Sunday, July 15, 2018

June Section Emergency Coordinator's Report


ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: June
Year: 2018
Total Number of ARES Members: 1708
Change since last month: 14
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 10
Number of ARES Nets active: 545
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: varies
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: (all)
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 754
Person Hours: 9190
Number of Public Service Events this month: 82
Person Hours: 2702
Number of Emergency Operations this month: 10
Person Hours: 64
Total number of ARES/RACES Events this month: 846
Total Person Hours: 11956
Comments: Northwest Ohio groups are working on installing radios in area hospitals. District 2 repeater runs on solar, up for 2 months. We\'re in the middle of \"bicycle season\" supporting runs and rides across the state. Field Day was active everywhere!
Submitted by and call-sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: stan@standi.com

ARES Monthly Activity Report – June, 2018


SEC
With Scott working on promoting the ARES Connect system. It’s good to see those already registering! Keep it up- Ohio is a large test for this system- our input will help make it work for all.  I have been working with Richard KD8PHG on the Sarge’s facilities- we’re mainly concerned with antennas. We are also in discussion with the state about RACES Sarge is technically a RACES station, etc.  I agree with the FEMA motion toward gathering ~all~ volunteer communications modes under an “Auxcomm” umbrella. It doesn’t matter as much which hat we wear, as long as amateur radio is involved and vital as it always has been.  If you know my “Canned Ham” story, you’ll understand that I’m really interested in several communication trailer projects going on around the state. Marion, Medina and others are creating vehicles which will be useful for event coverage and Field Day, but will also be vital if/when there is a larger-scale emergency requiring our communication abilities. Well done to you all!

Your ASEC’s have been busy- Matt KD8TTE is working on Black Swan 2018. We are in discussion about staging our own 300/400/Auxcomm courses. We have had a qualified instructor volunteer, if we can find the space and time. What a great opportunity that would be!  Mark KD8YMN has been working closely with his counties where new EC’s have been appointed. Mark is good at relationship building with agency directors.

We all appreciate your time and energy! Just in June our people put in nearly 12,000 hours…think of that!  Thank you all- I’m guessing you all found that time to be fun, and worthwhile.

District 1
The District 1 Traffic and Training Net had 253 checkins, handled 134 pieces of traffic in 455 minutes in 30 sessions. The District 1 DEC and both ADEC;s and EC’s made numerous hospital and non-hospital site visits for inspections to place amateur radio equipment in these facilities with the assistance of the Hospital Council Of Northwest Ohio who is providing the equipment through grants.

Seneca County-EC James Hershberger KE8ERN  Report submitted by AEC Steve Tarbert KC8ZKC
No Comment

Huron County-EC Craig Franklin KD8KWU Attended Tabletop Haz Mat Spill at the Huron County EMA

Hancock County-EC Evan Hartman W8KJR
 Net involvement was down a bit this month; but we did have our first informal roundtable on DMR with the hams in our county. People are starting to warm up to the mode here and I think it can be a very useful tool for our ARES group.

Sandusky County-EC David Gierhart W8DAG   No Report Filed

Erie County-EC Edward Andres W8EJA   No Comment

Wood County-EC Eric Willman WD8LEI No Report Filed

Lucas County-EC Lowell Kern KD8KXD Lucas County ARES radio operators provided radio communications for the Muddy Mini 1/2 Marathon.

Ottawa County-EC James Garber KB8TT  No Report Filed

Wyandot County-EC Ron Wilch KE8PX  The Wyandot County Hams prepared and completed Field Day at Wharton Community Park this year. We worked hard but had a great time. We only got 4 contacts on one of our stations and we worked on it all weekend. Finally we found that the vertical antenna being used had a bad coil and could only be used on 10 meters. Quite a learning experience. The other two radios worked great! We had a pot luck cook out which everyone enjoyed. We also had our monthly meeting and monthly emergency siren test net. A good month for Amateur Radio!

Hardin County-Craig Newland KC8FEL No Comment

District 2
Our primary repeater 147.090 still running on solar/battery power 2 months now, We are actively seeking a different tower site. Back-up repeater is down for lack of adequate power. Repeaters KT8EMA and Williams Co ARC are being utilized as backup. Williams Co. - Through tri-county mutual agreement offered access to to Williams Co. ARC repeater for emergency operations. VAn Wert - Assisted Local police and Peony Parade officials along parade route. 

