1. Art and Diseño

Notes From the Section Manager’s Desk…
American Radio Relay League
Indiana Section
January 2015 Newsletter
I get emails frequently from Indiana radio club officers and members
wanting a magic solution to declining membership rosters and lower
club activity participation. At this time of year, many people make
resolutions to improve their health, personal relationships, finances,
or general level of happiness. Why shouldn’t each amateur radio club
make some resolutions and develop strategic goals for improvement
in 2015 as well?
Table of Contents
Notes From the Section Manager’s Desk ……………………… 1
Remembering Friends We’ll Miss …………………………….…… 2
Field Organization Appointment Updates ……………….……. 2
The Amateurs Code ………………………………………………………. 2
Section News Roundup …………………………………………………. 3
Public Information Outreach ………………………………………10
Technical Specialists – Helping Hams ……………………..….…14
Official Observers – We’re Listening ……………………………..19
National Traffic System – Net Gains ……………….…………….19
Amateur Radio Emergency Service ® In Action………….... 21
In Closing ……………………………….……………………………..……..27
My advice to club officers who are having trouble attracting club
members to meetings is find out what the members really want from
the club. Schedule a meeting and invite current members and any
former members you can reach to brainstorm goals for improvement.
For goals to be meaningful, they have to be realistic, achievable, and
specific enough to keep the group focused all the way through to
completion. List all the goals you can create and then prioritize (rank
them) according to which ones will do the most good to improving
your club. Pick the top three for starters and ask for an individual or
small team to champion each goal.
Successful radio clubs don’t dump all the responsibility on club
officers and club officers don’t make all the decisions without
member input. It’s a team effort where all members pitch in with
their personal talents and time to support club objectives. Amateur
radio is a hobby based on communicating with others and yet the
root of many declining clubs is lack of open and civil communication.
Let’s remember why we originally joined amateur radio and resolve
to keep that spark of enthusiasm arcing brightly this year.
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL)
“To promote and advance the art, science,
and enjoyment of amateur radio”
Find us on the web at INARRL.ORG
Joseph Lawrence, K9RFZ
ARRL Indiana Section Manager
[email protected]
ARES® and Amateur Radio Emergency Service® are registered
trademarks of the ARRL.
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New Appointments:
 Marv Gilliland, KC9RVL District 6 ARES DEC
Remembering Friends We’ll Miss …
The following amateur radio operators became silent keys since the
last newsletter. We want to honor them and express our condolences
to their friends and family members.
Please extend your congratulations and support to Marvin Gilliland,
KC9RVL as he serves as the new District 6 ARES DEC. Marv has served
as the Delaware County EC since 2012 and was recommended by the
former District 6 DEC, Joe Krupa N1ESB, as his successor.
 Art Cushman, N9FB Valparaiso, IN
 Ernie Otte, KD9AVF Rushville, IN
The ARRL appreciates the time and effort each volunteer gives in
serving the Indiana Section and promoting amateur radio. Many
people talk about what should be done, but it takes committed
volunteers to get it done. Thanks!
All silent key obituary notices should be sent directly to Joseph
Lawrence at [email protected] for inclusion in this monthly column.
Additional info about the notable contributions made by the silent
key to amateur radio are welcome.
***** The Amateur's Code *****
Field Organization Appointment Updates
The Radio Amateur is
CONSIDERATE ... never knowingly operates in such a way as to lessen
the pleasure of others.
LOYAL … offers loyalty, encouragement and support to other
amateurs, local clubs, and the American Radio Relay League, through
which Amateur Radio in the United States is represented nationally
and internationally.
PROGRESSIVE ... with knowledge abreast of science, a well-built and
efficient station and operation above reproach.
FRIENDLY ... slow and patient operating when requested; friendly
advice and counsel to the beginner; kindly assistance, cooperation
and consideration for the interests of others. These are the hallmarks
of the amateur spirit.
BALANCED ... radio is an avocation, never interfering with duties
owed to family, job, school or community.
PATRIOTIC ... station and skill always ready for service to country and
community.
--The Amateur's Code was written by Paul M. Segal, W9EEA, in 1928.
Resignations / Cancellations:
 Joe Krupa, N1ESB District 6 ARES DEC
 Delbert Felix, WY9L District 9 DEC
 John Marley, WB9EFH District 10 ARES DEC
Each of these gentlemen has chosen to step down as District
Emergency Coordinators for personal reasons. It was my privilege to
work with them when I served as Section Emergency Coordinator and
I want to personally thank them for the time and effort they put forth
in serving ARES in their districts. The role of District Emergency
Coordinator is difficult to fill and do well since it’s less hands-on than
being EC, but it requires considerable skill in managing working
relationships and motivating ARES members to coordinate across
team boundaries. Each of these gentlemen did a fine job in their
respective districts in that regard.
- Joseph, K9RFZ
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Section News Roundup
Indiana Radio Club Changes Name to Reflect Growth
By Joe March, KJ9M
A group of Hamilton County Amateur Radio operators has changed
their name to reflect recent growth, both geographically and in areas
of member interest.
Known for years as the Hamilton County Amateur Radio Emergency
Services Club (HCARES), its new moniker effective this month will be
the Central Indiana Amateur Radio Association (CIARA – pronounced
Sierra, for short).
“While emergency communications and public service remains a
central part of what we do as a club, there are so many other
technical disciplines and activities that were involved with, we
needed to change our name to more accurately reflect that we are a
general interest “Ham” radio group, not just single purpose,” said Tim
Vermande, CIARA’s President.
Members of the club voted unanimously to implement the change at
their Saturday, Jan. 10 meeting. They are optimistic that the new
name may encourage participation by radio aficionados from
surrounding counties as well as “Hams” throughout Hamilton County
whose interests might not lie in public service emergency
communications alone.
“From exploring new communications technologies such as amateur
LEO satellites, broad-band digital communications, Internet Radio
Linking and smart phone interfacing to providing entry level license
training and exams, CIARA will have programs, presentations, field
trips and activities to appeal to anyone with an FCC license or who
wants to get one,” Vermande said.
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Affiliated with the ARRL, the national organization for Amateur Radio,
anyone with an interest in Amateur Radio in Central Indiana is
welcome to attend any of their meetings held the first Saturday of the
month in the training room of Noblesville Fire Station No. 6, 16800
Hazel Dell Road at 10 a.m.
CIARA members are National Weather Service trained Severe Storm
Spotters and join with members of Hamilton County Emergency
Management’s Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (R.A.C.E.S.) to
deploy during SKYWARN nets throughout the area to provide “ground
truth” such as wall and funnel clouds, tornadoes, downed tree limbs,
large hail and other severe conditions, reporting their observations
directly to the County Emergency Operations Center with their
mobile ham radios. Many are members of both groups.
“Our goal is to learn more about the many facets of amateur radio
which today is about as high tech as radio gets,” Vermande
noted. “From talking directly with astronauts on the International
Space Station, building better antennas, using new “software
defined” radios, and connecting with folks on the other side of the
world using a hand-held radio, this is art and science that’s just plain
fun. We invite any and all to check us out and join the
camaraderie. We’ll help you get your FCC license and get on the air
yourself.”
For more information, contact Joe March, public information officer
for CIARA at [email protected]
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Northeastern Indiana ARES Units Team Up District-wide
HUFF 50k a Big Success!
I only have 14 members on my Noble County ARES Team. I had 12 of
By Dan Ward, N9WLW Noble County ARES EC
2.
This year was the fourth year the HUFF 50k race has been hosted in
Huntington and Kosciusko counties provided communications
Noble County. Each year the amateur radio group gets better at
support. That got us up to 37 volunteers. Then I had 2 from the
support of the event. This year was no exception.
Detroit Michigan area. They were husband and wife, she was a
my team present. I got much needed help from District 3 and District
Volunteers from Noble, Allen, Whitley, Steuben, DeKalb,
runner in the race and he covered one of the aid stations for part of
This is a 50k race with separate relay race and a 10.8 mile race held at
the day. That got the total up to 39. Wow, what great support from
the same time. It is held at Chain-O-Lakes State Park in Noble County,
the teams all over the northeastern corner of the state and even out
on the trails that wind throughout the woods and ravines in the park.
of state.
