© DELARA News a monthly publication of the Delaware Amateur Radio Association
Training Coordinator
Jim Yoder, W8ERW
Here we are at the end of another year and it has been quite an active one for our ARES
training growth. Seeing the amount of data now being kept, I have begun a verification
process to insure all of our records are up to date and accurate. As I receive certificates
documenting training, they are entered into the database and the certificates stored by
county and individual call. The storage is redundant across several media to help insure
from loss or damage.
All files are kept on a redundant NAS drive, Network Attached Storage using a Raid 0
configuration on a pair of 2TB drives. This is then repeated on a second identical NAS
using SyncToy, an MS utility that synchronizes both NAS devices to each other. As further
backup, Google Drive is employed as well as a portable hard drive and a USB memory
device.
All of this is done to insure the ever-increasing amount of data is not lost or compromised.
Also, when I am away from the shack here in Fremont, the portable and USB drives allow
me to administer the database as necessary while I am away.
Now for the rest of the story, my guess is that many of you like me have had issues with the
Windows 10 initial update process and may have had problems with later updates from MS.
Every machine that I have to date has experienced a failure requiring a reload of Windows
10 and the subsequent loss of user data. All well and good for the training data until Google
Drive was setup under the new Windows 10 reload. For some reason, Google Drive did not
like this and initiated its own logic to the process rather than mine. The result was that some
random files of the actual certificates were not kept intact. I’ve managed to recover most of
those however there are a few that were not able to be recovered.
As I verify all of the records, I am identifying those with issues and making corrections for
updated calls and a few members who have relocated. Records are maintained by call and
by county of residence. For those records with missing data or other issues that I am unable
to resolve, I will notify the ARES member and the local County Emergency Coordinator so
that the missing certificates can be obtained, and any additional issues can be resolved.
If you are contacted, I would appreciate your help in making any corrections necessary
including obtaining any missing certificates. This would be a great time for anyone who may
have additional certificates that have not already been submitted to submit those also.
A simple way to do this would be to request a Transcript from FEMA. This would insure that
any and all FEMA training that you have completed will be a part of your training record that
I maintain. In the case of one or two missing certificates, resubmission of just those is
certainly acceptable also. I will leave that choice up to you.
We should end the year with some respectable numbers again. At present we have 879
members who have completed Level 2, the initial 4 NIMS courses. 130 have completed Level
3, ICS-300 and ICS-400. A total of 7,597 certificates have been submitted to the training
database of which 971 were logged this year. This was an increase over 1017 of 94
certificates. Please don’t forget, our Section Manager has been giving away a nice
official ARES safety vest each time we attain another 25 NIMS completions. Several have
already received theirs and you could very well be next. There are a significant number who
could gain Level 2 by submitting that one remaining course. And many more who need the
remaining 2 courses. There is still time this year to get yours entered and a chance to wear
one of these really nice ARES vests courtesy of N8SY.
My calendar says we now have less than two weeks until we celebrate Christmas. My wish
for each of you is for a Happy and Merry Christmas. Perhaps the guy in the red suit will
bring you something new for your shack.
It has been a great year friends and I thank you for the hard work, your dedication and the
many fun ARES events we have had this year. As you take a break to celebrate, be safe and
may the spirit of Christmas be with you.