Glendora Emergency Response Communications

Fall News Update

Sep 05, 2005

September 5, 2005


Hello fellow GERC hams and friends of amateur radio communications! Thank you for all you do to remain ready to use your amateur radio communication skills in the event of an emergency in the Glendora, San Dimas, Covina, and Azusa areas. We appreciate your service at our public events and on the weekly 144.330 MHz Net.

We hope all is well with you and that your summer went well. GERC members have been very busy this summer practicing their radio skills beginning with Field Day in June, maintaining checkpoints at the Pioneer Day 5-K Run in July and more recently providing parking lot security at the September 4th Church Conference.

We welcome Mark Miller as the new Glendora Stake High Council representative who will be overseeing Emergency Response Communications for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although not a licensed radio operator yet, Mark has already shown great support for the GERC activities. Visit www.neighborhoodlink.com/org/gerc for the GERC Mission statement and purposes of our organization.

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Thursday, September 8, 2005 - The MARA. amateur radio group will meet at 7:00 pm at the Foothill Building located at 614 W. Foothill Blvd. in Arcadia. MARA (Mercury Amateur Radio Association) is an informal group of Church hams from the greater Pasadena-South Pasadena-Arcadia and Monrovia area who meet monthly to discuss emergency radio communications and emergency preparedness in general. Leader: Tom Morgon, KB6JVE. Participation at MARA meetings allows for the cooperative exchange ideas and emergency plans that are mutually beneficial for all areas of the San Gabriel Valley. We have seen in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that disasters where hams are needed to get on the air do not discriminate by geo-political borders.

Saturday, September 10, 2005 ?– Trip to the ARRL Southwest Convention in Riverside, CA. This is the premiere ham radio convention! Seminars and workshops on all aspects of amateur radio, and a hall full of commercial ham radio exhibitors! Watch for money-saving Show Specials! We will be carpooling from the Main Facility, 2121 East Rt. 66 in Glendora at 7:45 am. Admission to the all day conference is $15.00 at the door.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005 ?– Monthly GERC meeting at the Main Facility, 7:00 pm. Special workshop on use of map and compass including triangulation techniques essential to Radio Direction Finding. Teacher: Frank Bigelow, KG6TQV. Bring your compass. Maps provided.

Saturday, October 8, 2005 ?– Special Radio Direction Finding T-hunt at Gladstone Park located at 600 East Gladstone Avenue in Glendora beginning at 10:30 am. All hams and non-hams are invited to participate in this family oriented event. Barbeque following the event at 1:30 pm. See enclosed flyer for details. Our event will be coordinated by Joe Moell, K0OV a nationally known RDF expert. Please visit Joe?’s website at www.homingin.com for more information about Radio Direction Finding.

Future Events To be Announced - Technician level amateur radio licensing class. An intensive three session class (including test session) to prepare individuals for taking the FCC licensing exam. Class fee: $30:00 which includes the Gordon West ?“Technician Class?” manual, Continental breakfast, Luncheon, and FCC exam fee. Date and location will be announced.

How are amateur radio operators involved in the Katrina disaster relief? Read on.

ARRL PRESIDENT URGES ORDERLY AMATEUR RADIO RESPONSE TO KATRINA (reprinted from ARRL Letter Vol. 24 No. 34)

ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, this week called on the Amateur Radio
community to exercise patience as the Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans
flooding relief and recovery efforts move into high gear.

"I know many people would like to move now," Haynie said. "Please don't. I
know many of you want to enter the fray, come to the coast and get involved.
Please, not yet." Haynie instead advised hams eager to assist to make sure
they're prepared, refresh their skills and knowledge of protocols and
procedures.

The ARRL now is seeking experienced Amateur Radio emergency volunteers to
help supplement communication for American Red Cross feeding and sheltering
operations in Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Special
consideration will be given to operators who have successfully completed the
ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications course training (Level I
minimum) to serve as team leaders. All interested should e-mail
, providing name, call sign, contact information and any
equipment you can take along on a field deployment for an indefinite period.
Volunteers may face hardship conditions without the usual amenities and will
need to provide their own transportation to the marshaling area.

Haynie says safety is of paramount importance to all ARES volunteers. "For
now, the area is simply too dangerous, and no one is being allowed in," he
pointed out. "Transportation and logistics, including volunteer groups
coming in, must be done in an orderly manner or we may only add to the chaos
and confusion." He requested that ARES members and teams work through their
Section Emergency Coordinators (SECs).

President Haynie's complete remarks are on the ARRL Web site
.

Amateur Radio operators from Texas were deployed this week to New Orleans to
assist in the trouble-plagued evacuation of flooding refugees from the
Louisiana Superdome. Because of additional flooding, damage to the facility
and other problems at the Superdome, authorities convoyed the 25,000 flood
evacuees in the sports stadium to the Houston Astrodome and other locations
in Texas.

Louisiana Section Emergency Coordinator Gary Stratton, K5GLS, says ham radio
communication between Houston and the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, emergency
operations center (EOC) September 1 was able to clarify some logistical issues involved with the refugee relocation effort.

While Amateur Radio is providing support in Louisiana for various relief organizations, Stratton said most ham radio efforts to date have gone toward assisting with emergency management and search-and-rescue operations. Stratton says he has ARES members ready to roll once authorities reopen the hardest-hit parishes that have been closed off to outsiders.

The West Gulf ARES Emergency Net remains active on 7.285 MHz days and 3.873
MHz nights, handling emergency and priority traffic only. Health-and-welfare traffic is being handled on 7.290 MHz days and 3.935 MHz nights. The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) on 14.265 MHz has begun concentrating on emergency and priority traffic and shuttling health-and-welfare requests to its Web site . The Salvation Army also is using Amateur Radio for its tactical communications.


73 DE KF6DSA
Mark Hayden, GERC Net Control