Greetings from West Point,

As I mentioned in the past; the ARRL has been revamping the ARES program over the past 18 months. Some of the things that I have seen, I feel, do not benefit the program, and some do. I am going to address just one that benefits us as a team. The creation of the ARESConnect system will allow me and the Asst. EC’s to better track members time and ARES events.

As you know we have several events we support each year, they are: Mr. Frog’s Wild Ride, Central Calaveras Fire & Rescue Mud Run, Ride and Walk for Art and ARRL Field Day. These events help tune our communication skills for an emergency, like the Point Fire and others.

At the present time we have 36 ARES members, out of those we have 8 that moved out of the area or asked to be removed from ARES, leaving 28 members. Out of these 28 we have 8 that are questionable leaving 20 ARES members to cover the county in an emergency.

Our Section EC asks that current ARES members register in the ARESConnect system by Dec 31. We are doing well, all of the Asst. EC’s, our RACES Radio officer and myself have registered and 8 ARES members, leaving 7 ARES members that need to register. Once we get our current members in the system we can begin adding new members.

 The place to register is at https://arrl.volunteerhub.com/lp/sjv/ , the section also requests that you use your call sign as your username. If you are having issues with registering please let me know, I may be able help you get into the system. Also let me know that you have completed the registration so I can make sure that you are added to our ARES team.

The ARRL is planning a User Webinar for the ARESConnect system and it should happen before the end of the year, I’ll pass on the information once I receive it.

Be safe,
Sam – WS6P
Emergency Coordinator – Calaveras County
West Point, Wilseyville, Glencoe, Mokelumne Hill areas
(209) 293-4010
W6WPT Repeater 440.100 + T100
WIRES-X node 33432