The race is held rain, snow, cold, mud, even if flooded trails are part
of the course. This year it was just below freezing most of the day
Again this year, we had the support of the Noble County EMA with
and muddy towards the end. If this sounds crazy to you believe me it
the county communications van, their repeater, and HT radios. The
is. The potential for injury is obviously very high so our help is much
EMA also supported with the Noble County CERT Team. Several of
needed and appreciated.
the CERT team members helped as ARES with communications.
Chain-O-Lakes State Park HUFF 50k Route
HUFF 50k Starting Line
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Two of the CERT team members who were not Hams served in the
one of these problems would have been very hard to pinpoint in time
first aid station. For most of the race they had it pretty easy with
to save the race. We stationed one of the ARES volunteers at one of
minor cut and bruised runners. Later in the day, we had a potentially
the problem sites for the rest of the race to direct runners to the
serious accident when one of the volunteers serving food in the main
correct trails.
event tent tripped and fell. Being very near freezing in the tent, the
person was very soon suffering from the cold.
The ARES rovers also did a bang-up job of bringing back lost and worn
The CERT team
out runners from all over the park. We had several lost runners and
checked her out for injuries and got her warmed up before the EMS
many more that dropped out early. The rovers also helped distribute
got there about twenty minutes later. If not for the CERT teams quick
water and food to the aid stations set up throughout the park.
treatment, this could have been much worse. The EMS unit checked
Everybody involved did a very professional job in an organized
her out and she was OK.
manner. The race officials, volunteers, and runners had many good
words for us on the job we did. Many of the team worked all day 8 to
12 hours or more. I would mention call signs or names but they all
did an outstanding job whether they played a big or small part of the
event, and whether they served for two hours or all day.
I am very much honored to be able to coordinate such a good group
of public servants.
I know in the Spring when we support the Indiana Trails 100 mile race
in the same park we will have the same great support from the
Second and Third District ARES Teams. Put the IT 100 on your
HUFF 50k Runners on the Trail
calendar. It is April 25-26 2015. Yes, you got that correct, it is two
We had a couple problems on the race course with runners getting
days long. It starts at 6 am Saturday and ends at noon on Sunday.
lost or mixed up on the trails in the park. With the help of the ARES
They continue running in the woods in the dark of the night. Thanks
people out in various parts of the park and one who went hiking up
to each and every one who helped with this event.
one of the trails, we were able to help the race officials fix two major
problems with the race in a timely manner. Had we not been there,
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Nominations for the award will be accepted after April 1 each year.
The nomination process is initiated by requesting a nomination form
from the Section Manager or Section Affiliated Club Coordinator. The
standardized nomination form will request verifiable specific activities
or achievements the nominee has completed that exemplify each of
the ARRL Five Pillars. For example,
ARRL Indiana Section Sponsors New Amateur of the Year
Award
The Indiana Section of the American Radio Relay League, the national
association for amateur radio, is proud to announce the creation of a
new award to recognize the Indiana operator that most lives the
Amateur’s Code (see page 2) and exemplifies the ideals of the ARRL
Five Pillars.
Public Service – How has the nominee used his amateur radio
privileges to support his community?
Advocacy – How has the nominee been a proactive advocate or
representative voice for achieving regulatory and legislative goals in
support of amateur radio?
Education - How has the nominee demonstrated a commitment to
lifetime learning, certification, and personal achievement in amateur
radio?
Technology – How has the nominee contributed to or participated in
the advancement of radio science?
Membership – How has the nominee advanced amateur radio
membership and embraced inclusiveness and diversity in the hobby?
The honor will be bestowed annually on a single operator nominated
by peers and selected by a vote of all ARRL Affiliated Clubs in the
Indiana Section. The ARRL serves all amateur radio operators and so
any licensed operator living in the state of Indiana is eligible for
nomination. Nominees need not be an ARRL member. Former
recipients of the award are ineligible to repeat. The selection process
will be open and transparent without prejudice against or bias toward
any club or geographic region.
Responses will be limited in word length so the nominee selection will
be based on personal merit and not swayed by the weight or
verboseness of the application. The completed nomination form
should be returned to the Section Manager or Affiliated Club
Coordinator by August 31.
A committee of at least three Section Staff members will be given
copies of all nomination forms received by the deadline. The
committee members will independently ‘score’ the nominees (up to
20 points in each of the Five Pillar categories) based on info provided
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on the nomination form. An average score for each of the nominees
will be computed from the individual committee member results.
Bloomington Amateur Radio Club VE’s Have Successes in
2014
Reported by Bill Wootton, KC9ACL
Names of the nominees with the top three average scores will be
presented on a ballot distributed to all ARRL Affiliated Clubs in
Indiana along with their original nomination forms. Each club will be
asked to rank the nominees as First, Second, and Third place choices
after reviewing their nomination credentials. Each club may decide
how they want to arrive at this ranking. The clubs will need to return
their ballots to the Section Manager or Affiliated Club Coordinator by
October 31.
BARC VE Team tested seven (7) applicants at the December 6th test
session. All applicants passed.
Richard, KD9BWZ, Up-grade to General
Karl, KD9CRK, Technician
John, KD9CRL, Technician
Sean, KD9CRM, Technician
Jeremiah, KD9CRN, Technician
James, KD9CRO, Technician
Matthew, KD9CRP, Technician
The club ballots will be collected and votes tallied by the Section Staff
committee. The winner and two runners up will be invited to the
ARRL Indiana Section Convention in Fort Wayne each November
where the ARRL Indiana Amateur of the Year will be announced and
awards presented.
For 2014 the BARC VE Team conducted 11 test sessions:
January - 2 Applicants, 1 Technician and 1 up-grade to Extra
February - 4 Applicants, 1 Technician and 2 upgrades to Extra
March - 2 Applicants, 1 up-grade to General
April - 6 Applicants, 3 Technicians, 1 General & 1 up-grade to General
and 1 up-grade to Extra
May - 7 Applicants, 4 Technicians, and 1 up-grade to General
June - 10 Applicants, 4 Technicians and 3 up-grades to General
July - 4 Applicants, 3 Technicians and 1 up-grade to General
August - 5 Applicants, 3 Technicians and 1 up-grade to General
September - 5 Applicants, 2 Technicians, 2 up-grades to General, and
1 up-grade to Extra
October - No Applicants
November - 3 Applicants, 3 Technicians
December - 7 Applicants, 6 Technicians, and 1 up-grade to General
Several local amateur radio clubs and organizations throughout
Indiana sponsor amateur of the year awards. The ARRL Indiana
Section does not wish to diminish the significance of any other award
program. There are many deserving individuals across the state
recognized by these awards. With over 3,200 members and more
than 50 Affiliated Clubs state-wide, the ARRL Indiana Section wants to
recognize and honor one operator each year selected by broad
consensus and respected by hams around the state to be named
ARRL Indiana Amateur of the Year.
Please start thinking about an operator you respect that has
contributed much to the hobby. Plan to request a nomination form
after April 1. Collect notable activities and achievements completed
by the person. Complete the form and submit it by September 30. All
eligible nominees will be given fair consideration and the final
decision rests with Indiana clubs and their members.
Congratulations BARC on growing the Amateur Radio Service!
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nearly 7,000 Scouts nationwide. One of our goals for April 25th is to
establish HF communications from Camp Belzer in Indianapolis to the
Council's remote camps and demonstrate this capability to the
Council.
Appeal to Aid Boy Scouts in Central Indiana
By John Deegan, K9XT
In April, 2015, most of the Boy Scout Districts that make up the
Crossroads of America Council (CAC) will be holding their Spring
Camporees at the Council's Scout camps/reservations. Seven districts
will hold their camporees on the same weekend – April 24-26, 2015.
