Early on Saturday, November 19, John Rabold KS6M, Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) for the East Bay Section, was very close to receiving a phone call requesting an ARES® activation in Berkeley under the Section’s new local ARES Statement of Cooperation with the American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter.

Red Cross responders to a large apartment fire at Telegraph and Haste in Berkeley were considering requesting Amateur Radio operators to shadow its own volunteers who would enter the building to do a disaster assessment. However, Berkeley’s Fire Department determined that the building was unsafe for anyone to enter (the building has since been demolished), so the disaster assessment was called off.

Had the facts been otherwise, the request would probably have been for four to six hams equipped with HTs, plus an additional net control station preferably with a portable or mobile VHF/UHF rig. The SEC would have handed this request off to the Emergency Coordinator (EC) for Berkeley. The SEC, the District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) for Alameda County, and the Section Manager (SM) would have remained in the loop to assist if additional resources had been needed.

The hams with HTs who responded would have been paired with Red Cross volunteers. The net control station (two or three persons) would have set up in a safe and quiet location across the street. The communications mission would have been to preserve the safety of all volunteer teams in the building. Data collected would have been recorded by the Red Cross volunteers.

This near-activation has raised several issues to think about: What would the Incident Radio Communications Plan (ICS 205) have been? How would that plan have been delivered to the hams who responded? Would more than just a single simplex frequency have been needed? Would a repeater have been the primary or backup channel? Would those hams have had the needed frequencies and PL tones already programmed? What would have happened if ARES had been unable to summon the requested number of hams?

Amateurs in and near the East Bay Section are invited to participate in a brief radio activity on Saturday morning, December 10, 2011 in support of the American Red Cross Bay Area (http://redcrossbayarea NULL.org/), a served agency of ARRL East Bay Section ARES®.

Early on December 10, Red Cross emergency response vehicles (ERVs) will be driven from their bases in six counties to a central location for semiannual cleaning and restocking. As they drive, their crews are asked to make frequent two-way radio contact, on a Red Cross frequency, with the Red Cross Disaster Operations Center (DOC) in Oakland. However, the transmissions are simplex, and terrain often prevents contact. The Red Cross invites assistance from the Amateur Radio community in tracking its ERVs that morning.

Between 7:30 and 9:00 am PST on December 10, licensed amateurs are asked to listen for transmissions from these vehicles on a Red Cross frequency, 47.420 MHz (FM mode). They will be calling or replying to “Oakland DOC” and will identify themselves with 4-digit numbers as their tactical IDs. Any amateur who hears such a transmission, whether or not it is acknowledged by Oakland DOC, is invited to call “Oakland DOC” via Amateur Radio to report the vehicle’s ID, its location if that was heard, the time of the transmission, and his or her own Amateur Radio call sign.

Hams at Oakland DOC will be listening for reports on two repeater systems: the Mt. Vaca Radio Club repeater on Mt. Vaca in Solano County at 147.000 MHz, minus offset (you may need to override your rig’s default setting), PL 136.5, and the linked Bay-Net system. Bay-Net has a UHF repeater in the East Bay at 443.975 MHz PL 100.0, has several repeaters in the South Bay including 443.225 MHz PL 100.0, and is available via EchoLink and IRLP; see the Bay-Net Web site (http://www NULL.bay-net NULL.org/). The American Red Cross Bay Area thanks the Mt. Vaca Radio Club and Bay-Net for their cooperation.

On these repeater systems, Oakland DOC will be announcing its availability to accept reports but will not be operating a directed net. Other amateurs may occasionally use these repeater systems for other purposes that morning, so please stand by until the frequency clears or ask the users if they will stand by for a moment so you can make your report.

Though not all dual-band HT or mobile ham radio rigs receive frequencies as low as 47 MHz, many do. We hope that hams with that capability, including those participating in the ARRL 10 Meter Contest that morning, will enjoy this challenge.

Amateur Radio operators and others who are studying the ARRL’s Introduction to Emergency Communication Course (EC-001) will have an opportunity to take the course’s examination and earn the ARRL completion certificate in early January.

