[Bgmrc-list] more info about ARES transition

[Chris McGehee]

Posted to fcga-ares list by David Benoist AG4ZR:

ARES members, in Georgia ARES groups are usually organized around
Counties. However, in some cases there are a number of two, three,
and in few cases (primarily South Georgia) multiple county ARES
groups. An example would be the Douglas/Paulding County ARES group.
This is done to combine smaller ARES memberships into a single larger
ARES group to create larger memberships and combine resources. The
Coweta County ARES group has been folded into the Fayette ARES
membership making it a two county group to create the Fayette/Coweta
ARES group. Coweta's present ARES membership is very small and it is
the Section leadership's objective to revive growth and interest in
ARES activities.

The current Coweta Emergency Coordinator is Chris McGehee (KL0UD).
Some of you already know Chris from her work at the National Weather
Service. Chris will continue in her role acting as an Assistant
Emergency Coordinator. I will be meeting with her to do some
planning and organizing. At this point we are in the "primordial
soup" stage of planning on what to plan.

I envision, at this point, that Coweta ARES members will start coming
to ARES meetings and participating in the Tuesday night net. This
net has already evolved into a multi-repeater net covering Fayette
and Pike Counties and the Skywarn hub repeater with check-ins from
other areas from metro to rural. I like to give the sense that all
amateurs, ARES and non-ARES alike are welcome. I frankly think the
future of Amateur Radio with its declining numbers depends more on
cohesive activities to stay active.

I will try to move ARES meetings around to different locations.
However, this not so much by choice as it is trying to find a place
to meet but I will try to facilitate meeting in different locations,
as we do with the FCARC Eatin-Meetings, so that some do not have to
travel consistently to more distant meeting locations. Please
welcome ARES members from Coweta and introduce yourselves when they
appear at ARES meetings.

As things develop I will let you know in updates. Comments,
discussion, ideas, ponderances, etc. are welcome. Feel free to
call. Thanks.

David Benoist
EC
AG4ZR