Author Archives: Emergency Coordinator

Volunteers Needed for Wright Stuff Century-September 6

The Wright Stuff Century rides on September 6, starting at Brigham County Park. It is not as big as some of our other events, under 200 riders, 2 supported rest stops, 3 routes of 35, 65 and 100 miles. It is however one of our most spread out. While the route is not finalized as of yet using last year as an example the ride goes as far SE as Mount Horeb and NE 4 miles past Taliesin (thus the name). I’m looking for people at the rest stops and 3 SAG vehicles with an additional person to ride along with the SAG that the Bombay Bicycle Club will provide. If you are able to SAG but you don’t have a bike rack I have one you can use. If all you have is a hand held radio, we can arrange a mobile for you. Given the terrain a hand held alone will be frustrating.

If you have any questions drop a note to Jeff, K9UNZ: me@k9unz.me

Jeff, K9UNZ

Volunteers Needed for Badger Challenge – September 27

The Badger Challenge Public Service Event needs ham support. The event is on Sunday, September 27 and supports the UW Carbone Cancer Center. There are also opportunities to help before then and perhaps learn a few new things. This event can be used for people working on their AUXCOMM Position Task Book.

We need:

  • SAG Drivers
  • Course Marshals
  • Net Control Operators
  • Bicycle Mobile Operators
  • People to manage the event DMR radio cache
  • People to set up and manage an AREDN network providing camera coverage
  • Someone to set up APRS trackers and help SAG drivers who have their own trackers.

Before the event, we (some of you) will also check out repeater coverage and make sure the AREDN network and cameras are properly configured and running.

If you can help out, send an email to: N9TWA@arrl.net.

Indicate:

  • Positions you could assist with
  • Your preferred email address
  • Your cell phone number
  • Your shirt size
  • Availability the day of the event:
    • 6 AM – Noon
    • Noon – 6 PM
    • All day

I will follow-up, to those who are interested, with a more detailed description of the assistance needed.

Joe, N9TWA@arrl.net

Volunteers still needed for Bike the Barns 9/20/2026

I am happy to invite you to volunteer for this year’s Fairshare CSA Bike The Barns ride. Our participation as an ARES/RACES activation is important practice in the event of an official activation. For all other hams, it provides an opportunity to serve the public in CSA’s important mission.

And because the Fairshare CSA Coalition runs a very professional ride–over 750 riders last year–that have a good staff organization, lots of good food, and an enjoyable day between Madison and Mt. Horeb.

I’m hoping you’ll volunteer for public safety assistance at this great annual ride: Bike the Barns will be run this year on September 20.
If you’re available, please send this information back to me at: rrabrams@icloud.com

Name:

Call Sign:

Email Address:

Preferred Phone Number:

Preferred Position: such as SAG, Rest/Water Stop, Net Control help…

Do you have HT/2m radios with/without APRS to use or loan?:

Available hours between 8am-5pm?:

Bike rack on your vehicle?:

Bike rack to share with other drivers?:

Bike The Barns t-shirt size:

Additional comments:

I’m sending this request for volunteers ahead of final details and IC205 Form for radio frequencies we’ll use.

We have a special need this year for SAG drivers, radio operators traveling with SAGs, and those with spare bike racks to share.

There will be “short” and “long” routes, starting at 9:00 am and all finishing between 4:00 and 5:00 pm. We hope you’ll join us for a great day of protecting riders, food during the day, and a food-packed reception at the end of the day.

Short route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55786882

Long route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55786927

Both routes: Google map with both routes included

Provisional Route timing: Spreadsheet

Wright Stuff Century 2026 Maps

The Wright Stuff Century will ride on September 6, 2026, starting and ending at Brigham County Park. Preparations are underway and I’ll be sending out an email for anyone who is available soon.

In preparation, here are some links to maps for the event.

Dane/Iowa County ARES/RACES July 2026 In-Person Meeting

It is the last Wednesday of the Month so we will be meeting in person this week. No Radio Net Meeting!

As usual we will meet at the Dane County Emergency Management office at 2982 Kapec Rd, Fitchburg, WI 53719 at 7:00 pm on July 29.

