May Club Meeting

May 11

KY4DJWAnnouncement, Events No Comments

Don’t forget the next club meeting will be held on Monday, May 14 at 6pm at the East Kentucky Veterans Center. We will be filling out volunteer applications regarding the MOU in place with the veterans center. We will also be discussing the upcoming Field Day activities.

KMARC & POA with EKVC

Apr 11

k4avxUncategorized No Comments

Kel Adams, KI4NPC

“The KY Mountains ARC, ARES District 10, and Perry Co. ARES
have a Memorandum Of Agreement to help with communications
at the Paul E. Patton Eastern KY Veterans’ Center in Hazard, in case of an
emergency in the area which would require communications
backup.  The agreement was announced by club president
Johnnie Brashear, KY4JLB, at the April 9 club meeting.

Club member Kel Adams, KI4NPC, an employee at the facility, has
installed two meter gear, and the club plans to help
with an HF antenna, as well as volunteer operators and
portable HF equipment, should the need arise.

As recent activity during the Eastern Ky. Tornado outbreak has
shown, the Eastern Ky Linked Repeater System has great use
and potential when there is a weather or other type of emergency
in  the area.

An added benefit to the agreement and equipment is that residents,
such as Charlie Hensley, KE4BNV from Harlan,  in the photo, may use
the equipment as part of their activities at the Center.  Charlie
has had difficulty reaching repeaters with his handheld transceiver,
so the base station will help him stay in touch with his many friends
on the air.

Charlie, KE4BNV

 

The EKVC serves the Eastern part of the state with residents from
many counties around Hazard, and is one of three such facilities
in the stare which serves those who did the most to serve our country.”

* Location Change for Next Club Meeting *

Apr 07

KY4DJWAnnouncement No Comments

The location of the meeting scheduled for Monday, April 9th has been moved to the East Kentucky Veterans Center.  It is still scheduled for 6pm.  Since we have entered into a MOA with them and a 2-meter radio is already set up there, it will be a good time to look the place over. Charlie Hensley, KE4BNV, is a patient there and will be able to attend the meeting and is looking forward to seeing everyone. The location is out near the National Guard Armory. When you get to the flea market, instead of making the steep left turn, go straight, past U-Bet, and the Veterans Center is at the end of the road.  You can go to the main entrance or side entrance, which will be less walking, and ask the receptionist where the Ham Club is meeting.

 


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Club Meeting

Apr 02

KY4DJWAnnouncement No Comments

Just a reminder that the next KMARC meeting will be held on Monday, April 9th, 6pm at the Law Enforcement Technology Center next to The Forum and across from Hardee’s in Hazard. Hope to see you there!

Eastern Kentucky ARES Serves in Severe Tornado Outbreak

Mar 09

KY4DJWAnnouncement, Weather No Comments

The Region 4 ARES organization in Eastern Kentucky provided a tremendous
amount of storm data during the recent Tornado activity in Eastern KY to
the National Weather Service.  On February 29th. and March 2, 2012,
several counties in Eastern Kentucky suffered unprecedented damage from
an out break of tornados.  Usually this hilly part of the state does not
have very severe tornados, but several EF3 tornadoes struck the area on
March 2nd., the first of such high severity reported by the Jackson NWS
in many years.

The town of West Liberty actually suffered some damage in the smaller
tornado outbreak on February 29th., but the March 3rd. tornado
practically destroyed the town.  Other towns with severe damage were
Saylersville, Hager Hill, and the small towns of Beauty and Lovely, as
well as numerous rural areas. There was also some damage in Harlan Co.
on the south side of the region.  All in all 48 counties in  the state
had damages from the storms, with 22 deaths resulting.  This part of the
state was definitely the hardest hit during this outbreak, including
the Laurel Co. area, which had its own SKYWARN operators feeding
information to NWS Jackson in the same manner.

Eastern KY is fortunate to have the Eastern KY Linked Repeater System
which serves all of the Big Sandy Valley, the Upper KY River Valley, and
part of the Upper Cumberland River Valley.  This rural mountainous area
does not have a high concentration of amateur operators, and the system
helps us work together to maximize efforts.