Please let me know if you (and/or your organization) are interested
in assisting with this effort. This is an exploratory request to
determine if there is interest in the local amateur radio community
to assist with this effort. To our knowledge, linking Central Indiana's
Scout Camps together by amateur radio has never been done. This
should be a lot of fun for both the Scouts and the amateur radio
operators.
The Wabash Valley District (my home district) will host its camporee
on the April 24th weekend at Camp Krietenstein near Center Point,
Indiana (southwest Putnam County) and will focus on
Communications of all types – including amateur radio. A working HF
ham station has been requested by the Camporee organizers for the
camp on Saturday, April 25th. (Thus, the reason for this email)
Please note that your group's members may have to obtain certain
BSA certifications to participate in this activity if they do not have any
current BSA affiliations. These certifications (including a 45-minute
on-line training program) are easily completed and will qualify one to
become a Radio Merit Badge Counselor. Youth participating at the
amateur radio stations should be able to receive partial credit for
Radio Merit Badge requirements (#7 – Visit a radio station; #9.a.2 –
Carry on a 10 minute QSO).
On that same weekend, six other districts (Sugar Creek, Hou Koda,
Northstar, Northeast, Sakima and T-Sun-Ga-Ni) will also hold their
Spring Camporees at Council camps. Potentially, over one thousand
Scouts and their leaders will be camping that weekend.
Given this unique opportunity to introduce amateur radio to a large
number of Scouts and their leaders, we would like area amateur radio
groups to consider setting up and operating an HF amateur radio
station on Saturday, April 25, 2015, at Camp Redwing near Muncie, at
the Ransburg Scout Reservation near Bloomington and at Camp
Krietenstein in Putnam County. In addition to Scout Camp radio
stations, the WD9BSA amateur radio station, permanently installed at
Camp Belzer in Indianapolis, is expected to be on the air.
John Deegan
Tel: (317) 846-2979
Editor’s Note: All submissions for Section News Roundup should be
sent directly to [email protected] by the 6th of each month for inclusion
in the Section Newsletter.
This is an excellent opportunity to introduce Amateur Radio to Scouts
and their leaders. The BSA has a large focus on STEM (science,
technology, engineering and math) activities and radio is considered
one of these activities. The Radio Merit Badge is annually awarded to
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Public Information Outreach
With the holidays behind us, we hope you had a great time with family,
that Santa gave you what you really wanted to add to the shack for
being a good “Ham,” and that you worked that last DX station you
needed for the next award. We also hope you had some time to put
together your PR plan for 2015 to get more media hits and public
recognition for amateur radio in Indiana this brand new year.
My search for articles published during December around Indiana about
amateur radio was fruitless in December, although not surprising. I
hope you have added something to your club’s PR plan to do next
December that will garner a headline or two…and have fun at the same
time. Since it takes time to plan, January of 2015 is not too soon to start
planning for next December’s activity. Please call or email me if you
need some ideas or want to fine tune something already perking as a
planned activity.
2015 PIO Priority
As we briefly mentioned last month, ARRL PIO John Emerson, KC9YHE,
has produced two great Indiana Ham Radio PSAs with Gov. Pence and
Indiana State Police Spokesman Capt. Dave Bursten, to use all this year
(2015). John has already placed quite a few through Network Indiana,
but a lot of independent stations need to be contacted. Our goal for the
first half of 2015 is to get these PSA’s to every single radio station in
Indiana…particularly prior to March, Severe Weather Awareness,
Training and Preparedness month. Once in the system, they are
dateless, and will likely run the entire severe storm season and most of
the year. Only a new governor and state police spokesman will outdate
these announcements. Please commit yourselves to ensure that every
radio station in your jurisdiction – including high school and college
stations – have these in their regular PSA rotation schedules. We can
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provide them in special formats as required, but more than likely, they
will be able to use the files available from John, KC9YHE, Section
Manager Joseph Lawrence: [email protected] or me: [email protected].
Please consider the marketing of these two PSA’s a priority between
now and the end of March.
Our next target for 2015 in the second half of the year is to get at least
one television news feature story broadcast about amateur radio, your
club, an ARES deployment, exercise or training evolution or a feature
about one of your club members doing a ham related public service; i.e.,
net control for a national service net, etc. See the PR tip below from
former ARRL PR manager Alan Pitts, W1AGP.
Some good websites to consider for your 2015 PR Plan:
http://www.ready.gov/ready2015
http://www.arrl.org/pr-resources - For a plethora of ARRL PR
resource files.
For giving talks about ham radio to teens (a great idea, highly
recommended):
If you have not recently browsed the ARRL PR pages for new resources,
please do so soon. There are lots of new products you can use this year
to advance amateur radio in the public forum.
Please contact me if you have any questions, ideas, or requests. And
please don’t ever feel that any idea is too radical or unusual to consider.
Out-of-the-box thinking has yielded great results in the past for those
who had the audacity and perseverance to see it though. Let 2015 be
our best PR year ever.
CLUB IDEAS/ SUGGESTIONS
If you are a club and currently do not have a club PIO officer position,
please consider creating one.
If you are a club with a PIO, please consider having your PIO apply for
the position of ARRL PIO, if there is not already one in your county. Your
club does not have to be ARRL affiliated, as long as your PIO is an ARRL
member.
If you are a club and the majority of your members are already members
of the ARRL, consider becoming an ARRL affiliated club. There are good
benefits.
If you do not have a club in your county but are interested in becoming
an ARRL PIO, please contact [email protected].
December Indiana Media Hits
LOT more than they may have thought. (You ought to bookmark that
page - it comes in handy!)
Alan, W1AGP
If your PR plan for 2015 includes a public speaker plan (and it should),
be sure to check out the ARRL’s materials for speeches at
http://www.arrl.org/talks.
As always, my sincere thanks to our Section PIOs who continue to work
tirelessly in promoting our great hobby around the state; their monthly
reports follow below.
Keep those electrons flowing!
73,
Joe March, KJ9M
Indiana Section Public Information Coordinator
[email protected]
PIO December Reports:
None that I could find on the Internet. If you or your club had a story
published in any Indiana publication, please send the online link to
[email protected].
Whitley County PIO Roger McEntarfer, N9QCL:
PR Tips
From Alan Pitts, W1AGP (retired ARRL Media Manager): If you want to
get TV coverage remember that your local stations like to have info on
local people. You want them to have info on the local hams. So go to
http://hams.mapmash.com/hammap.php and get your local numbers
of hams in the TV station's market - that always gets their attention!
Providing the TV folks with the numbers gives them facts that usually
surprise them and also makes for an easy slide into how ham radio is a
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I announced the in the local newspaper, Several HF Nets and several
of the local nets about the Whitley County Amateur Radio Club
dinner meeting on December 11 and the W5YI Test Session to be held
on Saturday January 31, 2015.
73’s
Roger McEntarfer/ N9QCL
Whitley County TS
Whitley County PIO
Whitley County W5YI CVE
Fayette County PIO Jerry Fray, N9TU
Hamilton County PIO Joe March, KJ9M
The Indiana Amateur Radio PSA’s were emailed to KMIX-106.9
FM/1580 AM (80s, 90s, and More). Received word from KMIX that
the PSAs are awesome and have already been aired and are in the
station’s rotation here in Connersville
http://kmix1069.com/community/. Good work, John!!
Hamilton County ARES/RACES teams delivered food baskets to the
needy through the Good Samaritan project Dec. 13. Net Control was
established on the HCARES and RACES repeaters and provided directions
and special instructions to teams with delivery complications. Great PR
with pubic interface, as well as other volunteers with religious and
community groups.
73,
73,
Jerry, N9TU
ARRL PIO
Fayette County
Joe – KJ9M
ARRL PIO, Hamilton County
Vanderburgh County PIO David Vogel, WA9C
Hendricks County PIO Barry Palencer, KC9WMS
I was called by our local optimist club; the same day I gave them a
luncheon speech on Amateur Radio. In the 20 minute talk, I defined
Amateur Radio, explained why the government allowed it, and told of
my 55 years in the Amateur Radio Service.
