Page updated as of May20, 2008 0630hrs
The 2008
Statewide Exercise will be held June 4th and 5th, 2008.
See NET
NOTES page dated May 19 for more into
SC Communications Plan and the
Communications Standard Operating
Procedure (SOP) are available in PDF format.
Statewide
initiative currently in development to support heathcare facilities
with a redundant communication system that will use
amateur radio
during major disasters and public health emergencies. They have
a new web page at WWW.SCHEART.US
Our long term goal will
be to link all heathcare facilities through a network of "repeaters"
to form the SCHEART emergency
communication network.
Many amateur radio operators choose to volunteer their time and talent to serve their community. Registering in recognized emergency response organizations gives the volunteer better opportunities to participate in the response to an event.
Those individuals responsible to coordinate the response of volunteer emergency communicators need information on who is ready, willing, and able to respond.
A database of who meets their needs is necessary to be able to provide quality service to our served agencies. The registration form allows a volunteer to register in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and/or the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) by filling out a single form.
Select
the "ARES & RACES Application" item in the left
column.
You will need to download each of the three pages
individually if you choose the pdf files.
The first page
of the three page form contains all the information needed to
register in ARES. That same information is needed in RACES
registration. RACES requires a background check.
The information on page two includes what is needed to perform the required background check. The Social Security Number is only used for the background check and is not entered into the volunteer database. The SC Drivers license is entered into the database and will be shown on the RACES identification card so that the volunteer can use their drivers license as photo id.
Government emergency response agencies must also ensure that their responders have been properly trained.
The training required depends on the position the volunteer will be filling. The current minimum is FEMA courses ICS-100 and IS-700. Leadership positions require additional training.
Page three is where the approving government agency signs indicating their approval. A volunteer only applying for ARES registration need only fill out page one. All others must complete the entire form.
In either event, a copy of the first page is all that has to be given to the county ARES Emergency Coordinator. All three original pages are forwarded to the county emergency management organization for the performance of the background check and registration approval.
The
entire form may be delivered to the county emergency management
organization by the volunteer or given to the ARES Emergency
Coordinator to be brought to the county emergency manager in a
group.
The choice is up to the individual volunteer.
06-16-06 -The ARES South Carolina State Webpage is now on-line.
All I can say is WOW! .....Charlie Miller AE4UX
This page is a tool for getting information and news about South Carolina State ARES to you the Volunteer Communicator about what is happening now. Please be sure to check this site often
Here is a little about me for those that I've not met yet.
Charlie Miller was the Aiken County ARES/RACES
Emergency Coordinator from 1997 through 2002. Since that time
he has been the Section Emergency Coordinator and the State RACES
Officer. He has been actively involved with emergency services
for the last 18 years.
In addition to his amateur radio
emergency service, he was a Civil Air Patrol Squadron Commander,
Mission Pilot, Ground Team Leader, and Air Operations Officer.
Charlie retired in 2001 after a career in engineering and management
at companies such as Bell Telephone Laboratories, McDonnell Douglas,
DuPont, and Westinghouse. Charlie’s education includes a
Masters of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor of Science
in Mechanical Engineering degree. He holds an Amateur Extra Class
Radio License. Charlie is married and lives with his wife of 38 years
in Trenton, South Carolina.
The ARES is part of the ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio, which is the largest amateur radio advocacy and fraternal organization in the United States. Today, the ARES provides the organization and guidance to help amateur radio operators to establish a local emergency communications group. Emergency Coordinators work with local government agencies such as police, fire, sheriff, search and rescue and offices of emergency management to determine what emergency communications needs may exist.
The South Carolina ARES is divided into 6 Emergency Management Districts. Each District will have a District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) who will work with the local County Emergency Coordinator (EC) to understand the local community's needs, and organize resources to maintain a level of emergency preparedness.
Although the primary purpose of the ARES is to provide emergency communications, ARES® members also routinely provide non-business communications support to other public events.
For more information about ARES, read some of these articles:
ARRL Background Paper: Amateur Radio Emergency Communication
An OES you ask? An Official Emergency Station is an amateur radio station that meets the criteria outlined by the ARRL and sets a high standard of emergency preparedness and operating. Basically, this is a person that has made a commitment to be the best he or she can be when it comes to being prepared for an emergency. An OES is appointed by the SEC or the Section Manager. For more details on the OES appointment, read the ARRL file on the subject, or contact your EC.
Perhaps you're still a little too new to amateur radio, or maybe you've only heard about amateur radio, and want to find out how you can get licensed. Unfortunately, there's too much to amateur radio for us to go too far in depth at this web site. However, there are many web sites which have some great information to help anyone, at any age, with any background, to help you learn more about this fantastic hobby. Visit some of these sites and see what you've been missing!
