| 1/12/2007 --- Missouri Traffic Net Gets New Net Manager
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Please join me in congratulating Larry Wilson, K0RWL as our new net manager for MOTRAN. Larry has been a ham for many years and has been an active on CW and Phone traffic nets, contesting, building and repair. He is active in his local amateur community, working on repeater repair and up-date, among many other things. He has been active in ARRL as well, having served as SM for a period of five years. Larry‘s station is outstanding, and he frequently has been asked to relay messages from stations that net control stations cannot hear: He is alert to help new stations that are having difficulty in being heard, and welcomes them to the phone net community.
This also marks the retirement of Phil Urquolia, NY0T (also remembered as K0DAT for many years) who is planning to move to the Kansas City area. Phil’s energy and welcoming manner drew many phone ops to become regulars of the Missouri Phone Net. He has been an effective recruiter of new (or former) net managers so there will always be sufficient net managers to cover the needs of the net. Like his predecessor, Vergil Eaton, K0IPM, Phil was a minister in his professional life, and both of them are good shepherds to the phone net community, as well. Phil‘s presence on the Missouri phone net, as well as on may other nets, will be missed.
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| 12/1/2006 --- New District E Emergency Coordinator Appointed
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Larry Ford has been appointed as the new District Emergency Coordinator for Missouri District "E". Larry has been the EC for Dunklin County and will retain that position for now as well. Congratulations Larry!
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| 8/24/2006 --- New District C Emergency Coordinator
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Jeff Young, KB3HF has been appointed as the new DEC for District C. Jeff has been the EC for St Charles County for some time and will be replaced by Bill Grimsbo, N0PNP in St Charles County. Congratulations to Jeff and Bill both!
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| 6/21/2006 --- Field Day
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This weekend is Field Day get out and join in the fun! Don't forget to get your extra bonus points (100) by sending your NTS message to your Section Manager or Section Emergency Coordinator. According to Field Day rule 7.3.5, your message may be originated to either the SM or SEC for credit of these bonus points. Both the SM and SEC plan to be on the Missouri Traffic Net at 1745 local time on Saturday evening to receive NTS traffic. (the traffic net meets daily at 1745 local time on 3.963 MHz +/- QRM) Check out all the Field Day rules at the ARRL FD Rules Page. Remember you can even participate as an individual, but its more fun with a group!
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| 6/12/2006 --- MEPN Update
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Check out the MEPN page from the link above to see the latest update on the Missouri Emergency Packet Network. There has been more progress on the network as well as other exciting news posted in the report from Project Director, Roger Volk. You can contact Roger by sending email to k0gob at arrl dot net.
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| 5/22/2006 --- 2006 Hurricane Season approaches
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The National Weather Service released its predictions for the 2006 hurricane season today. Today also happens to be the beginning of Hurricane Preparedness Week and it runs through the 27th. More information on the Hurricane Preparedness can be found at the NWS NHC site. More information about the predictions released for the 2006 hurricane season are available at this NWS site.
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| 3/14/2006 --- March 13 - 17 2006 is Severe Weather Preparedness Week
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The National Weather Service office around the US will be conducting drill this week. More info can be found at the NWS web site. NWS Site
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| 3/13/2006 --- Missouri Storms March 11 and 12 2006
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Several areas of Missouri were affected by the storms that raged through the state on Saturday and Sunday, March 11th and 12th. Missouri Section Emergency Coordinator Don Moore, KM0R reports that many amateur radio groups were active in storm spotting and subsequent damage assessment operations. The National Weather service offices in Missouri have further data on the multiple tornados and thunder storms that went through the state. Reports from NWS offices can be found here ( St. Louis Reports) and (Pleasant Hill Reports).
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| 9/7/2005 --- UPDATED - Another Deployment Opportunity
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ARRL HQ has contacted Missouri ARES to forward a request for some amateur operators. This deployment would be to the Slidell, LA area in support of a convoy of goods to be delivered to the disaster area by the Assembly of God HQ in Springfield MO. 5 or 6 operators are needed with 2m capabilities and they hope to have a couple with HF capabilities as well. Living conditions WILL BE PRIMITAVE, expect to carry in your own food, water and sleeping gear. Plans are currently for the deployment to begin on Monday 9-12 and last up to 3 weeks. If you are interested, please contact me ASAP with you capabilities and deployment readiness status. Contact via email to km0r at arrl dot net.
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| 9/4/2005 --- KATRINA response, are you interested in deploying?
