We have state approval of our training plan! The program is getting its big kick start at the February meeting. We will be working in our teams to check off as many items as possible in our effort to get all members ARRO (ARES/RACES Radio Operator) certified. Bring your hand held radio, manual, cheat sheet if you have one, and your 24-hour go-kit to the Meeting on February 27! The go-kit for this meeting should have the basic items you would need if you were to be deployed for 24 hours. This should include a radio (HT or mobile), power supply (car battery or extra batteries works), food and water, and any personal items you will need to be totally self-sufficient for 24 hours. You do not need to bring bedding.
If you are not on a team, come prepared anyway and we will get you into a work group. If you don’t have a portable radio, you will be working with the orange go-kit supplied to our group by Multnomah County Emergency Management.
The March meeting will be a hands-on traffic handling workshop. Participating in these two meetings will get most members very close to ARRO certification.
Remember to submit your ICS class completion certificates if you haven’t already done so! These are needed for ARRO certifications. You can bring copies to a meeting, or email them to Deb at dprovo [at] yahoo [dot] com. Contact Eli at eliza [dot] pride [at] gmail [dot] com if you need information on how to take these free on-line classes.
I hope you will join me in welcoming two new members, Marino KG7EMV and Steve KG7SRH. Steve is affiliated with the Oregon Red Cross and is now a member of our Red Cross Team. Marino has been active on the nightly NTS Net. I look forward to meeting both of these fellows.
I would like to remind everyone to please keep me updated should your email or phone number change.
We are hitting the ground running for 2014 with the January 25 exercise. We will be testing a new Life Safety Net in coordination with the BOEC 911 Call Center staff. We will also be providing net control for the PBEM NET/BEECN portion of the exercise and exchanging traffic on the Command Net with our served agencies. All ARES operators will first check into the Resource Net and Check out there when their portion of the drill is over.
Multnomah County Emergency Management has purchased 14 headsets and 7 splitters to be distributed to our served agencies. We have also received an orange “Kent” Go-Kit for our use for exercises and training. This kit includes a Yeasu FT-7800 dual band radio, power supply, tripod and Comet Superbeam mobile antenna along with all the cables, connectors, etc.
Garrett AF7RF has been working hard to untangle the Red Card issue with Oregon Emergency Management. A lost batch of cards has been found and Garrett should have them at the January meeting.
We have acquired the use of a new repeater from Amateur Radio Relay Group (ARRG) which owns and operates the K7RPT repeater system. I am working on a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding). The frequency is 147.040 + (100.0 Hz tone).
Portland Amateur Radio Club, Hoodview Amateur Radio Club, and ARRG are all very generous in granting us the use of their repeaters. I encourage all of you to support these clubs with your membership and/or contributions. It takes a lot of time, effort and cash to maintain these repeaters, and the clubs are deserving or our support.
I hope to see you at the January 23 meeting.
The Training Calendar for 2014 has been posted on the website. Thanks to all who attended the December meeting for your input.
Five members of the leadership team have already received their ARRO (ARES/RACES Radio Operator) and NCFO (Net Control and Field Operator) certificates. More certificates will be awarded at the January meeting. Team leaders are or will soon be working with their teams to get their members ARRO certified. Those who wish may also work on their NCFO certificates.
Most of the leadership meeting was focused on the upcoming drill. Robert WX5TEX was promoted from Deputy AEC to AEC. Congratulations, Robert!
Garrett AF7RF reported at the SAC meeting that the Oregon Food Bank radio equipment has been installed and tested, and is fully functional. Nice work, Garrett. Kudos to Dean Alby for making this happen. Our OFB Team will be operating there for the January 25 drill.
Kent Powloski N7KPN, of Portland Fire & Rescue, is working on a new regional frequency template.
Team leaders have been trained to evaluate their team members and check off tasks. Most of the team leaders have finished their ARRO (ARES/RACES Radio Operator) qualifications. Our training plan has been written in its official incarnation and is under final review. Once the 2014 training schedule has been determined, it will be submitted to Lisa Clarke, the Oregon Section AEC-Training.
Several members have been honing their traffic handling skills on the NTTN (Northwest Traffic and Training Net) and on our weekly net. It’s amazing how quickly they learn! We are trying to assure that at least one piece of traffic gets sent every week on the ARES net. Be ready; the next one might be for you!
Many Thanks to Sonny KF7SUH for a great “Alternate Power Sources” training at the November meeting. It was both entertaining and informative.
The teams have been firmed up and all active and provisional members are now assigned to a team. Those who are committed to serve ARES are on served agency teams. Those with other commitments, such as NET teams, or those whose commitment is still undeclared but who still want to train and drill with us, are assigned to a roving team. The list has been emailed to all members. Be sure to look it over. If you are not where you think you should be, please contact Deb at dprovo [at] yahoo [dot] com.
It has been a very busy and productive year for our ARES group. My thanks to all of you for being involved and for participating in the various SETs, drills, and special events. I feel as a whole we are much more organized and prepared.
It was great to see our Multnomah County ECC team picture published in the January edition of QST magazine – see page 79, if you missed the announcement last week.
Multnomah County Emergency Management has allocated some funds to us. We are working on a list of needs which include website fees, headphones for all of our served agencies, and some equipment for a portable net control go kit. We are fortunate to have the support of an awesome Emergency Management team. Our thanks to Joe Rizzi, Stevie Bullock and Tina Birch.
I hope you will try to attend the December 19 meeting. We really do need and appreciate your input on setting up the training schedule for 2014. The Leadership team wishes to thank you all for a great year by bringing desserts and snacks to the December meeting, so be sure to save some room.
There is some grant money available to us from the county and a prioritized wish list has been compiled.
Nate is working with the county and state personnel to streamline the Red Card process and find missing cards.
PBEM (Portland Bureau of Emergency Management) has published their NET guidelines, which had to be completed before the county frequency template could be finalized. Helen KE7SCS has been working on this.
Helen is also acting as liaison to the local hospitals regarding their amateur radio emergency communications.
We are working with PBEM to test the radio equipment in their new building and get their Winlink system up and running.
Helen KE7SCS and I represented MCARES at the State AUXCOM training in Salem on December 7 and 8. The course was presented by two fellow hams from the Department of Homeland Security and most Oregon counties had ARES representatives in attendance. The two 10-hour days were grueling but we learned a lot. The main goal was to educate the volunteers on how to work closely with the public safety community so that communications between the two will be interoperable. We learned how to fill out a lot of ICS forms and had a tour of the state OEM facility.
It was also a great opportunity to network with ARES folks from other counties and the Oregon Section leaders. They are taking notice of the good things happening in Multnomah County ARES.