About The Event


Welcome to the 26th Annual Wisconsin Section ARES/RACES Conference/ARRL State Convention!  This year's event will be held on Saturday, November 2, 2024.  And we want you to attend!  What better way to get updates from the last year, reconnect with fellow hams, obtain some awesome new information, and have a chance at winning some great prizes.

A big thank you to WeComm, Ltd! We could not do this event without our continued partnership with them. WeComm has been supporting Wisconsin ARES/RACES and this Conference for well over 15 years. We have another great conference in store for our attendees this year.

Thank you as well to The McMillan Memorial Library, all our wonderful speakers, and to all the fantastic companies with their generous prize donations!

Thank you from all of us on the 2024 Wisconsin ARES/RACES Conference Committee:  Kyle Schaefer, KC9SDK; Tom Burger, KA9KJE; Nicholas Proulx, KC9YLK; Shelly Dorshorst, KD9GIY; and Amber Kraft, KD9KKY.

Visit the Wisconsin ARES / RACES site at: ARES/RACES ARRL Wisconsin Section (wi-arrl.org) 



Register

Thanks to The McMillan Memorial Library, for the last several years we have been able to offer this Conference free of charge to our attendees.  And because of the courtesy of a local area church, the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, we are able to offer a delicious bag lunch again.  They, too, have been supporting our Conference for the last many years and your lunch purchase also supports them as well.

  • Thanks to the McMillan Memorial Library, the WI ARES/RACES Conference 2024 has free admission for attendees that are not interested in having a sack lunch brought in by our friends at the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, who has provided a wonderful lunch for our Conference for several years now. You are welcome to bring your own lunch or leave the library for the lunch hour.

  • Bagged ham lunch includes ham sandwich, drink option, fruit cup, and cookie/sweet treat provided by our friends at the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, who has provided a wonderful meal for our Conference for several years now. Conference admission included with lunch. Thank you for supporting another local organization with your lunch purchase!

  • Bagged turkey lunch includes turkey sandwich, drink option, fruit cup, and cookie/sweet treat provided by our friends at the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, who has provided a wonderful meal for our Conference for several years now. Conference admission included with lunch. Thank you for supporting another local organization with your lunch purchase!

  • Bagged roast beef lunch includes roast beef sandwich, drink option, fruit cup, and cookie/sweet treat provided by our friends at the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, who has provided a wonderful meal for our Conference for several years now. Conference admission included with lunch. Thank you for supporting another local organization with your lunch purchase!

  • Bagged veggie lunch includes veggie sandwich, drink option, fruit cup, and cookie/sweet treat provided by our friends at the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, who has provided a wonderful meal for our Conference for several years now. Conference admission included with lunch. Thank you for supporting another local organization with your lunch purchase!



What's on the agenda?

Look whose talkin'!

Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA Central Division Director

Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, began short wave listening in the late 1950s. He received his Novice

license (WN9AVT) in October 1961, and selected K9LA in 1977. Carl is an electrical

engineering graduate of Purdue University and was an RF design engineer for Motorola and

Magnavox/Raytheon until his retirement in 2013. Carl enjoys propagation research, DXing (he’s

at the Top of the Honor Roll), contesting (he was Editor of the ARRL’s National Contest Journal

{NCJ} from 2002-2007), playing with antennas and restoring/using vintage equipment.

He and his wife Vicky AE9YL enjoy traveling, which has included DXpeditions to Syria (YK9A

in February 2001), to Market Reef (OJ0/AE9YL and OJ0/K9LA in July 2002) and numerous

trips to ZF (Vicky is ZF2YL and Carl is ZF2LA). He has written monthly propagation columns

for WorldRadio and NCJ, and has written solar and propagation articles for many other Amateur

Radio publications.

Carl was the Vice Director of the ARRL Central Division from 2017-2021. He now serves as the

Director of the Central Division, and is on several of the ARRL committees.


Brent Walls, N9BA Assistant Central Division Director

Brent Walls, N9BA, began his radio journey in the mid 1990’s listening to local repeaters and

distant AM radio stations. Brent received his technician class license (KB9NUB) in May 1996

with upgrades to General in June 2011 and to Extra in June 2013. Brent currently works for the

State of Indiana as a Deputy IT Director in the Office of Technology where he leads several

teams focused on cybersecurity.

