ILARES HF Net  4/20/08  1630L 3.905 MHz LSB +/-
The Illinois Section ARES HF Net meets on the 1st and 3rd Sundays on
3905 KHz to test HF NVIS propagation for the emergency. The next
regularly scheduled session of the Illinois Section ARES Net will be
on this third Sunday, April 20, 2008, at 4:30 PM local time on 3905
KHz, plus  + or minus - for QRM. This statewide net is a regular on
the air meeting of Emergency Coordinators and their EC liaisons,
including Official Emergency Stations around the section. Roll call of
District and Local EC, or their net liaison, is first made in the
directed portion of this net, and then recalled for brief reports.
Following these EC reports, OES/IL and ARES may check in the latter
open part of the net.

ISB -
The Illinois Sideband Net follows the ILARES HF Net at 6:00 PM local,
and this is a daily traffic net. The ISN is a traffic handling net for
the Illinois Section, and may have Radiograms for delivery in YOUR
local area. And the ISN will provide an outlet for your local formal
traffic to relay nationwide through the National Traffic System.  ARES
will share this 3905 frequency in the emergency with our NTS in the
Illinois Section. Each local ARES Net should maintain a regular
traffic liaison to NTS for sending and receiving Radiograms.

PSCM -
The American Radio Relay Leagues sponsors both the Amateur Radio
Emergency Service (ARES) and the National Traffic System (NTS), and
these services and so much more are described in the Public Service
Communications Manual (PSCM)  at:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/pscm/

BIG SHAKE OF AUGHT EIGHT ('08)  -
  A significant earthquake struck Illinois this past week on April 18,
2008.  Fortunately, minimum damage was reported in this early morning
shake, and following aftershocks. Local EC situation reports and ARES
Net activations were received and forwarded to ARRL HQ. CUSEC
Communications Group were notified of the event.  Past exercises and
drills in ARES have included EQ  alert. and CUSEC net activation and
support, which was not required. No ILARES HF Net held in response to
this net because regular communications were not disrupted
significantly, and the use of 3905 in an active WX net elsewhere kept
this frequency too busy for our Section's non-emergency calls, it was
reported.

Tornados -
  Historically speaking, tornados already exceeded the monthly average
for these first months of 2008, and keep in mind April already far
above average.
Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak, April 11, 1965, rips through six
midwestern states,  Windy City Tornados of April 21, 1967, and North
Central IL killer tornado hits Granville, South Peru and Utica,
Illinois on April 20, 2004.

Flooding -
  Winter and Spring floods have lead to several disaster declarations
for Illinois counties, and many areas around the state are beginning
long term recovery, while these and other areas are keeping a watch on
local situations and new precipitation forecasts. Saline County was
among those hard hit, and Gayland WB9SKB EC/IL lead the March ARES
reports with the highest hours in their logged volunteer time. Many
counties remain yet to report their public service volunteer hours.

PSE -
  River to River Relay 4/19/08  uses wide area repeaters to cover this
large race course, and always a high visibly event covered by amateur
radio, with this PSE response organized by Bob N9VKO, EC/IL.
 2008 Prairie Air Show April 19-20, 2008 Greater Peoria Regional
Airport attended, and ongoing.
http://www.prairieair.org

Ask Tom -
  Last ILARES net, Don K9DRW, the EC/IL Lake County, dropped a
celebrity name on the air. Seems Don was coming back from an APCO
<www.apco.com> meeting in Arizona, and sat next to Tom Skilling,
weather forecaster for WGN TV <www.WGNTV.com> and the "Ask Tom" column
in a major Chicago paper. Don assures us that he asked Tom for some
plugs for amateur radio. And our other Tom KA9QPN,  ARRL Section
Manager reminds us that the annual Fermilab presentation of Tom
Skilling's weather show is well attended by Chicagoland amateurs, and
has spotlighted amateur radio in the past.  Will there again be an
ARRL amateur radio presence someday? Or even a Skywarn/ARES table at
this event?

ARES-IL Document Links -
March SEC report posted at: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhnwzsr5_1f9xxc2
2008 Monthly EC Reports tabulated in the Spreadsheet at:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p3-T-6k0mddnDQ5h40ljXLw
ILARES HF Net Roster updated at:  http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p3-T-6k0mddkOahfIUDDBNA&hl=en
New TESTS spreadsheet include special net reports and are now posted
 080304TT was the annual Tornado Test on the first Tuesday of March
for Illinois, held in conjunction with NOAA's annual WX Radio tornado
test, siren test, EAS, and includes submitted reports of local net
liaison and results sent in by email later. To date, 23 counties
reported active in nets. If your county, district or special area net
was missed, resend your drill reports, and I will add.
 080330drill was for the Fifth Sunday Net on 3/30/08 which was a short
notice challenge for counties and areas to activate and exercise local
Skywarn/ARES nets and to report various simulated damage of downburst
occurring in local jurisdictions. Added this year as a bonus was to
simulate advising local airport of airport with the airport ID
information requested.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p3-T-6k0mddm51jQ44sJtdQ

Calendar:
4/19/08 - ILRA Annual Meeting. Peoria Air Show and the River to River
Relay PSE
4/20/08 - ILARES HF Net
4/20/08   Galva Hamfest( and 2004 Tornado memorial in  Utica, IL
4/21/08 - Anniversary of the Windy City Tornados and outbreak of 1967
4/26/08 - Hamfest at Godfrey, IL
4/27/08 - Hamfest at Arthur, IL
4/29/08 - Illinois Valley Red Cross
4/30/08 - LaSalle & Grundy County Full Scale Exercise
5/03/08 - IARU EmComm Party on the Air is scheduled for the 3rd of May
between 1800 and 2200 hours UTC
5/04/08 - Hamfest at Sandwich, IL
5/04/08 - ILARES HF Net
5/10/08 - Armed Forces Crossband Test

April view -
The BIG SHAKE OF AUGHT EIGHT ('08) evokes memories of SoCal EQ
operations. The busy times are here as Spring continues. April 15 is
the traditional tax day, and is now behind us. Clearing the SEC desk
is part of this evolution. Antenna maintenance and new projects for
good days and a possible Sky loop antenna. Local proponent of 160M
encourages this band use before the summer QRN returns. Yard and
garden tasks beckon, with always, the WX nets that break up any
routine.

vy 73 de Pat Ryan KC6VVT
ARRL Illinois Section Emergency Coordinator
SEC/IL  ARRL                Phone: 815-442-3373
P. O. Box 24                    e-mail: kc6...@arrl.net
Tonica, IL 61370-0024         ARES®-IL URL:  http://www.qsl.net/ares-il/
packet address: KC6VVT@KA9FER.#CIL.IL.USA.NOAM
Monitor 146.52/446.00 FM  &  APRS mobile KC6VVT-14 on 144.390 w/100.0
Hz APRS-Alert