Section Emergency Coordinator's report for March..

ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: March
Year: 2016
Total Number of ARES Members: 1683
Change since last month: 76
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 10
Number of ARES Nets active: 537
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: varies
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: WD8PNZ W8UY KC8WHK WF8B AI8P KB8STK N8KKW N8SUZ W8FHF N8AUC
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 180
Person Hours: 1887
Number of Public Service Events this month: 36
Person Hours: 520
Number of Emergency Operations this month: 18
Person Hours: 154.5
Total number of ARES/RACES Events this month: 825
Total Person Hours: 4864.8
Comments: We had several activations for wind/tornadic activity. Many stations participated in severe weather readiness activities, including siren testing and skywarn training. Counties are readying their equipment for the spring and summer public service season.
Submitted by and call-sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: broadways@standi.com
Files to upload?: 

OES reports for March..

Name	Call	County	District	PS Hours	EM Hours	Hours Net Participation
Marshall	N8PIB	Marion	7	2	0	6
Scott	N8SY	Richland	6	15	0	60
Mark	KB8YMN	Franklin	7	10	0	7
Bob	W8RWR	Franklin	7	1.5	0	6
Clair	W8KF	Huron	1	3	0	1.9
David	NF8O	Medina	10	26	24	2
Tony	KC8UR	Knox	7	2	0	14
Matt	KD8TTE	Franklin	7	16	0	21
Jack	KB8WPZ	Mahoning	5	5	0	5
Randy	KA0AZS	Montgomery	3	1	0	4
Andrew	N8VES	Montgomery	3	0	0	5
Jeff	KB8ZUN	Lorain	10	0	0	0
Alan	N7CEU	Pickaway	7	0	3	11.5
John	K8PJ	Pickaway	7	0	0	5

Hi all!  Hope you’re gearing up for NVIS antenna day on the 23^rd!!  This promises to be a lot of fun, we’re looking forward to it. Details are on the SEC/ARES page of arrl-ohio.org.  WE NEED TO SEE YOUR COUNTY ON THE AIR!!!  This will give us numbers to show the state and others our capabilities for emergencies! 

Here are the monthly comments for March- I always enjoy reading what’s going on in your counties. There is a correlation in these reports:  there is a large number of counties who are NOT holding any training at all. Their memberships show to be very small.  The more you train, the more active you are will result in increasing interest and activity for your members…your numbers will grow.   EC’s need to be proactive in your relationships with served agencies. Check in with your EMA, your health department, Red Cross and others regularly!  Get active, re-ignite the spark. It’s important.

Excellent work to all who made the Skywarn training!  This is something we should do every season. We can directly contribute to the safety of our families and our neighbors!

Ohio ARES Reports, March 2016

District 1

Totals include Northwest Ohio Traffic and Training Net and District 1 Skywarn operations. Northwest Ohio Traffic and Training Net had 234 check-ins, passed 122 pieces of traffic in 485 minutes. Man hours include meetings attended for public service events, Skywarn spotter training set up and stuffing folders.

District 2

ARES Storm Spotter Teams participated in refresher weather spotter classes.

District 3

Clark: Spotter Class & Statewide Tornado Drill, both on 23 March

Green: (3/1, 3/8, 3/15, 3/22, 3/29) Weekly Nets; (3/6, 3/13, 3/20) Greene County License Courses (T+G+E); (3/7) Skywarn Training Class; (3/9) Beavercreek ARES Group Planning Meeting; (3/14) EC ARES Presentation for XWARN Meeting; (3/23) Ohio Statewide Tornado Drill; (3/28) Beavercreek ARES Group Planning Meeting
Miami: Received 1 additional ARES forms turned in, bring the number of members in Miami County to 19. . MCES ARES/RACES Net 145.23-: 3/6, 3/13, 3/20, 3/20, MCES ARES/RACES Net 147.21+: 3/3, 3/10, 3/17, 3/31. On 3/24, held Weather Spotter Training in Piqua between Shelby and Miami County with 79 people in attendance (8 of these were ARES or RACES members). On 3/13, held a Weather Net due to server weather resulting in wind damage around the county and possible tornado touchdown in Southwest corner of the county.
Montgomery: We had a drop in membership as we are in the process of updating our roster, we dropped serval due to inactivity or no longer interested due to ICS. The EC participated in the ARRL Webinar on Mar 1, MoCo ARES had 26 members participate in annual Skywarn training provided by the NWS and Dayton Skywarn on Mar 12. We have several PSE\'s coming up in April, the first event will be Apr. 2 for a 5K walk/run.

Shelby: : 3-14-16 SkyWarn net Severe TS Warning 3-17-16 Skywarn spotter training 3-23-16 Ohio tornado Drill 3-27-16 Training and monthly meeting 3-27-16 Skywarn net Tornado warning

District 4

Hamilton County: Signed an operational MOU with local club to provide radio assets to ARES for exercises and activations. Participated in pa NBEMS DIGI testing on HF Attended MCI Exercise planning meeting Ohio Statewide Tornado Drill SkyWarn activation Meeting with EMA liaison

Clinton County: E-ops time was in support of the National Weather Service office in Wilmington.

Butler County: System Fusion buildout continues hoping to get tower work done sometime in April.

District 5

Stark Co ARES completed 5 public service nets for the month of March that totaled 153 check-ins. There were no public service events during the month but we will give a short presentation on the ARES during the Technician Class training being conducted by the Massillon Amateur Radio Club. This will include an introduction to ARES and our net activity. We are also attending monthly meetings for the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival that will be held this August. Over 40 radio operators will be needed for this annual event.

District 6

District Six Richland/Wayne County had a Public Service Event this March. Both Counties held a net for the Yearly Tornado Siren Test and got a lot of response to it. Richland County ARES is holding FEMA Course Classes have 6 Members in Class and Some are doing it from home and Turning in Certificates Richland County ARES and Intercity Amateur Radio Club are testing out a New DMR Repeater and it has takin off like a wildfire Thanks to Vasu Communication and Arlin Bradford(KD8EVR) for doing a Presentation on DMR that night 12 radios were ordered and now we are getting close to 40 in Richland County with Mostly Handhelds . I have Learned this can be a great tool for Emergency Communication. We also Started a Richland County Ohio DMR Group Page on Facebook. We are using the N8DPW 444.700 Repeater as the Test Site.

