[MDC-EC] March 2009 FSD-96 Maryland-DC ARES Section Report

[Steve Beckman]

Monthly Section Emergency Coordinator Report to ARRL Headquarters
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ARRL Section:   Maryland-DC             Month:  March           Year: 2009
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AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE


Total number of ARES members: 648            Change since last month: -1 
(+, -, or same)

# of DECs/ECs reporting this month: 12 # of ARES nets active: 42 # with NTS 
liaison: 14

Calls of DECs/ECs reporting: K3UEZ, N3SEO, AJ3X, N3QHC, KB3LJB, KB3KKY, 
KB3FIO, KB3FMJ, WB0EGR, WR3F, KB3FWW, N3SB.

Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 
20          Person hours  181

Number of public service events this month: 
4                            Person hours 461

Number of emergency operations this month: 
0                           Person hours 0

Total number of ARES operations this month: 24                        Total 
Person hours 642

Comments:

SEC Notes: Thanks Pat WB0EGR and Joe AJ3X for conducting a great Emergency 
Communications Class in Harford County on Saturday April 4. The training 
was professionally done, and the pace was right. I'm looking forward to 
more training opportunities with the Baltimore County / Harford Country 
Auxiliary Communications Service. It was great to meet JC Taylor W3JCT and 
the ARES Team just starting up in Wicomico County on Saturday March 21st, 
the folks who attended our informal meeting at the Timonium Hamfest on 
Saturday March 28th, and the Maryland Mobileers group on Friday April 3.

Carroll County: The CARET group will be supporting an MS Walk on Saturday 
April 18th, 9:00 AM at the Carroll County Farm Museum. Anyone interested in 
helping out may contact n3sb at qis.net. The group has also begun 
experimenting with MT-63 (2k-long) digital communications through the 
county voice repeater. Our very first try was met with complete success! 
This communications mode is both fast and robust, levels are non-critical, 
and most of the participants were simply holding their microphones near 
their speakers for both transmit and receive. Much more testing to come. 
The CARET Net is conducted every Tuesday evening at 2030 Local on the CCARC 
145.410 FM repeater. The net is open to all hams.

Cecil County: The Cecil County ARES Net is conducted every Sunday evening 
at 2000 local time on the Chesapeake Bay Radio Association (CBRA) 146.850 
FM repeater (negative offset). Access tone is 107.2 but is required only 
between 2100 and 0900 which means it is not required during the net. Our 
backup is the CBRA 449.825 FM repeater (negative offset). Access tone is 
167.9 and is required 24 hours. The net is open to all hams within range of 
the repeater. ARES membership is encouraged but not required.

DC: Local Ham Operators from Maryland, DC, and Virginia, supported the 
National Marathon on March 21. We operated 3 NETS to support the race, one 
VHF (Thanks to the GMRA), one UHF (Thanks to NERA), and one GMRS (Thanks to 
Federal City REACT). Planning to begin more active organizing for 
Washington DC ARES/RACES in May 2008.

Frederick County: Ops Needed! - Frederick ARES will be providing 
communications support for the biennial Mountain Club of Maryland Hike 
Across Maryland on Sat., May 2, 0530-2030. Approx. 12-14 operators are 
needed to cover different shifts at 10 checkpoints on the Appalachian Trail 
from Penn Mar to Harpers Ferry, and some limited APRS tracking is planned. 
If you would like to help, contact Jeff Fishman KB3FIO at 240-285-6596 or 
at ljfish at mindspring.com.

Garrett County: We sent a small group of our membership to the Timonium 
Hamboree on 3/28. While at the meeting the GC EC attended an ad hoc meeting 
with Jim Cross (SM) and Steve Beckman (SEC) who provided an update of 
current ARES status and updates on the work towards integration of Amateur 
Radio data into the TICP database.

Howard County: Howard County RACES began the process of "typing" amateur 
radio operator resources.  Operators are assigned a number from 1 to 5 
depending on their licensing level, available equipment, and experience. 
This should make it easier for Emergency Operations Officials to choose the 
right operator for a particular situation when choices are available. The 
initial typing session was held at the County's new training center near 
Dayton.

Kent County: KARS had Equipment/Shelter drill on March 17, 2009, at 2000 
hrs. to 2030 hrs, Had 4 shelters as well as the Chester River Hospital, 
Health Dept., and EOC check in. Passed 2 messages; received one message; 
and checked Simplex operation between all locations. All went well.


Signature:   Steve 
Beckman 
Call sign: N3SB
Please send to ARRL HQ, 225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111 by 10th of the 
month             FSD-96 (1-04)