Begin the New Year by getting your FCC Technician Class license.

The East Bay Section of the ARRL is putting on a four week long Technician Class in Alameda CA beginning in January 2012.

Each session will last about 2 ½ hours and cover different topics each week.

The classes are scheduled for Wednesday evening at 7:00pm – 9:30pm with the first class scheduled for January 18^th 2012.

The other three classes will be held on January 25^th, Feb 1^st and Feb 8^th.

All classes will be held at the Alameda Fire Department Training Building at 431 Stardust Place Alameda 94501 (intersection of W Midway and Rainbow).

The classes will prepare you for the FCC exam which is scheduled for Sunday 12^th February beginning at 9:00 am.

There is no fee for the classes, but there is a $15 fee for taking the exam. This fee includes filing costs for the exam.

There are no prerequisites and all are welcome to attend this popular class.

For more information or to register please contact David Haycock, KI6AWR by email ki6awr@arrl.net (http://us NULL.mc810 NULL.mail NULL.yahoo NULL.com/mc/compose?to=ki6awr null@null arrl NULL.net) or by phone at 510 846-0011.

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.

The ARRL Introduction to Emergency Communication Course (EC-001) is now available in the ARRL Continuing Education Program. This course includes basic knowledge expected of emergency communications volunteers, and is one of the requirements for Full Member status in the East Bay Section ARES® program. EC-001 can be completed in several different ways: on line, in the classroom, and by studying the course transcript in book form. A final examination is required. Details are available on the Emergency Communications Training page of the ARRL East Bay Section’s Web site.

The East Bay Amateur Radio Club and West Contra Costa Adult Education will offer a class to prepare applicants for the Amateur Radio Technician Class License, starting Sept. 13, 2011 and ending Dec. 13. The class will meet each Tuesday from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Alvarado Campus, 5625 Sutter St., Richmond, CA 94804. Textbook is The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual Revised 2nd Edition, which will be available for purchase.

Register at the West Contra Costa County School District Adult Education Office, 6028 Ralston Avenue, Richmond (510) 236-5355. Class fee is $15 paid to WCCAE. FCC examinations and license applications will be administered at the final class session by the EBARC Volunteer Examiners. Exam fee will be $15.

Contact Ken Fowler at 510-222-0830 or email: ko6no@comcast.net .