Author: Sam Henley

Hi! My name is Sam! I am the Deputy Director of the Benton County, MO Emergency Management Agency. I maintain the BC MO EM FB Page: @bcmoem and website: https://bcmoem.com/. I am the callsign trustee for the BC MO EM. Their callsign is WB0EM. I was appointed the Emergency Coordinator for our local Benton County, MO ARES (Missouri, U.S.A.) on October 31, 2017. I earned my general class amateur radio license (KE0LMY) on October 14, 2017. I run the BC ARES net every few Sunday nights (alternating with other group members) at 7 PM CST on 146.925 (–) PL 107.2. I maintain the Benton County, MO ARES Facebook page: @bentoncountyares and website: http://www.bentoncountyares.org/. I am the president of D.A.R.K. Dam Amateur Radio Klub (KE0TGG), a special events club which supports the BC ARES. You can find more information about D.A.R.K. at damark.org or on the Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/damark/ I volunteer as the Social Media Manager for the Warsaw Fire Protection District, maintaining their Facebook page @WarsawFireProtectionDistrict and their website wfpd65355.com, updating both with current information regularly. I also manage the Warsaw Christian Church website warsawchristian.church, updating it weekly with a blog from Richard Bowman, as well as his sermon. I completed Community Emergency Response Team training with the Camden County, MO CERT and the Benton County, MO CERT and became a team member on March 26, 2018. I volunteer as Camden County, MO CERT's Public Information Officer and manage their website www.ccmocert.com and Facebook page @CamdenMOCERT. I am one of the certified (G428) CERT trainers for Benton County, MO. I manage the BC MO CERT FB group and webpage. I serve as the Net Control Manager for the Region A Healthcare Net. This is a net which tests the amateur radio backup communications system for healthcare facilities in MO Region A once per month. I have completed both online and in-seat SKYWARN training, as well as Radar Fundamentals and I am Spotter #4 for the Lake Area Storm Spotters. I hold the following FEMA certifications: IS-029, IS-042, IS-100b, IS-101c, IS-102c, IS-120a, IS130a, IS-139a, IS-200b, IS-230d, IS-235c, IS-240b, IS-241b, IS-242b, IS-244b, IS-247a, IS-288a, G-251, G-300, IS-317, G-400, IS-700a, and IS-800b. I have completed the ARRL EC-001 course and completed CPR/AED/First Aid training for adults/children/infants on March 3, 2018. I have also completed Social Media Engagement Strategies, WebEOC training, MO-127 WebEOC Train the Trainer training, Damage Assessment training, and the Emergency Management Director's Academy through MO SEMA. You can find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sammhenley on twitter @ke0lmy and at AirSho as http://www.airsho.com/united-states/edwards/ham-radio-amateur/ke0lmy-samantha-henley

Last Few Days of our Inaugural Special Event!

Hello, my D.A.R.K.lings!

Phew! It’s been a week, hasn’t it??? We have had a mixed bag of conditions and propagation on the bands since the 20th when our event started! For the most part, Renee has worked on 10m phone for a bit, but most of our contacts have been on 20m phone with a sprinkling of 40m phone for fun. Stephen has also been working CW as a bonus for this event, so we are very excited about this new aspect!

Today, I will be back on 20m phone for the W0T/KE0TGG 40th Anniversary of Truman Dam and Reservoir Special Event. After I finish training the CERT class tomorrow afternoon…you guessed it, probably 20m phone again! But I will have an eye on propagation and if other bands open up, I will try my luck there. Sunday is a free for all where I will operate for as long as I can stave off my migraines so as many people as possible have the chance to work us for the event!

HERE is the QSO information for the SE.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in making this effort a success, whether you helped log our paper contacts into the computer program, volunteer to help with the certificates/QSL cards, work the radio, and any other part you take in this special event!

73,

Sam Henley KE0LMY

Special Event Begins TOMORROW!

Hello, my D.A.R.K.lings!

I honestly can’t believe it’s July. It feels like I just sat down to schedule our inaugural special event a few days ago!

You have probably seen the PDF in our group which I put together to help everyone operate during the event. We have some hams who are new to contesting, new to the club, and new to ham radio in general. I encourage these hams to drop by our farm on either weekend of the event (Except the 27th from 9 am-12 pm, since I will be teaching CERT class in Warsaw!) and sit in to see how much fun contesting/special events are! It’s my real enjoyment in amateur radio and I love sharing the experience!

Here is the certificate request information for our special event under call sign W0T:

Send an email with your name, call sign, contact time/date/frequency and PDF certificate request to kd0wxt@gmail.com to receive an emailed pdf

AND/OR

to receive a full-color, printed certificate, submit a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the following address:

Roger Henley

C/O D.A.R.K. Dam Amateur Radio Klub

32018 Hwy 7

Edwards, MO 65326

This information is also posted on the Special Events page.

