The components for two digital go-kits for Multnomah County ARES have been purchased and the items are trickling in. Two 120 Watt portable solar panels are also on their way. Our thanks to Chris Voss and Alice Busch for making this happen! These kits will add an exciting new digital capacity to our West Side Field Relay Team and future East Side Field Relay Team. We are fortunate to have such great support from our Multnomah County Emergency Management Leadership!
The kits will include:
- a Kenwood D710GA radio with built in TNC,
- Power supply,
- SignaLink USB,
- Small Laptop computer,
- Portable mast kit with antenna and coax,
- Mag-mount antenna,
- Digital camera,
- and a yellow Pelican case.
Robert WX5TEX, our resident master kit builder, will assemble all the parts into an amazing little kit for grab-and-go deployment.
The City of Gresham has received the laptops for RMS/Winlink connections to the EOC and five fire stations. RMS Express has been installed and Robert is working on the needed wiring to make this happen. All Gresham team members should brush up on their skills and training. Testing of the equipment will occur sometime this summer.
The MCARES Mobile Communications Unit (trailer) will be going to Seaside for all to see at the Sea-Pac Ham Convention June 3, 4, and 5. If you are going to Sea-Pac please stop by for a closer look; the trailer will be located across the street from the main entrance. It is our hope that we can recruit new members at Sea-Pac. Contact Steve at W7SRH [at] ARRL [dot] net if you can staff the trailer for a few hours to talk up MCARES.
The trailer has been granted a club callsign and we are waiting for approval of the vanity callsign, N7MCU.
The trailer is fully functional, however many small details are still being worked on. The next phase is exterior graphics and then comes training, training, and more training.
Cascadia Rising is June 7, 8, 9, and 10. There are a few 4-1⁄2 hour shifts that still need to be staffed. If you are able to lend a hand contact Deb KK7DEB at dprovo [at] yahoo [dot] com. We will be operating at the County ECC, PBEM ECC and the Mobile Comms Unit (Trailer). Operations will be from 8:00 AM until 4:30 PM Tuesday through Friday.