Northwest MO ARES Group

News

  • Plattsburg 5K Walk

    47 walkers participated in the 4th annual “Walk for HD” on October 9th 2010. Members of the NWMO A.R.E.S.® Group were there providing communications throughout the route and providing water and snacks to the walkers. The weather was near perfect and a good time was had by all. The walk raised approx. $2,000. A BIG thank you to the members for taking time from their families to help with this great event.

  • Hamfest A Success

    The Pony Express hamfest was an overwhelming success.  I don’t have attendance or table numbers at this time, but can say that attendance of both vendors and patrons was much better than last year.  We tested for individuals, with two of them upgrading.  One of the upgrades was Brian, KC0YEJ who is now an Extra.  

    It seems to me that the true test of any hamfest is how much fun you have at the event, and this year didn’t disappoint.

    A very heartfelt thanks is deserved by Tom, WA0RTU for his very hard work on this years event.

    Also, planning has already begun an next year’s event.  More details will follow shortly.

  • September Meeting

    11 Sep 2010 – NW MO ARES Group

    ATTENDEES
    KC0QLU
    KD0AFL
    KC0YEJ
    W0AFS
    KD0JVR
    W0NMD
    WD0BC
    WA0RTU
    KC0PIK
    WD0HHJ
    KC0ZJK
    KG0CX
    W0FCE
    NJ0Z

    Introduction (Large Group)

    Will be building Tiny Track 4 kits today, 4 of them. Also have reflective vests. $25 to buy one, $5 extra to have call sign added.

    I.D. badges will be coming in this week. $10 each, reimburse Blair for the badges.

    Tossing around idea to get some T-shirts for the group for the hamfest. Polo style shirts. ARRL symbol on one side, NWMOARES written around ARRL symbol. Also call sign and possibly name. $20-$25 per shirt, still estimated. Artwork has been sent off. Should be ready Friday evening, if sizes are available. George will prepay. May need someone to pick up the shirts.

    New membership form on the website. Includes a couple paragraph boxes for general information.

    Those that do the nets, changed net preamble to include the codes for linking the repeaters.

    Last month at Bethany, rickety stairs, George took a fall. New hams need some training up there. Fairfax hospital is down until new hospital finished. Then will have all corners of Region H with radios.

    Gasoline bill on truck? Son in law’s truck needed $80 in fuel. NJ0Z motion and second by KD0JVR to reimburse for full amount. Passed unanimous.

    Banners $110. Move to reimburse ZJK $55 for banners. Motion (KD0JVR) second NJ0Z. Passed unanimous.

    HAMFEST

    Next Friday will be able to start setup at 6PM. Same location as last year. Assist with table/chair setup would be nice. Layout will be different this year. Tom will discuss needs for hamfest.

    Tom – 12 confirmed tables (people sent money) another 15 or so vendor tables. Looks a lot better than last year. This year its definitely going on. Even people from S. Minnesota. Bill will take care of donuts. Our group will do coffee. Big Daddy’s will set up a tent outside for food. He’ll provide fountain drinks. We should provide bottled water and possibly bottled tea. More people Friday night would be nice. Reserved 2 guys for special needs. Lot of table moving, because the layout will be different this year. Get as many tables as possible out there. This will not happen at that location next year, building not worth $800 for a single event (cost going up again).

    NJ0Z – Exhibition Center down off Stockyards Expressway?

    W0FCE – Hotel downtown?

    WA0RTU – Start looking around now for new location, please. Maybe Plattsburg School? Everyone keep an eye out.

    JVR – Have a community center 4000 sq ft in Lathrop, two floors for 8000 sq ft.

    Further discussion of location options.

    Tickets are ready as well. George NJ0Z will get/build a ticket tumbler.

    Everything else is ready to go.

    Charger boards out of exit lights, free to those that want.

    END OF BUSINESS MEETING

    -BREAK BEFORE ACTIVITY-

  • Problems with kits for kit building day

    I ran into a small snag when I went to order the kits the price had gone up to $65.00 per kit. I went ahead and ordered 4, two of which will be used at the hamfest as door prizes. I thought what we could do was a mentoring day with the other 3 kits. I think it will work out well to have those that have never built a kit work with someone that has and learn how to do it and work together as a team. I should get them late in the week and have them there Saturday. We will have 3 to build and I think 3 or 4 person teams would work well. I would like to see a good turnout to help and as this is the last meeting before the hamfest we have a lot to discuss. Looking forward to seeing everyone there Saturday. There is a lot going on this month and I hope we can all be a part of it. Good dx’ing

     

    George, NJ0Z

  • AAR for Aug. 27th 2010

    Phones and Internet were knocked out at approx. 2:30pm. Area most affected was the city of Plattsburg and areas immediately surrounding Plattsburg.Request for possible assistance with relays of emergency traffic was received from the EMD in Cameron, MO at 4:00pm. KC0YEJ started calling members of the group in the surrounding communities to be on standby and to monitor the Plattsburg repeater for any assignments. YEJ also made general calls on the repeater. 5 members of the NWMO ARES® Group were standing by to assist if needed. At 9:30pm phones and internet were back on and the members were released from standby operations.

    This type of call out was interesting due to the fact that no phones or internet were available to over half of the group. KC0YEJ did a great job of finding operators outside of the affected area. The area was relatively small but affected the Clinton County Dispatch center and 911 calls. All Sheriff’s traffic was being handled thru the city of Cameron PD. No traffic was handled by the NWMO ARES® Group.