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Are you interested in deploying to help with communications for the hurricane affected areas? If so, you can sign up here... katrina.ab2m.net. Volunteers will be contaced when needed as determined by the requests for assistance and other needs. Volunteering does not guarantee that you will be asked to deploy. Some things to keep in mind (Thanks, Joe - K0OG!) are things like making sure that your immunizations are up to date before you leave. A simple trip to your local health department or family doctor cam help keep you healthy. Conditions in some areas are very primitave yet. Also, keep in mind that the ARRL is giving preference to those who have successfully completed level 1 or greater of the Emergerncy Communication Courses. Also, please be sure that your county, district and section emergency coordinators are aware that you are deploying, if you are called to go. That will greatly help with record keeping as time progresses.
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| 9/1/2005 --- THANKS for the amazing response !
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The response to yesterdays request for communications operators from the USCG has been amazing. Bill Tull, KB9YSA , EC for Miller County reports that they received an overwhelming response to the request. Word spread quickly and responses came in from across Missouri. No deployments have been made yet, but those who have volunteered have been entered into a database for possible deployment in the next few days. Tull also said that they had enough volunteers at this time and if additional resources were needed another request would be sent.
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| 8/31/2005 --- Potential Hurricane Deployment
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The United States Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in St Louis has requested some communications help from amateur radio. They possibly need two people who have portable HF gear that can deploy to the hurricane disaster area with a Coast Guard team of about 30 people. If you are interested, and can deploy, please contact the Section Emergency Coordinator for more details at KM0R at ARRL dot NET.
Deployment could be up to 30 days. USCG will supply food, water and shelter for the deployment, but volunteers would need to bring their own clothing. Ideal communications equipment would include a completely portable WINLINK system capable of sending and receiving email via HF from the disaster area to WINLINK stations outside the disaster area. Prefer HF digital WINLINK comms, but HF voice is useful too! Just as a reminder, no one shoud "self deploy". All travel in these areas is monitored and unauthorized personnel will be sent home without the proper authorization information.
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| 8/3/2005 --- The MESN comes through again, inspite of high noise levels!
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Section Traffic Manager, Dale Huffington, AE0S filed this report regarding the MESN.
Sunday evening, July 31st the MESN net members did well in spite of difficult propagation, logging a total of 36 stations, including two from Iowa and one from Kansas. Noise was high with rapid fluctuations in signal strength. It became impossible to copy stations that are normally S7 or better. The A index went over 20 and the K index over 4, according to one propagation report from a NOAA website. The event was classified as a minor solar storm.
Early in the net as conditions deteriorated the net went to alternate net controls by district and asked for relays. Checkins included sever stations running on emergency power and one mobile station. Net discipline was excellent; people who were asked to serve as regional net controls filled in efficiently and relays were done with few doubles. The net maintained communcations and could have handled emergency traffic, if needed.
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| 7/29/2005 --- The search is on in District C!...
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The search has begun for a District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) for Missouri ARES(r) District C due to the resignation of the current DEC. Fred Langeneckert, W0UX, the current DEC, said "My current job and associated issues do not permit me to devote the time that I feel is necessary to give this ARES(r) position the attention it deserves." Section Emergency Coordinator, Don Moore, KM0R said "The search for a replacement DEC has already begun." In the absence of a DEC for the district, county EC reports should be sent directly to the SEC via the form on the section ARES(r) website or via email to km0r at arrl dot net.
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| 6/22/2005 --- Field Day is this weekend!
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Field Day is this Saturday and Sunday, June 25th and 26th. Head out into the field and practice those portable operating skills and while you are at it, get yourself an extra 100 points! How? Well, sending an NTS message to either the Section Manager or Section Emergency Coordinator from your Field Day site including the club name, number of participants, Field Day location and number of ARES operators involved with your station. The message must be transmitted during the Field Day period and a fully serviced copy of it must be included with your submission, in standard ARRL NTS format, or no credit will be given. This information is available in the Field Day rules section 7.3.5 if you want more info! The Section Manager and the Section Emergency Coordinator are both planning to be availabe on the Missouri Traffic Net Saturday at 1745 local on 3963 khz +/- for QRM. Have a GREAT Field Day!
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| 6/6/2005 --- MESN DRILL - June 18th
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On Saturday morning, June 18, there will be a special session of the MESN conducted in support of MECC-KC and Missouri Army MARS. It will start at 10:30 AM and end at 12:00 noon or when ever all messages have been cleared.
Among the purposes of the drill is encouraging ARES contacts with local emergency officials such as Emergency Operations Managers, Red Cross, Salvation Army, hospitals, public health departments or other governmental or non-governmental agencies.
