ACS News
New ACS/CERT Net Announced
We're pleased to announce the formation of a new Auxiliary Communications Service and Community Emergency Response Team amateur radio net.This net will be open to all amateurs, but especially ACS members and CERT members who are licensed radio amateurs. Through the net, CERT teams will be able to establish a liaison with ACS as well as other CERT teams. Having some knowledge of the team players, makes coordinating and working an incident a much easier task. Communications between these groups will also be helpful in planning future joint activities - such as drills and exercises. The net will give newly licensed CERT members an opportunity to get on the radio, to train and develop their communications skills.
Unlike a typical net, where stations just check in and leave, we want to use this net as a sharing and learning opportunity, so participants are encouraged to ask questions or share their thoughts about radio matters or CERT activities. Team Leaders can sit alongside the "hams" during the net, and participate and learn as well. Anyone with a scanner can program in the repeater frequencies listed below, and listen in.
The net will begin on August 18th, and will be held monthly, on the 3rd Monday of every month. The time will be 7 PM.
Tom Profant, K4TAP, has graciously allowed us to use his 440 MHz linked repeater system for the net. His system will allow us to cover an area from Manatee to Charlotte County ... and all the CERT teams in between!
Depending on your equipment and where you live, you may be able to reach one or two of the three repeaters in this system. Check them out and see which one works best from your location.
The repeater frequencies and locations are as follows:
444.875 (PL 151.4) - Manatee County
442.300 (PL 82.5) - Sarasota County (North)
444.600 (PL 82.5) - Charlotte County (Murdock)
The coverage on this system is excellent, so most everyone should be able to reach at least one of the repeaters.
The dates for the remainder of 2008 will be
August 18
September 15
October 20
November 17
December 15
We are soliciting people who would like to act as a "net control" station ... especially CERT Communication Leaders. This will be a great opportunity to get some practice running a net. The training and procedures learned here, can be used and taught to your CERT team members.
Any ideas for Communications topics to cover and discuss on the net, are also welcome.
Please contact Ron, wd4ahz@saracs.org if you have questions, suggestions, or would like to volunteer as a net control!
Thanks, and hope to hear everyone on our new net in a few weeks!
Field Day 2009
It's early, but planning has begun on a joint ACS/Florida Contest Group Field Day, June 27-28, 2009! If you're interested in participating, please contact Ron, wd4ahz@saracs.org.Message From Sarasota EM
I'll try to be brief, but since I'm tasked with the responsibility of ham radio communications as it relates to Emergency Management (EM), I just want to clarify what EM expects from hams in Sarasota County. It sounds like there are some misconceptions that should be cleared-up due to changes in recent years driven by the Feds.The National Incident Management System (NIMS) at the Federal level specifies resource typing (and resources can be equip and/or people) for response agencies like Fire, Search & Rescue, and Communications. This is a result of the post-9/11 world in which we live and was elevated further as a result of Katrina.
That being said, the Auxiliary Communications Service (formerly the RACES tasking) is NIMS-compliant in it's training requirements, equipment, and even down to it's name "ACS". This multi-year effort was driven by us here in Emergency Management, primarily by Logistics Chief Anne Miller, and more recently by me. Just to be clear:
* * * All tasking for emergency communications traffic for the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) will be assigned by us via ACS and if more resources are needed a request for mutual aid of like-trained resources from the regional and State assets will be made from the EOC. The use of repeaters for ACS/EOC traffic shall be a priority to applicable trustees. * * *
American Red Cross (ARC) shelter communications can be staffed with communicators of their choosing; SERC and/or ACS resources are both fine for this mission just so long as the task is fulfilled absolutely seamlessly. We in Emergency Management will make the jump-kits available in this order of priority as needed:
1= Alternate EOC (AEOC)
2= Special Needs Shelters (SpNS)
3= Tactical First-In Teams (TFIT)
4= Damage Assessment (DA)
5= General Population (GP) shelters
We hope to purchase more as the budget permits.
Other than the shelter comms tasking, the role of SERC is similar to the great work that many of the other area clubs provide in the ham world by assisting special events in the community, etc. Since the tasking is very delineated there is no reason why an individual can not participate in multiple groups as they wish.
This apparent conflict is similar to the growing pains that Emergency Management went through when it arose out of the old Civil Defense from decades past. Similarly, the training requirements remind me of how it used to be a 40hr course allowed someone to be a Volunteer Firefighter in FL, but now they need to be Firefighter-I (160hr) certified; it could be in the future they would need Firefighter-II certification.
