April 2017 Section Emergency Coordinator's Monthly Report

ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: April
Year: 2017
Total Number of ARES Members: 1766
Change since last month: 10
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 9
Number of ARES Nets active: 136
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: varies
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: WD8PNZ W8UY W8LLY N8TFD AI8P W8DLB N8KKW N8SUZ N8BHL 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: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: broadways@standi.com
Files to upload?: 2017 April Districts.docx

Here’s the Official Emergency Station (OES) Numbers for April..

Name	Call	County	District	PS Hours	EM Hours	Hours Net Participation
Scott	N8SY	Richland	6	40	10	55
Mark	KB8YMN	Franklin	7	0	0	6
Bob	W8RWR	Franklin	7	0	0	2.5
David	NF8O	Medina	10	40	0	13
Matt	KD8TTE	Franklin	7	60	0	20
Jeff	KB8ZUN	Lorain	10	2	0	8
Alan	N7CEU	Pickaway	7	0	0	1

ARES Monthly Activity Report

April 2017

D1

Totals include figures for Northwest Ohio Skywarn District 1 and Northwest Ohio Traffic and Training Net. The Northwest Ohio Traffic and Training Net had 189 Checkins, handled 107 pieces of traffic in 427 minutes in 29 sessions. 1 day the net was canceled due to a District Skywarn net activation. I am working with the Northwest Ohio Council of Hospitals to put amateur radio in most non-hospital health facilities. This is per new Federal regulations pertaining with required back-up communications.

Seneca County-EC Scott Rosenburger KE8JC  Report submitted by AEC Steve Tarbert KC8ZKC

April was an active month for our members.

Huron County-EC Craig Franklin KD8KWU1 NWS severe thunderstorm Warning SKYWARN Training -Huron County

Sandusky County-EC David Gierhart W8DAG  ARES Sandusky County was evaluated by the State of Ohio EMA for providing communications at a drill at the Sandusky County EMA on April 22. Local police, Fire, EMS and Health Department participated. We logged all communications into a computer that was visible on several large monitors in the EOC. We also passed traffic. ARES provided communications on April 30 for the annual Bubba Run/Walk 5K in Clyde, Ohio. This is a fund raiser by the local Lions Club to benefit cancer victims in the area.

Hancock County-EC Evan Hartman W8KJR  We had an excellent April in Hancock County. SKYWARN training was well attended, we participated in NVIS day and had 2 severe weather events which were well attended. Looking forward to a great May

Erie County-EC Bob Heim K8HLH No Comment

Wood County-EC Eric Willman WD8LEI  No Comment

Lucas County-EC Lowell Kern KD8KXD LCARES provided radio communications for the Glass City Marathon on April 23. 27 members helped with this event.

Ottawa County-EC James Garber KB8TTR April continues to be a month of evaluating membership and finding the direction OCARES needs to go. Mike W8MAL assisted on a number of NTS nets, including the digital net. He also assisted Lucas County ARES with the Glass City Marathon.

 Wyandot County-EC Ron Wilch KE8PX The Wyandot County Hams are preparing for a County Simulated Emergency Drill coming up on May 13th. We will be working with the County EMA as backup communications. We will be operating from the Hospital, the simulated accident scene, the EOC and the emergency shelter. We are also preparing for the upcoming GOBA as they will be staying one night at the Wyandot County Fair

Hardin County-Craig Newland KC8FEL We had 5 weekly nets, we passed traffic at 1 net

D2

NWS Issued STW for local area at 1:00 pm ARES storm Spotter nets were activated with storm spotters in Van Wert, Paulding, Defiance, Williams, and Hancock Counties. 1.00 Hail in downtown Paulding, Storm left area at 4:00 pm and net was secured

D3

DISTRICT 3 SUMMARY:  100% of Nine Counties reporting:  288 Members, 120 Total Events (56 Voice Net Sessions, 11 Digital Net Sessions, 38 Meetings-Drills-Training- Tests, 8 Public Service Events, 7 Emergency Operations), for 1245 Total Man-Hours.

