If you received this newsletter because you became a new ham, upgraded, renewed, or moved to Oakland, Piedmont, Alameda or Emeryville within the last year, congratulations! We have had an exciting year of emergency preparedness activities. During 1996, we have installed and now operate amateur radio base stations in almost every Oakland fire station, conducted earthquake and fire drills, went out on fire patrol, ran a new ham licensing class and put together radio preparedness packs. We reorganized to allow for increased participation, got new yellow nomex jackets with our logo, developed our skills with portable packet stations, did communications for several events, trained new net control opeators, helped specify our needs for the new OES communications room, worked Field Day, got great press coverage and started a web site. We invite you to come to one of our monthly meetings (bagels often provided), check in to our weekly Thursday net, and learn or exercise your emergency operating skills.
To join or renew your membership to Oakland ARES/RACES for 1997, bring a check to the meeting or mail it to: Oakland ARES, 347 63rd St., Oakland 94618. We'll update the mailing list with your info and keep you posted with the monthly newsletter. Now for a recap of what happened last month.
The November drill was a huge success, with 26 hams participating. The Oakland, Berkeley, Piedmont and East Bay Parks Fire Departments now have a firm understanding of our abilities and professionalism. Hams became familiar with Incident Command System (ICS) terminology and Fire Dept. radio operating procedures. We learned that some fire engines have no magnetic surfaces for attaching antennas.
Lisa, KF6BYI helped a Hiller Highlands resident without electricity and phones call the utilities, with the help of Jim, KB6MYV and Doug, N6TQS. Chris, KQ6JZ 's battalion car 2514 got called to a fire during the drill and Mike, KD6PLN 's engine 2254 got called to a medical emergency after the drill.
Packet worked flawlessly on 220 Mhz. Doug, N6TQS deserves special credit for his prep work. Chief Carter was surprised by packet's capability. The next step is to develop several portable packet stations which can be used in each of the three battalions in the event of a real breakdown.
Lessons learned:
Thanks to KQ6JZ, WB6NER, N6RCG, KE6IUE, KD6PLN, KJ6LL, KF6BYI, KE6MRK, KF6CEA, KB6MYV, W6NPB, KE6TYY, N6TQS, KE6DVT, K6MDH, KE6HKY, KE6STE, KE6SAL, KF6GYI, KD6OAQ, KF6EPQ, KE6CXD, KE6CFW, KO6TI, KE6MQW, and KE6UAB.
Station 23's antenna installation is now complete. The radios in most stations have been reprogrammed to match the new frequency list in this newsletter. Inform Chris, KQ6JZ or David, WB6NER if you discover a station's radio incorrectly programmed or missing its pair of headphones. Station 26 is in the planning stage and stations 24 and 18 still need amateur radios installed. Ed, KE6WPG and Roger, KE6STB demonstrated their portable base station in a box. The two radios are attached to the bottom of the box cover. Inside are batteries, a power supply, antenna, and miscellaneous gear. In a pinch, one person can carry the box.
Veteran's Day Parade: KQ6JZ, N6TQS, W6NPB, KE6CFW, K6EHQ, KE6WPG, plus 14 Fremont ARES members led by Paul Carlin, KE6NVU used ham radio to actually control the pacing of the entire parade (like it's done at Disneyland).
Kaiser Hospital Drill: Net control operator N6OIK was directing hospital traffic all over the Bay Area with KF6BYI, N6TQS and KQ6JZ at Regional EOC. K6EHQ was at Oakland Kaiser and WB6NER was the brains behind the whole operation.
Heart Surgery: Mark Violet, N6RCG, Oakland ARES Emergency Coordinator went in to the hospital for a planned heart operation on November 15 and is recovering quickly after only 6 days. We all wish Mark continued good health. Jim Tiemstra, N6OIK is acting EC in the interim.
It's a girl: Congratulations to Deborah, KE6MQV of the Oakland Office of Emergency Services who gave birth to a baby daughter in late October.
Welcome: Newly licensed: Kathy, KF6GZY, Dave, KF6GRL, Margery, KF6GTT. New members/participants: Paul, KE6VSK, Harry, KE6VSU and Jeff, KF6CXD.
Web sightings: The University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Amateur Radio Callsign Lookup database was used to locate new hams for this extended mailing: http://www.ualr.edu/~hamradio/callsign.html
Oakland Commercial Antenna Ordinance: The law went into effect retaining the exclusion of Amateur Radio antennas.
FCC Licence Renewal Reminders: Postcards are no longer being sent out by the FCC before your license expires. We are looking into the possibility of providing that service through our member database, still in the design stage.
The Oakland ARES meeting came to order at the Oakland Red Cross at 9:00 AM. Present were:
|
Lisa Askew |
KF6BYI |
|
Roger Gilbert |
KE6STE |
|
David Otey |
WB6NER |
|
Debbie Barragan |
KE6MRK |
|
Roger Jung |
KE6STB |
|
David Pompa |
pending |
|
Adele Bertaud |
KE6HKY |
|
Edward Kilmartin |
KE6WPG |
|
Mike Pompa |
KD6PLN |
|
Chris Burgardt |
KQ6JZ |
|
Denise Kimball |
KF6BIO |
|
Steve Renton |
KE6SAL |
|
Jim Carter |
K6LWA |
|
Paulette Leston |
KE6CFW |
|
Tim Roberts |
KF6BYG |
|
Susan Chan Rogers |
pending |
|
Jeff Mathia |
KF6CXD |
|
Bernard Schormann |
KE6TYY |
|
George Chong |
W6BUR |
|
John Mayerhoffer |
WB6BYA |
|
Wayne Schutte |
OakFire |
|
Louis Cobet |
K6MDH |
|
Bob Mayes |
KE6DVT |
|
Margery Service |
KF6GTT |
|
Dave Cudaback |
KF6GRL |
|
Dave McGuinnes |
KF6EPQ |
|
Theodore Stewart |
W6NPB |
|
Willy Denninger |
KE6EMX |
|
Paul Millner |
KE6VSK |
|
Donald Street |
K6EHQ |
|
Kathy Dodge |
KF6GZY |
|
Cherie Morris |
W6BBK |
|
Jim Tiemstra |
N6OIK |
|
Bob Firehock |
KE6IUE |
|
Gerald Morris |
AC6GF |
|
Brian Treusch |
KJ6LL |
|
Curtis Floray |
KA6MJO |
|
Harry Myler |
KE6VSU |
|
Mark Violet |
N6RCG |
|
Richard Gabor |
KO6TI |
|
Eileen Norberg |
KF6CEA |
|
|
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Meetings are normally held on the first Saturday of each month.
The next meeting will be Saturday, November 2, 1996 at 9:00 AM
at the Red Cross Headquarters, 2111 E. 14th Street, Oakland 535-2800