Altus Area News

National Preparedness Month is bringing a number of activities to the Altus
area.

Patriot Day, September 11, the Altus Area Amateur Radio Club, Altus Area
Skywarn Association, and the Altus Emergency Management office will partner
to bring a Citizens' briefing on how to communicate during a disaster.
Beginning with cellular telephone, the program will detail plans for
Citizens to be able to use Family Radio System channel one and show the
Citizen how obtaining their amateur radio license may mean the difference
between communicating and not.

September 20, Emergency Management is participating with Wal-Mart in having
a display of a 72-hour disaster kit. Volunteers will be at the booth
throughout the day explaining the importance of a kit, a plan, and how to be
involved in the community.

Finally, on September 26 and 27, Bob Roberts, KB5SMJ, will be presenting an
"Open for Business" program to area businesses. This program is offered in
conjunction with the Altus Chamber of Commerce, the Southwest Business
Development Association, and Altus Emergency Management.

Lloyd Colston director
City of Altus Emergency Management
http://www.cityofaltus.org

Left to Right
Charles Goodson-KC5UEG
John Thomason-WB5SYT
Eddie Manley-K5EMS

Left to Right
Steve Ewald-WV1X League Headquarters
Mary Hobart-K1MMH League Headquarters
John Thomason-WB5SYT

Left to Right
Mary Hobart-K1MMH League Headquarters
Melinda Jones-KE5IGK Oklahoma City

5th ANNUAL NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH
COMING This SEPTEMBER

SIGN UP YOUR CLUB or ARES GROUP NOW! Groups and individuals can register to become members by visiting www.ready.gov, and clicking on the National Preparedness Month banner. Good public relations for your groups and easy to do.


WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced today that more than 1,200 national, regional, state and local businesses and organizations have pledged their support and joined the 2008 National Preparedness Month Coalition. Sponsored by the department’s Ready Campaign, National Preparedness Month helps to raise awareness and promote action by Americans, businesses, and communities on emergency preparedness.

“As we approach our fifth National Preparedness Month, I want to thank=2 0the hundreds of coalition members who are making a difference in their communities by helping raise the basic level of preparedness in our country,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “Individual preparedness is the cornerstone of emergency preparedness. Experience shows that if Americans take steps ahead of time, they stand a much better chance of coming through an emergency unharmed and recovering more quickly.”

The Ready Campaign and Citizen Corps (www.citizencorps.gov) are specifically encouraging individuals across the nation to take important preparedness steps. These steps include: getting an emergency supply kit, making a family emergency plan, being informed about the different emergencies that may affect them, as well as taking the necessary steps to get trained and become engaged in community preparedness and response efforts.

National Preparedness Month Coalition members have agreed to distribute emergency preparedness information and sponsor activities across the country that will promote emergency preparedness. Membership is open to all public and private sector organizations. Groups and individuals can register to become members by visiting www.ready.gov, and clicking on the National Preparedness Month banner.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph I. Lieberman and Ranking Member Susan M. Collins, along with House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson and Ranking Member Peter T. King, will serve as honorary Congressional Co-Chairs of National Preparedness Month 2008. Together, they will lead the effort to increase public awareness about the importance of emergency preparedness on Capitol Hill=2 0and throughout the country.

For more information on the Ready Campaign and National Preparedness Month, please visit www.ready.gov or www.listo.gov. Information is also available by phone at 1-800-BE-READY or 1-888-SE-LISTO.

February 2008 marked the Ready Campaign’s fifth year at the Department of Homeland Security. Launched in 2003 in partnership with The Advertising Council, Ready is designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies, including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks. It has proven to be one of th e most successful campaigns in Ad Council’s more than 65-year history. Since its launch, the campaign has generated more than $703.2 million in donated media support. Individuals interested in more information about family, business and community preparedness can visit www.ready.gov or call 1-800-BE-READY to receive free materials.

Linking up with the Ready.gov people and participating in September’s National Preparedness Month, is an easy win. The federal people are already doing all the hard work. All you really have to do is sign up. Most clubs and ARES groups are already doing activities which fit into their structure, so why not get credit for your actions? Of course if you do something more with this opportunity, so much the better! But you have to sign your group in and no one can do that for you. There are hundreds of ARES groups and clubs in the country. Wouldn’t it be fun to have even 70% of them sign up and get noticed? Go to www.ready.gov, and click on the National Preparedness Month banner.


