Henry Wyatt, K4YCR, SEC
| Total number of ARES members | 1133 | Change since last month | +39 |
| DECs reporting this month | 10 out of 15 Call Signs |
ARES nets active | 220 sessions |
| ECs reporting this month | 35 out of 74 Call signs |
Nets with NTS Liaison | most of these nets |
| Number of Drills, tests and training sessions this month | 84 | Person hours | 725 |
| Number of Public service events this month | 21 | Person hours | 740 |
| Number of Emergency operations this month | 0 | Person hours | 0 |
| Total number of ARES operations this month | 79 | Person hours | 1116 |
District 1
- Packet Radio Class was held by Mike, KF4YMJ the new Frederick EC) at the SVARC Clubhouse in Winchester, Aug 25th.
- The Annual PPTC Bike Event is on Sunday, Sept 16th, Mark, N3MG (Clarke EC) is once again coordinating this event along with local ARES members & the Red Cross. Over 1100 bike riders attended last year.
District 3
- From AD6JV EC of Albemarle/Charlottesville - The Blue Ridge Extreme bike ride was the major event this month. The mountainous terrain and large number of riders provided communications challenges for about 8 ARES members. Everybody learned a lot had fun doing it!
- From K4MSR EC of Fluvanna County - No comments this month!
- From N3DFS EC of Greene County - Greene Co Em Net continues active. During the month, I identified two more Amateurs in area: Jay/KC4OMD, Bennie/KI4ITW, unable to contact either of them. Did a lot of driving to homes of several I couldn't contact by phone. We have experimented with propagation capabilities from several of the remote valleys and hillsides in the remote Blue Ridge Mountain areas of county; no dead spots found.
- From WW4GW EC for Buckingham/Cumberland Counties - The Buckingham County E-911 coordinator and I met with a representative of the school administration to plan for an emergency shelter to be located at the middle school. We were able to secure an acceptable site for a "communications center" and will be installing an external 2M/440 antenna in the near future. We will have the capability to access the Buckingham repeaters and multiple repeaters throughout the Commonwealth including the Richmond area.
District 6
W4FEG (Goochland): August was not nice! I had a heart attack on the 10th with two stents in place, I returned home on 14th. The 17th was the kicker as the incision where the catheter was inserted ruptured with a great loss of blood. Back to the hospital … to again return home on the 21st. Where I am on a one floor and assigned rest. September has to be better! No I am not competing with Henry!!! More Later!
District 8
Quiet month with little activity! However, next month is shaping up to be an active one. New prospect for replacement of resigned Northampton EC has been recommended to the SEC.
District 9
- Norfolk ARES and Portsmouth ARES set up a booth at the Hurricane Awareness Expo at McArthur Mall.
- Virginia Beach and Some Norfolk Members supported the Mud Run sponsored by YMCA. See you all at HAMFEST in Virginia Beach, 15/16 September.
District 11
District 11 is still slowly gaining momentum. There will be a SkyWarn class September 16th in South Hill. The class will be at Community Memorial Health Center in the Education Center at 6pm. We are also planning to hold a test session and hopefully license a new ham or two, as well as a couple of license upgrades.
District 12
10 ARES members, including me [WA4RTS], assisted with a half marathon event, supporting some 250 runners. 7 ARES members, put on an Amateur Radio demonstration/special event, using the call N4J at Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, making some 150 contacts on various HF bands. Lynchburg has a new EC, David Murphy, AJ4AL. I was out of town for the area club meeting in August.
District 13
- Craig County: My wife and I depart for Thailand on Monday AM. We should be there 5 months + / -. In my absence Pete Cranwell, WA2EIN will be my Acting EC. We participated in ODEN and the D13 Net from the Craig County EOC in early August. This was the first net test of the new VHF / UHF rig purchased by the Craig County Emergency services. The on-the-air tests showed that HF antenna needs to be reworked to minimize interference with other equipment in the EOC. Plans are in place to rework both the HF antenna and the VHF antenna. We can hit the 146.895 repeater, but not at full quieting. We also want to adjust the VHF antenna so that we can make the 147.330 repeater. The Potts Mountain repeater 147.210 KC4TJY is now history. That leaves Craig county with less than optimal connectivity with other jurisdictions in the area. I plan to remain in e-mail contact while I'm overseas.
- Pulaski County: Pulaski Co had a SET this month Operation Highwater at NRCC on the 13th of Aug. This was a table top SET including Bland, Giles, Wythe counties and the city of Radford. The focus was on communications, emergency response coordination, Sheltering and regional multi-agency response.
- Franklin County: Continued testing of digital transmissions through repeaters utilizing Chip64.
- District13: Conducted Chip64 digital messaging tests through the 146.685 Apple Orchard repeater as part of the District 13 training net. All messages were successfully received using a 1200 Hz shift as utilized on the VDN network, and several messages were made using audio coupling. The combination of this repeater and Chip64 will allow digital messages to be sent to the VAEOC under emergency conditions as voice contacts there have been successful in the past. Wythe County EC, KF4JRV - Lou Westfall was appointed.
District 14
We have two new EC's, Audie Kennedy N4AUD for Wise and Lee Counties, and Donnie Dotson KB4KTH for Dickenson County. We may have an EC for Carroll and Grayson Counties soon. James Blythe W4RDX resigned as EC for Galax City to take a new job some distance away. [Editors Note: KI4TSK has been appointed EC for Carroll, Grayson and the City of Galax!] We will incorporate Galax into the Carroll County jurisdiction from now on. That leaves four counties to find EC's for, Bland, Buchanan, Tazewell and Russell. Still working on them!
Thanks to all those submitting their reports and activities.
Submitted:
Henry L. Wyatt, K4YCR
SEC VA ARES