Announcements

Look here for recent news regarding SLCo ARES.

February 2022 Announcements

posted Feb 9, 2022, 9:12 PM by Brad Rupp

1.  FEB 23rd, In Person meeting.  484 W. 5900 S., Murray (Station #83) @ 18:30 hours
Subject:  Water Purification Using 5-Stage Process
Summary:  This water purification class will enable you to make sure any water you consume POST Disaster will be safe.  We, as ARES members, may be asked to work at a site (SAFE Neighborhood elementary school for example), and we might be there for X amount of time.  I don't know about you, but I want to drink SAFE water!  This class will help you find out what you need and how to make it safe.  This is a PRINCIPLES class, meaning I am not telling you what to buy, but what KIND of thing you need to buy or do.  This class has been taught at many locations with high remarks and a continuous request to come back and teach it again.  Don't miss it! :-)

2.  FEB 25-26, Be Ready Utah Expo.  Mountain America Expo Center:  9775 S. State St., Sandy.  
Feb 25 (Friday):  Hours 2pm to 8pm
Feb 26 (Saturday):  Hours 9am to 6pm
Summary:  50+ Exhibitors (SLCo ARES will be represented), 30+ Prep Classes!
$5 per Day Registration and 12 & under are FREE.
2022 Workshops Include:
  •     Lessons from Northridge Earthquake
  •     Emergency Communication: Ham Radio
  •     Water Storage, Food Storage
  •     Preparing for Power Outages
  •     Sanitation in a Disaster
  •     Emergency Kits on a Budget
  •     Surviving Freezing Temps without Power
  •     Earthquake Preparedness
  •     Easy Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness
  •     Conversations on Preparedness
  •     Conversations in an Emergency
  •     BSA Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge
  •     Neighborhood Watch: Protecting Your Home
  •     Flood Preparedness for Homeowners
  •     Importance of Healthy Living for Emergency Preparedness
  •     Suicide Prevention
  •     Pet Preparedness
  •     Pandemic Preparedness and Coronavirus
  •     Brain Health, Mental Health Resilience
  •     Survival Gardening
  •     Wild Edible Plants and Edible Landscaping
  •     Instant Pot Cooking - Cooking Safety
  •     Safety in the Workplace for People with Functional Needs
  •     Radon Safety
  •     Active Shooter Training
  •     Dealing with Opioids
  •     Naloxone Training
  •     Internet Crimes Against Children
  •     Stop the Bleed
  •     Disaster Preparedness for Aging Adults
        And Much More...
THIS WILL BE WELL WORTH THE 5 BUCKS IT TAKES TO PARTICIPATE!!

3.  MAR 23rd, In-Person Meeting 484 W. 5900 S., Murray (Station #83) @ 18:30 hours
Subject:  GMRS and Emergency Communications... Is GMRS a Viable Option?
Summary:  I will discuss if GMRS is a viable solution for emergency communications after a major disaster.  I will emphasize the aspect that some people do not want to get a ham radio license, so how can we communicate with them after a disaster strikes, taking down all cell phones and the internet?  

4.  SLCo ARES Hours.  REMINDER:  Please submit any hours you have done working with Ham Radio.  It takes but only a moment and it helps me out tremendously!!  https://forms.gle/sWk5Q1qR2xRi7eyv6  

5.  SLCo ARES SD Drives Available!!  During our In-Person meetings I will be giving everyone who is an ARES member an SD drive.  This drive contains all of the information in the JIT kit SD drives plus a whole bunch more!  I also have it for download on my Google Drive.  Here is the link if you would like to download it yourself.  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Q38X-L6WPOfPUZdIRyqKdBbgEX6tbqEN?usp=sharing

6.  Question for everyone?  Do we, as a group, want to support the hospital systems in Salt Lake County?  There are some ARES groups around the nation that, if there is an event which causes a Mass Casualty event, the ARES members will go to their per-assigned hospital/clinic/etc. and set up their portable station to provide comms to other hospitals and the like.  I have a letter of recommendation ready to be sent to every hospital group HQ-ed in Salt Lake County, but I don't want to offer our services unless people would be willing to participate.

7.  Utah Digital Conference is right around the corner.  If you are interested in learning lots more about amateur radio digital communications, including DMR, AREDN, Mess, APRS, etc. this conference is for you!  Utah Digital Communications Conference (utah-dcc.org)

8.  SLCo ARES Training:  After an emergency, like a large-scale catastrophic event, there will be a HUGE need for ARES members to ALREADY BE TRAINED in the various disciplines of EMCOMMS.  In order to have a common set up trained people we will start promoting the official training classes/curriculum made for anyone who will be dealing with local municipalities, federal organizations, and NGO's.  

Being trained by a standard set of training curriculum enables organizations who will be coming into our area for assistance to know what level of competence someone has with regard to the standard Incident Command training.  If you do not have the required training curriculum under your belt you will not be asked to help in an area where this will be required.  

When I first started enjoying the many wonderful aspects of being an amateur radio operator I always had the goal in mind to help out as many people as I could.  If I am going to do this I need the required training and, like I say, I need to "pay the piper" and do what it takes to get the right training.  This is and has always been my goal, to help those in need.  For this reason I am going to take the training myself and invite all who wish to do the same to join me.

