Friday, January 10, 2014

Week 02 of the SEC Notes...


Ohio SEC Notes & Stuff - Week 2 - 2014
For public distribution.  Please forward as appropriate.
These notes will also be available on the ARES page at www.arrl-ohio.org

Ohio HF Emergency Preparedness Net.  Tues at 7PM on 3850 kHz (+/-) and 7240 kHz LSB
Ohio Digital Emergency Net (OHDEN)  Tues at 8PM. 3585 kHz and 7072 kHz  USB.
Ross T. Stillisano KB8JTZ Memorial Award Winner:  David Rickon NF8O, of Medina, OH

Happy New Year!  Welcome to 2014!  Greetings and salutations from the Northeast corner of the Buckeye State where it's a comfortable 43 degrees at the time of this writing!  I am pleased to report that Old Man Winter and Mother Nature are out of counseling.  The passion between them must be heating up as the ice and snow are melting and the forecasters are calling for even warmer temperatures  ;-)
I am beginning my first Ohio SEC Notes & Stuff of the new year by introducing my staff.  I have selected three Assistant Section Emergency Coordinators since I was appointed in January 2012. 

The Assistant Section Emergency Coordinators are available for consultation and to answer your questions.  Feel free to email them at any time and they'll respond back in a timely manner.

Scott Phillips N8SX is the Assistant SEC appointed for Northern Ohio.  He is responsible for maintaining the Ohio Section Training Database and his collateral duty is the development and implementation of Ohio's first ARESMAT Team.  His email address is n8sx@arrl.net.
Mark Griggs KB8YMN is the Assistant SEC appointed for Central Ohio.  He has been assigned the collateral duty of recruiting.  He is the primary source of recruiting new volunteers into ARES as well as retaining them in the program.  His email is kb8ymn@arrl.net.
Gary Stephenson WW8O is the Assistant SEC appointed for Southern Ohio.  He has been assigned the collateral duty of training.  He is the primary source of training new ARES volunteers and seasoned veterans alike.  His email is ww8o@frontier.com.

Attention all ARES volunteers...
 
Please contact your Emergency Coordinator and verify your contact information, especially email address and telephone number.  There will be times throughout the year where you will be called upon.  Wrong contact info could lead to delays in staffing important assignments.  I recommend verifying your contact information on a quarterly basis or when anything changes.

If you are not an ARES member, but would like to be, or at least thinking about it...

Please contact your County Emergency Coordinator.  They will get your started in ARES and guide you in the right direction.  You can find their contact information by clicking on this LINK.
What if I do not have an Emergency Coordinator in my county?  Excellent question.  All 88 counties are grouped into 10 ARES districts.  Every district has an appointed District Emergency Coordinator.  Their contact information is also located at the link above.
Be sure to follow and bookmark the Ohio Section ARES Blog.  http://ohiosectionares.blogspot.com/  I post announcements, information about upcoming events, and other miscellaneous items of importance on that blog.

Saturday, January 25th and Sunday the 26th is Winter Field Day sponsored by the Society for the Preservation of Amateur Radio (SPAR).  The event starts at Noon on Saturday and concludes at Noon on Sunday.  It's very similar to Field Day held in June but with the premise that emergencies and disasters don't always happen in warm weather.  In 2013, there were only 47 Winter Field Day logs submitted to SPAR.  I'd really like to see Ohio contribute to that.  So here's my challenge to you...I'd like to see as many stations from Ohio participate in Winter Field Day.  I can tell you several of us from the Geauga Amateur Radio Association will be on the air that weekend and I hope to hear you on the air.  Check out their website http://www.spar-hams.org/contests/winterfd/index.php for more details.

March 15th is the Ohio ARES Leadership Meeting at the State of Ohio Emergency Operations Center in Columbus.  The meeting starts at 10am and will conclude at 3pm.  All volunteers that hold an ARES appointment including Official Emergency Stations and Assistant Emergency Coordinators are encouraged to attend.  We have quite the agenda to get through and your participation is greatly appreciated.  All counties and districts are expected to be represented at this meeting.
Auxiliary Communications (AUXCOM) course is coming to Hamvention again this year.  Many of us completed this course and let me tell you the instructors were great.  I highly recommend taking this course.  Registration for the 2014 course opens February 1st.  See details at www.hamvention.org.
Ladies and gentlemen, that's all I have for this week.  Thank you very much for all you do for amateur radio.

73 de Matt W8DEC