ARES

Delaware County ARES

A New Activity! Our first training session of 2020 was on the most- requested topic: fldigi and digital messaging. We got our laptops refreshed and we had success in transmitting and receiving messages and forms. But that’s only the start! We all agreed that in order to be proficient in digital messaging (so that our partners would benefit) we absolutely have to practice! Acting on the “if you don’t use it you lose it” principle, we agreed to launch an fldigi net at 2PM Thursdays on the 145.19 repeater. Since most in the group are retired, it was a convenient time. While many surrounding counties use simplex, the .19 repeater is set for a longer timeout in order to accommodate reasonable digital transmission. It’s a benefit also because several of our members are beyond reasonable simplex range. We agreed that once we are satisfied that we’re up to speed (so to speak) then perhaps we can drop back to bi-weekly. This net is open to all! If you’re a beginner in fldigi, we’ll certainly do all we can to help you get working. If you’re seasoned, we’ll be working with forms (FEMA, Red Cross, Delaware County) which are embedded into fldigi. We have been requested to assist the “Viking Run” which is March 7. The location has changed this year to Alum Creek’s really nice trail that starts from the Galena boat ramp. This is a winter deal- and we will be out in the woods… deep in the woods… as we watch the runners slog through whatever the weather brings us. We’ll need 8-10 operators, so this is a bigger event. Break out your Carhartts and hand warmers! We are meeting regularly with the Ironman staff, anticipating this year’s Ironman 70.3 event. This is a very professional group, and they love Delaware. A big part of that is the support received from Delaware and Marion ARES organizations. More on that as the season approaches. For out February training (second Thursday) we’ll be talking “Go-Boxes”. We’ll examine and operate the three suitcase deployment bags, we’ll consider MESH kits and by all means bring your own go- boxes for display and input! This should be a fun evening!

Ohio ARES - Activities are

coming up!

Ohio ARES has for the past several years sponsored the “ARES VHF Simplex Contest” which is really a misnomer, since we operate 54 MHz to really high frequencies. It’s just too long a title that way. The purpose is much the same as our last SET - to enhance our ability to communicate on typical VHF bands during emergencies and power outages. This year produced an excellent response! One major improvement comes with a huge thanks to Jason McCormick, N8EI, who put together an excellent website to support our activity: ohsimplex.org. Jason’s site allowed us to register our operation, and post when and where we would be on the air. We had somewhere around 60 registered, from numerous counties. Activity was strong across the state. I believe everyone had a good time! Scored will be forthcoming, and they will also be placed on the website. There are a number of tools we can use during emergencies but we can’t let them overshadow the ‘mainstream’ response modes such as basic two- meter FM simplex. This is one way to keep our skills (and antennas!) up and working. Thanks to all who played! Coming up April 4 is our Ohio ARES Conference. We’ll be meeting again at the plush lecture hall at Marion Tech (OSU Marion) on that Saturday. Our goal is to both educate and give our county EC’s and managers information they can take back home and put to use. We’ve had some really good speakers, and this year will be excellent. Our keynote will be Dr. Brian Griffin who for 20 years managed a 600- person all-volunteer medical team for the Arnold Sporting Event- largest athletic event in the world. Om April 25, the other part of our basjc emergency arsenal gets exercised during Ohio NVIS Antenna Day. This has been a very successful event in which we construct and test different NVIS antennas. It is NOT a contest, rather a fun day of playing antennas and eating food! The weather’s been part of the challenge in some years, and that gives us something to brag about. We got a reminder that ARES readiness is NOT seasonal. The weekend forecast for our VHF contest day, January 11, included wind warnings, floods and other severe weather. The day went along fairly well until the frontal system reached western Ohio. At that point two confirmed tornadoes were recorded in the greater Dayton area, and at nearly the same time, winds toppled a church steeple and some other roofs in the Portsmouth area. Other than Skywarn (which was requested in Cincinnati and Dayton) we were not needed since regular communications were able to handled responders. We do have procedures in place: HF and DMR nets to relay information to the Ohio Watch Desk, as well as EOC to EOC messaging. Our task: to be ready constantly to actually USE those modes and do so professionally! We can’t just convince ourselves we can do that while sitting in our recliners. It takes practice, working in good and poor conditions, to keep us seasoned and ready! Moral of the story: don’t drop the ball, we should be ready at all times!

ARES

Stan Broadway, N8BHL

Section Emergency Coordinator - Ohio Emergency Coordinator - Delaware County