The Stark County ARES Home Page

ARRL, American Red Cross Renew Memorandum of Understanding

(May 8, 2021) - - ARRL and the American Red Cross (ARC) have renewed their long-standing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for another 5 years. The MOU spells out how ARRL and the American Red Cross will work cooperatively during a disaster response.

"We are pleased to extend our partnership with the American Red Cross," ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, said. "This agreement details how ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service^® (ARES) volunteers will interface with Red Cross personnel within the scope of their respective roles and duties whenever the Red Cross asks ARES volunteers to assist in a disaster or emergency response."

The MOU calls on both parties to maintain open lines of communication and to share information, situation, and operation reports, as allowed to maintain confidentiality. They will also share "changes in policy or personnel relating to this MOU and any additional information pertinent to disaster preparedness, response, and recovery." ARRL and the American Red Cross also will encourage their respective units to discuss local disaster response and relief plans. They may further cooperate in joint training exercises and instruction. The Red Cross will encourage regions or chapters to participate in ARRL Field Day, the Simulated Emergency Test (SET), and other emergency exercises.

"This agreement keeps in place the strong and mutually beneficial bond between ARRL and the ARC," said ARRL Director of Emergency Management Paul Gilbert, KE5ZW. "The Red Cross is a primary served agency for ARES teams, and it's important that we be able to work together toward common goals when responding to an emergency."

The agreement points out that any ARRL volunteers who are interested in also becoming Red Cross volunteers should understand that a background check is a requirement. Although ARES has no background check requirement, radio amateurs who register as Red Cross volunteers must abide by the Red Cross's background check requirement.

ARRL and the Red Cross may also cooperate in the sharing of equipment.

A Statement of Cooperation between the two organizations at the local level may be developed separately from the MOU to spell out the role of each in providing services to communities during or after a disaster event.

The new MOU was signed by Trevor Riggen, Senior Vice President, Disaster Cycle Services, American Red Cross, and by ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR.

Annual Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Test Set For May
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

(Apr 28, 2021) - - The US Department of Defense will host this year’s Armed Forces Day (AFD) Cross-Band Test, Friday and Saturday, May 7 – 8, in recognition of Armed Forces Day on May 15. The event is open to all radio amateurs. For more than 50 years, military and amateur stations have taken part in this exercise, designed to include amateur radio and government radio operators alike.

The AFD Cross-Band Test is a unique opportunity to test two-way communications between military and amateur radio stations, as authorized under FCC Part 97 rules. These tests provide opportunities and challenges for radio operators to demonstrate individual technical skills in a tightly controlled exercise in which military stations will transmit on selected military frequencies and will announce the specific amateur radio frequencies being monitored.

The schedule of military/government stations taking part in the Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Test and information on the AFD message is available on the MARS website.

Complete the request form to obtain a QSL card.

Stark Co ARES Net Control Operators
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

(Apr 1 2021) - - Thanks to efforts by our Net Manager Michele, KC8ZEJ we now have a current list of Net Control Operators for our Stark Co ARES Weekly Net moving into the 2021 calendar year.

May 4 - Michele - KC8ZEJ 5/11 Ron - KA8FTP 5/18 -Terry - N8ATZ, May 25 - Mike - KE8EHG

June 1- Ron - KA8FTP, June 8 - N8ATZ, June 15 - Mike - KE8EHG, June 22 - Evan - KE8IDH, June 29 - Michele, KC8ZEJ,

July 6, Ron - KA8FTP, July 13 - Terry, N8ATZ - July 20 , Evan - KE8IDH, July 27 - Mike, KE8EHG

Aug 3 - Michele, KC8ZEJ , Aug 10 - Ron , KA8FTP - Aug 17 - Terry, N8ATZ Aug 24, Mike - KE8EHG, Aug 31 - Evan, KE8IDH.

ARES Connect Discontinued
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

(Jan 12, 2021) - - Everyone, SEC’s around the country received an email this morning from Paul Gilbert, the new Emergency Management Director for the League. In this email, he has announced that ARES CONNECT is being discontinued by the League on or before June of this year. Ohio was one of several states which made excellent use of this product, and after all your work to get involved and track your events, I’m sorry to see it go away like this. The League’s answer to monthly reporting from the state is the old “Form 4” paper form.