District 7

Delaware: April is here and the Delaware ARES will be involved in several events from the annual Weather Spotter Course to a Health Department exercise. We are gearing up for a season of events and activities .
Franklin: No report

Knox: With the help of my new AEC, we are training up an ARES leadership team within the county and working closer with EMA to facilitate their communications needs. Excited to see what is happening!
Licking: Licking County had a busy March! Planning for upcoming events and 2 severe weather nets. Thankfully there were no injuries or any significant damage to report, some small limbs and wires were downed throughout western Licking Co. according to reports from FD’s and PD’s. We are gearing up for NVIS Day and will operating out of the CERT/ARES trailer.
Madison: no report

Marion: Marion County Ohio FSD-212 Comments March – 2016 March was a quiet month for the Marion ARES crew with no emergency or weather incidents, but busy with other activities. EC Lynn Lovell, W8MLL and AEC Don Freeman, KD8BKT, attended the Marion County LEPC meeting, presenting a report of ARES activities to the group. March 15th was the SKYWARN program with 91 in attendance at the Marion Technical College Health and Technology Auditorium. EMA Director, Sarah McNamee, KD8UUC, updated the group at the March Training Session on the ARES participation at the countywide SET planned for April and plans for the NVIS antenna exercise were also discussed. The Marion group will be one of the anchor stations at the Fairgrounds EOC, along with having two teams in the field at different locations on each side of the county experimenting with different NVIS antennas.

Morrow: No report

Pickaway: no comment

Union: no comments

District 8

Athens: Upcoming events: Iron Furnace Trail Run at Lake Hope State Park, Saturday, April 2, 9 AM, Athens Marathon, 8 AM, ACARA Athens Hamfest, Sunday, April 24, 8 AM to noon.

Hocking: We have purchased a 12ft box trailer and have just started working on getting it ready to be our new emergency communications vehicle.

Lawrence: another great testing

Pike: Completed communications and repeater testing for Dogwood Cycle Tour event. Tested 8 J-pole antennas for remote location deployment.

Scioto: Scioto ARES had big attendance for refresher training at NWS Wilmington Spotter Class in Scioto County; Severe Weather Nets were operated for Scioto EMA and NWS; A Laptop Raffle is underway for funds to maintain repeater for Scioto ARES purchased by Scioto EMA; Red Cross and EMA will do damage assessment training at next quarterly meeting for Scioto ARES.

DEC Comments: SKYWARN spotter training is scheduled for Monday, May 2, 6-8 PM at the Athens County Red Cross office, 100 South May Avenue, Athens, OH 45701

District 9

COSHOCTON CO: No Comments.

GUERNSEY CO: During the March 1st ARES/Skywarn net all stations were requested to change to the assigned ARES county simplex frequency. This gave us the opportunity to evaluate simplex coverage and practice in using simplex communications. During the tornado siren test on March 23 a net was conducted with NCS at the EMA office to observe and support the test. A written report of the net was submitted to the EMA director. On March 22 the EC and three AECs meet with the EMA director to discussion the May county exercise and ARES's role in the exercise. The monthly ARES training was how to repair a cut coax………….

MUSKINGUM CO: No Comments

DEC: Only three counties reporting this month. Sonny W8FHF

District 10

*** District 10: Don\'t miss NVIS day on April 23! ***

Ashtabula County: Though it's back to being cold outside there is at least warmer weather in sight. Here is to hoping that we can all cure the colds, flu, and other bugs that have been plaguing us so we can get out and do something productive!! Dayton is around the corner, NVIS drill, Field Day will be here before ya know it. The best season for hams is beginning for 2016. Here's to a great one!

Cuyahoga County: Many ARES members participated in Skywarn Spotter Training this month as well as the Skywarn net run for the statewide tornado drill helping Cuyahoga County Skywarn obtain 50 checkins, the most in the entire Cleveland County Warning Area and the most for any tornado drill in recent memory. We are slowly receiving direction for the RNC from the county and have currently been formally requested to staff the county EOC for the entire week.

Geauga County: Many attended the District 10 Workshop. Majority of ARES members in Geauga County has a participation rate of at least 14%.

Lake County: Activated the Garfield Home again this month for NPOTA. We use our NVIS Antenna on 40m with excellent results. We more than doubled our QSO's. It sure is fun to work the pile up. The James A Garfield Home is a rare site.

Lorain County: No Comments.

Medina County: No Report Submitted 

February Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) monthly report..

ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: February
Year: 2016
Total Number of ARES Members: 1751
Change since last month: 18
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 10
Number of ARES Nets active: 507
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: 10
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: WD8PNZ W8UY KC8WHK WF8B AI8P KB8STK KA8RLC N8SUZ W8FHF N8AUC
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 281
Person Hours: 1344.5
Number of Public Service Events this month: 41
Person Hours: 388.6
Number of Emergency Operations this month: 5
Person Hours: 40
Total number of ARES/RACES Events this month: 834
Total Person Hours: 3594.2
Comments:
Submitted by and call-sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: broadways@standi.com
Files to upload?: 

February Official Emergency Station (OES) Report..

Name	Call	County	District	PS Hours	EM Hours	Hours Net Participation
Marshall	N8PIB	Marion	7	0	0	10.5
Scott	N8SY	Richland	6	5	0	10
Mark	KB8YMN	Franklin	7	0	0	4.5
Bob	W8RWR	Franklin	7	0	0	1.5
Clair	W8KF	Huron	1	1	0	6.05
David	NF8O	Medina	10	56	0	4.5

January 2016 monthly report from the Section Emergency Coordinator..

ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: January
Year: 2016
Total Number of ARES Members: 1797
Change since last month: 21
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 9
Number of ARES Nets active: 252
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: 10
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: WD8PNZ W8UY WF8B AI8P KB8STK KA8RLC N8SUZ W8FHF N8AUC WD8PNZ W8UY KC8WHK WF8B AI8P KB8STK KA8RLC N8SUZ W8FHF N8AUC
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 72
Person Hours: 1214
Number of Public Service Events this month: 42
Person Hours: 35435
Number of Emergency Operations this month: 6
Person Hours: 105
Total number of ARES/RACES Events this month: 561
Total Person Hours: 3592.5
Comments: ARES in Mahoning and surrounding counties was activated because of a lead-tainted water problem in Sebring, OH. Members helped EMA staff move water supplies to the public. Lake County was activated for a large area power outage.
Submitted by and call-sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: broadways@standi.com

*******

Hi everyone! Here is the compilation of reports from January’s monthly reports. Thanks to all who are starting  the year off right with good training!

District 1

Seneca County  No Comment

Huron County- No Skywarn Meeting or activity this month. Training meeting with presentation of operation and procedures for MARCS Radio.

Sandusky County- Sandusky County purchased a Kenwood TS-480SAT HF radio, 30 watt power supply, DX Engineering Chameleon HF antenna, BCT15X analog and BCD996P digital scanners for our ARES Communications Trailer. The County Commissioners also requested a MARCS radio so we will be getting a handheld unit in February. Our trailer also has a TV for Toledo local channels and a weather station. We can operate on commercial power, generator or battery by simply flipping a switch. We are written into the county emergency plan as the backup communications for the entire county. We have an excellent working relationship.

Hancock County- Quiet Month. No blizzards to report.

Erie County- 6 people on the 2meter Simplex day. I had 14, total of all, about 25 contacts from Erie County ARES members. Working with EMA director on when Erie County will have their SkyWarn training and where to have it.

Wood County-  No Report

Lucas County-No comment

Ottawa County-No Report

Wyandot County-The Wyandot County Hams met at the Wyandot Memorial Hospital for their monthly meeting on January 14th. We discussed the upcoming Ham Fests, bicycle tours this summer and work on the local repeater. \"73\".

District 2

Public Service Event was Boy Scout Klondike Derby held at the Defiance Co. Camp in Defiance Ohio. A base station was set up at headquarters and Amateurs were dispatched to the \"villages\" where the scouts had to perform various tasks. The Amateurs were on hand to handle radio traffic for the event. Williams and Defiance Co. held a joint 4 hour training session for FLDIGI. and participated in 2 on the air digital practice sessions

District 3

Participated in VHF/UHF ARES contest day January 9 2016 made 19 contacts for total of 156 points. We had great day at the Champaign Co. EOC I have attached the results of the contest to this report.
8 Voice Nets, 4 Digital Nets, Greene County Liaison Station active in 3 OH EOC Nets and 3 OHDENets. Installed high profile Mesh Backbone Node on roof of Miami Valley Hospital South (5.8 GHz Omni & Air Grid plus 2.4 GHz Omni). 3 or 4 additional backbone nodes within Greene and Montgomery counties planned for installation this year--including presence at Dayton Hamvention.
Number of ARES Member decrease from last month is due to having new application forms submitted to update records and as such not all pass members contacted have filled out new forms. MCES ARES/RACES Net 145.23-: 1/3, 1/10, 1/17, 1/24, 1/31 MCES ARES/RACES Net 147.21+: 1/7, 1/14, 1/21, 1/28.

MoCo ARES attended a preliminary meeting with the Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management to discuss the upcoming GOBA event that will be happening in SW Ohio this coming June.

Preble ARES attended GOBA kick off in January. K8YR repeater will be used in part of the bicycle course. ARES members participated in using DF techniques to look for noise on HF at the EMA office.

Shelby: -1-24-2016 SCARES VEC Testing -1-24-2016 SCARES monthly meeting and training

District 4

from Hamilton County: Conducted the first ALL ARES Members meeting in a long time. Good to put names with faces. -Emergency operations for Standby/Monitoring status for Jan 22 possible snow event. Maintained contact with served agencies. -Participated in VHF/UHF contest & Winter Field Day. -Approx 40 hours of admin time for meetings, planning and membership updates. -Added HamCo ARES to Cincinnati FD page system for group callout and net reminders via email and text. -Started using Yahoo! Groups for regular communication with members and others. -Added three new members this month. growth is good!

from Brown County: I spent the weekend with the OHKYIN ARS winter field day. I hauled and supplied equipment to sustain a 24 hour operation.

District 5

Stark Co ARES completed 4 public service nets for the month of January that totaled 143 check ins. We have heard from the county EMA office that as promised, new office furnishings were purchased and installed in the Communications Room that houses both the county MARC\\\'s Radio System and will house our ARES Radio Equipment. Several pieces of donated VHF/UHF equipment will soon be installed along with a computer for admin use and to support digital communications. In addition, Stark ARES remained on stand-by status to provide support communications if needed to Mahoning County ARES during the Sebring, Ohio water lead contamination crisis over the last week.

District 6

No comments submitted

District 7

Trying to hit the ground running. Received pass-on from KA8RLC. Attended meetings in Union and Delaware Counties. Made contact with EC\'s in District 7. Heard back from all except Madison, Fairfield, and Fayette. Work continues on COARES conversion to FCARES, and getting repeaters back on the air. Have stayed in contact with KD8TTE and N8PVC throughout. KA8ZNY and W8KHW have also been critical in lending assistance.

Delaware: The Delaware ARES group was treated to an in-depth presentation on the development of a Mesh Net and use of portable nodes. We now have approval to place 8 permanent Mesh nodes on county owned towers and equipment for 5. Weather will determine when the nodes are placed along with the availability of a certified tower climber.

Franklin: We're continuing to resolve the issue with our repeaters and expect them to be back on the air by mid-February. We are presently operating on the CCRA repeater by agreement.

Knox: No comment

Licking: : Licking County had a quiet January! Had a couple of meetings to review this year’s up coming events. Looks to be a busy year so far.

