| Total number of ARES members | 1137 | Change since last month | Same |
| DECs reporting this month | 11 out of 15 Call Signs |
ARES nets active | 142 sessions in 32 nets |
| ECs reporting this month | 37 out of 73 Call signs |
Nets with NTS Liaison | most of these nets |
| Number of Drills, tests and training sessions this month | 80 | Person hours | 846 |
| Number of Public service events this month | 15 | Person hours | 676 |
| Number of Emergency operations this month | 2 | Person hours | 36 |
| Total number of ARES operations this month | 97 | Person hours | 1558 |
SEC Comments:
March was a busy time in some Districts, but particularly quiet in others. It is hard to make a comprehensive summary of the month’s activities or report numbers since 4 DECs did not get their reports submitted on time. This is also explains the fact that only 37 of the Sections ECs (just barely over half) were heard from. Please make sure you get your reports in on time. If you have a problem, let someone know, if you can use assistance, please make arrangements before hand.
There were a number of Public Service events supported in March. District 3 again provided support for the Jefferson Cup Bike Race, and District 4 provided a number of operators in support of the Special Olympics. Amateurs in District 7 continued the 21year record of supporting the William and Mary Half-Marathon. ARES members in District 9 assisted the Shamrock Marathon, while a March of Dimes walk was supported in District 12.
Two major notable happenings during the month were the ARES meeting with VDEM which took place on March 16 at the VAEOC in Richmond, the regional VHF / UHF net exercise held in District 7 that involved participation of the owner / trustee of 11 repeaters that were linked for this exercise. Further information on either of these activities is available on the aresva.org web site.
Many amateurs are helping support the development of D-Star systems in Northern Virginia, and as these systems are brought into full service I hope to see further updates on the progress.
Submitted by: Dave Damon K4DND March 14, 2007
ASEC and DEC District 03
On behalf of: Henry Wyatt K4YCR
SEC Virginia Section
DEC Comments
3 Northern Piedmont
- FROM AD6JV IN ALBEMARLE COUNTY: The Jefferson Cup Bike Race was a spectacularly successful event for both the bicycle racing community and the ham community,due in good part to the polished performance of the ham communicators.
- FROM N3DFS IN GREENE COUNTY: Initiated Greene County Emergency Net on March 5. Participants to date have been N3DFS, N1FO, K4FZE,N4HRO, N4IVV, KE4NHP, KF4RKT, W4RQ, KG4SFX and "mutual assistance" operators K4AZV/Nelso Co and K4THE/Albemarle Co. Plan to expand it before the June 1 start of hurricane season. Thanks to Albemarle Amateur Radio Club for use of its repeaters. Tuesdays 7 PM 146.760 MHz.
- FROM K4MSR IN FLUVANNA COUNTY: Jefferson Bike Race - 3 ARES members from our group provided communications for the event. AG4DN,K4ISW and K4MSR
- Lake Monticello, Palmyra Boat races for UVA,OHIO,Michigan and Duke womans 2000 meter. Provided support for the staff, coast guard and the race officials 11 members of our group and 1 local ham radio operator. AE4OW, AG4DN, W4QIA, K4ISW, W2SEL, KE4ZNO, KF4FRR, KG4VVZ, K4MSR, W3DRY, KN4ZQ AND AC4XV
- FROM KD4OUZ IN LOUISA COUNTY: Very slow month for area 3.
We had our weekly nets. Continuing with the local repeater project. - FROM WW4GW IN BUCKINGHAM/CUMBERLAND COUNTIES: Buckingham/Cumberland ARES was fortunate to have a new member join this month thereby doubling our ARES membership. The new member is also the E-911 coordinator for Cumberland County, and I foresee him being a positive addition to ARES. I did have a meeting on 3/29 with the new member and the Buckingham County E-911 coordinator to discuss joint future communications needs and plans for the two adjoining counties. We also made plans for a communications test that will take place in Buckingham County after the District 3 meeting on April 15. I was able to install and test the 2-meter transceiver in the Buckingham County dispatch center, and am pleased to report that the transceiver is working properly and has access to multiple repeaters outside of the county as well as the Buckingham repeater. This transceiver was consider "non-operational" by another ham and was therefore donated to ARES if we could fix it. The Buckingham County ARES team was able to successfully repair the transceiver thereby providing a free radio to the county. I did provide assistance with troubleshooting the interference problems on the new District 3 repeater at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, and do believe that this new repeater will be completely functional in the near future. I have signed on as NCS for the new Virginia Digital Net covering Wednesday evenings.
4 Upper Rappahannock
- *Dick, W6WLG, EC/RO, Orange County: Nothing really new for the month of April. Two weather-related bulletins passed through to the local ARES members and clubs. April will be the beginning of the crazy weather in our area and I will continue to evangelize the need for individual, family and group readiness. We have a basic Skywarn class scheduled for May 10 in Orange County. More information to follow.
