Welcome to the Stark County Amateur Radio Emergency Service Website                

Click above for the latest weather information from Cleveland's Weathernet 5

Search our site

Contents ARES Information Calendar of Events Current News Net Information Public Service Repeater News Skywarn Training Winlink Initiative

ARES Coordinators

David Beltz - WD8AYE Stark County EC Terry Russ - N8ATZ Assistant EC ARECC Level III Certified Mobile Number 330-802-0958 Mike Lackney  - KB8MIB ARES Net Manager - General Operations Michelle Gill - KC8ZEJ ARES Net Manager - Net Control Coordinator Phone 330-484-3164  Link to Contact Page

Served Agencies

Training News

Amateur Radio Emergency Communications. Using Amateur Radio in an Emergency. The Emergency Alert System. NOAA Weather Radio. Educational Weather Information Page. The Current National Weather Map. A great source of Emergency Communications (EMCOMM) information on the internet is available at EMCOMM.org.

Skywarn News   (May 1, 2009) --  Special thanks to everyone who participated in this years training, a new record for general attendance and new spotter registrations. As severe weather season approaches, remember your training and keep a close and on the sky and your ear to the radio when severe storms strike !  *********** Severe Storms Rock Stark County during Summer 2007.  Click Here for a review of the 2006 severe weather season from Cleveland NWS. Stark County Skywarn Spotter Statistics. Damage Assessments Report over 268 Million in damage to 60 Ohio Counties during February Flooding. Stark ARES Assists Ohio EMA. ************** Emergency Preparedness Guideline Basic Spotter Information An excellent full color booklet titled "Basic Spotters' Field Guide" is also currently available from the National Weather Service On-line library of Publications. CLICK HERE for a listing of their currently available information guides. **************** Other News NOAA Weather Alert Comes to Ham Radio. Severe Weather Paging Notification Comes To An End. *************** Weekly Weather Fact     The National Weather Service is second only to the Postal Service among government agencies in day-to-day contact with U.S. citizens. And the public seems pleased with what it gets. The NWS's approval rating has jumped to 70%, up from 51% in 1948. Those saying that it was doing a poor job fell from 15% to a mere 7%. These numbers would please many a politician.  ****************** The Weather Channel is now offering a new and free screensaver. This screensaver brings breathtaking images to match your local weather conditions. CLICK HERE to download.     Amateur Radio  Supporting Homeland Security "Amateur Radio - The only fail-safe method of communication." Riley Hollingsworth FCC Special Council ------------------ National Homeland Security Knowledgebase         Click on the link above to get a birds eye view from the repeater site !

Return Home

Top Stories

-  Local ARES News -

Click Here for National News
 

Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant Emergency Coordinator

    (Jun 21, 2009) -- Plans are well underway as we prepare for this year’s Profootball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival and once again Stark County Amateurs are being called upon to provide communications for both the Community Parade and the Timken Grand Parade.

The Community Parade will be on Sunday, August 2nd beginning at 2:30 PM. About 10 volunteers are needed. Communications Coordinator Terry Russ, N8ATZ is currently working on assembling his volunteers. Contact Terry at (330) 837 – 3091 if you would like to participate.

The Timken Grand Parade will be on Saturday, August 8th beginning at 8:00 AM. Wade Huthmacher, WD8MIU is Communications Coordinator for this event and is also working on assembling the many volunteers needed to handle this parade. Wade can be reached at (330) 484 – 4496 or by email at wd8miu1@neo.rr.com. 

The Appreciation Party will be on Friday night, July 24th again at the Canton Civic Center. All volunteers are eligible to attend, however you must have a ticket for entry. Communications Coordinators can provide tickets for the Appreciation Party, contact them if you would like to attend the party.

Additional information will be posted as they are completed. Complete details of the festival and all activities are available on their website at www.profootballhoffestival.com. 

