Brown County ARES®/RACES
Welcome to the Brown County ARES/RACES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services/Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services) home page.
Why We Are Needed and Why We Practice
This article shows why even today with all the technology at our disposal, hams are still needed and utilized. Thanks to W9JES for the referenced article on ARRL's website.News
Dual Polarization Radar Upgrade at NWS Green Bay
The dual-polarization radar upgrade to the NWS Green Bay Doppler radar will begin on Monday, April 30 and will last approximately two weeks.During this installation period, the NWS Green Bay radar will be unavailable. Data from surrounding radars will be used by NWS Green Bay staff to monitor weather during the upgrade.
This much-anticipated upgrade will incorporate a new technology called dual polarization, or "dual-pol," that is part of the NWS vision to build a Weather-Ready Nation to better protect lives and livelihoods. This technology will result in 14 new radar products that will enable us to better identify the type and intensity of precipitation, improve rainfall estimate accuracy, and more accurately identify non-meteorological echoes.
FCC Changes on 60 meters
With the recent changes by the FCC on 60 meters, I made an inquiry to
Yaesu about any fixes for the FT-857D. Here is the official response I
received from them:
"Yaesu will only offer software updates to the FT-450D, FT-950,
FT-2000, FT-5000, and FT-9000 radios to address the recent rule change on
the 60 meter band. There will be no updates for other radio models.
Best regards,
Wes Gray, KJ6OYT
Technical Support Supervisor
YAESU USA Yaesu Amateur Products Division
6125 Phyllis Drive Cypress, CA 90630
w.gray@yaesu.com 714-827-7600 ext. 1511"
Don't despair though. I ran across a program called CHIRP that can reprogram the new channel and change the power level for many Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood and other radios. I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but the reviews seem to be vary favorable. You need a standard programing cable for you model of radio.
Here's the link http://www.danplanet.com/blog/2012/02/08/update-your-ft-817nd-with-the-new-60-meter-channel/
Narrow-Band Emergency Message System/FLDIGI
While Winlink 2000 has its place for email via the airwaves, local emergencies may require a fast, easy and reliable method of passing formal message traffic in a variety of formats. This is where NBEMS comes in. NBEMS (Narrow-Band Emergency Message System) is perhaps the best solution available for moving messages, data and other text-based information over amateur radio frequencies, to handle emergency communications. We will be discussing this and demonstrating it at upcoming ARES meetings.
January 18th Airport Exercise
We participated in a full scale exercise on Wednesday, January 18th. The exercise simulated a plane crash in the Bay of Green Bay near Red River Park in Kewaunee County. We provided radio operators on two buses transporting passengers from the location to the Hospitals. We also provided operators to the hospitals, shelter and EOC. Check out the pictures under Photo Gallery on the Menu at the left of the page.February 25th District Hospital Exercise
Training
Net Control Stations:If your interested in becoming a Net Control Operator for the Sunday night ARES/RACES net contact kc9ois@arrl.net and I'll work you into the schedule. You can download the net preamble from the NCS SCRIPTS tab. Follow the preamble during the net and log everyone checking in (callsign, name , location, low pwr/portable/mobile, fixed and simplex) check them off as they go for there second round. Track time the net starts and ends and report the number of check ins to KC9OIS.
Severe Weather
The NWS will host several spotter training web seminars ("webinars"). The web seminar schedule will also be posted here as the webinars are scheduled.In addition, on-line self-study spotter training courses are available. They are free and provides for a certificate and can be used in place of or in conjunction with the classroom training. For more information about these official NWS spotter courses, visit their Storm Spotter web page: at www.weather.gov/grb/skywarn
Events
January 18th, 8:00am - Airport Exercise
Febuary 25th 8:00am - Hospital Exercise
March 20th 7:00pm - NWS Storm Spotter Training
What is ARES®/RACES?
Emergency service is one of the basics of the Amateur Radio and there is sometimes confusion about ARES® (pronounced air-ease), the ARRL arm of emergency services and RACES (pronounced race-ease), the government arm of amateur emergency services. The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) and the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) both have very similar goals: to protect life and property during an emergency. Membership in the ARRL or any other organization is not required for either, just a valid Amateur Radio license (Technician or higher for RACES).
In Brown County, the ARES and RACES are organized as essentially one group of people. There are technical and legal differences between the two services, outlined below, but, by and large, it is the same group of Amateurs. Following is a brief description of ARES and RACES. For more detailed information, see the ARRL Public Service Communications Manual (PSCM).
ARES® - The Amateur Radio Emergency Service
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) administers ARES (although you do not have to be a League member to participate). ARES provides emergency radio communications to a number of client groups, including local government, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and others.
While operating under ARES we also may provide communication support to public service events.
RACES - The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service
RACES is a local or state government service -- there is no Federal RACES. Only the RACES Radio Officer of a local government civil preparedness agency can activate RACES in times of emergency. In our case, the local government agency is the City of Brown County and the County of Brown.
During all times that Amateur stations are operating under RACES rules, they may only communicate with other RACES stations, and only for the purpose of conveying official civil-preparedness emergency communications.
RACES is primarily used for non-wartime emergencies which can include natural or technological disasters such as fires, floods, earthquakes, chemical spills, and terrorist events. During times of war (when the President invokes War Emergency Powers), normal Amateur Radio Service operation is silenced and RACES stations are limited to a pre-defined set of operating frequencies that are within the normal Amateur bands [See Section 4.2 of the PSCM].
Participation in ARES and RACES is voluntary and you may quit at any time. You must be pre-enrolled in RACES in order to participate in RACES activities. While it makes sense to join ARES before you are needed, there is nothing to prevent you from offering your services at any time to aid in an ARES emergency response although without some prior knowledge and training you usefulness may be limited. Joint membership in both ARES and RACES is encouraged.
Stations operating under ARES have much more flexibility because the main purpose of ARES is to serve the emergency communications needs of many agencies, not just the government. RACES is structured and rigid and must be activated by a local civil defense official; ARES can be activated by an ARRL official such as the local ARRL Emergency Coordinator (EC).
Using the same operators and the same frequencies, an ARES group also enrolled as RACES can "switch hats" from ARES to RACES and RACES to ARES to meet the requirements of the situation as it develops. For example, during a "non declared emergency," ARES can operate under ARES, but when an emergency or disaster is officially declared, the operation can become RACES with no change in personnel or frequencies. In general, ARES is organized to serve the public, and RACES is organized to serve the government.
More information can be found at the ARES® vs RACES FAQ.
Wisconsin Emergency Management E*Sponder Login
Last updated April 2nd, 2012
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County ARES/RACES. All rights reserved.