Your MonsterMail form has been completed, following are the
results:
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Field
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Value
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subject
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ARES Form FSD-96
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State
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Ohio
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Month
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March
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Year
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2015
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Number_of_ARES_Members
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1668
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Change_In_Numbers
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25
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Number_of_DECs_EC_reporting_this_month
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9
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Number_of_ARES_nets_active
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258
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Number_of_nets_with_NTS_Liaison
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9
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DEC_EC_callsigns
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Number_of_drills_tests_and_training_this_month
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310
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Person_Hours_for_drill_tests_training
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2122.8
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Number_of_Public_Service_events
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22
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Person_Hours_for_public_service_events
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3845.2
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Number_of_emergency_operations_this_month
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1
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Person_Hours_for_emergency_operations
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40
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Number_of_ARES_RACES_Events_this_month
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591
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Total_Person_Hours
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6793.2
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Comment
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!!) On March 24 OC ARES participated in the Davis Besse
Nuclear Power Station dry run drill. This is an annual drill that tests the
county's response to an event at the power plant. This year, the drill's
scenario was a hostile action within the power plant that caused injuries and
a radioactive release from the plant. Many officials at the ICP stated the
information was passed quicker via ham station than by their means, thus
keeping them informed more quickly. This event helped showcase the power and
need of amateur radio. Over the state of Ohio, we continue to foster growing
relationships between ARES and EMA Directors with some counties signing new
agreements and others continuing to train within their EMA's. Spring in Ohio
= severe weather training everywhere!
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Signature
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Stan Broadway
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mailfrom
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***********************************
Your ARES support folks worked hard on preparation for the All-Ohio ARES Conference April 11. Many thanks to all who worked hard in March! There’s a lot of good stuff here – my thanks to all! Special recognition this month goes to Ottawa County, with a very successful drill under their belts that gained a very high score! Super job, gang!
I always enjoy reading what other units have been doing in Ohio. I apologize for not distributing the last month or two. I now have a better system to capture the monthly comments.
District 1
Totals include Northwest Ohio Traffic and Training Net figures. I would like to congratulate James Garber KB8TTR Ottawa County EC and the members of the Ottawa County ARES group on a very successful drill dealing with the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station scheduled drill. You can read the details in the enclosed EC report form. This is how emergency communications should operate and it shows public officials what amateur radio can do for them.
Erie: We are working with our EMA on a Davis Besse NRC Required Drill. The 1st half was in March and the 2nd Half is May 6th ( this is the graded part) Ohio Tornado Drill
Hancock:
Hardin:
Huron: Participated in 2 CERT "open house" events. Hosted Skywarn training Webinar at EMA for 13 Amateurs in addition to our Monthly Skywarn meeting with NWS Cle.
Lucas:
Ottawa: (See above - - EXCELLENT JOB!!) On March 24 OC ARES participated in the Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station dry run drill. This is an annual drill that tests the county's response to an event at the power plant. This year, the drill's scenario was a hostile action within the power plant that caused injuries and a radioactive release from the plant.
Agencies from the county EMA, the NRC, Sheriff's Office, local police, Fire and EMS agencies, OSP, US Fish and Wildlife, Ohio EPA, National Guard, Coast Guard, and many other agencies were involved. OCARES was invited to participate as well. We provided two amateurs at the county EOC station and a third at the Incident Command Post. We maintained comms between the EOC and ICP via UHF repeater voice and digital Fldigi. We were able to communicate via the wide area UHF repeater system KC8RCI to the state EOC in Columbus.
We utilized the KA8VDW repeater in Berlin Heights and the EOC used the Knox county repeater link. Comms were clear and no issues. This is the first time the State EOC used this system to communicate a county EOC. We were also able to go direct with the state EOC via 2m repeater in Columbus from our 2m rig at the EOC. During the drill event, the commercial power supplying the EOC was interrupted by a construction accident. This was a real- world event that demonstrated the power of ham radio. We were able to maintain comms with the ICP via UHF HT during the brief outage before the generator kicked in. And we also were able to use the cell phone app "Zello" for back up comms. This is how the ICP learned of a situation at the EOC. When the amateur station at the EOC was provided updates, we passed the info along to the ICP via Fldigi.
Many officials at the ICP stated the information was passed quicker via ham station than by their means, thus keeping them informed more quickly. This event helped showcase the power and need of amateur radio. It was a learning opportunity for all involved. We will continue to prepare for the May Davis Besse drill that is graded by the NRC. We will continue to bolster our communications and presence at the EOC. We will work with them to not only utilize amateur radio but also Zello as a means of back up comms. Special thank you to Mike W8MAL and Bob KD8WPI.
Sandusky: Presented two Skywarn training sessions in March at the EOC after two of us attended the train the trainer class at the NWS in Cleveland. Held our monthly ARES meeting at the EOC. Checked the working condition of 30 county sirens as a community service that we do each month. Prepared for the Local Emergency Planning Commission's annual event to be held at Terra State College on April 7. We will deploy our communications trailer and position a go kit at a Red Cross shelter. Details will be in the April report.
