I hope the New Year is treating all of the local amateur radio community well. 2009 was an exciting time for
Hall County ARES and 2010 is shaping up to be even better. Several new programs were instituted and we have
even more planned for this year. The goal of this report is to recap the events of last year and outline some of the
plans and goals for this year.

Last year saw a tremendous increase in membership. We started the year with 14 members on the roster and
finished with 44. A better than three times increase in manpower is significant but still not enough according to
our current Tables of Organization and Equipment. We have a goal to reach a total of 100 operators by the end of
the calendar year. Please encourage your friends to become active in emcomm.

We intend to make this goal by recruiting from the existing ham community and by licensing new hams that we
can encourage to become part of the emcomm community. We have identified 614 licensed hams in Hall County
and we are working on contacting each of them either through letters, emails or phone calls. Anyone that is
interested in helping with this endeavor should contact Tom Keith who is heading this effort.

Last year we sponsored three “ham cram” style licensing classes where we licensed up a total of 38 new hams.
In our final event of the year we added a General Class upgrade and upgraded a total of 6 operators. We also
participated in special VE sessions where we licensed 22 Techs and upgraded 4 additional Generals. 60 new Techs
and 10 Generals are a significant addition to the ham community.

We will be conducting four regular “ham crams” this year with both Tech and General classes at each. We are
currently working with a group to schedule a special Tech class that is expected to have over 100 students. Our
first class will be February 6th at the Hall County EMA. We have written our own specific manuals for both of
these classes which are available for free on our website. If you know anyone that is interested in getting licensed
or upgrading please encourage them to register on our website for the next available class.

Communications is as much a relationship business as it is technical. Recognizing this, we have negotiated and
signed Mutual Aid Agreements with 12 other ARES groups from the Northeast Georgia region. We are actively
sharing information and training with these groups. In the event of a disaster that activates us these relationships
and mutual training should help all of our groups perform to the highest standards. These agreements give us
ready access to several hundred trained communicators.

Another major advancement last year was the launching of our new website. In just a few months
www.HallCountyARES.com has created quite a stir in the regional emcomm community. Our site has more online
tools and information than any other ARES website in the state. We are creating a clearing house of information
for emcomm operators throughout the region. We have several new tools that will be unveiled as the year
progresses. Please keep an eye out for these upgrades and try to participate in our discussion forums. If you have
not registered as a user on the new website please do so. If you would like to help with this ongoing project
please contact Bob Drumm.

All of our hard work is gaining recognition around the state. For the year 2009, Hall County ARES was awarded
the Jack Hobbs Award for Excellence in Amateur Radio by the Emergency Management Association of Georgia.
This award goes to the emcomm group that the association feels has best supported the Emergency Management
Agencies in that calendar year. Congratulations to all of you for your help that allowed us to win this prestigious
award. We were also asked to present a program at the 2009 Georgia State ARES forum and participate with a
presentation at the GARS Techfest.

Last year we activated for a total of three field exercises. Two were associated with the quarterly State
mandated tornado drills and the other was our participation in the ARRL Georgia Simulated Emergency Test. We
will be activating for all four State tornado drills this year of which the first one is scheduled for February 3rd. We
need a total of 15 operators to monitor the tornado siren sites for these exercises. Our participation helps us to
train and helps the EMA to be sure all of our warning systems are 100% operational.

Our participation in the 2009 ARRL Georgia SET was a resounding success. We scored a total of 861 points. To
put this in perspective, a score of less than 400 points won the state and the southeast regional for the year 2008.
While the results for 2009’s SET are not yet available yet, we have a strong belief that our score should lead the
state and the southeast in the competition. I appreciate all of our operators that assisted in this event and hope
that those of you who were unable to participate in this event will try for the 2010 SET.

Last year Hall County ARES adopted the use of the Narrow Beam Emergency Messaging System (NBEMS) for
the transfer of digital data over the radio. This system works with HF, VHF and UHF systems. We can even send
data through FM repeaters. We are now considered one of the leading ARES groups in the state for digital
communications. Due to our work with the software developers for this technology, we now have a software
application for the easy transmission of ICS?213 forms from desk top to desk top though our radios.
We have been running a weekly digital net in which we practice digital techniques with our operators and those
from other ARES groups around the state. In these nets we send word documents, ICS?213’s and do keyboard to
keyboard nets. We will be continuing with these nets throughout 2010. The software and instructions on
operating with this exciting mode are available on our website.

With the support of the Hall County EMA we added both D?star and Digital Modes capabilities to the station at
the Emergency Services Complex. This gives us full HF, VHF, UHF analog along with VHF and UHF Digital
capabilities. We have initiated specialized new training for our Emergency Operations Response Team. This will
ensure a standard of excellence in the event we are called to support the EMA during a communications disaster.
We also established an ARRL Official Emergency Station at another location. This station is an all band/all mode
location with a 60 foot tower, battery backup and generators. We have also configured an Emergency
Communications Vehicle based on a 43 foot High Ranger Bucket truck that has all band/all mode capabilities. We
are currently planning and gathering equipment for a second mobile unit.

In another long fought battle we have received a 10,000 dollar grant from the State to add amateur radio to the
Northeast Georgia Medical Center and the hospital is planning on matching that grant to ensure we have the
proper equipment to serve their mission appropriately.

We have acquired MOU’s for five additional repeaters. We now have priority emergency use of machines from
Braselton to Wauka Mountain and over toward Baldwin. We also have received coordination for three additional
repeaters from S.E.R.A. and are on the cusp of getting our funding to install these machines.
All of these endeavors and future projects are going to require funding. This year we have established a
checking account and have managed to start building a war chest of funds. We have acquired a post office box
and now have a permanent mailing address. Of priority for this year is to acquire our official 501(c)3 charitable
organization status.

As Emergency Coordinator I am proud of our progress in 2009 and look forward to an even better 2010. I hope
that everyone in the amateur radio community will join us to see our local community served with the best
emergency communications capabilities possible.

Michael V. Crowder, AA4BA