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The HOTLINE |
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Are We Really Ready for an Emergency? |
by Terry Williams, KD5KJU |
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Daryl Spiewak |
Our speaker this month will be Daryl Spiewak, who currently serves as the Emergency Programs Manager for the Brazos River Authority in Waco, Texas. Mr. Spiewak has a very noteworthy history. Recently, he served as President of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), and also of the Professional Emergency Planners Association. While serving in the US Army Security Agency, he worked with electronic intelligence gathering, space collection, radio direction finding, and electronic warfare equipment. While working as a Master Explosive Ordinance Disposal (i.e., “bomb squad”) Officer, Mr. Spiewak led EOD teams that provided security for two U.S. Presidents (Reagan and Bush), the Vice President (Bush), Secretary of State (Schultz), numerous foreign heads of state, dignitaries, and their many family members. He has responded to numerous terrorist and bombing incidents in the United States and overseas, trained emergency response teams, and conducted field exercises involving weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical, and explosive) and modern warfare. I think you get the idea: While Mr. Spiewak is clearly qualified to talk on many subjects, for our September HOTARC meeting, he will address the response to Hurricane Katrina and America’s preparedness for the next disaster—be it natural or manmade. This should be a very interesting and informative presentation. Hope to see you all at the meeting!
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President’s Corner |
by Rodney Baden, K5YKC |
Appreciated and Not Forgotten
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Rodney, K5YKC |
As I write my column this month, I think of all that is going in the Gulf coast states with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It is not a very pleasant feeling, but being from central Louisiana, I can’t help but reminisce a little.
I was born in Alexandria, Louisiana on July 9, 1942: the Baptist Hospital of Alexandria on the Red River is where I began my life in this world. Looking back to that time, America was in the middle of a war and my family, like every other family, struggled from week to week. My mother told me that my first name was derived from the milkman that delivered to my grandparents house, and my middle name was derived from the last name of the preacher, Brother Alvis, that married my mother and father. He was also redheaded.
Even though my hair is getting a little grey at this time in my life, I can still remember as I grew up how much my family did everything together. We fished, went crabbing, boated, played baseball, ate, barbequed, cried, worked, and numerous other things. But that’s the one thing I remember most: we were always together. When one Baden went somewhere, the whole family was there.
You could always know where we stood on political issues and we always gave the other people “the shirts off our backs.” We didn’t let anyone go hungry and we went to the funeral homes and paid visits to other families whose loved ones had gone to be with the Lord.
As I sat in my computer and radio room this week, receiving and answering emails and phone calls from those that were concerned about family members, scenes from my past flashed before my eyes. They were as real as if they happened yesterday. I remembered my grandfather, Pappy. (That is what my grandson calls me now.) My Pappy was one, great man. So, then my thoughts turned to my grandson, Parker—because he turned five years old this week. On Wednesday afternoon I sang “Happy Birthday” to him on the phone and wished we were able to see each other on this happy occasion. He laughed the whole time I was singing, and I heard him tell his mother that I was singing “Happy Birthday” to him.
When we finally finished talking, he said “I love you” and gave the phone back to his mother. Well, needless to say, I hope that I will always be as good a “Pappy” to him as my “Pappy” was to me.
May God bless you all.
73
Rodney A. Baden, K5YKC
HOTARC President
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For the Record... |
HOTARC Meeting of Members
August 25, 2005
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The Treasurer Reports... |
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Heart O’ Texas Amateur Radio Club Beginning Account Balance $ 4,163.36 Income Interest $ 0.88 TOTAL Income $ 0.88 Expenses TOTAL Expenses $ 0.00 Ending Account Balance $ 4,164.24 Outstanding (as of 8-16-05) Submitted by |
Meeting was called to order by President Rodney Baden K5YKC at 7:04 PM. Present were nineteen full members, and two visitors: Gerald Richmond N5ZXJ (our guest speaker from Temple ARC), and Joe Dorn W5VEX (also from Temple ARC).
The Minutes for the July meeting were approved as published in the HOTLINE, on a motion by Ed Middlebrook KC5NT, second by Rusty Keyes AD5JY, and unanimous vote by the members present. The July Treasurer’s Report was also accepted as published in the HOTLINE following a motion by Ed Hynan KC5KNI, second by Ray Read AD5CK, and unanimous vote by the members present.
