California Traffic Net, 3906 kHz at 6 pm daily, and other Northern California nets, need traffic handlers from the EB and SF sections. There are also needs for VHF and UHF nets to relay and deliver messages within the Sections. Please go to http://www.arrl.org/nts (http://www NULL.arrl NULL.org/nts) or contact you STM or SM for more information.

As we begin a new year, there are some changes to our Section Leadership. Herbert Cole AI6AT will be stepping down as SEC. Please join me in thanking Herbert for his contributions to the East Bay Section ARES® program over the past few years. He will continue to be involved in emergency communications and CERT in the San Ramon Valley area. Replacing Herbert as SEC will be John Rabold KS6M. John has been serving as DEC for Alameda County for several years and brings this experience and his enthusiasm for ARES and emergency communications to this position. I look forward to continuing changes, growth and improvements in the EB ARES program under John’s leadership. Please join me in congratulating John on his appointment and offering him our cooperation as he moves forward in this new position.

Over the past year I have visited many of you and presented a vision for the future of ARES® within our Section. Working in cooperation with, and at the behest of our Section Manager Jim Latham, the East Bay Section leadership has been focused on establishing a section-wide ARES focus that better leverages the talents, resources, training, and needs of our four-county area of responsibility.

As a result of the work that has occurred over the past year, I am excited to announce that the ARRL East Bay Section Leadership is adopting uniform training standards and credentialing requirements in cooperation with the ARRL San Francisco Section ARES Program. The purpose of this action is  to enhance our public service mission by pursuing common training and credentials that may be utilized across section boundaries, and to establish the foundation for a robust and viable ARES Mutual Assistance Team (ARESMAT) capability should the need ever arise.

As provided by the ARRL, the only requirements for ARES membership continue to be a valid Amateur Radio license and a sincere desire to serve. However, there will now be two levels of East Bay Section ARES membership: Full and Associate.

Those East Bay Section ARES members who have met specific training requirements will be designated Full ARES Members. Full ARES members will be issued photo ID cards free of charge by the Section Manager upon completion of all required training. The training requirements are;

IS-100 Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS)
IS-200 ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS) An Introduction
EC-001 Introduction to Emergency Communications – Level 1/Basic

(“IS” courses are offered on line at no charge in the FEMA Emergency Management Institute’s Independent Study Program. “EC” courses are offered by the ARRL to ARRL members and non-members for a small fee.)

Full ARES Members will also be expected to complete any training that is required by ARES served agencies.

East Bay Section ARES members who have not yet met the specified training requirements will be designated Associate Members. Associate members will be issued the standard ARRL ARES ID (form FSD-224) by their ECs.

ARES members must have Full ARES Member status to qualify for ARES leadership appointments and must complete the following requirements within one year of their appointments. Current leadership appointees must attain Full ARES Member status and complete the following requirements by December 31, 2011.

Emergency Coordinator (EC) and Official Emergency Station (OES) appointees:

Full ARES Member requirements plus:
IS-800 National Response Framework, An Introduction
IS-802 Emergency Support Function (ESF) #2 Communications
and either of these two courses:
a. EC-002 Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course Level II (see Note below)
b. EC-016 Public Service and Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs

Assistant District Emergency Coordinators (ADEC) appointees and above:

Full ARES Member and EC/OES requirements plus either of these two courses:
a. EC-003 Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course Level III (see Note below)
b. EC-016 Public Service and Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs

Note: Courses EC-002 and EC-003 have been replaced by EC-016 and are no longer offered, but those members who completed them may use them to meet requirements.
I look forward to working with each and every one of you as we work to build our ARES program into a model for others across the country to emulate.

