[KYHAM] Annual Ky ARES Program Report For 2003

[Ron Dodson]

In January of 2000, I began a policy of reporting to the amateurs 
of the Kentucky Section, our Amateur Radio Emergency Service 
(ARES) program�s activity for the previous year.  There is no 
ARRL requirement that an SEC do this. However I feel it is 
important to our program and to amateur radio as a whole that you 
are aware of just how valuable our service is to our communities 
and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Aside from this, our activity 
is our contribution to the national effort to �pay the bills� and 
keep amateur radio in existence by justifying our use of all of 
the bands which we enjoy daily. In the opening section of Part 97 
of the FCC Rules and Regulations, we see that amateur radio is a 
�SERVICE� whose existence is for the public good and not merely 
our private playground. 
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/news/part97/

This is my fifth year in making this report and so I felt it was 
time that we do some number crunching and give you a look at the 
big picture.  Special thanks to our KyHam webmaster, Pat, KD4PWL 
for his assistance in the quantitative analysis of numbers of the 
previous years and the insight they provide.

MEMBERSHIP:

Since December of 1998, 274 amateurs have joined the Ky ARES 
program.  Starting with 711 members in the last month of 1998, we 
ended 2003 with a membership roll of 985. This shows a five year 
increase of roughly 27%.  Though some years were higher or lower, 
this reflects an average of about 6% in annual growth.

TRAINING:

On November 16, 2003, Assistant SEC, Ron Goodpaster, AG4TY 
unveiled the new, FREE, Ky ARES Condensed Emergency 
Communications training course. During the last 45 days of 2003, 
we had 38 Ky amateurs complete all three levels of this free 
course. We hope to have this available for use in classroom 
settings in 2004, as well as other things still in the works. 
Please encourage new hams to become involved in ARES.  Ky ARES 
members, new and old, should strive to improve their level of 
EMCOMM proficiency and knowledge by taking advantage of the free 
training materials which are offered at 
http://kyham.net/docs/train/kyares/kytest.html as well as the 
EMI�s free Independent Study Courses at 
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/crslist.asp and the ARRL�s 
Continuing Education courses at http://www.arrl.org/cce/  .  The 
better trained everyone is, the more useful they will be to their 
team and to their served agencies in the field.  In the first 
seventy or so years of public service, amateur radio mainly 
concerned itself with natural and nuclear threats only.  Today, 
it is a new ballgame and we must add the threats of terrorist 
attack and hazardous chemical accidents to our repertoire. 
Regardless of the mistaken opinion of a few, there is no such 
thing as too much training!  Many groups took part in their 
community�s exercises and drills in 2003, as well as the Kentucky 
Severe Storms Drill in March and the annual Field Day and SET 
operations.  These are also great training opportunities and I 
encourage that this continue and grow in future years.

Ky ARES ACTIVITY:

Each month, I collect reports of previous month activity from 
local groups, EC�s and DEC�s which are compiled into the Section 
ARES Activity Report. This section report is sent to ARRL HQ on 
or before the tenth of the current month. It is then added to the 
reports from all other ARRL sections and is then used by ARRL to 
justify the continued need for the amateur radio service to the 
FCC, Congress and all of the commercial interests who covet our 
frequency bands for private enterprise.

I am pleased to report that monthly reporting over the past five 
years in the Ky Section has increased 26%!   I congratulate all 
of you in this important accomplishment and ask that we all 
redouble our efforts to report any activity of nets, public 
service and emergency operations which involve amateur radio. The 
more you report shows that your local group is active and working 
toward fulfilling our Part 97 obligations.  I realize that life 
gets hectic at times and it is easy to let the monthly report 
slide by forgotten in the day to day world.  This is why I try to 
post friendly reminders on the section�s listservs that I have 
access to each month.  Reporting now in 2004 is easier than ever 
as forms are automated on line at the following URLs: 
http://kyham.net/service.html  this is also mirrored at: 
http://www.qsl.net/kyham/service.html

Direct links to ARES On Line Report Forms:
DEC and EC Monthly Report
http://kyham.net/forms/monthly.html
or
http://www.qsl.net/kyham/forms/monthly.html

Also at:
http://www.greatlakes.arrl.org/FSD212/Index.htm

Public Service Activity Report
http://kyham.net/forms/service.html
or
http://www.qsl.net/kyham/forms/service.html

In 2003, we, the amateurs of the Kentucky Section, reported a 
total of 1,055 nets or 10,761.3 man hours.  We had 38 Public 
Service Events totaling 1,490.7 man hours and 52 Emergency 
Communications Responses totaling 10,207.85 man hours.  This adds 
up to 1,145 on the air operations and 22,459.85 man hours! The 
majority of communications emergencies were SkyWarn related 
operations and in many cases continuing on into the aftermath of 
severe weather for damage assessments and other duties.  There 
were also two missing/downed aircraft searches, the February 2003 
ice storm and some flooding/landslide operations which utilized 
amateur radio communications.

IN SUMMARY (The BIG Picture):

Over the past five years, Kentucky amateurs have been involved in 
5,564 nets, public service events and emergency operations! 
These total up to 156,502 man hours of efforts toward public 
service, preparedness and response efforts for the citizens of 
Kentucky!  What is startling is the realization that if only one 
person were capable of working 24 hours per day, 7 days every 
week for 365 days each year, it would take him or her 17.8 years 
to equal this amount of labor!!!  This is even more startling if 
you consider it likely that some UNREPORTED activity took place 
during the period, which, if reported, would have made these 
totals even higher!  If you think about this, you will come to 
realize just how important that reporting your local activity can 
be no matter how large or small an operation you had for the 
month.  Let�s now take this one step further� Add (in your mind) 
the cost burden this would have placed on the tax payers of 
Kentucky to have had to PAY for these communications support 
services in both labor AND equipment!  Once having done all this, 
you can now see how the ARRL uses this data when this is figured 
on a nation-wide scale to �balance the scales� in Washington and 
keep amateur radio alive for us all!

My Assistant SEC, Ron Goodpaster and I wish to thank and 
congratulate you all on this accomplishment.  I have been honored 
to serve you during this period and hope that our joined efforts 
will continue to grow in the future.

73,
Ron Dodson, KA4MAP
Ky Section Emergency Coordinator
Ky Amateur Radio Emergency Service (KyARES)


"Note: This report is authorized for use or quote in club 
newsletters and other interested listserv's not CC'ed above as 
required.