The month of December was spent looking forward for 2015. I have
suggested a couple of ideas for the 2015 SET for Hendricks County,
along with those ideas we have the support of our County EMA office,
which promises to help us get other agencies involved and increase
our viability within the Public Safety sector.
73,
I also have been working on my plans for spreading the word about
Amateur Radio, and what I might be able to do to get more
involvement from the community and Amateur operators.
David Vogel WA9C
ARRL Public Information Officer
Evansville IN 47711
Vanderburgh County
Hope Everyone has a Safe & Happy New Year!
73,
Barry Palencer, KC9WMS
ARRL PIO Indiana Section - Hendricks County
ARES Hendricks County AEC - Public Relations
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Marion County PIO John Emerson, KC9YHE
Shelby County PIO John Walker, K9SVL
Hope everyone had a great holiday! I’ve spoken with a number of
Amateurs who report that they are hearing the Amateur Radio public
service announcements that were provided to radio stations in
Indiana. We continue the push to get the announcements in the
hands of stations. Not surprisingly, I am receiving a lot more
enthusiasm from stations with the Indiana specific announcements as
opposed to the generic announcements that were offered earlier.
Things are starting to actually pick up here in Shelby County. Our “100
Years of Radio in Shelby County” will be opening later this month at
the Grover Museum in Shelbyville. We invite all Indiana hams to come
and visit the display sometime before the end of March. We will start
operating our special event station, W9S, from the Museum lobby
starting Saturday, January 10th. We will also have operating sessions
at the Museum on January 17th and the 24th. The station will be
manned and operated by Shelby County hams on those dates. We will
operate the station between those dates on an unscheduled basis
from the home stations of Blue River Valley Amateur Radio Society
members. We will be offering a special printed QSL card to stations
that are worked during the special event.
Additionally, each year during the legislative session, Network Indiana
runs a Friday feature called Statehouse Review. The sponsor of the
report didn’t have their spot ready for this week’s feed, so I took the
opportunity to fill the hole with something appropriate. This was
broadcast on morning drive across 18 stations in Indiana: WBAT-AM,
Marion; WCSI-AM, Columbus; WSLM-AM, Salem; WSLM-FM, Salem;
WAMW-AM, Washington; WAMW-FM, Washington; WAXI-FM,
Rockville; WDSO-FM, Chesterton; WORX-FM, Madison; WXGO-AM,
Madison; WNDI-AM, Sullivan; WNDI-FM, Sullivan; WZBD-FM, Berne;
WREB-FM, Green Castle; WKBV-AM, Richmond; WKBV-FM,
Richmond; WKVI-AM, Knox; and WKVI-FM, Knox.
The Museum has been mentioning the upcoming display on its twice
monthly program on local radio station, WSVX. We have also
networked the event through the use of social media like Facebook
and Twitter. We are still hoping that the newspaper will come
through and do a feature article on the display on or near the opening
date.
The effort continues!
John Walker, K9SVL
ARRL PIO Shelby County
73,
Hamfest Organizers
John Emerson, KC9YHE
ARRL Public Information Officer
Marion County
Indianapolis
Don’t miss your opportunity to
announce your hamfest to all ARRL
Indiana Section members. Get your flyer
published in the Section Newsletter
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will meet soon to discuss the opportunities for Raspberry Pi's. Look
forward to future reports.
Technical Specialists – Helping Hams
A few reports reference Raspberry Pi which seems to be taking hold
with more of us every month. Bill, NF9K continues to bring us up to
speed on his DMR and digital efforts, Dan Ni9Y on the annual
Lighthouse event and many of the other reports contain very useful
and interesting information.
I would like to announce that the WVARA Hamfest will be held March
14th 8 AM to 2 PM. This year we are holding it at the Clay County
Fairgrounds. For a map and website go to
http://www.aroundindy.com/Clayco.php. The fairgrounds are
located in west central Indiana between Indianapolis and Terre
Haute. Hope to see you there.
I’m still looking to add a few Technical Specialists in some
underserved areas especially in the East Central and South Eastern
area of the state. For anyone who may be interested please send me
an email.
At our January 2nd club meeting at the building on Glas-Col property
at 7th and Hulman St. in Terre Haute we had a very nice presentation
by Duke Energy on high voltage electricity. It was splendid
performance and left all of us with a respect for HV.
Mark Westermeier, N9OZ
Indiana Section Technical Coordinator
[email protected]
John, AC9AZ
KK9EJ
TS December Reports:
Happy New Year to all. This month was spent handing out points
for the Centennial QSO party. I wish I had started earlier in the year,
as negotiating the pileups was quite fun.
Reporting: AC9AZ, KB9BVN, K9NDU, KK9EJ, NF9K, N7BBW,
N9LYY, N9QCL, N9SFX, Ni9Y, W9BGJ, WA9FGT, WB8WOR, WB9L,
W9WEL, K3HTK, N9AWM, N9OZ
I was able to make a respectable attempt during the 10m contest,
logging approximately 38,000 points. I put my portable 10m/15m fan
dipole up on a 18' painters pole for use as my primary antenna, but
given the layout of the land around my QTH (about 10' below grade
of the road just to my west), the dipole didn't work much better than
my gutters I've been using for my usual antenna.
AC9AZ
Let me begin this report by saying that I have acquired some
additional ham radio responsibilities. I have been elected Treasurer
for the Wabash Valley Amateur Radio Association for the forth
coming year. I would like to mention also that Santa Claus gave me a
nice Christmas present: A Raspberry Pi. No, not the kind you eat but
an up and coming microprocessor that has lots of Ham Radio
possibilities. I have formed a mini-club also within our WVARA who
Ended the year by placing an order for a CS700 DMR handheld. I'm
looking forward to receiving it and trying out the new technology.
E.J. Caylor, KK9EJ
14
NF9K
existing internet at the new location, so I have to come up with
something on my own. AT&T is NAT'ing traffic to their wireless
devices resulting in the end device receiving a private (10.x.x.x)
address, which is non-routable via the internet. Also, since the
NAT'ing means I'm behind an AT&T routing, I'm subject to their
access-control lists, etc., which is also proving to be a problem. Next
stop will be to check out the offerings from Verizon as I have a spare
USB card in a drawer.
Experimented with the AllStarLink radio linking network. Setup a
server with two nodes and replaced my EchoIRLP installation for a
few days. Unfortunately, the system did not perform as well as what I
had. There is no centralized documentation for AllStarLink which
made troubleshooting and fine tuning quite difficult. Additionally,
the server seemed quite unstable, locking up fairly regularly requiring
a power cycle to bring it back. The lockup was usually a result of
restarting the asterisk daemon. So this particular project has been
shelved. I suspect that I'll revisit it down the road as I have
experience with asterisk and had some interesting ideas for
integrating IP telephony to repeater systems.
I was finally able to spend some much needed time in the shack
during my time-off over the holidays. I had a pretty decent check list
beforehand and as the sun sets on my Christmas Break, I think I'm
about 80% through it, so not bad at all!
In the world of DMR, I traded for a new radio. The Motorola SL300 is
a slick little radio. My thoughts (pros/cons) can be found
here: http://www.nf9k.net/?p=431
Looking forward to what I'm going to learn and accomplish in 2015!
--73,
Bill Atkinson, NF9K
ARRL Technical Specialist
ARRL VE
Laurel VE
PODXS 070 Club #1595
30MDG #6014
www.nf9k.net
I had some discussions with an Avon Ham surrounding the CS700
HT. He was selected for their beta program and we've been
comparing notes between the non-beta and his beta unit as well as
sharing my acquired knowledge on the CS700.
Additionally, I began looking at an alternative DMR network to the
DMR-MARC. DCI is very popular out west and since we already have
a DMR-MARC machine here, in the interest of providing the richest
possible DMR experience to Indianapolis area repeater users, I
thought that might be a nice alternative. I've reached out to some
Ohio-based DCI repeater owners to discuss finding a master to peer
with.
N7BBW
We had testing this month. !00 percent pass rate (3 people). But two
of them had been trying to upgrade many times. This time they
passed.
