Amateur Radio Operator responds in a school emergency.

By Robert B. Gregory, AB4AL

Friday February 11, 2011, 4:45 PM; Amateur Radio Operator KI6LCA, JoiAnn had arrived to pick her son up from school at the Charter School , Mare Island Technology Academy , MIT in Vallejo California .  In her purse she carried her dual-band Amateur radio transceiver.  She was heading into the office to pick up her son who attends school there.  Suddenly she heard approaching vehicles bearing down on the school perimeter at a high velocity.  Screeching to a halt a vehicle blew a cloud of dust and a man emerged brandishing a weapon at perusing police cars.  Immediately JoiAnn knew what to do.

JoiAnn is a School Secretary for the Vallejo Unified School District at Steffan Manor Elementary School and well practiced in school lockdown procedures in the event of eminent danger to students.

Her first concern was to asses the danger and act appropriately.  She announced to the staff and students that this is now a school lockdown situation.  Running at top speed she and MIT Staff members cleared the grounds and halls of students to take cover in class rooms.  She switched on her radio transceiver which has the ability to receive police and fire dispatches to gain further information about the threat level.

Amateur radio equipment is not designed to transmit on police or fire frequencies nor is it lawful to do so, but is able to receive their communications.

Many Amateur Radio Operators have been trained how to respond and assist police and fire by providing vital information or support in the event of an emergency.

JoiAnn is a member of the North Bay Amateur Radio Association (NBARA http://www.nbara.org/ (http:///)) a strong organization dedicated to the skills of local and worldwide communication and emergency response assistance.

JoiAnn recently was appointed by the president of the NBARA, Dan Muth to function as chairperson for coordinating the facilitation of amateur radio equipment to be installed at MIT under funding from Home Land Security.

The staff of MIT was impressed when she was able to take her hand-held transceiver from her purse and understand the events that were unfolding yards away from the school.

Under the crescendo of gunfire erupting from the crime scene, she intercepted communication between an officer and a dispatcher wanting to know if the school was under lockdown and if a nearby school a few blocks away was under lockdown.  The dispatcher informed the officer that MIT was secure and locked down but she was unable to contact the other school.  Upon hearing this communications KI6LCA placed a 911 call to dispatch and identified herself as a Vallejo Unified School District Secretary and that the school they were trying to contact did in fact have an after hours program, that the office staff had departed the campus.  She informed the dispatcher that a Police Officer would need to respond to the school in person to start a lockdown procedure.  The dispatcher inquired as to how JoiAnn knew of the inability of dispatch to make a contact by phone.  JoiAnn identified herself as KI6LCA, an Amateur Radio Operator and a Secretary for VUSD, that she carries her communications equipment with her and has the ability to monitor police and fire and is trained in emergency communications procedures.

It was not until she saw the news report on television that night that she realized the grave danger the children faced.

The individual who opened fire on the police and endangered the lives of children, school staff and neighbors living in the area will no longer act in such an inexcusable manner.  His life was terminated by an Officer of the Law who was willing to risk his life in the face of gunfire on behalf of our safety.

My appreciation goes out to those who take the time to make a difference, to receive the training and to selflessly respond on our behalf.  Thank you JoiAnn, the Staff of MIT and thanks to our officers who serve us.

FAR SCHOLARSHIPS ANNOUNCED

THE FOUNDATION FOR AMATEUR RADIO, INC.,  a non-profit organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C., plans to administer forty–six (46) scholarships for the academic year 2011 – 2012, to assist licensed Radio Amateurs in the pursuit of higher education. The scholarships are worth $62,950 in aggregate. The Foundation fully funds two of these scholarships. The remainder are administered by the Foundation, without cost, for various donors.

Licensed Radio Amateurs may compete for these awards. They must be planning to pursue a full time course of studies beyond high school and be enrolled, or have been accepted for enrollment, at an accredited university, college or technical school. The awards range from $5,000 to $250 with preference given, in some cases, to residents of specified geographical areas or the pursuit of certain study programs. Non-US residents are eligible to apply for some of the scholarships. To be considered, completed applications must be received by April 15, 2011. Clubs, especially those in California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin (areas of preferred residence for some of the scholarships), are encouraged to announce these opportunities at their meetings, in their club newsletters, during training classes, on their nets and on their club’s web pages.

