Emergency management

ETH010 - Emergency Preparedness

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• published: 19 Jul 2016
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In this episode we continue our emergency preparedness series. Last week we talked about different types of training that you should learn in order to prepare yourself for if or when you are ever involved in a major incident, today we are going to talk about things that you should do. We also talk about the Davie/Cooper City Amateur Radio Club in the Amateur Radio Club Spotlight a little later on. Show notes and further reading for this episode can be found at http://www.everythinghamradio.com/podcast/10/ Know Your Equipment Probably one of the most important, if not the most important, things that you need to do is have your equipment ready and know how to use it. I have seen many times where someone that was on a scene of an incident that didn’t know how to use their radio, or change the frequencies or tones. I have seen many times where people will get a new radio and someone in the club they are in will program it will several frequencies and all they will do is just turn the knob from one channel to the next. If they happen to bump a key or something and turn off the tone and it stops working on a repeater, then you will not be able to reach them or at least you won’t be able to hear them when they answer you. Whether you are using your own equipment or using one that is provided by your local club or RACES group, you should always know or at least have an idea, on how to use the equipment. Go Pack One way to do this is to have what we in the amateur community call a “Go Pack”. A go pack can be several different things. Some people have made very elaborate go packs with built in batteries, a mobile radio, and other things, some, like me, just have a duffle bag with all kinds of parts and stuff that I may need while I’m out in the field. We will talk more about go pack in next week’s episode so please tune in next week to learn more about those. Training Nets One thing that is consistent with all incidents is a net, whether it be formal or informal. Probably 95% of the time it will be a formal net, so you should know how a formal net works. With a formal net, the frequency that you are using is controlled by one person, the net control operator. This person has ultimate say as to who talks when. Much like an air traffic controller does with airplanes. If you want to talk to someone other than net control, you have to ask permission to. In order to speak, you have to ask permission. The best way to learn about directed nets, it to participate in training nets. Most clubs have a weekly net of some kind. This allows you to practice listening to what is said during the net and how to talk on one. Get Involved! Probably the second most important thing that you should do if you plan on helping out in a time of disaster is to get involved with your local RACES team. Most teams have other training that you can take. Because the RACES team is affiliated with the Office of Emergency Management for the county, there are generally large scale drills or table-top exercises that you can participate in as well. Practice! Practice! Practice! Practice Patience As I say those three words above, I really have several things that I am talking about. We need to practice how to talk. By this I mean, talkings clearly and concise, press the transmit button and count to one or two before you start talking, and think before you speak. I think one of the things that people have the hardest time at is remembering to wait before they talk. Many time you will hear people talking and you won’t hear the first half of the word or even the entire first word of what they are saying because they either start talking before they put the button, or start talking as they are bringing the mic up to their mouth. This isn’t as much of an issue when you are talking on simplex but when you are talking on a repeater it is a whole different animal. With a repeater, there is a second or so delay between the time that the repeater receives the signal to the time that it transmits it. So let’s go through the whole process from start to finish. You key up your radio, this turns on the transmitter and starts to send out a signal. The antenna on the repeater receives that signal and transfers it to the coax with could be 100’ long or 1000’ long. The signal travels down the coax to the duplexer, which then hands it off to the receiver. The receiver processes the signal and works with the controller to make sure that it has the correct tones, if needed, and if so, engages the transmitter and passes the signal off to it with an increase in power. The signal is then sent back through the coax and back up to the antenna and transmitted out. Then the person that you are talking to receives the signal on their radio, their receiver converts it to audio and sends it out their speaker. All this happens in a matter of a second because all this travels at the speed of light, but still there is a lot of different components that have to...