---------------------- OHIO ARES REPORT FOR
JANUARY, 2008 -------------------------------
From my desk to your shack, many wishes for a
prosperous and safe 2008!
Let's start the first Ohio ARES notes for the
year with a report from December 2007 activities:
------------------ Form FSD-96 for December 2007, as submitted to the league ------------
Calls of DECs/ECs reporting: K8ARL/DEC
(District 1); K8FRS/DEC (District 2); W8ILC/DEC (District 3); N8TVU/DEC (District 4),
KB8WPZ/DEC (District 5); KC8GNL/DEC (District 6); N8WL/DEC (District 7); N8SUZ/DEC
(District 8)
Number of drills, tests and training sessions
this month: 593 Person hours 3936
Number of public service events this month: 20
Person
hours 290
Number of emergency operations this month: 3
Person
hours 32
Total number of ARES operations this month: 616 Total Person hours 4258
REPORTS FROM DISTRICTS:
DISTRICT 1
Cuyahoga County - No EC / Managed by DEC
This county is under reorganization process.
The DEC is taking applications for ARES membership and is managing the day-to-day affairs
of the county. He is also taking any applications or suggestions for Emergency Coordinator
to pass on to the SEC.
Erie County - Bob Heim K8HLH EC
Two hours are spent each month at the EMA
testing radios and catching up with the past month\'s activities with the EMA director.
Hancock County - Bill Davis N8PTJ EC
Slow month due to holidays.
Huron County - Steve Buss KG8BT EC
No additional comments.
Lorain County - Brian Hellinger N8VUB EC
No report sent.
Lucas County - Bill Sido WN8RUG EC
No additional comments.
Ottawa County - Vincent Vassello KB8TEP EC
This county is in under a reorganization plan
to select a new EC. The current EC will remain as an AEC to coordinate activities with the
Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant in Port Clinton which host a backbone link for the Skywarn
reporting system into the National Weather Service in Cleveland.
Sandusky County - Dave Gierhart W8DAG EC
Winter weather standby nets were held on
December 8, 9 & 15. They are similar to summer weather nets for watches and warnings.
Sandusky and surrounding counties were under level 3 snow emergencies declared by the
county sheriffs on December 15th. This means driving is prohibited due to extreme winter
weather conditions. We monitored our repeater for stranded motorist reports and forwarded
weather conditions to the Cleveland, Ohio National Weather Service.
The National Weather Service in Cleveland held
a multi county telephone conference call with public safety officials on both days prior
to the major winter storm on December 15. The Sandusky County EMA director notified us and
our EC and Skywarn Coordinator participated. This is an excellent example of the
cooperation between ARES and local officials.
Seneca County - Mike Klaiss KC8BUJ EC
5 Weekly Nets
1 SIMPLEX Net
1 Ohio Section ARES Admin Net
2 NTS traffic passed on our weekly nets
Wood County - Bob Schumann W8NYY EC
WCARES met this month with Wood County EMA
Director and a training session was conducted on the use of Ohio's Multi-Agency Radio
Communication System (MARCS) radios. MARCS is a statewide 800 MHz analog / digital trunked
system. Our MARCS radio is maintained in a Pelican case and is now a useful tool kept in
the Wood County ARES trailer.
Northwest Ohio ARES Traffic & Training Net - Colleen Roth N8TNV Net Manager
QNI 420 / QTC 127 / QTR 644 in 31 sessions.
Operator-hours 159.
From the DEC Karl Erbland K8ARL
The past year saw the district re-organized and
several new ECs selected. Our district Skywarn also saw changes with several appointments
to the position of county Skywarn coordinator and the District Skywarn Net Manager.
New ARES relationships were forged with served
agencies including the Northwest Ohio Regional Medical Response System (RMRS) which is a
collaboration of hospitals, health departments, emergency management agencies and ARES.
RMRS covers an 18-county area corresponding to Ohio Homeland Security District One and
Ohio ARES Districts 1 and 2. Several Amateur Radio licensees serve on the communications
committee including ECs, Assistant ECs and DECs.
