Welcome to the Colorado ARES® District 24 web site
This web site is dedicated to the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) for Douglas and Elbert Counties in Colorado also know as Colorado ARES District 24. We are a group of well trained volunteers that assist in providing communications in emergency situations to agencies like the Sheriff's office, Fire department, Hospitals and others. Please use the navigation buttons on the left to navigate our website. Thanks for visiting.
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NVIS Workshop on October 25th 2008 |
| On October 25th 2008, several members of our group participated in the NVIS. Near Vertical Incidence Skywave, or NVIS, is a radio-wave propagation method that provides usable signals in the range between groundwave and skywave distances (usually 30 to 400 miles, or 50 to 650 km). It is used mainly for military and paramilitary communications and by radio amateurs.
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| The radio waves travel upwards into the ionosphere, where they are refracted back down and can be received within a circular region up to 400 miles or 650 km from the transmitter. If the frequency is too high, refraction fails to occur and if it is too low, absorption reduces the signal strength. We had several antenna types in use. A setup with two 80/75m HamSticks in a dipole arrangement, a slinky antenna (quite literally, two slinky springs, one for each leg of the dipole), a full size wire dipole and a Buddipole setup using hamsticks and telescoping whips. We made several contacts around the state and experimented with the various antennas and with using reflector wires that we put on the ground underneath the antennas. Thanks to everyone who came out to experiment |
The D24 calendar
Please keep your eye on this website for possible changes. Click on the 'Google Calendar' icon inside the calendar to see a larger version. Click on the events on the calendar to see details.
Regular activities
If you'd like to join us, you
may do so online by clicking here, or join us during our weekly VHF net (see 'Upcoming events' section).
There is a Colorado ARES® District 24 meeting on the air every Thursday evening at 8:00 PM
local time, except during face-to-face meetings or major national holidays. The nets are being held on the 147.225 MHz repeater (107.2Hz tone). The fourth Thursday of every month (see 'The D24 Calendar' section) is usually reserved for a face-to-face meeting. All Amateurs are welcome
to join us during the VHF net or face-to-face events. You do not have to be a member or hold an amateur radio license to participate in the nets or face-to-face meetings. You can ask another licensed ham to be the control operator so you can participate in the net without a license. ARES District 24 teaches ham radio classes from time to time and administers exams every two months so you can get your license and/or upgrade to a higher class of license. All visitors are welcome.
The backup frequency in case of primary repeater unavailability is
145.145MHz (107.2Hz tone). These repeaters are owned by the Colorado Repeater Association (CRA), which graciously allows us use of their
repeaters. To find out more about the CRA, click here.
If you frequently use the CRA repeaters, please consider becoming a member to support the great work they do.
If you have contributions, feedback or corrections for our web site, please send an email to
. Copyright (c) 2008, Colorado ARES® District 24. 'ARES' and 'Amateur Radio Emergency Service' are registered trademarks of the American Radio Relay League, Inc and are used by permission.
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