January's Section Emergency Coordinators Report

ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: January
Year: 2018
Total Number of ARES Members: 1792
Change since last month: 66
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 10
Number of ARES Nets active: 535
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: VARIES
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: WD8PNZ, W8UY, W8LLY, N8TFD, AI8P, W8DLB, KB8YMN, N8SUZ, W8FHF, N8AUC
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 673
Person Hours: 3903
Number of Public Service Events this month: 56
Person Hours: 304
Number of Emergency Operations this month: 2
Person Hours: 42
Total number of ARES/RACES Events this month: 731
Total Person Hours: 4249
Comments: Lots of training. Coshocton county was activated for rain guage reports and to staff the EOC during an ice jam which resulted in flood damage in several small towns. ARES was also prepared for shelter comms if needed.
Submitted by and call-sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: stan@standi.com
Files to upload?:

OES Report for January

Name	Call	County	District	PS Hours	EM Hours	Hours Net Participation
Scott	N8SY	Richland	6	20	1	10
Mark	KB8YMN	Franklin	7	2	0	5
Bob	W8RWR	Franklin	7	0	0	2
David	NF8O	Medina	10	9	0	6
Matt	KD8TTE	Franklin	7	44	0	24

Hi all!  I hope you have the chance to see that NBC video on emergency ham radio in Hawaii, being circulated on the Internet. It was a fairly good presentation, I thought.   You know it can get pretty stale around this part of the country, without hurricanes, wildfires, impending nuclear missile attacks and other major disasters. I suppose as a resident, it’s a good thing. As a communicator, it’s a tad slow. But that’s no reason for us to relax our training or readiness!

For example, District 9 stations in Coshocton County were activated when an ice jam backed up flooding which damaged several smaller towns and threatened a larger area. Our communicators provided rain gauge readings, staffed the EOC, and were manned and ready in the likely event that shelters were needed. Fortunately, the situation dissipated before that took place. But it was a short-fuse situation that required our people to be ready!

Are your volunteers ready?  We skated [ see what I did there? ] on what could have been a large event even this weekend, with initial forecasts for heavy ice sending up warning flags for a while. Training, readiness, and the ability to set up stations on the fly (ice can mangle antennas!) are all reasons amateur radio gets the call.

OHIO ARES STATE CONFERENCE:  APRIL 7,  MARION TECH / MARION OSU HEALTH LECTURE HALL

We’ve got a solid date, and are putting a slate of informative speakers together for this year’s conference.  Our keynote speaker is Great Lakes Division Director Dale Williams, WA8EFK. Dale was chair of the committee at League which has come up with major changes to the ARES program across the country. The report was approved by the League Board this month. Formal report won’t be out until Staff revision, but Dale can tell us what we can look for as ARES catches up with the rest of the public service world standards. Ohio is part of the BETA program, so we will all be involved!  We’ll be talking training, digital nets, and more!  The meeting is open to all,  to get an idea of attendance we would appreciate if you’d pre-register on the ARRL-Ohio page: http://arrl-ohio.org/SEC/form.html

BTW- if you’re looking for some training material, I’d recommend Matt Curtin’s HIPAA training from last year’s conference. Video is on the Ohio Section website.

OHIO NVIS ANTENNA DAY  is April 28! 

This is a fun event! Get a group together, have a nice BBQ lunch ready, and play with antennas!  The NVIS concept is a low-altitude “Cloud burner” antenna which radiates mostly upward. That gives a better chance to communication within a 400 mile radius- just what we need for a statewide or regional emergency.  It’s ~always~ fun to play with antennas!  NVIS day runs 10-4,  on 40 and 80 meters.  This year, we want to do 40 meters first (if we can catch it before going long) then switch over to 80.  It’s not all that structured, simply a matter of making contacts with as many stations as possible, to plot where your best coverage is with that antenna. Try several!

I’ve attached the activity report for January. THANK YOU for all your time, energy and work!  We’re here to serve our neighbors and our community!

Ohio ARES Activity report
January 2018

District 1
Totals include hours from the Northwest Ohio Traffic and Training Net and District 1 Skywarn if activated.

