| Total number of ARES members | 1078 | Change since last month | -11 |
| DECs reporting this month | 12 out of 15 Call Signs |
ARES nets active | 215 sessions in 32 nets |
| ECs reporting this month | 40 out of 75 Call signs |
Nets with NTS Liaison | most of these nets |
| Number of Drills, tests and training sessions this month | 92 | Person hours | 1064 |
| Number of Public service events this month | 22 | Person hours | 2700 |
| Number of Emergency operations this month | 3 | Person hours | 22 |
| Total number of ARES operations this month | 105 | Person hours | 3842 |
SEC Notes
- This job (SEC) has one great big perk … when Field Day arrives, you get to visit more than one site and can choose where you EAT!
- Actually, it was really neat to see the preparation and readiness of the central part of the Virginia Section, and see how the clubs conduct field operations.
- Welcome signs were in place for the public to inspect, “PR” was evident, and there were smiles everywhere I went.
- The variety of operations is a clear indication of the scope of this Field Day activity. Franklin County was running QRP, battery power and wire antennas.
- Roanoke was running multiple stations with individual generators for each station and a neat, wireless, logging program with a central server.
- Lynchburg was also running multiple stations with power supplied by a 25 KW diesel.
- And finally, about 0300 on Sunday morning, I arrived at the Albemarle site on top of Fan Mountain, the location of the University of Virginia’s Observatory. Talk about a “prime” location for the VHF/UHF, not to mention indoor plumbing, air conditioning and commercial power.
- I also learned that eastern Henry County and Pittsylvania County (along Route 57) has a tremendous herd of deer … thanks for the fact that they all held their ground and didn’t try to run in front of the vehicle. It was also fun to make a few QSOs during the boring highway sections, operating 1C on 40 Meters. The whole big circle was about 350 miles on the odometer.
- Check out the my Field Day 2007 photo album here.
DEC Comments
2 National Capitol
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June was a quite month with not much going on. Fairfax County has a new acting emergency manager. The EM has been the ARES liaison for the past few years. We are well into the planning for the 32nd Marine Corp Marathon.
3 Northern Piedmont
- June was a particularly busy month. ARES provided 2 full days of support to the MS150 Bike Tour in which over 400 riders rode 2 days of assorted distances starting and ending each day from Charlottesville. Local Amateurs provided communications from rest stops and from roving SAG vehicles as well as keeping the Tour organizers in constant communication with the field. This is approximately the 20th year of continued support of this important public service activity, and each year the MS officials are very adamant that they would not be able to conduct the event without the support of Amateur Radio. In addition, this DEC provided assistance to the VAEOC during the VOPEX exercise, in the course of which, learning a great deal about packet communications from the Richmond EOC RACES station to various EOCs in the participating jurisdictions. Most important, the EC for Buckingham assisted his local Emergency Management officials during a communications outage experienced by the Buckingham EOC, for details see below.
- From WW4GW in Buckingham/Cumberland Counties: This has been a busy month for Buckingham/Cumberland Counties. First and foremost we picked up a new member to the local ARES group bringing our total to three (3) members. We participated in the M/S Bike-A-Thon PS event in Albemarle County on June 9/10. On June 12th at approximately 16:00 hrs a severe thunderstorm moved across Buckingham County and caused a total outage of the Buckingham County radio communications system. The county EOC coordinator contacted Buckingham ARES and we were activated locally at that time. Within 10 minutes the county's radio communications capability had been 90% restored, and within another 20 minutes it had been 100% restored on a backup system. The Buckingham County ARES continued to work with the EOC coordinator throughout the next day and restored the radio communications system back to 100% capability on the primary system. We in Buckingham County continue to work closely with the EOC coordinator to find innovative ways to minimize their communications outages in situations such as this.
- From N3DFS in Greene County: Greene County Emergency Net continues active, but very few of the licensees in the county participate. AEC/N7IVV provides good source of 8 AH lead-acid cells for our use, demonstrated cross-banding to Emergency Services Committee, planning continues with County Government for recognition of ARES presence. MESSAGE HANDLING will begin practicing in July.
From AD6JV in Albemarle County: ARES members and other hams from Albemarle and surrounding counties provided extensive support for the two day MS150 bike ride on the weekend of June 9-10. A mobile command post was set up at the bike ride staging area, and net control monitored the location of and directed extensive traffic with approximately 6 mobile and 10 fixed stations at strategic locations on the cyclist's route. Ham radio participation is essential to the safe execution of this event.
4 Upper Rappahannock
- Dick, W6WLG, EC/RO, Orange County: Provided support to John (KD4OUZ) in Louisa County for a search and rescue for a lost child. Stations from Orange County providing support: K0UN, K9SP, & W2UCM. See KD4OUZ’s report for specific details of the operation.
- Tom, KI4AFE, EC/RO, Spotsylvania County: Excellent participation in Field Day. Making preparations for the Spotsylvania ARES/RACES Simplex Exercise, scheduled for 28 July.
