April's Section Emergency Coordinators Report

Reporting Month: April
Reporting Year: 2019
Total Number of ARES Members: 1695
Change since last month: 32
Number of DEC's reporting this month: 9
Number of ARES nets active: 398
Number of nets active with NTS Liaisons: 10
Call Signs of DEC's reporting: all
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 566
Person Hours: 5410
Number of Public Service events this month: 100
Person hours: 2440
Number of emergency operations this month: 14
Person hours: 233
Total number of ARES/RACES events this month: 659
Total Person Hours: 8083
Comments: Ohio responded to a tornado strike in Shelby, Ohio with multiple injuries. 3 Districts, 10 counties were requested for a hard standby until the extent of damage could be confirmed. The Ohio EMA Watch Desk has approached ARES to be a reporting partner for events that might draw Ohio EMA concern. We're working up solid plans for a statewide net in addition to HF to accomplish this.
Submitted by and call sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: stan@standi.com
Files to upload?:

Ohio SEC:  

Completed another annual ARES conference. Many thanks to Marion for their hospitality! Thanks to all who attended (we had a nearly-full room, seating capacity 150+).

We have been approached by the Ohio EMA Watch Desk to become a partner in reporting events that would be critical to Ohio.  We’re working on solid plans for a statewide communications pathway in addition to HF in order to accomplish this.

District 1:

Totals include figures from the Northwest Ohio Traffic and Training Net and District 1 Skywarn. I would like to congratulate Owen Fritz KD8GSI on his appointment as the EC for Sandusky County. I look forward to working with Owen in the future. I would also like to give a hearty Thank You to Dave Gierhart W8DAG for all the years of hard work that he put in as EC for Sandusky County. Dave will be staying in group as an AEC and I'm sure his experience will be greatly appreciated.

District 2

No comments submitted

District 3

DISTRICT 3 SUMMARY:  100% of Nine Counties reporting: 307 Members (+2 change); (63 Voice Net Sessions, 11 Digital Net Sessions (74 total Net Events & 380 Net man-hours); 29 Meetings-Drills-Training-Tests (464 man-hours); 6 Public Service Events (318 man-hrs) and 4 Emergency Operations (26 man-hrs); for 113 Total Events and 1188 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):  4 weekly net sessions (18 Net man-hours); 0 Public Service Event (0 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours) and 2 other ARES events (18 man-hours) for a total of 6 events and 36 man-hours.

DARKE COUNTY:  (14 members, 0 change):  5 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 (5 man-hours ) for a total of 6 events and 12 man-hours.

GREENE COUNTY:  (61 members, +1 change):  24 weekly voice net sessions, 5 weekly digital net sessions (173 Net man-hours); 2 Public Service Events (131 man-hours); 0 Emergency Operations (0 man-hours); and 16 other ARES related activities (255 man-hours) for a total of 47 events and 559 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), OHDEN,& OH EM. PREP, D3. Other activity: Continuing Mesh and Winlink, maintenance, demonstrations, DMR programming and training, served agency training, served agency meetings, Technician, General and Extra license classes, License exams, Greene County Emergency Preparedness Committee meeting, Ohio ARES meeting, Xenia Marathon, Bellbrook Sugar Maple Parade.

LOGAN COUNTY (RACES UNIT):  (10 members):  4 weekly voice net sessions (2 man-hours); and 1 other RACES activity (16 man-hours) for a total of 5 events and 18 man-hours.

MIAMI COUNTY:  (25 members, 0 change):  6 weekly voice nets, 2 weekly digital nets (31 Net man-hours); 1 Public Service (67 man-hours); 1 Emergency Operations (10 man-hours); and 0 other ARES events (0 man-hours) for a total of 10 events and 108 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. Supported the BGU Bike for Tike event on Friday and Saturday as the students rode thru Miami County back towards their home at BGU. Had our first weather net of the year, with heavy rain, high wind, and no damage reported.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY:  (87 members, +1 change):  4 weekly voice net sessions, 4 weekly digital net sessions (35 Net man-hours); 2 Public Service Events (99 man-hours); 1 Emergency Operations (6 man-hours); and 2 other ARES related events (42 man-hours) for a total of 13 events and 182 man-hours. 

