QRZ! Ham Radio 6/QRZ Ham Radio Callsign Database - Volume 6.iso/mac/files/races/mgtaovu2.txt

Text File | 1994-11-27 | 16KB | 287 lines

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MGTAOVU2  Version 1. 3  3/1/92



Subject: RACES MANAGEMENT  AN OVERVIEW , PART 2

IS RACES JUST FOR ONE DEPARTMENT?
It may seem that way in some governments because a high
visibility department may run the RACES program. This does not
mean, however, that RACES serves only one department. The RACES
must serve emergency communications requirements anywhere in that
government plus outside liaison requirements. Surplus operators
and resources may be assigned to support other organizations
essential to that government's mission.   RB 85-15

DO FEDERAL AGENCIES HAVE RACES?
Answer:   No. The RACES is administered by local and state civil
defense organizations. This does not mean that the RACES cannot
support Federal agencies, however. We encourage county RACES to
contact, support and maintain liaison with those agencies you
might assist. This may include the National Weather Service, U.S.
Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service,
Corps of Engineers, and others in your county. Counties should
encourage such support as training necessary to maintain
proficiency and interest among RACES members. State OES will
assist wherever we can. Call 916-427-4281.  RB 85-16

DOES RACES PROVIDE EQUIPMENT FOR RADIO AMATEURS?
No, the RACES is not like the MARS in that respect. The RACES is
comprised largely of Amateurs providing their own equipment in a
structured and efficient organization. In those governments where
the RACES support has proven itself, equipment may be provided if
funds allow. This usually takes the form of Amateur radio
equipment in the EOC and/or mountaintop repeaters. ATV,
digipeaters and packet terminal node controllers have joined the
list lately. Once you have proven your value you are more likely
to get permanent funding support. One Radio Officer said
recently, "You are as good as you want to be." RB85-17

GOVERNMENT-OWNED HAM EQUIPMENT
Question: Can a state or local government own and provide a
repeater for hams? If so, how is it licensed?
Answer: Countless state, county, and city governments provide
voice repeaters, packet nodes, base stations, portables and other
Amateur Radio equipment for their Radio Amateur Civil Emergency
Service people. Nothing says a ham has to own the equipment he or
she operates. Thank goodness! Those governments have literally
put their money where their mouth is. They value the high level
of professional communications services provided by their hams
and prove it by providing quality equipment. It is fully
operational alongside their police, fire, local government, and
other radios. Governments are often willing to pay more for
commercial grade public safety type radios so that they may be
maintained by their own technicians in their government radio
vaults and elsewhere. It does not require a ham to maintain a ham
radio. A government-owned radio is licensed to any agreeable ham.
At one time local governments could license their RACES radios
under a block of special callsigns reserved for RACES stations.
They are no longer available but several callsigns are still
active by virtue of timely license renewal actions.   RB 200

VOLUNTEERS MUST BE REGISTERED
One of the main reasons radio Amateurs who serve any OES must be
enrolled in RACES is that no services of any volunteer can be
accepted by any government unless they are recorded as a
volunteer Disaster Service Worker. Without such registration, as
accomplished in the RACES, there is no Worker's Compensation and
other protective benefits provided by law. By the same token,
governments should not categorize all Amateur Radio operators as
RACES. In short, every ham must be preregistered as a volunteer
Disaster Service Worker before the emergency or exercise. This is
done by Radio Officers in OES organizations. Please direct
questions to this office.   RB 85-2

RACES? WHO NEEDS IT? WHAT IS IT?
By Bill Musladin, N6BTJ, Asst State RACES Officer, State of
California
Many years ago the predecessor to FEMA (the Federal Emergency
Management Agency was instrumental in the creation of the RACES,
the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service. Today FEMA's
connection with the RACES is much reduced, limited to the award
of monetary grants to government agencies which have RACES units
for purchase of communications equipment. Note that these grants
go to the sponsoring governmental agency, and not to the RACES
unit itself. This is because RACES units must be sponsored and
controlled by the governmental agency responsible for disaster
control and recovery. These agencies are at the state, county,
and/or city level. FEMA itself does not sponsor or control the
RACES program at any level, nor is there a federal RACES.
The RACES is authorized by the Federal Communications Commission
in Part 97 of its Regulations, under the Amateur Radio Service.
Other Radio Services authorized and controlled by FCC regulations
include Local Government, Police, Fire and many others. They are
all, in effect, enabling rules to provide radio communications
for eligible users. Within the limits of these enabling
provisions the FCC does not control how the communications
service is staffed, administered, or provided. Sometimes Amateur
Radio operators think that Part 97 is the begin-all and end-all
of RACES. However, that is not the case. The FCC does not tell
its licensees (whether Fire, Police, Amateur, or others) how to
administer and run those operations.
RACES units function to augment, at time of need, disaster
related communications capabilities of their sponsoring agencies.
Thus RACES traffic will normally consist of disaster related
communications between governmental agencies. This is the key
difference between the RACES, and the ARES, the Amateur Radio
Emergency Service, developed by the American Radio Relay League.
ARES may handle disaster related traffic, such as Health and
Welfare messages, support of the Red Cross, and the Blood Bank
System. Such agencies and services are usually equally as vital
in dealing with an emergency, but the communications requirements
they generate are not between government units, and therefore are
NOT a function of the RACES. Disasters, by their nature, may blur
the distinctions between the RACES and ARES in practice, but the
distinction remains important.
This clear distinction, of RACES traffic typically between
government locations, means the home based Amateur gear can have
little utility, except possibly as relay facilities or as a
monitor. RACES volunteers, when called up by their governmental
sponsor, must expect to work away from home, either at a
permanent or temporary government establishment. Also, RACES
volunteers may be called upon to operate non-ham government radio
gear, and on non-Amateur frequencies.
There is yet another, and more vital, distinguishing difference
between RACES and ARES volunteer radio Amateurs, possibly the
most important one to the RACES volunteer. RACES volunteers, when
called up by their sponsoring government agency, are legally (if
unpaid) employees of that agency. As such, that agency has a
legal responsibility for each individual's health and welfare
from the time he or she leaves home until return.
In California the government's responsibility to its volunteers
is met through the "Registered Disaster Service Workers" program.
By recognizing in advance of callup that RACES volunteers are an
integral part of their disaster response team, each volunteer is
covered just as are the paid personnel.
The sponsoring governmental agency's responsibility to its
volunteers has been recognized throughout the state. A survey of
state, county, and city governments sponsoring RACES units
overwhelmingly favored participation in the "Registered Disaster
Service Worker" program, for their own protection as well as that
of their volunteers. While registration as Disaster Service
Workers is not a requirement in the FCC regulations covering
RACES, in California the requirement is considered a prudent
response to an obvious need.
In many areas the RACES has developed into a respected and
dependable adjunct to regular staff, to be called upon with
confidence. Just as there are volunteer firemen and reserve law
enforcement elements in many governments, RACES volunteers have
become equally important and respected as their "deputy
communications" personnel. SB12-91 titled RACES WhoWhat.

