Juneau County had been without an EC since Feb of 2009 and as such no active ARES/RACES program existed. I completed the ECOMM 1 course in Feb 2010 at the request of Skip Sharpe.

A core group of 10 hams was recruited in to the Juneau County ARES/RACES organization; further recruitment drives swelled the ranks to 15 members. The goal is to have at least 20-25 members by the end of the year. Juneau County ARES/RACES is proud to have a very close working relationship with the Juneau County Amateur Radio Club. The Juneau County Amateur Radio Club has a strong VE testing team within its ranks which gives ARES/RACES access to new hams.

Juneau County had 15 hams participating in the Oct SET exercise in which a total of 221 points were earned. Four ARES/RACES members from the county attended the State ARES/RACES convention. In November the amateur radio club and the ARES/RACES organization had a month long display of ham equipment and what hams do at the Hatch Public Library in Mauston. A one day demonstration of how amateur radio works and what we do was put on by the members.

Most of the members attended Skywarn training in April of this year, plus two monthly meetings were devoted to Skywarn training. Both organizations have devoted a portion of the monthly meetings for training of it's members.

Field Day was the training topic in May. Field day this year is at the same time as the Elroy fair, and the fair directors are allowing us to run our field day operations from the fair ground. This will allow us to show off our trailer and radio skills to the public. The group is very excited about the possibilities.

The Juneau County ARES/RACES has established relationships with The Juneau County Public Health Department, Juneau County Sheriff’s Department, Hess Memorial Hospital, Juneau County Emergency Management, Camp Douglas Fire Department, Camp Douglas EMS and Necedah Village Hall.

Howard Fischer, KC9IVJ EC