One accomplishment of the RMRS association in
2007 was the purchase of equipment to establish a district wide (18 counties) multi-level
notification / warning system for all RMRS participants. Additional programs are being
completed to equip the RMRS area with emergency communications systems including
HF/VHF/UHF Amateur Radio and commercial HF equipment. Amateur Radio plays a large role in
the planning and implementation of the district-wide communications plan.
DISTRICT 2
Allen County (Jon Solomon W8TY)
The Red Cross tower project is started. The
first 20 ft of tower is set and base concreted. All antennas, feed line and hardware are
ready forinstallation. Ohio weather is now the determining factor for completion.
RACES is in the planning stages and more
information will be available as the county program is developed.
Auglaize County (Mike Nagel WD8LLN)
Nothing new to report.
Defiance County
A search for an Emergency Coordinator is being
conducted. The DEC is taking A.R.E.S. applications directly during the
search.
Fulton County
Congratulations to Bryan Patterson KB8ELG who
has been appointed as the new EC in Fulton County.
Henry County (Terry Huston W8FK)
Nothing to report this month
Mercer County
A search for an Emergency Coordinator is being
conducted. The DEC is taking A.R.E.S. applications directly during the
search.
Putnam County (Tom Gray N8PCO)
Nothing to report
DISTRICT 3
Greene County will have Weather Spotting
Training on Feb 7,2008. Various meetings throughout Greene County with Agencies.
Miami County set up a Phone call up list for
all ARES Amateurs with e-Mail also.
Montgomery County getting MOUs in order.
District 3 meeting set for Jan 19th,with Health
Dept presenting up coming drill.
DISTRICT 4
Counties reporting: Adams, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, and Highland.
Counties not reporting for December: Brown
& Warren.
The main public service event in December is
the Lebanon Carriage Parade with over 120 entries this year, the event runs at 13:00 Hrs
and again at 1900 Hrs.
For anyone who has not yet experienced the
event, plan of visiting the night time parade when all the carriages, rigs and horses are
fully decorated with lights!
The big attractions are the draft horse and
Clydesdale's that run in teams of 2-4-6 and 8.
Amateur radio is scattered throughout the
entire parade route at intersections and major turns to report "unsafe"
conditions and to report any disturbances or unruly attendee's to net control. which in
turns notifies the proper authorities.
DISTRICT 5
Tuscawares Co: Journal of the Air. 5 nets a
whopping 1492 Hours.
Ashtabula Working with Lake County on Gaining
knowledge on EOC operations. Joint excersize planned for 08.
Summit: Weekly Nets.
Lake: Weekly Tri-County Traffic Net.
Mahoning: ARES/Skywarn monthly training Net.
Portage: Weekly Nets.
DISTRICT 6
Richland Co was on a stand by during the
possible snow storm on 12/15 & 16 for both the EMA & Local hospital
I attended Ashland's meeting last evening and they have a new EMA director that is very pro amateur radio!!
On December 27th the MARION ARES group
conducted a training net using 146.46 MHz simplex. The purpose was to test how well we could
communicate from various areas of the county without the aid of our repeaters. We had over 21 check ins including several from
surrounding counties with very encouraging results. The EOC station was the Marion Amateur
Radio Club station located at the Marion County Fairgrounds.
The results were very positive as we were able to cover the entire county as
well as areas outside the county using simplex and in several cases only handhelds. In the
very near future we will be conducting similar tests from each township fire station and
designated shelters throughout the county.
Improvements to our two repeaters continue with
the addition of receiver preamp on the 146.895 MHz repeater and installation of a battery
back up system on the 147.30 system.
We have established a two meter station at the
Marion County Sheriff Office located in their communication center and will be installing
a new Diamond antenna on their tower. This station will be used as an EOC if needed and
requested by the Sheriff.
We met with the new Marion Salvation Army
officials and will be establishing plans to work with them in the future.
