February's Section Emergency Coordinator's Report

Reporting Month: February
Reporting Year: 2019
Total Number of ARES Members: 1707
Change since last month: 24
Number of DEC's reporting this month: 9
Number of ARES nets active: 399
Number of nets active with NTS Liaisons: 1
Call Signs of DEC's reporting: All minus D4
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 524
Person Hours: 4946
Number of Public Service events this month: 49
Person hours: 418
Number of emergency operations this month: 2
Person hours: 5
Total number of ARES/RACES events this month: 484
Total Person Hours: 5369
Comments: Training! Auxcomm, Wide-area-missing-persons, number of local EOC / agency training sessions all took place. Weather training is beginning already for the spring.
Submitted by and call sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: stan@standi.com
Files to upload?:

Hi everyone!  Fixed my gutter this weekend…only to have it blown back off the next night. Spring is in the air…moving at a high rate of speed!  Here is the February report.

We have 1707 volunteers counted this month, a change of 24

399 net sessions (91 digital) with 2614 manhours.

524 training sessions for 4946 manhours (excellent!)

49 public service events for 418 hours

2 emergency events (weather) for 5 hours…both in Cincinnati area.

We are getting started on spring severe weather training. Make sure you track when training is available to your county, and encourage your people to attend! It’s a great review every year.  Those northeast had winter weather training this year- something new.  Not available to Wilmington and other NWS regions just yet.

There has been some nice training recently- an AUXCOMM class in Franklin County and a Wide Area Missing Persons Search class staged by Hardin County. Both classes were widely attended.

Activities are starting to take place, with The Arnold in Columbus (and other counties) holding 26,000 ~contestants~ (yeah, 26 thousand- biggest athletic competition in the world).  Amateur radio is critical- every medical team communicates with amateur radio over a number of counties where venues are located.

We’re working on the Ohio ARES Spring Conference- it’s going to be really solid stuff again this year.  April 6, Marion Tech in Marion, Ohio.

SPECIAL NOTE:  BRING A HANDHELD AND A LAPTOP CAPABLE OF FLDIGI!!

Don’t forget NVIS antenna day April 27

Thanks to all who are using ARES Connect!   Improvements are being made regularly, it is getting better!

Keep training and thank you for everything you do!!

-Stan

SEC

We’re getting ready for the Ohio ARES Spring Conference, at Marion. DEC’s have been helping with input for the meeting, and we have some great presentations lined up.  That is April 6.

SEC attended the Missing Person Training at Hardin Co. (Nice job, guys!)

We’re working with the state to improve/repair some antennas at The Sarge. 

Final planning is underway for this year’s NVIS Antenna Day. That will be April 27.

District 1

Congratulations Tim Bergeman KE8IBN for stepping up and taking over as the EC for Erie County.

District 2

Nothing reported

District 3

DISTRICT 3 SUMMARY:  100% of Nine Counties reporting: 305 Members (+3 change); (61 Voice Net Sessions, 12 Digital Net Sessions (73 total Net Events & 326 Net man-hours); 25 Meetings-Drills-Training-Tests (264 man-hours); 2 Public Service Events (52 man-hrs) and 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hrs); for 100 Total Events and 642 Total man-hours.

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY:  (23 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, 0 change):  3 weekly net sessions (11 Net man-hours); 0 Public Service Event (0 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours) and 0 other ARES events (0 man-hours) for a total of 3 events and 11 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 1 other ARES event (10 man-hours ) for a total of 5 events and 17 man-hours.

GREENE COUNTY:  (58 members, 1 change):  20 weekly voice net sessions, 4 weekly digital net sessions (127 Net man-hours); 1 Public Service Events (32 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours); and 16 other ARES related activities (149 man-hours) for a total of 41 events and 308 man-hours.

     Comments:  Weekly Net participation: GCARES, GCARES/MVMA Mesh Discussion, Greene County DMR Net, BARC, UVARC, GCARES Digital, Dayton East Emergency Response Net (DEER),D3 ARES Net and OHDEN & OH EMA Net. Other activity: Continuing Mesh and Winlink, maintenance, demonstrations, DMR programming and training, served agency equipment inventory and testing underway, served agency meetings, Technician, General and Extra license classes underway.

