Sunday, December 31, 2017

Section Emergency Coordinator's "Year-End Report - 2017"

Ohio ARES Year-End Report 2017
(December 24, 2017)

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) program was alive and well for 2017!  Several important steps were taken to help us certify to our agencies that we are trained and capable.

Here are the calculated results for our activity.
Please note that we for 2017 are including net sessions and net operating hours in with training/drills in order to give volunteers credit for their time spent in ARES activity.  This is increased our hours and events significantly.

Our emergency events were significantly down from last year, yet the number of hours was much higher.

Public service events and the hours required to cover them were about the same as last year.

                                                            2017                     2016                       Inc/Dec             
Training/Drill events 
7068
1566
(See note above)
Training hours
47619
19530

Public Service events
1076
1133
(-57)
Public Service hours
21275
18202
3073
Emergency events
380
1668
( - 1288)
Emergency hours
4395
1923
( -2472)

Here are some highlights:

January:  Hamilton launched an informal Winlink net. Many counties participated in the ARES VHF Simplex contest. Knox distributed a new training manual.  In Marion, the ARES mobile tower was again erected downtown to support the New Year’s ball drop.  There were tabletops, WebEOC and NIMS training events all around.

February:  Work continued in Northwest Ohio where over 50 amateur rigs were purchased to place in regional hospitals.  There were actually thunderstorm related Skywarn activities. Coshocton operating manuals were updated.

March: The month entered with a bout of severe weather, several nets were active. There were many EMA drills and tabletops. Amateur radio shone again as a part of the medical team for the Arnold Classic in Columbus.

April: Our state conference was well attended.  Severe weather continued to present some spotty problems. Public service coverage started in northeast Ohio.   NVIS Day was a success!

May:  ARES covered the Flying Pig marathon. ARES was in the background to assist with MDT system failure in Cincinnati, as well as a high-profile retrial.  Most counties ramped up into a busy month of events.

June:  Runs, rides, GOBA, thunderstorms, and the Mohican 100-mile run were all parts of a very busy month. Crawford County hams got to watch some hot metal on a hot day for “Cruisin with the Cops” car show. Of course the big event was Field Day!

July:  More progress was reported on placing amateur radios in Northwest Ohio hospitals- permission was granted for the installation.  Hamilton County was activated for a search along the Ohio River. Tornadoes were reported in several Ohio counties. In Hocking County, ARES was called with their trailer after severe thunderstorm and winds severely damaged Murray City.  Comms were established and held until the state could put a portable MARCS truck in position. Terrain is everything!  Coshocton was activated for a threat.

August: Several were up and running for the eclipse; there was the typical array of storms and events. Summit was busy with the Goodyear marathon. The annual Pro Football Hall of Fame parade was one of our events.

September: Susan G Komen in Hancock County;  Green and others worked the US Air Force Marathon. The Akron marathon had 4500 runners.  Several groups operated Ohio Parks on the Air. Throughout fair season many groups provided comms and weather observations.

October:  “Black Swan 2017” was staged with many counties participating. Those which did activate were very busy, and operated longer periods than before.  Preble staged units for antique cars passed through the county’s many covered bridges.  Lake County dealt with 900 runners in the Northern Ohio Health marathon. Medina worked a “Home Depot Safety Day” setting up portable stations.

November:  Skywarn activities continued into November. Fairfield worked an “active shooter” session. Coshocton participated with the Board of Elections to monitor voting sites.  Lorain County worked elections as well.

December: (Reports are not filed yet)

Major developments in ARES for 2017
Overshadowing our year is the restructuring of Ohio ARES into a two-tiered system.  With continuing pressure from leadership for all members to complete the four NIMS courses (100. 200. 700. 800) our changes continue to welcome non-trained members yet provide an incentive for them to complete the courses. Tier One members (with NIMS) will be on the activation lists for working with served agencies. Tier Two (without the training) are welcomed to participate in public service events and training.  So far, well over 600 members have completed the four courses, according to our Ohio training database. Many thanks to Jim, W8ERW, for his hard work to keep this thing updated and under control!

We will be working over the winter season to create more training events and other opportunities for ARES members to successfully take these courses.

One important service of ARES is the state’s RACES amateur radio station at the Ohio EOC. “The Sarge” (W8SGT) has been installed in new space directly off the main EOC, with all new HF rigs and full power amplifiers! Another addition is a DMR radio, so we can make use of the Ohio Channel and regional clusters as emergencies dictate.

We made a few changes to the Ohio Section Emergency Response Plan to include the use of DMR radio if the conditions warrant.  We also confirmed the HF 75 meter frequency at 3902 +/-.

Ohio ARES has been an active participant in FEMA Region 5 preparations, participating as we can in a 60-meter net and numerous conference call meetings. This promotes a good regional operating environment and good communication with FEMA.





Sunday, December 10, 2017

November Section Emergency Coordinator's Report

ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: November
Year: 2017
Total Number of ARES Members: 1858
Change since last month: 16
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 10
Number of ARES Nets active: 502
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: varies
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: WD8PNZ W8UY KC8WHK WF8B AI8P KB8STK N8KKW N8SUZ W8FHF N8AUC
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 642
Person Hours: 3114
Number of Public Service Events this month: 78
Person Hours: 881
Number of Emergency Operations this month: 26
Person Hours: 358
Total number of ARES/RACES Events this month: 746
Total Person Hours: 4353
Comments: An outbreak of tornadoes across Ohio activated many counties.
Submitted by and call-sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: broadways@standi.com

Here are the OES numbers for the month:

Name
Call
County
District
PS Hours
EM Hours
Hours Net Participation
Scott
N8SY
Richland
6
40
20
60
Mark
KB8YMN
Franklin
7
33
0
16
Bob
W8RWR
Franklin
7
0
0
2
David
NF8O
Medina
10
10.5
8.5
12.5



ARES Activity November, 2017

District 1
Congratulations to James Hershberger KE8ERN for his appointment as EC for Seneca County. Totals include hours for the NW Ohio Traffic and Training Net, District 1 Skywarn Net and the District 1 DEC hours involved in Public Service Events. District 1 had 2 confirmed tornado's on November 5 which caused damage as well as damage from straight line winds.

