METERS Newsletter - March 2007

A monthly publication of the Middle East Tennessee Emergency Radio Service, Inc.
METERS is a registered non-profit service organization based in Knoxville, serving all the surrounding area.
Club call sign: KG4NLF Website: www.metersinc.org

Meetings are held at 7 PM, the 4th Tuesday every month. Our March 27rd meeting will be at the Tennessee Technology Center, 1100 Liberty Street, Knoxville, TN 37919. (See the website for directions, or watch the Net Reminder.)
Licensed Amateur Radio Operators are invited to join METERS and assist in meeting the needs of our served agencies.
Members’ submissions are invited for this newsletter, in plain text formats, subject to space available and editing. Editor: John Randle, K9RSQ; e-mail to john.randle (at) tds.net; Phone (865) 675-1293, or mail to: John Randle, 10625 Summit Mtn Ct, Knoxville, TN 37922.

President's Statement for March 2007

Well, it looks like spring is here. Everything is greening up and the Bartlett pear trees are in full bloom. We welcome the warm, sunny TN spring days, but spring can also be a time of bad weather in East TN. As severe storms pass through the area please be aware of the potential hazards - tornados, high winds, hail, and flooding. Flood Safety Awareness Week is March 19-23 2007. Further info can be found at http://www.weather.gov/floodsafety/.

At the March METERS meeting we will review info and details about the Knoxville Marathon on April 1 2007. We will also have some other interesting presentations so be there on the 4th Tuesday of the month March 24 at 7PM at the TN technology Center of Knoxville.

The SKYWARN class on March 10 2007 had a great turnout - 42. Colin Ickes, KEMA Operations Officer, also conducted a tour of the TN Homeland Security District 2 Command Vehicle which was very impressive so if you missed it you missed another great get together.

We will be reviewing and training for various aspects of the Bioincident Response Plan for the next few months. Some hospital teams are already practicing tactical message handling using the METERS communications forms and passing traffic during their hospital radio checks on a hospital net. These teams generally meet on the 4th Friday of the month and would be happy to welcome more. Larry W8JYQ has been coordinating this effort so contact him if you would like more info or to join in: w8jyq (-at-) arrl (-dot-) net .

We will be updating the call out tree soon so make sure your contact info is correct. If you make any changes, please contact the METERS Secretary Larry W8JYQ. It is very important that we know how to contact you. Remember, during an emergency, to monitor 146.940 and 146.625.

METERS is providing communications for the KNOXVILLE MARATHON on Sunday April 1, 2007 and we need more volunteers. If you are interested in helping, please contact Jerry by email: af1p ( -at- ) arrl ( -dot- ) net.

We are thinking of putting together a class for IS 100 Intro to Incident Command System. The class can be structured in several ways with the goal of passing the exam and earning FEMA certification, so let me know and we'll try to accommodate as many as possible. If you are interested, email me: ai4kg ( -at- ) metersinc ( -dot- ) org.

Anyone with thoughts or ideas for emergency communications training, should contact Tyra: ai4kg ( -at- ) metersinc ( -dot- ) org or Dick: wi8x ( -at- ) metersinc ( -dot- )org.

-- Tyra Buczkowski AI4KG METERS President

Vice President's Statement for March 2007

This month I promised the third part of a series summarizing two presentations I made to the membership at our monthly meetings. If you haven't already read parts one and two in my January 2007 and February 2007 columns, please do so now. In part one I presented some statistics regarding how much we do for our community and for METERS. Part one was about "what" we do. Part two was about "why" we are so committed to public service and to METERS.

This month I will discuss "who" we are. There are actually two "whos" that I will describe. The first who is about us as individuals. The second who is about who we are as a team.

The First Who - The "I"
We come to METERS from a very diverse background. Just like for ham radio, those who choose to serve their community by providing emergency communications come from all walks of life. We are young, middle aged and older. We are businessmen and women, retirees, farmers, doctors, educators, scientists, homemakers, military or former military/government, unemployed, self-employed, employees, tradesman, etc. We are a very diverse group of folks. How is it that we work so well together? I will attempt to answer this question shortly. Please keep reading. But first a word or two about culture.

Our Culture
Culture has been defined as a system of shared values and beliefs about what is important and what behaviors are appropriate. So what, you ask? Good question. I will have more to say about culture next month. For now just ask yourself how it is that we get along so well together. The answer is important. The answer relates to something bigger than ourselves. The answer explains why who we are is not as important as what we value; that is what is important to us individually and to us as an organization.

What I mean by the above paragraph is that we are indeed important as individuals, but the visible and obvious differences that separate us are not as important as who we are as a team. More importantly, what we as different individuals contribute to the team is vital. In fact, it is the differences among us that allow the team to be so effective. Please read the previous sentence again. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Hmmm. Let's see...

