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 two 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

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

Update!

Logo Photograph by KE0LMY.

Hello, everyone!

Sam here!

First, let me sincerely thank those who were able to attend the March meeting! We made some progress on shirts for the group, information about the Echolink situation on the Benton County Repeater, and more!

I have a new update for you!

Today I heard from Ken Wade of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Our letter of intent and information about what we would like to do as a special events amateur radio club is making its way up the chain! I will attach an updated version of the letter to this post. Ken explained that either our request would be considered at the Kansas City level or it would be moved back to the Harry S Truman Dam and Reservoir level to be determined.

I believe all the gentlemen I have had the honor of speaking with have understood that we wish to operate in harmony with those at the various dams and we are about promoting a positive image and experience, not only for our club but also for our partners!

Here’s hoping I will have more news soon, if not by our April meeting! I let Ken know we are interested in operating in July 2019 and it seems we gave them enough time to consider!

Thank you to all of the wonderful members of D.A.R.K. for your patience while I learn and take the proper steps to not only operate our club, special events and more, but also while I learn about permissions we need to run our events!

73,

Sam Henley KE0LMY

Letter of Intent

D.A.R.K. T-shirt update

“Kelly Green” was as close as we could get to “Krispy Kreme Green” for the t-shirts!

Hello, everyone!

Sam here!

Barb and I had a very productive meeting with Tightwad T’s Mary and Heather this evening!

As you will note above, we got as close to “Krispy Kreme Green” as we could get with “Kelly Green” for the t-shirts. The t-shirts should be under $10 each until you get into the 2x and up sizes. Then it’s going to be an extra $2.50 per size up.

We are very excited to work with the ladies! They are friendly and accommodating for all of our needs, not just shirts! They can do any promotional/outreach items we want to have made, as well as banners, posters, signs, etc.

We plan to bring them a lot of business from multiple groups from Benton County. We will have examples of their work at the April meeting.

Thank you for your continued patience as we work to bring you fun things from D.A.R.K.

73,

Sam Henley KE0LMY