Well... that just about does it!  Thank you all for your continued support as we make Salt Lake County ARES better and better!

Until next time!   73


Dan Lundwall

An Important Note from our EC Dan

posted Dec 2, 2021, 9:36 PM by Brad Rupp   [ updated Dec 2, 2021, 9:44 PM ]

The SLCo ARES 2021 Christmas Dinner will be held at 6:30 pm on December 22 (4th Wed in December), at the Golden Corral in Midvale.  Address is 665 E. 7200 S., Midvale, UT.  I have a room reserved large enough to hold quite a few people!... so please bring your entire family!  I am still trying to get a discount, so please cross your fingers.

All future SLCo ARES In-Person Meetings will be held at the Murray Fire Station #83.  The address is 484 W. 5900 S., Murray, UT.  We meet in the EOC room, which is in the lower floor.  There is an elevator that can be used to get to the lower level right as you pass the stair case on the right.

January 26 In-Person Meeting:
Our In-Person meeting will be held at MFD Station #83, 6:30pm.  Kelly (KD7IMZ) will be hosting this meeting.  I am looking forward in learning about his area of expertise, the VOAD.... and anything else Kelly deems appropriate to present!

February 23 In-Person Meeting:
Our In-Person meeting will be held at MFD Station #83, 6:30pm.  We are going to try something different for this meeting.  I am going to give a presentation on Water Purification and Storage, something that may be an important tool in our tool-bag, not only as an amateur radio operator, but as someone that will be affected by a large scale disaster.  If this goes well then I can present a follow-up topic of Sanitation After a Large Scale Event.  

2021 Be Ready Utah Webinar

posted Aug 1, 2021, 9:04 PM by Brad Rupp

If you would like to register for the 2021 Be Ready Utah Webinar please click on the link below and register.  

Time Entry

posted Aug 1, 2021, 9:00 PM by Brad Rupp   [ updated Aug 1, 2021, 9:02 PM ]

There is a new web form that can be used to track the hours you spend on ARES and amateur radio in general.  Any time on the air is all ARES radio time.  Your hours should be entered no later than the 24th of every month. To report hours please fill in either the individual event hours and event type OR the total monthly hours. Do NOT fill in both type of hours tracking.

June and July Meetings

posted May 9, 2021, 9:28 AM by Brad Rupp

The June and July meetings have been announced.  The details are:
  • June 23: 2021: As requested we will be having a presentation/participation training on Winlink. We will be going over its uses for EmComm and step by step how to get setup. There will be a surprise with the presentation so please join us.
  • July 28, 2021: There has been a request to talk about the SMSGTE, its uses, and how to get setup on it

April and May Meetings

posted Mar 22, 2021, 8:37 PM by Brad Rupp

The monthly  meetings for April and May have been announced.  The details on each are:
  • April 28, 2021 630 pm. We will be talking about mobile installs. What has worked and what has been a problem. Please plan to attend and share your experiences. If you have pictures please plan to share your screen while you talk. If you can't please send your pictures to either Eldon, Dan or Rian. We will put together a slide show and when your pictures come up then you can take your turn.
  • May 26, 2021 630 pm. We are planning to have the National Weather Service give us a storm spotter course. If you have had it, it will be a good review.
The Zoom information is:

Meeting ID: 816 802 7394
Passcode: kf7yxl

March 2021 Meeting

posted Mar 1, 2021, 9:55 PM by Brad Rupp

Eldon Farnsworth is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: ARES in person
Time: March 24, 2021 6:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 816 802 7394
Passcode: kf7yxl

Our meeting will be a presentation on basic radio operation and tips for EmComm.

Standard Load

posted Mar 1, 2021, 8:06 PM by Brad Rupp   [ updated Aug 1, 2021, 8:57 PM ]

The Salt Lake County ARES Standard Load that was discussed during the meeting on February 24th has been added to the web site.  It can be found here.

Winlink Exercise

posted Jan 16, 2021, 10:20 PM by Brad Rupp

We are going to be starting a Winlink exercise in the next few weeks. Please fill out the form below to let us know about your thoughts on getting a Winlink training/exercise going. Over the last several years with all the events that we have seen, things like Winlink are starting to make their benefits known. One of the things that we should be familiar with is the function of Winlink and especially the forms. In hopes of saving a forest, the digital versions of the ICS and radiogram forms that are in Winlink will give us the chance to get used to using them should an incident or emergency occur. We know that there are numerous groups around the country that have occasional exercises or periodic check ins. What we would like to get started would be a little different. We would be using the forms to send messages to the exercise director. By doing this we are hoping to help people gain experience with properly composing and replying using the various ICS forms and the ARRL radiogram.

https://forms.gle/Pd3fSaf1sadevZrX6

February 2021 Meeting

posted Jan 16, 2021, 10:13 PM by Brad Rupp

Eldon Farnsworth is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: ARES in person
Time: February 24, 2021 6:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 816 802 7394
Passcode: kf7yxl

Our meeting will be Radio operations and Salt Lake County ARES expectations.

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