RACES Notes 01/11/06

News and Announcements

1) Upcoming Events
Jan 14 - Glendale Community College Hamfest
Jan 26 - Skywarn Class Sierra Vista
Feb 17-19 - Yuma Hamfest
Feb 18-19 - SAR Academy 
Feb 27-Mar 3 - DICE-06
Mar 11 - Scottsdale Hamfest

2) Weather 101 (Skywarn) - Reminder that the National Weather Service 
is offering a class at the Oscar Yrun Community Center at 18:30 on 
January 26th.   This is a good class. Try to make it if you can.

3) Search and Rescue Academy - Cochise County will host the annual 
SAR academy at the Sierra Vista Sheriff's Sub Station at the corner 
of Foothills and Hwy 92 on February 18/19.  This is a one time 
requirement.  If you have been to one there is no requirement 
to attend it again.  You may attend more than once if you would 
like to have a refresher.  It is a great opportunity to learn the 
theory, basis in law the Sheriff's responsibilities as well as the 
common vocabulary of Search and Rescue. 

4) RACES Manual - At the end of last year I mentioned that the 
RACES Member Manual was nearly complete.  I have sent by Email 
to members of record electronic copies of most of the manual.  
I have lost track of who has what.  Please look at what you have 
and send me an email of what you still need so that I can fill 
in the gaps.  Appendix 19 is still a work in progress and not 
yet completed. 

Training Notes
In January of last year I identified core proficiencies that 
each of us should work on to be fully qualified RACES members.  
As we start a new year I think it is appropriate to look back 
at the previous year and suggest that each of us assess our 
individual progress.   As a reminder, here are the proficiencies 
(and where to find the info) we identified last year:

A. Core proficiencies are:
FCC Technician Class or above license
Familiar with National Traffic System Procedures (ARRL Public 
  Service Communications Manual)
Basic Incident Command System operations (IS-100)
National Incident Management System (IS 700)
Basic Search And Rescue support procedures (SAR Academy)
24-Hour Survival Skills (SAR Academy/Overnight training opportunities)
Blue Eagle System (Appendix 1)
Hospital/Law Enforcement Site manning
911 System Backup procedures (Appendix 13)
Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) Characteristics (Appendix 11)
ERV Setup
Site Selection
Generator Operations
Antenna Selection/Installation
Big Stick (Public Service)
VHF/UHF Antenna options
ERV Operations
VHF Radio operations
FT 2200 (ERV Shelter-Voice)
FT 2600 (ERV Shelter-Digital)
FT 8800 (ERV Cab-Dual Band Voice)
UHF Radio operations
FT 7200 (ERV Shelter-Voice)
Public Service Radio Operations
Motorola Spectra (ERV Shelter-Voice)
Motorola Spectra (ERV Cab-Voice)

B. Advanced proficiencies are:
FCC General Class License or above
ERV Driver Qualification (Hands On)
ERV HF Setup
HF Antenna Selection
Inverted V
NVIS Dipole 
Whip Antennas
HF Radio operations
Icom 706
LDG Auto Antenna Tuner
HF digital operations
Airmail 2000/Winlink 2000/PACTERM 98 
MARS PACTOR BBS Operations (MARS Digital Guide)
VHF digital operation
Packet (PACTERM 98)
APRS (UI-View)
MCU TracStar Satellite Communications (New)
ACU 1000 Interface Unit (New)
HAZMAT First Responder Awareness (HAZMAT Class)
HAZMAT First Responder Operations (HAZMAT Class)
72-Hour Survival Skills (SAR Academy + Practical)
National Weather Service Skywarn Training

During the past year, we have covered a number of these 
areas.  If you had to test and grade yourself right now, 
what kind of grade do you think you would make?  
 - Fully proficient (Perform as Team Lead on a Mission)
 - Mostly proficient with some areas requiring some 
    additional study/work (Asst Team Lead on mission)
 - Can perform most operator duties and ERV set up 
     without assistance
 - May require assistance performing setup and refresher 
     on various Radio/Antenna configurations
 - Still an apprentice requiring considerable 
     on-the-job-training (OJT).

In the coming months we will continue to work on these 
plus add some new skills.  For example, we will have 
a new vehicle to learn with several new pieces of 
hardware.  This may cause some us some reassessment 
of our skill level as we learn the new equipment.  
Lesson plans for some hardware have not yet been written 
requiring some of more experience members to have some 
serious OJT.  All in all, this looks like an interesting 
year of challenges.

Next Net on January 23rd.

Bob
Robert L Hollister