Madison: No comment

Marion: January was a quiet month for the Marion ARES crew with no emergency or weather incidents. EC Lynn Lovell, W8MLL and AEC Don Freeman, KD8BKT, attended the Marion County LEPC meeting, presenting a report of ARES activities to the group and discussed how the ARES could participate in the county wide SET planned for April. Plans were also firmed up with Cleveland Weather for this year’s SKYWARN program to be held March 15th at the Marion Technical College Health and Technology Auditorium. Doug Ford, KB8FMC, conducted a training workshop on Linux, with emphasis on installing and using the Fldigi software. The January ARES Training Session was held at the Marion County Administration Building with Sheriff Tim Bailey conducting a tour of the new 911 Call Center which is nearing completion at that location. The ARES will have a permanent facility located on site, with VHF, UHF and digital equipment to provide backup communication and weather related information from around the county if needed. The ARES, W8MRN, 440mhz repeater, is almost operational and should be up and running by early February.

Morrow:  NO report

Pickaway: no comment

Union: No comment

District 8

Counties reporting: Athens, Hocking, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto

Athens: new Techs and two General upgrades were earned at the Nelsonville Hamfest VE Session on January 17 ACARA has three students taking part in Tech license classes. Class VE session will be held on March 14, 7 PM at Athens Red Cross.

Lawrence: We will be having testing on Feb15 two hours before our month meeting. Pike: Dedicated simplex antenna allocated to ARES group from SVARC. HF & VHF digital mode testing is underway with favorable results. Testing will continue for individual & local net proficiency.

Ross: We had our second Ross ARES meeting this month. Fourteen individuals attended. We found a permanent location for our meetings. Ross meetings will be held with Pike meetings. Odd-numbered months will be in Ross county, even in Pike. Started digital work with Pike EC. Participated in the ARES VHF contest. Found some good spots for a mobile relay.

Scioto: We will be updating the Scioto County ARES Facebook and Scioto County ARES Web Pages that was created by EMA for ARES soon. DEC comments: Several counties took part in the VHF simplex contest. The DEC operated mobile/portable from Burr Oak Lake State Park in Morgan County and Peach Ridge in Athens County. The Athens County EOC was activated by W8KVK. A couple of counties are experimenting with digital communications and are starting some regular testing nets.

District 9

COSHOCTON CO: LEPC meeting attended. State simplex event was a great. Had 18 Coshocton ARES participate, for around 32 hour\'s total. KL7RF and KC8PUW continue to check into OHDEN, and W8SGT hf nets. RF is a regular on OSSBN. When needed they and others are the OTS for the county. Our weekly ARES nets have some training exercise after taking check ins. One wk we used only simplex. Thanks to KC8YXY for keeping roster, etc. and for sending out ARES email to group. Info passed to me from KL7RF that OHDEN wanted msg 213 passed to SGT lead me to ask EMA Dir. to write msg to be passed to state EMA, W8SGT. The loop was completed with thanks to KC8PUW, OTS. who delivered EMA msg via OHDEN net and received reply, which was delivered to Coshocton EMA. We have another 213 ready , if needed for the OHDEN exercise. We are also ready to assist with other counties. Other news has been  the android FLDIGI application. Several of us have used this with success. Tablet/cell works well. Currently 9 ARES are involved in digital. Steve AA8BN , EC

GUERNSEY CO: This month's training was a final radio programming session to ensure all appropriate frequencies are programmed into all ARES member's radios. The EC attended both the county emergency planning committee and the county long term recovery meeting at the EMA office. AEC Bruce, N8JMK attended the long term recovery meeting and AEC Mark, KC8SBB attended the emergency planning meeting. Richard WD8SDH, EC

MUSKINGUM CO: MCARES will be operating from Blue Rock State Park this year for field day.

NOBLE CO: No Comments

DISTRICT 9: Bob N8CUX the EC of Jefferson County has Submitted his resignation. We are looking for a replacement. Only four county's submitted reports this month. Sonny, W8FHF, DEC-9.

District 10: Winter has arrived, although it's a little late this year. Stay warm! And stay tuned for some big upcoming events!

Ashtabula County: January proved to be an interesting month. The weather was akin to a roller coaster and unfortunately it decided to really show its strength when it came time for our monthly meeting. So, needless to say, our meeting was cancelled. Here's to hoping this coming month treats us a bit better!

Cuyahoga County: Cuyahoga ARES participated in an amateur radio booth at the Cleveland Outdoor Adventure Show. We assisted other amateur operators from around NE Ohio with demonstrating amateur radio and educating the public. Participated in two airport table top drills and held meetings with City of Cleveland staff. Many members are completing new FEMA course requirements and utilizing our new online certificate submission system on our website that was created with the assistance of Geauga County ARES AEC KD8TWG.

Geauga County: No comments.

Lake County: Lake Co. had a major power outage in January effecting the center of the County. Lake ARES had a net on the air within 15 min. It lasted approx. 1hr 15min. LCARA/ARES has obtained a Permit to operate from the James A. Garfield Home in Mentor for the National Parks Centennial Year. We should be on the air once per month as N8BC. Look for the dates on the Web.

Lorain County: No Comments.

Medina County: No comments.

***************************

OES Reports

Name	Call	County	District	PS Hours	EM Hours	Hours Net Participation
Marshall	N8PIB	Marion	7	2	0	15
Scott	N8SY	Richland	6	20	5	30
Mark	KB8YMN	Franklin	7	0	0	10
Bob	W8RWR	Franklin	7	0	0	1.5
Clair	W8KF	Huron	1	0	0	8.48
David	Rickon	Medina	10	46.75	0	3.25
Tony	KC8UR	Knox	7	0	0	4

December report from the Section Emergency Coordinator

ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: December
Year: 2015
Total Number of ARES Members: 1670
Change since last month: 9
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 10
Number of ARES Nets active: varies
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: 10
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: WD8PNZ W8UY KC8WHK WF8B AI8P KB8STK KA8RLC N8SUZ W8FHF N8AUC
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 159
Person Hours: 1285.25
Number of Public Service Events this month: 31
Person Hours: 461.4
Number of Emergency Operations this month: 4
Person Hours: 56
Total number of ARES/RACES Events this month: 459
Total Person Hours: 3707.15
Comments: Good training this month all around. Many ARES units are getting more integrated into county CERT operations- a great marriage.
Submitted by and call-sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: broadways@standi.com

OES Reports

Name	Call	County	District	PS Hours	EM Hours	Hours Net Participation
Marshall	N8PIB	Marion	7	0	0	8.5
Scott	N8SY	Richland	6	30	10	40
Mark	KB8YMN	Franklin	7	0	0	10
Bob	W8RWR	Franklin	7	0	0	1.5
Alan	N7CEU	Franklin	7
John	K8PJ	Pickaway	7
Matt	KD8TTE	Franklin	7
Clair	W8KF	Huron	1	0	0	5.38
David	Rickon	Medina	10	25	0	1.5

*************************************************************************

Hello all! Thank you so much for your time and energy during 2015!  The December totals are in, and that gives us some firm numbers. We average 1,700 members across the Ohio Section. Those members contributed over 55,500 hours in training, exercising, conducting nets and performing public service. Of those hours, over 2,000 was directly involved in providing emergency communications!  This positions ARES as a viable emergency resource in Ohio!

