What's New at JARS

7/16/2008
Linking to the County
We are pleased to announce that JARS 70cm repeater at 443.775 is being linked with the KY5O repeater in Cleburne in cooperation with the Johnson County Wide Area Repeater Association. These 2 repeaters when linked, provide 95% or better coverage of Johnson County, TX.

7/6/2008
JARS gets a plug on the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast
We are honored to have received a mention on Jerry Taylor's (KD0BIK) podcast from July 6th. Thanks for the publicity, and keep up the great work Jerry. You can listen to the podcast by clicking the link on our Media Page, or visit Jerry's Website by clicking on our Links Page.

6/21/08
JARS supports ECARC at the Tour d' Italy Bike Rally
JARS members Andrew Podner (N5AMP) and Josh Berry (AE5FN) spent the day providing the communications link for two of the rider support, or SAG, vehicles at the 23rd annual Tour d' Italy bike rally in Italy, TX. This mission was in support of our neighbors at the Ellis County Amateur Radio Club (www.wd5ddh.org) and was a excellent opportunity for training and learning about complex communications scenarios. We would like to thank our friends at ECARC for having us as part of the event. Click here to see the photos from the Tour.

6/6/08
New Callsign for JARS
JARS has changed its callsign from KE5TSI to WA5JRS.

5/11/08
Another Upgrade to the Teamspeak Server
There is now a 24/7 link to a NOAA weather radio in the Teamspeak server. This link is from a SAME encoded radio that will alert us to NWS alerts for Tarrant and Johnson Counties.

5/8/08
Expanding Winlink into Tarrant & Johnson County
JARS is pleased to announce that a Winlink RMS station located in Burleson, TX has been put online. It is our intent to have this station running 24/7 for general use by Winlink Packet Radio Email users, and the system is fully field deployable during times of emergency. Winlink is a messaging system that links HAM Radio with Internet Email and we are very excited to rollout this technology into the area. The station name is KE5OJZ and you will find it running on 145.070 at 1200 baud.

4/24/08
Pulling Double Duty
During the recent storm events affecting Southern Tarrant County, JARS members stayed very busy providing eyes on the ground as mobile spotters and also staffing both the Burleson and Mansfield Emergency Operations Center in cooperation with the governments of those respective cities.

4/10/08
Teamspeak Expanding
JARS members have been hard at work expanding the capabilites of their Teamspeak server. Recent improvements are a RX link to the 145.390 repeater that operates 24/7, a similiar link deployed as needed to the Tarrant RACES repeater, and even a periodic link to NOAA Weather Radio. Additionally, we have also put the entire system on an extended life UPS system and it has been through the last 3 storm events which all had power interruptions, with no interruptions in Teamspeak Service.

3/4/08
Field Day 2008.....Plans in Progress
At the regular membership meeting of JARS, held on March 4, 2008, a tentative site and class for Field Day 2008 was selected, and we are most pleased to announce that, pending final approval from the City, JARS will compete in as a Class F station from the Mansfield Emergency Operations Center. We wish to thank the City of Mansfield in advance for their generosity and support of the amateur radio hobby.

3/2/08
Burleson EOC Checks In
The officers and members of JARS are proud to announce that during the Storm Spotter Activation on 3/2/2008 in Johnson and Tarrant Counties, JARS members were able to provide Amateur Radio communications support to the City of Burleson at their Emergency Operations Center in what will likley be the first of many events during the 2008 storm season.

1/10/08
TEAMSPEAK Server Deployment
JARS is pleased to announce the deployment of a dedicated, 24/7 TEAMSPEAK server for more secure internet based communications. JARS has a strong belief that a diversified base of communications tools is essential to being prepared for any emergency situation. TEAMSPEAK offers a high degree of flexibility and options, not the least of which is interconnection to other communications modes.

7/28/2007
After several weeks of preparation, and two very successful evening nets, JARS was able to hold its organizational meeting today. We were very pleased to have a great turnout as well as a very hulpful visit from a representative of ARRL/ARES. We have gotten off the ground and done so with a first step in the right direction. The near term future holds a lot of work and dedication, but with a newly elected corps of officers who have a ton of enthusiasm and ability, JARS is well on the way to becoming a well organized group of communications support pesonnel.