Stay Up to Date with ARES. Join this discussion group: https://groups.io/g/IA-ARES
April 30, 2025
Hello fellow Emergency Communicators!
My name is Clint Miller KØGR and I am the New Iowa Section Emergency Coordinator. I appreciate Barry Buelow W0YI for appointing me to fill this vital role. I hope I can meet or exceed your expectations of what strong section leadership for ARES should be. Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t have a big ego or lust for power. You might not always agree with my decisions, but I promise that I will make them with a prime focus on what I feel is best for the future of the ARES organization and our served communities.
I apologize that this message hasn’t come sooner, I’ve been waiting to send it until we had more members present, especially the ECs. The reason I started this new Groups.io group is WA0UIG declined my offer to continue using the previous group for ARES. In addition, any message I attempted to send to the previous group has been blocked by WA0UIG since Barry made the announcement that I would be appointed to the role of SEC. I’m thankful that you found your way here!
Some information about me: I was originally licensed in 2001 as KC0JUO to participate in a cross-country race with the ISU Solar Car Team. I got radio active in 2005 after hearing an NPR report about amateur radio operators responding to Hurricane Katrina. I have been serving as the Emergency Coordinator for Story County since 2009, the Iowa Deputy RACES Officer since 2020, and as a Story County Amateur Radio Club board member since 2009, currently as President. I have participated in countless ARES public service events and several communication exercises with the Iowa National Guard. I have completed many FEMA courses and earned my COML and COMT Credential for completing my taskbooks. I have also served on the Technology Committee of the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communications Systems Board, the organization that runs the new 700 MHz statewide system.
We built a skilled and active ARES group in Story County that has earned the respect of the local Emergency Management Agency. They asked several of us to serve in the ESF2 Communications role in the Story County Emergency Operations Center. We earned this appreciation and responsibility by always being professional, trained communicators and technical specialists first, and amateur radio operators second. That is the served agency focused approach I want to encourage section-wide.
One of my first priorities is to have Assistant Section Emergency Coordinators (ASEC) and District Emergency Coordinators (DEC) that I know and trust to serve as a cabinet of advisors, and to fill the vacant section leadership positions. For the previous ASEC’s that I could find valid contact information, I personally thanked them for their work and dedication. In return they offered continued support of the ARES mission and you may see them appointed to new roles in the future.
I have appointed Colin Wheatley W9UPK as an ASEC, a position he previously held. He is has years of experience with emergency communications and brings Eastern Iowa balance to my Central Iowa knowledge base. Colin has also agreed to fill the role as DEC for District 6 for the time being. Jason Knapton KEØEJS was given the long-overdue promotion to DEC for District 3 and Paul Cowley W0YR continues to serve in District 1. I am trying to find experienced people to fill the roles of DEC for Districts 2, 4, and 5. If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else for one of these positions, please let me know. Once the DEC positions are filled, then we will start looking at EC vacancies.
The section leadership team is planning a Statewide ARES Meeting to be held on a Saturday in the second half of July or August at the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames. I am confirming availability with one of our planned speakers before sending a ‘Save the Date’ message very soon.
One very timely order of business for the EC’s is to complete the monthly reporting to the ARRL. We will utilize the ARRL’s system to submit the monthly EC reports by the 15th of the following month. You will need to use your ARRL login credentials to access this website. You will want to bookmark it:
https://ares.arrl.org/aresform2.php
Apologies for the length of this email but I’m sure there are several things that I forgot to mention – look for more messages soon. Please feel free to reach me directly via email at ares.ia.sec@…
Clint Miller, KØGR, COML, COMT
Iowa Section Emergency Coordinator
Story County Emergency Coordinator
ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service
When I became Section Manager on April 1, I directed that all ARES activity be paused until we could get organized. I hope this didn’t upset anyone or impact any activities. The coordination of ARES and local clubs is now better and I wish to re-engage ARES under Clint’s direction. Please email me if you have any questions.
April 24, 2025 :
Lets Talk About ARES
We all need to understand that by joining ARES you are indicating your willingness to support EmComm through the ARRL. The league encourages ARES membership and activities as it supports the FCC’s mandate that amateur radio provide emergency communications. Consider ARES an overlay to local club’s emergency preparedness activities. My expectation is that locally, ARES operates in harmony with the local club. Activities, such as Wx nets, may be conducted using the club EmComm organizational structure or ARES organizational structure. There is no precedence of one over the other. Regardless of the number of organizational hats, there are only so many volunteer bodies.
Clint Miller, KØGR, from Ames is the new Section Emergency Coordinator. He has been licensed since 2001, serving as the Emergency Coordinator for Story County since 2009, the Iowa Deputy RACES Officer since 2020, and as a Story County Amateur Radio Club board member since 2009, currently as President. Clint has participated in countless ARES public service events and several communication exercises with the Iowa National Guard. He has completed many FEMA courses and is an Iowa Credentialed COML and COMT. He has also served on the Technology Committee of the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communications Systems Board.
Clint has developed a skilled and active ARES group in Story County that has earned the respect of the local Emergency Management Agency, asking him and and several of his team serve in the ESF2 Communications role in the Story County Emergency Operations Center. They have earned this respect and responsibility by always being professional, trained communicators and technical specialists first, and amateur radio operators second.
Due to the previous SEC not turning over the email system we used to communicate with ARES members, Clint has established a new service for any ARES members to join and receive information about the Section ARES program.
Click –> https://groups.io/g/IA-ARES to request membership in this group:
Clint is also working to plan a Statewide ARES Leadership Meeting for this summer, stand by for more details. In the meantime, you can reach him directly via email at ares.ia.sec@gmail.com