     Comments:  Had a total of 4 voice nets and 4 digital nets for the month. 4/14 Dayton Skywarn was activated for severe weather in the area. 2 PSE for the month, 4/12 Bikes for Tikes event & 4/27 Autism 5k Walk Run. 4/30 had our community meeting. Topic was on ALE.

PREBLE COUNTY:  (17 members, +1 change):  4 weekly net sessions (2 Net man-hours); 1 Public Service Event (21 man-hours); 1 Emergency Operations (5 man-hours); and 1 other ARES events (20 man-hours) for a total of 7 events and 49 man-hours.

     Comments:  The EMA antenna upgrade grant has been approved by the county commissioners. Preble ARES Communication Center will be getting new antennas, upgraded HF antenna, UHF antenna for a planned digital repeater, a HF amplifier. The grant pays for equipment and tower work. Many hours were spent this month finalizing the grant. We welcome KB8HLN as our newest member. Montie has been a past member many years ago. He recently has become active in radio again and retested, regaining his old call back. We sure missed him. Last month ARES meeting was packed. We had guest from Wayne County Indiana including the EC. This was to coordinate activities with our Indiana neighbor and to promote fellowship. The Wayne County Indiana EMA director also attended. He talked about the importance of an ARES program and encouraged cooperation between our groups.

SHELBY COUNTY:  (37 members, +2):  4 weekly net sessions; 0 digital net sessions (34 Net man-hours); 0 Public Service Event (0 man-hours); 1 Emergency Operations (4 man-hours); and 4 other ARES events (31 man-hours); for a total of 9 events and 69 man-hours.

     Comments:  4-1-19 NWS Wx Spotter Training, 4-14-19 Skywarn Net Activation, 4-27-19 NVIS Antenna Day, 4-28-19 VE Testing, 4-28-19 Training / Meeting.

DISTRICT 3 ACTIVITIES:  4 weekly voice net sessions (38 Net man-hours); 0 Emergency Operation (0 man-hours); and 1 other District 3 ARES activities (72 man-hours); for a total of 5 events and 110 man-hours.

     Comments:  Seven (7) District 3 members attended the April 6 Ohio ARES Conference in Marion OH—1 from Champaign County, 4 from Greene County and 2 from Montgomery County.

     DEC and team of three Greene County ARES members continue 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.

District 4

Quiet month in District 4 -- some NWS time, and solid representation from 2 counties at the ARES meeting in Marion. May hours will balloon with Flying Pig time across 3 days and numerous events.

District 5

Stark County ARES completed 5 public service training nets that totaled 103 check ins. There were no public service events during April, however, they did sponser a Skywarn Training meeting on April 18th held at their county EMA office with 6 in attendance. They continue to see more use of the ARES Connect System.

Summit County- Set up a table for the Summit County EMA Skywarn Training session and had 5 representatives at the table to answer questions and also pass out many different ARRL pamphlets about Amateur Radio, ARES, and emergency communications. 

District 6

District 6 responded to a tornado strike in Shelby, OH.

District 7

Licking County: April was a busy month with planning meetings, events and training. A big Thank You to Marion Co. for their help with the ARES Conference, again they did an awesome job. Several member that are also CERT members had SAR training. Licking County's Skywarn class had a great turnout, thank you to the EMA for sponsoring it again this year. NVIS Day was a big success this year, thanks to everyone that attended and those that took the time to make sure that the CERT/ARES Comms trailer was ready for deployment. Awesome job to Richland Co. and Marion Co. on the recent tornado touchdown in Shelby. Everyone did a great job!