- John, KD4OUZ, EC Louisa County: At 8:08AM on June 19th, I got a call at work from Louisa Emergency Services requesting RACES/ARES deployment to Company 6 for a search and rescue in progress. A 2 year 11 month old male, had been missing since 1900 Hours on the evening before (6-18-07). The County at the time was having difficulties with their radio communications on a freq. allocated to Va. State Police to conduct the search. It was about a 5 mile distance from Company 6 (where they set up a command center) to where the search was taking place. This was on a VHF frequency. They rectified the problem before we actually went into action. They used a fiberglass pole that you see power company's use to reset knife switches on poles. This was tied to a utility trailer and used as a mast to support an antenna at top. This action proved to serve the purpose for good communications between the command center and the actual search locations. I want to thank KI4FVX (Linda) and W4NSU (Andy) for their extremely fast response to the scene and remaining there in the 93 (felt like 98) degree temperatures. Also, thanks go to K0UN (Dennis) of the Culpeper Amateur Radio Association for allowing the use of the 147.120 MHz repeater, and also contacting Orange County ARES members to be on stand-by. My better half, AEC KI4FVX Linda, and I gave up our phone lines to our house to get more lines into the Command Center. Next week we will meet with the head of Communications about the repeater hard line, antenna and tower crew. The County EOC later stated we did a good job overall.
- Steve, KD4KNR, EC/RO, King George County: Several of us worked with the Caroline County group during Field Day. I experimented more with the Spotsylvania D-Star system.
- Boyd, KO4WK, EC/RO, Caroline County: We had 16 hams active this month in the CarCo net and Field Day, including 11 CarCo ARES members. Great fun at our short, but sweet, Field Day setup. We did HF on 3 bands, including contacting VEOC on 3947 KHz. We also did simultaneous 144 packet/440 FM on the same antenna using a small duplexer. The Stovers: Pete (KD4QNA) and Adam (KI4TPR) and family set up a 1.2 GHz link to Stafford, and also provided wireless internet service for our site. And thanks to EM Mark Garnette, KI4BML, for bringing the new Caroline Co. communications trailer, which provided a nice demonstration setup as well as emergency power from the generator.
- Bart, N3GQ, EC/RO, Stafford County: Hope you all had fun on Field Day! Field Day was great here! Several local clubs got together and setup at Curtis Park in Stafford County. The event was topped off by ice cream from David, AC4IU. Bart, N3GQ started to look at finding a way to include Amateur Radio in this year’s TOP OFFICIALS 4 DHS exercise; for one or two days only, 15-16 Oct 07. Ham radio has played tiny roles in past Federal exercises and has rarely received the credit it is due. The Portland, Oregon ham club will be participating in support of the State of Oregon. Initial contact with their club, the FCC, and FEMA is promising. I will also need to contact the EmComm groups. Phoenix, Arizona and Guam are also playing, but I have not contacted their hams yet. There is always some red tape to deal with in these trailblazing efforts, so I am “cautiously optimistic” as they say. Our D-Star setup continues to get better. You can monitor who is talking on D-Star at http://www.dstarusers.org/. Nick, KI4OQA has setup our system so that D-Chat can be used, too. The Manassas Hamfest on 3 June was great! There were fewer attendees than normal due to the intermittent rain. We had a short SkyWarn activation for a storm watch at the end of June; N3GQ was NCS.
6 Virginia Capitol
- Goochland County (W4FEG): Field Day was our public service event for this month. This year the Central Virginia Contest Club and The Goochland ARES group teamed up to put on a great field day. Along with the Goochland Sheriffs office and Goochland Fire/Rescue and the local Emergency planning commission and the Community Emergency Response Team food /Fellowship/and Fun. Lastly a great amount of contacts. Thanks to all. Did I forget PICTURES!!!!!
- New Kent County (K2QIJ): Personally operated for Cancer Society benefit in King & Queen County and VOPEX Drill in New Kent Co. ODEN Nets, and JCC/Williamsburg ARES nets (4) in D7, Field Day in Williamsburg, and two Skywarn nets. Powhatan County (KI4PXU): I completed the Level 1 Emergency Communications Course. District 6 (KG4YXP): There were three Field Day events held in District 6 which I had the pleasure to visit to promote ARES. The Virginia EOC participated in Field Day for the first time as special event station W4V. Thanks to Steve (K4CMR), Tray (N4PAT), Jerry (KJ4IT), and Greg (KG4KWW) for operating at the VEOC during Field Day. A special thanks goes to Terry (KG4GLS) for his hard work in making the VEOC Amateur Radio station available for Field Day!
7 First Colony
- Newport News: This month, Newport News ARES members participated in two exercises. Newport News was active in the Virginia Operations Plan Exercise (VOPEX) 2007, a simulated radiological event. One of the two events involved operating a local Evacuation Assembly Center (EAC), while the other was a region-wide drill involving many localities throughout the state. Members also participated in Field Day activities as well as the weekly nets and participating in our regular meetings. Our net representative, Mike Hawk, was ready at each net to pass traffic as required.
