ARES

Delaware County ARES

We seem to have completed another year in Delaware County! I say, “seem” because we do have the Vet’s Day parade, and of course there could be a real event that would see us being activated. But by and large, our activities for the year have wound down. I offer my sincere thanks to ALL who participated-- it’s your hard work and dedication that makes our organization great! We had a full year of solid training, and we will continue that through the winter months! There are many areas in which ARES can be of assistance to our county, and we hope to add to those as we widen our training scope. We do need to brush up on the digital side of life! During the SET it was proven once again that sending messages digitally was absolutely the best, most efficient way to complete our tasks! There are a couple simplex digital nets - one in Marion, one in Union - that would afford our Delaware County stations the opportunity to practice and get to know our neighbors even better. For Union County, it’s Monday evening following the 9PM net on 145,60. For Marion, the digital net is every Thursday evening except the last of hte month, at 8PM on 145.70. Nets generally use MT63 2KL. Here is our training recap for 2019: Operations manual and ARC station operation EOC training fldigi and digital radio Managing events Search and rescue ARES Connect Damage assessment WebEOC Simulated Emergency Test preparation Traffic and messaging For November, we plan a tabletop exercise- you’ll want to attend, it should be interesting! We track our hours in ARES Connect! I try to keep everyone’s time recorded- but YOU can log in and make sure you are registered for events and logging your hours! I highly recommend becoming familiar with the system- Ohio is the only state which has converted completely to the database. It’s working very well! Again, thank you all so much for your time and dedication! Our activities will pick up next year early (like around the end of March!!) so keep ‘em charged and ready!

Ohio ARES

OHDEN 2.0

If an organization is solid and steady, doing things as it always has, that organization is not growing. Eventually it will get stale, and if a volunteer based organization, it will see volunteers fall away and reduce their commitment. And volunteers – YOU – determine whether this thing works or not. Today we continue to improve our training standards, to improve our accountability with ARES Connect, to improve our relationships with local agency leaders, and to improve our status as a viable communications arm for the state of Ohio and our local partners. Eight years ago or so, Gary Hollenbaugh, NJ8BB, had an idea that we could use new digital modes to relay messages to each other and to the state amateur station, W8SGT. So, OHDEN – the Ohio Digital Emergency Net – was founded and developed. At that time, W8SGT (The Sarge) wasn’t fully developed to handle the additional load. The station has grown both in capabilities and in stature with the Ohio EMA to the point that we have digital experts on the team, and dedicated radios and antennas. Gary has become an ASEC (Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator) specifically to foster OHDEN. Over recent years, Eldon Peterson, W5UHQ, has invested untold hours into managing the net, scheduling net controls, examining band and mode patterns, experimenting with different modes and frequencies to produce a reliable digital network that covers Ohio. Eldon basically “owned” OHDEN as his duty and concentration. We are grateful for all of that work and energy! Eldon’s resignation from the Net Manager position can be used to re-birth OHDEN, and actually develop OHDEN 2.0. This will increase performance for emergencies as well as provide better service as The Sarge as an intel- gathering arm for Ohio EMA’s Watch Desk. OHDEN 2.0 – what does it look like? Probably pretty much like it is now. It works and it’s not broken, as the saying goes, so we don’t need to tear it apart. But we can take this opportunity to refocus, restructure a bit, and provide for a more streamlined operation. One of our moves comes from an analysis of traffic flow. Most of the message traffic is envisioned to flow to and from the Sarge (at the Ohio EOC). In that case It just makes sense to have The Sarge as the central point of the network. We tried that structure during the SET and it worked flawlessly. In that event, we had an “open net” running for OHDEN (no strict net control, etc.) and messages were sent to The Sarge from all over the state. It worked very well (the band was up) to prove the concept. Gary and I both agree it makes sense to center the net at the Ohio EOC. We will be dedicating manpower in any activation to maintain the digital side of the operation. While we refocus the net to The Sarge, we’re actually working on a concurrent program (both voice and digital) to create “Force Multipliers.” These are stations around the state, perhaps one or two per district, who are excellent operators and who can step in as net control stations under many different conditions. In periods where someone else is NCS, these stations can serve as official relay points around the state to help pick up calls that NCS can’t hear. This will become far more important over the winter months when the bands are not exactly ‘hopping’. It could even be stretched into a series of sub-nets (where communications is still possible but only local) which could then relay to The Sarge. There are a lot of possibilities! So we are looking for those operators- if you would like to be involved, please send me an email (n8bhl =at= arrl.net) and let me know!! We believe that these simple reorganization steps will provide a solid foundation as we look into further changes… perhaps operating in a faster mode (MT63, Olivia 4 or something) while concurrently managing traffic or other operations at a different spot on the waterfall with trusty and dependable Olivia 8-500. Gary will be looking into other possibilities as well. He has always envisioned something like a “District Station” who directly interacts with The Sarge, while other stations in each district funnel traffic to their district station. If you have been on the net and have observations or suggestions PLEASE know that they are very welcome!! Let us hear your ideas! We’ll make sure any ideas are proven in concept, tried and evaluated before just randomly tossing them out there. I want to encourage all our digital operators that this is a great time for OHDEN! Please hook up with the OHDEN page on Facebook, and get in touch with our website which is now attached to the Ohio ARRL Section web: http://www.arrl-ohio.org Look for the OHDEN button on the very front page. We’ll be updating the information there very quickly, so give us a minute to get our act together there  I think this is an exciting time, and we can take this opportunity to make some calculated growth take place. All of this will better serve our partners across Ohio!

ARES

Stan Broadway, N8BHL

Section Emergency Coordinator - Ohio Emergency Coordinator - Delaware County