The Second Who - The "We"
Who we are as individuals can be described as matched pairs of opposites. For example, we are:

There is something called "creative tension" that we tap into when two or more different people come together. It doesn't always just happen. In fact, it is rare. Usually we get "cliques" instead of one cohesive team. In fact, you may recall the latin phrase "E Pluribus Unum". In english it says "One from Many" or "Out of many, one". This phrase was one of the first national slogans of the USA and it appears on most of our money. What it means is that no matter our background if we share the same ideals, then we can come together as one. This is a powerful idea. This is the reason why our differences don't matter as much as what we can contribute to the team. Whether we are fast taking, or slow talking, whether we are well educated or not, we can come together and do great things. What is missing from this picture? Why is it so hard for other organizations, societies, groups, etc to be effective teams? The answers are very important. I'll have more to say on that issue next month, but first what did I meanabout creative tension?

I'd like to explain what I mean by creative tension. We have all heard the statements "opposites attract" and "no man is an island". Taken together what those two statements mean is that we all need and depend on others in ways that we may not fully understand. Furthermore, none of us is in a sense "complete" or whole all by ourselves.

To explain in more concrete terms let use myself as an example. I am good at some things, but not at others. I am usually good at seeing the "big picture". In doing so I may overlook smaller, but nonetheless important details. An ability I have is balanced by an opposite shortcoming. However, I can compensate for this shortcoming by teaming up with someone who is good at the details. If I were to "go it alone" then my job would be much harder and the results of my efforts would likely be less worthy than if I worked effectively with someone else.

To put it another way, we should appreciate each other for what we do for the team. Are we loyal, helpful, or can we solve a problem that someone else can't, and do we do what we say we are going to do? These things matter greatly. What we look like, how we dress, what our background is, or where we come from are not so important by themselves. As you can see, our differences can be a turned into strengths if we use them to build solid teams. We all might feel more comfortable in a social setting of our "peers" -- a "clique" I mentioned above. We like to be with people who are most like ourselves. But people like ourselves do not necessarily make a good team. Why? Well by definition they all think alike.

I hope that you can agree with me that to make a great team we need to look beyond our normal peer group. When we do that we open ourselves up to creative tension where our differences can become a sort of positive energy that challenges us to be more than a group of seemingly mismatched individuals. I'll have more to say about this next month, but for now please consider that your teammates strengths are more important than their perceived weaknesses. In short, we can be blinded by our differences and fail to see our shared strengths.

What Comes Next
That's all for this month. Perhaps you'd like to add your own thoughts on who we are, what we do and why we do it. Please send your comments to .

Please join me next month for the fourth and (hopefully) final part when I'll expand on the issues of our culture, creative tension, and teamwork and how they combine to make METERS greater than the sum of its individual parts. I will finish this series by wrapping it all up by discussing how we benefit from METERS membership.

-- Gary Buczkowski AG4XO METERS VP

Secretary's Notes - March 2007

Treasurer Talk!

Well, the last few weeks have been quite busy, as we have been compiling information, gathering certifications, and verifying information. Why? Because it had to be in place before we could order our new METERS ID Badges! So, after a few last minute changes and checks, the new ID Badges are now on their way, and should be here in plenty of time for the Knoxville Marathon.

On a personal note, I wanted to thank everyone for putting up with me hounding you 'round the clock over this project. Not only did we have to get copies of your certifications, we had to verify that everything was spelled correctly before we ordered the ID Badges. Now that we have the copies on file, we have a database that can verify that all our ID badges are complete - and accurate.

Thanks to everyone who scrambled to provide copies to Larry (W8JYQ). Remember, anytime you obtain a new certification, simply make a copy of it, and give it to Larry for inclusion in your file! That way you will always be up-to-date!

Speaking of members, with our 38-member roster, we could always use a few more members. Not only for the benefit of our bottom line, but we need more members to man Hospital stations and to help out in case we are asked to provide communications in any kind of emergency.

SO…. Talk to your friends. Ask other hams if they are interested in emergency services. And of course, encourage others to study for a Tech license! A lot of people might be willing to give it a try now. Especially since the big stumbling block of Morse Code is nowhere on the horizon! (A lot of folks have discounted HAM Radio for that very reason!)

Oh, and don't forget, we still have those nifty METERS Logo patches for sale. They are $3 each, or 2 for $5 bucks! (Great to put on a Baseball Cap or on a windbreaker jacket, to show your METERS Affiliation!)

Dave KE4YBZ

Net Notes

Subject: The Oak Ridge 88 machine
Good Afternoon. It is a beautiful day in Oak Ridge. The 146.880 machine located near Cross Mtn at Lake City is back on the air. This I believe is the first and only solar powered machine in Tennessee. We have listened to Al Gore and gone Green Power. I really think we did it because we could not afford to take over maintenance on the power lines. However, It is owned by the Oak Ridge Amateur Radio Club. It may or may not be toned at 88.5. Let's see if we can wear it out after it's long down time.