The net will be a directed net and stations will be asked to check in by ARES districts, giving their call sign, county, and stating if they have traffic and their county’s operational status. It will be either “operational” or “damage – and state the damage, such as damage to water, power, communications, transportation, or a crisis such as medical emergency, hostage situation, etc. If there is “damage” you may wish to list traffic from one of served agencies in your county. The traffic may be to a state or regional emergency services agency and may either advise of the situation or request specific assistance.
Each station is encouraged to contact a local served agency and request an exercise message, to go out over the agency’s name, stating a need and requesting assistance from a specific agency.
It must be short and clear, no more than 25 words including “This is only a drill.” You may wish to write a suggested message yourself and get approval from the agency, rather than editing someone else’s note. Keep a copy of the message.
The message should include address information sufficient to allow delivery by phone or mail. Discourage return messages by explaining that recipients may not be available on weekends, and the exercise is running for a limited time. Suggest the sender follow up the following week with a phone call to the addressee to see if the message was delivered correctly and explain about the exercise at that time. The message should end with the sentence “This is only a drill.”
If there is no local agency which can provide a message for this drill, MESN stations may send a status report to the Section Emergency Coordinator, KMØR. The message should identify the type of damage or problem. End with the sentence, “This is only a drill.”
If you know NTS message format, use it. If you don’t, write it up and send it anyway. You’ll learn a lot, in a hurry, by participating. Your experience will help prepare you to step up to the plate for your community in a real emergency.
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| 5/16/2005 --- Text messaging expert defeated by Morse Code operators
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In a speed contest put on by NBC on the Jay Leno Tonight Show on May 13th, two ham radio operators defeated the Text Messaging champ. Each team was divided into a sender and receiver and then were given a single sentence to send to their partner and the CW operators handily won the race. There is video of the segment available from this site... Download here For more info, see the Story on the ARRL website titled CW Ops Whip Whippersnapper Text Messengers on National Television.
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| 5/5/2005 --- District Emergency Coordinator Resigns
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Larry Anthony, WB0VAM has resigned from his position as District Emergency Coordinator for Missouri District 'E' due to health reasons, according to Section Emergency Coordinator, Don Moore, KM0R.
Moore said “Please join me in wishing Larry the best. We are sad to see him leave his leadership position.“ Larry, WB0VAM has served as District E Emergency Coordinator since March of 2002. His work with the county EMA directors in the “bootheel” region of Missouri helped to increase awareness of the resources ARES can bring to the relief and recovery efforts of their counties.
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| 4/28/2005 --- ARRL Grants for Emergency Communications Training
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The grants that are currently available from the ARRL for the on-line emergency communications courses are ending... now is the time to get signed up and get your course completed before the grant ends if you wish to receive reimbursement for taking the courses. See the article at ARRL for more info.
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| 3/24/2005 --- Winlink 2000 presentation April 16th
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At the Hambash 2005 in Kansas City, Don Moore, KM0R will be presenting on the Winlink 2000 system. Hey you might even find a good bargain! More info on the Hamfest, directions etc. are available here.
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| 3/1/2005 --- Severe Weather Awareness Week
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The National Weather Service and Missouri State Emergency Management Agency have declared March 14 - 18 as Severe Weather Awareness Week for 2005 in Missouri. NWS says the goal of this week is simple, "SAVE LIVES!". More information can be found on the NWS web site. Talk to your local ARES(r) group and participate in any events they may have scheduled for this week. There are several around the state.
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| 1/17/2005 --- New Training Information Available
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Missouri Section Training Coordinator, Gene Bess, W0GAB has supplied information for the training section of the Missouri Section ARES web site. Information on items that you may find useful during deployment as well as some very interesting reading entitled "Amateur Radio; Emergency Communications, Asset or Liability?" are located on the training page of the site. Questions or comments may be directed to Gene directly or may be sent to the Section Emergency Coordinator at km0r@arrl.net.
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| 12/27/2004 --- Winter Weather Prompts ARES(r) Activity in Missouri Bootheel
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District E Emergency Coordinator Larry Anthony, WB0VAM reports that the Dunklin County EMA Director, Shane Sholting requested communications help from ARES(r). Due to the heavy snow and icy conditions, Dunklin County Sherrifs Department lost power to both of their county repeaters, both of which carry 911 traffic. ARES(r) was requested to provide a communications link in each of the major cities in Dunklin County. Dunklin County Emergency Coordinator Larry Ford, N0RIC, was notified of the power outage and had amateur radio operators ready to handle 911 requests if needed. Anthony also reports that during a television station interview of EMA Director Sholting that amateur radio operators were praised for their quick and professional response to the emergency.
