I am pleased to announce that Matt Welch, W8DEC, of Painesville, Ohio is now appointed the Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) for the ARRL Ohio Section. This position will continue to report directly to me.

Matt replaces Jack Sovik, KB8WPZ, who was taken the role of Public Information Coordinator (PIC) on the Ohio Section Cabinet on January 1, 2012. Matt’s SEC appointment takes effect immediately.

All current ARES appointments and policies will remain in effect. Once Matt gets settled in, he will be reviewing all appointments and polices and making adjustments as he sees fit.

Matt is a General Class operator, who was first licensed in 2004 with the call sign KB1LCS. Matt was appointed to District Emergency Coordinator of then newly formed District 10 in 2008.

Matt is a US Navy veteran, who served as a corpsman at the naval submarine base hospital in Groton, CT and aboard the USS Cape St George CG-71 in Norfolk, VA. Matt then transferred to the Connecticut Army National Guard as a medic. When Matt moved back home to Ohio, he then transferred from the Guard to the Army Reserve component IRR and has been there ever since 2007.

In Scouting, Matt joined Troop 68 in Painesville, Ohio, in 1990. He is a Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow, and also served as Assistant Scoutmaster and Cubmaster. Matt has involved Amateur Radio in many of his Scouting activities, encouraging young people to become involved in the hobby.

Matt is the Vice President of the Geauga County Amateur Radio Association, and is also a member of many clubs and organizations, including the Salvation Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN), Lake Erie Amateur Radio Association (LEARA), Portage County Amateur Radio Service (PCARS), and was past radio officer of the Lake County Amateur Radio Association, along with past Net Control Station for Eastern CT Traffic Net and the Tri-County Traffic Training Net.

Matt is married to Lynnette KB1LGB, and has five children. The oldest, Hector, is also licensed as KI4LKX.

Please join me in welcoming Matt to his new duties and responsibilities to the Ohio Section Cabinet!

73,

Frank Piper KI8GW Section Manager – Ohio

EARS stands for Emergency Alert Radio System.  These are weather radios modified to activate when tones are sent through the 145.110 repeater.  Regular participants in the District 3 ARES net are familiar with these tones as they are sent during the test at the beginning of first net of every month (along with the MVPT test)

It works just as the normal NOAA weather radio does.  It monitors the 145.110 frequency with the audio muted.  When the tones are sent through the 145.110 repeater, the radio sounds a siren tone while the tones are being transmitted, then mutes the audio again.  You can also use it to monitor the 145.110 repeater.

A number of these radios were modified years ago by the then Kettering Medical Center ARA (ancestor of the current West Central Ohio ARA) and distributed to club members and throughout the ARES community.

However, as technology changed and models were discontinued, the base radios became unavailable and the club was not able to produce any more.  If you don’t have one, the only way to get one is to have one handed down to you from a previous user that’s left the area, left the hobby, or become an SK.

Recently, the club discovered a stash of the components needed to modify a specific model of weather radio to the EARS configuration.

The model they’ve been using is the Garland Model 46-219 Emergency Alert weather radio.  In the 90′s it was sold at Radio Shack and Sears stores.  It’s possible that the same radio was made with other brand name plates and model numbers.

So, if you have a working working Garland Model 46-219 Emergency Alert weather radio, and would like to have it modified as an EARS radio, you’re in luck!  The WCOARA is willing to perform the conversion for free!

If you have one and are not interested in an EARS radio, please consider donating it for conversion and distribution to the field.

If you don’t have one, keep your eyes open at flea markets and garage sales.  You never know what treasure you’ll discover.

For more information contact Keith KB8GYB

The Montgomery County ARES K8MCA Repeater, 146.640 minus offset, will implement a 123.0 Hz PL encode tone for repeater access after December 23^rd.

The PL tone access will be deactivated when the “Double Beep” is heard signifying that the Dayton Skywarn Net is in operation.

73’s

Robert M. Flory – KA5RUC

Emergency Coordinator

Montgomery County ARES

Former DEC Ron Moorefield retired effective October 1, 2011 after many years of service in this position.

