Author Archives: Emergency Coordinator

April 24, 2024 Monthly Meeting

ARES: What is our Superpower?

We will meet this Wednesday, April 24 at 7pm at the Dane County EOC at 2982 Kapec Road, Fitchburg. Please use the west door (facing Kapec Rd) to enter the building. If you are unable to attend in person please send an email to KC9UNZ@arrl.net for Google Meet information to attend virtually.

I’d like to review the purpose of ARES and how ARES fits into the other HAM activities as well as our served agencies here in Dane/Iowa county and get all your opinions on how we think about our mission here. What makes ARES distinctive? What is our Superpower? This piggy-backs on to a number of conversations I’ve had with organisations around the county and State of late and some of the concerns that have cropped up.

Dane/Iowa County ARES/RACES Membership Meeting
Wednesday, April 24 · 7:00 – 8:30pm
Time zone: America/Chicago
Google Meet joining info:
Request connection information from kc9unz@arrl.net

Cross-Band Repeating

At our March in person meeting on the 27th Luke, KC9IFF shared a presentation on cross-band repeating and how it is used for Events and Emergencies using Ham Radio. Thanks so much Luke!

Below you will find a recording of Luke’s presentation as well as a link to his slide deck.

Dane/Iowa County ARES/RACES March In Person Meeting – Cross Banding

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Monthly ARES/RACES Meeting on February 28th

We will be meeting at the Dane County EOC at 2982 Kapec Road, Fitchburg on February 28 at 7:00 PM. If you’ve not been there take the McKee Rd exit off Verona Rd (State Rt 18) and go west about 500 feet. The EOC is at the corner of Kapec and King James Way, just behind the Kwik Trip. Enter on the West side of the building. If you have trouble getting in, Call my number (below) or call KC9UNZ on the MARA “15” repeater and we’ll send someone to the door.

If you are unable to join us in person I will be hosting a virtual meeting. If you would like the Virtual Information please send your name and Call Sign to kc9unz@arrl.net and I’ll send you the connection information.

Storm Spotter Classes Scheduled for Spring 2024

The ARES Standardized Training Plan AKA The ARES Task Book, suggests that all ARES operators should have Storm Spotter Training at least every other year. To support the National Weather Service has scheduled 4 Storm Spotter training in our area (Dane and Iowa Counties) this spring.

The classes are scheduled as follows:

  • March 21, 1:30PM, Iowa County Sheriff’s Department Conference Room
  • March 21, 6:30PM, Iowa County Sheriff’s Department Conference Room
  • April 2, 1:00PM, Mount Horeb Public Library
  • April 2, 6:30PM, FItchburg, Dane County EOC

For more information on attending and on how to register for virtual attendance if needed please go to the NWS web site here: https://www.weather.gov/mkx/spotter-schedule . Please note you may have to register, click on the event in the calendar on the page for any additional information.

2024 Dark Skies Severe Weather Seminar

Please add February 24 from 9am-3pm to your calendars for the 2024 Dark Skies Severe Weather Seminar held at Madison College at 1701 Wright St and put on by the The MidWest Severe Storm Tracking Response Center (MidWest SSTRC, Inc.). Each year they host a number of presentations on Storm Spotting in our area and the Dane/Iowa County ARES/RACES has an information table at the event. This is also a good reminder that as ARES operators we are expected to attend Storm Spotter Training at least every other year. As soon as classes for 2024 have been published we’ll add them to this site.

Our EC, Jeff, KC9UNZ will be staffing a table with ARES information and answers (hopefully) for any questions people have. He will be bringing stuff to look at. If you’d like to have links to the materials he will have available you can download the Resource List here.

Our latest tri-fold brochure is available as well.

January 2024 Monthly Meeting

We will be meeting this month at the NEW Dane County EOC at 2982 Kapec Rd, Fitchburg, Wisconsin 53719. This month we will meet on the 4th Wednesday of the month, January 24 at 7:00. We’ll get a look at the new digs and I believe we can get our IDs that night! I will at least take some pictures so we can get the IDs created soon. (No Really!, this time I’m not kidding) For those who can’t make it in person there will be a virtual space for you to join us. I plan to review the presentation Kyle, KC9SDK, Steve Haskell and I gave to SCWIHERC about ARES and Hospital support and review some plans for the year. If you cannot be there in person we will provide virtual space for you to attend. Since we don’t want to get Zoom Bombed I’ll not publish the virtual location here. If you would like to attend virtually and you did not receive my email from this week please send a note to kc9unz@arrl.net (please include your call sign) and I’ll send you the Google Meet connection instructions.

Remember when we have in-person meetings on Wednesday’s there is no Net meeting on that night.

October 2023 Monthly Meeting

It’s the last Thursday of the month and time to get together. We’ll be meeting at 7:00 pm on Thursday, October 26, at UW Space Place at Villager Shopping Center, 2300 S Park St # 100, Madison, WI 53713. Come in the main door, straight ahead, down the stairs, into the hallway and Space Place is on the left.

We will be discussing how we might respond to an emergency incident using a tabletop exercise. I’m looking forward to getting us around the table and hearing your creativity. If you can’t make it in person, check your email for a link we sent out. Otherwise send an email to kc9unz@arrl.net including your call sign and we’ll send you the Zoom connection information.