Hi Folks,
Hopefully everyone is over the habit of wanting to say their Field Day call instead of theirs when they identify. I found myself wanting to say "W4UCJ" instead of "KE4FGF" when on the repeater for several days afterwards.

Judging from the E-mail and pictures I've received, a lot of people had a lot of fun and made a lot of contacts before the final gun sounded.

Some of those pictures are posted on our website and Facebook page, but there's room for a lot more. If you want to post some of yours and encounter any problems, let me know, and I'll help you out.

The one thing I noted in looking over the pictures was the number of women and kids who were involved and that's simply GREAT! In Thomasville, several of our kids got to stay up all night long, and though we had to carry them to their cars to be taken home on Sunday, we had a ball watching them make all those contacts.

The ARRL would also appreciate your comments and pictures from Field Day and the place to do that is http://www.arrl.org/soapbox

As I mentioned last month, Georgia came out on top of the heap during the 2010 SET last October. It took a lot of work by a lot of people to make that happen. We're working to finalize the scenario for 2011, and I hope to have that in your hands shortly so you can start your plans.

We're making our Technician Ops a focus this year, because we don't want them to feel left out, and I'd like them to get a taste of operating HF for a change. We may try the "GOTA" concept here, where a Tech runs the HF station with a Control Op like we do at Field Day. An actual event would throw them into the mix in this manner, so the more practice they get; the more comfortable they'll be later.

The SET will also be "Multi-State" again, and we already have Tennessee signed up as a participant. That'll also make it "Multi-Divisional" as Tennessee is in the Delta Division. North and South Carolina will also be invited to the party, which would add the Roanoke Division into the mix. Hopefully, last years partners, Alabama and North Florida, will also join us again.

Tennessee has taken the additional step of signing an MOU with us for mutual aid during a real event. Their SEC, Lowell Bennington, WD4DJW, started this discussion at the Lawrenceville Hamfest last year and the recent outbreak of tornadoes across Alabama and Georgia made us realize this really needed to happen. When the worst happens, you can't ever have enough friends ...

We're also looking at some changes in the way our ARESMAT program is set up, to make it function better. The need for help following the tornadoes showed us a number of problems that need to be seriously addressed, and soon. What was gratifying was watching the individual ECs stepping up to the plate to help not only their counties, but also the ones adjacent to them.

Jan Jubon, K2HJ, had been working on cleaning up the ARESMAT program, but health issues have forced him to step aside, and we now have Terry Jones, W4TL, taking on that task, in addition to his other duties. Revisions have been discussed during our monthly "GotoMeeting" sessions with the Operations DECs and the Regional DECs, and we hope to have some answers about how to make this work better shortly. By the way, Gene has mentioned this before, but I'll add a reminder here that if a DEC or EC wants to make use of "Gotomeeting" to get their people together for a group conference, you simply need to let Gene know and he'll set it up. It has worked really well for us, and is a real factor in the group cohesiveness the Georgia Section now enjoys. You can reach Gene at w4ayk@arrl.net.

Monthly reporting continues to go well, and I really appreciate those of you who take time to send extended comments about what you have going on in your area. It really gives me a better feel for the wants and needs around the state, and helps me to help you better.

I've also seen an upswing in Database activity, and if you're a GAARES member, I hope that you've signed up and that your information is up to date. The site is secure, and we don't ask for other than pretty basic information. If you're unsure about how to sign up, let your EC, DEC or me know about it, and we can get you rolling.

One of the reasons this is important is that if your county had a really large disaster that required us to send in outside help, that Team Leader would have a copy of the ARES people in the county from the database in hand, to make sure everyone was accounted for. If you were in trouble and maybe trapped, wouldn't you want someone to realize quickly that no one knew where you were?

OK... enough of me for this month. Thanks again to all of you who continue to send me emails and pictures of what you have going on in your area. Keep 'em coming!

73,
Mike Brown
KE4FGF, GA - SEC
ke4fgf@arrl.net