Lastly in terms of DMR, I spent a good deal of time experimenting
with a wireless internet option (AT&T) for my DMR machine when it
moves to its new home. Unfortunately I won't be able to share
15
Technical wise all I have been doing is fielding questions about the
new P25 system that is being built to replace the old 800 MHz state
radio system.
N9SFX
My daughter, N9ZZT, and boyfriend, a test pilot and Australian Army
veteran, were home for Christmas. I was showing Nigel my HF rig
and happened to contact someone on 17 meters mobile in Colorado. I
think he was impressed.
73s from N7BBW
Lou in Floyd County.
N9QCL
My daughter asked for a new battery for her VX-5 that I gave her 12
years ago when she moved to California. I doubt that the rig has been
on since 11 years ago. One of her friends wants to see her get back on
the air. We can hope.
I set up the four W5YI Test sessions for 2015. The first one will be
held on Saturday January 31, 2015 from 9:00 to 11:00 AM, In
Community Room A and B of the Peabody Library 1160 E. State Rd.
205 - Columbia City, Indiana
Nigel gave me a book for Christmas: The World of Ham Radio, 19011950. It's hard to put down.
On Thursday December 18, 2014, I was net control for the Raytheon
Emergency Communications On The Air Event. During this event we
operated SSB Voice operations on 15, 20 and 40 meters, PSK-31 on 20
meters and also took check-ins via EchoLink and IRLP. We had 8
Raytheon amateur radio operators representing 7 different Raytheon
sites across the country checking during the event on various bands
and modes.
I wanted to order some parts for an Icom 2100H mobile rig and an
Icom W32-A HT. I called AES and they gave me the wrong number out
on the west coast. I finally got the right number and got the part
numbers. It doesn't appear that you can find a web site that will give
you the numbers. I was furnished with a link that gave me a list of
dealers, one of which was AES. I tried to order from them and they
said that they could not get the parts that I need from them. I'll be
ordering from the Icom parts people out west. They seemed to be
quite pricy compared to the parts that I ordered for my Kenwood rig. I
wanted to order parts for my Icom 2GAT, but they said they were no
longer available. I'm sure you can still get parts for a 57 Chevy. Why is
it that when a rig gets old enough to need repair, the parts are no
longer available? I hear that Yaesu is good as far as being able to get
parts.
I continue to work with the Raytheon Facilities as our Emergency
Communications room will be moving to a new location within the
Technical Center complex. This will mean running all new coaxes and
rebuilding the entire room layout. Tentative move will happen
sometime mid-year 2015.
73,
Roger McEntarfer/ N9QCL
Whitley County TS
Whitley County PIO
Whitley County W5YI CVE
Happy New Year,
Pete, N9SFX
16
NI9Y
Working The ARRL Centennial QSO Party was a blast. I managed to
contact K1ZZ twice for an additional 300 points. I uploaded all my
contacts to Logbook of the World and now waiting for a final
score. Even though I started late in the year it was fun regardless of
the score. A local ham N9DD managed to work all 50 states.
The warm mild temperatures up to the writing of this report was
fantastic for late antenna repairs. True to the amateur radio to do
list, I put off maintenance until the snow flies next week. I took down
all the outside Christmas lights today. Ace Hardware had a sale on a
squirrel proof all metal bird feeder for $19 with a $5 coupon, and
would you believe the same feeder is on sale at Rural King for only
$14 so much for bargains. The feeder holds 12 pounds of bird seed
which is very convenient. I thought I would put a 2 meter quarter
wave whip on the roof just for laughs.
The best Christmas gift was a remote car starter and after reviewing
the instructions and seeing all the parts, I decided to take advantage
of the Best Buy installation offered on January 15th.
Our Adventure Radio Group has six members and I’m sure several will
be going.
We have operated from many places including the Elkhart NYC RR
Museum and Grissom Air Force Base Museum.
I’ve been checking into the QIN CW traffic net in the past months. I
used to be a regular check-in many years ago. Several years ago, I
received some traffic to a local ham reminding him to renew his ham
license. It was a bit embarrassing as the ham had become SK a year
previously. Needless to say, the XYL was extremely upset since she
knew who I was. The next time I will check QRZ before delivering that
kind of radiogram.
73’ Dan, Ni9Y
Mishawaka, IN.
I have submitted my entry into the annual International
Lighthouse/Lightship event August 16th and 17th. I plan on operating
from the St. Joseph, Michigan inner and outer lighthouses. I have also
operated from the Michigan City Lighthouse in past years.
17
W9BGJ
have developed a short, or something. With it all hooked back up,
node #8559 is back on the air, and is working beautifully.
Hi Mark and everyone else reporting this month. As you can imagine
holidays have kept us very busy. I will be inspecting a few hf antenna
installations for some hams in the community and assisting with
weather proofing as needed. Also working on getting another
licensing class together, details as they come available. As I'm writing
this we are expecting a snowstorm to hit our area late Monday night
into Tuesday so I plan on doing some indoor activities during this time
period. Everyone have a great month and 73
I used the node to work the International IRLP QSO party on New
Year's eve. It was great to make contacts all over the globe as New
Year's passed through each time zone. The best part is I could do it
on 2 watts from my recliner. I hope everyone had a great new
year. There are some exciting projects on the horizon for me. I can't
wait for it to get back to being warm outside.
Brian Jenks, W9BGJ
73
Andrew Murrey, N9AWM
K3HTK
N9OZ
Current project in progress is converting my Echo-IRLP node over to a
full functioning RaspberryPI node from a micro PC format running
CentOS. Doing the prep work and hope to add features such as an
LCD display to show connections and other pertinent information
regarding the status of the node.
Spent some time in the shack working on equipment which
sometimes seems like an endless task. Was able to actually spend a
bit of time on the radio as well. Talked with a number of Technical
Specialists about packet networks as well as researched what is
occurring in other states. It is a very interesting topic with a number
of awesome working solutions for emergency communications. Hope
to have more information later this month.
Continuing efforts for the RaspberryPi to demonstrate for next year’s
Indy HamFest event.
Mark Westermeier, N9OZ
Ed Valasek, K3HTK
N9AWM
Not too much to report for this past month. I spent most of the time
celebrating the Christmas season with my family. I did however
figure out what was wrong with IRLP Node #8559. I had an issue
where even with the node computer off, the IRLP board was hanging
the transmit on the radio open. I ended up totally disassembling the
entire data cable, and re-soldering it back together. I think I may
18
Official Observers – We’re Listening
National Traffic System – Net Gains
The holidays and cold weather have brought us back into the ham
shacks for additional monitoring hours. I am still looking for more OOs
for the Section. Operators interested in serving as Official Observers
should contact me at [email protected]. I would like the OOs to start
listening to 146.520 FM for any infractions. I have received a few
complaints on operators on this frequency. The HF bands still have a
few problems. 14.313USB needs more attention. I am taking a survey
and would like to know if anyone has any DF experience, equipment,
and mobile capabilities.
Hello everyone. Another year has come and gone. I hope everyone
had a great Christmas and New Year and I am looking forward to
another great year with everyone. Our traffic count and check in's
again looked great this month and January is off with a bang already.
Hopefully this winter season will be short lived. I really don't want a
repeat of last year! 73 all and let’s have a great 2015.