- Amateur Radio Mentioned in Report to
White House -
"The Federal Response to
Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned,"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/index.html
was submitted to the White House. Over the last four months, at
the direction of President Bush, a team of White House staff members
and colleagues across the country at all levels of government
reviewed the Federal government's role and performance in preparing
for, responding to and recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
Along
with a detailed list of lessons learned and recommendations, the
report also recognized what went right during the Katrina disaster
and its aftermath.
Amateur Radio is specifically mentioned in
Appendix B of "The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina:
Lessons Learned," under the subheading "Non-governmental
Organizations."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/appendix-b.html
"Other organizations worked tirelessly to assist
emergency responders that, due to the storm, did not have the
equipment and means to effectively carry out their duties. Amateur
Radio Operators from both the Amateur Radio Emergency Service and the
American Radio Relay League, monitored distress calls and rerouted
emergency requests for assistance throughout the U.S. until messages
were received by emergency response personnel. A distress call made
from a cell phone on a rooftop in New Orleans to Baton Rouge was
relayed, via ham radio, from Louisiana to Oregon, then Utah, and
finally back to emergency personnel in Louisiana, who rescued the 15
stranded victims. Ham radio operators voluntarily manned the amateur
radio stations at sites such as the National Hurricane Center,
Hurricane Watch Net, Waterway Net, Skywarn and the Salvation Army
Team Emergency Radio Network."
Frances Fragos Townsend,
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and
Counterterrorism, presented and discussed the document yesterday in
Washington, DC. The appendix to the report also recognized many
other organizations that helped in the hurricane relief efforts.
"The number of volunteer and non-profit organizations
providing support to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort was truly
extraordinary. Virtually every national, regional and local
charitable organization in the U.S., and many from abroad,
contributed aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina."
- Message from Charlie AE4UX, SEC:
The 2005 Coastal Exercise dates have been set.
The exercise will be on Monday and Tuesday, December 12 and 13,
2005. However, Radio operators will only be needed on Monday
the 12th. I expect that the radio operators will be
released from exercise participation after the After Action Review
(Hot Wash) late on Monday afternoon. The USC Center for Public
Health Preparedness has again offered to reimburse travel expenses
for those amateur radio operators who travel to the exercise from out
of town. That includes mileage from your home and Sunday
night's stay in a Charleston area hotel. There is an upper
limit on the hotel reimbursement. I'll have to get the current
number from them for those who decide to participate.
Communications
is a major focus of this exercise. We have an opportunity to
show the served agencies what we can do. Although there are a
lot of amateur radio operators in the Charleston, Berkeley, and
Dorchester area; additional operators will be needed to do this
right.
We are responsible for supporting three venues, Sterett
Hall, Project Seahawk, and the I-26 Weigh Station. However, we
are interested in utilizing our folks in other areas to increase
awareness of our resource capabilities. Other venues will be
supported based on the resources we have available.
Please
spread the word to your folks. I've included the operators who
participated in last year's exercise on the cc: distribution so that
they can get an early notice of the drill.
I will need to
submit a list of operators planning to attend. Please send me
an e-mail if you think that you might attend. Do that even if
you might have to back out later. I need the names of those
coming from out of town as well as those who are local to the
exercise area.
73 Charlie Miller, AE4UX
South Carolina
Section Emergency Coordinator
- The dedication of the Aiken County Emergency Services Amateur Radio Trailer was on Wednesday, September 14th 2005. There for the dedication were Aiken County Sheriff Michael Hunt, Aiken County Council Chairman Ronny Young, Aiken County Emergency Management Coordinator David Ruth, K4DLR, representatives from the State Emergency Management Department, Bob Besley K4NJN, ASM6, Tony Sealy N4ADM, TS and myself. There was excellent news coverage from two local television news teams, WJBF and WRDW. I was able to record the news and produce a streaming video for the web, in Windows Media Format. It is available HERE I have also added a newspaper article about the trailer in PDF format HERE. According to Bob K4NJN ASM6, final touches are being put on the trailer and training will be held for each of the 6 EMD areas in South Carolina this Fall!
A word about our website-it was developed with
Microsoft Front Page, and it is best viewed with Internet Explorer.
Some of the special effects can not be viewed with other browsers,
such as Netscape.
Some documents are in PDF format, and for these, you will need
Adobe Acrobat Reader to display them. Click on the graphic to
get Adobe Acrobat Reader!
Click HERE
to get the Microsoft Word 97/2000 Viewer-for those who do not have
Microsoft Word installed on their computer!
Thanks to all!
'73 de Charlie AE4UX
mailto:ae4ux@arrl.net
