September 10, 2023
To: Amateur Radio Operators
From: Hamilton County Emergency Communications
Group Subject: Hamilton County Repeaters
Dear Amateur Radio Community,
Late last year, a handful of individuals created the Hamilton County Emergency Communications Group (HCECG). The group’s sole purpose is not to be a club in the traditional sense but to be a third and neutral party to provide services to all amateur radio operators. We plan to accomplish this by ensuring the repeaters remain available to all amateur radio operators throughout the county and beyond. Based on your input, we will work with Hamilton County Emergency Management to maintain the current repeaters and grow future capabilities.
CIARA has done a fantastic job managing the repeaters, and we are grateful for their many years of service. We support their operations, and all nets will remain the same. We are working with CIARA to transfer the frequency management to the new group. The only real change will be switching from the N9EOC callsign to the HCECG callsign K9EOC.
Transferring the frequency and repeater coordination will allow a non-club-based group to manage the repeaters for all amateur radio operators and solidify Emergency Management’s financial commitment to maintaining the equipment. Clubs can focus on their membership and interests without worrying about repeater maintenance.
We sincerely want to provide services to everyone in our community. We will support all amateur radio operators and look forward to your feedback on how we can continue to expand repeaters and other services throughout Hamilton County.
Some of the new services we will offer include a new website, www.k9eoc.org, with repeater information, the recognition of Hamilton County clubs and organizations, a future newsletter for all hams, and more. We aim to embrace the wonderful and diverse community we are so fortunate to have in Hamilton County.
Thanks to Matthew Weber, KD9WFK, Dallas Milem, N9DAM, and Ron Sans, WA4EZF, from CIARA, along with Joe March, KJ9M, John Gooldy, W9KD, Steve Skinner, AC9AM, and Monica Peterson, N9MRP, of HCECG, for making this possible. A special shout out to Alex Auvinen, AC9XK, for her work building the website and securing the domain.
Joe and I are happy to answer any questions you may have. My email address is k9sab@yahoo.com, and Joe’s email is kj9m@arrl.net.
Best Regards,
Shane Booker, K9SAB Joe March, KJ9M President Trustee