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY:  4 weekly voice net sessions, 1 ARES meeting and 1 other ARES event for a total of 6 events and 64 man-hours.

CLARK COUNTY:  3 weekly net sessions plus Ohio Statewide Tornado Drill Net (16 check-ins) and 1 Skywarn emergency operation for a total of 7 events and 44 man-hours. 

DARKE COUNTY:  4 weekly voice net sessions and 1 other ARES event for a total of 5 events and 16 man-hours.

GREENE COUNTY:  4  GCARES weekly voice nets, 4 GCARES weekly digital nets, 4 GCARES weekly Mesh Discussion nets, 4 BARC/Bellbrook support group voice nets and 4 UVARC/Fairborn support group voice nets plus 18 other ARES activities: 1 Skywarn emergency operation, GCARES Liaison Station to SEOC nets and OHDENets, Ohio ARES Conference, NVIS Antenna Day, Greene County Emergency Preparedness Committee meeting, GCARES/MVMA Mesh meeting, License Classes & VE Test Session, Winlink Gateway installation-testing-training, and training with served agency for a total of 38 events and 480 man-hours.

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

MIAMI COUNTY:  9 weekly voice net sessions, 4 weekly digital net sessions, Ohio ARES Conference 2 Public Service Events (2 day support Bikes for Trikes Ride), and 8 other ARES/RACES events for a total of 24 events and 101 man-hours.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY:  3 weekly voice nets, 2 weekly digital nets, 2 MoCoARES meetings, Ohio ARES Conference, 4 Public Service Events and 2 other ARES events for a total of 13 events and 183 man-hours.

PREBLE COUNTY:  4 weekly voice net sessions, 1 ARES event and 3 Skywarn emergency operations for a total of 8 events and 21 man-hours.

SHELBY COUNTY:  5 weekly net sessions, 3 ARES events and 2 Skywarn emergency operations for a total of 10 events and 279 man-hours.
DISTRICT 3 ACTIVITIES:  4 District 3 ARES weekly voice net sessions for a total of 4 events and 47 man-hours.

D4

E-ops time was SkyWARN support in Cincinnati and Wilmington. (And the count is already rolling up for April.) Hamilton County ops are putting in time to prepare for an LEPC-driven MCI drill in May. Public Service event season is here, and we expect to report large numbers over the next few months. 

D5

Stark County, by Terry Russ, N8ATZ Stark County ARES completed 4 public service training nets for the month of April that totaled 131 check-ins. There were no public service events during the month. Multiple members of Stark Co ARES attended the spring Ohio ARES Conference in Marion, Ohio including EC Terry Russ - N8ATZ, Assistant EC's David Beltz - WD8AYE and Don Wade - W8DEA. In addition AEC David Beltz - WD8AYE represented ARES in a Stark Co NECO Exercise on April 27th from our county EMA office. 

D6

(No comments)

D7

DELAWARE April is out primary scheduling month for summer events and activities we will support. It's also the month we discussed at some length how to call out our members in the event of an emergency. Of course there's the phone, primarily cell phones, the web and our not so always on radios. The question we struggle with most is what if the phones and cell service is down and we're needed. Over time radios will come to life but how much time can we lose in an emergency.

KNOX Earth Day Challenge 2017, coordinator Frank Counts KC8EVS NVIS Day 2017, Coordinator Tom Evans KD8HSA ARES Activation Training, Coordinator Patrick Valentino KD8PSM Pipeline Safety Exercise, attended Patrick Valentino 4 ARES Nets, Coordinators; Tom Evans KD8HSA, Don Russell W8PEN, Terry Windsor KE8ANS, Bill Bradley KC8BB

LICKING Licking County, April was a busy month, planning for a full scale exercise next month. We teamed up with Licking Co. CERT for a Damage Assessment Exercise in a local village. We had the CERT/ARES comms trailer set-up and was able to communicate on simplex to the EOC. NVIS comms did not work out due to the location of the antenna and was not able to move it to another location. Work at the EOC continues. Thank you to those who have put in a huge amount of time to get the EOC up and running, still have some tower work to get done. No severe weather nets this month for Licking Co. Working on setting up some more training for us.

