8/29/2014

Yesterday (Thursday, 8/28), I went to address the Meriden Amateur Radio Club, based in Wallingford, on my favorite topic… ARES.

About 2 years ago, the Club moved to a new location, a re-purposed Fire House on a hill, high above the Oakdale Theater (West of Rte.15). However, since then, the Club as had some issues with the town - especially on the subject of getting antennas installed at that site.

Joe Hamm – KC1BAQ, following my suggestion for all new ECs, recently met with Richard Heidgerd- the new Wallingford Fire Department Chief & Emergency Management Director (EMD), and had invited him along with Gary Mason - Wallingford Medical Reserve Corps to the monthly Club meeting to learn more about ARES.

They were introduced at the beginning of the meeting, and both spoke a few words club saying, in effect, that they were glad to be there and that they value the Club and the ARES organization. Most importantly, that they were willing to assist the Club resolve its antenna problems with the town.

I gave a power-point presentation highlighting what ARES is, what we do, how we do it, where we do it, ARES Training, and when we do what we do that we do so well. My debrief with Joe indicated that the information presented was well received by the visitors.

What I took away from their comments was their validation on the vital importance of the "CORE 4" independent study courses (i.e. IS 100, 200, 700, 800), and their expectation that we all have this training.

To start on going "CORE 4", go to
NIMS - ICS- And You
ctaresregion2.org/forum/training-courses/82-nims-ics-and-you\