Al Stone, KB8RPO, was confirmed as his replacement on 15 October 2011

Email: kb8rpo@frontier.com

More details to follow.

From the Ohio Section Notes, November 2011

Hello,

If you attended the Ohio ARES Management Meeting last spring in Mansfield, one thing rang LOUD and CLEAR, and that was training. After discussions with the Section Manager and our new ASM/Training John Frederick N8GOU, it was decided that before we establish training on a local/county level, ARES leadership will need to step up and fulfill some training minimums.

Effective December 31 2011, to be considered for appointment in the Ohio Section for the positions of District Emergency Coordinator, Assistant District Emergency Coordinator, or County Emergency Coordinator, the applicant must have taken and passed FEMA Courses IS-100, 200, 700 and 800.

Effective January 1, 2013 all holders of the positions of District Emergency Coordinator, Assistant District Emergency Coordinator, or County Emergency Coordinator the applicant must have taken and passed FEMA Courses IS-100, 200, 700 and 800. In my discussions around the Section, most of you, if not all have completed all or the majority of the above requirements, or will soon. Many DECs and ECs have mentioned that many of the County EMA offices ask IS-100, 200, 700, and 800 before they are issued credentials, or allowed into emergency facilities during an emergency. Remember these are MINIMUMS ONLY. There are many of the FEMA IS courses available on line at http://training.fema.gov/IS/ . Also remember that the ARRL offers the EMCOMM classes, and you can view that catalog at http://www.arrl.org/online-course-catalog.

So PLEASE take advantage of the educational resources available to you, and I am sure programs will become available as our new ASM John Fredrick, N8GOU talks to other ARES Leadership across the Section. If you have any questions on the topics above, please contact me.

73,

Jack Sovik, KB8WPZ

Ohio Section Emergency Coordinator

More discussion of the training requirements by John Frederick, N8GOU can be found on the Ohio Section News page

From The ARRL Website:

FEMA Administrator Calls Amateur Radio “The Last Line of Defense”

05/25/2011

In an FCC forum on earthquake communications preparedness, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate described the Amateur Radio operator as “the ultimate backup, the originators of what we call social media.” The forum– held May 3 at FCC Headquarters in Washington, DC — brought together officials from the White House, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), FEMA, the FCC and the private sector. Fugate and FCC Bureau of Public Safety and Homeland Security Chief Jamie Barnett gave the opening remarks.

Later in the forum, Fugate spoke more on Amateur Radio. “During the initial communications out of Haiti, volunteers using assigned frequencies that they are allocated, their own equipment, their own money, nobody pays them, were the first ones oftentimes getting word out in the critical first hours and first days as the rest of the systems came back up,” he told the forum. “I think that there is a tendency because we have done so much to build infrastructure and resiliency in all our other systems, we have tended to dismiss that role ‘When Everything Else Fails.’ Amateur Radio oftentimes is our last line of defense.”

Fugate said that he thinks “we get so sophisticated and we have gotten so used to the reliability and resilience in our wireless and wired and our broadcast industry and all of our public safety communications, that we can never fathom that they’ll fail. They do. They have. They will. I think a strong Amateur Radio community [needs to be] plugged into these plans. Yes, most of the time they’re going be bored, because a lot of the time, there’s not a lot they’re going to be doing that other people aren’t doing with Twitter and Facebook and everything else. But when you need Amateur Radio, you really need them.”

You can watch a video of the forum on YouTube. Fugate’s remarks begin at 18:55.

In July, the FCC released a Report and Order (R&O) that amended Part 97 — more specifically Section 97.113 — stating that government entities sponsoring disaster and emergency drills will no longer need to apply for a waiver to hold these drills. Additionally, employees who wish to participate in non-government-sponsored drills and exercises may do so under certain conditions. Part 97 is the portion of the Commission’s rules that govern the Amateur Radio Service. In the August 4th edition of the Federal Register, the FCC issued a summary of the R&O entitled Amendment of the Commission’s Rules Regarding Amateur Radio Service Communications During Government Disaster Drills –noting that the effective date of these new rules will be September 3, 2010.