I have been talking with Scott about our website reporting, and we are immediately going to re-activate the online reporting form that we used to use. However, there are major ramifications that will affect EVERY EC’s duties. There are probably more, but here is a short list of duties you will need to resume on your local level:

EC’s will need to update and maintain your county’s ARES roster.
1. The Ohio training database will continue (it’s separate from CONNECT) but you will have to keep track of your volunteer’s training level. This is important for deployment especially.
2. You should keep emails/text numbers and other alerting information up to date
3. You should already have a ‘short list’ of people who are deployable, and who could fill an ARESMAT request.
4. We will be able to download your county (district) roster prior to June. Let me or Scott know of your request. (You can do this yourself, I think, using the “reports” section.)
EC’s will need to TRACK YOUR ACTIVITIES

Because we will no longer be tracking events and volunteer participation online, you will need to keep that information locally.
It’s helpful to keep a record of volunteer participation in their different events; spreadsheet or database is a tool.
Be prepared to enter your time totals in the arrl-ohio.org form 212
We’ll need to go back to the ‘monthly narrative’ where you can document activities that you’ve undertaken

EC’s will need to return to filing the MONTHLY REPORT on arrl-ohio.org as we did prior to CONNECT. (see above)4
DEC’s will need to return to producing the District Report Narrative (where you take each of your county’s narratives and compile the monthly report for your district.

These are all routine things we each used to do prior to CONNECT. They don’t take a lot of your time, but they DO require you to resume accountability for your roster and event accounting.

Gang, I’m really disappointed in this. Nationally, there was a lot of misinformation and negative reaction to CONNECT, from its badly mishandled introduction, to lackluster promotion and encouragement from the League which resulted in people who refused to discover what it could do and just panned the whole thing. We in Ohio were fortunate to have Scott who is the national expert on CONNECT and whose hours of time invested into the program made our lives easier here. Not only that, there seems to be no real plan for what to do in the future for ARES accounting. The new Director of Emergency Management Paul Gilbert, KE5ZW, did spend time inquiring around the country, and did a short online survey before making the decision to scrap the program.

If I can be of any help in getting you started in this new-old program please don’t hesitate!

Stan Broadway, N8BHL
Ohio Section Emergency Coordinator

Stark Co ARES Participates in Red Cross Fall Drill
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

Red Cross Fall Emergency Communication Drill Set for November 14 (Nov 14, 2020) - - The fall 2020 nationwide Red Cross Emergency Communication Drill will take place on Saturday, November 14, in conjunction with ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) groups. The focus of the exercise is sending messages from local sites to a group of divisional clearing houses to simulate and demonstrate amateur radio’s capability to relay information in emergencies and disasters. The drill will get under way at 0900 and continue until 1800 local time in each time zone. The scenario is a major weather event that has caused outages and created hazardous conditions across the country.

The drill will use Winlink as the primary method of delivering pre-formatted messages. The goal is to encourage more operators to become familiar with Winlink and its message templates — primarily ARC-213. This format permits sending standardized messages. The drill aims to bring as many radio operators as possible up to a “basic” level of Winlink proficiency.

A series of Winlink Workshops is held each Thursday at 0100 UTC on Zoom. Join the SEC-ARES group for announcements and discussions. Include name and call sign when registering.

Winlink Proficiency Goals have been drafted, a Winlink technical support team has been formed, and Metrics for Drill Success have been developed. The proficiency goals are established as a training guideline and references online training resources. Many hams new to Winlink may find these resources helpful.

Several hundred radio amateurs already have signed up for the event. This nationwide event is open to all radio amateurs.

The Stark County ARES will also participate in this years Red Cross Fall Drill on Saturday November 14th.

ARRL ARES Volunteers Standing By to Assist if Needed in Wake of Nashville Blast

(Dec 26, 2010) (ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers remain ready to deploy in Williamson County, Tennessee, in the aftermath of an apparently intentional explosion early on Christmas morning in downtown Nashville. In addition to injuring at least three people and possibly killing one, damaging more than 40 buildings, and causing multiple water main breaks, the blast disrupted telecommunication systems. The explosion occurred in front of an AT&T switching facility. Nashville’s mayor has declared a civil emergency and imposed a curfew through December 27. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee called the damage “shocking” and has requested a federal emergency declaration. ARRL Vice Director and Williamson County Emergency Coordinator Ed Hudgens, WB4RHQ, who lives in Nashville, is monitoring the situation.