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| 12/9/2004 --- *** New RSS Feed available ***
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The Missouri ARES website now has an RSS feed available for news Items appearing on the home page. The feed is available by clicking the orange RSS icon located near the top of the home page. www.ares-mo.org
What is RSS?
Where can I get an RSS reader?
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| 12/8/2004 --- November Missouri Emergency Packet Network report Posted
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The November report from MEPN Project Director, Roger Volk has been posted. You may view the latest updates at http://www.ares-mo.org/mepn.asp.
The latest Section Emergency Coordinators report is also available online (as well as an archive) and can be found at http://www.ares-mo.org/currentsec.asp.
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| 10/19/2004 --- Storms in SouthEast Missouri
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Severe weather again rumbled through the bootheel of Missouri yesterday afternoon and last night. Over 60 tornadoes were reported to the National Weather Service in Memphis, Tennessee. Three people lost their lives in the small community of Cooter, Missouri in Pemiscot county. According to Pemiscot Count Emergency Coordinator Loyd Avis (KCØMWU) A tornado touched down in extreme SouthEast Missouri and then jumped across the Mississippi River into Dyer County causing considerable damage.
District E Emergency Coordinator Larry Anthony (WBØVAM) supplied information on hail, damage to homes and power outages to public service operators in the Bootheel of Missouri, NorthEast Arkansas and to local radio and television stations throughout the storm period. Amateurs from three states were tracking severe weather and helping wherever they could.
More info may be available from the Daily Dunklin Democrat newspaper.
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| 7/28/2004 --- Missouri Section ARES(r) gets new Training Coordinator
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The Missouri Section Emergency Coordinator announced today that Gene Bess, W0GAB has accepted the position of Missouri Section ARES® Training Coordinator. Gene has been involved in ARES for quite some time and has been instrumental in creating training materials used far and wide! Watch for updates on the Missouri ARES® Website Training Info page and on the MO-ARES Yahoo reflector containing info on new training opportunities!
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| 3/7/2004 --- MEPN Status Map is now available
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There is now a map available showing the approximate location and status of the Missouri Emergency Packet Network nodes. This map contains only those that are already completed, are in construction or design phases
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| 11/21/2003 --- Missouri Emergency Packet Network
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The MEPN is progressing very well. A site list which contains the typical items that would be needed for each MEPN node stack has been published and is accessible from the MEPN page along with the latest report from Roger Volk, MEPN Project Director. Click the MEPN link above to go check it out!!
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| 9/22/2003 --- Packet operations in Missouri
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With the Missouri Emergency Packet Network now becoming a reality, I have seen a renewed interest in packet operations in several areas of the Missouri Section. I have also had several requests to update the outdated list of packet nodes and BBS's that are listed here on the site and am hoping for some help in doing just that! If you operate a BBS or Node, please take time to register that information here so we can all know its available and use it. Also, please pass the word on to others that have packet equipment so we can get as much of it as possible registered in a single place for users to reference!
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| 8/19/2003 --- Missouri Section ARRL Convention
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The Missouri Section ARRL Convention is this coming Saturday! Besides the exciting fun of the hamfest, there will be an ARES forum that you are sure to learn something from if you attend. One of the scheduled speakers is General Thomas with Missouri Homeland Security. The General will be talking about homeland security and the role of ham radio. Some of the topics to be covered will include ARECC course requirements for ARES leadership and a discussion of the Missouri ARES interoperability plan including what it means for you. Please plan to attend if you can! This session starts at 9am and is scheduled for 2 hours!
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| 8/5/2003 --- JUICE 2003 Exercise
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Missouri ARES and MARS operators participated in Joint User Interoperability Communications Exercise 2003, an exercise involving he Missouri National Guard and various other agencies including DPS, DOT, SEMA plus more. See a few pictures here from the exercise and there is more info available here.
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| 6/7/2003 --- Missouri Emergency Packet Network Update
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The MEPN is officially under construction under the direction of MEPN Project Coordinator, Roger Volk, KØGOB. The MEPN project is making progress with one official sponsor onboard, discussions are underway with a second sponsor, a technical director has been appointed and more... Check it out by clicking the MEPN button above!
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| 5/12/2003 --- MORE STORMS IN MISSOURI
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Missouri Amateur Radio Operators are responding in multiple locations throughout the state in response to the storms that passed through Missouri during the past week. The latest damage is Teams are active in many places assisting with communications for public service, damage assesment and are handling health and welfare traffic in the affected areas. More info is available here...
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