Two pieces of news

First off, Doug Mullins (KB9JLR) is now an AEC and the liaison between Vigo County ARES and the Wabash Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross. Doug has had a good deal of experience with the Red Cross while he lived in Indianapolis and has many certifications. This will be great for both groups to have him on and hopefully this will help some of us learn more about the services the WVCotARC has to offer, who knows....maybe you will want to volunteer some of you time with them too?

The other item, as many of you know, my wife an I are expecting our first child at the end of next month. I have been extremely busy as anyone would expect, getting things prepared for the event. Jerry Boling (W9TWR) will be taking over as EC for Vigo County and I will continue to be the liaison to the Vigo County EMA and help out with the blogspot page.

Jerry has a ton of ideas for activities that will get the group active and will have more time to devote to Vigo County ARES than I will for a while. I will be around, might have a bottle in my hand instead of a mic for a while though.

73 to all,
de WT9I

Family Preparedness for Disasters

I have been saying I was going to put a link on here for a good family preparedness plan for disasters. Below is a link to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security site that has a great deal of info that is a good starting point.
Check it out....

http://www.in.gov/dhs/2777.htm

IGR Drill 14-Mar-2009

I ended up assisting in presenting part of a lesson to the 3rd BDE at drill today concerning the Phonetic Alphabet and its proper use, reasons for use in communications, and a little background about what Vigo County ARES does.

I had the opportunity to talk about how Vigo County ARES has been involved with the local EMA and Red Cross chapters in the past two years. I also passed on some of the knowledge I learned from a few of the training sessions we have been involved in with the EMA concerning earthquake preparedness and the role of ICS in helping to give relief to the affected area.

Anyone who is interested in getting into amateur radio can see the links I have posted on the upper left hand side of this page. Those of you who are in the know, let me know if you have any other web sites that may help someone who is interested in getting into our great "hobby".

February Month End Report

This was an active month. N9YNF and I went to an EMA planning event concerning the New Madrid and Wabash Valley faults. The purpose was to look at the current plans and start the process of making adjustments to some of the items.

We also had an ARES activation by the Vigo County EMA after heavy rain and localized flooding. Vigo County ARES assisted in reporting flood conditions from around the area both the the EMA and to the NWS. We set up a base at the EMA office and were in constant contact with the Director, the Vigo County Sheriff s Department, and Illiana Skywarn. More than 4 inches of rain fell in 24 hours in some parts of the area, which is the most since the floods of June 2008. No one was injured but there was some property damage and a few swift water rescues.

January Month End Report

We ended up with everything between 7.5 inches of snow to 10 inches in Vigo County. The local paper says the last time we received that much was back in 1987.

We are having our annual training for the NWS Weather-spotting on Feb 27th at 19:00 EST at the Wabash Valley Radio Amateur Radio Association meeting location at 1715 South 8th Street in Terre Haute, Indiana. All are welcome, seating is first come, first served.

ARLX001 Earthquake Strikes Costa Rica, Emergency Ham Frequency Declared

SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX001
ARLX001 Earthquake Strikes Costa Rica, Emergency Ham Frequency
Declared

ZCZC AX01
QST de W1AW
Special Bulletin 1 ARLX001
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT January 9, 2009
To all radio amateurs

SB SPCL ARL ARLX001
ARLX001 Earthquake Strikes Costa Rica, Emergency Ham Frequency
Declared

On Thursday, January 8 at 1921z, an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the
Richter scale struck the Central American country of Costa Rica.
The earthquake, with an epicenter located about 22 miles northeast
of San Jose, comes after a series of almost 60 seismic events that
have rocked the country since early this week.

The Radio Club de Costa Rica (RCCR) -- that country's IARU
Member-Society -- is monitoring local repeaters and 7090 kHz. IARU
Region 2 Emergency Communications Coordinator Cesar Pio Santos,
HR2P, requests that 7090 kHz be kept clear of non-essential traffic
due to possible emergency communications dealing with the
earthquake. The ARRL encourages all amateurs to be aware of the
emergency operations on this frequency. US amateurs should avoid
interfering with Spanish language SSB while using digital modes.
NNNN
/EX

Ryves Hall Youth Center Christmas Toy Night

Jim Edwards (KA9DIF) called upon local amateur radio operators to assist with the gift giving event at Ryves Hall Youth Center on December 23rd. John Van Sandt, N9YRX took point on recruiting operators on the Clark County ARES net (146.520) on Wednesday night, the Vigo County ARES net (146.685 -/151.4 Hz) Sunday morning and then on the WVARA net (146.685 -/151.4 Hz) during Sunday night.

Besides John and Jim, also in attendance were Nick Vinardi (N9WG), Jerry Boling (W9TWR) and Dave Hudgens (WT9I). Two operators stayed upstairs and coordinated with two other operators downstairs at the toy tables. We were able to keep a steady flow of children without too much congestion.

It was a great thing to be a part of and was a great way for two different ARES groups to volunteer our time and ham radio abilities to help children who may not get too much under the tree this Christmas.

You can see some pictures of the event at the Vigo County ARES Photobucket Site.

If you would like to watch the News 10 coverage for this event you can go to their link Ryves Hall Christmas

Thanks Jim for allowing us to help you once again.