Delaware County: used MESH to transmit ICS and custom county forms for an EMA full tabletop. Knox: We had 9 members at NVIS day and made 8 contacts. We had 2 stations operating different antennas. We made more contacts outside the state than within Ohio, but it was still a lot of fun

Madison County: Notified county EMA manager of new EC appt. W8WLK Certified operation of 2m radio at county EMA. N8ME Participated in the Ohio Emergency HF net: 4/9, 4/23, 4/

Marion County: April was a very busy month. We hosted the Statewide ARES Conference,which was very informative and we had a packed house. If you missed it, see you next year. April 11,12 and 13 we provided security and ticket sales for the National Robotics Challenge held at the fairgrounds. Schools from across the country were in attendance, we had a special events station set up to draw some young people into the world of Amateur Radio. April 14 our EMA director requested our weather spotters for approaching storms with possible tornadoes. While we didn't get any damage from the storms later that evening we sent 5 people to Shelby to assist with security for damage from a tornado. Looking forward to May!

Fairfield County: ARES/K8QIK voice nets, ARES training, ARES Emergency Repeater programing, ARRL testing, ARES Emegenc antenna upgrade

Franklin County: This month we learned about the Northwest Area Strike Team (NAS-T) from Westerville Fire Battalion Chief Andrew Hicks. The Northwest Area Strike Team (NAS-T) was formed in 1980 by a group of fire departments in the northwest area of Franklin County. This organization was formed as a task force to investigate fires to determine their origin and cause, provide hazardous materials incident response, training and safety. The task force approach to addressing these operational issues has proved successful at maximizing each participating agency's resources. While NAS-T is primarily responsible for servicing its core group of participating jurisdictions (Washington Township, Grandview Heights, Norwich Township, Upper Arlington, Westerville, and Worthington.), the team's resources and expertise can also be called upon to assist other agencies throughout the county and State. In fact, NAS-T's effectiveness has resulted in significant funding through the Franklin County EMA. We are encouraged that FCOHARES is now engaged in testing radio equipment in the NAS-T Communications van as part of our Emergency Communications Readiness program and can deploy with this team as needed. FCOHARES was able to complete installation of a new off-center fed HF antenna system at the Franklin County EMA. We participated in two public service events this month. 

District 8

Counties reporting" Athens, Hocking, Lawrence, Ross EC comments: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ohio-demolay-conclave-2019-registration-60850786340

District 9

Coshocton: Attended the great ARES conference with KB8PXM from Coshocton ARES..... Called up a skywarn net with thunderstorm warning.... Observed EMA monthly siren test at EMA with KE8WIP...... Contacts with w8sgt, OHDEN, DMR, OSSBN continue for good practice for traffic in and out of county and district 9 . ......WX8OH continues as SATERN intnl, and Central NCS. Also NCS for Sunbelt Net, with over 15 hours of time for all three....... AA8BN Coshocton Co. EC 

Guernsey: The monthly ARES training was finishing the revise of the local ARES plan.

Noble: No comments submitted

Tuscarawas:  5 voice nets with 87 operators participating; one monthly meeting with 10 operators participating; NVIS day on April 27, 2019 with 6 operators for 48 hours; communication with local EMA director reference club communication van and radios.

District 10

 District 10: NVIS Day was a blast! Hope everyone enjoyed it! Public service event season is ramping up, so get ready for it. And Field Day is coming too! \

Ashtabula County: No comments submitted.

Cuyahoga County: This month we had NVIS Day and another DMR workshop. The topic for the April ARES meeting was an advanced APRS training by Dave KD8TWG.

Geauga County: Helped Lake County with the 10/20 mile drop from the Lake Hospitals Running group. Had a 41% drop in membership, which appears to be, due to personnel issues at the section-level of the organization, with the resignation of an EC in an adjacent county.

Lake County: No comments submitted.

Lorain County: No report received.

Medina County: No comments submitted.