In a ruling dated July 14, 2010, the FCC issued a ruling allowing licensed ham radio operators at hospitals to participate on behalf of the employer in emergency preparedness or disaster readiness tests or drills. The actual wording of the ruling states: "(i) A station licensee or control station operator may participate on behalf of an employer in an emergency preparedness or disaster readiness test or drill, limited to the duration and scope of such test or drill, and operational testing immediately prior to such test or drill.

Planning is taking place for a joint drill between Washington County ARES and Dakota County Emergency Communications. The drill will take place on Sept 19. The scenario involves Search and Rescue for downed planes from a simulated mid-air collision. We will be working with air, water, and ground assets. WashcoARES will set up at a site on Grey Cloud Island. Incident Command System procedures will be used. Pencil this into your calendar and plan to participate. More details to follow. KA0HYR

Fifteen (15) hams participated in the April 24 Recon Rally to assess 2m signal coverage throughout Washington County. It ran from 0850 until 1140 on a rainy Saturday with follow-up at the Woodbury Old Country Buffet. Detailed summaries will be presented at the ARES meeting of May 19. In general, we had strong areas and weak areas of signal strength. Relay stations were necessary and successful in passing reports. Further tests will be conducted.

April 4 ARES net topic was the readiness of your "Go Kit." Each check-in talked about elements important to them: Kit in the vehicle already; tote with battery, cables, and antenna; sleeping bag, sustenance and water; water proof boxes with your radio and power supply; Check List for packing; portable antenna, mast, and base support; personal items; VHF/UHF radio preferred over HF for an ARES deployment. The discussion was interesting and thorough and enjoyable. (Next Net: April 15th, 7 PM.) KA0HYR

The March 15 Washington County ARES Net on the 147.180 repeater dealt with the topic," What do you have for field power?" Each check-in was asked to report the types of "off the grid" power that they had available to them. Most reported that they had batteries and a vehicle as alternate power. Some also reported generators for their batteries or for their home. This is a good topic to keep in mind. Thanks to AB0XE, Steve, for helping us assess our capabilities. (John Regan, KA0HYR, Washington County ARES EC)

The regular meeting of the ARES group for Washington County was held at Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater on February 11. The new ARES Net Schedule was set; details appear on this site's first welcome pane and on the events calendar. Discussions were held with the Emergency Coordinators of both Lakeview Hospital and Woodwinds Health Campus. Details on these items and other agenda items are reported under the "ARES Meeting Notes" button under Navigation (You will need to create a personal account in order to see and access this portion of the site).

ID Card photo's are being taken at regular meetings of ARES, SEMARC, and SARA. If you have not had your photo taken for 2010, attend one of the club meetings or ARES meetings and have it done. This is necessary in order to maintain a current ARES ID card and are required for any deployment to a disaster scene. KA0HYR