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)

The Benicia Amateur Radio Club will conduct an ARRL VE Ham Radio test session at the downtown Benicia Fire Station at 150 Military West on Saturday September 25th, 2010 between 9 AM and Noon, cutoff to start testing is 11 AM. Enter via the West 2nd Street door – not the front door of the Fire Station.  The Benicia Amateur Radio Club  is a community-service-oriented non-profit group that works with the Benicia Fire Department and the Benicia Emergency Response Team to provide communications in the event of a disaster.

The examination session is administered under guidelines issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by accredited examiners. This session occurs periodically in Benicia and prospective Ham operators or existing Hams interested in upgrading their license are invited to attend. The exam administration fee is $15, cash or check. (Sorry, no debit or credit cards accepted.) Applicants must bring a government issued photo ID (DL or passport). In the case of children or when no photo ID is available, please email (address below) for additional info.

Existing licensees wishing to upgrade must bring their original license plus a photocopy of it. Retests of a failed exam at the same test session will require payment of an additional test fee and a different test will be administered. Walk-ins accepted – no pre-registration is required. As required by the FCC, applicants will be required to provide their S.S. number or their FRN nubber as part of the application process. Additional information, contact ab6hb@arrl.net (http://us NULL.mc810 NULL.mail NULL.yahoo NULL.com/mc/compose?to=ab6hb null@null arrl NULL.net).

I want to invite you to join  members of Alameda County Sheriff’s Communications Team and Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club, and others in providing communications support for the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 & Golden Hills Trail Marathon, October 9, 2010. This 50 mile footrace and concurrent “mere” marathon are run in the East Bay hills between Lake Chabot Marina and Lone Oak Picnic Area in Tilden Park, starting before dawn and ending after dark.

Please  take a look at http://sites.google.com/site/ft50communications/ (http://sites NULL.google NULL.com/site/ft50communications/).  That site (still incompete) is specifically devoted to communications support, while www.firetrails50.net (http://www NULL.firetrails50 NULL.net/) is the general source for information on the event. I suggest you look at both. (If working as intended, neither site requires an invitation or sign on to view.)

One thing I want to make clear is that while this is an extended operation, participation for a few hours is more than welcome. There are assignments calling for 50 watts, robust antennas, and perhaps at times smoke and mirrors, but there are also assignments available requiring only a handheld.

Thanks for your help.

Neil Fullagar, K6NCX
for 2010 Firetrails 50 & Golden Hills Marathon communications
Alameda County Sheriff’s Communications Team
ft50communications@sbcglobal.net (http://us NULL.mc810 NULL.mail NULL.yahoo NULL.com/mc/compose?to=ft50communications null@null sbcglobal NULL.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.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of David Haycock, KI6AWR as Assistant Section Manager (ASM) for Education and Training.

David has had a life long interest in radio beginning in his high school days many years ago. He currently holds an Extra Class license and lives with his wife Elizabeth (K0EAH) in a small HOA compromised town house in Alameda . Lack of space and HOAs are not enough to enforce radio silence however. He is fortunate to have a balcony large enough to squeeze in a Buddipole so operations on all bands (including 80m!) are possible. His first grandson Kyle was born on Field Day 2004 which he considers a great omen for keeping radio interests in the family.

David is currently President of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) and an active VE. He is a passionate Elmer and together with Paul Bailey Gates (KA6GEM) has put on many classes to help newbies get their license and just as importantly get on the air. He is very excited about the opportunity to help expand Elmering throughout the Bay area.

David’s roles and responsibilities as ASM will include:

• Coordination and publicity for license classes, VE sessions and educational events in the East Bay
• Resource for class training materials
• Instructor training
• Special training classes
• Assistance in designing classes for new training / educational needs

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