Tuesday, January 12, 2016

December report from the Section Emergency Coordinator


ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: December
Year: 2015
Total Number of ARES Members: 1670
Change since last month: 9
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 10
Number of ARES Nets active: varies
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: 10
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: WD8PNZ W8UY KC8WHK WF8B AI8P KB8STK KA8RLC N8SUZ W8FHF N8AUC
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 159
Person Hours: 1285.25
Number of Public Service Events this month: 31
Person Hours: 461.4
Number of Emergency Operations this month: 4
Person Hours: 56
Total number of ARES/RACES Events this month: 459
Total Person Hours: 3707.15
Comments: Good training this month all around. Many ARES units are getting more integrated into county CERT operations- a great marriage.
Submitted by and call-sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: broadways@standi.com





Name
Call
County
District
PS Hours
EM Hours
Hours Net Participation
Marshall
N8PIB
Marion
7
0
0
8.5
Scott
N8SY
Richland
6
30
10
40
Mark
KB8YMN
Franklin
7
0
0
10
Bob
W8RWR
Franklin
7
0
0
1.5
Alan
N7CEU
Franklin
7
John
K8PJ
Pickaway
7
Matt
KD8TTE
Franklin
7
Clair
W8KF
Huron
1
0
0
5.38
David
Rickon
Medina
10
25
0
1.5
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Hello all! Thank you so much for your time and energy during 2015!  The December totals are in, and that gives us some firm numbers. We average 1,700 members across the Ohio Section. Those members contributed over 55,500 hours in training, exercising, conducting nets and performing public service. Of those hours, over 2,000 was directly involved in providing emergency communications!  This positions ARES as a viable emergency resource in Ohio!

For the coming year, we have some goals to even better position ARES! 

1.      ALL ARES MEMBERS will need to complete FEMA 100, 200, 700, 800 by the end of July, 2016. Without those certificates, you will still be welcomed to participate in public service events, but only those with certification will be eligible to perform during actual emergencies in EOC’s and on scenes.

2.      In efforts to step up training, two programs will launch:  first a “Train the EC” program for EC’s, AEC’s, DEC’s and ADEC’s which will come to a district near you! This daylong course will help direct the ARES leadership team to provide a better environment for our members.

·        Second, a district-wide open training day for all members. This will be interesting and challenging- and will promote ARES members to perform as even more valuable volunteers!

3.      Our NVIS antenna day will again test our ability to communicate

4.      The April Spring Conference (Date and place TBA) will bring even more good information- we hope to follow our process of improving two meter and 440 communications with antenna examples and other information. We will give you information on a wide variety of topics to take back to your group!

For all EC’s and DEC’s YOUR MONTHLY NUMBERS MATTER!!!  Please remember to file your reports so we can accurately account for ARES involvement in the Ohio Section!

Here is a summary of comments from our December reports!  Again, thank you so much for everything you do!

December 2015 Monthly report

District 1
Northwest Ohio Traffic and Training Net had for the Month of December, 330 check ins, handled 277 pieces of traffic in 912 minutes in 31 sessions. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
District 2
Williams: Participated in the NWOR hospital communications drill. Williams County ARES and Defiance County will begin a joint FLDIGI training project in January and February. We have been testing out JT65 messaging between Williams and Defiance Counties- Very successful!
District 3
All nine District 3 counties reporting. December reportedly very quiet in all counties. Total of 347 ARES members; 39 Voice and 9 Digital County weekly nets and 5 District weekly nets for 209 MH's. Total of 3 Tests/Drills/Training sessions for 114 MH\'s; 1 Public Service Event Greene County supported annual 5K Beavercreek Resolution Run New Years Eve) for 110 Hours; 2 Emergency Operations (Miami & Shelby counties-Skywarn Net-Tornado Warning) for 32 MH\'s. Preble and Shelby counties held Christmas parties/dinner/good fellowship.
District 4
Clinton County: E-ops hours were a SkyWARN(!) activation. Butler County: Comments: BCAREC continues to assist the Butler County SO 911 Center in their monthly weather siren testing. The System Fusion build out also continues.
Hamilton County: Meetings Month: AECs Meeting Health Dept. Admin Meeting - Working with ARES again. Anderson Twp. Meeting - Prospective served agency -Group on StandBy Status for poss WX events. Notified served agencies of our availability. Storms & river flooding (missed us!) -Created a Yahoo! Group for information sharing -Started prep for VHF Simplex Contest. from the DEC:
We have a candidate for the Adams County EC position -- hopefully, next month, you\'ll hear from him directly. Also, the National Weather Service annual Advanced Spotter Training rotates between Districts 3, 4, and 7...it is District 4\'s turn this year and SkyWARN team is working out the details. Ramping up for public service event season, and GOBA is coming to our district this year -- so, as always, much to do supporting marathons, charity tours, triathlons, and more!

