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Stark
Co ARES Spring Meeting
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant
Emergency Coordinator
(Feb 5, 2010) -- The Stark County ARES will hold their Spring meeting on
Thursday, March 4th at the Stark County Emergency Operations Center on Route 62
in Canton. The meeting will run from 7:00 - 9:00 PM. The meeting is open to all
area amateurs and ARES members.
A meeting agenda is currently being developed. Agenda topics can
be directed to Assistant EC Terry Russ, N8ATZ by email to Truss@sssnet.com.
If schedules permit we hope to have as guest speaker Ohio Section Emergency
Coordinator Jack Sovik, KB8WPZ who will cover the current state of Ohio ARES.
Annual
Skywarn Spotter Training
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant
Emergency Coordinator
(Feb 5, 2010) -- Stark County Skywarn
will hold it's annual Skywarn Spotter Session on Wednesday, March 17th in the
main auditorium at Stark State College of Technology.
Registration of new spotters will begin at 6:00 PM with training
to begin at 6:30 PM. Registration is not required to attend unless you wish to
obtain a Skywarn Spotter Identification Number. This number is used to identify
you as having attended a training seminar.
Hosted again this year by Stark State College of Technology and
moderated by Tim Warstler, Director of the Stark County Emergency Management
Agency, the training is being provided by Cleveland National Weather Service
Weather Coordinating Meteorologist Gary Garnet, KC8TJI.
The training seminar will cover the science of severe weather
and will teach spotters to correctly observe cloud formations and the signs that
severe weather is approaching. It will also include spotter safety and how to
report severe weather observations to the Cleveland NWS.
Also attending will be Marvin Secrest of M & K Engraving who
is our exclusive supplier of Skywarn materials including custom identification
badges.
The training is free and open to the public, especially
representatives of public safety forces, schools, hospitals and are Amateur
Radio Operators.
The training is held in conjunction with Ohio's Severe Weather
Awareness Week which is March 21 - 27. On Wednesday, March 24th, Ohio will
conduct a Statewide Tornado Drill at 9:50 AM in which local emergency sirens
will be tested along with local radio and TV stations severe weather
notification systems.
Questions and information regarding this training can be
directed to Assistant Emergency Coordinator Terry Russ, N8ATZ at (330) 837-3091
or by email to truss@sssnet.com.
Need
A New ARES Radio ?
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant
Emergency Coordinator
(Feb 7, 2010) -- As Spring
approaches, it is a good time to make sure your equipment is working properly or
maybe it's time to upgrade to something new?
A few months ago I read an article that covered the basic
equipment needed for public service communications. First and foremost on the
list was of course a ham radio transceiver. While mobiles are great and I
wouldn't be without one, the article covered the need for a basic Hand Held
(HT). I agree, for nearly all the basic public service communications we do, all
you need is a two meter HT.
I also realized that it could have other advantages as well. A
basic two meter HT is usually cheaper and easier to program than those
multi-band full featured rigs. I spent about an hour looking through a few radio
magazines for ads for two meter only HT's. I found a nice assortment from the
four major radio manufacturers: Icom, Yeasu, Kenwood and Alinco.
While I own several HT's including a Yeasu VX-7R, my radio of
choice for basic public service work is an Icom IC-V8, a simple two meter HT
that I won at the Wellington Hamfest a few years ago. It's a great little radio,
uncomplicated, easy to program and has a long lasting lithium Ion battery.
I surveyed nine - two meter only radio's from the four
major manufacturers for general characteristics needed for public service work.
The categories were Brand, Model, Frequency Coverage, Weight, Transmit Power,
Battery Type and Capacity, Audio Output, Cost, and Other Features.
You can find out all the technical specs on these radio's on the
internet but I thought my basic list pretty good for basic public service work.
I would want a light weight model with long battery life, decent output power
and good loud audio.
I have compiled the list onto an Excel spreadsheet that you can
open by this link. If you are looking for an inexpensive two meter only
radio suitable for public service work, maybe one of these will suit your fancy
!.
New
MOU With Red Cross Approved
Jim Weaver, K8JE ARRL Great Lakes
Director
(Feb 4, 2010) -- The ARRL Board of Directors has approved a new
Memorandum of Understanding between the American Red Cross and ARRL. The
new MOU is the result of lengthy negotiations between the two organizations.
Being discussed was a Red Cross requirement that Amateur Radio operators who
wished to serve as volunteer communicators agree to have an extensive background
check performed. The new MOU allows for amateurs to avoid agreeing to such
checking.
