Amateur Radio operators and CERT members can help save lives by learning how to search for missing children and at-risk adults during a one-day training event to be held Saturday, March 19, in Stockton, California.

The “Urban Search for CERT and ARES®” workshop will kickoff creation of a new rapid-response program using Amateur Radio operators and Community Emergency Response Team members as searchers. Volunteers attending the class will become the program’s first members.

Taught by leaders of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team, the class will give volunteers the basic skills necessary to safely look for missing kids and at-risk adults in the urban or suburban environment.

For details, read this entire article in the February 16, 2011 issue of the ARES E-Letter (http://www NULL.arrl NULL.org/ares-el?issue=2011-02-16).

John Rabold KS6M
Section Emergency Coordinator, East Bay Section
ARRL (http://www NULL.arrl NULL.org/), The national association for Amateur Radio™

The announcement I have forwarded below contains information about National Weather Service Storm Spotter training to be offered near Stockton on February 26, 2011. Amateurs who are interested in public service or emergency communications, and especially those who are ARES® (http://www NULL.arrl NULL.org/ares) members or who are interested in ARES, should consider attending. While we may not have much catastrophic weather here in the East Bay Section, the reporting skills learned in Storm Spotter training improve and reinforce related skills often used in emergency communications. The National Weather Service is a served agency of ARES.

More about NWS SKYWARN and Storm Spotters: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/spotter.php (http://www NULL.wrh NULL.noaa NULL.gov/mtr/spotter NULL.php)

John Rabold KS6M
Section Emergency Coordinator, East Bay Section
ARRL (http://www NULL.arrl NULL.org/), The national association for Amateur Radio™

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From: David Coursey, N5FDL <sjares@mac.com>
Ham Radio Saturday! Starts Feb. 26th

The California QSO Party, Really Tall Towers and Storm Spotter training are on tap for the first Ham Radio Saturday! event, organized by TracyARC, Manteca ARC and San Joaquin County ARES. The event is open to all. It will take place at San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp from 9am until 1pm on Saturday, February 26, 2011.

Speakers include: Rich Cutler, WC6H is the Calaveras County record holder in California QSO Party, which for one weekend a year turns the Golden State into wanted DX! He’ll talk about the annual contest, held the first weekend in October, and why even “non-contesters” can have a great time. Bring your contest-related questions and Rich will be happy to answer them. How can you win CQP? Find out at Ham Radio Saturday!

Robert Hess, W1RH is Director of Engineering/Operations at Channels 13 and 31 and knows all about life at the “top of the world.” His 45-minute presentation takes us all the way to the top of really tall broadcast–”hey, can we put a repeater there?”–towers and includes lots of pictures. You may never get to the top of a 2,000-foot tower, but W1RH can share the experience–vividly.

Eric Kurth — Meteorologist — Sacramento National Weather Service Forecast Office — will present the official NWS Storm Spotter training for Northern California. Yes, we do get the occasional tornado, but what NWS really needs us for are reports of fog, flooding, heavy rain and other significant events. What to call in to NWS? Where to call? Eric will be assigning official spotter numbers and passing out the “secret” telephone number at Ham Radio Saturday! He will also talk about flooding and what NWS’ new dual-polarized radar means for weather forecasting and measurement.

SATERN Message handling Exercise

SATERN Concord will be holding a message handling practice exercise in conjunction with the RACES training exercise on February 19th. This will be for NON RACES members interested in improving their message handling skills. The SATERN event will be at the Salvation Army Corp in the Fireside Room. Both Hams & Scribes are welcome. You do not have to have a Ham License to participate in the message handling.

February 19, 2011

Set-up & training from 7:30-8:00am. Exercise: 8:00am to 10:00am

Please bring paper and pencils for your notes and your HT if you wish – preferably with an ear-piece. We will also have Radios set up for the group to listen to.

To register email the form below to: SaternConcord@gmail.com (SaternConcord null@null gmail NULL.com) or Fax the typed or printed form to 925-465-9554 – No cover letter needed

Registering will help us know how many tables and chairs to set-up.

There are No Charges for this event.

1. Call Sign If you have one (Not necessary for message handling)

2. The best telephone number for you is Fax

3. Your best email address is:

4. Your Name:

5. Your current Street Address

6. Your City Zip Code CA

7. Do you have any message handling experience? (Experience Not Necessary)

Comments or Questions

We will also be having a training session at our monthly EDS meeting on February 15^th, 2011 7-8:30 pm in the Fireside Room. Please feel to stop by.

Rich K6REL, Chuck KI6DCD, & Lauren WA6CIE

Rich K6REL Admin

SaternConcord@gmail.com (SaternConcord null@null gmail NULL.com)

Salvation Army Corp – Fireside Rm

3950 Clayton Rd – Cross Street is West Street.

Concord, CA, 94521

925-465-9554

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

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)