“Here in Nashville and the surrounding counties things are a bit of a mess still. The explosion did a lot more damage than was originally thought. AT&T now has about 30 mobile cell units deployed throughout the area.

“Since about 0730 yesterday, we have had monitoring nets up and running on the local analog repeaters and DMR repeaters. We have mainly been answering questions as best we can considering the limited information coming out from AT&T. My ARES group is ready to deploy to the Williamson County PSC to assist with communications for various county offices when the call comes.

“MTEARS [Middle Tennessee Emergency Amateur Repeater System] is holding nets on our DMR repeater system several times a day. The main repeater at the TEMA [Tennessee Emergency Management Agency] site is affected by the outage and fortunately we just last week got two DMR repeaters online in Williamson County, and all communications is going through them.

“WCARES is holding a continuous net on our five-repeater linked system to assist hams as needed. We are relaying news updates from AT&T and county governments and assisting callers on AT&T to implement wireless calling on their phones. In the future we may start taking traffic and routing it to the state nets.” The monitoring net on the linked system will remain u p until AT&T systems begin to come back online, he added.

Hudgens said that a net is active in Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, in addition to the WCARES net. “The MTEARS system is active and providing similar information. Our DMR repeater system is also up and running. The main repeater at TEMA is down because of the AT&T outage, but just last week we got two new DMR repeaters up in Williamson county and all DMR traffic is running through them,” Hudgens said.

ARRL Headquarters has reached out to Tennessee Section Manager David Thomas, KM4NYI, to offer any possible assistance.

A public address system on the RV broadcast continuous warning messages, counting down from 15 minutes. Police called to the site after reports of gunfire quickly evacuated residents. According to FEMA, outages with patient-tracking systems were reported, but there is no anticipated impact on patient care. Air traffic at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is on hold due to a communication outage, FEMA said. Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the only Level I trauma center serving the region.

AT&T is experiencing service outages across middle Tennessee and Kentucky, including with local 911 systems, cable TV, telephone, and internet customers. The Tennessee Emergency Operations Center is at partial activation, experiencing telephone and internet outages. The FBI is heading up the investigation. FEMA reports it’s received no requests for assistance.

Happy 150th Anniversary NWS !
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

(Feb 9, 2020) - - - Today's National Weather Service is built upon a long history of dedicated employees committed to their mission of providing data, observations, forecasts, and warnings of weather, water and climate events to save lives, protect property, and enhance the national economy.

As we celebrate our 150th Anniversary, and NOAA its 50th, we have much to document, collect, preserve, and share, along with our partners in the Weather Enterprise and the academic, research, and technology communities who have helped us along the way.

This site is designed to bring the history - the story - of our organization to life, and helps provide an in-depth view into the events, scientific and technological achievements, and professional and personal lives of the individuals who contributed and advanced our great agency that we are proud to be a part of today.

Dr. Louis W. Uccellini

Director, National Weather Service

Birthday Cake - Celebrating the National Weather Service's 150th Birthday on Feb. 9, 2020

On February 2, 1870, the United States Congress passed a resolution requiring the Secretary of War “to provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the States and Territories...and for giving notice on the northern (Great) lakes and on the seacoast by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and force of storms.” The Resolution was signed into law on February 9, 1870 by President Ulysses S. Grant, and the precursor to the Weather Bureau and National Weather Service was born.

The new agency, called the Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce, was formed under the U.S. Army Signal Service. The new weather agency was placed under the War Department because “military discipline would probably secure the greatest promptness, regularity, and accuracy in the required observations.” Because of the long name, the agency frequently referred to it as the national weather service or general weather service of the United States.

Signal Service

The new weather agency operated under the Signal Service from 1870 to 1891. During that time, the main office was located in Washington, D.C., with field offices concentrated mainly east of the Rockies. Most forecasts originated in the main office in Washington with observations provided by field offices.

During the Signal Service years, little meteorological science was used to make weather forecasts. Instead, weather which occurred at one location was assumed to move into the next area downstream. The weather forecasts were simple and general in content -- usually containing basic weather parameters such as cloud and precipitation.

The Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce remained under the Signal Service until 1891. On October 1, 1890, Congress voted to transfer it to the Department of Agriculture and renamed the Weather Bureau. The actual transfer occurred July 1, 1891, and at that time, organized civilian weather services within the Federal Government began in the United States.

Click Here for additional information on this anniversary celebration.

Winlink Development Team Recognized For Service
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

(Jan 27, 2020) - - In a recent ceremony, two Winlink development team members were awarded the Military Department of Tennessee Adjutant General’s Distinguished Patriot Medal.

Steve Waterman, K4CJX, was awarded “for his distinguished patriotic service as the Winlink Network Administrator,” citing his “vision, hard work, and dedication to emergency communication [that] contributed significantly to the disaster readiness and communications interoperability of the emergency responders across the United States and the world.”

Phil Sherrod, W4PHS, was awarded the medal “for his distinguished patriotic service as the lead developer for Winlink,” with “technical skill, hard work, and dedication to emergency communication [that] contributed significantly to the disaster readiness and communications interoperability of the emergency responders across the United States and the world.”

ARRL Self-Guided Emergency Communications Course EC-001-S is Now Available On-Demand
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

(Nov 21, 2019) ARRL’s EC-001-S online “Introduction to Emergency Communication” course is now available to students in an on-demand format, allowing students to register for the course and begin work at any time. This course is designed to provide basic knowledge and tools for any emergency communications volunteer.

In response to the great course demand and to expand access to EC-001, ARRL developed a self-guided version of the course, EC-001-S, which launched in June. This version of the course is designed for those who prefer to work independently and who do not need guidance from an online mentor. EC-001-S was previously offered only during specific sessions along with the traditional mentored version. The course opened for general enrollment on November 6.

Visit the ARRL Online Course Registration page for more information and to register.

Massillon Holiday Parade
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

(Nov 5, 2019) - - (Dec 16, 2019) - - On Saturday Afternoon, November 23rd the club completed our last public service event for the year by assisting with the annual Massillon Holiday Parade, an event we have participated in for the last 44 years making it one of the longest public service events handled by the club.

Our volunteers assisted with parade staging, cable TV interface, logistical support, parade safety and general communications for the 70 plus units that generally make up this annual Massillon Holiday tradition.

Terry Roan, Massillon Holiday Parade Parade Chairman provided a special thank you to the club in a letter to the editor noting “Massillon’s Amateur Radio Club, with Perry Ballinger (W8AU) as it’s leader provided 22 parade marshals who organized the line-up. To have a successful Holiday Parade we needed the complete support of the citizens of Massillon and surrounding areas—which we definitely had !

Thank you to everyone who made our Holiday Parade 2019 a huge success .”

Also a special Thank You to all of our club members who helped our with this years parade, we couldn’t have done it without you !

Stark ARES Display
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

(Nov 7, 2019) -- Stark ARES hosted an information table at the November 3rd Massillon Hamfest. The table was staffed by ARES Net Manager Mike Lackney - KB8MIB and Assistant Net Manager Mike Palmer - KD8ENV.

Our display included a PowerPoint presentation covering basic ARES & Skywarn operations, a display of several versions of Emergency Response or (Go-Boxes) and informational literature. New this year was literature provided by the Stark County EMA Office.

Many visitors stopped by with questions and comments covering our ARES & Skywarn programs here in Stark County. My thanks to both Mike's for staffing the booth during the hamfest !

Mike Lackney, KB8MIB at the ARES Display

Stark County Safety Expo
Courtesy of the Stark Co ARES

(Oct 6, 2019) - - The MARC participated in the 2019 Stark County Association of Realtors Safety and Preparedness Expo on Saturday, September 28th from 11:00 AM until 3:00 PM.

The MARC EComm Trailer was on display as we provide information to the public on how we provide community service in the event of a local or wide based emergency that could impact our community.

The following MARC members assisted with this event to provide information to the public. Terry, N8ATZ, Jim - WA8GXM, Vern - KE8VS, Bud - WA8KWD, and Don - W8DEA. Dave Beltz - WD8AYE representing the Stark County EMA Office also participated in this event.

