4 years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Seattle Aquarium and 5 years as a member of the Eagle Scout Selection Board for the Cascade Chapter of the Boy Scouts of America. He has also served the last 6 years as co-skipper of the Sea Scout Ship PROPELLER, a 65-foot former US Army T-boat and former UW Research Vessel ONAR. Their goal is to teach leadership and seamanship skills to young men and women through underway activities aboard the vessel. He also serves as a member of the board of the Spirit of PROPELLER, which provides funding and other support for the underway program. MIRO April 2013 Newsletter Page 3 Dale got his start in life near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in 1950. His father, certified as an Army radial aircraft engine mechanic, had joined the Yale Lock Company as a machinist. Five years later his father started his own Automatic Screw Machine shop in the East Bay and the family moved to a new home in San Leandro, just south of Oakland, CA. There Dale grew up gardening rhubarb, lettuce, tomatoes, beans and other veggies using irrigation from a well that he learned to maintain and operate. His family also had a cruiser and ski boat that they moored at Bethel Island in the San Joaquin River Delta on the route from San Francisco Bay to Stockton, the country’s furthest inland deep-water sea-port. Dale just had his 45th high school reunion with his San Leandro High School class of ’68. His comment, though, was that his K-8th grade class reunion was even better. Many of his closest friends date back to his elementary school in which they were the first Kindergarten class. As he finished high school, a favorite teacher advised him to “choose something you enjoy” as your career. He has always enjoyed learning about the ocean and the rivers that feed it, so decided to study Oceanography in college. He chose to attend Humboldt State University in Arcata, California on the Humboldt Bay where he was able to do research aboard the R/V CATALYST, a 110-foot ex-USCG buoy tender used for training and research by the University. Several years after graduating in 1972 with a degree in oceanography, Dale was offered a commission by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by participating in an intensive 4 month, 7 day a week, officer-training program at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York. Much of his time was spent on the 140-foot T/V KINGS POINTER, an ex-Navy salvage tug, steaming the nearby Long Island Sound and the Hudson River. There he learned the intricacies of radar, navigation, piloting, celestial navigation, damage control, bridge management and ship handling. He had everything for a mate’s license except the sea time. Sea time was acquired aboard NOAA’s Miami based 285-foot deep ocean research vessel, RESEARCHER, where he served as Navigation Officer and bridge watch stander for several years as the ship conducted multi-disciplinary ocean research in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. After Dale was certain that he had a career developing, he married Candy, who he had met when they were students at Humboldt State. Candy was working with Matson Steamship Company in Oakland at the time they were married. After completing his sea tour, Dale rotated to shore duty as a Research Oceanographer at NOAA’s Pacific Fisheries Environmental Group in Monterey, CA, in a Fish Biology Research role. The group was co-located with the U. S. Navy Fleet Numerical Weather Center and the NOAA group focused on using meteorological and oceanographic observations in the prediction of fishery population changes. While working at PFEG he also attending the U.S. Navy Post Graduate school to earn a Masters degree in Physical Oceanography. Returning to sea duty in ’80 he reported to the building crew of the 127-foot NOAA Ship CHAPMAN, a state of the art crabber trawler, being built in Mobile, Alabama and destined to work out of Dutch Harbor and Kodiak, Alaska. As Operations and later, Execu- MIRO April 2013 Newsletter Page 4 tive Officer, the crew took the ship out of the builders dock, through the Panama Canal, up the coast to Seattle for further outfitting and finally on to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands where they conducted king crab/cod/shrimp/Pollock fishing for monitoring and fishery assessments. The ship’s primary mission was to conduct the annual Bering Sea summer king crab survey. Data from that survey was used to help set the next season’s king crab quota. Dale and Candy settled on Mercer Island in 1980, coincident with his assignment to Chapman, which was based out of NOAA’s Lake Union Marine Facility. Dale returned to shore duty in 1982 working with NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) as a research oceanographer studying current flow in the Puget Sound. While there, Dale was accepted to the UW Ph.D. program in Oceanography with the goal of using the current/salinity/temperature data from PMEL’s Puget Sound Research Program as the basis for his thesis. Sea duty again called so he was not able to complete the program. He went back to sea as Executive Officer of 163-foot NOAA Townsend Cromwell based in Honolulu, HI. The ship supported research programs on Midway Island, French Frigate Shoals and in the South Pacific near Tahiti and the Cook Islands with a variety of studies of Monk Seals, Laysan Duck and Laysan Albatross, lobster, shrimp, swordfish, Yellowfin and Albacore Tuna. 1988 found Dale returning to shore in the Washington D.C. Office of Naval Research (ONR) as NOAA’s Science Liaison. He served as program manager for several major ocean research programs intended to sharpen the prediction capabilities of existing oceanographic and meteorological models by funding research on a variety of cutting edge mathematical and data integration advances. In 1992, Dale managed to once again be assigned to Honolulu and the NOAA Townsend Cromwell, this time as Commanding Officer. He and Candy moved to a waterfront condo near Diamond Head on Oahu. Candy enjoyed Hawaii life while Dale was out to sea and Dale enjoyed supporting the field camps located on the remote reefs and atolls in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and supporting fisheries research off the main islands. In 1994, Dale and Candy moved back to Seattle where he served as Deputy Director of the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory until his retirement in 2000. Candy and Dale have one son, Sean who graduated from Mercer Island High School in 1988 and attended Veterinary School at Oregon State and Washington State University. Candy has also had an interesting and challenging career as a logistics executive starting with Matson Steamship Lines and following to a number of Northwest companies including Global Logistics Manager for Microsoft, Director of Logistics for Nordstrom, Director of Logistics for T-Mobile and now Global Logistics Manager for Terex Corporation. KE7CGC, we’re looking to you and the Well Operations Team to keep the Well Water flowing in the event of an emergency on Mercer Island. Well done and thanks for your service. MIRO April 2013 Newsletter Page 5 USEFUL INFORMATION – thanks to Lynn Burlingame N7CFO: Ham-fairs and other upcoming ham events calendar http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm Licensing training classes and examinations http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/cls&ve.htm REMINDERS: Please Report Your Activities by signing in to your account on the http://mirohams.org website. Any time you spend in MIRO and EMAC volunteer activities including community event coordination, CERT training, or even working on your ham radio communication capability should be reported. These service hours are aggregated through the ARES and ARRL to be reported to the FCC and used to encourage legislation and regulation that continues to support the amateur radio community and local emergency preparedness. MIRO Business Meeting Reminder: The recurring business meeting is the last Tuesday of every month at the EOC radio room at City Hall from 9:15am (after CEMNET) to 10:15am. MIROHams.org Website. The http://mirohams.org website is the primary source of information for the MIRO group. If you have any difficulty with the sign-up process, please contact Dave Cook at [email protected] for additional instructions and assistance. 73, Woody Howse – K7EDH, MIRO Volunteer Chairman Phone: 206-849-5370 E-mail: [email protected]
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