FAN Volunteers Needed

Craig Cherry, N7RWB [April 2024]

To be sure there are trained participants available in case of an emergency, more volunteers are needed for several tasks. If you’re interested in any of these, please contact us.

  • Equipment maintenance.  Mainly this involves charging batteries in our stockpile of extra radios several times a year.
  • Meeting coordinator. Arrange a monthly meeting to plan the Second Sunday exercise, and other activities. 
  • FRS and Ham net control operators.  We need a few more people in the monthly rotation as net control operator, for training purposes and adequate staffing. There’s a written script and after the first time or two it’s easy to do.
  • FAN Quarter Leader backups. We can always use a few more people interested in learning how to cover the Quarter Leader position. There’s a written script, and it’s a good skill to practice.
  • Equipment setup. We haven’t been setting up the shelter for radio equipment during the past few Second Sunday exercises, but it would be great if a few people would read the equipment setup instructions (in a section below) and be ready to help when the shelter is used in the future.
  • Equipment storage. We have a couple of leads on storage opportunities, but they are unheated. It would be better for the radio equipment and batteries to keep them in a habitable space. If anyone has a heated space available for FAN equipment storage please email fan-ready-planners@googlegroups.com .
  • Record keeping. After a Second Sunday exercise (and other events) the completed ICS-214 forms are scanned and uploaded to the FAN Google Drive. The list of participants in the FRS and Ham nets are entered into a Google Docs spreadsheet to record who is active in the group (needed for radios on loan, etc.). 
  • Monthly exercise packet preparation and distribution. At this point a couple of people know how this is done.  Training another person or two to spread out the knowledge and have a rotation of people doing the task would be helpful.
  • Radio coordinator. It would be great to have another person or two familiar with the program, to provide information to prospective new members.

May and June Second Sunday exercises, and summer hiatus

Thia Bell volunteered to set up a planning meeting for the May exercise. Other than that, everything is available to volunteers interested in keeping things going – reply to fan-ready-planners@googlegroups.com . The past couple of summers we have taken July and August off, so expect further information about that.

Resources

There are a few “how to” documents in the FAN Google Drive. If someone is interested in revising or adding to these, improvements and additions are always welcome. Email fan-ready-planners@googlegroups.com .

Other news – College Hill Reservoir update

According to news from KLCC, the recently completed EWEB reservoir tanks at 40th and Patterson have been filled and are in use. The College Hill reservoir has been drained, so EWEB can begin removing the old structures.  https://www.klcc.org/environment/2024-04-11/ewebs-new-water-tanks-are-now-supplying-water-to-eugene

FAN Radio Ready Exercise Information for March 13th, 2022

Charge your radios; Have AA batteries available for backup power.
Skill: Simultaneous Quarter Check-ins & More Phonetics
Tactical Assignments - Reply here to RSVP for the exercise
Communication Command Post will be on Reservoir
Slack Channels will be monitored for questions or problems

Hello Radio Ready Participants,

We hope to hear you all this Sunday at 6:00 pm on Channel 6 for FAN’s monthly Radio Ready exercise. 

Please RSVP for this Second Sunday exercise by contacting the Radio Coordinator 

This helps us to know if we are missing someone on the net and where we need to fill in for Quarter Leaders or other tactical positions. 

We will start on Channel 6 at 6:00 (1800) and once the Quarter Leaders are checked in everyone will tune to their assigned Quarter channels for QLs to lead check-ins from the radio operators. When your quarter has completed check-ins, return to Channel 6. We will leave Net Control on Channel 6 if we have all QL positions filled. Return to Channel 6 by 6:15 if you have not heard transmissions. 

Please review the Exercise Overview for more details and the Quarter Leader Script. 

Print the roll call form or other form of your choice for documentation. 

Channel 6 will be monitored from 5:45 to 6:00 pm for radio checks. 

The Slack workspace (Fan-Radio) channel #On-Air BackUp Comms can be used if you have problems connecting on the air. If you need an invitation to join Fan-Radio on Slack, please let us know. 

Helpful Hints: Remember radio waves travel best within line of sight and your body and house can act as a shield. You may need to move outside or experiment to find your best location. Hold your antenna upright and speak close to the mike. Hold the PTT key for a second before speaking to allow all of your transmission to be heard. Make sure your batteries are fully charged.  

Ham net will start at approximately 6:40 on 145.45 MHz, tone 123, offset -0.6. 

Be prepared to switch to 446.050 MHz (CERT SE Dist. 2). Our Simplex is 146.42 MHz 

Topic to Consider: Anything to report? And using phonetics for any two of your initials will be asked of FRS/GMRS operators to end all transmissions. See QL Script for more detail.  

Practice helps hone our skills and improve our familiarity with each other to better serve us in the event of an actual emergency. We look forward to hearing you on the radio!

Your Radio Ready Team

Thanks to the City of Eugene Neighborhood Matching Grants Program and to all contributors to the FAN Emergency Radio Communication Project

Required and Useful Documents Links

Useful information to prepare for and participate in the exercise, as well as to have on hand for reference. A brief description is provided and new or updated documents are noted. 

This Month’s Exercise Documents: 

 Exercise Overview & QL Script Updated monthly.! A Must Read!!!

Includes details and scripts for the current exercise. Please Read. 

REQUIRED Reading for Quarter Leaders. Please have the script on hand for the exercise.

QLs: this is your Quarter Roll Call. Includes FRS/GMRS Radio Operators listed by Quarter. Contact the FAN FRS/GMRS Roll CallRadio Coordinator if we missed you or for changes. The last page is blank and may be printed to use as a blank form in lieu of FRS/GMRS Blank Check-in Form

Documents Recommended to Print (once) to Keep with your Radio and/or Field Kit

Newly revised by City of Eugene for all Neighborhoods and supersedes the previous version. Includes plan description, tactical positions, useful checklists, ICS forms and just about everything you need to know. Replace your old Response and Field Guides with this version.

Includes Channels for all FAN Quarters, City and Neighborhood Frequencies, Local Emergency broadcast stations, and basic information. Good to have in your field kit.

Includes Quarters and Zones (Hint- Print on back of FAN RR Plan Basics or a favorite cheat sheet and add to Field Guide or laminate for field kit)

A one page cheat sheet. Similar information is available in Response Guide pp 42-44

Backup Communication info is specific to FAN Radio Ready. Includes a few videos about FRS radios. More troubleshooting information is on page 31 of the Response Guide 

  • ICS Forms  More forms found in Table C-1 of the Response Guide. Scribes: use ICS 214

It is recommended to have a couple Damage Assessment Forms and several General Message Forms (ICS 213) in your field kit. Free Classes about the Incident Command System (ICS) are available online through FEMA if you are interested in learning more. 

ICS 100, ICS 200 and IS-700 are suggested but not required to participate with Radio Ready.