Amateur Radio operators and others who are studying the ARRL’s Introduction to Emergency Communication Course (EC-001) will have an opportunity to take the course’s examination and earn the ARRL completion certificate at PACIFICON 2012 in October.

ARRL Field Examiners have scheduled an EC-001 final exam session to begin at 10:00 am on Sunday, October 14, 2012. It will be held at PACIFICON 2012 (http://pacificon NULL.org/), the ARRL Pacific Division and ARRL National Convention, at the Santa Clara Marriott Hotel, 2700 Mission College Blvd, Santa Clara CA 95054. This session is listed on the ARRL Web site (http://www NULL.arrl NULL.org/ceps/ec-001-73). The exam fee is $15. The exam consists of 35 multiple-choice questions, and a passing score is 80% or better.

EC-001 is designed to provide basic knowledge and tools for any emergency communications volunteer. One need not be a licensed Amateur Radio operator to sit for the exam or earn the completion certificate. Candidates for this exam will have studied the course materials on line, in a local Field Class session, or by studying the course transcript, The ARRL Introduction to Emergency Communication Course, 4th Edition.

Candidates must complete and obtain certificates for two free online FEMA EMI Independent Study courses before beginning their EC-001 course studies. Those courses are IS-100, “Introduction to Incident Command System”, and IS-700, “National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction”. At the EC-001 exam, each candidate must provide the dates shown on his or her completion certificates for IS-100 and IS-700.

EC-001 and its prerequisites, IS-100 and IS-700, are among the course training requirements to qualify for Full Member status in the ARRL East Bay Section ARES® program.

More information about the EC-001 course and exam is available.

Walk-ins will be welcomed at this exam session, but if you plan to attend we would appreciate an advance email message to one of us so we can plan for you. See the Contact page for contact information.

The East Bay Section’s Technical Coordinator Kristen McIntyre K6WX and her son Christopher KG6SVI were among those interviewed August 2 on KALW-FM (http://www NULL.kalw NULL.org/) about the magic of Amateur Radio. The story touches on ham radio topics such as CW, youth, DX, the unpredictability of propagation, and emergency communications.

This interview neatly sidesteps a common problem with media stories about ham radio: in most cases the journalist is clueless about our hobby. Apply the Walter Cronkite solution: in this case, the reporter is himself a ham, Mike Meenan ND6MM.

Read and listen to this story (http://www NULL.kalw NULL.org/post/chatroulette-there-was-ham-radio).

Amateur Radio operators and others who are studying the ARRL’s Introduction to Emergency Communication Course (EC-001) will have an opportunity to take the course’s examination and earn the ARRL completion certificate in August.

ARRL Field Examiners in the ARRL East Bay Section have scheduled an EC-001 final exam session to begin at 9:00 am on Saturday, August 11, 2012. It will be held in the Alameda County office of the American Red Cross Bay Area at 3901 Broadway in Oakland. This session is listed on the ARRL Web site (http://www NULL.arrl NULL.org/ceps/ec-001-64). The exam fee is $15. The exam consists of 35 multiple-choice questions, and a passing score is 80% or better.

EC-001 is designed to provide basic knowledge and tools for any emergency communications volunteer. One need not be a licensed Amateur Radio operator to sit for the exam or earn the completion certificate. Candidates for this exam will have studied the course materials on line, in a local Field Class session, or by studying the course transcript, The ARRL Introduction to Emergency Communication Course, 4th Edition.

Candidates should complete and obtain certificates for two free online FEMA EMI Independent Study courses before beginning their EC-001 course studies. Those courses are IS-100, “Introduction to Incident Command System”, and IS-700, “National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction”. At the EC-001 exam, each candidate must provide the dates shown on his or her completion certificates for IS-100 and IS-700.

EC-001 and its prerequisites, IS-100 and IS-700, are among the course training requirements to qualify for Full Member status in the ARRL East Bay Section ARES® program.

More information about the EC-001 course and exam is available.

See the Contact page for contact information.

Amateurs in and near the ARRL East Bay Section are invited to participate in a brief radio activity on Saturday morning, June 9, 2012 in support of the American Red Cross Bay Area, a served agency of ARRL East Bay Section ARES®.

Early on June 9, Red Cross emergency response vehicles (ERVs) will be driven from their bases in six counties to a central location for semiannual cleaning and restocking. As they drive, their crews are asked to make frequent two-way radio contact, on a Red Cross frequency, with the Red Cross Disaster Operations Center (DOC) in Oakland. However, the transmissions are simplex, and terrain often prevents contact. The Red Cross invites assistance from the Amateur Radio community in tracking its ERVs that morning.

Between 7:30 and 9:00 am PDT on June 9, licensed amateurs are asked to listen for transmissions from these vehicles on a Red Cross frequency, 47.420 MHz (FM mode). They will be calling or replying to “Oakland DOC” and will identify themselves with 4-digit numbers as their tactical IDs. Any amateur who hears such a transmission, whether or not it is acknowledged by Oakland DOC, is invited to call “Oakland DOC” via Amateur Radio to report the vehicle’s ID, its location if that was heard, the time of the transmission, and his or her own Amateur Radio call sign.

Hams at Oakland DOC will be listening for reports on two Amateur Radio repeater systems: the Vaca Valley Radio Club repeater on Mt. Vaca in Solano County at 145.470 MHz, minus offset, PL 127.3, and the linked Bay-Net system. Bay-Net has a UHF repeater in the East Bay at 443.975 MHz PL 100.0, has several repeaters in the South Bay including 443.225 MHz PL 100.0, and is available via EchoLink and IRLP; see the Bay-Net Web site (http://www NULL.bay-net NULL.org/). The American Red Cross Bay Area thanks the Vaca Valley Radio Club and Bay-Net for their cooperation.

On these repeater systems, Oakland DOC will be announcing its availability to accept reports but will not be operating a directed net. Other amateurs may occasionally use these repeater systems for other purposes that morning, so please stand by until the frequency clears or ask the users if they will stand by for a moment so you can make your report.

Though not all dual-band HT or mobile ham radio rigs receive frequencies as low as 47 MHz, many do. We hope that hams with that capability, including those participating in the ARRL June VHF QSO Party beginning later that morning, will enjoy this challenge.

Licensed amateurs in the ARRL East Bay Section can now register in ARES® on line.

ARES is the Amateur Radio Emergency Service®, a nationwide program of the ARRL, the American Radio Relay League. ARES consists of licensed Amateur Radio operators who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment, with their local ARES leadership, for volunteer communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes.

Every licensed radio amateur, regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local or national organization or program, is eligible to apply for membership in ARES. Because ARES is an Amateur Radio program, only licensed radio amateurs are eligible. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is desirable but not a requirement.

Online registration in ARRL East Bay Section ARES is available at http://www.arrleastbaysection.org/ares. As Section Emergency Coordinator, I encourage all Amateur Radio licensees in the Section who wish to serve in time of disaster to register on line, whether or not they have previously completed a paper ARES registration form. Registrants will initially hold Associate Member status; procedures for upgrading to Full Member status will be announced soon.

In an emergency or disaster, ARRL East Bay Section ARES will provide communications-related support in the public service to agencies with which it has written agreements and which request its assistance. ARES services are provided at no charge to served agencies. ARES has many served agencies at the national level, and those relationships extend to this section. Existing national served agencies include the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the National Weather Service. ARRL East Bay Section ARES is open to supporting other agencies that operate within its geographical area in the public service, including both government and non-government entities, under written agreements that are approved by the ARRL and signed by the agency and the Section Manager of the ARRL East Bay Section.

If you have questions or comments, please contact me or the Section Manager as shown on the Contact page.