LOGAN COUNTY (RACES UNIT):  (10 members):  4 weekly voice net sessions (2 man-hours); and 1 other RACES activity (18 man-hours) for a total of 5 events and 20 man-hours.

MIAMI COUNTY:  (25 members, 0 change):  11 weekly voice nets, 3 weekly digital nets (46 Net man-hours); 0 Public Service (0 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours); and 0 other ARES events (0 man-hours) for a total of 14 events and 46 man-hours.

     Comments:  MCES 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.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY:  (87 members, +2 change):  3 weekly voice net sessions, 3 weekly digital net sessions (15 Net man-hours); 0 Public Service Events (0 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours); and 1 other ARES related events (36 man-hours) for a total of 7 events and 51 man-hours. 

     Comments:  Had a total of 3 voice and 3 digital nets for the month. At our Community Meeting our training topic was Damage Assessment.

PREBLE COUNTY:  (16 members, 0 change):  4 weekly net sessions (2 Net man-hours); 1 Public Service Event (20 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours); and 1 other ARES events (12 man-hours) for a total of 6 events and 34 man-hours.

     Comments:  Preble EMA has offered a grant for upgrade of ARES station and antennas. We worked many hours to make a plan and to obtain necessary quotes from vendors. Monthly ARES meeting was held and plans were made to host the next D3 meeting in March.

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 4 other ARES events (34 man-hours); for a total of 10 events and 77 man-hours.

     Comments:  4 Sunday evening Voice Nets 2 Sunday evening C4FM Nets February 18 & 23 Technician Class with 4 participants February 23 - Special Testing Session February 24 - Monthly Meeting.

DISTRICT 3 ACTIVITIES:  4 weekly voice net sessions (34 Net man-hours); 0 Emergency Operation (0 man-hours); and 0 other District 3 ARES activities (0 man-hours); for a total of 4 events and 34 man-hours.

     Comments:  DEC working on Agenda and presentations for District 3 EC Meeting Saturday 23 March to be hosted by Preble County ARES at Preble County EMA Office in Eaton.

     DEC also preparing updated information about Winlink for Ohio ARES website (Introduction, Background, Description, Equipment and Software Requirements and How to Set Up and Operate a Winlink Station.

     Greene County ARES (GCARES) constructed a UHF Winlink Gateway almost two years ago and currently has over a dozen operators with Winlink Stations—some with Go-Kits and also capable of operating HF Winlink.  A DMR UHF Repeater recently was installed in Greene County—currently has about a dozen DMR stations and growing every day.  A GCARES DMR Net is held prior to the GCARES weekly VHF voice and FLdigi data net and a number of GC personnel also are checking into the Ohio ARES DMR Net regularly.  These Greene County resources are intended to also support the West Central Ohio District 3 ARES Region.

District 4

Butler: We had 20 operators in training for the Butler-Warren Counties Severe Weather Net in cooperation with the NWS Wilmington Oh. Our weather siren test was cancelled due to severe weather in the area on test day.

Hamilton: MEETING HOURS-55 ADMINISTRATION HOURS 9

Highland: WEATHER SPOTTER TRAING BY WILMINGTON NWS SPONSERD BY EMA 23 MEMBERS ATT.

District 5

Stark County ARES completed 4 public service nets that totaled 102 check ins. There were no public service events during February. Stark County continues to encourage their members to become familiar with the new ARES Connect System and register their training efforts.

Columbiana County has an EC again. Don Kemp has been reappointed by Scott N8SY. They submitted their report for February with 6 members.

No EC for Carroll County and no reports submitted for Carroll, Trumbull or Portage Counties. 

District 6

No comments submitted

District 7

 Delaware County: Training took place at the county EOC, Director Sean Miller (KD8RBM) provided a "how it works" session. We spent time completing the renovation of the Red Cross station. We prepared for a 3/2/19 event as part of the Arnold.

Marion County: Attended the Missing person training in Hardin county. Great training, Thank you for allowing us to be apart of it. Looking forward to further multi-county training.

Franklin County: Our emphasis this month was preparing for the Arnold Sports Classic at the Greater Columbus Convention Center and the Ohio Exposition Center. The Deputy Director & ARES event coordinator for this event, Patrick Gibson, KD8ION, reviewed the communications plan while sharing critical tips for everyone. A team deployed communication systems which improved coverage throughout the complex. APRS was used in the transport vans. Hours for this event will be reported next month.

