Hi Folks,
The Georgia ARES Section Convention
is only days away now, and if the email traffic is an
indicator, the excitement level is building.
We’ll be located at the Georgia
Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth, and the event will
kick off at 9:30am and run through roughly 4pm. Talk-ins
will be available on 146.52 MHz. simplex, in case you
haven’t been there before.
We have an excellent program ready,
as well as, excellent forum tables in the cafeteria that you
can look over during the 2-hour lunch break. The cafeteria
is NOT open, and even though there are restaurants close by,
a lot of folks are opting for “brown-bag” lunches so they
don’t have to leave.
There will also be a number of
Emergency Response Vehicles, portable towers and trailers on
display in the parking lot. If your group is thinking about
building out a vehicle, and you need ideas of how to design
one, this is your chance to have a first hand look.
As we’ve made this an ARRL-sanctioned
event, there will be more door prizes than has been the
case, and these will be raffled off during the day.
I’ll remind you that if you’re not
currently an ARES member, but are interested in finding out
more, you’re welcome to attend, as this event is open to all
interested parties. There is no charge for attending, just
be prepared to have a good time while finding out more about
emergency communications.
You can find
a copy of our agenda on both
www.gaares.org and
www.arrl-ga.org
Gene, W4AYK,
and Jim, WB4NWS,
gave a presentation on ARSE to the Georgia State Defense
Force earlier this month and the group is interested in
finding out more about us. This group comes under the
direction of the Governor, and is used to help out in bad
situations where there is a need for more people on the
ground.
Unlike the Georgia National Guard,
this group does not bear arms; they’re simply a trained
group to help out in an emergency. We may be participating
with them in an exercise later in the spring, so stay tuned.
I reported
last month that the Butts County Amateur Radio Emergency
Auxiliary had a new website, and they were also celebrating
their first anniversary as a group. I can also now report
that the FCC sent them a gift, a new vanity callsign…WX4BCA!
I end this
month on a sad note; our Section Webmaster,
Robert Tyler; KF4VBR
is stepping aside after holding this position for a long
time. He’s the man responsible for hosting and upkeep on all
the Section Internet offerings.
I hate to see this happen, but Robert
has some things in his personal life that require attention,
and he doesn’t want us to go lacking. I’ve really enjoyed
working with him, and will miss some of the good-natured
emails we’ve exchanged (though they won’t stop…right
Robert?).
I can tell you that keeping our web
offerings up to date is a LARGE and sometimes thankless
undertaking, and he’s really handled it well. We’ll miss you
in this position Robert, and hope that you’ll be able to
rejoin us in the near future.
We’re already working on Robert’s
replacement, and promise that you shouldn’t see any changes
in the websites.
So, I guess that’s enough from me
right now. I do hope to see YOU in Forsyth on Saturday. I
promise it will be worth the trip!
73,
Mike, KE4FGF
GA-SEC