Allen G Pitts, W1AGP
Media & PR Manager
ARRL - the national association for Amateur Radio
225 Main St. Newington CT 06111
(860) 594-0328

HAM RADIO - Technician Licensing Course
Entry-level course for your first FCC ham radio license.
No Morse Code requirement!
""""""""
Sponsored by the Edmond Amateur Radio Society
Classes will be held at the Edmond Downtown Community Center Located at 28 E. Main St., Room 219
Classes begin Tuesday, September 9, 6:30pm
2 hours each Tuesday for 6 weeks
Review session Tuesday, October 21
Test session on Saturday, November 1, 9:30am

Registration - $40 - Includes course materials and test
""""""""
For information and registration, contact:
Clara Granger, KG5UG
405-341-2968
""""""""
Seating is limited!
To pre-register, complete the form below and mail it to:
Edmond Amateur Radio Society
P.O. Box 48
Edmond, OK 73083

**************************************************************************************

Fall 2008 Technician Class Licensing Course Pre-Registration Form

Name:_____________________________ Phone:_________

Address:__________________________________________

City:_________________ State: _____ Zip: ______________

E-Mail Address: ____________________________________

If under age 19, list name of parent/guardian:______________

STOP CC & Rs

LORD, PROP US UP

Every time I am asked to pray,
I think of the old deacon who always prayed,
Lord, prop us up on our leanin' side.

After hearing him pray that prayer many times,
someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.
He answered, 'Well sir, you see, it's like this...
I got an old barn out back.
It's been there a long time, it's withstood a lot of weather,
it's gone through a lot of storms, and it's stood for many years.

It's still standing.
But one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit.
So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up
on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall.

Then I got to thinking about that and how much
I was like that old barn.
I've been around a long time.
I've withstood a lot of life's storms.
I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life,
I've withstood a lot of hard times,
and I'm still standing too.
But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time,
so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side,
cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning, at times.

Sometime we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness,
leaning toward hatred, leaning toward cussing,
leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't.
So we need to pray, 'Lord, prop us up on our leaning side,'
so we will stand straight and tall again,
to glorify the Lord.

If you stare at this barn for a second or two,
you will see who will help us stand straight and tall again.

This story appeared on Network World at
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/070308-ham-radio.html

When networks fail, hams to the rescue
By Jason Meserve , Network World , 07/03/2008

Normally, in a time of crisis, an "amateur" is not the first person you might call. But when communications networks go down, amateur radio operators – or hams – and their gear can get communities connected to the outside world via the radio waves.

During the recent Field Day activities hosted by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), ham operators and clubs across North America spent 48 hours demonstrating their communications abilities. After a 24-hour setup period, groups had a second 24-hour window to make as many contacts as possible around the world using voice or Morse Code (knows as Continuous Wave in ham parlance) over varying frequencies. In the case of the Nashua Area Radio Club (NARC), which set up camp at Wasserman Park in Merrimack, N.H., a group made some 1,165 contacts over the 20m band, one in Australia.

More important than potential bragging rights for making the most contacts, NARC and other teams participating in Field Day proved they’re ready to set up 24/7 communications sites when disaster strikes. To wit, at the Wasserman Park site the group from NARC erected two 70-foot towers complete with various antenna beams, set up tents and campers to house people and gear, and self-powered the site with a gas generator. (See related slideshow)

Many similar camps are currently operating in flood-ravaged parts of the Midwest, says Don Grant, a NARC member that uses the handle N1UBD and was involved in the setup of the Wasserman Park site. Hams also helped maintain communications in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Related Content
Hams work in conjunction with other volunteer groups such as the Military Affiliated Radio Stations (MARS) and Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), both of which work with state and local officials to coordinate communications during emergencies. The ham sites can be used to relay information over voice (both analog and digital, the latter offering greater privacy) or data – even e-mail.

MARS also operates a publicly available e-mail relay service called Airmail that is popular with those traveling the country in RVs and yachters sailing off the coast, says Marc Slater (KB1DFE), the Region 1 Emergency Operations Officer for MARS. All you need to run Airmail is a ham license, radio, modem and list of frequencies on which Airmail stations operate. There are 36 sites in North America, one of which Slater runs from his house in Brookline, N.H. And, it’s free.

"Our mission is to provide emergency communications to various agencies in the manner to which they’re accustomed," Slater says. "E-mail, it runs the world."

What’s the catch? It’s slow. "Running the Pactor 1 protocol [designed for noisy radio environments], you can get 300 baud on a good day," Slater says, showing off a modem similar to that most people used to dial up to bulletin boards in the 1980s. Some more "modern" modems might get you 9600 baud.

MARS is supporting the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) by deploying AirMail systems to facilities that are susceptible to hurricanes, Slater says. The system is quite resilient in that it can resend lost packets when needed, and clients can automatically redirect to another station if the primary cannot be reached.

