Durham ARES Site Feed

ARES News/Update

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:12:00 -0400

News and Update from June ARES Leadership Meeting. The following are two issues that are date effective, and I'll soon be announcing the AEC appointments and post any openings. At our leadership meeting in June, we decided no longer maintain our yahoo-group dnc-ares effective Aug 1,2009. Our website www.durhamares.org we believe can accomplish the same features and much more, so to continue having members accessing duplicate resources it was felt as a group this would be duplicating efforts when passing along news and updates for the group. We'll also be moving files and folders from the yahoo group to the website. So, If you have not done so already, Please visit our website at www.durhamares.org and register. Additionally, Beginning July 1st, 2009 we decided to move the Durham ARES / Training net to Mondays at 8pm on 145.450 Mhz repeater from Sunday nights. This was done after reviewing other net activity in the area that our members may also participate in, and the availability of NCO's more so on Mondays vs the other nights of the week. One recommendation from polling was that we hold the Durhams ARES net concurrent with the DFMA net at 9pm on Thursdays that it would be too much in one evening net, with other net activity operating in neighboring counties at or about the same time. So, we'll try the Monday night 8pm time and review net activity again in the future as needed. 73's Randy McCray KE4UCM EC/Durham Co ARES

Mt. Mitchell Repeater Update

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:40:00 -0400

From ARRL NC Section News: MOUNT MITCHELL REPEATERS Many of you have heard about an instruction from WMIT that all amateur repeaters be removed from their transmitter site on Clingmans Peak, near Mount Mitchell. There are two 70cm repeaters, a 2m repeater and a 6m machine involved. Leadership from the Western Carolina Amateur Radio Society, county emergency management and ARRL have been working with WMIT management to address their concerns. At this time, we are cautiously optimistic that the issues can be resolved and at this time no more letters or contact with WMIT are needed from the amateur community.

Durham ARES Leadership Announcement

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:51:05 -0400

This past week our Durham ARES EC, Lisa Armour (KB9MGU) notified John LaMay (KB4WGA) District 10 EC her wish to step-down and resign. I was approached to apply and after a short review process, along with some kind endorsements by fellow ARES members, and much discussion with XYL, accepted an interim appointment of EC for Durham County ARES. Currently the official appointment process is progressing through steps established by ARRL, and I have been in contact with the Assistant EC�s asking that they remain as a valuable leadership resource. I see this not only as an opportunity to serve our amateur radio community and promoting emergency communications, but also to strengthen our community relationships that have been established by both of our former EC�s John LaMay (KB4WGA) and Lisa Armour.(KB9MGU). I also wish to Thank Lisa for her hard-work and service these past few years, and hope that she remains with us as a valuable Durham ARES member. Moving forward, there will be a learning process for me and the leadership team with our goals to establish Durham ARES as a model group in service to our community. Additionally, I wish to congratulate Laurie Meier (N1YXU) the new Orange Co ARES EC on her appointment, and look forward to sharing ideas with our District 10 neighbors. 73�s Randy McCray KE4UCM

EARTHQUAKE DRILL SCHEDULE FOR JUNE 23-24

Sun, 03 May 2009 17:01:00 -0400

From ARRL NC Section News: North Carolina ARES members are being asked to participate in a state emergency management drill on Tuesday, June 23 and Wednesday, June 24. The drill will involve a large earthquake in the Buncombe County area and the resulting damage will affect structures and communications facilities that are not "earthquake resistant" with a special emphasis on cellphone facilities/towers. The focus of this exercise is on communications and interoperability and the scenario depicts massive communications infrastructure failure from damage and circuit overload. NC Emergency Management expects Amateur Radio to play a key role in this exercise. We'll have more detail later, but we know we will need operators in Bumcombe and the surrounding counties, at the NCEM warehouse in Badin, at the western branch EOC in Conover and at the state EOC in Raleigh. Please contact your local EC with your availability for this exercise. From ARRL NC section newsletter: http://www.arrl.org/sections/NC.html

AGENDA - MAY 2 STATE ARES MEETING

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:04:00 -0400

The semi-annual state ARES meeting will be held on Saturday, May 2 at the state EOC in Raleigh. The meeting starts at 10am and agenda items include: Introduction to the State EOC; Preview 2009 Hurricane Season; Overview of EOC WINLINK System; Update from ARRL HQ; Update on State Digital Plan; State Government Update; Roundtable. These are always interesting and informative meetings and all ARES members are encouraged to attend. Another meeting will be held in the Western Branch this fall. From ARRL NC section newsletter: http://www.arrl.org/sections/NC.html

When Vandals Strike Infrastructure, Hams Provide Communications Support

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:46:00 -0400

From ARRL: When Vandals Strike Infrastructure, Hams Provide Communications Support In the early morning, just after midnight on April 9, someone climbed down four manholes in the San Jose, California area and cut underground fiber optic cables. The sabotage led to widespread disruption of phone service -- including tens of thousands of land lines, an undetermined number of cell phones, Internet access and 911 emergency service -- in southern Santa Clara County, as well as in Santa Cruz and San Benito counties. San Jose is the county seat of Santa Clara County. With the infrastructure disabled, local Emergency Management officials called on ham radio operators in their communities to provide back-up communications. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Santa Clara County called a local state of emergency, "but worst-case scenarios were successfully avoided through use of ham radios, door-to-door checks and extra-vigilant patrols." Read more here: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/04/15/10771/?nc=1

NC ARES meeting May 2, 2009

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:13:00 -0400

STATE ARES MEETING SCHEDULED FOR MAY 2, 2009 The first state ARES meeting of the year is scheduled for May 2 at the state EOC in Raleigh. An agenda will be included in next month's ARRL NC section newsletter, but mark your calendars! Another statewide ARES meeting will be held in the western part of the state in the fall. From ARRL NC section newsletter: http://www.arrl.org/sections/NC.html

ICS Courses

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:33:00 -0500

Classes for Introduction to the National Incident Management System (IS 700) and Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS 100) will be taught on November 26th beginning at 08:00 am at the Durham County Fire Marshal�s Office located at 2422 Broad Street.

You can attend either or both classes, please complete a registration form for each class that you plan to attend. If you are aware of others who may not have received this please feel free to forward.

ICS-100 Registration Form
ICS-700 Registration Form

Send completed registration forms to: David Marsee - dmarsee@co.durham.nc.us

[Update] THEN Activation

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:30:37 -0400

Due to Hanna's lack of organization, unclear direction, and timing, the EOC will not be staffed on Thursday Sept. 4th. There will not be a need to activate the TarHeel Emergency Network on Thursday. The need to so on Friday will be evaluated in concert with NC Emergency Management.

Sept. 6th CERT Class Rescheduled

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:18:24 -0400

Due to the continuing uncertainty of the track and strength at landfall of tropical storm Hanna, CERT class originally scheduled for Saturday September 6th is cancelled. We're tentatively scheduled to make up this class on Saturday October 18th. Current forecasts for Hanna indicate mild impact to this area. However, these forecasts are qualified by warnings that indicate the track may shift to the east or west. Durham, is a host shelter county for our coastal evacuations and Emergency Management personnel are subject to deployment to any damaged areas.