Week 37 Notes..

Ohio SEC Notes & Stuff - Week 37 - 2013
For public distribution.  Please forward as appropriate.
Ohio Digital Emergency Net (OHDEN)  Tues at 8PM. 3585 kHz and 7072 kHz  Upper Side Band.
Ohio HF Net by W8SGT.  Tues at 7PM on 3875 kHz and 7240 kHz Lower Side Band.
Preparedness Leads to Readiness

Please note there was not a Week 36 edition of Ohio SEC Notes & Stuff.

Greetings and salutations from the Northeast corner of the Buckeye State.  My name is Matt Welch and I approve this message.  Ohio SEC Notes & Stuff is brought to you by the letters E, M, A, I, and L.  ;-)

~~HOT~~ All Ohio ARES Conference update!!!  Thanks to our illustrious Ohio Section Manager, Frank KI8GW, we now have a keynote speaker from ARRL Headquarters!  The guest speaker emailed me today asking for details.  After several exchanges, he and I are looking forward to joining us at the All Ohio ARES Conference.  So just to bring you up to speed...the conference has been blessed by the Ohio Section Manager, Great Lakes Division Director, and the ARRL Board of Directors!  And now we have a keynote speaker!  Not to mention, we're going to have the best go box display and emcomm vehicle/trailer display this Section has ever seen!  Listen, if you're not coming to this conference, I am afraid you will be missing out on a great time!  All participants are asked to register online at http://www.arrl-ohio.org/SEC/default.html.  By the way, with the All Ohio ARES Conference being a specialty convention, we're eligible for ARRL gift certificates as door prizes.  Just another reason to come join us for one of the best conferences the Ohio Section has to offer.

Whoever said, "Amateur radio is dying" has no clue what they're talking about.  I had a great time working Ohio QSO Party with the Geauga Amateur Radio Association a week ago.  We even worked Maui and Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian QSO Party too.  Ohio State Parks on the Air was fun with the Warren Amateur Radio Association at Mosquito Lake State Park last weekend.  We worked some of the Indiana State Parks contest too.  Not to mention I've been working some of the Route 66 Contest and special event stations from home.  I am not a contester or dx'er but I sure do enjoy both.

I am traveling to the Toledo Mobile Radio Association (TMRA) on Wednesday, September 11th, for an SEC visit.  I will be providing an overview of ARES activities in the Ohio Section and providing a short briefing on the Statewide Simulated Emergency Test and All Ohio ARES Conference.  If you are a past, present, or future ARES member in Northwest Ohio, this is the meeting to attend!  Check out www.tmrahamradio.org for details.

Ashtabula County ARES in District 10 will be conducting a fun training exercise using NVIS and portable antennas on Saturday, September 21st from Noon to 5PM local time.  All county ARES teams are encouraged to participate. This 5 hour event is a great time to practice setting up portable antennas, getting on the air, learn about radiation patterns, propagation, and how to operate your equipment.  Not to mention, it's quite a bit of fun. This is a favorite in Ashtabula County.  Make it a favorite event in your county.  This event is not just for Ohio ARES.  ARES volunteers from anywhere are welcome to participate.  Contact Ashtabula County ARES at ash_ares@yahoo.com for more information.

Come out and support the Cleveland Hamfest on Sunday, September 22nd at Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds in Berea, Ohio.  www.hac.org for details.  Doors open to patrons at 8AM.  9AM is the ARES Forum.  10AM is a forum on the Amateur Radio Promotion Project.  11AM is the ARRL Forum.  12 Noon is the Annual ARES Tenth District Go Box Contest.  The contest has always been a favorite.  Bring your Go-Box for display and you might just win.  You're never going to win if you do not take a chance on entering.

The The Ohio Section ARES Membership Drive is off to a great start.  Keep up the good work recruiting volunteers!

EMCOMM EAST www.emcommeast.org is coming up on Sunday, September 29th at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY.  This is my fourth year teaching at this conference.  This year I am teaching about ARES & Fun Activities - Keeping the Spirit Alive!  ASEC Mark KB8YMN, PIO Jackie N8JMW, and I are traveling to the conference.  There's still room for more if anyone is interested.  I am hoping to see a much larger Ohio contingent this year.  It's always a fun time.  Contact me if you're interested in traveling with us.

Training.

I think it's about time for a refresher on radio basic training.  This week we'll start with tactical call signs.

Tactical call signs are typically used in times of emergency/disaster and public service events.  Some amateur radio team leaders use them regularly and some do not use them enough.  I will tell you they are a great tool for any event.  They are clear, concise, and to the point.  They rarely ever change.  Net Control is a tactical call sign.  Water Stop 2 is a tactical call sign.  Mobile 1 is a tactical call sign.  Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is a tactical call sign. Some tactical call signs are referred to by their geographic location such as a street name.  The neat thing about the tactical call sign is the station will be the same but the operator may change several times during an event.  For instance, when I was at Hurricane Katrina, one of the places I was stationed was the Hancock County EOC.  Tactical call sign was Stennis.  Reason being the EOC was located at Stennis High School.  Each of the Points of Distribution (PODs) were also assigned a tactical call sign such as McDonald Field or Waveland.  All these locations had several operators during Hurricane Katrina.  But the tactical call sign remained the same regardless of who was operating the station.

Meeting FCC requirements. 

Your amateur call sign should be used at the end of an exchange or every ten minutes to satisfy FCC regulation 97.119. This is easily satisfied by terminating an exchange with your tactical call sign plus your FCC assigned call sign.

Example: Net Control, this is Finish Line, over.  Finish Line, Net Control, send your traffic, over.  Net Control, this is Finish Line, the last runner has crossed the finish line. KA0XTT, out."

Note that participation in a formal net is considered one continuous exchange. This means that NCS will not identify at the end of every exchange, but will do so at least every ten minutes. However, you need not identify every 10 minutes if you have not transmitted since the last time you identified.

That's all for this week.  I thank you for everything you do for amateur radio.

73 de Matt W8DEC