The Wabash River Cycle Club is asking for help again this year with communications for their annual Wabash River Ride.  Over 300 cyclists are expected to travel up to 100 miles through Tippecanoe, Fountain, and Warren counties, with no cellphone coverage in many areas.  This poses a safety risk for those participating, and presents a challenge for event coordinators.

Please consider volunteering to help provide amateur radio communications for this event on Saturday, August 28.  Cheryl, K9HER, is coordinating the personnel and equipment for this operation, and needs everyone who is planning to help to fill out a very brief registration form.  It and more information about this event can be found under the "Events" menu, "Wabash River Ride".   www.W9TCA.com/wrr

In addition to the regularly-scheduled packet (1st Monday) and 2M SSB (3rd Monday) ancillary nets at 20:30, the 2nd and 4th Monday evenings in the coming months will be used to test and demonstrate a variety of modes.  While we understand that not everyone has these capabilities, those of you who do can make use of these modes as additional "tools" in your ARES arsenal.  More details about each "special mode" ancillary net will be published as the date approaches, but here is a (tentative) schedule so that you may start preparing now:

AUG 09

D-STAR (repeater & simplex tests, and DV-Data using D-RATS software)

More details about the designated storm spotter locations have been published on a separate web page devoted to that information.  Several downloads are now available which include: a detailed list of spotter positions with latitude, longitude and a brief description, a county map plotting the approximate locations, a Google Earth file, and other relevant information.  Also, please note the TCARES storm spotter policy at the bottom of the page.

Check out the "Weather" section, and select "Spotter Locations" from the drop-down menu. Or, just click here:  www.w9tca.com/spotter-locations

Our ARES members utilize a variety of specialized software designed to assist in our mission.  Several of these applications have recently been updated to fix bugs and add features.  Please check to see that you are using these latest versions:

GRLevel3 Radar software - version 1.77  (updated 6/12) Update available from www.grlevelx.com/grlevel3

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Outpost Packet Message Manager - version 2.4.0 c099 Updated 6/14 and available from www.outpostpm.org

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NBEMS fldigi / flarq - version 3.20.21 flwrap - version 1.2.0 flics - version 1.0.2 flrig - version 1.0.0bD (beta)

Latest versions available from w1hkj.com

Are you an ARRL member?  If so, do you get the monthly ARES E-Letter?  ARRL members can sign up to have the ARES E-Letter delivered to them automatically each month by email (at no cost) by logging in with their call sign at www.ARRL.org and editing the Email Subscriptions of their Member Profile page.

If you're not an ARRL member, you can still read the current and past issues of this monthly ARES newsletter by looking here: www.arrl.org/ares-el