The world changes and we need to change with it if we wish to continue to participate in certain areas of public service. Well, so much for being brief, but this is how we operate in Sarasota and how the entire U.S. is moving to meet NIMS compliance.
Stay safe,
-Rob
Robert Day, MBCI, FPEM
Operations Chief
Emergency Management
Sarasota County Government
RDay@SCgov.net
ICS 300 & 400 Classes Scheduled
ICS sessions have been scheduled as follows for 2008:ICS 300
October 6, 7, 8
8:30 am - 5 pm (3rd day until noon)
ICS 400
October 8, 9
1 pm - 5 pm Day 1; 8:30 am - 5 pm Day 2
All prerequisites for these classes must have been obtained before class enrollment. Documentation must be presented to the instructor prior to the start of class. The prereqs of IS 700, 800, and ICS 100, 200 are available on-line.
Class size is 25 students, and all classes will be held in the Sarasota County EOC, 1660 Ringling Blvd., 6th floor. Contact for enrollment is Juli Flasker, jflasker@scgov.net
ACS members are NOT required to take these classes. They are being offered to those who wish to take them.
Shelter Antenna Project
A 2 1/2 year project came to a conclusion on January 3, 2008, as the last of our 11 Category 4/5 shelters had a permanent VHF/UHF antenna installed! Thanks to Sarasota County Emergency Management, Sarasota County School District, Sarasota County's communications contractor, WTEC, for making this happen, and to Steve, KI4VKX, Eddie, K4JP, Bob, K9SRQ, and Bob, KA4BOB, for their assistance during several multi-day work sessions.Out of County Members
Realizing the possible need for assistance from outside the local area, we have decided to begin accepting membership from interested individuals living outside of Sarasota County. We DO NOT, however, intend to take members who are already affiliated with their "home" county groups - as we do not want to compete for the same limited resources. If you live outside Sarasota County, are not already a part of an ARES/RACES/ACS organization in your home county, are dedicated and committed to do the required training, and are able to deploy to Sarasota County when needed, you are eligible for Sarasota County ACS membership.Telpac and WinLink
A Telpac gateway, WC4EM-10, has been set up on 145.090 MHz at the Sarasota County Emergency Operations Center to support WinLink and its potential use during emergencies. We hope to be able to set up more Telpac stations in the future to provide good county-wide coverage, as well as adding RF links for redundancy.ACS Hours for 2006-2007
1st Quarter (Oct 06 - Dec 06) = 242.5 Hours2nd Quarter (Jan 07 - Mar 07) = 547.0 Hours
3rd Quarter (Apr 07 - Jun 07) = 300.0 Hours
4th Quarter (Jul 07 - Sep 07) = 255.0 Hours
Total Volunteer Hours = 1,344.5
CERT Communications Course
Sarasota ACS has been working with Sarasota County Emergency Management, to develop a communications course to be used during CERT training classes. This is some basic information on radio operations and procedures. We also encourage CERT members to become licensed amateur radio operators, to help their CERT teams when other communications systems fail, and also become ACS members to help support our Emergency Communications activities for the county when not active as CERT.Sarasota ACS Singled Out by FCC
Sarasota ACS was singled out on the "Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau" page of the FCC's Web site, for "promoting best practices" regarding emergency communications.Dual Band HT Cache
Emergency Management purchased a total of 20 dual band HT's, Yaesu FT-60's, as part of a portable radio cache. These radios can be used on deployments or for local "public service" events.ARECC Manuals
Through a FEMA grant, Sarasota County Emergency Management was able to purchase ACS a number of the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course manuals - Level I, II, and III. These are available to loan out to ACS members to study for their ARECC exams.If you'd like to borrow a manual to study, please contact
Bob, K9SRQ (Sarasota)
Eddie, K4JP (Venice, North Port)
ACS Man Hours
Members are required to keep track of "man hours" spent on ACS activities. Time spent may include classes (both taking and teaching), activations and deployments, meetings (ACS, EOC, etc.), training classes or exercises, "volunteer" time for served agencies, equipment repair or installation, etc.Time spent on FEMA classes, will be based on CEU credits (.1 CEU credit/hour). For example, if you take the IS-700 class (.3 CEU), you will get 3 hours credit.
The ARRL ARECC classes are 25 hours each.
Other activities are based on total time spent.
Please submit your monthly hours on an ICS-214 form.
