Missouri Section March 2023 Activity Report

March sure turned out to the be the seasonal change month here in Missouri with wildly fluctuating temperatures and the accompanying severe weather and tornadoes. There were 28 Skywarn Nets/Operations in March for a total of 427 volunteer hours. The Statewide Tornado drill was held on March 7th with many of our ARES® groups calling nets for practicing the severe weather spotting. As severe weather season continues for the spring, please prepare and have a plan if your area/home is in a tornado warning.

Don’t forget to download the Missouri ARES Skill’s Book to track and record your amateur radio communications skills. The book is flexible and can be tailored to the needs of your agency that your group supports.

District News and Comments:

District A: Richard Fretwell, W0KRF, DEC

Benton Co. –

  • BC ARES Members participated in the following nets: MTN, MESN, ARES, Region A Healthcare, and various club nets. KE0AVT ran the Region A Healthcare Net in March. There were 10 check ins with 4 being from Healthcare facilities.

Clay/Platte Cos. –

  • State Wide Tornado Drill March 7. Twelve stations participated providing reports of Outdoor Siren operation.
  • Platte County EOC Simplex Exercise March 18 – The exercise provided valuable information to participating stations across a four County area. The comments after the exercise indicated Antenna maintenance was a priority.
  • NWS Advanced Weather Spotter Training March 23 – The presentation was attended by Law Enforcement, Fire Service personal, and Amateur Radio operators. New details from recent weather events made for an interesting event.
  • Liberty Hospital Half Marathon/Jewell 5K March 25 – Communications for the Sixth Annual run was provided by Nineteen amateur radio operators from the Metro area.

Johnson Co. –

  • Members participated in State wide tornado drill.

Jackson Co. –

  • Members participated in State tornado drill on March 7th.

MARCH 2023 “MODES” “Missouri Digital Emergency Service”

  • MODES 3.598 MHz Thursday 10:00 am CST. FIVE sessions QNI 76 QTC 5 37 hours. Additional Testing on 7.090 Mhz during Daylight hours provided communications info for future net operations using Primary/Secondary frequencies. ZOOM Mtg concurrently for Technical Discussion. NCS utilizes FSQcall triggers to expedite responses from participating stations.

District B: Dale Bagley, K0KY, DEC

  • Lucked out wit no severe storms in March.

District D: John Wall, K0EAV, DEC

Jasper Co. –

  • 7th Annual State-Wide Tornado Drill – net reported sirens heard. Several webinars for SkyWarn training estimating total man-hours. March 26th – John McBride NØUQC (SK)

District H:

Grundy Co. –

  • Attended Storm Spotter training and had storm spotter activations.

Livingston Co. –

  • Completed Storm Spotter Training (2Hrs). Had severe wx, Friday 3/31/23.

The following are the reported activities and volunteer hours for the month of March 2023:

73,

Jeff KB3Hf

Missouri SEC