WCF SECTION PRESS RELEASE #22-33
NEW EMERGENCY COORDINATOR FOR SARASOTA COUNTY ARES APPOINTED
Mike Douglas W4MDD, Section Manager of the ARRL West Central Florida Section, has appointed Chuck Cooper K1CHC to be the ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Sarasota County ARES, also known as SRQARES, effective on Tuesday December 13, 2022. Cooper succeeds Gary Wells WB9AYD, who recently stepped down as ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Sarasota County ARES due to his moving out of area in the near future. Wells had served as ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Sarasota County ARES since September 2019.
Cooper, originally from Ipswitch, Massachusetts, has had a lifelong interest in radios and electronics, beginning with listening to shortwave radio on his grandmother’s wood cabinet floor model vacuum tube radio. Cooper progressed into being in Citizens Band radio, then obtained his first amateur radio license in the late 1970’s with the callsign KA1GKY, and currently holds a General class license with the callsign K1CHC. Cooper started an ARES group in his local area to support emergency communications for his local police department, and for his work with this ARES group, Cooper received an ARRL Emergency Communications Commendation from the ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section for “Extraordinary Performance and Integration of ARES into Public Safety Operations”.
Cooper in his professional career, served in the Ipswich Police Department from 1973 until 2006, as a police officer, detective, and Director of Emergency Management for the last five years of his career.