Hello all we have been asked to support Portland Neighborhood Emergency Teams to provide a emergency communications component to the upcoming Disaster Relief Trials on Sunday June 17th. This will be mostly a fun educational event. We will be providing the ECOMM volunteers that are willing to share their skills with NET members in a simulated disaster where cargo bikes will be delivering needed supplies over a simulated disaster course. Here’s a link to give you more info about the trials.

http://transportland.org/2012/04/disaster-relief-trials-overview/

Portland Bureau of Emergency Management will have their COMMs trailer there for us to man. I am asking for volunteers to be Net Control Stations, course observers , staging area observers and bike rovers for those who want to get their radio equipped two wheelers out. I am strongly encouraging new ARES members and all NET-CERT-NERT trained members to participate and I will be asking PBEM to encourage NET-hams that don’t have much experience with their radios to be teamed up with more experienced ARES-NET hams. This event will be mostly a fun and educational event. So if it sounds like something you would like to help out please let me know. The time frame will be from 8am-2pm let me know how long you can help.
Thank you and 73′s

Bruce Harris McARES PIO
n4p...@me.com

Our next meeting of Multnomah County ARES is May the 24th at 7pm at Fire Station 2 on 122nd just north of Sandy.
This month its Go Boxes so bring your questions,ideas and your Go Box and share your ideas about what works for you.
Bruce N4PDX

Greetings All,
The new Multnomah County ARES/RACES shirts are ready for order. Please see the attachment to see what they look like. You can order your shirt at any of our monthly meetings or send me an e-mail kk7...@arrl.net
The costs are:
short sleeve T-shirt=$12
long sleeve T-shirt = $14
short sleeve polo = $17
long sleeve sweatshirt=$18
long sleeve 1/4 zip sweatshirt=$25
The shirts are available in mens sizes S-M-L-XL-XXL
and women sizes S-M-L-XL-1X-2X
The shirts are available to all members but are NOT required!
73,
Deb Provo kk7deb
Multnomah County ARES/RACES Membership Manager

Multnomah County ARES in conjunction with Multnomah County Emergency Management, Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, City of Gresham, Portland Water Bureau, Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications and Portland Fire and Rescue would like to invite you to attend a NET/CERT/ARES Amateur Radio Operator Training and Orientation on Saturday, May 19th from 0830 to 1700 hrs.
 
This training and orientation is for licensed Amateur Radio Operators that serve the Multnomah County area and wish to be of service to the Emergency Management community and its citizens.

Space is limited to 40 Operators.
  
The training will familiarize participants with locations and equipment that may be used during an incident or emergency that disrupts normal communication within Multnomah County. You can register at https://multcoarestraining2012.eventbrite.com/

Participants will receive information and training on:
Regional Amateur Radio Mobile Kits
Multnomah County Emergency Management Command Vehicle
City of Gresham Emergency Operations Center (EOC) 
City of Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) Mobile Communications equipment 
City of Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC) 911 Dispatch Center
Lunch will not be provided. Time will be allotted for lunch and a map of local restaurants will be provided when you check in.
If you have any questions, please contact one of the two following people.

Garrett Lang – Multnomah County ARES at
garr...@co.multnomah.or.us
or Patty Hopkins – Portland Bureau of Emergency Management at patt...@portlandoregon.gov

QST,QST,QST

Dust off that license and dig out that radio. Put ‘em to work!
Would you like to be a part of emergency communications?
Would you like to learn more about your radio?
Would you like to help your neighbors when a natural disaster strikes?
Give back to your community, serve in an exciting field, and
work with emergency management professionals.
Join MC ARES now!

If you received a postcard from us, please come on down to a regular meeting at the Portland Fire Bureau Training Station Two, 4800 NE 122nd Ave Portland, Oregon 97230 at 6:30 P.M.

For ALL interested hams, consider this an invitation to the meeting!

The next regular meeting is April 26th, 2012 at 7:00P.M. Featuring training on how to become a weather spotter for the National Weather Service!

For more information send an E-mail to qui...@multnomahares.org See you there!
DE AF7RF

Hello all,

Bruce, N4PDX, and I are very interested in exploring digital modes of communication. Our idea is to get a group of interested people together where we all can learn what’s out there to use, get proficient with practice and maybe start figuring out where this all fits in emcom.

If anyone one would to start playing, we are planning on running our first net Wednesday 4/27 at 19:30 right after the voice net.

For our first try we are going to use simplex

146.44

and the mode will be:

MT63-2000

Fear not if that mode sounds cryptic. You can get all the information you need at http://panbems.org/

They have links to download the software, we are using FLdigi, and instructions to get it set up.

You don’t need any special equipment for this to work. Believe it or not, you can use acoustic coupling, which basically means you can hold your HT next to the mic on your computer and the software will pick up the transmission. For sending, just hold the push to talk with your HT near the speakers.

If you have any questions feel free to contact either me or Bruce.

Cheers,
Mark
KF7DHH

Colleagues,

In addition to concern for victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, please use this event to ensure that your own safety is attended to.

Note the following:
1) The Sendai tsunami wave was approximately 27 feet high. Current research indicates that when The Big One strikes the Oregon Coast – when, not if – it is estimated that it will be 50 to 90 feet in height.

2) The Sendai tsunami wave hit shore approximately 35 minutes after the quake. Thus, 35 minutes to evacuate. It is estimated that when The Big One strikes the Oregon Coast, we could have as little as 15 minutes to evacuate.

So, to ensure your survival, if you are at the coast when the event occurs:

1) Be sure you know the difference between a local and distant event tsunami.
2) Be sure you have basic quake survival skills.
3) Be sure you know your best evacuation route, safe elevation, and evacuation time. If you fail on any of these three counts, you are not likely to survive.

Number 3 is critical. The majority of deaths in Japan, reported to date, have been caused by the tsunami.

Survival comes first.

Helen/KE7SCS

RACES is a radiocommunication service, conducted by volunteer licensed amateurs, designed to provide emergency communications to local or state civil-preparedness agencies. It is a part of the Amateur Radio Service that provides radio communications for civil-preparedness purposes only, during periods of local, regional or national civil emergencies. These emergencies are not limited to war-related activities, but can include natural disasters such as fires, floods and earthquakes.

The Multnomah County Office of Emergency Management has requested that James Bryant (ARES EC) be appointed Radio Officer, and Garrett Lang (ARES AEC) be appointed Deputy Radio Officer for RACES.

As we start a new decade, let’s review some of the basics of Amateur Radio disaster preparedness. The following are tips from John Covington, W4CC, of Dallas, North Carolina.

You must make sure you’re personally prepared for a disaster before you can even consider helping with Amateur Radio. If you are preoccupied with personal matters, you won’t be able to help ARES®. To be ready for disaster communications, do the following:

Read the rest of the story at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/?issue=2010-02-24#toc05

A newly forged partnership between Amateur Radio operators throughout the state of Illinois and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) will provide an additional layer of emergency communications during disasters. The agreement creates the State Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES) program.

Read the rest of the story at http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/02/02/11321/?nc=1