September 5, 2019 Club Meeting
Thursday, September 5, 2019 at 7:00 PM Medford Police Department Community Room, 219 S. Ivy St., Medford, OR
Program: Emergency Communications—Preparing for the Worst, Steve Bosbach, KW5V, and Dakota Otto, KR7DAK
Steve Bosbach and Dakota Otto will discuss how Jackson County agencies work with the ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service). They will also discuss the various programs available for certification of emergency responders.
Biography: Steve Bosbach, KW5V, and Dakota Otto, KR7DAK are members of Jackson County ARES (JC ARES).
Announced in the September 2019 issue of The Repeater.
Meeting Notes
From the October 2019 issue of The Repeater.
RVARC Sept. 5, 2019 Meeting Minutes
7:03pm Meeting called to order by Acting President Scott Cummings, NA7OM. Attendance totaled about 27 members and visitors.
Tonight’s presentation will be on Emergency Communications, given by officers of Jackson County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (JC-ARES) officers Steve Bosbach, KW5V, and Dakota Otto, KR7DAK, and John Fowler, AA7JF.
Old Business:
The club successfully obtained Ellis’ old callsign K7MFR, effective 8/31/2019, thanks to the efforts of Tom and Mike.
Treasurer Mike Bach, WB6FFC, reported a bank checking balance of $5064.00 and $2.20 in petty cash, after $283.00 was spent on gasoline and food for Field Day 2019. The CARE club offered to pay half of Field Day expenses.
New Business:
Scott, NA7OM, motioned that we donate $150.00 to the ARRL Spectrum Defense Fund, due to recent proposals in Europe that could have removed some of the 2M band from Amateur use. John, AC7S, seconded the motion. The motion passed by voice vote without opposition.
Visitor Marc Matheson, KD6KR, said he had recently moved to Grants Pass from Florida, where he was a member of the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club (SPARC). Welcome!
We were also honored to have former Jackson County ARES director Don Montgomery, WB7Q, in attendance tonight.
The 2019 RVARC Swap Meet is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 7 starting at 8:00am outdoors in the Kathrein/Scala parking lot, 555 Airport Rd. Bring your own tables, etc.
Pat, KD7MPA, will be registering k7mfr.org and k7mfr.com for us to use for the website. Thanks, Pat.
Scott said that, traditionally, we solicit candidates for club officers in September, nominate candidates in October, and elect officers in November, so who is willing to step up and help out the club?
Scott, NA7OM, would be open to running for VP; Mike, WB6FFC, volunteered to run for treasurer, and John, KF7UMK, agreed to run for secretary. We need some other candidates too. Please consider volunteering.
Scott also asked Mike to pay the club insurance, our largest budget item.
7:34pm Break for coffee, snacks, and visiting.
8:00pm Presentation from the JC-ARES group ( website at www.jcares.net )
Mike Bach, previously involved in Navy MARS, introduced the presenters by remarking that since the various earthquakes in Southern California, he got to thinking: “Don’t be the ham who doesn’t know what to do during an emergency!” There seemed to be three kinds of hams:
- Highly Trained, like the ARES folks, trained, certified, knowledgeable of equipment usage and locations, required forms and badges, etc. There are not enough of these.
- Average Guys, listening to the traffic, but not knowing how to interface properly.
- The guys with the Baofeng in the drawer, batteries dead, and not able to program it.
The presenters were:
John Fowler, AA7JF, (303)204-2070, [email protected], in charge of membership, has been licensed (extra) for 3 years and suggested, for a start, to get on the ARES frequencies and just listen to get familiar with things.
Steve Bosbach, KW5V, (541)930-9555, [email protected], has been a ham since 1978, with 30 years in Texas, and is the Assistant Emergency Coordinator and Public Information Officer.
Dakota Otto, KR7DAK, [email protected], is the Emergency Coordinator.
It was remarked that Don Montgomery had done the most to make Jackson County ARES the success that it is today, provoking a round of applause for Don.
JC-ARES is the new name, since the previous one, JCARES, could be confused with the other club, CARES.The jcares.net website has downloadable membership application forms and instructions, for those who would like to join up and get training and certification.
JC-ARES is affiliated with the Sheriff’s Dept., SARS (search & rescue), Red Cross, Salvation Army, and in liason with the CAP (Civil Air Patrol).
ARES vs RACES: ARES is under FCC part 97, RACES is only activated when the War Powers Act is invoked, and that may shut down all amateur radio service, radio communication is only when allowed by the commander and only by registered operators.
For federal funding the personnel are required to be certified to ICS 100, 200, or 700, so that training is offered to applicants and also the Sheriff’s Dept. will do a background check and issue a badge.There are three basic levels of training,
- assistant to an operator,
- supervised operator,
- solo emcomm operator.
The free ICS (Incident Command System) training is available through FEMA and NIMS (National Incident Management System).Communications are over FLDIGI, PSK31, via the Red Cross Safe&Well ,Everbridge Call System if cell service is up, or by email, or over the Mt Baldy repeater on 146.84(PL123), or by Eyewarn on 146.43 simplex if the Mt. Ashland repeater is up.
ARES has official emergency stations, and works with other Rogue Valley Community Organizations.There is interfacing to the National Traffic System on Mondays at 7pm on the NTS net KK6GXG. ARES meetings are the 3rd Wednesdays of the month at 6pm at the SAR Barn, 620 Antelope Rd. (behind the gravel piles).
9pm Meeting adjourned.