Seneca:
Wood: Wood County EMA sponsored a Skywarn Training session held at the Bowling Green University. The format of the training was a webinar hosted by NWS Cleveland. Wood County ARES is starting the planning process for the upcoming GOBA event due to pass through Wood County June 24th, 25th and 26th. EC, Bob Schumann, W8NYY announced he will be stepping down from the EC position he's held for the last ~10 years at the end of 2015 due to health issues.
Wyandot: The Wyandot County Hams met at The Wyandot Memorial Hospital on Thursday March 12th. We will be meeting next month with the Red Cross Administrator, Stuart Gray. He will be talking to us about our part in helping the Red Cross during an emergency. We also are discussing our Special Event Station at the Wyandot County Fair in September this year. "73"
District 2
Defiance, Henry, Williams and Van Wert County's have completed basic skywarn training.
Allen:
Auglaize:
Defiance:
Fulton:
Henry:
Mercer:
Paulding:
Putnam:
Van Wert:
Williams: All Williams Co. ARES members have now completed all required NIMS courses.
District 3
Four weekly District 3 Net sessions.
Logan County was added to District 3 January 1st, 2015, but there currently is no ARES unit established there. District 3 ADEC for Northern Counties John Probst KA8RVI will be contacting the RACES Officer & the Logan CO EMA Director concerning a ARES presence in Logan County.
CHAMPAIGN: Four weekly net sessions. Severe Weather Class on 3/31/15.
CLARK: Four weekly net sessions, Reactivated 17 members.
DARKE: Five weekly net sessions.
GREENE: Four weekly voice nets, four weekly digital nets, seven weekly Hamnet Mesh discussion nets, Five weeks of three concurrent license course, ARES Hamnet MESH group participation in Dayton area MakerFest.
MIAMI: Five weekly voice net sessions.
MONTGOMERY: Five weekly voice nets, two other ARES events. 16 members participated in Annual Storm spotter training.
PREBLE: Four weekly net sessions.
SHELBY: Five weekly net sessions, Miami/Shelby Counties Skywarn/Storm Spotters training, one monthly meeting.
District 4
New EMA director in Hamilton County is insistent upon cooperation with the ham radio community, both ARES and SkyWARN. A lot of work has been done and will be done to formalize this. Much more will be written about this, here and hopefully other publications! Working to fill the two county EC vacancies with some renewed interest in both of those places!
Adams:
Brown:
Butler:
Clermont:
Clinton:
Hamilton: Continuing to work on local comms plan and MOU between EMA, ARES and Skywarn. Progress being made. Rebuild of local ARES website to enhance ease of use via WordPress and give a fresh new look. Working on revised documentation for ARES.
Highland:
Warren:
District 5
Carroll:
Columbiana:
Mahoning:
Portage:
Stark: Stark Co ARES completed 5 public service training nets during the month of March that totaled 196 check ins. There were no public service events during the month but preparations continue for the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival in July-August. In conjunction with our county EMA office, we conducted two Skywarn Severe Weather Spotter Training Classes during the month. We have taken delivery of our new Yaesu System Fusion Digital Repeater to replace our aging ARES Repeater System. This should be in place and operating in April prior to the severe weather season here in Northeast Ohio.
Summit:
Trumbull:
Tuscarawas:
District 6
Ashland:
Crawford:
Holmes:
Richland:
Wayne:
District 7
The high number of event man hours are a result of the Arnold Expo in Franklin. Franklin County shows the numbers but there were operators from all over the state.
Delaware Ohio SEC Stan, N8BHL, led a serious, thought provoking discussion at our monthly meeting about "what would you do in a long-term power outage"? Many ideas were presented but the discussion really focused on how prepared our ARES group and individuals are for an outage lasting a week or several weeks. We used the robo-caller to notify ARES members when the tornado drill began and had 17 respond to the call out. This is an impressive number since it was a weekday during regular working hours. Warm weather is soon upon us and planning is underway for a variety of public service events. First will be assisting the Red Cross and local Fire Departments in a house to house survey of smoke alarms. They will be offering to check smoke alarms, replace batteries or install new smoke alarms, all free of charge. ARES will be the third person in the group providing communications back to a central dispatcher about current location and results. Coming events will include bike rides, triathlons, and marathons as fund raising events for various charities and local programs.
Fairfield No REPORT
Fayette No EC
Franklin TOSRV will be here before you know it. May 9-10. We are in need of volunteers from any ARES group that would like to participate in this years event. We would like to have a minimum of 85 hams to cover the course.
Knox No REPORT
Licking Licking County ARES had no major problems during March. We are watching carefully the developing situation with the dam at Buckeye Lake. Since the primary flood-prone area is in Licking County, north of the lake, our EMA is heavily involved in preparations and precautions for the possibility of a major failure of the earthen dam. Sirens (including voice instructions), emergency evacuation routes, and other notifications have been in place for some time. We fully expect to see and possibly take part in drills for evacuation of the people impacted by a major flood, should it occur. We also have completed the purchase of radio equipment for the Licking County Red Cross which was funded by a grant obtained by Denison University students as they worked with the Red Cross and with ARES volunteers. This equipment will replace older radios and it will provide for convenient operations with digital modes.
