The video of the Zoom session debriefing following the October 19, 2024 city-wide exercise is available below.
On Wednesday, November 6, we will meet briefly on-air for our regularly-scheduled check in on the VHF repeater, and then switch over to Zoom. A link for the session will be on the front page of the website that day, or you can request the link in advance here.
The presentation, “Winlink for the Absolute Newbie”, will be hosted by Gerry Brown, KK7GAB, and is an introduction to Winlink. The duration of the presentation will be about 30 minutes, with 15 minutes planned for questions.
The presentation will cover:
- What is Winlink?
- How does it work?
- What equipment do I need?
We hope to see you there!
On October 17, 2024 the national Great Shakeout event will be held across the country. For more information, go to shakeout.org. Eugene EmComm will be holding our annual city-wide exercise on the following Saturday, October 19. More information will be posted here soon on our exercise.
Following the September 14, 2024 Emergency Exercise, Eugene EmComm held a Zoom debriefing session. A video of the debriefing is below.
by Andy Davis, KJ7JDN
Hello Eugene Emergency Communication (EmComm) Team,
I hope each of you have had an enjoyable summer with many fun activities with family and friends. As August is soon coming to a close we can see what is just around the corner in September and October. As many of you know in September we do an EmComm “Dry Run” exercise in preparation for the October city-wide EmComm exercise. This year’s “Dry Run” exercise will be held on September 14th starting at 10am and end at noon followed by a 1pm zoom debrief to discuss the process and flow of the “Dry Run” exercise. The yearly city-wide EmComm exercise will be held on October 19th starting at 10am and end atl noon with a follow up zoom debrief at 1pm. I hope all of you will be able to make both dates for these training exercises. It is important we keep our skill level up so we will be ready and prepared if a major event should hit our area in order to give the needed support to the city and our neighbors.
This year’s exercises will be different from past exercises and as you read the exercise scenario you will see the added “wrinkle” to the exercise. Below are some important points to remember.
- The flow of emergency messages from the neighborhood field teams to the EOC is still the same.
- Each team originating messages has a limit of 3 and that is due to the exercise time limit.
- All generated messages will use the ICS-213 general message form.
- All messages being passed will start with block 2, EOC and the communicator will say, “block 2” then “EOC”
- Each remaining blocks of the ICS-213 will be identified and block information given all the way down to block 8.
- Remember to speak slowly, 5 or 6 words at a time, pause wait until you hear reply of “copy” before moving on to the next block.
- District Net Controls still set priority of each messages.
- All incoming and outgoing radio messages will be logged on the 309 radio log.
With all that being said, I have attached blank ICS-213, 309 radio log, ICS Numbering Scheme and the Exercise Drill Plan.
The ICS Numbering Scheme is there for reference to those of you that have been using the message identifiers in your training or maybe your neighborhood or district have been thinking about incorporating the identifiers into your training or this year’s exercise.
I know each of you in your neighborhoods and district have been training and practicing ever since last year’s exercise. This September and October you will have a chance to put all the training to a test.
As a P.S. side note, you are welcome to participate on Oct. 3rd at the Eugene Fire Training Center from 6pm to 8pm an FRS radio exercise. The training center is located at 2nd & Chambers bring your FRS radio.
Remember to have fun; try to make the exercise in your neighborhood and district as realistic as possible. If anyone needs help with messages to send, call me or send an email.
Andy Davis
KJ7JDN – Amateur Radio
WRDE880 – GMRS
Eugene EMCOMM Net Manager
Northeast District CERT Leader
by Gerry Brown, KK7GAB
Thanks to Matt Dillon (W7ARD), I was able to successfully send and receive WinLink Emails from my setup at the parking lot of the Norkenzie Church. [TBH, If we couldn’t hit the VARA/FM RMS station at the County Shops, I would have been surprised.]
And thanks to Matt (KJ7CNL) for testing with me.
73,
gerry
The State of Oregon has released its “Be 2 Weeks Ready” program on its website. There is a PDF document with the full program outlined available on the site.
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 was the first in a series of Zoom FRS training sessions that we will be hosting on the 4th Wednesday of every month. This first session focused on where FRS operators fit into the EmComm structure, and some basic information on the flow of information. The presenter was Andy Davis, KJ7JDN.
Saturday, May 11 we held an online Zoom discussion about creating a standardized orientation path for new members of Eugene EmComm. A number of current EmComm members took part and provided some excellent input, and ideas that will help us create an orientation process. You are invited to watch the discussion, and can contribute your own ideas using the Contact form.