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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   (Jan 3, 2010) -- The State of Ohio has set the dates for this years Severe Weather Awareness Week as March 21 - 27, 2010. The Statewide Tornado Drill will take place on Wednesday, March 24th at 9:50 AM. Stark County Skywarn Spotter Training is currently scheduled for Wednesday, March 17th beginning at 6:30 PM. Registration will begin at 6:00 PM. *********** 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 Retired ------------------     Click on the link above to get a birds eye view from the repeater site !

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Stark Co ARES Spring Meeting Recap
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Assistant Emergency Coordinator

  (Mar 6, 2010) -- The Stark County ARES held their first quarter Spring meeting last Thursday, March 4th with 17 members and guests attending. Our program for the meeting was a presentation by Ohio's Section Emergency Coordinator Jack Sovik, KB8WPZ with District 5 EC Dave Kaltenborn, N8KBC and Art Burnett, KB8UNJ representing Mahoning County ARES. Representative from the Alliance, Canton and Massillon Radio Clubs also attended.

Jack's program covered several topics including the importance of ARES and was very appreciative of Stark County's dedication to public service. He also covered the ARRL's current proposal to enhance ARES volunteers by requesting that they go to a standardized vest to be worn during public service activities. This caused some concern by those attending. You can read the League's full comments by clicking here.

Assistant EC Terry Russ, N8ATZ then covered several business items including a short review of last years public service activities, a recap of the ARES District 10 training meeting in Lake County, and the status of our Winlink program. The group was reminded of the upcoming Skywarn Spotter Training and the Statewide Tornado Test being held this month.

A report was given on last years Tuesday night ARES Net, plus some news on the revised MOU with the American Red Cross. Planning meetings are already underway for this years Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival with Amateur Radio and ARES expected to play a large role in this years parades.

The meeting concluded at 9:00 PM with our special thanks to Jack Sovik for attending our meeting. Our next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 3rd also at the Stark County Emergency Operations Center. 

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. 

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

   (Feb 24, 2010) --  The  February 24, 2010 edition of The ARES E-Letter is currently posted and includes the following highlights;

ARRL Board Decides EmComm Issues, ARES News Digest, "QuakerNet" 2010 Exercise Series, Disaster Prep Tips, Op-Ed: New Modes, We Get Letters, Florida "Operation Radar" Communications Exercise,  plus other stories.  

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

Injured Skier Uses Ham Radio
Courtesy of the ARRL

(Feb 24, 2010)  -- When Steve Priem, N0YIV, of Boulder, Colorado, decided to go backcountry skiing near Yankee Doodle Lake in the Guinn Mountain area of Colorado's Roosevelt National Forest on Friday, February 19, the 60 year old ham made sure he was well prepared: Not only did he take along a rescue whistle, he made sure his handheld transceiver was fully charged and in his pack.   Full Story

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

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

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