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.