Oakland A.R.E.S. Newsletter November 1, 1997

<Announcements / Calendar>

• Meeting schedule: December 6 January 3
• Monthly Fire Station exercise: Thursday, November 6
• Simulated Emergency Test (tentative): November 1
• Emergency Management Class: County EOC, Dublin, November 8
• Basic SEMS training: Martinez, November 15
• Airport Drill, November 18

<RACES Report

Now is a good time to check and restock your go-pack. Jim, K6JAT (formerly N6OIK) demonstrated his satchel full of equipment, food, clothing, and personal items. Jim attended the OES retreat which included representatives from PG&E, Pac Bell, and EBMUD. Jim also went to a planning meeting for the Airport Drill which occurs every 3-4 years. The weekly net check-ins from Fire Stations have tapered off. Remember: out of sight - out of mind. Please try to visit your assigned fire station each first Thursday. Call Chris, KQ6JZ to arrange an assignment. We are working out a mutual aid agreement with the Pacifica repeater 146.925, as their repeater provides better coverage of the Oakland hills. Next issue will be a special mailing to new and renewing Oakland Hams.

ARES Report

There will be no November meeting. Instead, a Simulated Emergency Test will occur on November 1. After the test the radio room at the Red Cross will be disassembled and packed up. David, WB6NER is in charge of the operation. Someone needs to push the Red Cross to install the radios in their new facilities. In December we move to our new permanent meeting site, Leona Lodge just off highway 13 at the Carson/Redwood exit. Bob, KE6IUE is now accepting 1998 Dues. David, WB6NER is now collecting weekly net log sheets from net control operators. Fax your log to 482-3648 or e-mail it to him at dfotey@wco.com The web site now has several printable log sheets, one of which can be electronically filled in and automatically e-mailed. Follow the links at http://ousd.k12.ca.us/oaknet.html to get to the log sheets. The Alameda County ARES meeting introduced Ron Kane as the new District Emergency Coordinator. They talked about the flooding expected in Napa and Solano counties this winter. There are plans to place a 1200 Mhz repeater on Sand Ridge to improve coverage to the Dublin EOC. In an emergency the 147.24 repeater will be used for communications between ECs.

SET> by WB6NER

Antennas up everyone!!! Here's your chance to roll up your sleeves, raise your mics and demonstrate that Oakland RACES/ARES knows how to deploy emergency radio communication resources in Oakland on a moment's notice. These activities will simulate the multi-faceted aspects of communications needed for deployment in response to a breakdown in Fire Services Agency command and control radio systems (900 MHz), ancillary fire or flood site patrols, and Red Cross shelter backbone communications.

In preparation, this is a super opportunity to review the condition and contents of your go-bags prior to November 1. On SET day, all participants need to have their radios monitoring the 166.880 (-) [PL 77.0 Hz] machine by 0800 hours local time as at some time between 0800 and 0900 hours, a SET notification and activation of the RACES group will be declared! The formal SET communications time frame will commence from approximately 0900 to 1100 hours, local time. Following normal activation protocols, the repeater will host a resource net to recruit communication assets for emergency response. Operators checking in to the Resource Net should have a good grasp of what field capabilities they can perform to facilitate their appropriate deployment. Tactical nets will be established on our primary and secondary simplex frequencies of 147.585 and 146.565 as required by the various scenarios and level of operator participation. (The 442.400 machine will be reserved for exercise command and control functions)

SET Operator Deployment Opportunities

• Oakland Fire Stations
  • Power Failures
    800 MHz Radio System Failures
• Flood/Fire Patrols
  • Mock Flood/Fire Patrol Routes (Mobile)
    • looking for mud slides and downed power lines...
  • Damage Assessments of business and residential areas.
• Red Cross
  • Shelter Deployments
    • Shelter management traffic
• Red Cross Radio Station Work

Following the close of the SET around 1100 hours, all available participants are welcome to come to the Red Cross building for a short SET debrief, pizza, and tear down of the radio station in preparation for the Red Cross move to a new location in central Oakland (on Broadway). Debrief will start at approximately 1200 Hours!

<Special Events>

American Diabetes Association Walkathon: Thanks to Mark, N6RCG ; Jim, K6LWA ; Carly, KF6LOH; Donald, K6EHQ; Alan, KF6FYW; Dick, WA6STR (from Hayward); Herb, WA6CUY and Ted, W6NPB for participating.

Regatta: Thanks to KJ6QZ, N6TQS, KF6BYG , and N6RCG . Details of the event will be in the next newsletter.

Emergency Management Class: Saturday, November 8th, 1997, from 10:00 to 15:30 at the Alameda County EOC in Dublin. For more information, see the last issue or call (510) 286-6748.

ICS/SEMS Class: The CONTRA COSTA RACES GROUP is sponsoring the Basic SEMS training program on Nov 15,1997 at the Martinez City Hall, 525 Henrietta Ave, Martinez,CA from 0800 to 1300 . The program will include the Basic 8 Modules of the SEMS training. The follow-on modules will be held at a later time yet to be determined. If you plan to be a part of the emergency preparedness program today, you must understand the workings of SEMS. For more information, please contact Ed_Ritchie@Juno.com or call in on the 15 of Nov on 147.06(W6CX) pl 100.

<Tidbits>

Web sightings: Colorado ARES: http://www.iex.net/ares/ares.htm

Welcome: Bonnie, KF6GZU . Finally, Jim, formerly N6OIK snagged a callsign with his initials, K6JAT .

Field Day: November QST pg. 102, bottom of middle column shows Oakland ARES score of 2,216, putting us second in the East Bay and about 60% down the list.

<Attendance Sheet>

The Oakland ARES meeting came to order at the Oakland Red Cross at 9:00 AM. Present were:

Lisa Askew	KF6BYI		Alan Horn	KF6GYW		Chloe Reisman	pending
A.J. Benham	KF6EUJ		Roger Jung	KE6STB		Deborah Reisman	KE6MQV
Adele Bertaud	KE6HKY		Marvin Kay	K6GHE		Tim Roberts	KF6BYG
Jim Carter	K6LWA		Edward Kilmartin	KE6WPG		Donald Street	K6EHQ
Susan Chan Rogers	pending		Dave McGuinness	KF6EPQ		Jim Tiemstra	K6JAT
Louis Cobet	K6MDH		David Otey	WB6NER		Mark Violet	N6RCG
Willy Denninger	KE6EMX		Chris Peeples	KE6MQW		Bonnie Wamsat	KF6GZU
Bob Firehock	KE6IUE		Jim Ploss	KB6MYV
Dave Harnish	KF6EQA		Mike Pompa	KD6PLN

Meetings are normally held on the first Saturday of each month.

The Simulated Emergency Test will be Saturday, November 1, 1997 at 9:00 AM
There will be no November meeting.
The December meeting will be at Leona Lodge, 4444 Mountain Blvd.