Brian G. Jenks, W9BGJ
ARRL Indiana Section Traffic Manager
[email protected]
David Epley, N9CZV
ARRL Indiana Section OOC
[email protected]
NTS By the Numbers
INDIANA SECTION OOC REPORT DECEMBER 2014
CALL
HF VHF/UHF ADMIN
ADV
INDIANA STM REPORT DECEMBER 2014
PUBLIC SERVICE HONOR ROLL
STATION
SESSIONS MESSAGES
N9WLW
20
3
WB9FHP
8
40
KA9QWC
40
40
W9WXN
40
40
W9BGJ
40
40
KC9UJP
40
40
W9ILF
35
40
W9EEU
40
12
KA9FCU
40
40
NA9L
40
12
K9DUR
40
11
AB9ZA
40
28
N9TU
40
16
K9JAJ
40
16
WA5LOU
25
21
KC9ZDA
31
28
TOTALS
559
427
STATIONS
16
GD OP
AB9SE
AB9SR
19
19
1
0
0
K9CFE
30
30
1
0
0
5
20
3
0
0
ND9C
8
40
1
0
0
W8BYA
6
15
1
1
0
WA5LOU
10
4
1
0
0
WB9FHP
0
19
1
0
0
WB9FQS
2
29
1
0
0
WS9H
10
83
1
0
0
TOTALS
90
259
11
1
0
KC9DBM
KC9EOT
N9CZV
N9FEB
N9OL
W9JDW
ADV = Advisory
GD OP = Good Operator Report
19
APPTS
20
30
20
30
30
20
30
20
30
30
20
20
30
20
30
0
380
PUB SVC
215
25
30
5
0
0
0
30
0
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
325
EMG RES DIGITAL TOTAL
0
0
258
0
60
163
0
10
140
0
20
135
0
10
120
5
10
115
0
10
115
0
10
112
0
0
110
0
20
102
5
10
101
0
0
88
0
0
86
0
0
76
0
0
76
0
10
69
10
170
1866
INDIANA STM REPORT DECEMBER 2014
VHF/UHF NETS
NET NAME
SOURCE
21 REPEATER GROUP NET
KC9YBM
BARTHOLOMEW CO ARES
K9JAJ
CLAY COUNTY ARE
K9HX
D STAR NET
KC9QZE
DEKALB CO ARES
KC9ZCK
DIST 7 ARES
W9EEU
HARRISON CO ARES
W9WXN
HOOSIER HILLS ARC
WD9EWF
HUNTINGTON CO NET
K9BME
IMO NET
AB9PC
INDIANA PACKET NET
N9LYA
JEFFERSON CO
N9XVB
KOSCIUSKO CO EMG NET
KC9AYT
LAKE CO VHF NET
KF9EX
MID STATE ARC
K9DY
MONROE CO ARES
K9TEM
MORGAN CO 950 NET
NA9L
MORGAN CO ARES
N9JPX
NE IN PACKET NET
KA9QWC
NOBLE CO ARES
N9WLW
ORANGE CO EMER SVC
WB9FHP
ORANGE CO SUN NET
WB9FHP
OWEN CO ARES
WD9BKA
SCOTT CO ARES/RACES
WR9G
SOUTH CENTRAL AREA
KA9OPL
STARKE COUNTY ARC
W9AL
STEUBEN CO ARES
KC9GUY
TRI STATE 2 METER NET
W9OWO
WABASH VALLEY 2 MTR
N9YRX
WCARC SUN NET
KA9DTZ
WHITLEY CO ARES
W9NNH
TOTALS
NETS REPORTING
31
QNI
22
13
24
42
436
10
14
149
18
112
102
128
13
82
58
44
387
50
11
1715
INDIANA STM REPORT DECEMBER 2014
ORS AND SAR STATION REPORTS
STATION TYPE
ORGINATED RECEIVED
AB9ZA
ORS
1
8
K9DUR
SAR
0
5
K9JAJ
SAR
3
3
KA9FCU
ORS
9
50
KA9QWC
ORS
0
5
KC9UJP
ORS
1
95
KC9ZDA
SAR
0
9
KY9M
SAR
0
1
N9WLW
ORS
0
3
NA9L
ORS
0
6
W9BGJ
ORS
3
74
W9EEU
ORS
0
4
W9ILF
ORS
0
46
W9PC
ORS
0
10
W9WXN
ORS
2
139
WA5LOU
ORS
0
10
WB9FHP
ORS
32
1013
QTC QTR SESSIONS
0
63
4
0
87
4
0
41
5
0
65
1
0
68
4
0
4
1
14
93
5
0
19
4
1
147
4
1
270
30
17
300
3
0
19
2
1
110
5
0
39
4
0
120
4
0
75
5
0
314
28
0
32
3
0
154
3
1
66
4
2
196
4
1
168
4
0
67
5
3
79
5
0
96
5
2
42
3
0
48
4
0
557
26
0
74
4
0
27
2
0
41
4
43 3481
189
TOTALS
STATIONS REPORTING
51
17
1481
INDIANA STM REPORT DECEMBER 2014
HF NETS
NET NAME
SOURCE
QNI
ICN
WA9VBG
76
IDTN
K9JAJ
183
INARES DIGITAL NET W9SOX
INARES HF NET
K9CFE
77
ITN
KC9UJP
2082
QIN
W9ILF
128
TOTALS
2546
NETS REPORTING
6
20
SENT
10
4
13
56
46
59
46
5
0
3
74
6
17
16
143
5
1029
DELIVERED
9
2
2
7
0
16
0
4
0
3
4
2
5
0
40
6
104
TOTALS
28
11
21
122
51
170
55
10
3
12
135
12
63
26
324
21
2178
1532
204
3242
QTC
1
32
1
0
222
38
294
QTR
281
1331
166
177
1617
467
4039
SESSIONS
21
20
3
4
62
48
158
Stay Up To Date With Your Favorite Section Level Nets
Amateur Radio Emergency Service – In Action
The reports for December from the ARES appointees in the section
continued to improve with only 9 missing reports. This is an
improvement over the previous month where there were 14 missing
reports. Let’s continue to improve our reporting in the New Year and
see if we can reach 100% reporting by the end of the first quarter.
We can do it!
In the New Year, I will continue to host a monthly teleconference with
the District Emergency Coordinators.
The monthly SEC
teleconference provides an opportunity for DEC's to share their
successes and challenges from their districts. The teleconference also
allows the SEC and Section Manager an opportunity to update the
DEC's on Section level matters. Please share your successes and
challenges with your DEC so we all may learn.
2015 Goals
I am looking forward to continued improvement and growth for the
Indiana Section ARES Team in the New Year. I have defined several
goals that will assist in the pursuit to bolster the Indiana Section ARES
Team.
1. Increase collaboration between ARES teams in different
counties and districts
2. Improve training opportunities for ARES volunteers
3. Grow the Indiana Section ARES Team by establishing ARES
Teams in counties lacking a team
4. Increase the integration of digital modes in to the operations
of every ARES team in the Section
Do you have a plan to advance your communicator skills in 2015?
There are a few simple things you can do to keep your skills sharp or
even improve them.
21
1. Make a habit of checking in to your local ARES or radio club
net. Net discipline is a skill that needs to remain sharpened.
2. Attend at least 3 training sessions this year. If your team
doesn’t have training sessions, ask your DEC if neighboring
counties do.
3. Get certified in the “Core 4” FEMA Independent Study Courses
(IS-100, IS-200, IS-700, and IS-800)
4. Participate in exercises, field day, and the annual Simulated
Emergency Test.
5. Volunteer for public service events that use amateur radio.
This is an invaluable way to sharpen your skills for a real
emergency.
Assistant SEC opportunity
I am looking for a volunteer to serve as Assistant Section Emergency
Coordinator with a focus on training. The ASEC of Training would
define any section level training competencies and assist the ARES
teams develop training programs. Anyone interested in serving in this
capacity should contact me directly.
The general responsibilities and requirements of an Assistant Section
Emergency Coordinator can be found on the ARRL website at
www.arrl.org/assistant-section-emergency-coordinator .
District EC opportunities
First and foremost, I want to thank John Marley, WB9EFH, and
Delbert Felix, WY9L, for their service as District Emergency
Coordinators. John served as the District 10 Emergency Coordinator
and Delbert served as the District 9 Emergency Coordinator.
I am looking for volunteers to serve as a District Emergency
Coordinator in District 9 and 10. Please share these opportunities at
club meetings and other gatherings in those districts. Anyone
interested in serving as a District EC should contact me directly.
The general responsibilities and requirements of a District Emergency
Coordinator can be found on the ARRL website at
www.arrl.org/district-emergency-coordinator .
NBEMS Training / Workshops
I have asked the District Emergency Coordinators to help coordinate
the offering of introductory training and workshops for the Narrow
Band Emergency Messaging Software (NBEMS) or more commonly
known as FLDigi. If you are a NBEMS/FLDigi user, please contact your
District Emergency Coordinator to see how you can assist with
training other ARES members.