District 2
Severe weather net, Monthly Hospital Council Net in cooperation with W8HHF-Lucas Co. ARES

District 3
DISTRICT 3 SUMMARY:  100% of Nine Counties reporting: 294 Members (-3 change), 101 Total Events (58 Voice Net Sessions, 12 Digital Net Sessions, 23 Meetings-Drills-Training-Tests, 4 Public Service Events and 4 Emergency Operations for 501 Total Man-Hours.

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY:  (19 members):  5 weekly voice net sessions and 1 other ARES events for a total of 6 events and 55 man-hours.

CLARK COUNTY:  (33 members):  4 weekly net sessions and 1 other ARES events for a total of 5 events and 30 man-hours.

DARKE COUNTY:  (12 members, -2 change):  4 weekly voice net sessions, 1 Public Service Event, 0 Emergency Operations and 1 other ARES events for a total of 6 events and 28 man-hours.

GREENE COUNTY:  (56 members):  16 weekly voice net sessions, 4 weekly digital net sessions, 1 Public Service Event, 2 Emergency Operations and 12 other ARES related activities for a total of 35 events and 150 man-hours.

    Comments:  Weekly Net participation: GCARES, GCARES/MVMA Mesh Discussion, BARC, UVARC, GCARES Digital, OHDEN, & OH ARES HF Net, D3 Net.  Other activity: Continuing Mesh and Winlink installations, demonstrations, testing & training.  One served agency training. Tech, General & Extra Class sessions.  VE Test Session, Two Weather Nets.

LOGAN COUNTY (RACES UNIT):  (10 members):  4 weekly voice net sessions and 1 other RACES activity for a total of 5 events and 17 man-hours.


    Comments:  MCES ARES/RACES Net 145.23(-): 11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 11/26, 147.21(+): 11/2, 11/9, 11/19, 11/23, 11/30, Three Digital nets using MT63-2KL on 145.23.  The Miami County Amateur Radio club held a one day tech level class on Nov 4th with 22-24 people signing up but with only 12 actually showing up on the day of the class.  Of those 12 who sat thru the training and took the tech license exam later in the day, 6 passed.  The club also held a Social Meeting on Nov 8th for two hours answering questions for newly licensed tech and generals about the use of repeaters, repeater time delay, repeater coverage, etc.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY:  (84 members, -1 change):  3 weekly voice net sessions, 3 weekly digital net sessions, 0 Public Service Events, 0 Emergency Operations and 1 other ARES related events for a total of 7 events and 23 man-hours.

     Comments: Dayton Section Skywarn activated their nets on 11/5 & 11/18 for severe weather that was in the Miami Valley.

PREBLE COUNTY:  (16 members):  4 weekly net sessions; 1 Public Service Event, 1 Emergency Operations and 4 other ARES events for a total of 11 events and 122 man-hours.

     Comments:  One net for SKYWARN. Activity with Darke Co. canceled due to weather alert. Members were put on standby before cancellation.

SHELBY COUNTY:  (39 members):  4 weekly net sessions; 2 digital net sessions; 1 Public Service Event; 1 Emergency Operations and 1 other ARES event for a total of 9 events and 102 man-hours.

     Comments: 4 Weekly ARES Sunday nets, 2 Shelby Co. ARES Digital Nets, November 17 Sidney Winter Wonderland Parade, November 18 Severe TS Watch, Wind Advisory, Flood Watch/Warning.

DISTRICT 3 ACTIVITIES:  5 District 3 ARES weekly voice net sessions for a total of 5 events and 28 man-hours.

District 4
E-ops time includes SkyWARN related activity in Clinton and Hamilton Counties.
Hamilton County has installed one of the local club's repeaters at a Delhi Township firehouse (backup power, etc.) The ARES team is also mourning the loss of one of its members.

Butler County is providing real-time feedback during county siren testing (28 participants in November) and activated a station for an NWS/tri-state severe weather drill.

District 5
Summit County, Ken Dorsey KA8OAD Several of our members assisted with the "Homerun for the Homeless " run/walk on Thanksgiving morning. The temperature at the start of the race was a balmy 28 degrees....and it stayed there for the duration of the event. My call that morning was KA8OADDDDDD hihi

Stark County, Terry Russ, N8ATZ Stark County ARES completed 4 public service nets for the month of November that totaled 145 check-ins. The Massillon ARC completed their final public service event of the year by assisting with the Annual Massillon Holiday Parade on November 29th. 14 volunteers provided safety and support communications as well as assembling the over 80 units that made up this years parade. This event provided 42 community service hours. 

District 6
No comments

District 7
Delaware County No Comment
Fairfield County LANCASTER - FAIRFIELD COUNTY CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY PARADE. ACTIVE SHOOTER TRAINING.

Franklin County Franklin County is beginning to roll out a new web site (fcohares.org) this month. We're transitioning to a database for member skills, training and equipment capability. We continue to test antennas & radio systems at various facilities in the county and provide a written report to the respective emergency coordinator.

