Listed below are links to some of the PowerPoint presentations from the Montgomery County ARES training agenda.

ARRL – Emergency Communication Courses

Information on the ARRL ARES EmComm Courses can be be found at the ARRL’s Learning Center.

FEMA Courses

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute has a variety of free online courses.  These courses are required for Level 1, 2 and 3 member training classification.  Refer to the ARES® Emergency Communicator Individual Task Book for required courses.

For further information on courses can be found at the FEMA Independent Study Program website. You must register and obtain a FEMA SID (Student Identification Number) to take the FEMA courses.

Ohio District 3 ARES

Amateur Radio License Classes & Testing Opportunities

NVIS Research Paper Available

(From ARRL Bulletin)

March 31, 2017

A thorough and fully annotated discussion of Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) is available in the research paper, “Radio Communication via Near Vertical Incidence Skywave Propagation: An Overview,” by Ben A. Witvliet, PE5B/5R8DS, and Rosa Ma Alsina-Pagès.

First investigated in the 1920s, NVIS propagation was rediscovered during World War II as “an essential means to establish communications in large war zones such as the D-Day invasion in Normandy,” the paper notes, adding that the US Army subsequently sponsored a lot of NVIS field research, especially between 1966 and 1973. More recently, NVIS has become a popular means to enable close-in communication on Amateur Radio HF bands between 3 and 10 MHZ. NVIS can be used for radio communication in a large area (200-kilometer radius) without any intermediate manmade infrastructure, and it has been found to be especially suited for disaster relief communication, among other applications, according to the paper.

“A comprehensive overview of NVIS research is given, covering propagation, antennas, diversity, modulation, and coding,” the Abstract explains. “Both the bigger picture and the important details are given, as well as the relation between them.” As the paper describes it, in NVIS propagation, electromagnetic waves are sent nearly vertically toward the ionosphere, and, with appropriate frequency selection, these waves are reflected back to Earth.

In case the link for the research paper gets broken.. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11235-017-0287-2

PS.. Ohio’s NVIS antenna day is scheduled for April 22. In addition to 40 and 80 meters, we want to add 160 and 60 meters (a good 160 antenna should also operate on 60). With the band conditions in the trash, we need to work up alternative bands and plans to maintain communications across the state! These new bands should make for some interesting antenna construction projects, so get your teams busy!!

Want more information on how to make a NVIS Antenna? Here’s a link..http://arrl-ohio.org/SEC/nvis.html

Archived Training Articles

Generator Safety (PDF)

GPS Coordinates (PDF)

Reference Materials (PDF)

Anderson PowerPoles® (PDF)