For the coming year, we have some goals to even better position ARES! 

1.      ALL ARES MEMBERS will need to complete FEMA 100, 200, 700, 800 by the end of July, 2016. Without those certificates, you will still be welcomed to participate in public service events, but only those with certification will be eligible to perform during actual emergencies in EOC’s and on scenes.

2.      In efforts to step up training, two programs will launch:  first a “Train the EC” program for EC’s, AEC’s, DEC’s and ADEC’s which will come to a district near you! This daylong course will help direct the ARES leadership team to provide a better environment for our members.

·        Second, a district-wide open training day for all members. This will be interesting and challenging- and will promote ARES members to perform as even more valuable volunteers!

3.      Our NVIS antenna day will again test our ability to communicate

4.      The April Spring Conference (Date and place TBA) will bring even more good information- we hope to follow our process of improving two meter and 440 communications with antenna examples and other information. We will give you information on a wide variety of topics to take back to your group!

For all EC’s and DEC’s YOUR MONTHLY NUMBERS MATTER!!!  Please remember to file your reports so we can accurately account for ARES involvement in the Ohio Section!

Here is a summary of comments from our December reports!  Again, thank you so much for everything you do!

December 2015 Monthly report

District 1

Northwest Ohio Traffic and Training Net had for the Month of December, 330 check ins, handled 277 pieces of traffic in 912 minutes in 31 sessions. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

District 2

Williams: Participated in the NWOR hospital communications drill. Williams County ARES and Defiance County will begin a joint FLDIGI training project in January and February. We have been testing out JT65 messaging between Williams and Defiance Counties- Very successful!

District 3

All nine District 3 counties reporting. December reportedly very quiet in all counties. Total of 347 ARES members; 39 Voice and 9 Digital County weekly nets and 5 District weekly nets for 209 MH's. Total of 3 Tests/Drills/Training sessions for 114 MH\'s; 1 Public Service Event Greene County supported annual 5K Beavercreek Resolution Run New Years Eve) for 110 Hours; 2 Emergency Operations (Miami & Shelby counties-Skywarn Net-Tornado Warning) for 32 MH\'s. Preble and Shelby counties held Christmas parties/dinner/good fellowship.

District 4

Clinton County: E-ops hours were a SkyWARN(!) activation. Butler County: Comments: BCAREC continues to assist the Butler County SO 911 Center in their monthly weather siren testing. The System Fusion build out also continues.

Hamilton County: Meetings Month: AECs Meeting Health Dept. Admin Meeting - Working with ARES again. Anderson Twp. Meeting - Prospective served agency -Group on StandBy Status for poss WX events. Notified served agencies of our availability. Storms & river flooding (missed us!) -Created a Yahoo! Group for information sharing -Started prep for VHF Simplex Contest. from the DEC:

We have a candidate for the Adams County EC position -- hopefully, next month, you\'ll hear from him directly. Also, the National Weather Service annual Advanced Spotter Training rotates between Districts 3, 4, and 7...it is District 4\'s turn this year and SkyWARN team is working out the details. Ramping up for public service event season, and GOBA is coming to our district this year -- so, as always, much to do supporting marathons, charity tours, triathlons, and more!

District 5

Stark County ARES completed 5 public service nets that totaled 190 check-ins. There were no public service events during the month. Members were again requested to complete an updated ARES registration form to maintain current contact information and to update any additional training completed. There was some discussion of 2016 meetings to provide some formal training.

4 Public Service events were supported by Mahoning ARES in December. These included Youngstown Christmas Parade and Tree lighting on Dec 4th, communications for 2 Red Cross events and Youngstown New Year’s Eve celebration-events on Dec 31st

District 6

No comments

District 7

The Delaware ARES meeting featured Delaware County Deputy Sheriff Tim Schambs, the department liaison to the Fusion Center, who detailed the terrorism threat with a local view and what we as Hams and ARES members must be aware of and do if a threat is perceived. This was one of the most interesting training sessions of the year and peaked our attention to the level of concern we must all have.

Licking County had a quite December! Hope everyone had a safe and happy Holiday Season. Work on the CERT / ARES trailer continues and is almost completed. A local ham operator donated a 40’ tower to the Licking Co. Red Cross and we will be working get it erected and their donated radio equipment installed soon. 2016 looks to be a busy year!

District 8

Counties reporting: Athens, Hocking, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto EC comments:

Athens: Nelsonville SCARF Hamfest on Sunday, January 17, 8 AM to noon. VE session at 10 AM Pike: Conducted second simplex test session, results were significantly better than first test session. Dedicated simplex antenna will be installed at test location in near future. DEC comments: Athens County ARA will be starting Tech license classes on Monday, January 11, 7 PM at Red Cross of Southeastern Ohio in Athens.

District 9

COSHOCTON CO: Continued check ins into OSSBN, OHDEN, Ohio Voice Nets by our ARES. Also using local ARES net to practice passing traffic on radiograms, and coming 213 forms. AA8BN, EC.....Only two counties reporting this month. Sonny DEC-9.