From the ARRL Website

In a Report and Order (R&O) released Wednesday, July 14, the FCC amended Part 97.113 to allow amateurs to participate without an FCC waiver in government-sponsored disaster preparedness drills on behalf of their employers participating in the exercise. The FCC also has amended the rules to allow employees to participate in non-government drills and exercises up to one hour per week and up to two 72-hour periods during the year.

“Experience has shown that amateur operations can and have played an essential role in protecting the safety of life and property during emergency situations and disaster situations,” the FCC noted in the R&O. “Moreover, the current Amateur Radio Service rules, which permit participation in such drills and tests by volunteers (ie, non-employees of participating entities), reflect the critical role Amateur Radio serves in such situations. However, as evidenced by recent waiver requests, state and local government public safety agencies, hospitals and other entities concerned with the health and safety of citizens appear to be limited in their ability to conduct disaster and emergency preparedness drills, because of the employee status of Amateur Radio licensees involved in the training exercises. We therefore amend our rules to permit amateur radio operators to participate in government-sponsored emergency and disaster preparedness drills and tests, regardless of whether the operators are employees of the entities participating in the drill or test. We find that extending authority to operate amateur stations during such drills will enhance emergency preparedness and response and thus serve the public interest.”

In order to allow participation in non-governmental disaster drills — such as those sponsored by ARES® or private hospitals — the FCC will now allow amateurs employed by an agency participating in such a drill to participate up to one hour per week. In addition, they may also participate in up to two exercises in any calendar year, each for a time period not to exceed 72 hours. “This time limitation, which is consistent with the timeframes contained in the waiver requests filed with the Commission, should serve to further ensure the use of Amateur Radio for bona fide emergency testing,” the R&O stated. “We emphasize that the purpose for any drills we authorize herein must be related to emergency and disaster preparedness. By limiting the purpose in this manner, we further ensure that such drills will be appropriately limited.”

In amending the Amateur Radio rules, the FCC reiterated that it does not intend to disturb the core principle of the Amateur Radio Service “as a voluntary, non-commercial communication service carried out by duly authorized persons interested in radio technique with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest. Rather, we believe that the public interest will be served by establishing a narrow exception to the prohibition on transmitting amateur communications in which the station control operator has a pecuniary interest or employment relationship, and that such an exception is consistent with the intent of the Amateur Radio Service rules.”

The effective date of the R&O is to be determined and will be at some time after its publication in the Federal Register. A more detailed story will be forthcoming from the ARRL.

From the ARRL Website

On the first Wednesday evening of each month, we hold a Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Check at multiple locations in Beavercreek and in Xenia.

Operators meet at these EOC’s at 7:15 and get prepared for a “Net” to begin at 7:30. During the “Net” we have all EOC’s and any other stations wishing to participate to check-in, after which we move to different repeaters to check both their functionality and the capability of the radios to reach them.

EVERYONE is invited to participate, either from your location or you are welcome to come out to one of the EOC’s. Additionally, we would welcome check-ins from ANY other EOC’s in the Miami Valley Area that would like to participate.

To assist you in following the “Net” I have copied below the list of area repeaters used for the Net.

XWARN 147.165 Pl 100
KETTERING 145.110 PL 67
XWARN 443.100
DARA 146.940  PL 123
FAIRBORN 145.410 PL 118.8
BELLBROOK 147.045
GCARES 146.910
HUBER HEIGHTS 442.925 PL 123
SPRINGFIELD 146.730 PL 77
WILMINGTON NWS 444.575
SKYWARN 146.640
CINCY SKYWARN 146.880 PL 123″

These Monthly Nets are very important as they give us an opportunity to check out radios and repeaters, familiarize people with the operations of the radios and where they are located in the EOC’s, familiarize operators with EOC personnel (police, fire, and administrative), and is great practice for Net Operations. PLEASE consider either joining our NET Control Crew or at least participating from your location.

Thanks!

Mike Crawford KC8GLE