Additional information and an application form may be requested by letter or QSL card from:
FAR Scholarships
Post Office Box 911
Columbia, MD 21044-0911
or, via email from dave.prestel@gmail.com (http://us NULL.mc810 NULL.mail NULL.yahoo NULL.com/mc/compose?to=dave NULL.prestel null@null gmail NULL.com).

Applications are also available for download from the Foundation’s web site http://www.farweb.org/ (http://www NULL.farweb NULL.org/).

The Foundation for Amateur Radio, incorporated in the District of Columbia, is an exempt organization under Section 501(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. It is devoted exclusively to promoting the interests of Amateur Radio and those scientific, literary and educational pursuits that advance the purposes of the Amateur Radio Service.

The Salvation Army together with the

Mt. Diablo Amateur Radio Club

will be holding an 8 week course where you can upgrade your Amateur Radio License to General Class

The General Class license is your gateway to all the world-wide Amateur bands of excitement and Emergency Communications on Ham Radio…and you do NOT need to learn Morse code!

This course is to upgrade your current Technician License

Course begins on…Wednesday January 5, 2011 at 7-9 pm

The Salvation Army, 3950 Clayton Road, (at West St.)

Concord 94521

Registration is recommended.

Class is FREE and Textbook if needed about $23.

To sign up email: HamRadioClass@gmail.com (http://us NULL.mc810 NULL.mail NULL.yahoo NULL.com/mc/compose?to=HamRadioClass null@null gmail NULL.com)

For voice mail or fax: 925-465-9554

For additional media or press information contact:

Chuck Graham KI6DCD@gmail.com (http://us NULL.mc810 NULL.mail NULL.yahoo NULL.com/mc/compose?to=KI6DCD null@null gmail NULL.com) or 925 689-7640

2010 marks our second year of introducing Amateur Radio to neighborhoods around the San Francisco Bay Area, by way of National Night Out.

National Night Out takes place on Tuesday evening, August 3, 2010.  Neighborhoods all across America will take part in this fun event,  The task: Get together with your neighbors, share some refreshments, have some laughs, and talk about how you can work together as neighbors to stand up against crime, and be prepared for emergencies.

In 2009 we sent 23 Amateur Radio Operators to National Night Out block parties in Fremont, Newark and Union City.  In our first annual National Night Out Amateur Radio Net, we took 50 NNO block party check-ins from all over the San Francisco Bay Area.

Amateur Radio is a perfect addition to any National Night Out block party.  During the party, you can tell your neighbors about how FRS radios can save their lives in real emergencies, when CERT volunteers are performing house-to-house searches – and they are unable to get to the door.  CERT volunteers talk to each other on FRS radios.  You can tell your neighbors how an Amateur Radio license will give them the ability to talk to people all over the city and beyond, when land-line phones, cell phones and Internet are not working.

Our neighbors need to know this.

How many times have you (the Amateur Radio Operator) felt like your neighbors perceived your antennas as an ugly blight on the neighborhood?  How many times have you heard of TVI complaints, when you were away from home on a trip with your family.  Amateur Radio is often perceived as a neighborhood annoyance.  What most neighbors don’t know (because no one tells them this), is that one day, Amateur Radio will save their lives!

So this is your chance, readers.  Find out where your nearest National Night Out block party is taking place.  Get there on time, and bring a rig that is capable of reaching the N6NFI repeater (145.230 MHz, PL 100 Hz), meet your neighbors, tell those interested about Amateur Radio and FRS, and at 7:00PM, check-in to our National Night Out Net.

If THAT doesn’t sell them on how important it is to know who their Amateur neighbors are, simply tell them this…

In a real, catastrophic emergency (something much worse than the Loma Prieta Earthquake), you can guarantee that there will be neighborhoods where they may not see Police, Firemen or paramedics for 2 to 3 days!  In those cases, radio may be their only hope.

If that doesn’t get across to our neighbors that they need our help – then we’re not doing our jobs as Radio Amateurs.

We hope to see you at the 2010 National Night Out Amateur Radio Net on N6NFI.

73 DE KI6BEN

For more information about the 2010 National Night Out Amateur Radio Net, or if you’re looking for an NNO block party in Fremont, contact John Vargas at ki6ben@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.