District 10

District 10: Best wishes to all for a safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

*** Ashtabula County: 2015 was good... but 2016 will be even better! Happy New Year!!!

*** Cuyahoga County: New EC KC8NZJ appointed, new AEC KB8TGT appointed 11 members removed for inactivity, 6 new members added. Participated in ESF review with county Scheduled meetings with served agencies to meet new EC and review 2016 plans. ARES notified of EOC activation due to protests in downtown Cleveland

*** Geauga County: Not much to report for December. Been working on getting some other events in the County. If you would like to help with the Ohio Winter Rally on February 6 put on but the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) please send email to info@geaugacountyares.org.

*** Lake County: On December 19th, three LCARA / ARES, members assisted in a workshop at the Lake County E.O.C. The subject of the workshop was in Emergency Management: Amateur Radio Resources, GO 251. The workshop was conducted by Pete Greene (N8WGE) for N.E. Ohio Public Service Managers and employees. LCARA / ARES members assisting were Ed Kopcak (KB8BKE), Larry Caskey (K8LPC), and Mike Goffos (WB8ZGH). Larry (K8LPC) demonstrated the operations of the E.O.C. Amateur radio room. He took the opportunity to pass 10 pieces of radio traffic to the NTS over the HF rig at the E.O.C. This was a good test exercise of the equipment. Ed (KB8BKE) and Mike (WB8ZGH) conducted a tour of the ARES radio communication trailer housed in the E.O.C. garage. The group was very interested in its operations, judging by the many questions that we answered.

*** Lorain County: No Comments.

***Medina County: 6 1/2 hour CERT drill under EMA direction. Voice and digital forms sent from field, trailer and command bus to the EOC. Forms were completed by CERT teams in the field doing structure evaluations and ARES did the digital and voice communications. CERT teams had poor radios and had to rely on ARES communicators.. 

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November report from the Section Emergency Coordinator

ARRL Ohio Section - FSD-96
Month: November
Year: 2015
Total Number of ARES Members: 1578
Change since last month: 22
Number of DEC's / EC's reporting this month: 8
Number of ARES Nets active: 15
Number of Nets active with NTS Liaisons: 10
Call-signs of DEC's / EC's reporting: WD8PNZ W8UY KC8WHK AI8P KA8RLC N8SUZ W8FHF N8AUC
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 122
Person Hours: 770
Number of Public Service Events this month: 65
Person Hours: 691
Number of Emergency Operations this month: 2
Person Hours: 14
Total number of ARES/RACES Events this month: 686
Total Person Hours: 2838
Comments:
Submitted by and call-sign: Stan Broadway N8BHL
Email: broadways@standi.com
Files to upload?:

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OES Reports

Name	Call	County	District	PS Hours	EM Hours	Hours Net Participation
Marshall	N8PIB	Marion	7	0	0	5
Scott	N8SY	Richland	6	15	0	40
Mark	KB8YMN	Franklin	7	5	0	3
Bob	W8RWR	Franklin	7	0	0	1.5
Alan	N7CEU	Franklin	7	0	0	4
John	K8PJ	Pickaway	7	1	7	6
Matt	KD8TTE	Franklin	7	118	0	6
Clair	W8KF	Huron	1	0	0	2.65

*******

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE TO YOUR MEMBERS

Hi all. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

AND GET READY FOR THE ARES VHF SIMPLEX CONTEST JANUARY 9th!!! Are you fired up? A lot of people are. Some answers: No, you do not have to be an ARES member to contest. Go fir it! If the contact you work (1 point) identifies as an ARES official, the extra 5 point bonus applies and the QSO is worth 6 points! No, I don’t have an ‘official exchange’ but I assume you’ll need to know the county of the other station, since that’s how you’re multiplying. So I know you can work that part out!

January 9 from 10AM to 6PM! I’ll be looking for your stations!

Some very important stuff is coming up! Look for major announcements about training after the first of the year. It’s going to take us to the next level!

I can’t thank you all enough for everything you do, and everything you stand ~ready~ to do!

EC, DEC but to everyone: we need to step up our meetings and training. I’m seeing reports repeatedly from counties with no training. We are not going to stay up with the responding agencies like that. Please, refer back to my earlier articles if you need ideas about training. Another important aspect is our monthly reports! PLEASE make sure you turn these in!! The numbers are very important, and can be used to justify grants, laws, and other considerations from our agencies and our government.

Now, here are the monthly reports for November.

ARES Ohio Section Monthly report for the month of: November, 2015 starting out with comments from the SEC

Big thanks go out to Brad Swinehart, leaving Perry County on a job transfer! Welcome to Eric Willman, WD8LEI stepping into the EC job for Wood County. Welcome to Jeff Sharpe, N8WVU who steps into the EC position for Henry County.

I have a most important “thank you” for Jeff Rahmel who is retiring from Henry County for medical reasons. I just can’t say enough for Jeff! Work well done, sir!

District comments were a bit slim this month, but the best holiday wishes apply to all!

District 1 Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas to everyone.

District 2 No comments

District 3 No comments

District 4 No report from District 4

District 5
Stark Co ARES conducted 4 public service nets for the month of November that totaled 143 check-ins.

The Massillon ARC and Stark Co ARES completed the re-installation of a UHF repeater located at Massillon's Affinity Hospital that will be used for support communications in Western Stark County and Skywarn operations. The entire system was retuned with new feedline and a new antenna. Coverage is now greatly enhanced. They also completed the last scheduled public service event of the year with the Massillon Holiday Parade on Saturday, Nov 21st. Sixteen volunteers provided support communications including unit staging, TV Production and route monitoring for the over 120 units that made up this year's parade.

District 6
No report for District 6

District 7
Delaware Delaware ARES was honored to be invited to manage communications for the annual Veterans Day Parade. Coordinated by K8MP we provided coverage from the staging area to the fairgrounds where a recognition program was held for all our Vets. This year the women in the armed forces were honored as Grand Marshals.