District 3
DISTRICT 3 SUMMARY:  100% of Nine Counties reporting: 300 Members (0 change); (64 Voice Net Sessions, 18 Digital Net Sessions (82 total Net Events & 312 Net man-hours); 28 Meetings-Drills-Training-Tests (1919 man-hours); 4 Public Service Events (492 man-hrs) and 3 Emergency Operations (10 man-hrs); for 117 Total Events and 2733 Total man-hours.

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY(22 members, 0 change):  4 weekly voice net sessions (40 Net man-hours); 0 Public Service Event (0 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours) and 1 other ARES events (5 man-hours) for a total of 5 events and 45 man-hours.

CLARK COUNTY(33 members):  3 weekly net sessions (11 Net man-hours); 0 Public Service Event (0 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours) and 1 other ARES events (10 man-hours) for a total of 4 events and 21 man-hours.

DARKE COUNTY:  (14 members, 0 change):  4 weekly voice net sessions (7 Net man-hours); 0 Public Service Event (0 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours) and 2 other ARES event (80 man-hours ) for a total of 6 events and 87 man-hours.

GREENE COUNTY:  (55 members, 0 change):  20 weekly voice net sessions, 8 weekly digital net sessions (109 Net man-hours); 1 Public Service Events (20 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours); and 15 other ARES related activities (938 man-hours) for a total of 44 events and 1067 man-hours.

Comments:  Weekly Net participation: GCARES, GCARES/MVMA Mesh Discussion, BARC, UVARC, GCARES Digital, Dayton East Emergency Response Net (DEER), OHDEN & OH EM. PREP, D3.  Other activity: Continuing Mesh and Winlink maintenance, demonstrations, testing & training, GOBA coverage, served agency training, three Greene County clubs’ field day events. 

LOGAN COUNTY (RACES UNIT):  (10 members):  4 weekly voice net sessions (2 man-hours); and 1 other RACES activity (38 man-hours) for a total of 5 events and 40 man-hours.


CommentsMCES ARES/RACES Net 145.23(-) held each Sunday evening at 2100hrs, 147.21 (+) held each Thursday at 2000hrs, Digital nets using MT63-2KL on 145.23 held each Sunday at 1900hrs & Wires X net on Sunday at 1800hrs. The club supported several events during June resulting in a busy month, starting off with bike rides covering two different during the Troy Strawberry festival with 20 operators, Field Day operation was well supported with several members making their first HF contacts and several non-ham making their first HF contacts under the guidance of a license operators. The West Milton Triathlon on the 16 of June was supported with 17 operators. To round out the month, the club held another 1 day Tech training class resulting in 7 students taking the test, with 6 passing. Three additional hams attempted to upgrade their license, resulting two upgrading to General and one attempting to gain Extra, but not passing. 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY:  (86 members, 0 change):  3 weekly voice net sessions, 3 weekly digital net sessions (11 Net man-hours); 0 Public Service Events (0 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours); and 1 other ARES related events (24 man-hours) for a total of 7 events and 35 man-hours. 

Comments:  MoCo ARES held its Community Meeting on June 26th. Jack Gerbs, WB8SCT did a presentation on Digital Mobile Radio. Still trying to get all MoCo ARES members to complete their profile in ARES Connect.

PREBLE COUNTY:  (16 members):  4 weekly net sessions (8 Net man-hours); 0 Public Service Event (0 man-hours); 3 Emergency Operations (10 man-hours); and 5 other ARES events (490 man-hours) for a total of 12 events and 508 man-hours.

Comments:  PrebleARES participated in field day as class 2F. We had 12 operators for the period. New HF antenna for the county EMA office was installed and tested with great success. This antenna was a replacement from Black Swan test that was so disappointing. SSB, CW and GOTA antenna were installed. Some in band and out of band, close proximity interference was noticed. Use of homebrew shorting stubs and bandpass filters minimized most of the interference. New plans were made to minimize interference in future field days. The clubs 70’ portable crank up tower was deployed with a tri band yagi installed. Certainly made a difference on the higher bands. The GOTA station was a real hit this year. Newer hams and less experienced hams made many contacts, more so than any other year records show. This years field day was to promote training and operation rather than points. The K8YR repeater transmitter power output upgrade continued. Additional testing of equipment required purchase of a new higher capacity power supply and other equipment. This was purchased to be installed at a later date. Skywarn was activated several times for storm watches. No severe weather related problems noted. Several members assisted in the modification and installation of parts on the portable 70’ tower. The equipment box was professionally painted and looks really nice. We note the passing of long time ARES member Don Foreman, AB8OS. He was active with the group and was very inventive on projects and a valued CW operator for field day. We will miss him greatly.
 