District 2
No comments

District 3
DISTRICT 3 SUMMARY:  100% of Nine Counties reporting: 298 Members (+3 change), 99 Total Events (61 Voice Net Sessions, 15 Digital Net Sessions, 23 Meetings-Drills-Training-Tests, 0 Public Service Events and 0 Emergency Operations for 788 Total Man-Hours.

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY:  (21 members, +2):  4 weekly voice net sessions and 1 other ARES events for a total of 5 events and 46 man-hours.

CLARK COUNTY:  (33 members):  3 weekly net sessions and 2 other ARES events for a total of 5 events and 16 man-hours.

DARKE COUNTY:  (14 members, +1 change):  5 weekly voice net sessions, 0 Public Service Event, 0 Emergency Operations and 0 other ARES events for a total of 5 events and 7 man-hours.

GREENE COUNTY:  (56 members):  19 weekly voice net sessions, 5 weekly digital net sessions, 0 Public Service Event, 0 Emergency Operations and 11 other ARES related activities for a total of 35 events and 188 man-hours.
Comments:  Weekly Net participation: GCARES, GCARES/MVMA Mesh Discussion, BARC, UVARC, GCARES Digital, OHDEN,& OH EM. PREP, D3. Other activity: Continuing Mesh and Winlink maintenance, demonstrations, testing & training. One served agency safety training, CERT training.

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.

MIAMI COUNTY:  (25 members):  8 weekly voice nets, 4 weekly digital nets, 0 Public Service, 0 Emergency Operations and 0 other ARES events for a total of 12 events and 46 man-hours.
Comments:  MCES ARES/RACES Net 145.23(-):1/7, 1/14, 1/21, 1/28 - 147.21(+): 1/4, 1/11, 1/18, 1/25, Four Digital nets using MT63-2KL on 145.23 on 1/7, 1/14, 1/21, 1/28.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY:  (84 members, 0 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 57 man-hours. 
Comments:

PREBLE COUNTY:  (16 members):  4 weekly net sessions; 0 Public Service Event, 0 Emergency Operations and 4 other ARES events for a total of 8 events and 18 man-hours.
Comments:  Local ARES conference meeting planned for February 2018. Planned training and discussion of high priority projects.

SHELBY COUNTY:  (39 members):  4 weekly net sessions; 2 digital net sessions; 0 Public Service Event; 0 Emergency Operations and 4 other ARES event for a total of 8 events and 342 man-hours.
Comments: 1-13-18 Ohio ARES Simplex contest, 1-27-18 Winter Field Day, 1-28-18 Winter Field Day, 1-28-18 VEC Testing session, 1-28-18 Monthly Meeting
DISTRICT 3 ACTIVITIES:  5 District 3 ARES weekly voice net sessions for a total of 5 events and 48 man-hours.

District 4
Butler County: No monthly siren test due to extreme cold. Key staff attended LEPC meeting to debrief a drill.

Brown County: EC Bobby Revis (KD8TPU) is handing the reigns to Rick Coburn (NV8C), a former county EC.

Hamilton County: No monthly net due to it falling on 1/1. More "POD" sessions and WebEOC training for members. Preplanning for an event at University of Cincinnati in March. Members participated in Winter Field Day and Ohio ARES VHF Simplex exercise.

District 5
Summit County - Ken Dorsey, KA8OAD We had our first meeting of the year and covered ICS-100 for our members that have not yet completed their ICS courses. I also gave a presentation about ARES to our local CERT group and after the presentation I was asked by the police officer in charge of the group if I would be willing to put on a licensing class for all 30+ members in the CERT group.

Stark County - Terry Russ, N8ATZ Stark Co ARES completed 5 public service nets for the month of January that totaled 117 check-ins. There were no public service activities during the month. We continue to revise and update our ARES roster per the new guidelines and currently have 10 Tier 1 status members and 22 total members. Additional ARES applications are pending. Our county EMA office has offered to provide ICS training to any of our ARES membership to boost Tier 1 status membership.

District 6
No Comments

District 7
Franklin County: January FCOH ARES spent time trouble shooting & testing antennas at the EMA office along with identifying antenna lines. Some radios were moved to provide acoustic isolation between console positions. We continue to prepare for the Arnold Sports Festival that is held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

Licking County: We are in the process of updating our member roster information. Bret KD8SCL, EC Licking Co. and Greg KD8SSJ, EC Fairfield Co. have been working together to bring the 2 counties together in the event of an emergency. We (Licking Co.) have several events on the 2018 calendar and are planning a couple more. Thanks to Kevin AC8GI, Licking Co. now has 2 DMR repeaters (VHF & UHF) and they have great coverage for the county and beyond. We are in the planning stages of the possibility of creating a DMR net for Licking Co. more details to come if & when we get details narrowed down.