Brent has a passion for public service and his passion has been a big part of his amateur radio

journey. Brent has served in several Indiana counties as the ARRL Emergency Coordinator.

Brent has also served as the Indiana Section Emergency Coordinator (2014-2016) and Indiana

Section Manager (2016-2018). Brent has been serving as the Central Division Vice Director

since July 2021.


Jason Spetz, KC9FXE Wisconsin Section Manager

I am currently in my second term serving as the ARRL Wisconsin Section Manager. I’ve been an amateur radio operator since 2004 and have been active in my local ARES/RACES organization for a few years. While ARES/RACES is where I started in amateur radio, I’ve come to enjoy other aspects of amateur radio as well, such as traffic handling, digital modes, learning CW, to name a few.

Professionally, I started an extensive public safety career in Minnesota working as an Officer/EMT in the Mankato, and Shakopee areas, and as a firefighter for Bloomington Fire Department. Later, I moved to Balwin, Wisconsin after accepting a position with the Wisconsin State Patrol. There I also served with United Fire and Baldwin EMS. Eventually, I migrated a little further east to Work with the Menomonie Fire Department and Dunn County Sheriff’s office, before finding my final destination back working for the State as the Chief of Police for UW-Stout PD.

Recently I have retired form all of that and I’m now working for Dunn County Emergency Management.

A few things I enjoy outside of amateur radio are playing a few rounds of golf, ATV trail riding, boating the lakes or rivers, and maintaining a mutual understanding with my springer spaniels, Alex-Dog and Echo-Dog.


Denny Rybicke, K9LGU Wisconsin Section Traffic Manager

Everything we have done makes us the Hams we are. Dennis Rybicke of Fort Atkinson, was born in Milwaukee and grew up in Stevens Point. He received his B.S. degree from the

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where he met his wife, Gerry. He holds a Master’s Degree in English/Education from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh and numerous

graduate credits from other universities. Dennis and Gerry, established and operated La Grange Bed and Breakfast in Fort Atkinson from 1994 to 2009 where they were recipients of the Fort Chamber’s Tourism Award in 2008.

An active Amateur Radio Operator since 1958, Dennis holds Extra Class FCC license K9LGU, has served as the state’s Section Traffic Manager for over 20 years and is an Assistant

ARES/RACES Emergency Coordinator for Jefferson County.

Dennis taught at New Holstein High School for 34 years – specializing in written and spoken communications. His extra-curricular duties included stage sound and lighting

supervision, senior class adviser, forensics coach, and adviser to the National Honor Society chapter. He was an adjunct professor with UW-Oshkosh from 1986 to 1999. Elected mayor of the City of New Holstein in 1982, he served six consecutive terms to 1994. He later served

several years as a member of the Fort Atkinson Planning Commission. As a substitute teacher, he enjoyed working with students at Fort Atkinson High School from 2001 until 2021.

Some of his occupations, in alphabetical order, have included - adjunct college professor, audio system supervisor, bean picker, city mayor (12 years), clothing store clerk, drama director, electrician, exterior / interior painter, floral shop driver/dispatcher, grant writer, grave digger, high

school teacher (34 years full time; 20 years part-time), innkeeper (15 years), janitor/custodian, microprocessor salesman, novels and documents editor, potato warehouse worker, public speaking coach, roofer, stage lighting director, and tree trimmer.


Myron Oestreich, KB9STB Wisconsin Section Public Information Coordinator

Myron Oestreich, KB9STB is the ARRL – Wisconsin Section Public Information Coordinator. He

was originally licensed in 1998 and holds an Amateur Extra license. Along with amateur radio

licensure, he holds a valid GMRS license and is a SHARES operator. He has taken ARRL’s

EC-002, PR-101 and dozens of FEMA training both in-person and online, and serves

as a Volunteer Examiner for both ARRL-VEC and Laurel-VEC as well as the Assistant

Emergency Coordinator – Public Information Officer for Wood County ARES/RACES.

Professionally, Myron serves as the Chief Medical Examiner for Juneau County. He holds

licensure in Wisconsin as an EMT-Paramedic with Critical Care and TEMS endorsements and is

an American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators Diplomat level certified death

investigator. He lives in the town of Rome, Adams County with his wife Rhea and two

stepdaughters.