The new MOU includes an agreement by RC to accept the results of criminal
background checks performed by State or local law enforcement agencies as well
as checks performed by Mybackgroundcheck.com.
From the time negotiations for the new MOU began, the two organizations had
agreed that requiring criminal background on volunteer communicators was
reasonable. Unfortunately, the only mechanism RC identified for having the
checks done was through a service that automatically required the volunteer to
agree to multiple forms of checks. These included manner of living and
financial background checks in addition to the needed criminal check. You
may recall that RC asserted they would have no more than criminal checks run on
communication volunteers regardless of the wording of the agreement the
volunteer was required to sign.
We on the ARRL Board did not believe it was appropriate to accept a new MOU that
included such an overly-comprehensive background check agreement. Our goal
was to make it possible for individual amateurs to have three options available
when considering supporting Red Cross communication. These options were to
agree to multiple background checks and to agree only to a criminal background
check. The third option, of course, is to choose not to have a background
check run and
not to be a volunteer.
This goal has been accomplished. Hams considering becoming RC volunteers
now have the full range of choice.
RC agreement to accept criminal background checks performed by law enforcement
agencies came with one provision. This is that any fee for having the
check done will not be paid by RC. The fee will need to be paid by some
other agency or by the individual volunteer. This should pose no problem
in situations in which criminal background checks are performed on behalf of EMA
or other civil agency with which the amateur is a volunteer.
Conclusions: RC and ARRL have an active MOU once again. To volunteer
to provide support to RC as a radio amateur, the amateur will need to undergo a
background check. The background check may be done through the RC at no
charge to the volunteer; however, following this process the volunteer will
agree to being subjected to a variety of background checks. Instead of
having background checking done through the RC,
Amateur Radio volunteers my have the checking done by a State or local police
agency. Following this process, the volunteer will be required to pay for
having the checking performed provided the fee is not already covered by EMA or
some other agency.
It was refreshing to have RC change its initial position and to agree to accept
criminal background checks performed by duly constituted civil agencies.
Stark
ARES Attend District Meeting
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant
Emergency Coordinator
(Jan 24, 2010) -- On Saturday, January 23rd Stark County Assistant EC
Terry Russ, N8ATZ and Winlink Technical Advisor Ralph Bugg, K8HSQ attended the
ARES District 10 Airmail/Traffic Handling Training Meeting at the TriPoint
Medical Center in Lake County.
The meeting was moderated by District 10 DEC Matt Welch, W8DEC
who is trying to create training opportunities within his ARES District as well
as introduce the Winlink Digital Messaging System to his area as an additional
emergency communications tool for Disaster Communications.
Over 40 Northern Ohio ARES members covering 5 counties attended
the training meeting to learn about basic traffic handling procedures as well as
take part in an Airmail Workshop. Bill Fraedrich, WB8LBI covered Traffic
Handling while Terry and Ralph covered the Airmail Workshop that assisted the
attendees with installing and configuring the Airmail Component of the Winlink
Messaging System.
Calendar
of Events Updated
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant
Emergency Coordinator
(Jan 2, 2010) -- The Calendar of Events webpage has been updated for 2010
to include a listing of our normally scheduled ARES activities. It includes
dates of our weekly ARES Net, scheduled local ARES meetings, Severe Weather
Awareness Training and Hall of Fame Festival Dates.
Some events are not yet confirmed and are based on last years
schedule. These are denoted by a question mark after the date. Exact dates will
be updated when known. Please mark your personal scheduling calendars early to
participate in these important public service events ! Click
Here for the Calendar.
Not Just an Emergency
Radio Service?
Courtesy of the ARRL
Feature:
(Jan 1, 2010) -- The FCC raised a few eyebrows by including the following
sentence in its Public Notice DA 09-2259 (see page 72, this issue): "While
the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial
communications service, particularly with respect to providing emergency
communications, is one of the underlying principles of the amateur service, the
amateur service is not an emergency radio service [emphasis
added]." Full
Story
ARES
Repeater Anniversary
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant
Emergency Coordinator
(Dec 1, 2009) -- In December
Stark County ARES will celebrate 30 years affiliation with Mercy Medical
Center.
