October 4th 2023

      Great Shake Out News                   

https://sjcares.org/great-shake-out-october-19th-2023/

This information has its own page. As new information is available, like our local Incident Action Plan and ICS-605 form.

SJCARES Notes:

  Updated 21September2023

Updated information for everyone. Check this space often for updates (last least weekly) on RATPAC presentations and URLs for the recorded presentations and activities for San Joaquin County ARES nets, drills, and learning opportunities. 

Notes on last night’s Zoom 28 March meeting:

Regional SET (Simulated Emergency Test) will be held 30September2023.. The Exercise identification is REDSKIES

The Exercise is regional in scope and will cover most of the southern and South Central Valley.

Also in the near future is the Great Shake Out on 19October2023. This will also be a SET for San Joaquin County ARES. All Amateurs are invited to participate. 

• The next HamU will be on October 14th 2023. See the education section

OLDER NEWS/POST

Because the local digipeaters are down for a while, I have decided to suspend the digital net for the next two months. We do have some new people and are getting them up to speed on how to implement and use the digital process.

After some discussion, the group focus for the next few months will be using the ICS Winlink’s form ICS 213 < found in Standard Templates > USA ICS Forms > ICS 213 

A Downloadable copy of the form is available. here: form-ICS213-Winlink

The drill using this form will be after the voice check-in at 1900 hours. Two different operators will read two different messages. The rest of the group is welcome to copy the messages. Afterward, send your copy of the message to me. 

This drill aims to handle voice traffic from the field and forward it to the Operation Command Center.

Mark your calendars!

• The next HamU will be on April 29. See the education section
• The Weekly Packet Radio net on the 145.030 on the BEAR03 Digipeater has been suspended for the next two months
• Voice net follows on the 147.090 repeater  with PL 114.8 with a + Offset

Here are some good links for EmComm Training

Radio Amateur Training Planning and Activities Committee

RATPAC is s group of Emcomm people across the county that have put together a large number of Video recordings of the live presentation. A List of 280 and growing  RatPAC Training Videos and the RATPAC website is Here!

WaveTalkers

WaveTalkers is a Southern California Group that has put together an extensive set of Videos and recorded presentations on how to install and implement RMS Winklink 2000: WaveTalkers

RMS Winlink 2000

SJCARES Update February 28, 2022

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SJCARES Notes for January 2022

The January Zoom Meeting January 25th 

The Topic/Training will be the ARRL Radiogram and the NIMS ICS231 form 

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SJCARES Notes for December 2021

As we near the mid-month point, I need to announce the SJCARES meeting for this month will be on the Zoom platform.

ATTENTION!

November 2021 Metting of SJCARES

We will be holding an in-person meeting.

November 23, 2021. The location will be at the: Stockton Fire Station #2, 110 W Sonora St, Stockton, CA 95203. It will start at 7:00.  We will be in the classroom located on the west side of the parking lot. 

Call me at 209-914-2684 or on 146.520 to open the gate, if it is closed. Note: This is an Active/Working Fire Station. 

Any questions call the number above for assistance. 

Bob, N6TCE

SJCARES Note for October 2021

Here we are entering fall. As San Joaquin County’s ARRL Emergency Coordinator, I have a SET planned for October. 

A SET is short for Simulated Emergency Training. 

On October 21 at 10:21 is the Great California Shake-Out. The Shake-Out takes place to generate Earthquake Awareness and disaster preparedness. Unfortunately, we do live in an area where large quakes do happen. They can be as devastating to our communities as any hurricane or tornado. 

This SET is the 1st organized for our group. All amateurs are invited to participate in this training exercise. 

The Net Control Station will start a controlled net on either the Stockton (147.165.0 + offset PL107.2) or the Lodi (147.090 + offset PL 114.8) repeater. One of the repeaters will be down during the exercise. (no net traffic on that repeater, please) 

The Net Control Station (NTS) will start by formally opening the net with the words: “This is an Exercise.” After the initial announcement, the NCS will call for reports. Next, listen to the NCS instructions on what should be in your reports. 

All of your reports should start and finish with the phrase: “This is an exercise.”
Plus do not forget to end your report with your own call sign.

There are four levels of message precedence: 
1. Emergency (Relating to the immediate protection of life or property)

2. Priority (Partners and ARES® messages which are directly related to the emergency, but not as time-sensitive as an Emergency precedence message)

3. Health and Welfare(Inquiries or information about the whereabouts or condition of persons in the affected area)

4. Routine (Messages unrelated to any emergency: birthday greetings, net activity reports, etc.) 

The Net Control Station will ask for Emergency Traffic 1st. Then Priority 2nd, Welfare traffic 3rd, and Routine 4th. 

Normally the Net Director would set up alternate frequencies in a genuine emergency and move the routine and welfare traffic off the Main Net frequencies. However, for this SET, we will not be doing do that. Therefore, the NCS will not take routine or welfare traffic during this exercise.

Remember, this is an exercise; a drill is a chance to practice everyone’s skills. You, as participants, can do more than check-in. For example, you might decide to practice copying call signs, and if you are doing well at that, try to copy the traffic. 

Traffic itself will be the questions: 
Did you feel it? Y/N 
Severity? 
Any visible damage in your location? Y/N
Are utilities functioning? Y/N 

Not everyone will answer all the questions. For example, might you hear an answer to only the 1st or the 1st and last two questions?

I have included a possible log sheet, and everyone is welcome to print it off and practice logging.

This exercise is constructed upon something which has been well attended in the past. The only thing different is we will be treated as simulated emergency training. The difference is this exercise will be set up using the National Incident Management System’s (NIMS’s) Incident Command System (ICS) forms and reported more formally than it has in the past.

RMS Winlink 2000 has a form for reporting an Earth Quake and can be sent via IP address or digital radio. Just be sure to mark it exercise/ or not as the case may be.

USGS Did you feel it :
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/tellus 


Read more on the web here: https://www.shakeout.org/california

I have already signed up for San Joaquin County ARES. The S-DARC is all onboard too.

As your new Emergency Coordinator, I think this will be a start in the right direction. The goal for SJCARES is to bring San Joaquin County to the level of emergency preparedness of the surrounding counties if not exceed it. 

I found out that our surrounding counties may be depending on us to help them in times of emergencies. For example, recently a request for communications help at El Dorado County’s Large Animal Shelter came from their county EC. Currently, we have only 3 people in the county I could have sent to help in this mutual aid call. In the next few months, I hope to have another 5 or 6 Level 2 personal with the ability to be deployed in mutual aid situations like the recent CALDOR Fire. 

To volunteer for deployment outside of the county, you must have the 4 ICS classes finished. In addition, participating in a simulated emergency net will help prepare you for real-life call-outs.

Additionally, I have received a request for help at the Red Cross Shelter in Porterville.

October is National Emergency Preparedness Month. Please, personally, take time to assess how well you and your family is prepared for an emergency? Do you have a family plan? Do you have a rallying point or a planned gathering place for everyone to meet?

How well is your home Quake resistant? Do you know where the major gas and electric lines are in your neighborhood? Do you know how to shut off the gas to your house?

I hope to hear everyone on October 21 at 1021 hours local time.

Bob Officer, N6TCE
ARRL EC for SJC