Archive for the ‘Huntington Beach’ Tag
Who: Huntington Beach Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) team will demonstrate and practice their emergency radio communications skills in a nation-wide drill called “Field Day.” RACES (pronounced “RAY-sees”), is a program endorsed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC Part 97, Section 407), that uses trained amateur radio operators (Hams) during emergencies. Administered by the Fire Department, RACES members use their personal equipment and skills, and volunteer their time to provide this service at no cost to the City of Huntington Beach.
When: Saturday, June 27, 2015, at approximately 11 AM – 5 PM (RACES volunteers will participate 24 hours)
Where: PCH and Goldenwest on the bluffs.
What: During Field Day, amateur radio (HAM) operators from the US and Canada will practice their emergency communications skills over a 24 hour period with the goal of demonstrating portable and completely independent communications. The public and the news media are invited to observe and participate in the radio exercise.
During an emergency, normal lines of communications can fail leaving amateur radio communications as the only means to communicate. In addition, they support public events such as the Surf City Marathon and the 4th of July Parade, and participate in the National Weather Service weather spotter program. Ham radio is a public service as well as an international educational technical hobby. Whether it’s contacting someone across the street or across the globe, or even outer space, ham radio operators are ready to supply reliable communications when normal lines fail. Ham operators range from ordinary citizens to astronauts. There are 18 city RACES groups within Orange County, operated under their respective city and county public safety departments.
More information on the RACES Program, visit www.hbraces.org
I made some “reference videos” of a few completed Type 65 Coupes to get ideas for my build. There are also other cars shown in the videos.
I used my GoPro Hero3 on a homemade extension handle so I could “reach into” places I normally would not be able to get to. The handle was designed to be an extension for my camera tripod, for macro photography, and it is a little less than two feet long.
I will make a longer handle – maybe 6 or 10 feet – to capture different angles with the GoPro. I also have an idea to make a remote panning feature for the camera on the handle.
I hope to make the new handle in time for the Maker Faire coming soon.
Go to my YouTube channel, and take a look at the Factory Five Racing Cruise-In videos. . . .
Overcast skies and 10 percent chance of rain, after months of drought conditions….
The Pre-Party
A generous tradition started by David Hodgkins. Here is our host at the BBQ, working hard to feed all of the guests. I met one of the Car Warriors builders from the East Coast Team, Mark Stackler.
David Hodgkins, our generous host of the HB Cruise-In Pre-Party
Another guest at the Pre-Party was Scott Merrell of Coupe Connection. He talked about the 8-stack induction system fitted on a Ford Coyote engine. Very interesting, and I may use that engine in my next project car.
The Event
More gray skies, but no mention in the forecast of rain. As usual for me, my focus was to gather as much info about Coupes as possible, so I can apply these ideas into my car project.
Also as usual, I had to look at all the other Factory Five Racing kit cars on display.
I noticed more completed 33 Hot Rods this year and more Coupes.
Highlights of the Day
I met and discussed body and paint with Jeff “Da Bat” Miller in the early morning. He has probably put the final finish on hundreds of Factory Five Racing cars over the years. Da Bat was the Body and Paint expert for the West Coast team on the Car Warriors Factory Five Hot Rod challenge.
I was lucky to meet and hang out with Karen Salvaggio and Jo Coddington as we visited with the builders and the cars on display. Karen and Jo were two members of the five lady team on the “All Girls Build” episode on Power Nation. The other ladies were Nan Gelhard, Cherielynn Westrich and Courtnie Provencher.
Here’s a picture of Karen on the left with Jo on the right. And that’s Sue from Just Get Dirty Garage in the middle. Sally Bean, one of the behind the scenes people from Factory Five, is in the background, making sure things are going as planned…..
Factory Five Racing Ladies
Factory Five Racing president Dave Smith introduces Jo Coddington to the crowd.
Meeting Peter Brock, BRE Racing
Peter Brock, the body designer of the Daytona Coupe, came to Huntington Beach for this event. I have several of Peter’s historical posters on my walls, but I wanted to meet him in person. Peter is a nice guy, and he truly loves the Factory Five Racing version of the famous Ferrari-killer from 1965.
Factory Five Racing president Dave Smith (right) introducing Peter Brock to the Cruise-In crowd. There’s Mark Stackler in the background.
The Fastest Factory Five Racing Coupe in the World
On display was the SoFast Racing Factory Five Racing Type 65 Coupe. This kit car holds a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Allen Grant was there to sign autographs and display the car.
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The fastest Factory Five Racing Type 65 Coupe and land speed record holder.
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Watch this in-car video: Ride Along 200+ MPH Coupe at Bonneville
GoPro Videos
I made a few “walk around” videos with my new GoPro Hero 3. The footage is raw and needs some editing. I will post some after I do some editing.
Just as the event was ending, it started to rain. It was only a few minutes, but it managed to get stuff wet. I guess we can call it a California rainstorm. The local weather reports did not report any rainfall….
Here are some more pictures of this great annual event. Someday my Coupe will be there, too!
Attention Orange County, CA
Artists, Kids, Seniors and Anyone Else!