Union County: We had a busy month for February. Jim, KD8KCH did a presentation about FLDigi at the Union County Club/ARES meeting on February 5th. He did a good job. If anyone would like to view it it can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6zG_VnMb9g Craig, KC8FEL from Hardin County invited us to attend a wide area search for a missing person class that was held Feb 9th. Everyone learned a lot that attended it. It was held at the Hardin County Sheriffs office conference room in Kenton. Our simplex digi nets have been going good. There seems to be less issues to work out when working with FLDigi and the MT632KL digital mode. Its good to see the progress our group has been making with it. The new Union County EMA station 720 is coming together. The EMA has been moving into it. We are waiting for the weather to break so the work on the new tower can begin. 73, Ed, KE8ANU.

Fairfield County: ARES/K8QIIK voice nets, ARRL testing, CERT training, Winter weather standby 03-03-2019. Licking County: We had a busy month for some here in the county with planning meetings and training.

Licking Co. will be sponsoring the FEMA IS-300 & 400 class in March and there are several members that have signed up for the class. Several members attended the AUXCOMM Training Class, Thank you to those that set up the class in Central Ohio and there were about 30 in attendance.

Licking Co. had some minor damage from the winds that rolled through the state. We are looking forward to March with several items planned so far. 

District 8

 Counties reporting: Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Lawrence, Ross, Scioto EC Comments:

Athens: ARRL VE Session Mon, Mar 11, 7 PM, Red Cross of Southeastern Ohio. End of Tech license class.

Ross: Continued radio preparations for the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure

DEC comments: Several public service events coming up in April: Iron Furnace Trail Run, Saturday, April 6, 9 AM to 2 PM, Athens Full and Half Marathon, Sunday, April 14, 8 AM to 3 PM, Athens Gravel Bike Tour Saturday, April 20. MOVARC Hamfest, Saturday, March 16, Gallipolis Portsmouth Radio Club Hamfest, Saturday, April 20, Portsmouth Athens Hamfest, Sunday, April 28, Athens Community Center 

District 9

COSHOCTON CO: The Coshocton OTS group has been successful on 160m with OHDEN nets. Thanks to KB8VIP and N8MXX for 2 way on this band . EC Steve Wheatcraft AA8BN

GUERNSEY CO: Not much activity this month due to sickness and other conflicts. The monthly training was cancelled. EC Richard Wayt, WD8SD

JEFFERSON CO: No Comments. EC Robert Carson Jr. N8CUX

MUSKINGUM CO: NO report.

NOBLE CO: The American Legion Post 641 ARC conducted it first training and information net on Thurs. Feb 14th and its second net on Thurs. Feb 28th. Discussions were mainly setting up emergency drills and working with Noble County EMA. Once again W8BVL meets every 2nd and 3rd Thursday of every month on the Noble County NC8OH repeater 147.285 Mhz and a PL tone of 91.5. EC Gary Oliver KD8OSI

TUSCARAWAS CO: Four weekly nets with 74 operators participating; contact with other ARES members ref. an ARES meeting prior to our regular club meeting in April; contact with AA8BN, Coshocton County EC ref. a combined on air ARES net between both of our counties; also, contacted another Coshocton club member ref. Tuscarawas County participating in their digital net

WASHINGTON CO: No Comments. EC: Joseph. W8jJTW

DEC DIST 9: I want to welcome Frank Wojewodka xx as the new EC for Belmont county. We have not had a EC for this county for some time. Thanks Frank. DEC Sonny Alfman W8FHF. 

District 10

 District 10: Reserve April 6, 2019 on your calendar for the Statewise Ohio ARES conference in Marion! You don't want to miss that! More fun to be had at NVIS day on April 27! ***

Ashtabula County: No comments submitted.

Cuyahoga County: Weekly ARES nets are going well. Members are turning out to volunteer. This month's training topic at our meeting was portable HF operations, presented by Bob K8MD. Mat KC8NZJ had a SkyWarn net control training. He also made a presentation at two local radio clubs on the SkyWarn and ARES programs, sparking several good inquiries from attendees.

Geauga County: No comments submitted.

Lake County: Secured meetings rooms at Tri Point medical center for District 10 Conference on March 2nd. Lake Co. is the host this year for the annual meeting.

Lorain County: No comments submitted.

Medina County: No comments submitted.