Knox County 4 Nets November. The net controllers were; Don Russell W8PEN, William Bradley KC8BB, Thomas Evans KD8HSA and Terry Windsor KE8ANS with a total of 49 check-ins.

Licking County: We were invited to participate in an exercise at a retirement complex The Kendal at Granville, Bret KD8SCL, Steve N8WL & Connie WD8ODC participated and I received an awesome report from Steve N8WL a member that lives there. Steve was given the go to put up a modest directional VHF/UHF antenna at their cottage and an HT in the main building to be maintained by Steve N8WL and the possibility of installing a base station with an outdoor antenna. Steve & Connie are thinking about starting a club. The good news is that Kendal management is now taking amateur radio seriously! Thank you Steve & Connie for your hard work and efforts. Work at the EOC has come to a screeching halt with the confirmation that the EOC will be moving to a new location with the 911 center. The move date has not yet been determined. We also had a couple of members help out with the annual Court House Lighting.

Madison County No comments

Marion County We had a uneventful month. We did bring up a NET for severe weather on the 5th. Seems the bad stuff went around us, counties to the east, north and west did had some activity. 

Pickaway County No Comments

Union County No Comments 

District 8
Revised for late report Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton EC comments:

Athens: Supported Bobcat Trail Marathon at Burr Oak Lake on November 4.

Gallia: Another ARES member completed his NIMS on-line training this month. Certificates will be forwarded to Jeff Slattery. A December 2017 wrap up meeting will be held for our ARES group.

Hocking: HVARC once again provided communications and assisted with the setup of the Veterans Day parade. A great honor!

Lawrence: Congratulations to our new PIO, Mike Love, WB8YKS. Congratulations to the Southern Ohio Amateur Radio Association for becoming the newest ARRL affiliated club in Ohio.
DEC comments: DEC attended the Southern Ohio ARA (SOARA) Holiday Party on November 20 with SM Scott Yonally, N8SY also in attendance. Scott presented the certificate from ARRL recognizing that SOARA is now an ARRL affiliated club. DEC Jeff Slattery, N8SUZ presented outgoing PIO Ken Massie, WN8F with a certificate in recognition of his many years as SOARA/Lawrence County ARES PIO.

District 9
COSHOCTON CO: ARES was asked by Board of Elections and County EMA to assist in communications from 2 polling places and at Board of elections/EOC. All went well using fldigi mt63 2kl and voice. We handled traffic for a few hours in the morning and evening..... We also had communications on 60m with MARS stations during their interoperability SET in Nov.. N8MXX and WX8OH operated. .....Ohio 3139 DMR nets were also checked into from Coshocton. Thanks WX8OH for providing ARES group with an Open Spot . We are setup to use DMR from Coshocton Co. EOC and mobile If needed. .... ARES was involved with the County Health Dept functional table top exercise. At the same time the Hospital was also manned by Coshocton Co. ARES for their exercise. N8MXX manned the hospital station and was set up for communications. ...... The special event for the month was having the SM N8SY , SEC N8BHL, DEC W8FHF and ASM N8IMW at our Monthly ARES meeting. This was a joint mtg with the Coshocton County Amateur Radio Association. During the Oct ARRL SET I thought the local OTS group did an excellent job in handling traffic. Lead OTS was KL8RF, AEC, who coordinated OTS and did a great job. He also is very involved with OHDEN, OSSBN, w8sgt , etc nets. The SM agreed and presented Randy the OHIO Section Managers, special recognition award during the meeting. Congrats Randy. Scott and Stan offered us lots of great information during the meeting and answered our questions. Thanks for coming to Coshocton. Sonny and Lyn also had comments for the full house group at the EOC. Thanks for making the trip for the ARES/CCARA mtg. ...Coshocton County EC AA8BC
GUERNSEY CO: Nov 25 ARES members assisted with the annual Byesville Halloween parade and annual Cambridge Christmas parade. EC WD8SDH

MORGAN CO: No comments. EC

MUSKINGUM CO: Had round table meeting with myself and AECs and members I know will be productively involved to discuss getting other hams involved. We also discussed potential EC

NOBLE C0: On November 30th 3 members assisted the Noble County EMA in rearranging their radios and office space which is also the NC8OH clubhouse. The EMA has moved their day office to the Noble County Sheriff's Office and the plans are to install some amateur radio at the Sheriff's Office for emergency operations. Plans are also in the makings by the EMA to have some Web EOC training for us ARES members sometime in February. EC KD8OSI.

District 10
District 10: To all the ARES volunteers, thank you for everything you do for ARES, and your communities! Best wishes to all for safe and joyous holidays!

Ashtabula County: No comments submitted.

Cuyahoga County: Meetings and nets suspended for the holiday months of November and December.

Geauga County: No comments submitted.

Lake County: No Comments submitted.

Lorain County: Office of Lorain County EMA / Homeland Security requested Comm assistance for November elections. We complied with request.

Medina County: After the storm went thru northern Medina County/Southern Cuyahoga County the EMA called out our Comm Unit and CERT to do damage assessment. Three Teams of hams and CERT people went out to do the survey. Two hams manned the radio room and maintained contact with them. Working from 10 AM until it started to get dark. One old lady was upset because her fire alarms were sounding with no fire. Fire department informed and helped her. Our teams checked back with her to verify all was well. There was a lot of tree damage and power outages in a band along the northern edge of Medina County. Retirement communities were the first to be evaluated. 





