ARES of Champaign County Bulletin
August  8, 2007


It's been a busier than usual summer and I wasn't able to get the ARES Bulletin out in June or July.


RECAP
Heather Schlesser, KC9DEQ, provided CPR training to 17 ARES members at the June 6 meeting.  She followed that with basic first aid training at the July 11 meeting (meeting was a week later because of the 4th of July).  A big thank you goes to Heather for offering to provide this valuable training.

A number of ARES members operated at the Field Day site at Ford-Harris Park the last weekend in June.  Mike Haydon, KF8ZN, is in the process of gathering photos and we to get them up on the web site in the near future.


The August meeting of ARES of Champaign County was held Wednesday, August 1, 2007 at the Fire Service Institute.  Here are important notes from that meeting and other news.

ATTENDING
N9XDC, WB9HFK, K9SI, KC9HXY, W9EML, W9DML, K9LMM, N9DN, KC9IHX, K9MLT,  KC9HND, KF8ZN, AB9FJ; Guests KD5GPR, KB9AZA (15)


VERMILION COUNTY GUESTS
James Kiser, KB9AZA, the Ec for Vermilion COunty,  and Kathy Tucjer, KD5GPR, attended our August meeting. Jim was recently appointed EC for Vermilion County and they are currently investigating their options regarding becoming incorporated as a non-profit.


ICS FORMS
Debbie Fligor, N9DN, recently attended at week-long "hands-on" course for the Incident Command System in conjunction with her job with the University of Illinois.  At our August meeting she gave a presentation on the ICS forms we are likely to encounter should we be activated for an incident.


DIGITAL DRILL
Debbie, N9DN, has proposed a simple "digital drill" for later this month.  It is tentatively scheduled for August 26, and details will be provided closer to the date.


FOCUS ON PREPAREDNESS
September is National Preparedness Month.  This nationwide effort is to encourage individuals and families to take simple steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses and schools. Free preparedness resources can be found at <http://www.ready.gov>.

Dennis Dura, K2DCD, has joined the ARRL Headquarters staff as Emergency Preparedness and Response
Manager. Dura's major responsibilities include addressing the development and implementation of an organizational disaster response plan as well as a continuity operations plan, complete with supporting procedures and
training. Integral to these plans are the recommendations of the National Emergency Response Planning Committee (NERPC) report. Dura also will play an integral part in the management of ARES, and in future negotiations with served agencies with whom ARRL shares or creates Memoranda of Understanding. He brings 26 years of experience in the emergency management field to the position.

The September issue of QST Magazine will be the first Emergency Communications special issue published by the ARRL. Watch for it in your mailbox in the near future.


WEEKLY NETS
The weekly ARES net is held each Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., on the 444.100 repeater, CTSS 162.2.  The ARES 2m Simplex net is held on 146.550 immediately following the 440 net .  Net control stations for the next month are posted in the Nets section of the web site, www.wa9res.org.


NEXT MEETING
The next regular meeting will be on Wednesday, September 5, at 7:00 p.m.