National Preparedness Month Program
Courtesy of the Stark Co ARES

(Sept 11, 2019) - - Continuing with our participation in National Preparedness Month, Stark County ARES participated in a two hour radio program hosted by the County EMA office and broadcast over local AM station WHBC that focused on plans our local our local government and public service organizations have put into place to serve citizens during a disaster, and on things the local populace can do in the event of a major emergency. The program was live streamed over the station facebook page,

Guests included both Canton Hospitals, EMA Staff, police and fire officials and city health departments. Our county ARES was represented by EC Terry Russ, N8ATZ, and Assistant EC David Beltz, WD8AYE our liaison to the EMA office. We briefly discussed how we interact with local civil authorities and how we provide support communications during emergencies and our local Skywarn program.

The program is available for replay on the Stark County EMA facebook page in the video's section. Click Here for the replay....

Alliance Carnation Festival Report
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator courtesy of the Alliance Amateur Radio Club

(Sept 3, 2019) - - The Alliance Amateur Radio Club (W8LKY) provided Emergency Communications for the Greater Alliance (Ohio) Carnation Festival Grand Parade on August 10, 2019.

The Ten-Day annual festival concludes with the Grand Parade. The Parade stepped off at 11AM at Fernwood Blvd and West State Street and concluded 2.1 miles later at the intersection of Broadway Street and South Union Ave. This was the Sixtieth (60TH) anniversary of the Carnation Festival Celebration in Alliance. The Festival honor’s The Official State Flower of Ohio, the Scarlet Carnation.

Thirteen (13) Ham Operators were stationed along the entire 2.1 mile parade route. Twelve (12) operators were W8LKY members and One (1) operator from PCARS. The Alliance Club was represented by the following and includes hours of service on the project: Frank Sanor (WA8WHP)Four (4) hours, Tomas St.George (KC8ZEH) Four (4) hours, Lorin Kleinhans (KD8WVE) Four (4) hours, Paul Richardson (K2ASA) Four (4) hours, Howard Miller, Jr. (K8DXR) Four (4) hours, Ron Rittenhouse (KE8HCY) Twelve (12) hours (Project Chairperson), Shawn Gentile (KD8ZEZ) Four (4) hours, Dwight Turner (KD8YFV) Four (4) hours, David Kleinhans (KE8IYN) Four (4) hours, David Moreno, Jr. (KE8JLP) Five (5) hours, club secretary assisted project chairperson, Doug Matthews (KD8DNQ) Four (4) hours, Mike Urban (KE8CKL) Four (4) hours . The PCARS operator was Karen Andrews (N8HUC) Four (4) hours. The total service hours for this project was Sixty-One (61) hours of community service, Frank (WA8WHP was net control.

The weather was ideal, in the upper 70’s and no chance of rain. This year, we created a Parade Flow report; we charted the flow of the parade. Each operator along the parade route reported the arrival of the first and last parade units to Net Control. The Parade Flow report was shared with the Festival’s Grand Parade Chairpersons after the conclusion of the event.

No Emergencies occurred and the ebb and flow of the parade was reasonable with a few gaps, but not as many as in the past. W8LKY did have communications via our frequencies with the Alliance Police department. The Alliance Police Auxiliary handled traffic control, W8LKY served as communicators only; we were not involved with parade units.

A pre parade meeting was conducted at 9AM on the day of the event, and prior to each operator assuming their assigned location on the parade route. A packet was distributed at the pre parade meeting, the packet included the latest Parade line up, a parade map, a list of all the operators on the project (locations, tactical call sign to be used) and project’s SOP’s (standard Operating Procedures and overview of the project). One third (33%) of the club participated in the project and we had no problem filling the assignments for this project. The project is part of W8LKY’s Community Service agenda for 2019. W8lky will be providing Emergency Communications for the Alliance Rotary Clubs Annual Labor Day Castle Run event on September 2nd, 2019. Alliance Amateur Radio Club (W8LKY) is an ARRL Special Services Club. “Pride in the Carnation City” and 73’ from Alliance Amateur Radio Club W8lky.

Efforts Continue to Enhance ARES Program, add Resources
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

(Sep 22. 2019) - - The ARRL Board of Directors, committees, and Headquarters administrative staff are continuing efforts to enhance the venerable Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) program. A major ARES Plan has been adopted, providing new direction going forward. In addition, a standardized training plan has been adopted and a new ARES Emergency Communicator Individual Task Book approved and published.

