Instead of a packet net this week, we will be conducting a 2M SSB net at 8:30 p.m. Monday evening.  Please join us on 144.250 MHz, USB, if you have the capability.  Most of us will be using vertical antennas, and for local communications, polarization should not be critical.  The weekly packet net will resume next Monday evening.

A packet training workshop will be held on Saturday, FEB 27, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., at SIA, sponsored by Tippecanoe County ARES.  The workshop is open to all amateurs.  If an additional session is needed, it will be held the following Saturday, MAR 6.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their laptops, TNCs, radios, and connecting cables.  This will be a hands-on workshop, starting with the basics of packet, progressing through the use of nodes, digipeaters, and configuring and using the Outpost Packet Message Manager program.

More details to be announced soon.

National Weather Service SKYWARN Spotter Training Classes are now scheduled in several counties around the area.  Here in Tippecanoe County, a Spotter Training session will be conducted on Thursday, March 4, at 7:00 p.m. at Ivy Tech (3101 S. Creasy Ln.) in Lafayette.  The session is expected to last about 2 hours and is open to the public.  Registration is not necessary.

Note that this is the normal TCARES meeting date (1st Thursday of the month).  All ARES members are encouraged to attend the spotter training, as the March TCARES meeting will be rescheduled for one week later, on Thursday, March 11.  TCARES members are reminded that attending NWS spotter training at least once every 2 years is a requirement for those in ACTIVE status to maintain their classification.

Click here to see the NWS schedule for Spotter Training classes in central Indiana.

Saturday, March 13, 2010 will bring the next installment of the bi-annual Central Indiana Severe Weather Symposium, an all day session geared toward providing more advanced information for spotters and weather enthusiasts.

It will be held in Greenwood, just a few minutes south of Indianapolis. This is an all day event, with breakfast and lunch provided with your paid registration. Registrations are still being accepted, but space is limited.

These symposiums are very informative, and we encourage you to take a closer look to consider if you may be interested in attending. Please click here to read more about it and stay updated on event information.

Updates to the TCARES Plans, SOPs, and Guidelines have been posted to the Plans section of this web site.  In addition, the frequency lists on the TCARES Net Info page of the On-Air section have also been revised.

TCARES members are urged to download these updated documents and become familiar with them and their changes.  A change log can be found on the last page of each SOP document to make it easy for you to see what has been updated.

Effective immediately, changes and additions in frequencies for the following TCARES tactical simplex channels:

TAC-A	145.500 MHz
TAC-D	146.415 MHz	(new)
TAC-1	445.500 MHz
TAC-4	445.000 MHz
DV TAC-C	144.900 MHz	(new)

CTCSS for all of the FM channels is 100.0 Hz.  A few packet frequencies have also been changed, as well.  An updated TCARES Designated Frequencies list can be found in the On-Air section of this web site, or by clicking here.

These changes also required updating NET 1-3 (Net Frequencies).  The updated document, along with updates to more of our SOPs and Guidelines, can be found in the Plans section of this web site.