Sunday, November 12, 2017

October Section Emergency Coordinators Report

ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: October
Year: 2017
Total Number of ARES Members: 1783
Change since last month: 9
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 10
Number of ARES Nets active: 540
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: varies
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: WD8PNZ W8UY W8LLY N8TFD AI8P W8DLB N8KKW N8SUZ W8FHF N8AUC
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 689
Person Hours: 4955
Number of Public Service Events this month: 81
Person Hours: 1580
Number of Emergency Operations this month: 2
Person Hours: 188
Total number of ARES/RACES Events this month: 992
Total Person Hours: 6723
Comments: Many stations were involved in SET \"Black Swan 2017\" which involved cross-service communication on 60 meters, multi-state operation as well as intense county-level activity.
Submitted by and call-sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: stan@standi.com
Files to upload?:

Official Emergency Station Report for October

Name
Call
County
District
PS Hours
EM Hours
Hours Net Participation
Scott
N8SY
Richland
6
40
10
60
Mark
KB8YMN
Franklin
7
18
0
8
David
NF8O
Medina
10
34
0
9
Matt
KD8TTE
Franklin
7
106
0
46


 Hi everyone!  We had a great series of reports for October. Thank you all for doing the paperwork- and a special thanks to a big group of new EC’s for their first reports. Well done!

There are some ideas for your county activities here.

  1. Contact your board of elections, see if they are interested in ARES operators as communication and poll watchers.  Makes for a long day; GREAT PR.
  2. Pumpkin Patrol. Lorain works with OSP and local law to station observers on bridges over the Turnpike, 3 nights over Halloween weekend. Might be an idea for your area?
  3. Perhaps it’s time to refresh on your hospital radio situation

Thank you for your positive input on our decision to create a two-tiered system in Ohio ARES. I appreciate your feedback always (and you’ll note it brought a solid compromise in our recent discussions!) Please don’t hesitate, I’m always available by email or phone.   I’ll also be very happy to visit your ARES meeting- just send me a note!

Thank you all for your intense activity so far this year! I think that will result in growth and better participation. 

 Ohio ARES Activity Report
October, 2017

District 1
The Northwest Ohio Traffic and Training Net handled 133 pieces of traffic in 35 sessions and had 212 checkins in a total of 515 minutes. District 1 continues to assist the Hospital Council Of Northwest Ohio in implementing amateur radio as a viable back up communications tool to area non-hospital partners. HCNO has purchased 50 Kenwood 2m radios to distribute as well as related equipment such as antennas and power supplies. We will be putting equipment at the MaGruder Hospital in Ottawa County in the near future. This is a work in progress. 

District 2
(no comments)

District 3
DISTRICT 3 SUMMARY:  100% of Nine Counties reporting: 297 Members (0 change), 132 Total Events (64 Voice Net Sessions, 16 Digital Net Sessions, 46 Meetings-Drills-Training-Tests, 6 Public Service Events and 0 Emergency Operations for 1,033 Total Man-Hours.
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY:  (19 members):  4 weekly voice net sessions and 2 other ARES events for a total of 6 events and 55 man-hours.
CLARK COUNTY:  (33 members):  4 weekly net sessions and 1 other ARES events for a total of 5 events and 50 man-hours.
    Comments: Clark County ARES held it's SET on 21 Oct 2017.  A separate report will follow.
DARKE COUNTY:  (14 members):  5 weekly voice net sessions, 0 Public Service Event, 0 Emergency Operations and 1 other ARES events for a total of 6 events and 21 man-hours.
GREENE COUNTY:  (56 members, +1 change):  20 weekly voice net sessions, 0 Emergency Operations and 31 other ARES related activities for a total of 57 events and 255 man-hours.
     Comments:  Weekly Net participation: GCARES, GCARES/MVMA Mesh Discussion, BARC, UVARC, GCARES Digital, OHDEN,& OH EM. PREP, D3. Other activity: SET,Continuing Mesh and Winlink installations, demonstrations, testing & training. Two served agency training and planning sessions. Tech, General & Extra Class sessions. Greene County Emergency Preparedness Meeting.
LOGAN COUNTY (RACES UNIT):  (10 members):  4 weekly voice net sessions and 1 other RACES activity for a total of 5 events and 20 man-hours.
     Comments:  MCES ARES/RACES Net 145.23(-): 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 147.21(+): 10/5, 10/12, 10/19, 10/29, Four Digital nets using MT63-2KL on 145.23. Ten members provided communication support for the Ohio High School Athletic Association Southwest Regional Cross Country Meet held in Troy, Ohio on Oct 28th.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY:  (85 members, -1 change):  4 weekly voice net sessions, 4 weekly digital net sessions, 0 Public Service Events, 0 Emergency Operations and 2 other ARES related events for a total of 10 events and 143 man-hours.
     Comments: Had a very good turnout for the annual simulated emergency test which was held on October 7th. MoCo ARES operated for a total of 3 hours and had 35 stations/operators check into the net. Several of our served agencies and hospitals did participate this year. In our General MoCo ARES Meeting, Glenn Gombert KD8TSR did a presentation on APRS.
PREBLE COUNTY:  (16 members, +1 change):  4 weekly net sessions; 3 Public Service Event, 0 Emergency Operations and 4 other ARES events for a total of 11 events and 122 man-hours.
     Comments:  October is traditionally one of the busiest months of the year for us. This month we were involved with our monthly ARES meeting, BLACK SWAN SET and provided security on a FRI/SAT, two nights (7pm-7am) for the West Alexandria Oktoberfest festival, then immediately provided public service communications Sunday after being up all-night Saturday. This is the 39th year that Preble county has provided communications for the antique car run covered bridge rally that provided time and participants car number as the old-time cars passed through one of the famous Preble county covered bridges. Preble also hosted a training session with Wayne county Indiana RACES for digital communications where FLDIGI was taught and the various modes were demonstrated and discussed. We had the pleasure of being visited by former Ohio ARES DISTRICT 3 DEC Al Stone, KB8RPO on a visit from his new QTH in New Hampshire. He discussed with the training group on the state of digital in his new role as N.H ASEC. We welcome Chuck Wright, KE8HWK as our newest ARES member. He has been licensed for many years, recently moved into the area. His interest are HF operation and public service. I want to compliment the ARES members of Preble County for achieving a difficult month with little rest, showing great professionalism, pride and dedication. De NJ8BB, Gary, Preble EC
SHELBY COUNTY:  (39 members):  5 weekly net sessions; 3 digital net sessions; 1 Public Service Event; 0 Emergency Operations and 3 other ARES events for a total of 12 events and 187 man-hours.
     Comments: 10-7-17 Simulated Emergency Test, 10-22-17 VEC Testing SCARES Meeting,
10-31-17 Witch Watch
DISTRICT 3 ACTIVITIES:  4 District 3 ARES weekly voice net sessions, 1 District 3 ARES SET Tactical Voice net, 1 District 3 ARES SET Tactical Digital net and 1 District 3 EC Meeting for a total of 6 events and 128 man-hours.
     Comments:  District 3 ADEC John Probst KA8RVI currently deployed to Puerto Rico with
Ohio-5 DMAT during part of October.

