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.

THIS WILL BE WELL WORTH THE 5 BUCKS IT TAKES TO PARTICIPATE!!

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.