Keep an eye out for this new training opportunity in your district.
EC Annual Report
We have completed another great year here in the Indiana Section.
This means it is time to report your ARES team status to ARRL
Headquarters. The annual report is used to analysis the current
trends in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service across the nation.
You can find the report form by navigating your web browser to
http://www.arrl.org/public-service-field-services-forms and expanding the Form C: EC Annual Report selection. The annual report is due
by February 3rd and can be mailed or e-mailed to the ARRL using the
instructions on the bottom of the form. Please be sure to send a copy
to me at [email protected] so that I can see the status of your team also.
County EC Opportunities
Are you in a county without an appointed Emergency Coordinator? If
so, would you want to be the EC? Anyone interested in serving as an
Emergency Coordinator should contact me directly.
The general responsibilities and requirements of an Emergency
Coordinator can be found on the ARRL website at
www.arrl.org/emergency-coordinator .
Brent Walls, K9CFE
ARRL Indiana Section Emergency Coordinator
[email protected]
22
ARES By the Numbers
NUMBER OF LOCAL ARES NETS ACTIVE: 44
NUMBER OF TEAMS WITH NTS LIAISON: 24
NUMBER OF ARES MEMBERS (REPORTED): 1042
MEMBERSHIP CHANGE (REPORTED): 3
NUMBER OF DEC/EC/OES REPORTS RECEIVED: 60
NUMBER OF APPOINTEES NOT REPORTING: 9
TOTAL NUMBER OF NET SESSIONS, DRILLS/TESTS THIS MONTH: 181
TOTAL PERSON-HOURS REPORTED: 1082.4
PUBLIC SERVICE EVENTS REPORTED: 14
TOTAL PSE PERSON-HOURS REPORTED: 643.5
EMERGENCY NETS REPORTED: 0
TOTAL EMERGENCY PERSON-HOURS REPORTED: 0
TOTAL NUMBER OF ARES OPERATIONS THIS MONTH: 195
TOTAL PERSON-HOURS REPORTED: 1725.9
DEC's REPORTING: N1LL District 02, KB9WWM District 03, WR9A
District 04, W9BU District 05, KC9RVL District 06, W9EEU District 07,
WY9L District 09
EC's REPORTING: KC9PRR Adams County, KB9WWM Allen County,
K9JAJ Bartholomew County, KC9UWR Boone County, AB9WB Clay
County, K9PLG Dearborn County, KC9ELU Decatur County, KC9ZCK
Dekalb County, KC9RVL Delaware County, KC9CDS Elkhart County,
N9TU Fayette County, N9LJA Gibson County, N9GTL Grant County,
WA0JTL Hamilton County, N9MOX Hancock County, W9WXN Harrison
County, KB9DJA Hendricks County, W9NWN Howard County, KC9EJL
Jasper County, WA9DAN Jay County, KC9RLC Jennings County, N9SIU
Johnson County, AB9ZA Kosciusko County, W9SOX Marion County,
KC9QAK Marshall County, WD9GIU Miami County, K9TEM Monroe
County, KC9ZED Montgomery County, N9JPX Morgan County,
N9WLW Noble County, WB9FHP Orange County, K9EOH Owen
County, AD0TY Parke County, KB9RZK Putnam County, WY9L Ripley
County, WR9G Scott County, KB9ZYC Shelby County, W9DRB Spencer
County, KC9GUY Steuben County, N9SWD Sullivan County, N9GKE
Tippecanoe County, W9DAC Tipton County, WB9EFH Vanderburgh
County, W9COD Vermillion County, KT9B Warrick County, AB9HP
Wells County, KA9HLE Whitley County
IN ARES SECTION NET
Sessions = 4 QNI = 77 QTC = 0 QTR = 177 minutes
Indiana ARES December DEC Comments
District 2 N1LL: I am currently mentoring the Introduction to
Emergency Communications EC001 course.
District 3 KB9WWM: I participated in the ARES support of the HUFF
50K Run on December 20th. Steuben, Noble, DeKalb, Allen and
Whitley County ARES Teams were well represented. It was a very
successful and fun event. I would like to congratulate Dan, N9WLW
for his work in coordinating the ARES support for the run.
I plan on getting more familiar with the County ARES teams in the
District this year. I hope to participate in the county ARES nets as I am
able and maybe attend some face to face meetings, also.
As a reminder, there are still unfilled EC vacancies in Lagrange,
Huntington, and Wabash Counties. If you are interested or would like
to let me know of any candidates, please contact me at
[email protected].
OES's REPORTING: W9WXN Harrison County, NN7C Marion County,
K9IUB Monroe County, K9DUR Vigo County, KC9TYA Vanderburgh
County, KA9QWC Whitley County,
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District 4 WR9A: I attended the Tippecanoe County ARES meeting. I
participated in the reporting net of the monthly Emergency
Management Agency warning siren test. Reviewed communications
support for the 2014 Simulated Emergency Test (SET).
Indiana ARES December EC Comments
District 5 W9BU: Looking forward to a busy and productive 2015!
Allen County KB9WWM: Several Allen County ARES Team members
helped support Noble County at the HUFF 50K run event. The ARES
team also participated in the Allen County DHS Monthly Siren Test.
The team is looking forward to an (radio)active 2015!
District 6 KC9RVL: I am newly appointed DEC for District 6. I look
forward to working with the ECs and counties in District 6.
Bartholomew County K9JAJ: Thank you Bartholomew Co ARES Team!
Let's make 2015 even BIGGER and BETTER!
Boone County KC9UWR: We did not have any nets due to the
holidays
District 7 W9EEU: Clay County team participated in a LEPC exercise.
Our scenario was a school bus and train collision resulting in a train
derailment, hazardous chemical spill, and chemical fire. We had 4
members of the local ARES team participate, and our willingness to
participate was noticed by several of the attending agencies. Several
stopped by after the exercise asking questions about our group.
Clay County AB9WB: Clay County ARES participated in Vigo County
Toys for Tots, St. Vincent Clay County Hospital Emergency Service
provider meeting and the Clay County LEPC table top meeting.
Dearborn County K9PLG: Attended the LVARC Meeting held on Dec
6th at the EOC from 7:30 to 8:30. There were 12 in attendance.
We will have a mini hamfest this spring to liquidate accumulated SK
equipment.
Attended the Clay and Putnam county monthly meetings
District 9 WY9L: At this time with health issues that have arisen I do
not feel I can do the job as the DEC for District 9 as it needs to be
done. If I had someone who would like to be an ADEC I could work
with them to get them trained into it. But I have asked several times
within the EC of District 9 with no response. So I feel at this time I
should step down as the DEC of District 9 effective Feb.1, 2015.
DeKalb County KC9ZCK: ARES supported public service event at
Chain O Lakes State Park, Albion, IN. The event began at 0600 and
established communications on the 145.110 repeater. I supported
three separate locations during the event.
Delaware County KC9RVL: We held 4 weekly nets on our primary
repeater (441.825), backup repeater (441.700), and simplex 146.490.
I attended the monthly meeting at Yorktown Fire Dept.
I want to thank Joseph K9RFZ for working with me, as I have served a
total of 5 years as the DEC .
Fayette County N9TU:
County!
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Happy New Year Everyone from Fayette
Harrison County W9WXN: Held 5 weekly sessions of the ARES net.
Our county continues to provide strong support of the NTS. Our
training has been centered on winter Skywarn procedures and use of
tactical call-signs during our next drill. Several ARES members helped
test the monthly sirens.
Jennings County KC9RLC: ARES SET for Jennings County was on
12/6/2014, 2 Hams for 3 hrs each, worked with Ripley and Dearborn
Counties.
Johnson County N9SIU: December was uneventful with just the
weekly ARES/RACES net. This coming January, it will be time for all
ARES/RACES members to renew their membership and update any
information of license upgrades or changes in operating modes. All
efforts are being made to have current information for each member.