District 4
The DEC was out of the district quite a bit this month. "The show must go on" and the numerous scheduled events that happen in October did just that. Fortunately there were no "unscheduled" ones in the district. Hours are logged for all ECs counties this month, thank you!

District 5
Columbiana County, Don Kemp, NN8B Columbiana County ARES provided radio communications for the Columbiana County Parks District 5K run in Lisbon, Ohio.
Summit County, Ken Dorsey, KA8OAD This month we participated in the Black Swan SET and helped with the Susan G Komen 5K run/walk in downtown Akron
Mahoning County, David Brett, KD8NZF AEC Dottie O'Neil Meleski spoke at Trumbull LEPC meeting
Stark County, Terry Russ, N8ATZ Stark County ARES completed 5 public service nets for the month of October that totaled 183 check-ins. There were no public service events during the month. ARES did have an information table at the annual Massillon Hamfest that included an equipment display and handouts provided by the county EMA. 

District 6
RICHLAND COUNTY HAD A COUNTY DRILL ON OCTOBER 4TH 2017

District 7
 Marion County: We had four members complete the 4 required ICS courses, added to the database. These four members were also awarded special deputy with the Marion County Sheriff.
Franklin County: SET, Columbus Marathon, CropWalk, Antenna Testing
Union County: We had a pretty good turnout for our SET event. We worked with the Union County EMA to test out their high band radio coverage to the fire stations in the county after the high band antenna at EMA station 720 was replaced.
Fairfield County: FAIRFIELD COUNTY EMA TENT, FAIRFIELD COUNTY FAIR
Licking County: Things have slowed down a little, we had a good outcome for the SET and "Thanks" to those who were able to help. We had the EOC open and operating but was unable to work HF due to work continues to get everything set up. With things slowing down for the time being, now would be a great time to get caught up on training.
Knox County: 6 Nets and SET in October. The net controllers were; Don Russell W8PEN, William Bradley KC8BB and Terry Windsor KE8ANS with a total of 69 check-ins. The local SET exercise was, "Tornado in Knox County" the objectives were; Notification, Severe Weather, Activation, County Control Activation, ICS Forms 

District 8
 Counties reporting: Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton EC comments: Athens: Provided comm support for the Buckeye Trail Marathon in Shawnee on October 7 and the Komen Athens Race for the Cure on October 15. Next event will be the Bobcat Trail Marathon on November 4.
Ross: Still waiting on email confirmation for some members to verify current membership list. Once verified, I'll work to start obtaining NIMS certificates for members (since I have no records from the former EC).
Vinton: Currently still in the process of searching for members in Vinton County. Little progress has been made... Plan in the works in conjunction with the VCEMA to hold an amateur radio class with a few locals involved with public service to gain ARES members.
DEC comments: The district is pleased to announce that Lawrence County/Southeast Ohio Amateur Radio Association (SOARA) has been accepted as an ARRL affiliated club.