Our members logged a total of 171 volunteer
hours maintaining communication and security for the Marion County Fair Board during their
Christmas Light display during December. This involved point to point communication via
two meter mobile stations using both the repeaters and simplex frequencies.
DISTRICT 7
Delaware County:
To everyone from the Delaware ARES a Happy and prosperous New Year in 2008.
Congratulations to the new and recent E.C.\'s
in District 7.
Logan County:
Due to the close proximity of the Christmas
season our regular monthly meeting was canceled.
No weather related events occurred. Our Echolink system was down twice during the month, requiring a
physical re-set to bring it back into operation.
DISTRICT 8
Ross comments:
One of my members KD8FJH attended Advanced
Storm Spotting Class in Jackson.
Gallia comments:
The highlight of our month's activities was our
SET exercise on December 8. Eight ARES members, our Deputy Sheriff Road Patrol Supervisor,
Safety Officer for Gallipolis Fire Department, County Health Dept. Representative, and EMA
Director (also an ARES member)participated in a "Missing Person" table top
exercise with emphasis on following operating procedures and passing traffic.In addition our ARES planning committee held
their monthly meeting; three ARES members
participated in our local radio club meeting; and two ARES members were guests at the
Mason Co. WVa LEPC meeting.
Hocking comments:
On behalf of all club members in Hocking County
I would like to wish you all a very healthy, happy and prosperous new year!
Athens comments:
Athens County ARA (ACARA) Technician license
class on Mondays, January 14 through March 17 (VE session).
No charge for course. Books $19.
VE session fee $14. Possible General prep
class in spring to follow up.
Sunday Creek Amateur Radio Federation (SCARF) hamfest Sunday, January 20, 8-1, Tri-County Career Center, SR 691, Nelsonville. VE session noon.
DEC comments:
Recruiting EC replacements for Athens, Meigs,
Perry and Lawrence.
END OF DISTRICT REPORTS
ANNUAL EC AND SET REPORTS DUE JAN
31st
Just a reminder that your annual ARES EC and
SET (if your ARES group conducted an SET) are due to the league by Jan 31st. Forms are
available directly from the Ohio ARES website, under "Reporting Forms". Please
be sure to copy your DEC, as well as myself on the completed forms. If you want to E-mail
the forms to the ARRL, you may send them to Steve Ewald, WV1X at wv1x@arrl.org
OHIO SECTION EMERGENCY COORDINATOR
GUIDELINES ISSUED IN DECEMBER
A mass e-mail of the new EC Guidelines went out
right before Christmas. If you need to download a missing copy, you will find it on the
Ohio ARES website under "Reference Materials". Guidelines for the DEC position
will be published shortly.
The guidelines were created as a request from
Section Manager Joe Phillips, K8QOE, to provide a way to give uniform guidance to the EC
and DEC positions. We hope you find the document useful.
OHIO ARES CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD
MARCH 29, 2008
The annual ARES conference for the Ohio Section
will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2008. The venue will once again be the Ohio Fire
Academy, 8895 East Main Street in Reynoldsburg. This is where we held the meeting last
year for those who attended. The conference will start at 9:00am, and conclude at 3:00pm.
Since last year was the first conference I had ever organized, I have taken the notes from
last year, and will make this year even better. The agenda is in early development stages.
If you have a suggestion for a topic, or guest speaker, please send the suggestions my
way. This conference is for You, the ARES leader and volunteer. More information will be
coming on the Ohio ARES website.
OHIO ARES WEBSITE GETS FACE LIFT
Okay, the past three articles mention the
website. I have done some housekeeping and furniture arranging on the site, and I think it
has a better flow to be able to find things. Look for more items to come soon, as forums
and maybe even a blog. Stay Tuned! Make sure to visit the site at www.ohioares.org
EC POSITIONS NEEDING FILLED
We still have openings for EC in the following
counties: Athens, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Defiance, Holmes, Meigs, Mercer, Morgan,
Muskingum, Ottawa, and Paulding, If you are interested in an EC appointment, please
contact me.