Our main agenda item will be introducing you all to our new team application to help keep track of all of us. This has been pushed off the agenda for other items for at least a couple of months so, in addition to walking through some of our upcoming events, we’ll get through the app. We’ve had a couple people using it over the last month or so and I’l like to move it to the rest of the team for your use and comment.

If you are unable to attend please join us virtually. I’ll be sending out the virtual information in an email later. If you do not get the email please send a note to kb9orn@gmail.com for a copy.

Jeff

Emergency Notifications, Tornados and AllStarLink

A couple things came out of our last in-person meeting

  • Severe Weather Activation
  • Connecting to our Weekly Net Meeting through your device

Severe Weather Activiation

While Chad WA4ORM gives us timely predictions of the arrival of severe weather days ahead of time, we may not know if we need Skywarn activation until the “last minute.” We are working on updating our activation plan this year but in the mean time, and during this time of the year when we observe more Severe Weather, we would like a plan to begin communications when weather strikes. It can take extra time for me to create an email or a RAVE announcement when time is short, and emails rarely interrupt what I am doing, but text messages and voice calls are good at interrupting me. I would like us all to set up two steps, which may become part of our plan going forward.

  • Make sure you are signed up with the County Emergency alert system.
    1. For Dane County, Sign up here: https://em.countyofdane.com/emergency-alerts
    2. For Iowa County, Sign up here: https://www.smart911.com/smart911/ref/reg.action?pa=IowaCountyWI
      • Or both. When I went to smart911 it told me that I had already signed up for Dane County and gave me the option of Iowa County
      • Check as many options as you’d like but be sure to include Tornado Watch and Warning
    3. Once you’ve signed up you will start to receive emergency notifications from the county. On the First Wednesday of Each month you should receive a test alert, this is a reminder that you are signed up and it is working.
      • When you receive an alert simply look to see if it has the word Tornado in the text.
      • If it has the word Tornado in it tune your radio to the MARA “15” repeater. It may take a few moments for us all to get there but we will begin a resource Net. If Happy Hour is underway, we’ll shut down happy hour for the day. At that time we may not yet know if we are being activated for Skywarn but while we are checking in whoever is available we will be having conversations with Emergency Management Staff to see if they are activating the EOC. If so the first place you will hear will be on the Resource Net. Once we are activated we will move to the normal Skywarn frequency, 444.375, unless otherwise instructed.

For most other activations we will normally have more time to gather the troops so for those we’ll send out an email with a planned time and frequency for a resource net
Once we see how this works we may or may not update it but for now let’s see how this works for us.

Connecting to our Weekly Net Meeting through your device

From some places it is difficult to connect to the MARA 15 repeater (we hope to fix that soon). For those who have difficulty, for one reason or another, you can join us at our weekly Net Meeting through AllStar. There is an App that installs on your phone, Android or iPhone. The MARA Repeater is node #67384 and you can find instructions on the MARA website at: https://w9hsy.org/all-star-connection-instructions/

That’s All For now. I’ll publish the video from our in-person meeting soon.
I’ll see you on the radio

Jeff, K9UNZ
Dane/Iowa County EC

May 2026 Dane/Iowa County ARES/RACES In-Person Meeting

This coming week we’ll be having our last Wednesday of the Month In-Person meeting at the EOC. I’ve learned that a mesh network is being built out around the county and I’ve asked Nicholas , KB9SKW to let us know how it has been going, what kind of mesh it is, how we might get involved and I’d like us to consider how we might take advantage of it for emergency and public service purposes.

I’ve been working on some software that I think is ready to share with you all as well if we have time.

Last Month Jeremy, N9VHT walked us through the latest version of skylog.net, which is logging software we use for logging severe weather events and most of our bike events. I have uploaded a copy of his presentation here: youtu.be/MClVh029yo0

I am populating the information for Horribly Hilly Hundreds even as we speak so we can use it and take advantage of all the new features he is building in.

As usual we will meet at the Dane County Emergency Operations Center at 2982 Kapec Rd, Fitchburg, WI 53719 (fillian.net/eocmap) on Wednesday, May 28, at 7:00 pm.

If you are unable to attend there is a Google meet connection that is available. The link information went out in the email I sent along to the team email addresses. If you didn’t receive the email and would like to attend virtually let me know at k9unz@arrl.net.