ARES NEWS
Tom Cook - KB3HZA

May 17, 2010

Hello all,

Hope this news/ update finds everyone well. Know that this is the busy time of the year for many. Have several exciting things to let you in on plus a couple of "we need you to step up" things.

Good things first:

N4OFA and I have received the first id badges from the EOC, they look pretty impressive. Hope to get one for most if not all of our ARES members as we would never know who would need to go there in an emergency. You need to get your ICS classes completed and the certificates to me so that I can submit your name for an id.

Several of us have also gotten our id cards for working with the Regional Health Department. This is another one that we need to get for everyone as it will be needed to work at the "PODS" or any other place they may need our assistance. This one too requires ICS certificates.

There are only 4 of them that we request that you take (THEY ARE ALL FREE). Do a web search for FEMA courses and they will pop up. We need ICS 100, ICS 200, ICS 700 and ICS 800.

We should all also have the EMCOMM I course under our belt, especially if in an officer type position. (EC, AEC). This is where the real good new is. The course runs somewhere around $50 if taken on line through ARRL. I have gotten the go ahead to teach the course, all you would need to do is purchase the Emcomm I book from the ARRL website for $19.95. We need to set a date to have a class for those interested, please contact me and let me know if you want to partake.

The sort of not so good news.

We need to see some participation from those of you who have signed up to be part of ARES. I know that everyone is busy and most times cannot get off work during the day to play in some of the exercises. We do have an ARES voice net the second Tuesday of every month at 2100 hours (9pm). Everyone should be able to make most if not all of the nets.

We also are running a packet net on Sunday nights at 2000hrs (8pm), if you are into packet please check in, if you are not and want to get into packet contact N4OFA, N4SHD, N4SPV or WX4S and they will explain it to you. These guys have been working hard getting a large coverage area set up in the event that the regular internet goes down. Winlink is getting hot now too.

Also, for those who cannot get out for the weekday exercises please lend a hand and contact K1GIG Arline to offer time during field day, she can use all the help she can get.

If you are not an ARES member and would like to be the application is on the club web site. Would also recommend that if you have not updated your information in over a year please fill another one out and email it to me so that I can keep your information current (phone numbers, email and address). On the other hand if you feel that you cannot commit to helping out also let me know so that I can remove you from our roles as the numbers that I feed to our Section Coordinator needs to be realistic. We also need to start looking at "away" teams in the expectation that we may be called to help out in other areas and I need to know who that I can send.

I really do appreciate all the help that many have been giving. This is what makes a strong organization.

73,

Tom Cook - KB3HZA
Emergency Coordinator (EC)
WASHINGTON COUNTY ARES