August 2025 Announcements

Changes in the ARRL Sacramento Section and Pacific Division

ARRL relies on volunteers who serve on our Board of Directors and as managers of the various programs and Field Organizations. The Sacramento Valley Section, along with our Pacific Division, has seen some of our volunteers assume new roles and responsibilities.

John Litz - NZ6Q - has accepted the appointment as our Pacific Division Director. John was previously serving as Vice Director for the Division and agreed to step into the Director position that recently became vacant.

Carol Milazzo - KP4MD - has accepted the appointment of Vice Director of our Pacific Division assuming John's former position.

Our Directors, supported by the Vice Directors, serve on the governing board of ARRL and guide the direction and future of the League.

Congratulations to both John and Carol on their new roles, and feel free to work with both of them on matters concerning the decisions of the Board.

I have accepted the position of Section Manager for the Sacramento Valley Section replacing Carol. I am stepping into big shoes previously filled by her, and I will rely on her advice as I settle into my new role. Carol will certainly be just as involved with local activities as she has always been.

You may have questions or need further answers after reading all of this, and we invite you to contact us. Me, John, Carol, and all of you are ARRL. We all work together for the benefit of our League and our hobby.

John Litz - Director, ARRL Pacific Division - NZ6Q@arrl.org

Carol Milazzo - Vice Director, ARRL Pacific Division - KP4MD@arrl.org

Jay Ballinger - Section Manager, ARRL Sacramento Valley Section  N6SAC@arrl.org

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ARRL Sacramento Valley Section
Section Manager: James R Ballinger, N6SAC
n6sac@arrl.org 

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See our ARRL Sacramento Valley website for photos and further details.

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Our Thursday evening, August 21, ARRL Sacramento Valley Section VHF and HF Nets will be conducted, first on the WD6AXM FM repeater on 146.085 MHz, then on 3880 kHz LSB +/- 3 kHz for QRM.

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August Operating Events:

Aug 2-3 - North American QSO Party CW
Aug 9-10 - Maryland-DC QSO Party
Aug 16-17 - ARRL EME Contest, ARRL 10 GHz & Up Contest, & North American QSO Party SSB
Aug 23-25 - HI QSO Party & OH QSO Party
Aug 30-31 - CO QSO Party & KS QSO Party

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 Amateur Radio Special Event Station K6C at the California State Fair!

The ARRL Sacramento Valley Section sponsored an Amateur Radio Exhibit and Special Event Station K6C at the July 11-27 California State Fair.

Thanks to all volunteer exhibitors, volunteer operators, and to all who participated in our successful promotion of Amateur Radio, the ARRL and our affiliated clubs to the general public.

Click to see our Special Event Webpage.  Our Facebook Event Page.

Special Edition QSL Card

To request our downloadable Special Edition QSL Card confirming your successful contacts with K6C, enter your correct QSO information on this webpage.  

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The Berryessa Amateur Radio Klub announces their repeater at Berryessa Peak has a new call sign:  K6BER.  The prior call KE6YUV has served from 1995 but had no relationship to the club.   All other details remain the same. For full details on the repeater and the club visit:  https://www.barkradio.org.  The repeater features an Early Morning Round-table chat net at 7:00 AM Monday through Friday.  All are welcome.

Bill Ragsdale K6KN 
BARK President

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Section Manager arrl.org Email Address.  Please address email for the Sacramento Valley Section Manager to n6sac@arrl.org  Thank you.

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2023 ARRL Pacificon Forum:
"Dealing with Intentional Interference"      

Intentional interference is increasingly reported in our section and elsewhere around the nation.  At the 2023 ARRL Pacificon Convention forum entitled "Dealing with Intentional Interference" ARRL and other amateur radio leadership presented and discussed resources and strategies to assist radio amateurs, clubs, groups and repeater owners in controlling this problem.  

Local direction finding (DF) teams have been organizing to collect evidence of these incidents. 
If you experience intentional interference, here below are several ways that you can immediately assist:

1. Dealing with a deliberate jammer is emotionally difficult. But if we’re to successfully get rid of them, everyone involved (and I do mean every single ham) must remain calm. We must also be patient, as it can take a while.

2. This may be the most important of all; do not attempt to engage with the jammer, or even acknowledge their presence. Although some of them may do what they do because they have a beef with the repeater owner, club, or another ham; most jammers do it for the same reason others engage in destructive behavior; to get attention. We must deny them that attention. So, control your anger and don’t tell them to stop, threaten them or even acknowledge that the interference is occurring.

3. If the level of interference allows it, continue with your QSO or net as if the interference was not there.
   If conversation is not possible, you may be able to QSY to an alternate frequency.  Otherwise, just sign off as if you’ve naturally finished and go radio silent until the jammer leaves. They may return when you do, so you’ll have to do this several times, until they get the message that they won’t get the satisfaction they’re looking for.

4. Do not discuss the jammer on the air, even when jamming is not present.  Understand that just one ham losing control and engaging with the jammer or acknowledging the interference, even in passing, is enough to undo the efforts of everyone else.

5. In case of repeater interference, each repeater owner has the ability--or should have the ability--to constantly monitor the repeater and if all else fails shut it down in instances of abuse.   Running a repeater is not much different than allowing access to your home base station by anyone who wants to use it.

6. Control operators can and should immediately disable the repeater when any illegal activity occurs, and keep it disabled until attempts at the illegal activity end. They can monitor the repeater’s input frequency for this.

7. You should report a repeater's failure to control intentional interference to the ARRL-FCC Volunteer Monitor (VM) program. 
   Collect and submit recordings of the interference marking the date, time and frequency as evidence. 
   The ARRL-FCC VM program has the resources to motivate owners to control their repeaters responsibly.

How To Report A Possible Violation to the ARRL-FCC VM Program

To report clear violations of FCC Part 97, particularly instances of unlicensed operation, repeated deliberate interference, and operation outside of a licensee’s authorized frequencies, send the report via email to Riley Hollingsworth (K4ZDH), ARRL Volunteer Monitor Administrator, at K4ZDH@arrl.net.

Important: include the following information in your report…

- Frequency (MHz) of incident:
- Time of incident (UTC):
- Date of incident:
- Call sign(s) of station(s) being reported:
  - If a repeater, call sign of repeater involved:
- Description of alleged incident being reported:
- Your full name (person submitting report)
- Your call sign:
- Your email address:
- Your phone number:

All reports will be acknowledged, reviewed, and the person submitting the report will receive a response as quickly as possible.

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