Recent and Up Coming Public Service Events:

METERS support for the Knoxville Marathon will begin Sunday, April 1, 2007, at 6AM. Those supporting should attend the pre-race meeting at the Cedar Bluff Library, 10AM, March 24, 2007, or the METERS meeting on March 27, 2007. We still need several hams to support all the water stops. Contact Jerry Moore, AF1P, af1p (- at -) arrl (- dot -) net to volunteer.

Jerry Moore, AF1P, Special Events Coordinator.

METERS Members in the Spotlight: This month it's ...
Tyra Buczkowski AI4KG.

Ten days after Hurricane Katrina hit, Tyra Buczkowski AI4KG was on her way with husband Gary, AG4XO, to Mississippi with a ham radio group from Crossville who had an Airstream emergency communications trailer. “We arrived at the Gulfport Red Cross HQ in Mississippi only to find that we were moving to Biloxi (Miss ) the next morning!

“A mother and daughter team who ran ice cream trucks brought one of them to the Red Cross HQ in Biloxi and said, ‘Thank you for coming here and we'll serve you ice cream until the truck is empty -- no charge.’ Another interesting note: in Biloxi, Hancock County sent brochures to residents before hurricane season began with info about safety preparedness, which included having axes in your survival kit in case you had to hack through your roof or walls to escape flood waters.

“During the aftermath of Katrina, we tried to find a Vietnamese interpreter for a little old grandma who got separated from her family. We tried to find out where dental work was being done in the area for a shelter resident; Gary helped folks stuck at a senior citizens' center for two weeks by contacting a sheriff one county over; we tried to find out if anyone could use thousands of doses of insulin that were soon going to go out of date; we tried to get evening meals delivered by 4 p.m. to Yankee Stadium for the residents south of Gulfport or people there didn't eat that night. (They have a Yankee Stadium in Gulfport, but they play football there, not baseball.) We tried to find a wheel chair for a handicapped man; and the list goes on and on.

“There was the Biloxi ham who helped with directions on the radio and, with his house about 40% damaged, delivered local phone books to us to help with area locations. And then there was the woman who made home-made Chinese food our last night there -- egg rolls, noodles, all kinds of stir-fry veggies, chicken, etc. - and carted all this and the fixin's down to us at no charge, just a big ‘thank you.‘ Whatever the difficulties with the Gulf Coast response, the people of Mississippi were grateful that we came and served.”

Tyra was born and reared in Passaic, New Jersey, about 10 miles from NYC. She graduated from Passaic High School; graduated from William Paterson, College with her BA in chemistry. She was a basic research chemist at ITT Rayonier where she and Gary (AG4XO) met. Cupid’s arrows found their marks and they married in 1981.

Switching careers; Tyra became a materials manager for a fabricating company. She got her Master’s degree in Industrial Administration at Union College, Schenectady, NY, in 1989. Next stop: Huntersville, NC for Gary’s job as R&D Manager. Tyra taught accounting and math at Central Piedmont Community College for about 2 1/2 years. Next move: Ashe County, NC.

Aerovox took AG4XO and AI4KG to El Paso for seven years. On the day that Gary earned his Amateur Extra, Tyra passed her Technician license. Tyra’s call: KD5OOP. While she was enthusiastic about her new hobby, she told Gary, “Don’t expect me to get on the roof with the antenna.” She became KG4WXT after moving to Knoxville. In February 2005, she passed her five words, and in March ‘05 passed her General. On April 18, ’05, she passed her Amateur Extra and changed her call to AI4KG.

“I joined METERS in 2002; was elected treasurer in September, 2003; VP in September. 2005, and to her current job as president, September,.2006.

“I thought I’d never like talking on the radio; but discovered that I liked it! What do I like best about ham radio? Emergency communications and serving the community, paying back in some small way for this great country of ours, and the opportunities that I have had. Other hobbies: running, crocheting, hiking, reading. I am a volunteer examiner with WCARS, and have been a member of Tennessee Army MARS since May, 2004. Heisenberg, my new cat, came to us after PuddyCat passed away. PuddyCat lived 17 years.”

If you don’t already know Tyra AI4KG, introduce yourself. She’s very gregarious!

-- Dick Wolf WI8X

Notes from The ARRL Letter

==>SEVERE WEATHER PUTS AMATEUR RADIO VOLUNTEERS TO THE TEST
Severe weather that included tornadoes March 1 prompted activation by Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and SKYWARN volunteers in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri. Twenty people died in the three states, including seven in Alabama. A tornado destroyed the high school in Enterprise, and five students died when the roof collapsed as they took cover inside. Tornadoes wreaked extensive property damage in the affected communities.