- *Boyd, KO4WK, EC/RO, Caroline County: Another uneventful month. We had 13 hams check into the 7 sessions of the CarCo net. Our Dept. Director of Fire and Rescue, Mark Garnett,KI4BML,(http://www.co.caroline.va.us/firerescue.html), has helped the County acquire a nice communications trailer, with power, A/C, many antennas (including a ham dual-bander). Good show, Mark! (Some more pictures are at http://www.bealenet.com/~tbmoore )
- *Evan, KE4BWD, EC/RO Culpeper County: No comments this month.
- *Steve, KD4KNR, EC/RO, King George County: Still working on a couple projects Protective cases for the radios More outside projects, since the weather is improving
- *Tom, KI4AFE, EC/RO, Spotsylvania County: We had several members support the Special Olympics this month. It is a big effort and very rewarding to the volunteers as well.
- Tom, W4LLK, EC/RO Fredericksburg City: All members supported the Special Olympics. We also participated in all the weekly General Class amateur radio training sessions held at the Fredericksburg EOC.
- *Bart, N3GQ, EC/RO, Stafford County: We checked out our Stafford EOC radio console this month. Emmett, K3EP and I also did some maintenance work on the club repeaters, which are all available for EmComm when needed. Emmett, K3EP is starting a new D-Star digital net at 1930 hours (147.375 MHz) on week nights just before our regular 2000 weekly club and EmComm net on 145.270 MHz. Bart, N3GQ ran the 2000 weekly nets twice out of his car and twice using the ham gear in Fire Station Number 2, which doubles as the Fredericksburg EOC (on Route 3 East, near the McDonalds at the I-95 interchange). A lesson was learned: when transmitting, turn down the volume on the 444.450 MHz side of the dual-band transceiver (the SARA repeater listens and transmits on both bands during the weekly nets). Reason: we had an echo whose source we could not find! Bart also discovered that the expensive UltraFlex LMR-600 antenna cable with stranded core ($2.95 / foot) is indeed a bit more fl exible than regular LMR-600 (solid core). He is using it for checking into the 1.2 GHz Spotsylvania (and soon Stafford) D-Star digital repeaters. Did someone say, Antenna Weather?! Our annual Amateur Radio Demo Day is coming up on April 29th (www.ww4va.org) at Porter Library in Stafford County. Demo an aspect of ham radio or just drop by to visit! Check out the ham gear and demos! Free cookies, snacks, nuts, coffee, and lemonade courtesy of N3GQ & K3KAT. Advertised locally. A good time will be had by all!
5 Rappahannock
EC of Northumberland County, KD4QIT, upgraded to General this month and will be participating in the ODEN Net.He is
working to have a full time telpac station on the air by end of Summer.
6 Virginia Capitol
- K2QIJ: Slow month. Not much progress. Plan to be working on EOC antennas this month.
- KG4YXP: We welcome a new Emergency Manager to Henrico County, Anna McRay. Anna is well known for coordinating CERT programs around Virginia. We look forward to working with Anna to re-establish a relationship with Henrico County.
- W4FEG: As we continue to train and prepare and find new ways to communicate and old friend from the past has generated a lot of interest...Packet Radio. As we look for ways to have a need for a quick way to critique an set and also have records at hand it seems to fill the bill. A good month here in Goochland for A.R.E.S. cu next month or before!!
- KG4YXP (District 6): We have been working to achieve 100% of our volunteers registered in the Virginia Section ARES database. We have made great progress in this effort and our membership numbers reflect several new registrations. I attended a productive meeting with VDEM along with Virginia Section ARES leadersh hip. We all look forward to a renewed relatonship with VDEM and in working with others to focus on providing emergency communications in a time of need to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia!
7 First Colony
- Hampton: -4b includes new training net format. Each week we rotate between emcomm plan review, communications method, tech talk, drill and q&a (fifth week). These nets have been extremly well received and net attendance is up to 15-18 weekly as a result.
- Newport News: Newport News ARES members participated in the planning, setup, and execution of the Special Events Station for the USS Monitor Center inaugural opening at the Mariner's Museum in Newport News. This two day event was part of the America's 400th Anniversary celebration for the founding of Jamestown (staffed largely by ARES, RACES, and other emergency service operators) and promoted amateur radio and emergency radio communications. Newport News also participated in planning for several upcoming events during April and May, including several public service events and training on the new Incident Master System (IMS) intranet communications software at the Newport News EOC. Our net representative, Mike Hawk, KB4CAU, was standing by as always to pass traffic to and from the Virginia Sideband Net (VSBN), although none was required.