ARRL Field Examiners have scheduled an EC-001 final exam for 11:00 am on Saturday, January 7, 2012 in Oakland. It will be held in the Media Room of Oakland’s Fire Station 1, 1605 Martin Luther King Jr Way at 17th Street. The exam fee is $15. The exam consists of 35 multiple-choice questions, and a passing score is 80% or better.

EC-001 is designed to provide basic knowledge and tools for any emergency communications volunteer. One need not be a licensed Amateur Radio operator to sit for the exam or earn the completion certificate. Candidates for this exam will have studied the course materials on line, in a local Field Class session, or by studying the course transcript, The ARRL Introduction to Emergency Communication Course, 4th Edition.

Candidates should complete and obtain certificates for two free online FEMA EMI Independent Study courses before beginning their EC-001 course studies. Those courses are IS-100, “Introduction to Incident Command System”, and IS-700, “National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction”. At the EC-001 exam, each candidate must provide the dates shown on his or her completion certificates for IS-100 and IS-700.

EC-001 and its prerequisites, IS-100 and IS-700, are among the course training requirements to qualify for Full Member status in the ARRL East Bay Section ARES® program.

More information about the EC-001 course and exam is available here.

David A. Haycock KI6AWR
Assistant Section Manager, Education and Training, East Bay Section

John Rabold KS6M
Section Emergency Coordinator, East Bay Section

See the Contact page for contact information.

CONCORD June 9, 2011 – - Radio Amateurs Chuck Graham, KI6DCD and John Primus, AF6RJ Honored for Community Service.

Chuck Graham and John Primus were honored for their founding of educational and training programs in radio and electronics offered to the community at the Annual Banquet of the Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club by MDARC president John Ronan, K3ZJJ.

Since founding nearly four years ago, they have successfully graduated nearly 200 students that have received their Amateur Radio licenses from the Federal Communications Commission. Many of the graduates of the program now form the core of emergency and public service communications for greater Contra Costa County.

The educational and training programs are offered by Mr. Graham and Mr. Primus at the Salvation Army Community Center on Clayton Road, Concord. These programs include courses for Amateur Radio licensing at all levels, courses for licensed Amateurs in radio, electronics, and emergency communication. These courses are open for free to all ages, albeit there is a small charge for the textbook.

Chuck Graham is a dedicated Radio Amateur, a member of the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN), and serves on the Advisory Board for the Salvation Army. Mr. Graham has tirelessly and selflessly dedicated himself to public service, emergency communications, and preparedness programs and to the Salvation Army.

John Primus, PhD in Business Administration, a retired university lecture has developed the program courses and recruited a team of nearly 20 instructors. Mr. Primus is now reaching out to other amateur radio clubs, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, and other governmental agencies to train and build their volunteer corps for emergency communication.

At the annual banquet of the Mt. Diablo Amateur Radio Club Mr. Graham received the MDARC Award for Outstanding Dedication to Public Service.

Mr. Primus received a coveted MDARC Kilroy Key award for his dedicated service to the Amateur Radio Community. The Kilroy Key award was established decades ago which sports an antique telegraph key owned by the founder of MDARC in 1946 and placards listing the annual recipients. The antique telegraph key is still functional and is expected to be used on the air at least once by the award recipient.

Members of the Contra Costa County community of all ages are welcome to join the courses offered by Mr. Graham and Mr. Primus which are held throughout the year. Contact information is as follows: For Mr. Graham at KI6DCD@arrl.net, Mr. Primus at AF6RJ@arrl.net, and for amateur radio course information at HamRadioClass@gmail.com.

Gentleman,

I have been told that all amateur operator slots have been filled up until June 10, 6:00 PM EDT. We have everyone we need thanks to the surge of support from ARRL/ARES operators.

When the ARRL brings its full weight to bear to assist us, it is not only dynamic but inspirational.

Thanks for helping The Salvation Army in its quest to assist those in Joplin who suffered through this ordeal.

Your help is significant.

Best regards to all and God bless you.

Sincerely,

Patrick E. McPherson
Major (R)
National Director
SATERN