Tour de Cure Report
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant Emergency Coordinator

  (Jun 18, 2009) -- On Sunday, June 14th members of both the Stark County ARES and the Massillon Amateur Radio Club provided mutual aid communications assistance to the Summit County ARES with the annual ADA Tour de Cure bike ride. This years event included over 500 riders breaking previous attendance.  

Communications took several forms including operators strategically positioned at trouble points along the 5 different rides comprising this years ride. Operators also were located with several Medical Transport Units and SAG Units who picked up riders with broken down bicycles or who could not complete the course.

A new facet of this years event was the addition of several motorcycle units all composed of ham radio operators who provided real time information on trailing riders. Controlled tactical nets were used on multiple frequencies each with their own responsibilities. The great weather brought our the record number of riders and only a few minor medical incidents and broken bicycles being the only incidents reported during the entire ride.

Summit County ARES Emergency Coordinator Walt Heeney, N8LJM expressed his deepest appreciation for all the volunteer assistance during this years ride.

Local volunteers included Dan Anastis - N8DZM, Bruce Brown - KC8RKS, Ralph Bugg - K8HSQ, Carl Cunnert - AB8CC, Mike Engle - KD8FTO, Wade Huthmacher - WD8MIU, Mike Palmer - KD8ENV, Richard Ross - KA8ZQH, Terry Russ - N8ATZ, Rex Simmons - NX8G and Rodger Trompower - KA8FTS.

Summer ARES Meeting Recap
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant Emergency Coordinator

(Jun 15, 2009) -- The summer meeting of the Stark Co ARES was held at the County Emergency Operations CEnter on Thursday, June 11th with 16 members and guests in attendance.

Richard Webber, Deputy Director of the Stark County EMA was also in attendance who thanked Stark Co ARES for our participation in the April 29th Akron-Canton Airport Disaster Drill and also distributed Certificates of Appreciation to the three volunteers in attendance at the meeting. The remaining Certificates will be mailed to the drill volunteers not in attendance at the meeting.

The remainder of the meeting covered recent ARES news and events including a short recap of the ARES presentation to the Alliance Amateur Radio Club, a reminder that the start of the severe weather season is right around the corner. ARRL Field Day will be the weekend of June 27-28 and is a great opportunity to practice emergency communications preparation.

The remaining time was spent reviewing the upcoming Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival, the largest public service event handled by the Stark Co ARES. Additional volunteers are needed for the Timken Grand Parade on Saturday, August 8th. Contact Parade Communications Coordinator Wade Huthmacher, WD8MIU at (330) 484 - 4496 if you can assist with this important public service event.

Airport Drill Certificate of Appreciation Recipients Mike Palmer (L) - KD8ENV,  Terry Russ (C) - N8ATZ and Matt Kraner (R) - K8MAT as presented by Deputy EMA Director Rich Webber. (Thanks to Michelle - KC8ZEJ for the picture) 

ARRL Seeks Member Support for HR2160
Courtesy of the ARRL

(May 12, 2009) -- To support HR 2160 -- The Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Enhancement Act of 2009 -- the ARRL is asking its membership to contact their members of the US House of Representatives with a request to become co-sponsors of this significant piece of legislation.   Full Story

Stark ARES Assists With Airport Drill
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant Emergency Coordinator

(May 2, 2009) -- Scattered passengers lay injured just north of the taxiway. Medics rushed to their care as flames rose from a severed wing of a downed Boeing 747.

It's a scenario that has been seen on the news numerous times across the country in recent years but fortunately this time, it was just a drill.

Last Wednesday, April 29th, responders from the Stark County ARES along with nearly 450 emergency personnel from throughout Stark and Summit counties, including 120 volunteer victims, participated in a drill simulating an airplane collision over the skies at the Akron-Canton Airport. The drill was part of a federal requirement that airports conduct such disaster drills every three years.

Warning sirens at approximately 10:30 AM marked the beginning of the drill involving more than 50 safety service agencies throughout the region. 