SHELBY COUNTY:  (39 members):  4 weekly net sessions; 2 digital net sessions (43 man-hours); 0 Public Service Event (0 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours); and 1 other ARES events (322 man-hours); for a total of 7 events and 365 man-hours.

Comments:  4 SCARES Sunday Nets, 2 Digital Nets (1 MT63-2KL, 1 C4FM), June 23 Field Day June 24 Field Day and SCARES Meeting.

DISTRICT 3 ACTIVITIES:  4 District 3 ARES weekly voice net sessions (24 Net man-hours); and 0 other District 3 activities for a total of 4 events and 24 man-hours.

District 4
E-ops time was to support the National Weather Service office in Wilmington. Highland County EC Harley Maines (K8HM) continues to be active with MARS. Much time committed to Field Day operations in several counties.

Butler County: Monthly meetings are suspended due to construction at the school where we meet. We have established a VHF AIRMAIL node with traffic averages of 2 users per day every day. There are a total of 6 call signs that normally pass traffic through the AIRMAIL node, including the Hamilton County Regional Operations Center of the Emergency Management Agency. 

District 5
District 5 EC Dennis Conklin, AI8P visited 13 Field Day sites within or immediately adjacent to the District 5 Counties. These included Portage County ARS (K8BF), Mahoning Valley ARA (W8QLY), 20/9 Club (K8KTA), Lisbon ARA (K8GQB), Triangle ARC (K8BLP), Alliance ARC (W8AL), Tusco ARC (W8ZX), Massillon ARC (W8NP), Cuyahoga Falls ARC (W8VPV), Northern Ohio DX (W8DXA), Silvercreek ARA (W8WKY), and Medina 2M group (W8EOC) Stark County - Terry Russ, N8ATZ Stark County ARES completed 4 public service nets for the month of June that totaled 101 check-ins. There we no public service events this month but 10 ARES members participated in Field Day operating with the Massillon Amateur Radio Club. We have completed registration with the new ARES Connect system and are encouraging our members to populate the database. This is expected to take several months to complete. 

District 6
No comments submitted

District 7
MARION COUNTY: At the beginning of the month we provided radio communications for the Hot Tamale bike riders. They had 300+ riders and covered 8, 16, 32, and 64 mile route throughout Marion County. We provided the organizers with information such as if riders needed assistance and location of riders. Field Day was another success! Still working on total numbers. We continue to organize our newly acquired ARES trailer.

FAIRFIELD COUNTY: Successful: GOBA, Field Day, Fire Alarm installation and testing.
FAYEYYE COUNTY: Activated the Fayette County EOC for Field Day Mark Griggs KB8YMN participated in the EMA/LEPC meeting in my absence.

FRANKLIN COUNTY: This month the Franklin County Coroner's Office provided training on operations and how ARES supports their mission in mass casualty events. We had an opportunity to review 7 cases to decide the cause of death. Next month Franklin County EMA will be discussing the integration of public & private resources during an emergency and how ARES is impacted.

DELAWARE COUNTY: Field day bought out a very large turnout as it normally does for Delaware county.

LICKING COUNTY: We had a busy month with GOBA, Field Day, Pataskala Fireworks to name a few. A big Thank you to the GOBA hams as they were professional on our repeater and I had received several comments from local ARES members and hams about their professionalism. Thank you to those that were willing and able to take the time for the long hours for Field Day, we had 3 clubs operating in various parts of the county and the EC Bret KD8SCL was able to visit 2 of the FD sites. Licking County LEPC held a Tabletop Exercise which involved a ruptured pipeline that runs through the county and about an hour later an auto accident involving an over turned tanker truck carrying chlorine which also ruptured in the same area of the pipeline rupture . It was interesting to see how the various agencies would respond to and handle both accidents.

