Blog Archives

How Long and How Soon? (RB323)

4/24/1994

Your questions are welcomed. Several have asked the following in one way or another: "What I've heard from RACES and the ARRL seems to assume that the RACES member should be willing to report to a (hopefully) preassigned duty station and remain there for several days in the event of a major disaster. Is this the case?"

Comment: Previous bulletins have covered the aspects of one's obligation to family first. Still, there are Strike Teams that do make that commitment and dedication, as do key participants of a well prepared communications reserve, like the RACES, the OES Auxiliary Communications Service, or others. Strike Teams and key responders are for a short quick response to fill in until the slower mobilizing units can respond; then they retire.

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RACES in Action - Non-Emergency Events (RB322)

4/17/1994

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Here are some of the events utilized in one area to help citizens become familiar with RACES and to train RACES participants:

Westminister City RACES provided communications at the Blessed Sacramento Church Festival, with RACES mutual aid supplied by Orange County, and the cities of Cypress and Huntington Beach. 25 operators participated in 200 person hours over 3 days at a festival that drew over 25,000 people.
County requested exclusive RACES at the Amateur Radio booth at the County Fair for two days of first weekend. If not granted, RACES members will still participate, but the Radio Officers will not officially schedule member participation.
Iranian Festival. We plan to setup communications posts throughout the public park to provide the Iranians with an easy means for reporting and finding lost children, as well as other situtions. Because of the limited number of members who can participate due to its being Easter Sunday, we will most likely request mutual aid from City RACES groups.
Duck & Cover Drill, April 5. This is a State OES drill, at 10:30 a.m., probably on 7230 kHz. We will probably want to activate on 2 meters or 6 meters, as well, to communicate with City EOC's.
Mass Casualty Drill, April 22.
Earthquake Expo at Main Place Mall in Santa Ana. We will work this event in shifts and invite City RACES groups to display their promotional material as well. Those are just a few training venues for the RACES.

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Who Makes the Decision (RB321)

4/11/1994

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The following was from a concerned FCC Amateur licensee:

"Who makes the decision to mobilize? Does RACES wait for a request from the emergency management agency, or do you or another RACES officer decide? The reason I ask is that hams tend (in my opinion) to be arguable and over-react in an emergency-type situation. Please do n't take this personally. You may be perfectly calm and level-headed, but I have seen all too many minor incidents escalated to "emergencies" by over-eager hams on the repeaters. I would insist upon interposing my own judgment as to the need for my services.

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Direction Finding in the RACES (RB320)

4/4/1994

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Question: What role does direction finding have in the RACES, if any?

Response: Direction finding - the process of locating Radio Frequency signals by other radio equipment - has a tremendous role for Amateur Radio operators, particularly in urban areas. RACES units have been called upon to locate spurious signals from a variety of sources from malfunctioning equipment, such as stuck transmitters, to deliberate jamming of local government or other facilities.

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1992-1994 RACES Bulletins

How Long and How Soon? (RB323)

RACES in Action - Non-Emergency Events (RB322)

Who Makes the Decision (RB321)

Direction Finding in the RACES (RB320)

RACES Bulletins

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