There will be no net on December 24, 2009. The net will resume the following week on New Year's Eve. Talk to you then. 

As all should be aware by now, the FCC issued a "Public Notice" in October that has affected all amateur radio stations that train and test radio equipment, for use during emergencies, while working for their employer... This includes all government emergency management, law enforcement, NGOs (Red Cross, Southern Baptist Relief, etc.), as well as Hospitals and Health Departments across the nation.

In spite of a "Waiver" program (limited to government agencies only), most training efforts where vounteer amateurs train and test alongside the emergency professionals they will work with in an actual event have come to a virtual standstill.

Please make the time to get familiar with the issues and what the affect on emergency communications has been. Then, write your legislators, copy the FCC Chairman and your DEC, and share your thoughts and opinions with them so they can be passed on to the ARRL Board Members as well as to State and Federal elected officials for action. Our DEC's (Shawn Stoddard-KG4OVQ) contact information is listed on this page below.

Here is a sample letter that can be customized for your own use: Draft Letter to Legislators re: FCC Puclic Notice (DA 09-2259)  read more ...

Notes on Interoperabilty opportunities and Nets...

• The Southeast Tennessee Healthcare Support Net.  The net will be conducted on Wednesday at 12:45 pm during the noon hour.  This month, we will divide the net control duties between the Hamilton County net control station and the Chattanooga office of the State Department of Health net control.  The Hamilton County net control will conduct the net on 443.375+ 118.8 tone and will take checkins first.  Afterwards, the State Dept of Health net control will call for stations wishing to check in on 442.150/444.450/145.410 linked repeaters.  We will also call for Copper Basin on 442.250+ 118.8 tone.
  
• The MTEARS Skywarn Net takes place each Monday evening at 9:00pm Eastern and can be accessed via the 443.125+ (PL 103.5) NT4M repeater. Be sure to allow time for all the repeaters to connect before you speak!
  
• Rial Sloan/AI4ZV joins us often from Tunnel Hill, GA and invited all interested to partcipate in the Whitfield County, GA ARES weekly Net on Sundays at 9:00pm on the 147.135- Dalton repeater.  He encouraged us to cultivate a strong relationship between our groups... Please visit them and show we are interested in improving on interoperability between our two ARES groups.

 

Please check the Forums section for new "Threads" regarding Digital Modes and updated Training Information regarding Interoperability and Incident Management procedures.
 

The Weekly Training Net meets at 8:00pm Thursday evenings on the 146.79- (no tone) K4VCM  machine until further notice.  The WJ9J UHF repeaters- 444.450+ and 442.150+ (no tone) are also normally linked-in for use during the net, and may provide a better path for some, when available. The 1st Alternate frequency is the 146.61- (no tone) CARC repeater. 2nd Alternate frequency is 147.42 simplex.
 

Dan Odom- NT4M
Hamilton County EC
E: nt4m@arrl.net
V: 423.313.2220

David Broome- KC4EO
Hamilton County Assistant EC
E: kc4eo@arrl.net
V: 423.595.2061

Fred Carr- NC4FC
Hamilton County Assistant EC
E: nc4fc@arrl.net
V: 423.667.8194

Lowell Bennington- WD4DJW
Tennessee Section EC
E: wd4djw@arrl.net

Shawn Stoddard- KG4OVQ
District Emergency Coordinator - District 7
E: kg4ovq@arrl.net

Dewayne Siddon- KE4IDH
Assistant Section EC- Healthcare
E: ke4idh@arrl.net

Robert W. Scott- W4ROX
Hamilton County Assistant EC
Assistant Section EC - Interoperability
E: w4rox@arrl.net
V: 423.242.5564