District 9
COSHOCTON CO:  Thanks to our ARES team for a job well done during the SET. We had about 10hr on Oct 7 with over a dozen ARES involved manning the EMA, Sheriff, and hospital stations. We simulated a shelter and Red Cross. We placed our NCS on a hill with good coverage when simplex was used. We also had a terrific OTS station group: KL7RF as leader, with KC8PUW, KC8WX and N8MXX. This group was on 60m, OSSBN, OHDEN, W8SGT and communicated with Coshocton EOC. They used a simplex freq to coordinate among the group. We participated for the 15 days sending a message most days and monitoring 60, etc.  During Oct 7 many messages were sent and received through local agencies and outside the county with OSSBN, OHDEN, W8SGT, and 60m .  On another subject ,Coshocton ARES will aid the board of elections with communications from a couple polling places soon. EC: Steve Wheatcraft, AA8BN
GUERNSEY CO: While we only had 7 members participate in the SET this year we still had a very successful SET. There were several tactical traffic messages from several locations in the county reporting on various "training emergency" incidents. 60 meters was monitored and a few nets were heard but we were not able to check into any of them. Also 9 radiograms were generated and input into the NTS. On Oct 31 8 members assisted with the Byesville Halloween parade. EC Richard W. Wayt, WD8SDH
JEFFERSON CO: Just appointed, meeting with 911 Director, EMA contact, and working with local ham groups to spark interest in ARES. EC: Robert M Carson Jr. N8CUX
MORGAN CO: No Comments. EC: Russell Wilson, KD8RW
MUSKINGUM CO: Comments: Just getting started as the EC, has been less than a month. Making plans and getting things up and running. EC: Ronnie Phipps, KD8TNL
NOBLE CO:  No Comments. EC: Gary J Oliver,KD8OSI
TUSCARAWAS CO: No Comments. EC Brent Gribble, N8RAG
DEC-9: Comments: I gave an ARES presentation to the Washington Co. Amateur Radio Club, in an attempt to develop an active ARES program in their county. DEC Sonny Alfman W8FHF..

District 10
October was pretty busy, but things are winding down as we head into the holidays. Best wishes to all for safe and joyous holidays!
Ashtabula County: No comments.
Cuyahoga County: Meetings and nets have stopped for the holidays. We will resume in January 2018.
Geauga County: No comments submitted.
Lake County: 12 Volunteers worked the Northern Ohio Lake Health Marathon. Monitoring the progress of 900 plus runner on two routes of 12mi and 26mi. We assisted three runners back to the finish line at Headlands State Park. Amateur radio linked with Three Police and Fire Departments through the Lake County Comm Van. The Marathon went through the Village of Grand River, City of Mentor and Wiloughby Ohio
Lorain County: Total hours include Black Swan 17Ohio SET Worked Buildup week to BS17 BS17 weekend BS17 week after. Lorain County Pumpkin Patrol. 55th year working with Ohio State Patrol, watching key bridges over Turnpike RT2 over Halloween weekend. 3 nights.
Medina County: Home Depot Safety Day had K8FHs trailer set up and working the SET exercise as well as the EOC station. Several people took part in both operations. 

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

September Section Emergency Coordinator's Report



ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: September
Year: 2017
Total Number of ARES Members: 1648
Change since last month: 30
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 10
Number of ARES Nets active: 487
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: Varies
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: WD8PNZ W8UY W8LLY n8tfd ai8p w8dlb n8kkw n8suzw8fhf N8AUC
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 788
Person Hours: 5177
Number of Public Service Events this month: 78
Person Hours: 1851
Number of Emergency Operations this month: 22
Person Hours: 278
Total number of ARES/RACES Events this month: 888
Total Person Hours: 7306
Comments:
Submitted by and call-sign: N8BHL
Email: stan@standi.com
Files to upload?: 


 September OES Report
Name
Call
County
District
PS Hours
EM Hours
Hours Net Participation
Scott
N8SY
Richland
6
100
5
80
Mark
KB8YMN
Franklin
7
2
0
3
Bob
W8RWR
Franklin
7
0
0
1.5
David
NF8O
Medina
10
24.5
0
6.75

Ohio ARES Monthly Activity Report
September, 2017

District 1
Seneca County-Temporary EC Dan Stahl KC8PBU  Report submitted by AEC Steve Tarbert KC8ZKC
Another busy month considering there were no Skywarn Nets. Our members helped provide communications for the Tiffin Cross Country Carnival as well as assisted with the Heritage Festival parade line-up. A special net was held as a JOTA Preparation net. Scot Rosenberger, who was our county EC, resigned his position at our Sept meeting. A replacement has not been named as of this date.

Huron County-EC Craig Franklin KD8KWU 
No Comment

Sandusky County-EC David Gierhart W8DAG
 No Comment

Hancock County-EC Evan Hartman W8KJR
A Solid month in Hancock County. Were again able to play an integral role in safety, coordination and communication for the Susan G Komen Race in Findlay. We had an increase in demand for ham volunteers from previous years and with some effort we were able volunteers out on Race Day. The staff was more than pleased with our contributions.

Erie County-EC Edward Andres W8EJA
No Comment

Wood County-EC Eric Willman WD8LEI
Re-programmed 30 EMA VHF radios with updated configs for EMA use. WCEMA has donated/allotted 12 new UHF radios for ARES programming and use as cache available to hams during an emergency. Will be programming soon for ham use. Worked with EMA director to begin purchase of dispatch consoles for EOC use from SO comm center. Console included ham connection now. Continued training with Wood Co Sheriff on DMR

Lucas County-EC Lowell Kern KD8KXD
Lucas County Skywarn was activated on September 4th due to severe weather in the area.

Ottawa County-EC James Garber KB8TTR
Nothing to report.

Wyandot County-EC Ron Wilch KE8PX
The Wyandot County Hams held their monthly meeting at the Wyandot Memorial Hospital conference rooms. They also took part in the monthly Wyandot County emergency siren drill. This is where we start up a net when we hear the sirens. We have recently had some new hams check into our weekly net which is really exciting."73"

Hardin County-Craig Newland KC8FEL
No Comment

District 2
 Defiance Co. provided support for Sept. 11 \"tunnel to Tower\" 5k Run. Van Wert Co. provided support for the local county fair.

District 3
DISTRICT 3 SUMMARY:  100% of Nine Counties reporting: 297 Members (+2 change), 108 Total Events (55 Voice Net Sessions, 11 Digital Net Sessions, 33 Meetings-Drills-Training-Tests, 9 Public Service Events and 0 Emergency Operations for 1,347 Total Man-Hours.