Announcements
· In the News: K5YKC reported that, since the Texas Legislature was working hard to pass education bills, there was a good chance the Texas BPL bill would not be passed during this special session.
· National Night Out: Terry Williams KD5KJU thanked everyone who contributed to the success of the NNO at Alta Vista neighborhood.
Committee Reports
· ARES: Ed Hynan KC5KNI reported that he is still needing volunteers for the October WMD Exercise. He needs a total of 20 volunteers; send Ed an email if you can help. He also needs to hear immediately from anyone interested in enrolling in the free Incident Command course. K5YKC also noted that Ellis County is holding an exercise on August 30/31.
· Trailer: Roger Miles WB5MBO reported that the generator exhaust pipe is still in need of repair (he hasn’t had time available to fix it).
· Repeater: Norris Martin KB5SLI reported that Scott Shafer KD5MLY will be delivering the 146.88 duplexer filters to K5YKC (as part of the repeater installation on his home tower).
· Web page: John Chamberlain AC5CV had nothing to report.
· ATV: David Bush KC5UOZ had nothing to report.
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· Education: K5YKC reported that the American Red Cross requested a Morse code class, but not returning his calls. Bill Feltenberger KD5UEW reported that ten A.J. Moore students (9th grade) will be working towards ham radio licenses at the school.
· Public Relations: Scott Shafer KD5MLY had nothing to report.
· Special Events: AC5CV reviewed the plans for the support of Symphony 6000 event on September 3, with Elaine Ault KC5WQE agreeing to serve as Net Control, and reminded everyone of the upcoming Waco Wild West Century bike ride coming on September 24. Joe Dorn W5VEX gave HOTARC permission to use the 147.14 repeater for this event.
Motion to adjourn heard from KD5UEW at approximately 7:40 PM.
AC5CV conducted an auction of radio equipment from the estate of Coleman Motes KD5HQA, raising $417 to be returned to Coleman’s estate.
Gerald Richmond N5ZXJ presented our evening’s program about Echolink. Gerald demonstrated Echolink by using a 2 meter mobile rig to contact the Fort Worth NWS office and a Pennslyvania repeater.
Submitted by:
John Chamberlain AC5CV
HOTARC Secretary
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7:00 am-4:30 pm, Saturday September 24 Please contact John Chamberlain AC5CV Email: AC5CV@arrl.net Phone: (254) 855-7731 to volunteer to help HOTARC provide |
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Amateur Radio Logs |
by Ed Hynan, KC5KNI, |
Try to imagine amateurs all across the
country setting up for Field Day and spending a 24 hour period contesting with
other amateurs around the nation and the world—without keeping station logs. When
the contest period is over, imagine each station submitting a report to the
ARRL with an estimate of the number of stations that they contacted.
How could the ARRL decide who were the contest winners? With estimates,
no one could really know. Some would be low estimates, some right on,
and I imagine that most would be overestimates. Without real documentation of
what took place, it would be an impossible task.
Now translate that Field Day contest (which is really a demonstration of emergency capabilities) into a real life emergency situation—HURRICANE KATRINA. Now it is not a contest or a game. People’s lives, health, and welfare depend on the communications getting through. Communications like: medicine needed here, food and water needed there, hazardous materials discovered, flood and damage reports, casualties, etc.—all are critical for those affected and those trying to provide and coordinate relief. If you are on one end of the radio link, how do you know that the correct information made it to the correct persons or agencies? Do you know who requested the items? Who approved and released the request? Who is responsible for getting it there?
Remember, as amateurs supporting an emergency, we are just the messenger. Those affected or supporting the emergency depend on us—the messenger—to get the right information to the right agency. This is why amateur radio logs are so important. In the heat of the emergency, it is tempting to just pass the information and/or provide the requested assistance. But, if something goes wrong or is misunderstood, the messenger is the first one to receive grief. So this is why, when we hold our nets and special events, we take the time to log each communication. You may use your own brand of shorthand, as we do with weather nets, and then transcribe or fill in the blanks later. But we document what, when, where, why, and especially who is making the request or who is responding to the request. We get it on paper or entered into the computer so the lowly messenger can provide the accurate and necessary specifics—right then, and also maybe hours or days later, or maybe by a different operator.