The picture at the right first appeared in the December issue of
Mercy Medical Center's original newsletter called "The View". It shows
EC Dave Beltz, WD8AYE pointing to the newly installed antenna on the 10th floor
for the repeater. Joining Dave was then R.N. Ruth Kohl of Mercy Safety
Committee; Ed Alexsonshk, Supervisor, Safety and Security and Ed Heath,
Meteorologist in Charge of the National Weather Service Office at the Akron
Canton Airport.
The newsletter also included the following story reprinted
below. Our continuing thanks to Mercy Medical Center for their continuing
support of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service over these many years.
Radio Repeater Will Give Early Weather Warning
A new radio repeater will soon be installed on the eleventh
floor of TMMC by the Stark County Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES). The
repeater system will provide early warning capabilities to the Medical Center in
the event of severe weather conditions or other emergency situations. Continued....
ARRL ARES E-Letter Posted
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant Emergency
Coordinator
(Jan 20, 2010) -- The January 20, 2010 edition of The ARES E-Letter is
currently posted and includes the following highlights;
"Center of Activity" Frequencies for Disaster Communications; NHC
to Provide Greater Lead Time for Watches, Warnings; Michigan EmComm Group
Recognizes One of its Own; North Florida Digital Group to Present D-STAR
Academy; Ohio's Tenth District Forms EmCOMM Promotion Task Force; Job Opening at
HQ; MARS Name Changes, plus other stories.
You can read the entire newsletter on the ARRL website. Click
Here for a direct link.
MARS Operation Continues
in Haiti
Courtesy of the ARRL
(Feb 3, 2010) -- To assist the MARS
communications support effort in Haiti, the heads of the Army, Air Force, and
Navy-Marine Corps MARS programs have agreed to divvy up responsibilities among
the three Service MARS programs. According to Air Force MARS Public Information
Officer David Trachtenberg, N4WWL/AFA3TR, this delegation of responsibility will
facilitate more efficient utilization of MARS communications assets in the
overall relief operation. On January 12, a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, killing
thousands and wiped out the island nation's communication infrastructure.
Full
Story
Illinois Creates RACES
Program
Courtesy of the ARRL
(Feb 2, 2010) -- A newly forged partnership between Amateur Radio
operators throughout the state of Illinois and the Illinois Emergency Management
Agency (IEMA) will provide an additional layer of emergency communications
during disasters. The agreement creates the State Radio Amateur Civil Emergency
Services (RACES) program. Under the agreement, IEMA Director Andrew Velasquez
appointed ARRL Illinois Section Emergency Coordinator Brad Pioveson, W9FX, of
Benton as the volunteer State RACES Officer. Pioveson will serve as the single
point of contact between IEMA and the Illinois Amateur Radio community.
Full
Story
ARRL Sends Ham Aid
Equipment to Haiti
Courtesy of the ARRL
(Jan 22, 2010) -- Even though the
communications infrastructure in earthquake-ravaged Haiti is being rebuilt,
there is still need for Amateur Radio communications. To assist in this effort,
the ARRL's Ham-Aid program is providing equipment for local amateurs to use.
Full
Story
Haitian Disaster Relief
Update
Courtesy of the ARRL
(Jan 22, 2010) -- In the days
following the recent earthquakes in Haiti, the ARRL has received reports and
inquiries about non-amateur stations transmitting on several amateur frequencies
when assisting with disaster relief efforts in Haiti. The questions focus on the
legality of such operations on the amateur bands. Full
Story
Dominican Hams Install
Repeater
Courtesy of the ARRL
(Jan 18, 2010 [REVISED
Jan 19, 2010 08:21 ET]) -- Eight members of the Radio Club Dominicano
(RCD) -- the Dominican Republic's IARU Member-Society -- and Union Dominicana de
Radio Aficionados (UDRA) arrived in Haiti on Friday, January 15, to install an
emergency radio communications station and a mobile station. Shortly after they
arrived, the hams returned to the Dominican Republic for safety reasons.
Full
Story
Haiti Earthquake:
"It's Chaos Here"
Courtesy of the ARRL
(Jan 14, 2010) -- On Tuesday, January 12 at 4:53 PM Haiti time (2153 UTC),
a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince,
the island nation's capital. Communications in and out of Haiti have been
disrupted. The ARRL encourages US amateurs to be aware of the emergency
operations on the following frequencies: 7.045 and 3.720 MHz (IARU Region 2
nets), 14.265, 7.265 and 3.977 MHz (SATERN nets), and 14.300 MHz
(Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net); the International Radio Emergency
Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node
278173. 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.
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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.
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