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY:  (19 members):  4 weekly voice net sessions and 1 other ARES events for a total of 5 events and 43 man-hours.

CLARK COUNTY:  (33 members):  3 weekly net sessions and 3 other ARES events for a total of 6 events and 43 man-hours. 

DARKE COUNTY:  (14 members):  4 weekly voice net sessions, 1 Public Service Event, 0 Emergency Operations and 1 other ARES events for a total of 6 events and 41 man-hours.

GREENE COUNTY:  (56 members, +1 change):  16 weekly voice net sessions (GCARES, GCARES-MVMA Mesh Discussion, BARC, UVARC; 4 weekly GCARES digital net sessions; 3 Public Service Events (US Air Force Marathon; Bike MS Ride; Beavercreek Popcorn Festival), 0 Emergency Operations and 16 other ARES related activities (Tech, General & Extra Class License courses (12 sessions) jointly sponsored by the three Greene County amateur radio clubs and GCARES; continuing Mesh and Winlink installations-demonstrations-testing-training; two served agency training and planning sessions; equipment maintenance; the Ohio Section Conference; one Greene County ARES Meeting and GCARES participation in OHFEN and OHDEN) for a total of 39 events and 675 man-hours.

LOGAN COUNTY (RACES UNIT):  (10 members):  4 weekly voice net sessions and 2 other RACES activity for a total of 6 events and 20 man-hours.


MONTGOMERY COUNTY:  (86 members, +1 change):  4 weekly voice net sessions, 3 weekly digital net sessions, 0 Public Service Events, 0 Emergency Operations and 2 other ARES related events for a total of 9 events and 60 man-hours.  Comments: Preparations underway for the upcoming SET in October.  District 3 EC meeting was attended by several members of MoCo ARES on September 23rd.  On the same date, NWS Wilmington had their Skywarn Coordinator's Meeting.

PREBLE COUNTY:  (15 members):  4 weekly net sessions; 2 Public Service Event (Preble provided communications and traffic control for Preble County Pork Festival for 15th year.  Darke County ARES contributed significantly to manpower and operations.  A big thanks to Darke County for we couldn't have done it without them this year!), 0 Emergency Operations and 3 other ARES events (repair & maintenance of local repeater phone patch system; attended District 3 EC meeting; troubleshooting and maintenance of backup battery system) for a total of 9 events and 129 man-hours.

SHELBY COUNTY:  (39 members):  4 weekly net sessions; 2 digital net sessions; 1 Public Service Event (Sidney/Shelby YMCA 5K); 0 Emergency Operations and 3 other ARES events (Shelby County ARES monthly meeting and training session; OSPOTA; D3 EC Meeting) for a total of 10 events and 158 man-hours.

DISTRICT 3 ACTIVITIES:  4 District 3 ARES weekly voice net sessions and 1 District 3 EC Meeting for a total of 5 events and 117 man-hours.  Note:  District 3 ADEC John Probst KA5RVI currently deployed with Ohio-5 DMAT.

District 5
Mahoning County - Dave Brett, KD8NZF Provided Communications for Red Cross Smoke Alarm installation morning program, participated in 6 county 2 meter interoperability test.

Summit County - Ken Dorsey, KA8OAD This month we had our large event, The Akron Marathon that had over 4500 runners. This was the 15th year for the marathon and, unlike previous years, for late September the temperatures were in the upper 80's by the middle of the race which made it a very dangerous day for the runners. At our pre-race meetings everyone shared concerns about the forecast weather conditions for race day and extra measures were added in preparation to handle what might be a larger than normal amount of runners with heat related problems. Those concerns were warranted and unfortunately were spot on as we had a large amount of runners with heat related troubles during the race, needless to say it was a busy day for everyone involved. At one point of the race there were 6 AFD Paramedic Squads transporting "victims" to local hospitals. We maintained the best possible communications during the race and our help was invaluable to the race officials. I have included some pictures from the race and the race operations center (GIC).

Columbiana County - Donald Kemp, NN8B Provided Weather watch and emcomm for the Columbiana Street Fair. Provided communications for the Johnny Appleseed 5K run in Lisbon, OH. Provided a special events station and emcomm capability for the Johnny Appleseed Festival in Lisbon, OH.

Stark County - Terry Russ, N8ATZ Stark County ARES completed 4 public service nets for the month of September that totaled 140 check-ins. There were no public service events during the month however several events are scheduled before the end of the year. 

District 6
No comments

District 7
 KNOX:  4 nets with a total of 32 check in the net controllers were Frank Counts KC8EVS William Bradley KC8BB Don Russell W8PEN Terry Windsor KE8ANS 2 Hour Black Swan Workshop 12 Participants  

LICKING:  We helped out with an annual event called River Round-up sponsored by the Licking County Soil & Water Conservation District. The object is to clean up various rivers and streams in the county. We provided back up comms for the team at Black Hand Gorge State Park with 5 members in the park, and 2 members at the EOC operating NCS. We were able to test our EOC equipment for simplex and repeater comms from the gorge which is bad for public service comms and we were successful. There have been several emergencies in the gorge where emergency comms were marginal if that. Looking forward to October. 

MARION:  Silent Key Mike Floyd W8HAT. Popcorn Festival kept us busy for a few days. Training- we all made roll up dual band 2m and 70cm antennas using information from March 2007 QST. 

DISTRICT 7:  This is my final report at DC7 EC. I have appreciated getting to work with Stan, Scott and everyone in District 7. My best wishes to the new DEC. 