Paul Hughes, W9CBJ State Communications and Warning Office - WEM

Mr. Hughes has been with Wisconsin Emergency Management since January 2014. As part of the Mission Support section, he is responsible for agency communications throughout the state including deployable assets. His daily responsibilities include monitoring federal, state, and local communications, assist management with situational awareness, and provide tactical communications and training resources to all WEM customers. He interfaces with volunteers including amateur radio and private sector businesses. He functions as a point of contact for Wisconsin amateur radio leadership. He is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran working for over 14 years including deployments to Kuwait and Bahrain supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is an Eagle Scout and holds a BAS from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay.


Brandi Makuski Owner of the Point/Plover Metro Wire

Publisher Brandi Makuski began her career as a cub reporter for the Stevens Point Journal in 2004. She later founded the Stevens Point City Times and grew the publication to the largest print newspaper in Portage Co., Wis. Makuski now owns and publishes the digital Point/Plover Metro Wire, the only locally-owned and operated daily news source in the county.


Richard Polivka, N6NKO ARRL WI Technical Specialist

Richard Polivka worked 24 years for ABB Motion & Drive Products and retired from there as a Principal Engineer. He provided advanced electrical power control engineering support to the solar, wind, water, and nuclear industries.

Been licensed as N6NKO since 1986. Past staff writer for the "RTTY Journal" magazine centered on packet radio communications. Primary interests with Amateur Radio are: Antenna modeling & building, off-grid operation, HF & VHF data handling and emergency communications. He also is currently the acting net manager for the Wisconsin HF Digital Backbone Net (WDBN).


Larry Dudzinski, K9LRD Asst. State Communications and Warning Officer - WEM

I am Larry Dudzinski, I am part of the Mission Support Section and have been with Wisconsin

Emergency Management for 2 years. Some of my responsibilities are agency communications

throughout the state including deployable assets; maintaining our fleet of deployable assets and

the logistics of transporting them to the event throughout the state when requested. I also

monitor federal, state, local communications, and provide tactical communications and training

resources to all WEM customers.

In 2008 I received my tech license after the flooding in SW Wisconsin. My interest was in

emergency communication, and the hobby has taught me a lot about radio communications.

Shortly after getting my license, I became the Emergency Coordinator for Juneau County which

I served for 10 years. I enjoy playing radios and exploring all modes of communication in the

hobby.


Itinerary


9:00am - 9:30amRegistration Opens


9:30am - 9:45amWelcome, Introductions

Kyle Schaefer, KC9SDK, SEC


9:45am - 11:00amState of the Section

Jason Spetz, KC9FXE, SM WI; Kyle Schaefer, KC9SDK, SEC; Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, Central Division Director; and Brent Walls, N9BA, Assistant Central Division Director


11:00am - 11:15amNetworking Break


11:15am - 11:30amEC of the Year Award and Don Michalski Leadership Award


11:30am - 12:00pmSIMCOM / Prairie Island (other exercises and drills) After Action Review

Paul Hughes, W9CBJ; Myron Oestreich, KB9STB; and Kyle Schaefer, KC9SDK


12:00pm - 1:00pmLunch

Door prize winners will be displayed on screen during lunchtime.


1:00pm - 1:45pmA State of the Nets Address

Denny Rybicke, K9LGU; assisted by Dean Herriges, KB9ROB
K9LGU shares how our nets are functioning, where we're going, and offers 40 suggestions to pass along about how to be a good net participant.


1:45pm - 2:45pmSetting Proper Signal Deviation Levels for FM Packet / VARA FM Operation

Richard Polivka, N6NKO
N6NKO will talk about FM deviation setting for Packet and VARA and why it is so important to get it right.


2:45pm - 3:00pmNetwork Break


3:00pm - 3:45pmMedia Relations 101

Myron Oestreich, KB9STB, and Brandi Makuski, owner of the Point/Plover Metro Wire
Join ARRL Wisconsin Public Information Coordinator Myron Oestreich, KB9STB and Point/Plover Metro Wire Editor Brandi Mikuski as they walk through how to most effectively work with the media. You will learn some do’s and dont's as well as tips to help make interviews the best they can be. You will also learn what resources are available to your organization when it comes to getting the word out about your activities.


