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Each year after the April drill I try to summarize
the accomplishments of the CERT Communication Team over the past year.
So I'm a little late! But that doesn't reflect on our accomplishments which
were, once again, outstanding -- thanks to the many hours put in by CERT
Comm volunteers. Of the 11 projects we identified last May, 8 have been
successfully completed and one was evaluated and removed from our "to-do"
list. The remaining two are well under way.
Here is a summary of our accomplishments. Be
sure to pat yourselves on the back!
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Training on the use of FRS radios swung into high gear, starting with a
"refresher" at the September CERT Picnic. FRS radio use then became an
integral part of Class 5 of the standard CERT training. This included a
short training session at the start of the class and routine use to control
the flow of teams during the class. To top it off, CERT Comm also presents
more extensive FRS training as one of CERT's "Continuing Education" classes.
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CERT Comm now runs an "on-air" practice drill at 8:00 PM on the third Tuesday
of each month. This drill primarily exercises our Ham radio capabilities,
including repeater use, simplex and packet radio. Hosting of the drill
rotates among the CERT Districts, with the District Communications Officers
inventing fun and educational 'on-air' activities.
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Interest in CERT Comm is growing. We now have 123 people signed up for
our e-mail newsletter.
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A short introduction to emergency communication is now a part of the standard
CERT Class 1.
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A formal procedure for setting up the "jungle towers" owned by each district
has been written. Several training classes, emphasizing safety, have been
conducted.
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A standard channel assignment of commonly used Ham frequencies has been
established and programmed in to all the city-owned ham radios.
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CERT Comm was an active participant in all CERT Drills. At the September
picnic we sat up a model Incident Command Post including a communication
unit in addition to conducting FRS training. Of particular note was our
participation in the April Drill. We had a communications tent containing
3 local net controllers for FRS, one net controller on Ham, and an operator
for communications with the fire department. All teams were equipped with
either an FRS or ham radio which they used to report their status and request
help.
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A list of equipment we recommend be stocked in the containers was developed.
In addition to these accomplishments, CERT
Comm:
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Conducted it regular twice yearly training curriculum including "Introduction
to Ham Radio", "Communications, Command and Control", "Basic Field Deployable
Antennas", and "Packet Radio".
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Conducted a workshop where people built their own "J-Pole" antennas.
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Maintained an informative website (http://www.qsl.net/kg6adr)
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Produced an e-mail newsletter approximately monthly.
All in all a great year. Thank you for your support!
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