Fairfield No Report

Fayette No EC

Franklin None

Knox None

Licking Licking County had a quiet November! We had only 1 incident this month and thankfully no one was seriously hurt. A semi hauling chemicals went through a guard rail and rolled into a creek spilling part of its load. It was a 2 day clean up process. 4 personal were injured and their injuries were minor. Work on the CERT / ARES trailer continues. December looks to be a quiet month. Wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Madison No Report

Marion November was quiet month for the Marion ARES crew with no weather or other emergency related events. The November Training Session had program on different types of batteries and their use as standby power source for use if commercial power is not available. A video was also shown describing the Yaesu Fusion repeater which the ARES will be putting into service soon on the UHF repeater system, W8MRN. Deputy Brian Lovell, KC8LTE, from the Marion County Sheriff\\\'s Office, presented a program on action to take if involved in an active shooter situation. Two videos were presented followed with a general discussion. Little did we realize how timely the topic would become with the recent terrorist attack in California. The Marion Fairground Christmas light display opened Thanksgiving night and will run nightly until after Christmas. The ARES helps providing
security at the fairgrounds by patrolling the area after hours to discourage vandalism to the many displays. This is done as payment for the use of the building shared by the Marion Amateur Radio Club and ARES used as a clubhouse and EOC.

Morrow No Report

Pickaway The PCoARES was asked by the Circleville Downtown Business Association (DBA) to help with traffic control during the city's annual Christmas Parade held on November 28th. We had operators at each intersection throughout the parade route and also one operator with the Parade Coordinator keeping her informed on the progress of the parade. The DBA was very happy with the performance of the PCoARES and has already asked us to do it again next year. Union No Report

District 8
Hocking: ACARA and SCARF supported the Bobcat Trail Marathon at Burr Oak Lake State Park on Saturday, November 7th.

Lawrence: We just worked the Christmas parade in the rain again we had 6 hams who helped out.

Pike: Conducted first simplex test session, results were favorable for Pike & Ross Counties with NCS in Waverly. Additional testing will be done with NCS at SVARC clubhouse. Approximately 500 ft higher elevation.

Ross: First Ross County ARES meeting is 3 Dec at 7pm at Schlegel's Coffee House in Chillicothe, OH DEC comments: Attended SOARA Christmas dinner on November 23rd and presented special service awards from the district to Jim Rowe, N8TVO and Ken Massie, WN8F.

Athens County ARA will begin Technician license classes on Monday, January 11, 7:00 PM at Red Cross of Southeastern Ohio.

District 9
COSHOCTON CO: Attended the Local Emergency Planning Committee as ARES members along with KE8XM and gave an ARES report as always. During the MARS exercise a few of us attempted to contact operators without success from home stations and the EOC. EC: Steven Wheatcraft, AB8BN

GUERNSEY CO: The ARES group assisted with the Cambridge Christmas parade. The monthly training consisted of Net and Net control procedures. EC: Richard Wayt, WD8SDH

JEFFERSON CO: Assisted in search for missing elderly man. EC: Robert M Carson Jr., N8CUX

MUSKINGUM CO: Drill for November was hauling and setup of the ARES trailer to Noble county for the American Legion on Veterans day. EC: Elizabeth Nichols, KC8SIQ

DIST 9 DEC: Only four counties reporting this month. Also, I attended a meeting of the Marietta Radio Club, Washington County and presented a short program on ARES. I am hoping to get a ARES group active in Washington Co. DEC: G. Sonny Alfman, W8FHF.

District 10
Happy Holidays! Hope Santa Ham brings you lots of goodies!

Ashtabula County: No comments.

Cuyahoga County: No Comments.

Geauga County: No Comments.

Lake County: No comments

Lorain County: No Comments.

Medina County: Digital training was done in several nets which showed more practice will be forthcoming.

October report from the Section Emergency Coordinator

Your MonsterMail form has been completed, following are the results:

Field	Value
subject	ARES Form FSD-96
State	Ohio
Month	October
Year	2015
Number_of_ARES_Members	1668
Change_In_Numbers	19
Number_of_DECs_EC_reporting_this_month	10
Number_of_ARES_nets_active	436
Number_of_nets_with_NTS_Liaison	10
DEC_EC_callsigns	WD8PNZ W8UY KC8WHK WF8B AI8P KB8STK KA8RLC N8SUZ W8FHF N8AUC
Number_of_drills_tests_and_training_this_month	211
Person_Hours_for_drill_tests_training	2392.
Number_of_Public_Service_events	56
Person_Hours_for_public_service_events	1379.5
Number_of_emergency_operations_this_month	2
Person_Hours_for_emergency_operations	39
Number_of_ARES_RACES_Events_this_month	736
Total_Person_Hours	6659.33
Comment	Jefferson County worked with local officials to assist in a missing person search. A number of counties participated in the Ohio SET.
Signature	Stan Broadway
mailfrom	broadways@standi.com

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Name	CALL	County	OES Dist	Net Hrs	PS Events	PS hours	EM events	EM hours
Gary	NJ8BB	Preble	3	8		62	0	0
Scott	N8SY	Richland	6	60		30		10
Matthew	KD8TTE	franklin	7	32		56		0
Bob	W8RWR	Franklin	7	1.5		5		0
Mark	KB8YMN	franklin	7	10		12		0
John	K8PJ	Pickaway	7	5	0	0	0	0
Jeff	KB8ZUN	Lorain	10	15		12		0
Clair	W8KF	Huron	1	0	0	0	0	0
				131.5	0	177	0	10

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Here is a summary of activity reported from the DEC’s for October. (Missing counties had no comments.)   

Thank you all for everything you do!  Now- let’s get some training on for the winter months!!

ARES Ohio Section Monthly report for the month of: 

District 1

I would like to welcome Eric Willman WD8LEI as the new EC for Wood County. I also want to thank Bob Schumann W8NYY for all his years of service as the Wood County EC in making Wood County ARES a great county for amateurs to perform a public service function which had been sorely lacking before Bob took the reigns. I look forward to working with Eric in the future as he settles in to his new position.

District 2

District 3

District 4

Butler: BCVHF Assoc as well as BCAREC have finally received their System Fusion repeaters. Installs are pending as of this writing. Butler County Amateurs continue to help test weather sirens each month on the first Wednesday and reporting to the Butler County 911 Center which Sirens don\'t sound each month.

Clinton: Clinton County was active in the SET.

Hamilton: Hamilton County had a very busy month with the SET, Hamilton County Health Dept. exercise and training, the Queen Bee Half Marathon and 4-mile, and the Run Like Hell for Cystic Fibrosis.