As part of ham radio's quick response capabilities, Stark County ARES was given only one day's notice to assemble volunteers to assist with drill coordinators in logistics support and victim transport for the drill. Working at the request of the Stark County Emergency Management Agency, ARES quickly assembled a response team led by Emergency Coordinator David Beltz, WD8AYE assisting with several aspects of the drill that included shadowing the official observers rating the drill and tracking the over 120 victims that were transported by area ambulance crews to over seven hospitals in Summit County.

Amateurs were also given permission to observe the activities at the scene of the drill to better understand the coordination needed to respond to this type of incident. This valuable training will help prepare our own response capabilities for future events and provide better support to the area's public safety agencies.

EC David Beltz stood by at the quickly assembled Command Post at the Green Fire Station which in an actual emergency would become the Southern Summit County EOC. Ham radio was used to coordinate victim movement to the hospitals and back to staging, while providing continuous reports to the EMA Officials and Incident Commanders monitoring the drill from the Green EOC. Additionally our operators were ready to provide additional support communications for the event should it be needed.

Thanks to an extensive UHF Repeater System in Summit Co that utilizes multiple inputs, we had nearly solid communications throughout the event using mostly hand held radio's. The system is operated by SUMCO, the Summit Co ARES who quickly provided use of the repeater when primary operations on two meters could not provide coverage in the area.

Additional operators staffed check points and the bus transportation used to shuttle victims to the airport disaster site and back from the hospitals taking part of this exercise.

Stark County EMA Director Tim Warstler along with Deputy Director Richard Webber deeply appreciated our quick response for support with very little advance warning. "Stark County ARES has always come through for us," said Richard, "and your performance during this drill continues to show your commitment to our office and the community."

A special thanks to the following operators who changed difficult work schedules to assist with the Airport Drill. Communications Coordinators Dave Beltz and Terry Russ, N8ATZ appreciate your service during this drill. Additional operators were Don Finley - W8DEF, Mike Palmer - KD8ENV, Jim Farriss - WA8GXM, Matt Kraner - K8MAT, Ted Faix - KB8PRK and Rick Smith - KC8SUI. In all, eight volunteer operators assisted providing a total of 66 hours of volunteer community service.

New ARRL Advanced Emergency Communications Course Being Developed
Courtesy of the ARRL

    (Apr 7, 2009) -- Over the past several months, ARRL staff have been reviewing the Amateur Radio Emergency Communications online course program and have decided to combine two of the three Emergency Communications courses. According to ARRL Education Services Manager Debra Johnson, K1DMJ, the review included a critical examination of the course content, as well as methods of course delivery and interrelationships with government organizations. Johnson said that the decision was made to revise the Level 3 course to become a new Advanced Emergency Communications Course; this, she said, will replace both the current Level 2 and Level 3 courses. The new advanced course is set to be released during the last quarter of 2009.   Full Story

The Role of Amateur Radio and the Medical Community
A guest editorial by ARRL Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager Dennis Dura, K2DCD.
Reprinted by permission of the ARRL E-Letter February 18, 2009.

  (Feb 18, 2009) --  Every week at ARRL HQ, we answer questions on the role of amateur radio and the medical community. This is an ever explanding relationship in which we can play a significant role, within the framework of the regulations which provide us our operating privileges.

Medical facilities have a need to be able to communicate in disasters. This communications need is twofold; having the ability to pass information to and from the local governmental-public safety structure and maintaining a capability to talk to operations and facilities of the medical facility itself. The first example is one in which medical facilities play a critical role in the emergency management structure of the community. The capability to deal with the medical needs caused by a disaster is an integral part of the preparedness and response characteristics of the community. Amateur radio naturally falls within this scope of supporting emergency management operations.

The second example is one that becomes a business continuity issue. Maintaining communications that enable a medical facility to continue conducting their business is not one that amateur radio can support. This is outside our regulatory provisions as set forth in Part 97. While we may be the cost effective, and easy to access mode to furnish communications, we are not the solution in this example. Just because we have the technical capability to do a particular task, doesn't mean we have the legal ability to do it.