The ARES Net Controls for the Monday night nets all keep and submit logs. This is documentation that the net took place. We need to practice this in all our other organized support events—the Symphony Run, the Bike Race, and so forth—so that it will be automatic when any one of us have to serve as the messenger in times of a real emergency.
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Get Ready for Home-Brew Night! The October HOTARC
Meeting (Thursday October 27) is your opportunity to show off all your favorite
So, shine it up and get
that project ready to show at the October meeting! (That’s next month.) Note: It doesn’t have to be
something spectacular— |
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Hammin’ with Symphony 6000 Music |
by John
Chamberlain |
My thanks to all those who volunteered a few hours of their time and a few watts of their battery power to help coordinate the Waco Symphony 6000 run on Saturday morning, September 3. The weather was beautiful—the sense of Fall was in the air as we met at Heritage Square in downtown Waco before sunrise. And all our radio equipment worked! Woo-hoo!
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(Click thumbnails below for a larger version of the image.) |
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Sunrise over Lake Brazos |
Net Control KC5WQE |
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And they’re off!! |
…and some took the run |
The Waco Symphony makes the |
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…and what’s a Symphony Run without a grand piano?! |
Is this guy with the Symphony? |
AC5QQ at her radio post—and |
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Amateur Radio Earning Praise, Respect in Hurricane Katrina Relief |
You won’t hear much about the “little worker bees” from the major news outlets, but behind the scenes officials from government, emergency management, and Red Cross are taking note of the invaluable assistance being provided by the volunteer radio operators. There’s not enough space here to even summarize all the good things that are happening, so visit the ARRL web site for the latest news and prepare to feel proud of our hobby and your fellow hams! The new slogan seems to be: When all else fails, amateur radio works!
The HOTLINE is the monthly newsletter of the Heart O’ Texas Amateur Radio Club (HOTARC), Inc., a nonprofit corporation, chartered by the State of Texas and principally located in Waco. It is permissible to use any of the original material contained herein, provided proper credit is given to the source.
Edited and Published by John Chamberlain AC5CV, AC5CV@arrl.net
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2005 Board of Directors |
HOTARC 2005 Board of Directors
President: Rodney Baden K5YKC, 857-9760, K5YKC@arrl.net
Vice Pres: Terry Williams KD5KJU, 662-2438, pumpman_rpss@yahoo.com
Secretary: John Chamberlain AC5CV, 855-7731, AC5CV@arrl.net
Treasurer: Norris Martin KB5SLI, 829-2138, KB5SLI@flash.net
Past-Pres.: Ed Middlebrook KC5NT, 826-4053, KC5NT@arrl.net
Director (2005): Ed Hynan KC5KNI, 666-4873, KC5KNI@arrl.net
Director (2006): Scott Shafer KD5MLY, 848-5888, ScottShafer@clearchannel.com
Director (2007): Bill Feltenberger, KD5UEW, 756-1397, bfeltenb@swbell.net
145.15 MHz (input at –600 kHz, tone 123 Hz)
146.88 MHz (input at –600 kHz)
146.98 MHz (input at –600 kHz, tone 123 Hz)
ATV: 421.25MHz (Cable 57), input 439.25 MHz (Cable 60)
Next session Saturday October 22, 10:00 am. Location: Baylor’s Rogers Engineering and Computer Science Bldg, Room 109. Bring: 1) testing fee of $14 (cash only); 2) current license and photocopy of it; 3) a photo ID (two for first-time licensees), and 4) photocopy of any relevant CSCE. Contact: Linda Hynan, AC5QQ at 666-4873 or Linda.Hynan@UTSouthwestern.edu.
Meeting NoticeThe September meeting of HOTARC will be at 7:00 pm on Thursday September 22, 2005 in the Kultgen Automotive Center of the TSTC Waco Campus. Meetings generally last about 90 minutes consisting of fellowship, general Club business, and an interesting program. Visiting hams, family members, and prospective hams are welcomed! |
When cell phones
fail,
Ham
Radio works!!