District 5

Stark: Stark Co ARES completed 4 public service nets for the month of October that totaled 143 check-ins. There were no public service events during October but EC Terry, N8ATZ and Assistant EC\\\'s Mike Lackney, KB8MIB & Mike Palmer, KD8ENV hosted an information table during the Massillon ARC Hamfest on October 25. The display included a powerpoint presentation covering basic ARES & Skywarn Operations, various Go-Boxes and literature provided by the county EMA office. Additional details of our activities are posted on our website at http://www.wd8aye.net.

District 6

District 7

Delaware: A busy month for the Delaware ARES group logging 90 manhours for the annual SET and another 20 for an EMA drill. It was all good and very productive and revealed some issues we need to address and better prepare for Franklin: One of our major events was this month, the Columbus Marathon. Although we did not have as many hams volunteer this year as we would have liked, we were able to provide the organizers with the usual support they deserve and have come to expect. We also were involved with a FCEM&HS full scale exercise involving 3 counties - Franklin, Delaware, and Licking. The simulated disaster included an F5 tornado involving all 3 counties, along with a denial of service attack on the internet, which left the EMA offices with no internet connectivity. As usual, the Hams came to the rescue providing critical communications including FLDigi passing of forms between the agencies involved.

Licking: Licking County had a busy October. We participated in the Ohio SET, Tri-County Full Scale Exercise, Indian Mound Mall Table Top Exercise. All 3 exercises were successful. Thank you to all of the members that participated in the exercises. 5 of us were able to go to the EC/AEC class in Columbus, Licking Co. was well represented. Thanks to Stan N8BHL, Scott N8SY for a great class and to Franklin Co. EOC for their hospitality. Work on the CERT / ARES trailer continues and is almost completed.

Marion: October started with the Statewide SET. The Marion ARES participation began at 0800hrs with an informal net because power went down locally and then a formal net at 0900hrs when it was realized the grid was down across the state and perhaps nationwide. We fulfilled all our goals by operating on emergency power, along with the primary repeater. Contact with W8SGT was established on HF and VHF. Fldigi was utilized sending and receiving formal traffic from a shelter location in LaRue to Red Cross Headquarters in Marion. Contact was established with the EMA Director and countywide simplex communication was conduced on 2 meters with great success. The October Training Session was reviewing the SET along with a program on DC Inverters. Don Freeman, KD8BKT, demonstrated his portable Inverter/Battery system. Larry Strickland, K8BU, gave a Power Point presentation on how inverters work and how to determine the size needed for different requirements. Jim Bird, KD8KCH, demonstrated a portable 2 meter ground-plane style antenna built on a PL-259 chassis mount.

Pickaway: Pickaway Pickaway County ARES members participated in our annual Goblin Patrol during the Circleville Trick-or-Treat Night on October 31st. We also participated in the Circleville Downtown Business Association\\\'s Trick-or-Treat night on October 27th. PCoARES worked with the Circleville Police Department to be an \\\"extra set of eyes\\\" during these two events.

District 8

Counties reporting: Athens, Hocking, Lawrence, Pike, Scioto District 8 just had our Perry County EC Brad Swinehart, AC8GX resign as he is moving from the area. Looking for a new EC for Perry as well as for Athens, Vinton and Meigs. New ECs are now on board for Pike - Bill French, KE8AAL and in Ross - Todd Johnson, KD8UND Athens:

District 9

Coshocton: Thanks to Coshocton County EMA for giving ARES, CCARA and Skywarn a portion of their display at the Coshocton Fair. We had a good SET with areas to work on. Starting with the calling tree a little after 8 we had a great turn out. Thanks to ARES who were available. Thanks to those served agencies who participated also. We have a good working relationship with all. We had access to our stations on Saturday at the EMA, Sheriff, Coshocton Hospital, Coshocton Red Cross and we simulated some shelters. We had throughout the day 3 net controls, an OTS station with back up, several fldigi stations. We had voice contact with W8SGT after bands improved and also the ots had contact with OHDEN and OSSBN. EC Steve Wheatcraft 

Guernsey: : Four ARES members deployed to and assisted Muskingum County ARES with their Flu clinic. The SET was conducted as 2 meter simplex net. All stations were polled as to their ability to operate mobile, HF, emergency power, and digital. Contact with W8SGT was also accomplished. ARES also provide communications and coordination for the Byesville Halloween parade. During the weekly ARES net on Oct 27 an unannounced simulated failure of the repeater was conducted. All stations were requested to change frequency to the county ARES simplex frequency. A roll call was conducted on simplex with all stations heard by the NCS. EC Richard W. Wayt

Jefferson: Worked with local agencies in a search and rescue of missing man (16 Man-hours). EC Robert Carson.

Muskingum: The public service event was the county flu shot clinic which we count as an SET. This event is used as an SET for the EMA as well as other public services including the Red Cross. EC Elizabeth Nichols

District 10

SET had good participation across the district.

Ashtabula: October had us on our toes a bit more than the past few months. The few storms we had brought out the best of our preparedness skills. With water spouts being sighted over the lake and many trees down due to winds- we were all keeping our fingers crossed that it would not lead to anything worse. Thankfully it did not. The club/ARES purchased 2 new HF radios to add to the arsenal of gear in the trailer. We are now one step closer to being finished! November has already started and we are all preparing for the ACARC Christmas dinner. Everyone is excited to share in an evening of great conversation and wonderful food... not to mention a radio raffle or two!!

Cuyahoga: We have completed all commitments to served agencies this year. We look forward to helping with the upcoming RNC.

Geauga: Work SET and the Pumpkin Festival. Set up and ran a portable repeater.

Lake: On Oct. 4th Lake ARES provided support communications for the Lake Health Northern Ohio 

Marathon. This also served as our SET event. We placed an operator at our position in the Lake County Comm Truck linking the Amateur radio Net with the County Sheriff and Safety Forces of the four communities that Marathon ran through.

Medina: NF8O spent 42 1/2 hours at the EOC reprogramming and relocating radios, attending training meetings and drills

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