The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated Oakland one of 7 "disaster resistant" communities nationwide. FEMA's Project Impact encourages preventive measures prior to disasters. Oakland will receive a $1M grant to institute a Safety And Future Empowerment (SAFE) program. With it the city's Emergency Management Board will implement a series of steps to mitigate damage to their facilities, to provide emergency training and special services to aid employees and to provide technical assistance, financial resources or in-kind services to complement other members of the community. Our RACES Radio Officer, Jim, K6JAT , will be participating in the project as a member of Oakland's Emergency Management Board (EMB). There was an official signing ceremony at City Hall on Friday, January 23.
Jim, K6JAT met with police department personnel to advance our relationship with them. Don't miss the March 7 Oakland ARES meeting. Members will be given training and orientation to fire apparatus and equipment at Leona Lodge. Learn the names of equipment and terminology used for message passing. This will be useful when ECHO is activated for the April 18 CORE drill. We are expecting to pass messages to the EOC from the fire houses. Did you know that there is a protocol for remotely unlocking fire station doors from dispatch? This is useful if you are arrive at a station and everyone is out on a call.
Attendance was light at the January meeting, partly due to the rain and new location. However, that did not stop us from discussing the mission of ARES/RACES and goals for 1998. This year we plan to do a site survey of the Police Administration Building for installation of ham radios. We discussed alternate locations for Field Day (June 27-28) such as Jack London Square or Estuary Park for more visibility. We considered outreach to hams who may not live but work in Oakland at places like AC Transit, EBMUD, BART, and Pac Bell. There was a request to publish the Northern California Band Plan, which appears beginning in this issue. There was another request to help Mike, KB6MP compile a list of Bay Area ARES/RACES net times and frequencies.
April will be a busy month. The Red Cross would like an APRS demo and, the City of Oakland is preparing their annual earthquake drill for April 18 which will involve RACES. The MS Society is holding their annual walk-a-thon on Sunday, April 19. Bicycle and fixed operators will be used. Finally, Baker-2-Vegas is the weekend of April 25-26. While not an Oakland event, several of our members participate every year and have a ball.
During the break there was a demonstration of the Oakland ARES Web Site and a miniature portable packet station consisting of an HT, a Kamtronics KPC-3 TNC with battery installed, and a PalmPilot handheld PDA running a terminal emulation.
On Saturday, January 24, 1998, Mark, N6RCG and David, WB6NER , met at Jim's, K6JAT , radio room to discuss the possible formation of a new organization called the Oakland Radio Communication Association (ORCA) to coordinate and promote the varied interests of telecommunication enthusiasts in the Oakland area. An ad hoc formation committee is being created to consider such matters as the goals, structure and scope of ORCA; ARRL affiliation; and incorporation. Participation by interested ARES/RACES members will be solicited at the meeting on February 7.
Web sightings: Ham Radio Online http://hamradio-online.com
Newsletter Production: Beginning with the April newsletter, Mike, KB6MP must hand off the copying, stamping, and mailing functions of newsletter production to some lucky volunteer. Mike will continue to edit the newsletter and run the web sites.
Red Cross Radios were uninstalled from the old site after the January meeting. There was some discussion of testing out the new Red Cross HF site by participating in some contests.
Oakland 911: A fiber optic problem in Orinda disabled 911 calls in many East Bay cities for 2 hours on Saturday, January 24. The 7-digit emergency numbers in the phone directory remained operational. The question arises at what point RACES should be alerted/activated in such an event and what would be our mission? (to patrol for fires, medical emergencies, crime?)
Directions to Leona Lodge: There was some confusion as to directions to Leona Lodge, which is at 4444 Mountain Blvd. From 13 north: take Carson exit, right onto Carson, right onto Mountain. From 13 south: take the Redwood/Carson exit, straight at light onto the frontage road, Aliso Ave, left under the freeway at Carson, right at Mountain. Lodge is about 0.1 mile on the left. From 35th Ave towards hills: Right at Aliso Ave (street before Highway 13), left under the freeway at Carson, right at Mountain. Downhill from Redwood Road: turn left at Mountain (near the Safeway) Proceed about 0.2 miles. Lodge is on left. You can also go this way from 13 south or from 35th Ave.
The Oakland ARES meeting came to order at Leona Lodge at 9:15 AM. Present were:
|
Adele Bertaud |
KE6HKY |
|
Edward Kilmartin |
KE6WPG |
|
Deborah Reisman |
KE6MQV |
|
Donald R Bonney |
KE6SAF |
|
Dave McGuinness |
KF6EPQ |
|
Steve Renten |
KE6SAL |
|
Herbert Bowen |
WA6CUY |
|
Art McLaughlin |
W6THD |
|
Margery Service |
KF6GTT |
|
Elaine Carter |
K6SZT |
|
Cherie Morris |
W6BBK |
|
Theodore Stewart |
W6NPB |
|
Jim Carter |
K6LWA |
|
Gerald Morris |
K6QY |
|
Donald Street |
K6EHQ |
|
George Chong |
W6BUR |
|
David Otey |
WB6NER |
|
Jim Tiemstra |
K6JAT |
|
Doug Faunt |
N6TQS |
|
Jim Ploss |
KB6MYV |
|
Brian Treusch |
W6LL |
|
Bob Firehock |
KE6IUE |
|
David Pompa |
pending |
|
Mark Violet |
N6RCG |
|
Richard Gabor |
KO6TI |
|
Mike Pompa |
KB6MP |
|
|
|
The next meeting will be Saturday, February 7, 1998 at 9:00 AM
at Leona Lodge, 4444 Mountain Blvd.