CW and SSB stations which will be at the Public Safety Center in Franklin. These will be broken down into three hour time slots starting at 1 P.M. on Saturday 28 January and ending at 12:59 P.M. on Sunday 29 January 2023.
WCARES will again be offering free classes to help prepare for the ARRL license exams for both the Technician (beginner) and General (intermediate) amateur radio licenses. The classes are open to everyone interested in getting their first license, upgrading or simply auditing the classes as a refresher.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA.com) and Middle Tennessee Electric (MTE.com) are both reporting via social media accounts that the rolling blackouts have ended (Sat. Dec. 24):
Our EC, Jeff Standifer, WB5WAJ contributed this short video of a WCARES portable ops gathering at Liberty Park. The video was taken on 11/22/2022 and features Jon Kessell (KK4AIZ) at his rig while other WCARES members look on.
Melanie, Rick and Jeff enjoy music in the park while Jeff, Jeff, Doug and Paul have gone to the dogs while operating POTA on the Natchez Trace Parkway at the 1812 Memorial Monument! Pictures by Jeff ‘DWP and Doug.
Our 2022 SET demonstrated that WCARES has the skills, depth, and commitment to serve our community in a time of need when communication support is necessary. During the SET exercise, 8 mobile radio operators connected 10 Emergency Response partners from multiple municipal agencies to the Williamson County ECOMM 911 center. This was an important first step demonstrating proof of concept in the development of the procedures and application of technology to provide continuity of communication in the event of a catastrophic Public Safety radio system outage.
Three simulated shelters were activated in response to a simulated flood event. Seven radio operators established stand alone radio operations at the three sites using their own power and radio equipment to provide vital status reports back to Net control and the Williamson County Emergency Management Agency.
Seven radio operators comprised the Net Control Team utilizing multiple modes, including the WCARES repeater system and back-up repeater, DMR and Winlink to manage communications from the 3 shelters, the 10 emergency response partners, and other participating WCARES members providing requested information regarding shelter status, weather and flood conditions as well as the status of public utilities. Vital information was able to be obtained from field sources and provided to the Williamson County Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service.
Ron Howes and I enjoy vintage AM radio. On September 30, Ron used his Johnson Viking seen in the first photo and I used my Johnson Valiant on the top center of the second photo.
These are both 1950’s transmitters. The receivers that we used are also vintage. We had a great QSO and lots of fun! We have done this a few other times on other vintage AM gear.
Ron Howes, KD4MV uses his Johnson Viking seen on the top shelf to the right.
Doug Miller, W4DML uses his Johnson Valiant located at the very top of this rack.
WCARES, the Williamson County (TN) Amateur Radio Emergency Service, will be conducting an ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) on:
Saturday, October 15, 2022 from 0800 (8 AM) CST through 1215 (12:15 PM) CST
This exercise will take the place of the October WCARES Monthly Meeting.
Final copies of the Simulated Emergency Test WCARES 2022 Player Handbook (Version 2.7) and the exercise associated Incident Radio Communications Plan (ICS 205) (Version 1.4) are now available at the following (updated) links:
Sign-up here to take part in the WCARES Simulated Emergency Test 2022:
Update:
From: Jeff Schwartz, KC1DWP
THIS IS AN EXERCISE
The Williamson County Amateur Radio Emergency Service, WCARES, will be conducting an ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) on Saturday 15 October 2022 from 0800 through 1215.
This countywide emergency communications exercise is intended to test our ability to provide communications for our primary served agency – the Williamson County Emergency Management Agency – as well as the National Weather Service.
The exercise scenario will involve a weather event necessitating evacuation to simulated shelters. Shelter communication teams will deploy to the simulated shelters and establish communication operations. Mobile communication operators will deploy to specific municipal agency locations to establish two-way communication between the agency and the Williamson County EMCOMM 911. Other simulated emergency communication needs will develop during the event.
All exercise related communications will begin with the phrase THIS IS AN EXERCISE.
Should an ACTUAL emergency occur during the exercise, the phrase “REAL WORLD” repeated three times will be used to indicate that the exercise is suspended until further notice.
Additional communications will be issued in advance of and during the exercise.
This countywide emergency communications exercise is intended to test our ability to provide communications for our primary served agency – the Williamson County Emergency Management Agency – as well as the National Weather Service.
The exercise scenario will involve a simulated weather event necessitating evacuation to simulated shelters. Shelter Communication teams will deploy to the simulated shelters and establish radio communication operations. Additionally, Mobile Communication operators will deploy to Emergency Response partner locations to establish communications between the partner and the ECOMM 911 center. More details will be provided.
At this point, we are looking for volunteers for the Shelter Communication teams and as Mobile Communication operators.
This is a great opportunity to exercise your skills, try out your equipment, and help demonstrate the emergency communication capability we have in WCARES.
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