At its July meeting, the ARRL Board considered the report of its Public Service Enhancement Working Group (PSEWG). A “change log” was proposed for the Task Book that will highlight changes made as the document is periodically revised and updated. ARES position guidelines were posted to the online ARES Workbook and a major revision and update of ARRL’s Introduction to Emergency Communications course — now designated as IS-001 — has been completed.

The course is now available at no cost to any ARES registrant, and a “tutor-less” format has been added as a parallel path for completing the course. Additional tutors were recruited to assist in handling the initial surge of interest. A “challenge” path directly to the final exam is also being implemented. An update and introduction of IS-016 — Public Service and Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs — will follow in the next few months.

Veteran Ohio Section Manager Scott Yonally, N8SY, has been brought on board to assist in implementing ARES Connect and to field questions about the new software package from users. ARES Connect is a volunteer management system covering event signup, reporting, and roster management, to simplify managing volunteers and events.

Some modest revisions to procedures have been made to the Ham Aid program.

Most recently, the PSEWG has begun an extensive examination of the future role of the National Traffic System (NTS) in concert with ARES. It’s hoped that a brief survey of selected Section Managers, Section Traffic Managers, and Section Emergency Coordinators will provide a starting point for a more extensive analysis of the program.

At its July meeting, the ARRL Board authorized the EmComm Manager Selection Committee to specify the position requirements for a new Director of Emergency Management at Headquarters. This individual will lead the team responsible for supporting the ARES program and will work with ARRL staff to develop standards, protocols, and processes to support the Field Organization. — Thanks to The ARES E-Letter

Canton Repository Grand Parade
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

(Aug 11, 2019) ... The Canton Repository Grand Parade starts long before the seats along Cleveland Avenue are filled. Long before the first float begins its journey, when the sky has yet to change from starlight black to morning blue. High School Bands are still finding their positions and tuning up their instruments, parade balloon are slowly being filled with helium while their handling teams get last minute marching instructions and the dozens of classic cars that carry football legends and celebrities alike are lined up like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Among the thousands of parade volunteers, Amateur Radio operators help to organize this vast ensemble of parade participants. These volunteers are members of the Stark County Amateur Radio Emergency Services and multiple other area radio clubs. For over 40 years, amateurs have provided communications services for this event that will total over 200 volunteer hours of service on this day alone. The parade has grown steadily in size over the years and now is the single largest public service event handled by amateur radio operators here in Stark County .

Again this year over 500,000 spectators watched the parade and behind the scenes lies a core of amateur volunteers many of which have over 25 years of experience assisting with the parade. This dedication is one reason that parade organizers have long realized the importance of effective communications that are necessary in organizing a parade of this magnitude. Also over the years, they have come to understand and appreciate the fact that it takes more than a radio to make an effective communicator. Parade General Chairman Drew Felberg realized the limited range of their commercial radio's and he was grateful to learn that our communications was solid throughout the parade route thanks to our wide area coverage ARES Repeater on 147.12 Mhz. The Canton ARC's club repeater on 146.79 Mhz was also ready to use as our backup if needed. With the introduction of Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) Technology, we also increased both our communications range and ability to cover the entire parade route this year.

The last several years, parade officials have used loaned commercial radio's to maintain communications with their committee members.. While this has worked for routine short range communications, parade organizers have relied on the discipline and experience of amateur operators to handle urgent communications needs and especially medical traffic that occurs throughout the nearly two and a half mile parade route.

Continuing this year, in a reorganization of parade communications, our responsibilities covered four separate areas, each with it's own control point. These were Staging, Route Communications, Dispersal and Medical Support.

Staging is where it all begins. Event organizers and radio operators setup and arrange the over 130 units that make up this years parade. Beginning at about 2:00 A.M., this job is like taking a 5,000 piece puzzle and assembling all the pieces to create the final picture in a little over five hours. This doesn't include the setting up of the Television Broadcast area, Parade Communications Center and the Balloon Inflations area, all included in our early morning duties. At exactly 8:00 A.M., the gun sounds and the parade starts down the route. Terry Russ, N8ATZ is stationed at the television area to act as communications liaison to Parade Chairman Drew Felberg. As part of our new responsibilities, Dave Beltz, WD8AYE was assigned to the parade Communications Center to act as liaison with parade communications and public safety forces.