Madison NONE
Marion No REPORT
Morrow No REPORT
Pickaway It was a quiet month for the PCoARES group. Preparing for the upcoming storm season.
Union Started a monthly radio check of both our ham radio equipment as well as our EMA High Band equipment we use for scene communications.
.
District 8
Counties reporting: Athens, Hocking, Lawrence, Perry, Scioto DEC will be participating in a tabletop exercise being conducted by the Athens County Healthcare Coalition on April 30.
Athens: Athens County ARA and Sunday Creek ARF supported the Lake Hope Bicycle Race sponsored by the Ohio University Cycling Club on Sunday, March 29. Upcoming public service events are the Iron Furnace Trail Run at Lake Hope on Saturday April 4 and Athens Marathon on Sunday, April 19. Athens Hamfest is Sunday, April 26, 8-noon at the Athens Community Center on East State Street. VE session at 10 AM with registration starting at 9:30 AM.
Gallia:
Hocking:
Jackson: Jackson hamfest will be Saturday, April 25
Lawrence:
Meigs:
Perry: PERRY County ARES met to make plans for the upcoming ARES Conference at the State Fire Marshall Facility, Planning for the upcoming NVIS antenna deployment.
Pike:
Ross:
Scioto:
Vinton:
District 9
Belmont:
Coshocton: The beginning of the month saw 17 Coshocton County SKYWARN , ARES members on the SKYWARN net at 0930 March 6. We used our calling tree to initiate the call up. We covered an EMA request to send a mobile, KE8XM, to a particular area. N8VV was asked by a local Fire Chief to make rounds with him, thanks Dan. AA8BN was at the EMA/EOC. Thanks KB8HEA for good job as NC. Thanks to all who participated and give reports. A log was given to the EMA Dir and County Sheriff. Ema Dir. thanked all on net for a good job. KL7RF, KC8PUW and myself checked into several W8SGT nets with KL7RF doing the bulk of that. He continues to check into OGDEN as Coshocton Co. liaison as well as being on the OSSBN. Good job, tu. N8VV attended the LEPC meeting. He also keeps the ARES roster and calling tree in order.
Thank you! As the new location of the ARES repeater continues to work! great, KB8HEA continues to work on and add new items and keep it running. Thanks Tom, for about 25 hours of work this month. Looking forward to the conference and NVIS. EC: Steven Wheatcraft, AA8BN
Guernsey: A tornado siren net was conducted to assist with the county Tornado Siren test. Both the EC and AEC,N8JMK attended the county long term recovery meeting. The monthly ARES training covered go bags and several go bags were brought in by members to display. AEC, KD8QYV issued all ARES members handbooks containing the county ARES plan, various logs, preambles, ARES frequencies and other information. EC: Richard Wayt WD8SDH
Harrison:
Jefferson: Two public service events this month; the annual Toronto 5k run/walk/bike events and a NEW ONE for us the Buckeye Local 5k run/walk. Through the rain and chilly weather both events were a great success. THANKS TO ALL! EC: Robert M Carson Jr, N8CUX
Monroe:
Morgan:
Muskingum: Monthly ARES meeting, Discussed upcoming builds to keep up interest and provide MCARES with equipment. Handed out member Folders with radiogram info, comm logs, and other forms. Pictures taken for membership I.D. Field Day was discussed and will be held at the E.M.A. in the back field with the three other local clubs. Will have a complete off the grid solar backup station. New MCARES emergency operating plan was completed. EC: Elizabeth M. Nichols KC8SIQ
Noble: Meeting with 911/LEPC/Homeland Security/Healthcare Coalition of Noble County. 1 man 1.5 Hours. EC: Larry Mason, N8RAF
Washington:
District 10
Ashtabula: The blustery month of February is finally behind us! Here\'s to warmer temps! Not a whole lot going on this past month. Everyone was too cold to move! lol We have been doing quite a bit of planning for the NVIS drill and Bob (WD8PVB) has been answering emails like crazy! He even received a message of praise from the UK!! We are also happy to report that in the month of February we had our largest net. We got up to 23 members that evening! Despite the weather being so bad we were blessed to not have any accidents or emergencies calling on ARES in our county.
And to go one step further- I'm happy all of our members are safe and sound. The only problem I can report is a flooded basement, which is being taken care of with no loss to my radio gear. Here's looking forward to the month of March and some more fun!
Cuyahoga: The excellent presentation by the Ohio ARES SEC at the recent LEARA Monthly Dinner Meeting clarified the role of ARES members and their leaders in emergency operations and planning for their respective counties. We were each reminded that ARES is a volunteer organization where our members provide help mainly from out-of-pocket resources AFTER family and job needs have been met. With this in mind, we work only under the auspices of the local county agencies that we have voluntarily agreed to serve.
Geauga:
Lake:
Lorain: : Severe weather season is upon us. Make sure to attend Skywarn spotter training!
Medina: NF8O gave a presentation in Lorain County on the 911 event. He also attended some training classes.
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