M.E.T.E.R.S. Newsletter - July 2005
A monthly publication of the Middle East Tennessee Emergency Radio Service,
Inc.
(METERS is a registered non-profit service organization based in
Meetings are held at 7 PM, the 4th Tuesday every month, at the Red Cross
Building, 6921 Middlebrook Pike, near the Weisgarber
Rd. Post Office in Knoxville, TN. Licensed Amateur Radio Operators are invited
to join METERS and assist in meeting the needs of our served agencies. Club
call sign is KG4NLF. Website: www.metersinc.org
Members’ submissions are invited for this newsletter, in .rtf, .doc, .wps and plain text formats, subject to space available and
editing. Editor: Larry Osterman, W8JYQ, e-mail to w8jyq (at sign) arrl dot net.
Presidents Statement for July 2005
By
Field Day is behind us. We had a great time, and learned a lot. Thanks to all
who participated. My special thanks to Buddy Sumner, KI4DIW,
and Connie Harrison, K9GWB, for their logistical magic to make it all come
together. We had some initial technical problems, but worked through them
together, just as we would need to do in a real deployment. Appreciation
also to Don Lindsey, N4JHL, and Dick Wolf, WI8X for their publicity efforts.
It was our distinct pleasure having a WBIR-TV photojournalist
tape our Field Day activities.
By now you have received my announcement on CERT training. CERT is short for
Community Emergency Response Team. What is CERT? The FEMA web site FAQ <http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT/>
states:
"The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people
about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains
them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and
rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training
learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others
in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional
responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members also are
encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role
in emergency preparedness projects in their community."
CERT classes are scheduled to begin early in August, so please sign up today by
contacting me at ag4xo (at-sign) metersinc.org or by calling me at
865-966-8223.
It is never too early to prepare for a disaster. We have been fortunate not to
have had a serious terrorist attack on our homeland since 9/11. Londoners
cannot say the same. CERT training can save your life, or those you love. Be
ready, sign up now.
Speaking of preparedness. It is time for your hospital
ham radio team leader to schedule monthly tests of their hospital radio. Team leaders, please take action now to have your assigned
hospital radios tested on a monthly basis. Let the hospital person in charge of
the radio know we need this access to do our job. Team leaders should then have
one of your team members check-in to one of our
regularly scheduled nets using the hospital tactical call sign. Also, fill in
the on-site station log so we have a record of the test and any problems encountered.
Team members, please contact your team leader if you
have not been scheduled to test the hospital radio.
Please plan ahead and come to your next METERS meeting,
Thanks and 7 3,
Gary/AG4XO
Election and Nominations
We are approaching another annual election of officers for METERS and the
nominating committee is hard at work assembling a slate of qualified candidates
for our five officer positions. These names will be presented at our August
meeting, for your consideration. Nominations from the floor will be accepted,
but it would be considerate to ask the prospective candidate in advance if they
would like to serve. Our officers typically attend a Board meeting once a
month. They also serve on committees that may meet once a month, so a time
commitment is very much required of METERS officers, as well as of committee
chairmen and members. Members of METERS are required to sign an affidavit
agreeing to abide by our By-Laws, and are expected to be available for Net operations
and periodic service activities. METERS is not a casual social group, but does
offer each of us an opportunity to provide unusual and valued services to our
communities. Through these activities we showcase our skills in the best
tradition of Amateur Radio. -lao
Simulated Emergency Tests
Our METERS website featured an article from the Wall Street Journal telling
about the findings of a community running a multiple event test. Guess what?
They weren’t ready. All systems collapsed. Fingers were pointed in all
directions, and many simulated deaths occurred. All we can do is what we do. WE
can’t solve the problems of dysfunctional city and county “authorities”, at
least not directly or quickly, but we can get better at doing our jobs. Practice, practice. -lao
The Old Farmer’s Advice
- Your fences need to be horse high, pig tight, and bull strong.
- Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
- Every path has a few puddles.
- You cannot unsay a cruel word.
- Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
- Words that soak into your ears are whispered, not yelled.
- Always drink upstream from the herd.
- Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from Bad
judgment.
- If you get to thinking you are a person of influence, try ordering someone
else’s dog around.
- The biggest problem you’ll ever have to deal with, watches you from the
mirror every morning.
- Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back in.
- Forgive your enemies, it messes up their heads.
- Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
- Live an honorable life. Then when you get old and think back, you’ll enjoy it
a second time.
- When you wallow with the pigs, expect to get dirty.
- Live simply; love generously; care deeply; speak kindly; leave the rest to
God and
Special Notes
a) You will notice that we are getting (at) shy. With
the wide audience view of all web sites, many phishers
and advertising compilers are automatically scanning sites for addresses to
glom onto for their promotional messages. Hopefully our (at) policy will slow
down some of that, but if you have some other techniques you’d like to share,
please send me a note. E-mail it! Thanks.
b) Have you been visiting the METERS web-site? Jim has been improving the
layout and adding some interesting new features. His moving message board keeps
improving. Our site will keep you informed on not only our activities and
events, but will give you links to many other useful web sites in our “ham”
radio world. Please check the web-site often. -lao