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| Welcome to the ARRL Oregon Section website
My goal is to make sure this website is always current during my term(s) as section manager. I want to have as many communication methods available as possible to hear what you in the Oregon section have to say. This is one of many ways for me to hear you. I welcome any suggestions for content. With the help of the section leadership, it will be added to continually. I look forward to working with you and am making plans to visit all the affiliated clubs in the state during my first year in office and hope to be able to participate in some of your activities. I have visited some ARES groups as well.
Also please keep in mind that this website is a work in progress and we will do our best to keep it updated with the information provided by our amateur radio community. Currently login access is limited primarily to the Oregon section cabinet. I am beginning to provide access to individuals designated by the DEC's for updating ARES-related information. As we make more features available you will be notified via the arrloregon Yahoo Group. Join the group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arrloregon/.
I also send regular informational emails to the yahoo group. Much of what I send will appear in the next SM report, but by being in the yahoo group, you get advance notice of the news. I also forward messages that come from the ARRL to section managers that may be of interest as well.
If you have information that you want posted or updated on this page, please send to me at ab7zq@arrl.net. If you submit news to that link, please notify me that it is there so that I can go look for it. We receive a lot of spam messages at that link.
Monday 20 September 2010
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Jerry Eifert and amateur radio operators prepare county for emergency - News Review 9/20/2010
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Jerry Eifert and amateur radio operators prepare county for emergency
September 20, 2010
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/2010100929984
Jerry Eifert and his band of amateur radio operators are good guys to have around in a sticky situation. When other communication systems fail, they're the only ones who can send out an SOS.
“These guys are nuts, and I say that affectionately,” Douglas County's emergency services director, Wayne Stinson, said. “They've taken an interest in public radio and have gone above and beyond.”
For the past 17 years, Eifert, 65, has overseen about 40 volunteers who are trained to broadcast reports in the event of emergencies such as floods, earthquakes, blizzards or windstorms.
“I love radio,” said Eifert, a retired Veterans Affairs hospital nurse. “I love the fact that I can serve my community.”
Amateur radio operators around the country have responded to local and regional disasters since the 1930s, including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
In 1997, a windstorm in northwest Oregon knocked out telephones and electricity for four days, Stinson said. The amateur radio operators provided officials with updates on conditions. That storm prompted the governor to give $250,000 worth of equipment to Oregon's amateur radio organizations.
Eifert has since lobbied for more funding, and the county now has emergency stations in Roseburg and Reedsport and a radio tower on Lane Mountain near Dixonville. If there were a disaster, amateur radio operators would be able to send messages to other parts of the state or country, Eifert said.
A Florida company owned The Lane Mountain tower and planned to tear down the structure. Stinson and Eifert, however, were able to get the company to donate it to the county.
The tower allows information to be relayed to and from Reedsport and Roseburg in an emergency. “It provides the link from Southern and southeast Oregon to Salem,” Eifert said.
In August, Eifert's labor of love earned him the 2010 Oregon Section ARES Volunteer of the Year award. The communication system he helped establish in Douglas County has made neighboring counties emergency communication systems more effective.
Stinson, who nominated Eifert for the award, said Eifert puts a lot of time and energy preparing for something that everyone hopes never happens. “What's crazy is this isn't even his profession,” he said, “I wanted to do something that acknowledged him better than just saying, ‘Thank you.' ”
Eifert said he spends the equivalent of a part-time job on his radio projects each week. “It's sometimes more than my wife would like, but I love it,” he said, laughing.
Posted by Bonnie Altus on Monday 20 September 2010 - 19:36:22
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Section Manager
Bonnie M. Altus, AB7ZQ
Sheridan, Oregon
(971) 237-0711, (503) 843-3580
ab7zq@arrl.org
ab7zq@winlink.org
AOL IM: bmateaching
Skype: bonnie.altus
Assistant Section Managers
ARRL Membership Development
Everett W Curry Jr, W6ABM
Hillsboro, Oregon
w6abm@arrl.net
Southwestern Oregon
Dan Bissell, W7WVF
Bandon, Oregon
dbissell@harborside.com
Youth and Mentoring
Russ Mickiewicz, N7QR
Portland, Oregon
n7qr@arrl.net
Administrative
Pat Roberson, W7PAT
Aloha, Oregon
w7pat@arrl.net
Affiliated Club Coordinator
Dan Bathurst, WA7ABU
Salem, Oregon
wa7abu@arrl.net
Official Observer Coordinator
Everett W Curry Jr, W6ABM
Hillsboro, Oregon
w6abm@arrl.net
Section Emergency Coordinator
Vince VanDerHyde, K7VV
Salem, Oregon
k7vv@arrl.net
State Government Liaison
Kevin E Curry, KA7KYQ
Tigard, Oregon
curry.k@gmail.com
Section Traffic Manager
D Scott Gray, W7IZ
Clatskanie, Oregon
w7iz@clatskanie.com
Technical Coordinator
Ron Fial, KO7V
Oak Grove, Oregon
ko7v@arrl.net
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[ ARRL Oregon Section ]