Marion County: Start of a new year and new changes. About 60% of members are Tier I. Working to get more. Planning for another busy first half to the year. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Ohio ARES Conference.

Union County: ARES group met weekly for training and covered information in the ARES Field Resources Manual. One evening of training was canceled due to weather. This past Monday when we covered radiograms and message handling in the field resource manual our NTS Liaison Tony, KC8PZ joined us. We also had 3 ARES members, John, KA8LVZ, Rob, KD8GPG, and myself go through a 4 evening, 16 hour CERT training program the Logan County EMA put on. The Union County Amateur Radio Club is putting on a 6 week long technician license class that starts Feb 7th. After the tech class in March we are planning training classes for the FEMA 100, 200, 700, & 800 courses for our ARES group members and Union County EMA members that need them. I want to thank Clifford, KB8WNO for the work he has been putting into the training sessions. We had 1 member, Gregg, KB8BBS decided to become inactive due to health issues. I would like to welcome a new member, Ron, KE8CMG, to our group that joined us this month. 73, -Ed, KE8ANU Union County ARES EC

District 8
Counties reporting: Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton
EC Comments: Athens: ACARA is currently conducting a technician license class. Testing will be March 12, 7:00 PM at Athens Red Cross. ARRL VEC.

Gallia: More effort is being made within the group regarding the NIMS basic courses. I am awaiting my results from 700 and 800. I plan to establish a simplex net here among the members on 2 meters. I hope to be operating on digital modes within the group by mid-year.

District 9
COSHOCTON CO: In addition to the ARES net and digital nets locally, ARES also participated at the LEPC mtg, OHDEN nets, DMR nets..... On Jan 11 we were requested by the EMA to send them rain gauge reports. Kl7RF, WX8OH, AA8BN, KE8WIP, KC8YYF. Responded with measurements for the following 24hr. Jan 11-12..... On Jan 12 ,early afternoon ,the EMA requested ARES to the EMA radios. AA8BN was at EMA. An Ice Jam and flooding near Nellie, Warsaw was in effect. Used called tree, informed Dec, Net called up and run by ke8wip. 10 checkins (8 ARES members) on the net. After a couple hours ARES was released from EMA . We remained on call up however should we be needed manning a shelter and a return to EMA was possible. At 630 pm ARES was deactivated from event by EMA. Water level lower, and Red Cross sheltered a few people in hotel. A long term shelter was not needed. 40hr ARES. Thanks to wx8oh, kl7rf, ke8wip,kb8vip, kc8yxy, kb8hea, wn8rgw for being on net and ready..... Simplex event was worked by 6 ARES for about 19hr. Fun time. .... Steve, AA8BN Coshocton EC

GUERENSEY CO: A critical review of our ARES roster shows a more accurate number of active ares members. Four ares members participated in the VHF exercise. Several counties were contacted and total of 7 hours was spent on the air. All the contacts were 2 meter FM simplex. The Sarge was contacted by one of the county ares stations. The Jan training was a radio programming party and the local ares frequencies were reviewed. The EC and one AEC attended the Local Emergency Planning committee meeting. One AEC attended the county Planning, Training, and Exercise committee meeting. EC Richard W. Wayt., WD8SDH

JEFFERSON CO: Held Group sessions held at EMA to help volunteer\'s complete required NIMS classes. EC, Robert M Carson Jr., N8CUX

DEC: G.Sonny Alfman W8FHF

District 10
District 10: Save the date! Ohio ARES Conference April 7 in Marion. Be there or be square! *** Ashtabula County: No comments submitted.

Cuyahoga County: Several members purged from roster for inactivity during annual review.

Geauga County: No comments submitted.

Lake County: Annual Repeater report to EMA Manager per his request. Up graded exterior lighting on Emergency operations trailer

Lorain County: No comments submitted.

Medina County: Amanda Panchumarti passed all four required courses to become tier one.