My friend Jack Knight announces the Egg Paint will once again be be taking place on Wednesday, April 1st at the Michael E. Rodgers Seniors’ Center located at 1706 Orange Avenue, Huntington Beach, CA 92648, from 12:30 – 3:30. This is a free, fun event and is open to all ages and is aimed at bringing together the young and old through the shared creative experience.
The 7th annual Factory Five Racing Cruise-In and Car show is next week! Come and see finished and almost finished classic cars – each one individually hand-built. The car show starts at 9AM and it is FREE.
Here is a video of what may have been the very last “Moment of Thunder” at the 2012 event. It is a slow pan showing some of the cars on display revving their engines all at once – a tribute to friends who are no longer with us: Roger Stine, Dick Smith, Robert Feddersen, Paul Mastroinni, and Andy Salvaggio.
The Moment of Thunder is much louder in person.
More details are posted on the Official Factory Five Racing website.
I will be there to see how others finished their Type 65 Coupe kits!
The past weekend was a busy one indeed. I made some time to participate in the microwave contest, dragging my rig out to the bluff overlooking the Bolsa Chica Wetlands and then to El Segundo. The 10 GHz and Up Contest is unique, since it spans over two weekends, the first part is in mid-August and the second part near the end of September. This gives participants a chance to fix broken rigs and continue to add points to their scores.
To be honest, I was not prepared for this contest. I did not have any roving plans, my Prius was not modified to supply my 7 watt 10 GHz rig with power and my mobile radio was not programmed with any of the liaison / coordination frequencies. However, I managed to have some fun testing out my homemade 10 GHz (X-band) rig.
I noticed something during the contest: I was afraid of killing the 12V battery on the Prius, so I left the car on and “ready” during the entire contest. I turned off the air conditioner and the courtesy light. As with normal operation, the gasoline engine will only run when it is needed to charge the system, including the 300V (or whatever voltage it is) traction battery.
Since the rig draws 10 amps in transmit, and transmitting a continuous signal for “beaconing” so that other stations can find me is a routine practice in microwave contesting, I was worried that something might happen to the Prius power system.
However, the car seemed to be fine, and the rig was happy to run under full DC power, producing a clean signal and no “unlock” condition. The engine did start up and ran for less than one or two minutes at a time, and the engine is so quiet, sometimes I did not notice it was on.
Using the Prius as a power system worked out so well that I will eliminate my spare battery idea and mount a power connector on the battery box lid so I can use the DC to power station equipment for the next contest. I have a 100 Ah gel cell battery in a big plastic box that I usually use for radio contesting, so it is independent from the car power system – but I discovered the battery was dead and was not holding a charge when preparing for the Disaster Expo – that is another story. . .
Since I operated from these two locations before, I don’t have too many pictures of these places, but these will give you some idea of what operating a rover station in the 10 GHz contest is like. Well, not really.
My un-official score for about 5 hours of operating time is:
1900 QSO Points + 3341 Distance Points = 5241 Final Score
Best DX is 217 km, when I worked K6NKC and KC6UQH in DM12rr (East San Diego County) from El Segundo, DM03tw
The most fun and challenging contact happened to be my last contact. It was a two-way CW contact with WA6JBD in DM14go (not sure where), from the El Segundo water tower location.
Of the 29 total contacts made, 19 were unique callsigns
Here are some pictures . . .
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The first stop – KH6WZ in DM03xq – Huntington Beach, CA
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Some human as well as four-legged visitors to the Huntington Beach location. Take a look at the FT-817 S-meter and notice how the N6CA beacon (Frazier Mt., DM04ms) is booming in.
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Battery jumper cables clipped onto the little 12V gel-cell in the back of the Prius supplied power to the station, which draws about 10 amps on transmit.
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I really need to do something about the operating position inside the Prius. Yaesu FT-60, old Garmin GPS and the log sheets thrown in the back of the car.
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This is the second of two stops on contest Sunday. El Segundo, DM03tw. This is the top of a parking structure for a park, for some reason I never took note of the name. It is easy to find, just look for the water tower.
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The KH6WZ station at DM03tw. The camping chair is more comfortable than it looks.
The disaster Preparedness Expo at the Huntington Beach Central Library on September 21 coincided with the Pacific Islander Festival Orange County. It was the 6th annual event…. I stopped to take some pictures and bought a t-shirt, but didn’t stay to watch the programs. There was plenty of exotic foods and displays.
The Huntington Beach events website said, “This fantastic event is meant to be spent among “friends”. The hospitality of the California’s island people originating from Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, Aotearoa, Northern Marianas, Belau, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Fiji, is undeniably alluring and enchanting, as you’ll see when you come to the free Polynesian fest. . . . ”
Looks like I should visit this event next year. Aloha.
Six active Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service – RACES – members were on-hand to meet and greet visitors to the Disaster Preparedness Expo on Saturday, September 21, 2013 at the Huntington Beach Central Library.
