RACES Notes 05/10/2006 News and Announcements 1) Upcoming Events 13 May - Armed Forces Day Cross-band Test June 24-25 - Field Day July 4 - Bisbee Coaster Race July 7-9 - Williams Hamfest 2) La Vuelta Support - Just a quick thank you to all the folks who helped out on the La Vuelta de Bisbee Bike Race. With the only real issue being the problem with the APRS digi still not providing very good coverage to the east in the Sulphur Springs segment of the race, it went very well. 3) MCU Status - It appears that the Satellite VOIP Telephone is working pretty well now. It does take some getting used to the satellite delay but we made a couple calls during the bike race to test it. Phone Ports 1 & 2 are working but ports 3 & 4 still need some work but it appears it's not in the MCU but at the other end. Pablo has been tied up trying to get the new Sheriff's Mobile Data Terminals up and running and not had much time for us to follow up on this problem. We have a new box to store the phones in the cabinet when not in use. Mike, N7ZGO, donated some more can cozies and we used three of those to protect the phone instruments from vibration while trundling down the road. Thanks Mike. We also upgraded the Topo Map software from Version 3 to Version 5. 4) Annual Pager Dues - Just a reminder that if you have a RACES pager that the annual payments are due in June. I have recently received payments from a couple members and want to thank you for reminding me it's that time of year again. I am billed monthly by AZ Paging. I offer the option to pay monthly at $1.50 a month or annually at $15.00. 5) ICS Training Requirements - Just a reminder that if you have completed any of the FEMA training courses such as the IS 100, 200, 700 or 800 courses, let me know. All RACES members are being asked to complete the IS 100 (Basic Incident Command) and IS-700 (National Incident Management System). We currently have approximately 60% compliance. Training - ICS Forms - This was a topic I prepared for 3/26/2006 but ended up on a mission that night so was unable to present. As part of the communications team, there are four ICS forms that we normally complete for each mission that we support. They are: ICS Form 205 (Communications Plan), ICS Form 213 (General Message Form), ICS Form 214 (Unit Log), and ICS Form 309 (Communications Log). The ICS 205 and ICS 214 are generally completed by the Communications Team Chief or Lead Operator. The Comm Plan (ICS 205) for most of our missions rarely changes and is not always completed. The Unit Log (ICS 214) should be completed for each mission. It documents the names of each team member supporting the mission as well as key events occurring during the incident. Perhaps the single most important and common form used by all operators is the ICS Form 309 (Communications Log). At a recent after action session held to discuss the Highway 80 Propane Tanker incident, a very important point was made. The Incident Commander for this particular mission, Sgt Long of the AZ DPS, discussed the importance of the various transcripts provided by the different responding agencies in building the detailed history of the event. He commented how the communications logs turned in by all the different participating agencies helped document the timeline of events. This highlights the importance of each operator keeping accurate and complete communications logs (ICS Form 309) as the event unfolds. Specifically, it means that we should be keeping a log of not only the conversations between other stations calling the command center, but also capturing details of conversations and events heard on the channel between other stations and putting this information onto our logs. I recommend that at least two operators be working on these logs in the MCU and comparing notes to ensure accuracy. I also recommend that operators at other locations maintain communications logs as well and then we can compare notes after the event is complete as we turn our paperwork into the Incident Commander after the event is over. We have these forms on both computers in the MCU. I frequently make a hand log first and then type the information onto the computer form. Then you have a log that it more legible to turn into the IC at the end. You can practice your logging skills on a regular basis by just listening to some of the law enforcement channels periodically during their responses to accident scenes or other emergencies. Actually, amateur contesting is also good practice for developing these critical listening skills. The last form is the general message form ICS 213. We don't use a lot of these as they are generally reserved for formal messages. Most of traffic we handle are tactical one or two line messages such as locations of teams, clues, or other such information. We do have a small supply of No Carbon Required (NCR) ICS 213's in the MCU to be used for formal messages. Although I have provided these forms before, I will attach each of these forms to my Net Notes again this evening. Print off a few of the ICS 309s to keep by your operating position and to take with your Go-Kit. You may find them very handy later. That's all for this evening, let's go down the roster for comments. Bob Robert L Hollister