PSRG repeater fund grew by leaps and bounds recently thanks to a sharing of a $2,000 cash donation from Adobe Systems, Inc.  Mat Marcus, KV2N, a Seattle Auxiliary Communications Service volunteer and Adobe employee, applied for the donation under the company's Dollars for Doers program. Under this program, qualified non-profits and schools receive cash grants from Adobe to match time volunteered by employees. In 2006 Mat's volunteer efforts were spent mostly on Seattle amateur radio emergency communications, so the Dollars for Doers contribution went to the Western Washington Medical Service Team non-profit, for joint disposition by Mark Sheppard (Seattle ACS) and Marina Zuetell (WWMST)

Half of the grant money stayed with the WWMST group that supports amateur radio emergency communications needs of hospitals and major health care organizations. The other half of the Adobe grant was shared with the non-profit, Puget Sound Repeater Group with a One Thousand Dollar donation to the group's repeater fund drive. The Adobe gift will be used to help fund a replacement for PSRG's ailing, thirty year-old repeater used for training and support for amateur radio emergency communications for the City of Seattle.

In 2005 Mat was an Amateur Radio Emergency Communications volunteer in Mississippi for Hurricane Katrina relief.  That year he directed Adobe's Dollars for Doers contribution to the ARRL and the Red Cross. For more information, see http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/philanthropy/pdfs/adobe_community_final.pdf.

The Puget Sound Repeater Group's President, Will McCafferty, KD7WHQ, was elated with Mat Marcus donation of volunteer service that generated Adobe?s generous grant gift to help finance a new state of the art repeater. The new repeater will be placed at John Hay School, located on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, operating on the frequency of 146.96 MHz.  The PSRG repeater W7VHY is an open repeater that can be used by all licensed Ham Radio operators and is utilized by ACS on Monday evening at 7PM for a Check in, training and information Net and also uses the repeater Saturday morning at 10AM, for a Technical Training Net. In case of a disaster causing a communications failure to normal telecommunications channels in the City of Seattle, ACS and PSRG have a written memorandum of understanding to use the PSRG repeater on a priority basis to support backup emergency communications, by ACS Amateur Radio Volunteers, for city agencies.

At present the repeater fund drive has reached two thirds of the target goal of six thousand dollars according to Will McCafferty and the PSRG group is aiming for a replacement, operational date, in the first quarter of next year.

Seattle Auxiliary Communication?s director, Mark Sheppard, N7LYE, is urging members to help with financial donations to the PSRG repeater fund drive with whatever they can afford. "A donation to help purchase a new repeater will be a great advantage for our trained amateur radio volunteers to  assist the City in times of disasters with use of Ham Radio. It's a positive way to give back to the community," according to Sheppard.