WEA-105Storm Spotters One of the more high profile amateur radio/served agency relationships is the one which exists with the National Weather Service. While the Houston/Galveston National Weather Service office has all kinds of computerized equipment, including their Doppler Radar, to use when severe weather is threatening the area, on the ground real time information or … Read more

NET-120COMMUNICATION TRAINING REVIEW Modified from a Waller County ARES training articleWritten by Christine Smith, N5CAS (sk) Over the past couple months we have covered topics ranging from basic communications principles to preparing for deployment. Are you ready? Let’s review… First, make sure you are not interrupting unless you have emergency traffic so…listen. It’s hard to … Read more

NET-118ARES Net Operations – Tidbits, Part 1 Original Manual By R. Bruce Winchell, N8UTCopyright 1997 Permission is hereby granted for non-profit reproduction of this material provided this statement isincluded and the material is used in its’ entirety; or properly credited by same, if used in part.Excerpted By Stephen Reynolds W4CNG, January 2001Italicized portion added to … Read more

NET-117Communications Guidelines Waller County ARES training article written by Christine Smith, N5CAS (sk) Let’s face it, there are hundreds of people that can talk and talk and when they finally finish you ask yourself “what did they actually say?” Within Emergency Communication you will have TWO different levels of communication. The first is in passing … Read more

NET-116Indecision Can Kill Used by permission of author Cary Mangum, W6WWW (cary.mangum@macnexus.org).Written 12/18/00 Indecision can kill a person who is indecisive as well as a program being managed by an indecisive person. Habitual indecision is a difficult challenge for those with that situation. To keep putting off a decision that we know should be made … Read more

NET-101Other ARES Nets In addition to each of the weekly training nets held by all of our respective quadrant units here in South Texas ARES District 14 comprised wholly of Harris County, we are literally surrounded by a host of others. Of interest in South Texas ARES District 1 composed of all of the counties … Read more

NET-115Field Day From a Waller County Texas ARES training document written by Christine Smith, N5CAS (sk) and modified by Earl Pack, AE5PA .Field Day is annual event that encourages emergency communication preparedness of amateur radio operators. The first ARRL Field Day was held in 1933. Today it is the largest emergency preparedness exercise in the … Read more

NET-114Net Control Tips Adapted from Waller County Ares TrainingWritten by Christine Smith, N5CAS (sk) If the net is a scheduled net, start on time! Tardiness indicates poor management and doesn’t inspire confidence in the Net Control Station (NCS). Use a script when possible. This promotes efficient operation. If you have time, annotate your script with … Read more

NET-113 The Net Control Station Adapted from Waller County Ares TrainingWritten by Christine Smith, N5CAS (sk) You will always have one station in control of a formal net and that station is known as the “Net Control Station”, or NCS. This operator will be acting as a sort of traffic cop, deciding who speaks, in … Read more

KNW-173Why We Train Maritime High Seas Emergency StoryOn a Thursday in April at about 10 AM Eastern time, the Intercontinental Traffic Net (INTERCON) with Ernie, K4ZQ in Lexington, NC, Net Manager serving as Net Control, intercepted a call on the “Global Center of Activity” IARU designated 20 Meter emergency frequency of 14.300 MHz. Captain Wilhelm, … Read more