Hams are also reaching out to hospitals in an effort to keep them connected if primary communications systems fail in the region. The New Hampshire ARES group, in conjunction with state officials, is trying to get a licensed ham operator and the necessary gear at each of the hospitals in the state, a program modeled after a similar effort taking place on the West Coast, says Jim Blaine (WD4JZO), the ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Hillsborough County.

Related Content
ARES also helps out with communications during non-emergency events, Blaine says, such as the Reach the Beach relay race that stretches 200 miles across the state of New Hampshire.

While events such as Field Day are termed disaster-preparedness exercises by those participating, they’re also a good way to market the hobby to the general public. One issue facing many groups is a graying of the population, with many ham hobbyists retiring from the airwaves. That’s where 14-year-old Britanny Decker (KB1OGL) comes in.

Decker, a Hudson, N.H. native, picked up on the hobby a couple of years ago when her father was preparing to sell his old gear on eBay. Decker’s interest prompted her father to keep the gear and get her licensed. Now she’s the assistant section manager for youth in the New Hampshire ARRL group. Decker is hoping to get more kids licensed and actively involved in ham radio through clubs and activities. She says current programs around the country are designed to get kids licensed but don’t follow up to keep them active in the community.

Anyone can get an entry-level Technical Class license by taking a 35-question exam administered by the FCC, a test made easier by the recent decision to drop the Morse Code requirement. After passing, ham radio operators are issued a unique call sign that is renewable every 10 years.

Bartlesville ARC

Field Day

This is what field day is all about.
David is 12 and got his Tech at the Hamfest last year. His sister Sabina is 11 and is a product of our shool classes last year at Jane Phillips here in B'ville. Gary W7FG is showing them the ropes....the two of them made about 30 phone contacts. They took turns logging on the computer......

Noble County Repeater Group.
Perry, OK

KE5AUI
stringing long wire across lake

NCRG Field Day Group

Sunset at NCRG FD Site

 

For more pictures, visit:

http://gallery.mac.com/ostaudt#100116

Salvation Army Station, Ponca City (l-r) Carl KI5SF, Rick KE5CKP, Joe KB5DBR

 

 

Bartlesville - Osage Hills State Park "no order" ( Karolena Gompf - No call, David Turinetti - KE5TPB and Sabina Turinetti - KE5TWL, Don Pratt - K5OKB, Lloyd Waller - KD5MUY, Don Reed - N5DLR, Glen Stockton - K5UP, Steven Fairless - KE5EHO, Alfred Morrison - N5XPX, Mike Maloney - AC5P, James Irick

Tahlequah @ the Fire Department Station - City Airport

 

Mayes County - Nazarine Church, Locust Grove "no order" (Shelley Horton - AE5DQ, Stuart Horton - KD5YIO, Thomas Horton - KE5IIH, Ken Duncan - WB5Y, John Rains - KD5GTU, and Alex Nongard - no call

Tahlequah @ the Fire Department Station - City Airport

TRO Tent

 

Murrah Memorial Marathon
April 27, 2008

"A Run to Remember"
Oklahoma City EOC

Marathon PreEvent Staffing April 22 2008

Marathon EOC April 27 2008

Texas County Oklahoma
Amateur Radio Emergency Service

Has a web page with alot of information on it!

http://tcares.bravehost.com/

Weather Radio Splendid!
April 7, 2008

Thought you might be interested in the results of the weather radio promotion that happened in the Oklahoma City metro this last Saturday. This is part of an email from WalMart’s electronics merchandiser, who has been our contact.

Special thanks and a huge “ATTA-BOY!” needs to go to Ronnie Warren at OKC EM, who pursued the project last year and has spearheaded it again this year.

 

Here are the numbers for all the stores that participated in the event.

Sat. only #'s 5,976
Total Wk from start of promotion time frame 8,940

Many more were sold in area stores around core stores that participated that benefited from all the media promotion of our event.

If you count the other locations that benefited we were able to put over 10,000 all hazard radios into homes this past week & weekend. Please thank all of the EM's and volunteers that participated in this event for us. It went very well and we could not have helped get this many people more prepared w/out the partnership with you.

Thank you again for all that you and your team did to help put this event together.

 

http://www.weather.gov/nwr/indexnw.htm#sametable

Gayland Kitch OCEM
Director of Emergency Management & Communications
The City of Moore
301 N. Broadway Moore, Oklahoma 73160
405-793-4477 office 405-793-5062 24-hr
gkitch@cityofmoore.com

Special Events

http://www.arrl.org/contests/spev.html

 

September 2008