I can’t wait to see how we do! Have fun with it, everyone!

73,

Sam Henley KE0LMY

July Meeting Review!

Hello, my D.A.R.K.lings!

We are welcoming some new faces to D.A.R.K.!

Terry and Sandy Crane have joined D.A.R.K. this month and we are excited to have them as part of the D.A.R.K. side! Future ham Jeremy Troester also sat in on the meeting to learn more about amateur radio and our club.

We had a number of things to cover this time, from an update on Echolink (we are in the last stages of FINALLY restoring Echolink to the 925!) to the special event we will be running during the week of July 20-28 from our farm in Edwards, MO!

We are looking for members to serve as Elmers. You don’t have to know everything about your chosen subject, you just have to be open and willing to help new members/hams navigate our wonderful hobby! I encourage everyone to join in the information sharing and teaching!

We plan to have a barbecue on the first Saturday (July 20) of the event at 6:30 PM. Sandy has graciously agreed to coordinate the sides for the pot luck. We also have donations to support the purchase of the meat for the event.

After the meeting, we received word that we are approved to use W0T for the full eight days of the event. If you wish to operate as the club under the 1×1 at any time during the event from your home QTH, please message KE0TGG call sign trustee Roger Henley KD0WXT at kd0wxt@gmail.com to get on the band plan.

We also received an update on the club t-shirts from Tightwad T’s. We will present the sample shirt at the meeting following delivery, along with the price so we can take preorders. This keeps our overhead down and allows you to order the number of shirts you want!

More updates to come as things pour in!

73,

Sam Henley KE0LMY

Special Event Update!

As we quickly approach the first weekend of our special event for Truman Dam, we want to release some information here on our site about our plans!

Since this is our very first special event, there is a lot for us to learn. Our goal for the Truman Dam event is to have fun making contacts and have a barbecue to encourage camaraderie within our club. As we begin to hold more special events, we will advertise more and really build these events into big club activities!

Here is the page containing our certificate example. We will offer two different delivery methods: a PDF via email or a full color certificate if recipients provide a self-addressed stamped envelope. We will be seeking volunteers to fulfill the certificate preparation in August.

We are also looking for designs for QSL cards for this event as well as for the club in general. Photos of the dams which can be used are available in our Facebook group.

We have been approved for the use of a 1×1 callsign: W0T, which caused Renee to create the following meme:

Sandy Crane AE0DU has graciously accepted the responsibility of coordinating the sides for the potluck style barbecue. Please contact her via the post in our Facebook group to let her know what you would like to bring! We have had seven people donate money for the meat so far and this will be purchased from The Butcher Shop in Camdenton.

Updates!

Hi, all!

Sam here!

I know, I know. It’s been a hot minute since I updated the D.A.R.K. blog. No excuses. I have, however, been posting updates on our FB group because it’s quick and easy to do from my phone! 😀

Here we go:

Thanks to Jason Wood KC0KWL, we will have Echolink restored to the Benton County repeater (146.925 PL 107.2) in the not too distant future! I am so excited to finally be able to say this since it’s been almost a year without Echolink! Many of our members are snowbirds and still want to check in on the BC ARES nets at 7 PM CST on Sunday nights and also be able to chat with us when they aren’t in the county, so this will be such a wonderful resource to bring back!

Our plans for the 40th Anniversary of the Completion of Truman Dam special event are on track for the last two weekends in July! You can operate from anywhere, but please message Roger KD0WXT about when you want to use the club call and keep records so we can mail out QSL cards and certificates afterward! Our primary location will be our farm and we are considering having a cookout. We’ll discuss that at the July meeting.

There will be no “official” June meeting because many of our members are heavily involved in Warsaw Jubilee Days, however we will have an informal meeting on Saturday at the CERT/ARES/EMA tent by the Methodist Church prior to the parade. Be there by 9:30 for the meeting or if you would like to volunteer that day, please be there around 8 AM.

We are waiting for the example t-shirts to be completed. When we have received them, we will present them at the meeting after that and take preorders. The delay was due to the club logo needing to be vectored and Jubilee Days hitting during the same time!

We have taken delivery of the duplexer for Benton County to use (under an MoU) on the Emergency Communications trailer until they can purchase their own (probably in 2020). Thank you SO much to the club members who have stepped forward to donate and help myself and Roger recoup part of the $700. You guys and gals are AMAZING!!!

As you all know, there has been a tremendous amount of information on the extremely high pool at Truman Lake and I have been working (as Deputy Director of the BC MO EM) to stop rumors, false information, and speculation on Truman Dam failing. The dam is operating as designed. If you want to receive updates, just visit bcmoem.com and subscribe to the blog.

More updates and new things for the website will be posted after Jubilee Days!

73,

Sam KE0LMY