"It was a very busy day for Alabama ARES," said ARRL Alabama Section Manager Greg Sarratt, W4OZK. "Amateur Radio operators all across the state were busy March 1 tending to a massive severe weather outbreak in most of the state." Sarratt says Alabama was under multiple tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings for a large part of the day.

Amateurs stationed at National Weather Service (NWS) offices, emergency operations centers (EOCs) and elsewhere used HF and VHF to relay critical weather information to served agencies, he reported. "The Alabama amateurs performed as professionals," Sarratt said. "Many hams took off from work to staff stations."

At week's end, Sarratt told ARRL Headquarters that Enterprise/Coffee County Emergency Coordinator Jim Garrison, KL0LN, and local amateurs were still at the Enterprise EOC assisting the local emergency management agency and the city with recovery efforts.

In Georgia, ARRL Section Traffic Manager Charles Pennington, K4GK, said the Georgia ARES Net activated during the afternoon of March 1 and continued into the wee hours of March 2, as a series of severe weather watches and warnings were posted. "Several tornadoes were reported, scattered mostly through central and southern Georgia," he said.

"We had 82 stations reported on the statewide HF net. In addition, the SKYWARN nets were active from 1:45 PM until around midnight, with extensive coverage in the affected areas." Pennington said several VHF/UHF nets also were up and running during the event. Georgia ARES stood down March 2 but remained on standby if needed during recovery operations.

Georgia authorities blamed the storms for at least two deaths after a tornado struck a hospital in Americus. Another person died and four were injured when a tornado touched down in Taylor County, near Albany.

In Missouri, Section Traffic Manager Dale Huffington, AE0S, cited "many reports of activation" March 1 on the 75-meter phone net. "Amateurs in over half of Missouri's ARES districts reported activations due to the storm," he said. In Howell County, in south-central Missouri, a tornado was blamed for the death of a seven-year-old girl. An ARES net activated in Howell County.

In Boone County, in central Missouri, ARES teams activated at the request of the Joint Communications Information Center. Ten weather spotters – among them Missouri Section Emergency Coordinator Don Moore, KM0R – provided real-time, ground-level weather observations to supplement NWS radars in Kansas City and St Louis.

The following report was extracted from The ARRL Letter, Vol 26, No 11 (Mar 16, 2007) and is reprinted under the authority of The ARRL Letter/American Radio Relay League.

==>KATRINA LESSONS LEARNED DRIVING UPDATED ARMY MARS MISSION
Following an 18-month analysis of its performance in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the US Army Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) is reshaping its mission. Army MARS Chief Stuart S. "Stu" Carter has told the MARS membership of some 2600 Amateur Radio volunteers that priorities and procedures have been reshuffled. Retraining and the building of tighter bonds with the federal and state agencies MARS supports in emergencies are getting special attention.

"The challenges we face are new and more demanding than those we've prepared for in the past," Carter told MARS members. "We need to know that all of our members are well trained, ready, capable and willing to meet those challenges."

Voicing his intent to make the organization relevant to the 21st Century, Carter assumed leadership of Army MARS last December, succeeding Kathy Harrison. In addition to his role as chief of Army MARS, Carter continues as deputy director of current operations for the US Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM), headquartered at Ft Huachuca, Arizona. As MARS chief, he inherits the post's AAA9A call sign.

Among other initiatives, Carter has ratcheted up MARS training requirements to include National Incident Management System (NIMS) training courses. He's also directed a doubling of the on-air drill requirement in regional and state HF radio nets. Beyond that, he also plans an aggressive informational campaign to make MARS better known within the federal establishment as an emergency/disaster resource.

He also reiterated that Army MARS will seek a "defined relationship" with the ARRL. "We need to know each other better," said Carter, a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with 30 years' service in communications and information technology. "The objective would be to enhance the amateur community's overall emergency readiness while minimizing duplication of effort." MARS sees its own regional and national HF capability as a natural fit with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES).

The updated MARS program builds on the emergency readiness mission begun during the 16-year tenure of former Army MARS Chief Bob Sutton, N7UZY. Army MARS already has been realigned so regional boundaries coincide with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) districts. Carter has appointed 10 volunteer regional directors to facilitate responses to multi-state emergencies.

Under Carter's leadership, MARS also is moving away from a paradigm where members mostly just relay emergency traffic from fixed stations. Under a more mobile MARS model, a few specially-trained volunteers also will be available to deploy to disaster areas along with the US Army and federal agencies, such as FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration.

In addition, Army MARS has replaced its longstanding digital message network with a Winlink 2000 system that combines radio and Internet links to ensure swift and dependable message delivery.

Army MARS also will continue to emphasize collaboration among the Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps MARS organization.

Carter has tapped Lawrence Hays, WB6OTS, to fill the new post of chief of operations, with responsibility for planning, emergency activations liaison with external agencies and training materials development. He's named fellow NETCOM headquarters staffer James Banks as director of regional operations.