Jan 10

Lexington EOC preps for VC Summer exercise

ARES and CERT volunteers assist Lexington EOC prepare for the VC Summer exercise. The radio room was staffed to support this exercise which will be conducted during the March statewide full scale exercise on March 7 & 8 2023. One or two loose ends to tie up and we are ready to roll.

Feb 20

Winlink RMS Gateway TIP

In an emergency communications (EmCom) situation connecting to a Amateur HF Winlink RMS Gateway might be your last resort to passing EmCom messages.   Some RMS gateways will not allow you to connect if their internet connection is lost but some others may give you the box below. If the message you are trying to send is from a served agency then you want to CANCEL the connection and try a different RMS gateway. Reason being it might take hours or even days for that message to get forwarded to its destination. Remember Amateur HF is distant (DX) so look for an  RMS  station hundreds of miles away, not the closest one.

Dec 15

Richland County publishes ARES exercise pics

CLICK HERE to see all of the Richland county fire station net exercise pictures

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Difference between ARES, RACES and Auxcomm, in South Carolina

ARES:
FCC Licensed Amateur Radio Operators who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment, with the local ARES leadership, for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes. ARRL/ARES provides basic training curriculum and exercise opportunities. The list of agencies a volunteer might end up serving is long but could include a County EOC/CERT, Hospital radio room, Red Cross ERV/Shelter, Nursing Home radio room, NWS office.  Once you register with an agency your training & credentialing will be completed with them.

Who decides when ARES will be activated?

That would be the agency ARES volunteers are serving.  ARES is a registered trade mark for the ARRL.  The roles in emergency communication is really defined by the agencies, state, county, local government or NGO they serve as volunteer communicator.  Without these served organization ARES has no role to support.

Leadership is provided by the county EC and the state SM
Click on the LEADERSHIP DIRECTORY tab above for contacts.

 

RACES:
Amateur Radio Operators that  have registered with their EOC for volunteer communications service should the President of the United States order the shutdown of all amateur radio transmissions per FCC rule 97.407 ***
RACES operators are allowed to transmit only by order of the EOC they volunteer for.
Each RACES volunteer must be endorsed by the respective county or state EOC.

Leadership is provided by each EOC / RACES Officer, county or state.

 

AUXCOMM:  is not an organization, it is a training standard.

An all inclusive term used to describe the many organizations that provide various types of communication support to emergency management, public safety and other government agencies as described in themselves. This includes but is not limited to Amateur Radio, Military Radio, Citizens Band Radio, DMR, DMRS, FRS, SatCom, Skywarn and many others.
Members of Auxcomm all have the title of Auxiliary Communicator.
Auxcomm is a position specific specialist certification.

Leadership is provided by the State EOC/DEC and the state EMD
Click on the LEADERSHIP DIRECTORY tab above for contacts.

The above information is specific to South Carolina, a home rule state, some states have organized these three groups differently. An example is some states may not organize RACES with the county EOC.  Check with your local EOC for direction.

 

EC = Emergency Coordinator

SM = Section Manager

EM = Emergency Manager

EOC = Emergency Operations Center

DEC = District Emergency Coordinator

EMD = Emergency Management Division

ARES = Amateur Radio Emergency Service

RACES = Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service

NGO= Non-Government Organization

VOAD = Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters

one or coalition of (usually not-for-profit) Second Responder organizations in the United States. These groups voluntarily help survivors after a disaster. One example is the American Red Cross.

 

*** It has been reported that FCC part 97.407 was removed from law at some point in the past. This was investigated and found to be an opinion. FCC 97.407 is still in effect as of Sept 2021 here is the link if you would like to check for yourself..

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-97/subpart-E/section-97.407
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Jan 24

EmComm Power, Solar & Battery

Batteries,  solar panels and solar charge controllers.

Which is best for EmComm ?

RF Quiet solar charge controller, Series vs Parallel panels, PWM or MPPT, which is best ?

View Vimeo Video: https://vimeo.com/669261305

Provided by the RatPack group.

Suggestions to live by:

-> Never plug a solar panel directly into a battery <-

-> Make sure the solar charge controller is configured to MATCH the battery chemistry <-
-> Make sure the voltage settings MATCH the battery manufacturer recommendation <-

-> Always plug the battery into a solar charge controller BEFORE the solar panels <-