[ILHam] Illinois ARES HF Net Tomorrow. You're invited...

[Brad Pioveson W9FX]

Ladies and Gentlemen:

   I write today to request your presence on 75 meter fone tomorrow
morning.

    IEMA and IESMA (that's the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the
Illinois Emergency Services Management Association, respectively) have 
invited our participation
in a 'proof of performance' demonstration of amateur radio in general, and, 
HF amateur
radio and ARES, in particular on 10 MAR 2009.  On that date, the ITTF/UCP
(Illinois Terrorism Task Force/Unified Command Post) and ITECS (Illinois
Transportable Emergency Communications Systems) will be activated.  The
Illinois ARES net will commence at 1030 local time/1530Z on 3.905 MHz.  A
county-by-county roll call will commence.


    *All Illinois stations are invited to check in.*  I will ask 
participating stations to
provide their county and name, which I will log.  That's it - nothing fancy.


    We are hoping to be joined by some new 'players' - specifically, some of
the Illinois State Police District HQ stations, the State EOC, some county
EOC's...and, there have been hints that other state entities who have hams 
and
rigs available will join us, as well.  Some county EOC's will be on hand, 
too.

    If you can make yourself available for this important net, please do so.
Once you've been checked in, you are free to leave - there will be no
requirement that you stay checked in for the duration of the net.  I will
continue to operate this net until such time as there are no more stations
calling in.

    We're trying to earn some credibility with IEMA by demo'ing our 
capabilties at
HF intra-state communications - and, this is a very big first step for us.

    *Again, this net will be held Tuesday, 10 MAR 2009, at 1030CDST/1530Z
on 3.905 MHz LSB.*

73

Brad Pioveson, W9FX
ARRL Illinois Section Emergency Coordinator