District 5
Stark County ARES completed 5 public service nets that totaled 190 check-ins. There were no public service events during the month. Members were again requested to complete an updated ARES registration form to maintain current contact information and to update any additional training completed. There was some discussion of 2016 meetings to provide some formal training.
4 Public Service events were supported by Mahoning ARES in December. These included Youngstown Christmas Parade and Tree lighting on Dec 4th, communications for 2 Red Cross events and Youngstown New Year’s Eve celebration-events on Dec 31st

District 6
No comments

District 7
The Delaware ARES meeting featured Delaware County Deputy Sheriff Tim Schambs, the department liaison to the Fusion Center, who detailed the terrorism threat with a local view and what we as Hams and ARES members must be aware of and do if a threat is perceived. This was one of the most interesting training sessions of the year and peaked our attention to the level of concern we must all have.

Licking County had a quite December! Hope everyone had a safe and happy Holiday Season. Work on the CERT / ARES trailer continues and is almost completed. A local ham operator donated a 40’ tower to the Licking Co. Red Cross and we will be working get it erected and their donated radio equipment installed soon. 2016 looks to be a busy year!
District 8
Counties reporting: Athens, Hocking, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto EC comments:
Athens: Nelsonville SCARF Hamfest on Sunday, January 17, 8 AM to noon. VE session at 10 AM Pike: Conducted second simplex test session, results were significantly better than first test session. Dedicated simplex antenna will be installed at test location in near future. DEC comments: Athens County ARA will be starting Tech license classes on Monday, January 11, 7 PM at Red Cross of Southeastern Ohio in Athens.

District 9
COSHOCTON CO: Continued check ins into OSSBN, OHDEN, Ohio Voice Nets by our ARES. Also using local ARES net to practice passing traffic on radiograms, and coming 213 forms. AA8BN, EC.....Only two counties reporting this month. Sonny DEC-9.

District 10
District 10: Best wishes to all for a safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!
*** Ashtabula County: 2015 was good... but 2016 will be even better! Happy New Year!!!
*** Cuyahoga County: New EC KC8NZJ appointed, new AEC KB8TGT appointed 11 members removed for inactivity, 6 new members added. Participated in ESF review with county Scheduled meetings with served agencies to meet new EC and review 2016 plans. ARES notified of EOC activation due to protests in downtown Cleveland
*** Geauga County: Not much to report for December. Been working on getting some other events in the County. If you would like to help with the Ohio Winter Rally on February 6 put on but the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) please send email to info@geaugacountyares.org.
*** Lake County: On December 19th, three LCARA / ARES, members assisted in a workshop at the Lake County E.O.C. The subject of the workshop was in Emergency Management: Amateur Radio Resources, GO 251. The workshop was conducted by Pete Greene (N8WGE) for N.E. Ohio Public Service Managers and employees. LCARA / ARES members assisting were Ed Kopcak (KB8BKE), Larry Caskey (K8LPC), and Mike Goffos (WB8ZGH). Larry (K8LPC) demonstrated the operations of the E.O.C. Amateur radio room. He took the opportunity to pass 10 pieces of radio traffic to the NTS over the HF rig at the E.O.C. This was a good test exercise of the equipment. Ed (KB8BKE) and Mike (WB8ZGH) conducted a tour of the ARES radio communication trailer housed in the E.O.C. garage. The group was very interested in its operations, judging by the many questions that we answered.
*** Lorain County: No Comments.
***Medina County: 6 1/2 hour CERT drill under EMA direction. Voice and digital forms sent from field, trailer and command bus to the EOC. Forms were completed by CERT teams in the field doing structure evaluations and ARES did the digital and voice communications. CERT teams had poor radios and had to rely on ARES communicators.. 

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