The RACES volunteers explained what the RACES group is and what we do for the City of Huntington Beach. Joe Tom, KB6JOE, brought his portable radio system, shown in some of the pictures. Wayne Yoshida, KH6WZ and Public Information Officer (PIO) for the RACES team, brought an Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) beacon, which transmitted the demonstration station location. A screen capture of the map can be seen below. The Expo location is indicated by the eye icon and the KH6WZ-5 callsign. The APRS message also points to the HB RACES website, www.hbraces.org/.
Screen capture of the APRS beacon information. The Disaster Preparedness Expo location is indicated by the callsign KH6WZ-5 as well as the eye icon.
The Disaster Preparedness Expo is an annual, free event where the City’s emergency services organizations educate the public about emergency preparedness and the possible disasters that can happen to the city of Huntington Beach, such as earthquakes and tsunamis. The Expo is also a demonstration and recruiting tool for emergency preparedness volunteer groups in the city.
Additional information about the event can be found on the Huntington Beach Events website.
HB RACES volunteers at the Emergency Expo
Ray Coulon WA6CTS
Mike Fitzgerald KE6WUO
Gary Labb KM6VC
Joe Tom KB6JOE
Jeff Turlis KE6BNS
Wayne Yoshida KH6WZ
Other Groups at the Expo
American Red Cross
FireMed
HB Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)
HB Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)
Huntington Beach Fire Department Urban Search & Rescue (USAR)
Huntington Beach Police Department
National Weather Service
Ready OC
Huntington Beach cable TV channel 3 was at the event, and shot plenty of video of the demonstrations and displays. Several of the event volunteers were interviewed and may appear on TV soon.
Here are some pictures of the event. . . .
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — On Saturday, June 22, 2013, from approximately 11 AM near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Goldenwest, a team of Huntington Beach Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) communications volunteers will demonstrate and practice their emergency radio communications skills in a nation-wide drill called “Field Day.” The goal of the drill is to contact as many other similar stations around the nation as possible in a 24 hour period.
During an emergency, normal lines of communication, including landline and wireless telephone systems, often become over-loaded. Ham radio volunteer groups such as RACES teams, step up to fill these communications gaps during a crisis.
Steve Graboff, MD, HB RACES Chief Radio Officer, said, “The HB RACES team participates in this national exercise every summer to make sure we are ready for an emergency, such as an earthquake, fire or flood.
“We use our personal equipment and volunteer our time to provide this service at no cost to the City. In addition to Field Day, we provide our radio communication skills to support public events such as the Surf City Marathon and the Independence Day parade and public safety events such as the National Weather Service weather spotter program,” Dr. Graboff added.
The public and the news media are invited to observe and even participate in the emergency communications exercise.
About City of Huntington Beach Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)
The Huntington Beach Fire Department Emergency Management and Homeland Security Office administers the RACES team. RACES (pronounced “RAY-sees”) is not a club, it is a volunteer group within a government agency. There are 18 city RACES groups within Orange County, operated under their respective city and county emergency management departments. To learn more about HB RACES, go to http://www.hbraces.org
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — April 27, 2013 — Huntington Beach Pier Plaza and Main Street were filled with car enthusiasts and their hand-built sport cars from 9 am to 4 pm today. This was the sixth annual Factory Five Racing Huntington Beach Cruise-In which included over 100 Factory Five Racing cars, each one custom hand-built. Other custom and street cars were also on display, and included a vintage Chevrolet Corvette, and Ford GT.
Factory Five Racing is located in Wareham, MA and currently offers five component car kits, the Mk4 Roadster, the Type 65 Coupe, a classic ’33 Hot Rod, the GTM Supercar and the newest model called Project 818. Pricing varies depending on the kit configuration and accessories and options. In addition to the kit, builders supply their own engine, transmission, wheels and tires and finish and paint.
Dave Smith, president of Factory Five Racing, is a hands-on guy, and is involved in every aspect of his company… and is the friendliest person you’ll ever meet. He loves talking about his – and our – cars, and Dave says every time he meets people at these gatherings, he learns something new from each builder.
More information is available on the Factory Five Racing website, www.factoryfive.com
My mission at this year’s event: To gather more information on the E-brake cable routing, look at paint color combinations and get some more ideas for dashboard layouts.
I had always planned on a white body/black or blue stripe Coupe, but after seeing these other paint jobs, I may change my mind. LED headlamps, cool-looking switch name plates, BRE side mirrors for the Coupe, honeycomb (hexagonal hole) screen for the side vents and other ideas are shown in these photos.
Thanks to everyone displaying and explaining and answering my questions about their cars today, and it was great to meet the Southern California – and other area – builders in person at this event.
Here are some random images from today . . .
Above – Dave Smith, Factory Five Racing president, telling another great car story. . . Karen Salvaggio, Thunder Valley Racing Owner (and driver of the Type 65 Coupe number 28), signing my “signature plate” that will be mounted on my Type 65 Coupe dashboard – this will fill that big blank spot nicely. Take a look at Karen’s website and her blog posts for more informaton on her team and the cars they race. www.thundervalleyracing.com and http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?346-Coupe-Challenge-Building-a-Legend
Anyone know what this hole is for on the Roadster exhaust?
wayneyoshidakh6wz 