NIMS and SKYWARN TRAINING
We still need to be aggressive in obtaining our
NIMS (National Incident Management System) training. Base courses that should be taken are
FEMA IS-100, 200, 700 and 800. Links are provided on the Ohio ARES website under
"Training". These classes are free, and self study at your own pace. I know of
many ARES groups that are hosting the classes in group settings. I ask that if your group
is doing such activities, to open your classes up to other ARES groups in your district,
and invite them to join in as well.
As I write this, we have had tornadoes in the
Midwest, and some pretty severe weather in Ohio this past week. Please look for your local
Skywarn Training being offered in your counties this spring, and get involved in helping
the National Weather Service by being a TRAINED weather spotter (not a storm chaser!). The
ARRL has an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support the National Weather Service in
their Skywarn operations. Let's all be part of the winning team this spring.
SO WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE RED
CROSS MOU?
Don't you just love the way I segway from one
subject into another? I wish I had an answer for this one. Without getting on a soapbox, I
have been seeking to find any and all information about our existing MOU, which expired
Mid-September of 2007. From what I know, after e-mails to Dennis Dura, K2DCD (ARRL
Emergency Communications Manager), and reading the ARRL Executive Board minutes of October
6th, 2007, is that we still have no new MOU to operate under, but are keeping
communications open with the National Red Cross. According to Mr. Dura, we should maintain
operations under the expired MOU until further notice, in order to avoid any problems that
might arise in the event of our services being requested by the national Red Cross.
CHANGES IN ARRL EMCOMM FIELD TESTING
In an e-mail that was sent out by Debra Johnson
of the ARRL, the following changes are taking place in field based classes and testing for
the ARECC EmComm classes. A few changes have been made:
1.) The fee for hosting classroom based
instruction has been eliminated. There had been a required classroom fee of $20 ($50 for
Non-ARRL members).
2.) New testing booklets for field exams were
distributed January 1, 2008 for all three levels of EmComm testing.
3.) Field exam fees are now $14.00.
4.) Open book testing and extra notes ARE NO
LONGER PERMITTED IN FIELD TESTING.
After reading the e-mail, I questioned Ms.
Johnson on item 4. Since those who take the class on-line, and also take the final exams
on-line may use reference materials, why are the field based examinees denied this? The
answer I received from Ms. Johnson was this:
"Frank,
The on-line version of the course requires completion of activities and dialog with a mentor. There are unit tests that reinforce the material that needs to be completed after each learning unit which expose the student to all of the possible exam questions. This assures that the student has engaged with the content of the course even though he or she may take the final assessment with notes open.
By requiring that the student who takes a field exam to take an exam without notes we are requiring a level of “digestion” of the material—some thought and understanding and engagement with the course material. We also want to prevent what we hear is sometimes happening in the field where students are taking marked up answer sheets or manuals into an exam session that have been passed along to them by others. They are completing the exam with little exposure to or understanding of the course content.
I hope this helps to answer your concern.
73,
Debra"
While I understand clamping down on those who
brought in marked up answer sheets (and shame on you if you did that!), my concern is for
those who do not have access to computers or the internet, and still want to take and test
this material. While I disagree with the ARRL on this matter, it is their program, and
their rules. I just want everyone to be aware of the changes.
OHIO ARES ADMIN NET CONTINUES
We're still holding the Ohio ARES Admin net on
the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month for January. I am looking at the possibility of
moving the net to another day/time to take advantage of better conditions, and to avoid
QRM from our fellow AM enthusiasts. Keep an eye on the Ohio ARES Website for any changes.
An e-mail will also be sent if any changes are made.
WHERE WILL I BE?
Hamfests are starting.. and the open road is calling....
Jan 20th - Either the TUSCO Hamfest in
Strasburg -or- The Sunday Creek ARF Hamfest in Nelsonville (depends on which craft shops
Jackie wants to go to this year...)
Feb 10th - Mansfield Mid-Winter Hamfest
Mar 29th - Ohio ARES Conference - Reynoldsburg, OH
73!
Frank Piper KI8GW
ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator - Ohio Section