3:45pm - 4:15pmAUXCOMM

Paul Hughes, W9CBJ and Larry Dudzinski, K9LRD


4:15pm - 4:30pmClosing remarks and GRAND door prizes



Supporting our Supporters

A Way to Connect - Help Support WeComm

The WeComm network now consist of 12 voice repeaters linked via internet connections to provide the best possible voice communications between repeater sites. Our network now covers the majority of the State of Wisconsin, with a few fringe areas which are also very challenging RF areas. Our hopes would be to one day fill the remaining voids to offer complete statewide coverage.

It is an expensive endeavor running such a large network. The annual cost to run WeComm is $17,000.00. Post 9-11 grant money was readily available which aided in the development and execution of this network. But over time these grants are no longer available. As we search for new opportunities in the area of grant money we also want to remind the users of the network that donations are gladly accepted. There are several ways to donate to WeComm. Cash donations can be sent to the address below. If you use Amazon please think of us and log into AmazonSmile and select WeComm Ltd. Your price stays the same on the items you purchase and WeComm gets a % of the sale from Amazon.

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to WeComm.

For donation information please contact us at [email protected] or send your checks or money orders to:

WeComm, Ltd.

113 Falcon Crest

Black Earth, Wisconsin, 53515

Every donation receives a receipt/thank you letter for tax purposes.

Thank you for your support!

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And the winner is....

You mean.....there's a chance to win a door prize or even a GRAND prize and all I have to do is show up to the Conference?!?!  Count me in!

The Wisconsin ARES / RACES Conference has so many wonderful sponsors and, as many of you already know, attending the Conference in-person has its benefit to be in a chance drawing for a prize.  But, in order to be eligible, you must register before 4pm on Friday, November 1st.

What prizes you might ask?  Well, as we get closer to the Conference, we will start to reveal some of our great sponsors and we'll leave what they've donated to your imagination.....until Conference Day!



Who are you nominating?

Do you know someone in your group that deserves recognition for their efforts?  Leadership wants to know and give them the props they deserve!  We want to hear about them and all the great things they've done, including their accomplishments both in and outside the world of amateur radio.


We are looking for nominees for both the EC of the Year and the Don Michalski Leadership Award, so if you know of someone that goes above and beyond, please tell us about it and why.

The EC of the Year Award is for County Emergency Coordinators and District Emergency Coordinators who have shown great leadership qualities and have helped advance the ARES/RACES program within their county, district and/or the state as a whole.

The Don Michalski Leadership Award is open to all ARES/RACES members.  Nominees should exhibit excellent leadership qualities in both Amateur Radio and their lives outside of the hobby.  This could be through other volunteer opportunities, their career or through helping lead/organize public service events.

Does this sound like someone you know?  Email your nominations and examples of their achievements to Kyle at: [email protected].

Dreamin' big!


Don't want to have to get up early for a long drive before the Conference?  You stayed for the post-Conference dinner social and now you've got that food coma?  Think about staying the night at The Hotel Mead & Conference Center across the street from The McMillan Memorial Library or at one of the other area local hotels or motels.

There is a block of rooms reserved at The Hotel Mead & Conference Center across the street from the McMillan Library for both Friday (11/1) and Saturday (11/2) evenings.  Please give them a call at: (715) 423-1500 and push 1 for the front desk/receptionist before October 1st to reserve a room under the WI ARES/RACES Conference (code: 323022) for a discounted price of $230/night for either a single or double Queen beds.  You can also visit their website at: http://www.hotelmead.com/.

Click the Lodging and Hotel button on the top right of the page to see all your available options.


Come and Socialize

Looking to catch up with some of your fellow hams after the conference?  Join us at the Savory Steakhouse for some truly savory food, refreshments, and lots of great company.  Make sure to hit the button in the registration if you are joining us afterwards.  We'd love to see you!

Savory's menu: Menu - Savory Steakhouse - Fine/Casual Dining - Wisconsin Rapids, WI 


Personal Information

I understand that if within 5 days prior to attending the Wisconsin ARES/RACES Conference, if I should develop the following symptoms: sore throat, cough, chills, body aches or shortness of breath for unknown reasons, and/or fever at or greater than 100 degrees (F), out of the respect for other attendees at the Conference, I may need to forfeit attending the Conference in person. I may follow the live viewing online instead or watch the Conference virtually at a later date. I also acknowledge that another attendee may be ill without any outward symptoms and understand by attending the Conference, that I may risk exposing myself to someone with COVID or other contagious disease.




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