UNION COUNTY: We had some public service activity this month. I ( Ed, KE8ANU) helped out with the Hot Tamale Bike Ride in Waldo on June 2nd.The time for that did not get included in this report since I assume the Marion County ARES group will have it in their report. A big thank you goes out to the following for helping out with GOBA. Gayle, W8KWG helped out with net control on the Marysville Repeater for GOBA on Fathers Day. John, K8LVZ and also Stan, N8BHL were available as back up net control operators monitoring the repeater and filling in when needed. I also put some time into getting ready for the Central Ohio Challenge July 7th. That bike ride goes from Dublin to Bellefontaine and back and has 4 loops, a 30 mile loop, 55 mile loop, 80 mile loop, and a 100 mile loop. It starts in Franklin County, goes through Union County, part of Madison County by Plain City, part of Champaign County, and in to Logan County. We are fortunate to have 2 repeaters that can cover that large of an area to use, the Marysville N8IG 145.35 repeater sponsored by the Union County EMA and the W8FTV 147.000 repeater that the Champaign Logan Amateur Radio Club operates. I also have permission to use the Urbana WB8UCD repeater in Champaign County/Urbana as a back up if needed. It has good coverage around the middle part of the bike ride route. We had a great Field Day with the Union County Amateur Radio Club. We had around 40 people sign in for field day total, including club members, visitors, and en elected official. We also had quite a few youth participate on the GOTA station. We attempted to make a satellite contact but we were unsuccessful. Tony, KC8PZ participated on the Ohio Single Side band HF traffic net on Sunday from Field Day. He relayed several radio grams to others that were on the net as well as passed a radiogram to our Section Manager. Attached are a few of pictures from Field Day.

KNOX COUNTY: We had a very successful Field Day. As usual it rained. 

District 8
Counties reporting: Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto. EC comments:
Athens: Athens County ARA operated Field Day from Athens County Fairgrounds. Sunday Creek ARF joined with the rejuvenated Morgan County club on a ridge in Morgan County. DEC Jeff Slattery, N8SUZ and YL Jan Slattery, KD8PUJ provided week-long communications support and net control for the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure in central Ohio. After GOBA N8SUZ operated made some phone contacts from the ACARA FD site. Red Cross Disaster Program Specialist Dave Bradley visited both sites. ACARA obtained FD proclamations from the Athens City Mayor who opened FD by reading his proclamation and from the Athens County Commissioners.

Gallia: We were held a station building exercise at the friday Field Day setup for MOVARC. Where they acted as a group to construct a station out of debris. Hocking: HVARC assisted with setup of the Washboard Festival parade on June16th. HVARC once again held our field day at the home of Ray KB8GUN and Mary KC8GUN Webb in southern Hocking County. We had a good turn out with 19 operators in and out during the contest and many other family members as well. We utilized the emergency response trailer and a couple of HF rigs in the old barn. It was a great time with several lessons learned.

Ross: Two hams (KD8UND and K9RIA) participated in week-long communications for the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure Scioto: 5 Operators with over 60 hours for Field Days Event 

District 9
COSHOCTON CO: Field day was the big event with 18 ARES members over the 2 days. We sent out our messages from field day via voice and fldigi. The county OTS was KL7RF sending them on to SM,SEC, DEC, surrounding county ECs, etc.....aa8bn Coshocton County EC
GUERNSEY CO: The monthly training session covered how to be a NCS and 10 quiz covering various ARES subjects. ARES members participated in field day with 14 ARES members and 13 other amateur operators over two days operating four stations as 4A, modes CW, SSB, PSK31, & FT8. This resulted in 187 man hours for the event. Three messages for field day were sent via two meters

MORGAN CO: We had a great turn out for Field Day this year, including our local EMA Director and the regional Red Cross Disaster Services person.
Dec: Only counties with comments, 3.

District 10
District 10: I hope you all had as much fun at Field Day as I did! Lots of public service events coming up. They're not only good practice for field operations, they\'re big fun too!

Ashtabula County: No comments submitted.

Cuyahoga County: Members participated at numerous Field Day sites.

Geauga County: This includes Field Day.

Lake County: Sunday in June Bike Started off wet and rainy and remained that way on and off all day. There were no major issues and all 385 riders returned to the barn safe sound. Field Day started off with heavy shower in the morning here in the northeast. It cleared up in the afternoon making the rest of FD a very enjoyable operation.

Lorain County: No comments submitted.

Medina County: The EOC radio trailer is now operational on vhf/uhf and has one EOC radio. Work to be done is to add an hf radio and a TV that can be used as a display.