[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] ARES Emergency Coordinator Updates

[Joe K]

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to reach out with a end of the year email updating you on some things. I hope you all are taking sometime to spend with your families over this Holiday Season and look forward to the accomplishments of the New Year.

Since taking over as the ARRL ARES Emergency Coordinator for Alexandria roughly 7 months ago we have accomplished quite a few things.

4x field events promoting battery/solar operations, with a focus on regional and local communications. 2 of these were at Belle Haven Park, 1 was at Fort Hunt Park, and one was at a Mason Lodge with MVARC.

~16 primarily HF ARES nets using Vara HF or JS8Call. I try to send emails out about these, but primarily have been using discord to notify folks.

I have talked with several other ARES groups and EmComm related groups and am working towards establishing 4x formalized ARES positions, 2x to support communications at our EOC (Emergency Operations Center) station and 2x to support communications at our station located at Alexandria Hospital.

Going into 2025, I wanted to throw some goals I would personally like to see happen related to ARES and EmComm, while some of them may be a stretch, based on what I've seen from the club I have no doubt you all can help make them happen.

- More W4HFH membership involvement. Ultimately ARC is the only club in Alexandria, so it will be almost exclusively ARC members who make the ARES program successful. We cannot do it with out you. If you have ideas, or specific things you would like to see happen, please reach out and I will ensure I do what ever it takes to make you successful in those areas.

- 36x ARES focused HF nets, focused on regional and local communications. These will be in coordination with https://www.vden.org/. These will be a combination of JS8 and Vara HF however, if you have ideas for this I'm more than open to trying other things. The goal is low power, infrastructure independent nets.

- Development of a hybrid HF/Simplex FM net, specifically to help teach new operators how to most effectively establish simplex relay sites, either cross band or from a simplex frequency to a repeater. This goal is related directly to feedback I've received from communicators who supported ARES/EmComm efforts in NC during hurricane operations.
- MeshChat nets. Thanks to W4HFH members, Alexandria has an incredibly robust ARDEN network that supports keyboard to keyboard and IP based communications. I would like to toss around the idea of using that for a "net" or for quarterly ARES focused data transfer tests.
- GMRS outreach. One of my personal beliefs is that GMRS is the easiest way to gain traction with non-communicators in our communities. Looking at the AARs and hotwashes of North Carolina operations, non-licensed users were incredibly helpful in communicating needs of the impacted and providing morale and welfare checks.

If you need to reach me you can do so via a multitude of ways.

- [Winlink](https://www.winlink.org/WinlinkExpress): kd2hzg at winlink.org
- Email: joek at 26xx.org or ares at w4hfh.org
- [Signal Messenger](https://signal.org/download/): joka.73 (related to car I had not the ham slang haha)
- [Element Messenger:](https://element.io/app-for-productivity) @joek:bufchat.26xx.org
- [BPQ32/LinBPQ](https://www.vden.org/): I live on 07.1032 USB, you can connect to my station with Vara Terminal via KD2HZG-2. Instructions are on the link for how to use a BBS. You can also relay through any of the stations listed on that website.
- DMR: KD2HZG, I frequently monitor the VA State Wide Talkgroup (3151)
- Discord: I am available on the club discord and try to respond quickly.

I am happy to provide you my cell phone directly, however due to the recent announcements by the FBI and long time known vulnerabilities in SMS and SS7 calling, I would encourage you to download Element (or signal) which are linked above.

Joe Kalfa
ARES EC Alexandria.
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