Skywarn operations on the Eastern KY system started at  6PM on March 2nd
and continued while the severe weather ended at 10 PM.  NCS, KY4JLB, was
in Perry Co., which was not affected by the storms, and stations in ARES
9, which was directly affected gave severe weather reports, which were
then transferred  to the National Weather Station in Jackson, KY. via
NWS-Chat, by hams outside the affected area.  Information was
immediately accesssible to the meterologists.

More than 33 stations in the affected area sent numerous reports of very
large hail, high winds, downed trees, blocked roads, funnel clouds, and
downed buildings.

Tony Edwards, KJ4FYM, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist and Skywarn
Contact at  NOAA/National Weather Service in Jackson, send the following
comment:

“We here at the National Weather Service want to thank you all for your
efforts on Friday!  I cannot thank you all enough for the reports and
this event serves as a great example of how important amateur radio is
during catastrophic events.  Had it not been for your reports, we would
not have known the true severity of the impacts.”

Submitted by Fred Jones, WA4SWF, KY ARES Region 4 Emergency Coordinator;
John Farler, District 10 ARES Emergency Coordinator.
Thanks for the pictures from N4KJU, AEC Johnson Co.,Johnnie Brashear,
KY4JLB, Perry Co. EC, Allen Bollen, and NWS Jackson for photos and other information.

To see full size images with descriptions, click HERE.

Severe Weather Threat for March 2nd

Mar 02

KY4DJWAnnouncement, Weather No Comments

The following is from the National Weather Service office in Jackson:

An area of low pressure will intensify and move into the Ohio Valley this afternoon. Showers and thunderstorms will develop across eastern Kentucky during the day, with severe thunderstorms possible at any time. A cold front will then approach the area late this afternoon and into this evening and this will bring our greatest severe weather threat. A line of strong to severe thunderstorms will develop and rapidly move east across the area in advance of this front. Damaging winds will be the greatest threat, however large hail and tornadoes are also possible. In addition to the severe weather threat, winds will gust to between 35 and 40 mph this afternoon. (Please visit http://weather.gov/jkl for more information.)

 

Snowfall Measuring Procedures

Feb 19

KY4DJWUncategorized No Comments

In light of the current weather conditions, I thought I should post this link to an article from the National Weather Service on how to properly measure snowfall.

 

Photo Courtesy of Tony Edwards - KJ4FYM

February Meeting and Project Night Update

Feb 15

KY4DJWEvents, Projects No Comments

At the meeting held on Feb. 13th, several items were discussed including MOA’s with Eastern Kentucky Veterans Center and Eastern Kentucky Regional Medical Center.  Nine members attended and several built the 1.5 volt to 9 volt battery tester.  The kits were built and most left with a working one but for those who did not get theirs working, return for the next meeting which will be held at the Rural Law Enforcement Tech Center on March 12th at 6 PM and the Right Fork Engineering Crew will be there to assess the problem.  Also there will be a prize for the Best Kit Enclosure (builder required to supply). Click HERE to view pictures taken at the meeting.
Johnnie KY4JLB  President KMARC
Darian  KY4DJW Vice President KMARC
John     K4AVX    Secretary/Treasurer KMARC

February Club Meeting

Jan 21

KY4DJWAnnouncement, Events, Projects No Comments

The next KMARC meeting will be held on Monday, February 13th, 6pm at the Rural Law Enforcement Technology Center adjacent to The Forum and across from Hardee’s in Hazard (use the entrance on the right side of the building). We should have a small project ready to start so bring your tools and a soldering iron.

For anyone wishing to take a Technician exam or upgrade, there will be a test session in Whitesburg. A definite date hasn’t been set but it will be sometime around February 2nd. Once a date is set, it will be announced on the Local nets. Remember, the Harlan County ARES Net is at 8:30, followed by the Perry County ARES Net at around 8:45 on Sunday nights. The Letcher County ARES Net is held on Monday nights at 9.

Club Meeting Reminder

Jan 09

KY4DJWUncategorized No Comments

Just a reminder that the KMARC will meet tonight at 6pm at the Civil Air Patrol building at the Wendell Ford Airport at 6pm.  Talk-in on the Hazard repeater, 146.520.

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