MARION April has been a very busy month for us. We accumulated quite a few hours and some not so hard work. April 1st we hosted the Ohio ARES Conference. We once again are thankful to Marion Technical College for the use of the very nice facilities. I think the total attendance was 110 people. April 4th we hosted the Skywarn training along with the Marion county EMA. This training session was conducted by the Nation Weather Service out of Cleveland and was very well presented. We had 64 people attend. April 6th, 7th and 8th we provided our service to the 2017 National Robotics Challenge held here in Marion, Ohio. And they were very pleased with our professionalism and willingness to assist them and the people who attended. April 22nd we participated in the Ohio ARES NVIS exercise, while propagations did not cooperate we did brave the very windy and cool conditions and set up a few different antennas. All in all it was enjoyable.

UNION We had 1 person attend the Central Ohio Traffic net training for the ICS 213 compliant form. Several of us attended the SkyWarn weather spotter training for Union County We had 12 participate in NVIS day. We made an antenna to cover 40 meters and 60 meters in the morning and got it put up using the tower at EMA Station 720 in an inverted V configuration, having 2 dipoles at 90 degrees from each other sharing the feed point. We weren't able to make any contacts on it. We did make a couple digital contacts on 80 meters using a Carolina Windom antenna. 

D8

Counties reporting: Athens, Hocking, Lawrence, Ross, Scioto EC comments:

Athens: Provided comm support for the Iron Furnace Trail Run on April 1 and the Athens Marathon on April 9. Upcoming events are Lake Hope Bicycle Race on May 7, 9 AM to 5 PM and Thunderbunny 50 K/25K/12/K running race on May 13, 8 AM to 5 PM at Stroud's Run State Park. Filed Day will be at Athens County Fairgrounds in Athens. Proclamations for Amateur Radio Operators Appreciation Days have already been made by Athens City Mayor and Athens County Commissioners.

Ross: Test session on 29 April run by WB8GRX produced 7 new licenses and one upgrade.

Scioto: NVIS event saw 8 people with 30 hours participating. Some new folks participated from usual crowd.

DEC comments: Help needed for Athens County LEPC full scale drill at Hocking College on June 10. VE session at Athens ACARA Hamfest resulted in three upgrades to General and one new Technician.

D9

Coshocton: A dozen trained spotters attended a NWS Pittsburgh presented a basic SKYWARN training at the EOC . W8SGT, OHDEN, OSSBN continue with checkins from Coshocton ARES. The Ohio DMR net also has representation from Coshocton County. NVIS antenna day had participants from the county. The EOC station was on the air for a couple hours on 75m. A half dozen individual stations were on during parts of the event. Thanks to KC8PUW for participating during NVIS and for his additional time involved in the OHDEN exercise that day in receiving and sending successfully the training message. AA8BN, EC 

Guernsey:  Three members attended the ARES conference. Five members attended an WEB EOC class sponsored by the county EMA. Three members participated in NVIS but did not have much luck. Four members set up and operated a special event station at the National Trail museum. Monthly training covered preparing and transmitting a radiogram

Monroe: No comments

D10

 District 10: Public Service Event season is upon us! Lake and Geauga started it off, and the Cleveland Marathon is next. These are great practice in directed net protocols and field operations, while we perform a valuable service to the public.

Ashtabula County: No comments submitted.

Cuyahoga County: Finalizing preparations for several public service events including the Cleveland Marathon.

Geauga County: Work a joint public service event with Lake County.

Lake County: The first Public Service month was a combined effort by Lake and Geauga amateurs. We tracked and followed 435 runners as they ran from Chardon to Fairport Harbor. Know as the 10/20 mile Drop Run. It’s all down hill HI HI.

Lorain County: No Comments.

Medina County: All EOC radio programming up to date now.