The
October meeting of ARES of Champaign County was held Wednesday, October
4, 2006 at the Fire Service Institute. Here are important notes
from that meeting and other news.
ATTENDING
N9XDC, N9DN, KC9JVR, K9SI, KC9HXY, K9LMM, K9MLT, WB9HFK, KC9IHX, N9XDH, W9DML, W9EML, KB9KAI, AB9FJ, KF8ZN, N9GPA (16)
AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION WALK
The weather was perfect for the American Diabetes Walk in Crystal
Lake Park on Sunday, October 1, and approximately 100-150 walkers were
estimated to have participated. ARES once again provided
communications support along the walkers' route. Thanks to
Heather Schlesser (KC9DEQ) for organizing the ARES participation.
Those who provided communications for the event were: K9MLT, KB9UJV,
N9DN, N9GPA, KC9HSB, W9MOO, and AB9FJ
UPDATE ON FEMA TRAINING
As of October 6, 17 CCARES members have completed ICS-100, 14 have
completed ICS-700, 9 completions of ICS-200, and 6 completions of
ICS-800. Those who have completed all four courses are WB9HFK,
KC9HND, K9MLT, N9XDC, AB9FJ, and KB9NBH. Those who have completed
ICS-100 and 700 are: KF8ZN, KC9HXY, KC9IHX, KB9KAI, W9DML, N9DN,
KC9IKL, W9EML.
Remember that under the requirements of NIMS, all participants, even volunteers, are required to have some basic training for NIMS. The two courses required, as a minimum, for volunteers are FEMA IS-100: Introduction to the Incident Command System and FEMA IS-700: National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction.
Under current regulations the first two courses must be completed. If
they are not completed, you will not be allowed to work with Champaign
County EMA as an ARES volunteer in an emergency or disaster response.
This may also extend to working with the Red Cross in such disasters.
More information and links to the FEMA Emergency Management Institute can be found on the WA9RES web site.
When you complete any of the FEMA courses, you will need to send a copy
of your course completion certificate to me so your training file can
be updated and we have a record of your completion.
NEW LAW FORMALLY MAKES AMATEUR RADIO PART OF EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMUNITY
The following article came from the October 6 edition of the ARRL Letter.
A section of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 2007 Appropriations Act, HR 5441 <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.05441:>,formally
includes Amateur Radio operators as a part of the emergency
communications community. Congress approved the measure before
adjourning for its pre-election break. President George W. Bush signed
the bill into law October 4.
Amateur Radio is included within the legislation's Subtitle D, Section
671, known as the "21st Century Emergency Communications Act." Radio
amateurs are among the entities with which a Regional Emergency
Communications Coordination Working Group (RECC Working Group) must
coordinate its activities. Included within the DHS's Office of
Emergency Communications -- which the measure also creates -- RECC
Working Groups attached to each regional DHS office will advise federal
and state homeland security officials. The final version of the
legislation incorporated language from both House and Senate bills and
was hammered out in a conference committee. An earlier version of the
21st Century Emergency Communications Act, HR 5852, included Amateur
Radio operators as members of the RECC Working
Groups.
In addition to Amateur Radio operators, RECC Working Groups also will
coordinate with communications equipment manufacturers and vendors --
including broadband data service providers, local exchange carriers,
local broadcast media, wireless carriers, satellite communications
services, cable operators, hospitals, public utility services,
emergency evacuation transit services, ambulance services, and
representatives from other private sector entities and nongovernmental
organizations.
The RECC Working Groups will assess the survivability, sustainability
and interoperability of local emergency communication systems to meet
the goals of the National Emergency Communications Report. That report
would recommend how the US could "accelerate the deployment of
interoperable emergency communications nationwide." They also will
coordinate the establishment of "effective multi-jurisdictional,
multi-agency emergency communications networks" that could be brought
into play in an emergency or disaster.
In light of the new legislation, the ARRL plans to follow up to
determine how it can interact with the DHS and its Office of Emergency
Communications.
-End-
SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY
The 2006 SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) will be held on December 2,
2006, from 0000 to 2400 GMT. The National Weather Service
utilizes SRD to show appreciation to amateur radio operators who
support operations during critical weather days. This will be the
eighth consecutive year that SRD will take place. More
information can be found at the national web site: http://hamradio.noaa.gov.
The link includes a list of participating offices, information on QSL
cards, and other info. Last year, the Lincoln, IL office had 543
QSOs, worked 49 states, and 53 NWS offices. Their 543 QSOs was
the fifth highest total in the country, tied with Buffalo, NY.
The Grand Junction, CO topped all offices with 1374 QSOs
OCTOBER NET CONTROL STATIONS
The weekly ARES net is held each Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., on the 444.100
repeater, CTSS 162.2. An updated net check-in list is now
available on the web site.
October 10 KC9HXY
October 17 N9GPA
October 24 K9LMM
October 31 N9XDC
NEXT MEETING
The next regular meeting will be on Wednesday, November 1, 7:00 p.m. Check the web site for updated details.