Hello to all..
On behalf of the Eastern Massachusetts ARES staff, we’d like to take a moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holiday season! We have appreciated the support of all Amateurs who assisted in the mobilization for the Blizzard of 2013 in early February particularly in portions of Southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod and the Islands which were particularly hard hit during the blizzard. We also want to thank all Amateur Radio Operators who assisted during the Boston Marathon and the bombings that occurred at the finish line including those Amateurs who answered the short fused call on availability to mobilize if necessary as the bombings unfolded. While there are always lessons learned from such incidents, Amateur Radio played a critical role during this tragedy both on the course and finish line and the 2014 Boston Marathon will be an even bigger event because of it likely requiring earlier volunteering from Amateur Radio Operators as well as potentially more Amateur Radio volunteers for the event.
We also thank all Amateur Operators whether they are in ARES or not who supported all the Public Service Events throughout the year as well. We also thank all the RACES Radio Operators and Officers for their support of their local city and town emergency management as well as state emergency management. In addition, a thank you to all Amateur Radio Operators who are continuing to support the Eastern Massachusetts Hospital Net that has had regular participation from the South Coast Hospital group, hospitals on Cape Cod, Brockton Hospital and the lead hospital supporting the operation, the South Shore Hospital and South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Club. For those Amateur Operators that support SKYWARN whether they are in ARES or not, a separate holiday message has been posted via the following link:
http://www.wx1box.org/node/3391
As we move into 2014, we have had a few district meetings, specifically on the south coast of Massachusetts and Greater Boston area along with regular district meetings on Cape Cod and in Northern Middlesex County. We’d like to continue to expand the district meetings across the section and get back into the section emergency communication workshops similar to past years and plan for one to two exercises as we get towards the middle of 2014. Due to some changes in my own personal status that are ongoing, I’m going to continue to be looking toward our ARES Assistant SECs and DECs to be doing more in their respective districts including more localized training sessions, meetings and exercises to provide additional and more localized support to ARES across our section. We will also be continuing to support hospitals and Non-Governmental Organizations such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army building upon the work done in 2013. We also encourage those involved in emergency communications or those that have an interest in weather to become SKYWARN trained to support the National Weather Service for those interested.
Again, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all! We look forward to working with everyone during 2014 and thanks for your continued support of ARES!
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org