Sincerely,

Herbert Cole; AI6AT

Section Emergency Coordinator

East Bay (Napa, Solano, Contra Costa, & Alameda Counties)

ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio™

Home: 925-831-2910

Mobile: 415-533-5030

ai6at@arrl.net (http://us NULL.mc820 NULL.mail NULL.yahoo NULL.com/mc/compose?to=ai6at null@null arrl NULL.net)

On November 6^th, 2010 Alameda amateur radio operators will conduct a Simulated Emergency Test (SET) along with amateurs from Oakland. This is the first joint disaster preparation drill conducted by members of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) and members of the Oakland Radio Communication Association (ORCA). Both groups are members of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®), the emergency communications arm of the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL).

The purpose of SET is to:

1.     Find out the strengths and weaknesses of the ARES groups in providing emergency communications

2.     Provide a public demonstration to served agencies such as local fire departments and the American Red Cross and to the public, through the news media, of the value that Amateur Radio provides, particularly in time of need.

3.     Help radio amateurs gain experience in communications using standard procedures and a variety of modes under simulated-emergency conditions.

This year’s SET will begin at 8:30AM and continue until 11:00AM. The exercise begins when volunteer radio operators gather and announce their availability via a “Resource NET”. This is an on-air assembly point at a pre-designated Amateur Radio frequency. During the exercise this pool of volunteer radio operators will be dispatched to different locations and transmit simulated emergency radio traffic. Locations for this exercise will include a city Emergency Operations Center and an Emergency Shelter.

Exercise organizers will conduct the drill using simulated emergency radio message traffic based upon a pre-designed Disaster Scenario. To test their training and preparation, participants will not know the nature of the disaster nor their assignments prior to the beginning of the exercise. Radio operating skills will be tested through the transmission and reception of messages via fixed, hand held, and mobile transceivers. Operating modes will include voice and digital communications.

At the completion of the exercise the group will gather for an evaluations session or “hot wash”.

During September, the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) was among dozens of organizations and agencies that took part in National Preparedness Month. The ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is a nationwide exercise in emergency communications, administered by ARRL Field Organization Leaders including Emergency Coordinators, District Emergency Coordinators, and Section Emergency Coordinators.

Please direct questions to:

Sanford Lavine, KO6JF

ARES Emergency Coordinator for the City of Alameda

(510)522-7152 or KO6JF@ARRL.NET

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Tate, N6WM, as Assistant Section Manger for DX and Contesting.

Chris is well known in the bay area as an avid contester and DX chaser.  Originally licensed as KI6LGJ in 2007, Chris has eclipsed  his brief 3 years in the hobby through his enthusiasm, energy and dedication.

Locally Active in the East Bay Section in the Livermore Amateur Radio Klub (LARK), previously as a board member and activities coordinator, he currently writes a monthly article for contesting and DX chasing in their newsletter.  Chris has expanded his participation and leadership beyond the local club level, and is now Vice President and Contest Chairman for the Northern California Contest Club (NCCC) after serving a year on the board of this regional organization.

Chris is an extremely active contester and DX chaser.  He is a member of the “big gun” and world known contest team of CQ Contest Hall of Fame member and East Bay resident Ken, N6RO as well as a founding member and contest coordinator for the newest big gun station to go qrv in the bay area, the K6LRG contest station in Livermore.

Active on CW, RTTY and SSB, Chris regularly participates in multi-op and single op amateur radio contest efforts from these stations, and has won numerous awards over the last several years in both collaborative multi-op efforts as well as single op competitions, most recently winning the Pacific Division for mixed mode (CW/SSB) in the 2009 ARRL 10 meter contest, Placing in the top 10 box in the NCJ North American QSO Party RTTY, and achieving the position of 3rd place, World in the ARRL RTTY Roundup contest(first place Pacific Division, Second place North America) amongst many others.

Chris’s DX awards include membership in the DX Century Club (DXCC# 43,293) as well as multiple Worked All States awards, including the newly introduced Triple Play Worked All States(TPWAS #417) that required working all states on CW, SSB and Digital modes, all confirmed via the ARRL Logbook of the World.

Please join me in welcoming Chris to his new role as ASM.