- Gloucester & Mathews County: Several Gloucester County members participated in the Model A Ford Club Rallye in Williamsburg and Jamestown areas for three days working the parking event. AEC Joe/K4JJS performed NCS duties for the bi-annual VOPEX Surry Nuclear Power Station drill while other county members worked in adjacent counties "inside the 10 mile zone." Numerous county members participated in the annual Field Day EMCOMM drill spending three days deployed to a local park. Williamsburg-James City County: 6/21-Assisted in providing communications and parking coordination for the Ford Model A tour in Williamsburg. About 700 Model A cars toured the Colonial Parkway and displayed at the Jamestown Settlement Campground. 6/26- Participated in the Surry Nuclear Power Plant VOPEX exercise. Williamsburg, JCC, Eastern State Hospital EOC's manned, handled traffic and maintained liaison with the State EOC-W4ZA. No problems reported.
8 Eastern Shore
Our Eastern Shore Ham Radio group (ESHARC) participated in ARRL Field Day June 23/24 with nearly 30 Hams and others. We operated from Parksley, VA. This is a yearly event for our club and our main Ham Radio event of the year.
10 Southeast
This month marked the VOPEX drill. The drill is focused on the Surry Nuclear Power Station located in Surry County. This year, Jim W4PRO, was at the Surry County EOC. Bruce KE4GFM and Dick W4RBH were at the Isle of Wight County EOC. The frequency agile remote base on the 147.195 repeater at the Isle of Wight courthouse complex was tuned the 146.76 repeater in Williamsburg to allow HT operation from the EOC and test the remote base system for an extended period. The remote base worked well. Although messages were sent and received on packet, a problem was noted with the packet antenna. A work party at the EOC is planned.
11 Southside
- Gary Turner W4WGT (Brunswick County EC) Field Day was a good training session the 23rd and 24th.
- Steve Clary - K4SDC (D11 DEC): Field Day was a success in our area. Mecklenburg and Brunswick Counties joined together and put on a good exhibition. Many of our members were present and some good contacts were made. We are currently in contact with the Red Cross and a Baptist organization for disaster relief. Also, we have spoken to Reggie Owens, the City Emergency Coordinator for Emporia and are discussing what we can do to assist with his efforts. Emporia is in D10, but we have members who can be there quickly if the need arises so we're glad to be of assistance.
12 Central Virginia
More than 30 ARES members participated in FD, held at Riverside Park in Lynchburg, most successful PR activity ever, with multiple news agencies reporting, site visits from several elected officials, and some 1448 total contacts. Hours are an estimate of overall participation from hanging antennas to operating to hosting visitors. No public service events. W4GCE and WA4RTS toured new radio location at Lynchburg General Hospital with plant engineer Lee Gilley, hospital will move our complete station to new quarters in early August, LARC has purchased new antennas …an overall antenna height increase of around 200 feet. LARC board also approved an antenna purchase for Campbell County's primary shelter at Yellow Branch Elementary School.
13 South Piedmont
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Craig County: This is my first report since assuming the helm of Craig County ARES. Participated in June 2nd Craig County Red Cross shelter and Craig County Emergency Manager EOC operations.
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Floyd County: ADOPT A HIGHWAY CLEANUP ALONG ROUTE 8, MAY 12, 8 PARTICIPANTS.
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Franklin County: All ARES members participated in Field Day and several were requested to aid the Roanoke American Red Cross drill on June second. The American Red Cross conducted a major Simulated Emergency exercise on June second, utilizing the Roanoke Civic Center as both EOC and local shelter - opening additional shelters in Craig and Botetourt Counties. Emergency managers from Roanoke City, Craig and Botetourt Counties were joint venture participants. This was a full ARC deployment in which they transported shelter supplies, Management Teams, first aid staff, and counselors - in addition to working with the Baptist food service volunteer group who provided meals to all shelter occupants. Eighteen ARES members from Roanoke, Franklin, Craig, Montgomery, Pulaski, and Wythe Counties participated during the five hour activation. Red Cross officials graded ARES participation at 98% immediately following the exercise followed by a 100% score in their ‘Hot Wash’ review session a week later. The Civic Center posed extreme challenges as it was on a sub-level without radio access outside of the building. This had to be overcome by using an unheard of 200 feet of RG8 feed line on 2 Meters in addition to 2M / 70M cross-band repeaters. The Roanoke ARES group did an outstanding job.
K4GV reports that Scott County participated in Field Day. We decided to use my call (K4GV) because it was shorter than our club call (KF4VTM). We were active on digital modes as well as phone and CW. We used solar power for the digital station.
Thanks to all those submitting their reports and activities.
Submitted:
Henry L. Wyatt, K4YCR
SEC VA ARES