- Gloucester and Mathews County: A/SEC-Training and County RACES Radio Officer, Joe/K4JJS, and Randy Pryor/WB7URZ, OES and President of the Middle Peninsula ARC, the club that owns the W4HZL 2M repeater, conducted a regional VHF/UHF net from the Gloucester County Mobile Emergency Communications Center (ECC) on March 22nd. There were a total of 11 repeaters linked into the Gloucester 145.37 machine by way of direct linking or remote base operations. Fifty-three amatuer radio operators from districts 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11 checked into the net. This is believed to be the largest VHF/UHF linked net set up in the eastern portion of Virginia covering an estimated 9,000 square miles in Virginia and North Carolina. Special thanks were sent out to all of the hams who participated including the control operators and owners of the various systems, Virginia RACES, Inc., for linking in with a portion of the VA Hospital Disaster System, all of the ARES and RACES folks who checked into the net, personnel assigned or attached to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and special thanks to the Gloucester County Sheriff's Department, specifically Lt Vince Rose/KG4KQL, for setting up the ECC for us. The following repeaters were linked into this system for the special net:
- W4HZL-145.37 MHz - Gloucester County
KF4ADM - 145.41 - Norge, James City County
WT4RA-147.195 - Smithfield
KG4BKI-444.825 - Franklin
KG4YJB-444.275 - Prince George County
W4VCU-147.180 - Richmond
W4VCU-444.975 - Richmond
K4SRM-147.390 - Petersburg
K4SRM-444.900 - Petersburg
W4VB - 145.330 - Norfolk - by Remote Base Via KG4BKI 444.825 Franklin
W4VB - 442.950 - Norfolk - by Remote Base Via 444.825 Franklin
WB4PVT -224.540 - Hampton - There is an ongoing dialog with the various groups represented on this net with discussions on where to proceed from this point including such things as training of personnel in net operations, setting schedules for more training nets, rotation of "lead repeater" and net control station asignments for upcoming drills, etc. Over all, this net went very well with many, many favorable comments received along with suggestions as to how we can improve on the methods used to conduct these nets. It just goes to prove that when dedicated amateur radio operators set their mind on performing the EMCOMM mission to the best of their ability, it does not matter whose "patch" they are wearing, as they, in the best traditions of the amateur service, are there to support their communities in times of need. District 7's motto, "Preparing today for tomorrow's needs" certainly applies to training events such as this one.
- York and Poquoson County: Attended D7AC/EC meeting. Met with K4SDC, DEC District 11 visiting here.
- Williamsburg-James City County: (not included on the February report)-The William & Mary Half-Marathon was held Feb. 22. 18 amateurs provided communications for this annual event, reporting lead runner information, injuries, traffic hazards, etc. Despite foul weather, the event went well, no problems. W-JCC ARES has provided comms for the marathon for 21 years. (90 man hours)
8 Eastern Shore
Several hams in our ESHARC RACES group participated in hurricane preparedness meetings/exercises in March(Included in drill manhours above). One was an extensive table top exercise on March 14 in Chincoteague, VA with the Accomack County Department of Public Safety and the Eastern Shore Disaster Preparedness Coalition in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to test our ability to recover from a major hurricane or other disaster. Then on March 28 we participated with the DELMARVA Emergency Task Force in a three state(Virginia,Maryland,and Delaware)functional exercise which also focused on recovery from a hurricane. This operation involved live ham radio communications from the Accomack County EOC/911 Center. Radio contact was established with the Salisbury,MD and Dover,DE EOC Centers. On April 14 we plan to support the Eastern Shore Health Fair with several Hams. Then in May we plan to support the Eastern Shore Sea Food Festival on Chincoteague, VA and the March of Dimes Walkathon in Onancock,VA.
9 South Tidewater
Active month, and a little wierd with the weather. Portsmouth conducted a Activated Net, with a role call, with 43% of the membership responding. Virginia Beach completed the Shamrock Marathon which has now turned into a two day event, and participation from all 4 cities. 15 members of the VB ARES are SkyWarn trained. EC and 6 AEC were trainned in WebEOC software. New repeater in Norfolk 444.475 callsign W4VB with a PL of 131.8 Rich Davis, EC Norfolk would like to THANK Stro KO4FR and Dave K4DA for maintaining the 4 repeaters in Norfolk.
11 Southside
Nothing to really report this month. District operations are as they have been. We are increasing ARES membership.
12 Central Virginia
ARES assisted with the March of Dimes walk on March 31 as well as a Campbell County preparedness exercise that same afternoon.
13 South Piedmont
- Floyd: We are now conducting a monthly license upgrade class. I now have 7 day emergency power capability: propane generator and battery.
Franklin: Our on air training sessions continue weekly with good attendence. W3EHF,Don Mattingly,crafted the D13 EC meeting digital training session Power Point presentation. - Montgomery: Montgomery ARES welcomes new member Phillip Foster, KI4RRL, of Radford, VA.
- DEC13: Conducted Net Operations, NTS Radiogram, and ICS 213 training session at the Roanoke club. Held an EC meeting in Roanoke presented an introduction to digital operations that resulted in a task force team to develop new open sourced emergency communications software. An additional development team volunteered to generate free Section training modules similar to the Leagues.
14 Southwest
Slow month