Route Communications then kicks in to help maintain the pace of the parade units. The pace of the parade is set by Canton Police Department motorcycle units. Each successive unit is to follow maintaining a certain spacing set by football helmets painted along the entire 2.5 mile parade route. Expected slowdowns occur during the parade in the TV area, where all units slow to perform for the crowd then speed back up to maintain proper spacing.

Parade spacing and movement is a top priority for event coordinators, a role headed up another committee member who was in charge of all parade marshals positioned throughout the parade route. Shadowed by a ham liaison Mike Daughenbauch, KE8EHG, he monitors the condition of the entire route thanks to our network of radio operators. As spacing became an issue, Mike relayed instructions to all marshals to get everything back in sync. A task that would not be possible without the support of ham radio. This continued to be a daunting task and thanks to amateurs disciplined communications experience, we were effective in minimizing unit gaps throughout the parade.

In addition, amateurs watched for trouble spots, assisted with broken down floats, crowd control, seating assistance, media relations, and medical support, these being only a few of the responsibilities handled by amateur radio operators. Net Control, under the direction of Justin Corner, N8JKC, helps to ensure orderly parade radio traffic and maintains overall communications with all parade operations. Justin also monitored weather radar, another benefit provided by radio operators. Nearly 30 radio operators were positioned along the entire parade route to handle this facet of parade operations.

Medical Support has continued to remain one of our most important parade responsibilities as thousands of participants and spectators crowd the route each year and brave a myriad of changeable weather to watch the grand parade. In recent years, county medical squads have updated their communications equipment to provide for better interoperability between the many emergency medical service units called in to assist with the parade. Due to these advances, amateurs' role in this area was decreased although operators along the route were prepared to assist should emergencies arise. Again this year several minor incidents did occur and radio operators again were called upon to support the EMS in providing communications assistance with this ever present problem area.

As in previous years Emergency Coordinator Terry Russ - N8ATZ maintained communications with the Parade Chairman in the Parade Communications Center. This provided a link to both Emergency Medical Service and Police personnel.

Parade Dispersal continues to be an increasingly complex segment of the Grand Parade in recent years. This years responsibility as Dispersal Communications Coordinator was Wade Huthmacher - WD8MIU a role he has held for nearly 25 years.

An important part of the parade, dispersal has had to handle numerous situations and problems including reuniting participants and parents and general disassembly of the entire parade. For the twelfth year in a row, additional volunteers were assigned to this area. With local amateurs running in short supply, volunteers were obtained from the Akron area including members from the Summit County Amateur Radio Emergency Service and several other area radio clubs including both the Canton and Alliance ARC and the Portage County ARC. A special thanks for these additional volunteers, provided through our Mutual Aid pact with neighboring county ARES.

The 2019 Enshrinement Grand Parade was another great success thanks to the many volunteers including the amateur radio operators who assisted us again this year. Parade General Chairman Drew Felberg and Communications Coordinators Wade Huthmacher – WD8MIU and Terry Russ - N8ATZ want to thank all the volunteers for their help and assistance during this years parade. Their tireless efforts, although largely unnoticed by the general public, have proven their worth time and time again over the years.

Parade Officials were very appreciative of the ham operators assistance in the parade each year, "I really don't think we could pull this thing off every year without ham radio assistance." County EC Terry Russ agreed: For over thirty years, ham radio operators have been the backbone of the parade, providing the bond that keeps it all running smoothly for the Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival Committee."

Volunteers for this year’s parade include the following operators:

STAGING/COMMUNICATIONS Center: Terry Russ - N8ATZ and Dave Beltz - WD8AYE, and Mike Daughenbauch, KE8EHG. General Net Control - Justin Corner - N8JKC.

DEMARSHALLING COORDINATOR: Wade Huthmacher - WD8MIU.

ROUTE COMMUNICATIONS: Steve Simon - KD8SPF, John Wagner - W8JJW, Vern Sproat - KE8VS.

North Route: Perry Ballinger - W8AU, Pat Quinlan - KA8DAL, Jeff Gortney - K8JAG, Ted Faix - KB8PRK, Igor Nikishin - K8INN, Tom Gill - KC8QOD, Roger Grey - W8VE, Perry - N8VXQ, Mike - N8COM, Don - N8IVJ, Dan - N8DZM, Rick Arborgast - KE8LNJ, Tom - KA8MNT, Dennis - AI8P, and Deb - KD8DEB.