Hendricks County KB9DJA: This month's activities. I attended the
ESF-8 quarterly meeting, ARES training planning meeting which
included my Operations and Administration AEC's and our training
coordinator, and our ARES monthly leadership meeting.
Although, during this time of the year when activity is usually low,
we've been busy discussing and planning on events for 2015.
The county's EMA Coordinator was presented with an ARRL award for
her role as the EMA representative during our Simulated Emergency
Test in October 2014. Presenting her the award was our ARRL,
HCARES, and Public Information Officer Barry Palencer KC9WMS. The
award certificate acknowledges and thanks the Hendricks County
Emergency Management for their participation in the ARRL S.E.T. and
for their support of ARES in Hendricks County.
Kosciusko County AB9ZA: On December 5 / 6, fifteen hams from the
Hoosier Lakes Radio Club /Kosciusko County ARES participated in the
Skywarn Recognition Day event. Then, on December 20, four
Kosciusko County ARES members helped support the HUFF 50K Trail
Race in neighboring Noble County. We look forward to an even
greater year in 2015 for Amateur Radio in Kosciusko County.
Marion County W9SOX: On December 5th, Marion County ARES
volunteers answered phones and assisted with the Salvation Army
Radiothon. On December 8th, AEC Matthew Bechdol was appointed
Marion County ARES EC. On December 30th, Marion County ARES EC
Matthew Bechdol and Brent Walls met with the MESH Coalition to
continue discussions implementing ARES volunteers in to the Marion
County Medical Multi Agency Coordination Center. A second training
date was scheduled as well as discussions pertaining to the
prerequisites for working directly with MedMACC as well as hospitals.
Howard County W9NWN: Very slow this month in Howard Co as far
as ARES. This month the Kokomo Repeater Club put online three new
repeaters and new controllers. We are still working through the
install of the new Yaesu DR1-X repeater and external controller. Once
done, we will have the ability to support not only analog FM signals as
well as the Yaesu Digital signals. This is also our Echo-link repeater.
Monroe County K9TEM: Monroe County ARES conducted one
county-wide siren test and five weekly ARES nets. County EC (Tom,
K9TEM), RACES Officer (A.J., KC9EVU) and OES (Mike, K9IUB) met with
Monroe County EMA Director (Jim, KC9YMX) to discuss support of
Monroe County EMA activities in 2015. We all came away with lists of
to-dos to help our organizations work well together in the coming
year.
That is all for this month and year being this is the last report from
Howard Co for 2014. 73. Happy and Prosperous New year to all.
Jasper County KC9EJL: In Memory of James Gourko we will miss
him!!
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Morgan County N9JPX: We cancelled two of our regular Wednesday
evening weekly nets this month (Christmas Eve & New Year’s Eve) so
everybody could spend time with their families.
This was the fourth year for our support of this event. Every year we
get better and better at our organization and professionalism.
The race officials, all their volunteers and the runners are very happy
with the work we do. Thanks to all of you for all you did.
GO ARES TEAM!!
Noble County N9WLW: This month we supported the HUFF 50k run
at Chain-O-Lakes State park. This is an ultra marathon ran on the
trails thru the woods and hills of the park. They run the race no
matter what the weather conditions are or the condition of the
trails. That makes our participation very important because the
possibility of a runner needing medical help is very high. We had the
support of the Noble County EMA. They supplied the County
Communications bus and the EMA repeater with radios. We also had
support from the CERT. Several of the CERT members were ARES
team members, two of them were not and they manned the First Aid
Station for the event.
Orange County WB9FHP: RATHER A SLOW MONTH WITH THE
HOLIDAYS. I attended EMA Board meeting. I also sat in on LEPC
Planning meeting and participated in a LEPC drill. I am working on
some new recruits for ARES in county that have recently gotten new
licenses. There are plans being made for a team meeting in February.
Parke County AD0TY: I ran our net 3 times in December, Chuck in
Vermillion County ran it twice. Not much happened in December. I'm
looking forward to getting things accomplished in 2015.
Putnam County KB9RZK: Quiet month for ARES operations.
We had a total of 39 hams at the event. My team was only twelve of
them. The rest came from Allen, Whitley, Steuben, DeKalb, and
Huntington in District 3. We had some from District 2 Kosciusko
County. We also had two from the Detroit Michigan area; they were
a husband and wife. The wife ran in the race and the husband helped
man an Aid Station. If not for the support of the District's 2 and 3, I
could not have supported this event. GO ARES TEAMWORK
Ripley County WY9L: 2015 will be a year for the Ripley County team
to gear up and start doing more drills & training. I have started
weeding out members who do not have time to attend meetings &
training as they are a liability to the team when the time comes for us
to be called out.
We are actively recruiting new members. We had a great joint SET
with the Jennings County ARES team, and look forward to working &
training along side of them again soon. Our EMA director at one time
requested that the Ripley Co. team have NIMS 100-200-700-800 &
IDHS damage assessment & FEMA damage assessment. He has stated
that he has now built up his EMA team that he feels he will no longer
need our services, but we are trained and ready.
The event went very well with only a few cuts and bruised
runners. We did have one injury where one of the volunteers serving
food in the main tent fell and seemed to be in shock and suffering
hypothermia. The CERT Team did a very good job of checking her for
injuries and getting her warmed up before the EMS arrived. The EMS
checked her out and she was OK. If not for the good care from the
CERT team she may not have been in very good shape. The
temperature in the tent was not much above freezing. Thanks to the
CERT team for the good work.
The Red Cross only has requested that we have the Red Cross damage
assessment, which all of our team has. We also require members to
have taken emergency communications & traffic handling, and
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EmComms trailer deployment. I also offer them on a voluntary basis
1st aid, CPR & AED, 911 map reading, etc.
Indiana ARES December OES Comments:
K9DUR: Participated with Clay Co ARES in Clay County LEPC tabletop
exercise.
Scott County WR9G: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Steuben County KC9GUY: Monthly meeting included ARES/RACES
brief with new Steuben County Communications Director Gary
LeTourneau KD8TKN. Gary is planning on expanding the ARES/RACES
roll in the county EMCOM plan.
KC9TYA: I have had a very busy month with the Holidays and travel.
Looking forward to Jan. and all of the new training we have set up for
next year. Completion of the two different EMA locations radio
rooms, along with the completion of the MEOC are main priorities.
Our group is going to be busy. Looking forward to being NCS for
Monday night’s NTS net. Happy New Year to everyone.
EC participated in HUFF 50K in Noble County. Noble County EC Dan
Ward, N9WLW did another great job in planning and executing the
event.
In Closing
Team development plans for 2015:
1. Fine tune call-out procedures
2. Traffic handling - ICS-213 & NTS format
3. Digital Operations -FLDigi as baseline
4. Digital Traffic Handling - FLMessage
The Indiana Section W1AW/9 operation in December was wellorganized and a credit to the state. I received the following recap
from Mike Tessmer, K9NW who coordinated the operation;
“At 0000z on December 10, the bands came to life with W1AW/9
from Indiana, the second session for Indiana in the yearlong ARRL
Centennial celebration. 37 ops from across the state spent the next
seven days passing out QSOs to the eager followers (and there were
many!) At the end of our week, 31,550 QSOs were in the log on CW,
SSB, RTTY and several other digital modes, EME, on all bands from
160m through 70cm - truly a very diverse offering. We worked all 50
states, 113 DXCC entities, and 35 zones. Thanks to all the ops that
participated as W1AW/9 host stations and also to the many other
Indiana stations that dropped by for a QSO!”
Sullivan County N9SWD: We are looking forward to scheduling some
training sessions and activities in the coming year!
Vanderburgh County WB9EFH: EC met with AEC and three other
members of our team for planning training and projects for 2015
Whitely County KA9HLE: Whitley County ARES assisted Noble County
ARES during the Huff 50K Event at Chain-o-Lakes State Park on
December 20, 2014
All Indiana hams can be proud of these results and appreciate the
operators that represented Indiana. Good job to you all!
Joseph Lawrence, K9RFZ
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