    Total man hours: 5 x 7hrs = 35 man hours

  • Harrison County Community Hospital

    Thanks to members of the NWMO ARES® Group and WKØQ the hospital in Bethany, MO now has a functioning ham radio station to use in the event of a disaster. Members NJØZ, WDØHHJ, WØAFS, KCØQLU, and local operator WKØQ spent several hours running coax from the roof of the building to the first floor ambulance office and installing a Yaesu FT-857. (Sorry no pictures) Everything went as planned, the weather was fantastic and thanks to everyone bringing their skills, equipment and determination the station is now operational. The hospital has 2 employees that have their Tech license and our group has been asked to do a training session with those operators.

    Thanks again to those who gave up part of their weekend to assist the hospital with their emergency communications efforts.

  • NWMO A.R.E.S. ® Meeting Aug. 14th 2010

    NWMO ARES® Meeting 8-14-10

    Members in attendance

    kg0cx
    kc0qlu
    w0afs
    wd0hhj
    kd0eev

    W0AFS Jay took the Extra test last week and passed and wants wants to be a VE NJ0Z will set him up

    4 members will go to Fairfax hospital today to take down the ham station to get ready to move to new hospital being built and should be done in a month or so.

    Members will be going to Bethany Aug. 28th to finish install of ham station in the Harrison County Community Hospital

    hamfest we have coffee and supplies to sell. Members need to help run the table at entrance and with testing.

    Decided to use online badge company to get badges made up for the group at a price of $20 each. Members will be responsible for the cost.

    NJ0Z ordered 10 reflective vests from the ARRL for members to purchase. They will be $26 each. They will have the ARES® badge on the front and “Amateur Radio Emergency Communications” on the back.

    testing session that was scheduled for next saturday has been pushed back to Sept. 18th at the St. Jo hamfest to give more time to prepare.

    NJ0Z discussed WINLINK class that he attended at the KCNORTH ARES meeting and how it relates to our group and emergency communications.

    Nj0Z is looking into shirts for the group to wear for Public Displays and events we attend.

    N9NIC called on the repeater to report a motorist assist request. He passed a car that was on the side of the road at the 48 MM of I35 NB that had a strong gasoline odor and believed they needed help. KC0QLU relayed info to Cameron PD.

    Meeting adjourned at 11:00am

  • NWMO ARES® Group attends Plattsburg FD Open House

        

     

        

    Members of the NWMO ARES® Group set up a display for amateur radio at the Plattsburg Fire Departments Open House and Truck unveiling on July 24th 2010.

  • Cooling Shelter Response

    On July 22nd 2010 the NWMO ARES® Group received a call from the City of Cameron EMD requesting assistance to man a Cooling Shelter at 315 E. 3rd St. in Cameron, MO. NJ0Z called down the list of members to see who would be available. Those who responded that could assist were: KC0QLU, NJ0Z, KC0YEJ, KD0EEV, W0AFS. Communications were being conducted through Public Safety frequencies for the event however we did use the Plattsburg and Osborn repeaters to coordinate our response within the group. EMD Corey Sloan requested that we work in 2 hour shifts. On Thursday night the shelter ran from 1pm until 7:30pm and on Friday the shelter was open from 1pm until 5pm. Total man hours for the event was 13. Our members were able to cover all shifts necessary for this response.

  • Meeting Minutes 5-8-2010

    May 8th 2010 NWMOARES Meeting

    Called to order by KC0QLU

    Attendance

    KC0QLU
    KC0YEJ
    KD0JVR
    KC0PIK
    KD0KMJ
    KG0CX
    WD0HHJ
    KD0AFL
    NJ0Z
    KC0ZJK

    After Action Review of Search and Rescue on May 2nd.

    Things went pretty well. Needed code to link the 2M/70cm on Osborn.

    Should we get group vests? Tractor Supply carries for about $20.

    Financial Report

    $738.09, received none, disbursed none last month.

    Repeater Desense Issue

    Need to spend a little money and buy the right jumpers for the repeater. Suspect the adapters in use now are part of the problem.

    Motion to purchase proper adapters
    KD0JVR
    WD0HHJ

    Pass unanimous

    Contact info added to the website for those here. Can set up emails for everyone.

    Field Day Plans

    New truck unveiling for Plattsburg FD is on Field Day. Their event runs from 4PM to 8PM that night. They’ll be selling pork sandwiches, chips, cookies, soda pop.

    List of what we’re going to set up? More bring something out and lets try it out.

    Ron will do the QSL cards again.

    Generators provided by group and by county.

    Bug problem? Not really a problem the last couple years.

    Need to talk to Porter and ask if he’s coming this year and bringing cooking materials

    WINLINK is running at CRMC. 145.090 simplex.

    Future meetings showcasing some of these special modes or equipment. Things like APRS, WINLINK, etc. Next meeting, we’ll set up the logging program and get it ready for field day.

    Suggest we have an Extra training class. The meeting after field day, we’ll have a class afterwards, then another class the week after, then take the test. Blair will see if he can get the powerpoint slides. Then George will look into getting the manuals.

    Month after, do a kit build. The TinyTracker 4? Will look into the costs associated. Individuals might buy their own kit, or we might get a price cut for a bulk purchase.

    Remove the 2x on the Emergency or Priority traffic in Net Control script. Also drop the “On this frequency at this time”. Relays okay, but not proxy check-ins.

    Meeting adjourned.