DISPERSAL Team Leader: Wade Huthmacher - WD8MIU, Tom Gill - KC8QOD, Denise Gill, Keith - KE8DTS, Adam - KE8IEM and Jon - N8ZXB.

Congratulations to everyone on another great Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival !

Community Parade Wrap-Up
Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Emergency Coordinator

(July 24, 2019) - - With a picture perfect day for an opening day parade, members of the Stark Co ARES, Canton & Massillon ARC's once again assisted in the opening events of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival by providing communications support for the Community Parade held this year on Sunday, July 21st.

Again this year amateurs provided both logistical support communications for parade staging as well as medical support covering the EMS units assigned to the parade route and TV Production assistance.

Voice relay communications were utilized to synchronize the nearly 90 parade units making up this years parade. A voice relay is normally used to relay the exact line up and was provided by Dave Beltz, WD8AYE to Tom Gill, KC8QOD in the Comm Trailer. This is then relayed to Evan Rankle, KD8IDH inside the Television Production truck. This system allowed parade officials to make any last minute lineup changes and accurately convey this to the TV producer.

This year the weather cooperated and the parade was completed with only a few minor unit breakdowns and no injuries to any of the participants.

Our other parade responsibility and perhaps our most important, is medical support. Amateurs were stationed along the route to provided a common communications link to the medical command center in demarshaling area.

A special thank you to the following volunteers who assisted with this years event. The TV Production and logistical support crew included packet operators Tom Gill – KC8QOD and Dave Beltz - WD8AYE, and Evan Rankl - KD8IDH in the TV Production Van. Net Control was handled by Terry Russ - N8ATZ. Igor Nikishin - K8INN, was positioned along the Market Avenue Route.

A terrific job from a great crew, thanks again for your support of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival !

Ohio ARES Active in Wake of Tornadoes that Badly Damaged Hara Arena
Courtesy of the ARRL

(Apr 28, 2019) - - Hara Arena, in Trotwood, Ohio, which served as the home for Dayton Hamvention® for more than six decades, was among the structures damaged when tornadoes swept through the Dayton area on Memorial Day. According to a report from WHIO TV, Hara Arena suffered extensive damage. Drone video showed that the roof and side of the structure had been blown off in several places. Hamvention relocated to the Greene County Fairgrounds and Exhibition Center in 2017, after Hara Arena shut down the previous year.

The Hara Arena damage apparently resulted from what CBS News called “a large and dangerous tornado” that struck Trotwood. Ohio Section Emergency Coordinator Stan Broadway, N8BHL, said ARES counties and districts activated last evening after nearly 40 tornado warnings were issued across the state.

“Our state EOC Auxcomm station has been on the air since early last evening,” Broadway told ARRL. “We are still active, and it look like ARES will be active for several days during the recovery. The situation is rapidly changing.” As of Tuesday morning, state and local emergency management agencies are handling damage issues. “Because of lack of power, the entire Montgomery County (Dayton area) water system faces depressurization,” Broadway said. “Dayton Children’s Hospital is on complete generator power.”

Ohio ARES remains active on HF (SSB and digital modes), as well as on DMR and VHF repeaters.

“This appears to be a long-term activation while different areas begin the recovery process,” Broadway said. “Counties and districts involved are urged to maintain liaison with the state through one of these nets.”

The severe weather caused widespread damage in and around Dayton and elsewhere in the Miami Valley. The National Weather Service (NWS) has said it will take several days to survey the damage. The tornadoes struck after dark, and damage assessment is still under way. Multiple injuries and one fatality have been reported.

It appears that at least two tornadoes were responsible for most of the devastation, which has been termed “catastrophic.” Some residents were trapped under debris. Residents of the City of Dayton are being advised to conserve water and to boil it before consuming. Electrical power is out in several areas, and water pumping stations are relying on emergency generators. The NWS office in Wilmington, Ohio, estimated that at one point, storms and tornadoes left some 5 million people without electrical power.

Snow plows were being repurposed to remove debris from Interstate Route 75, and the American Red Cross has set up shelters to accommodate displaced residents.

Storm Spotting and Amateur Radio 3rd Edition

ARRL ARES Volunteers Standing By to Assist if Needed in Wake of Nashville Blast