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.

MIAMI COUNTY:  (25 members):  8 weekly voice nets, 2 weekly digital nets, 3 Public Service Events supported by Miami County ARES and RACES (Winans to Winans Half Marathon between Troy and Piqua with 17 operators; The Tour De Donut with around 2,000 riders riding three different routes thru Miami County supported by 20 radio operators; Digital and voice communication support for Miami County EMA Office during the annual Volunteer Center Deployment for the operational checkout of Volunteer Center processes), and 0 Emergency Operations for a total of 13 events and 157 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.