We are seeing the integration of amateur radio and the medical community more and more every day. Amateur radio operators are lending their communications expertise and developing extensive capabilities at hospitals and other medical facilities all across this country. This is a good use of the mission capable resources we as Hams bring to the larger emergency management community. We need to remain focused on the role we play in this situation. Our role is not to enable businesses to remain in operation. Our role is to serve the public during disasters...and by providing communications to meet the needs the emergency creates, we do our job, and do it well. 

ARRL ARES E-Letter Posted
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant Emergency Coordinator

   (May 15, 2009) -- A new year brings a new look for the ARES E-Letter. Beginning with the January 21st issue the E-Letter is now published in a new HTML version complete with photos, graphics and tables. These new enhancements create a totally new experience to this on-line newsletter. For readers who still prefer the original text-only version, each issue will still contain a link to this as well. The  May 15, 2009 edition of The ARES E-Letter is currently posted and includes the following highlights;

Amateur Radio Supports BP MS-150 "Silver Celebration"; MESO Cyclone, Southern Illinios Skywarn/ARES Response; Hams Rally for Glass City Marathon; Hurricane Conference - A Success for Amateur Radio; Reverse 911 - Tens for ARES; The Cost Value of Volunteers. 

You can read the entire newsletter on the ARRL website. Click Here for a direct link.

Texas Amateurs Participate in Communications Exercise with Defense Department
Courtesy of the ARRL

(Jun 15, 2009) -- Amateur Radio operators from Central Texas participated in the Department of Defense Interoperability Communications Exercise (DICE) June 1-5 at Camp Mabry near Austin. DICE is an annual training exercise sponsored by US Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) and conducted by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC). More than 30 federal, state and local government agencies and military units participated in DICE, including ARES®, RACES and Texas Army MARS.  Full Story

California Emergency Radio Team Reaps Hugh Results
Courtesy of the ARRL

(Jun 11, 2009) -- Recently, the Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (AREC) team at Long Beach’s Wilson High School gave a PowerPoint presentation about their team. In attendance were school administrators; ARES®, CERT and Long Beach government and emergency personnel; students and ARRL Technology and Education Program Coordinator Mark Spencer, WA8SME. The presentation concerned the history of the student team and their plans for continuing to practice Amateur Radio skills beyond graduation.  Full Story

Oregon Hams Participate in Statewide Disaster Drill
Courtesy of the ARRL

(May 7, 2009) -- The State of Oregon conducted a full-scale week long exercise April 24-30, simulating a 9.2 magnitude earthquake on the Cascadia Subduction Zone. According to Tillamook County Emergency Management Director Gordon McCraw, WX7EM, if an earthquake struck the zone, it would cause "major destruction" from the Cascade Mountains all the way to the West Coast. Instead of focusing on the actual disaster, the exercise instead concentrated on the 72 hours after the event. This, officials said, would put the primary focus on life-saving response and debris removal, as well as mass-casualty and short-term recovery.    Full Story

EmComm - What's It All About ?
Courtesy of the ARRL

Feature:  (Apr 5, 2007) -- How can we as amateurs become -- and stay -- beneficial to our communities? Here is one ham's take on it.      Full Story

   Monitor the 147.12 Mhz Repeater for Severe Weather information here in Stark County !

Our thanks to Mercy Medical Center for their commitment to the Stark County Amateur Radio Emergency Service and First Communications for their support of Stark County Winlink.

 
Counter courtesy of WEB Counters

This site is best viewed at 800 x 600 resolution using Internet Explorer

The Stark County Amateur Radio Emergency Service
Canton,  Ohio  44701

ARES^®, Amateur Radio Emergency Service and the ARES logo are registered trademarks of the American Radio Relay League, Incorporated and are used by permission.

Our Purpose

Welcome to the new Stark County ARES Website. The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) consists of licensed Amateur Radio operators who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public interest when disaster strikes.

Our Mission

ARES News

Click above for official ARES Logo merchandise from the ARRL.

The Official Stark County ARES Name Badge Supplier. Click on the logo for details.