District 8:
Counties reporting: Athens, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto and Vinton. EC comments:
Athens: ACARA and SCARF together activated 3 parks for Ohio State Parks on the Air with SCARF also activating a special event station for the weekend as a World Wide Flora and Fauna park KFF-1939 at Burr Oak Lake. ACARA/N8SUZ activated Stroud's Run and Jackson Lake State Parks. Athens County will be unable to participate in SET due to supporting the Buckeye Trail Marathon on October 7. ACARA/SCARF will also be supporting the Komen Athens Race for the Cure on October 15th and the Bobcat Trail Marathon at Burr Oak Lake on November 4.

Hocking: HVARC has been quite busy in the month of September. On Sept. 9th we set up our ECom trailer at Lake Logan and participated in the Ohio State Parks on the air (24 op hrs) in addition to providing radio communications for a Teamcolumbus Event Triathlon which was also held at Lake Logan that morning (15 op hrs). The week of Sept. 10 - 16th we operated a special events station from our ECom trailer at the Hocking County Fair (69 op hrs). And on Saturday the 16th we ran communications for the 39th annual Hocking Hills Indian Run (54 op hrs). It was a lot of fun but a very busy month with a lot of very good exposure for our local club and amateur radio in general. My thanks to all of the operators who participated and volunteered their time to serve our community. Including weekly nets and our monthly meeting we had 193 hours of operator time this month.
Jackson: This is my first (partial) month doing this report. I'm not sure of the old membership numbers and I'm still working on contacting members to get them on the new list.

Pike: Preparing to participate in the 33rd Annual Beaver Oktoberfest with Pike County EMA, Oct 5th-8th.Will be operating 2 meter vhf, 10 meter hf and DMR if all equipment cooperates.

Ross: Ross county ARES is in the process of developing a severe weather net protocol.

Vinton: Currently, I am still in the process of startup. I have had several positive discussions with the County EMA Director. DEC comments: Lawrence County PIO Ken Massie, WN8F has decided to step back to Assistant PIO for Lawrence County ARES/SOARA. Mike Love. WB8YKS has agreed to attempt to fill Ken's big shoes. Mike is a former Lawrence EC so we are sure he will do a fine job. 

District 9
COSTOCTON CO: Preparing for SET with various nets. Contacting agencies and posting on newspaper and local radio station about SET. We have a small display at county Fair on EMA table. AA8BN Coshocton Co EC

GUERENSEY CO: Radiograms were the training subject for the month. A training message was sent on the local FM monthly net. A power program on how to fill out a radiogram was emailed to all members. Several members participated In OSPOTA by activating Blue Rock State park. The EC attended the long term recovery committee meeting at the EMA. Richard Wayt, Guernsey Co EC

MORGAN CO: No Comments. Russell Wilson, Morgan Co EC

District 10
River Run Half Marathon went well. Nice to see everyone at the Cleveland Hamfest!  

Ashtabula County: No comments.  

Cuyahoga County: One last public service event remains. We will not hold meetings or nets during the months of November and December to allow members to focus on holidays, family, and anything else they have going on.  

Geauga County: From August 31-Sept 4, Geauga County ARES volunteered at the 195th Great Geauga County Fair - Ohio's oldest fair. We worked with the Geauga County Sheriff's Office to dispatch and drive golf cart shuttles to help people get to and from the parking lot, as well as to various destinations within the fairgrounds. This requires so many volunteers that we used County 800MHz simplex frequencies - this allowed us to use about 5 non-ham volunteers as well, who are now interested in becoming licensed. We also had people walking the fairgrounds to be extra sets of eyes and ears for the Sheriff's Office and the Firefighters Association. In previous years, we have been able to locate and reunite lost children and parents - fortunately, we did not need to this year! The ARES leadership has direct radio contact with Sheriff's Office and fire dispatch, which allowed us to contact each other quickly when a need arose. This effort totaled 1284 man hours and 60 volunteers over a five-day period. This is a big event! This year, we added additional IT infrastructure: we used 5.1/5.8GHz microwave networking to connect four locations: our command trailer, the two sheriff's office buildings, and a remote IP camera on top of a portable light post located at a major intersection - so the Sheriff's Office could monitor traffic flow and send deputies there to direct traffic when needed. Like last year, we also had IP phones at all locations and had the system connected to the analog PBX on the fairgrounds. We also wrote custom dispatch software for tracking and logging this year. It is web-based and ran on a local server, so it could be accessed at any of the locations we had connected on the fairgrounds. This proved to be a big success - it eased the burden on the dispatchers and allowed us to create detailed reports for the sheriff's office. We also provided wi-fi access to our network at each of those locations so users could view the camera and access the dispatch/logging software with their smart phones and laptops. The Sheriff's Office was so impressed that they have asked us if we could provide additional cameras next year. It should also be noted that the deputy that we reported to, as well as one of the SO dispatchers at the fair, are hams. Also note that we did not use any kind of mesh networking due to its inherent complexities and inefficiencies. Last year, we used HSMM-MESH and were only able to achieve mediocre performance. Questions about what we did and how we did it can be sent to Dave, KD8TWG - kd8twg@arrl.net.  

Lake County: Lake ARES operated two stations in the OSPOTA event at Headlands Beach St. Pk. We deployed our ECOMM trailer and one RV in the beach parking lot #3, operating on 40&20 m. Eight members operated the stations for six hours. It was a good field test and attracted a number of visitors.  

Lorain County: No comments submitted. 


Medina County: Four hours spent working on EOC communications trailer by two people.