RESPONSE INSTITUTE SUMMARY
ATTENTION: EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATORS via Amateur Radio
Close to two hundred people attended the 1st Emergency Response
Institute seminar in San Jose on March 28-29. It was attended by
ARES, RACES and other interested hams plus representatives and
speakers from Federal, State, and local public safety and
emergency management agencies. There were many "how to" sessions
to better equip the participants to work together and support
public agencies. Some came from as far away as San Luis Obispo,
Siskiyou and Kern counties.
Congratulations to Dave Larton, N6JQJ, and his staff for putting
on a most worthwhile seminar.
A detailed report is available to agencies requesting one.
RACES RADIO OFFICERS NOTE: Demonstrate your communications
capability by providing a copy of this message to your local city
and/or county emergency management agency. Commencing next week
will be series of messages specifically for all such agencies via
Amateur Radio. The messages will address problem areas that exist
between Amateur Radio and some local governments in California
that were brought out at the ERI in San Jose. The delivery of
these bulletins depends entirely on you in most cases. This often
is the means by which you stay in touch with your local emergency
management agencies.  Sgd/Stan Harter, KH6GBX Amateur Radio
Service Coordinator.    RB87-11

GETTING BULLETINS to the EMERGENCY SERVICE MANAGER
ATTN: All RACES operators (i.e., any Amateur enrolled in an
Emergency Services agency).
An increasing number of emergency services agency managers at the
city and county levels are learning of the RACES bulletins and
indicate they are not getting all of them; and some not at all.
Interestingly enough, some say they have a RACES unit but have
never received any of the bulletins. This can only mean that
there is a breakdown in the delivery chain. Perhaps it's a
misunderstanding among some operators. Check the "TO" line in the
message headers. The local OES agencies do not receive these
bulletins by any means other than you -- the Radio Amateurs
assigned to that OES agency. This affords both the Amateurs and
the OES agencies to maintain regular contact with each other. If
this will be your first message to be so delivered, please
include as many previous messages as possible.
Any OES agency requiring a complete set of the messages from May
1985 forward, please contact your OES Region Communications
Coordinator. The Bulletin series answers questions, provides
interpretations, clarifies misunderstandings, and provides
specific Amateur Radio program guidance requested of State OES by
the State Senate.   RB 87-21

2-METER SIMPLEX PLAN ANNOUNCED
Local communications should be conducted on simplex wherever
possible during a widespread emergency. A disaster may cripple
repeaters. Commercial power may fail. Emergency power may fail or
not be available. Emergency power fuel may be used up and
refueling may be difficult or impossible. Repeater site access
roads may be impassable. LPG systems may have only a large tank
with no provision for using more readily available LPG bottles in
an emergency. Repeater racks may be toppled, cables snapped or
antennas downed by an earthquake. Where some repeaters fail and
others survive, there will be even greater contention among
operators to use the surviving repeater(s). This can be
compounded by undisciplined operators and unnecessary
communications. Sheer volume of essential communications alone
may overload a repeater.
To assist in the use of simplex with the least interference a
STATEWIDE 2-METER RACES SIMPLEX FREQUENCY PLAN has been prepared.
The plan divides California's 58 counties into seven
groups--Group A through Group G. The counties in any group are
separated by many miles and intervening terrain. There are 13
simplex frequencies in each group for every county. Six channels
are common statewide. The counties in Group A, for example, are
Del Norte, Tehama, Sonoma, Sacramento, San Mateo, and Inyo.
The frequencies were carefully selected so as to minimize
interference with existing operations and systems. The simplex
plan may be implemented immediately by all counties north of
Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
In all counties south of San Luis Obispo, Kern and Inyo counties
a special rule applies: Each frequency in each applicable group
must be approved in writing prior to plans or use by the State
OES Southern Area RACES Coordinator, 2151 East D St. - Suite
203A, Ontario, CA 91764; telephone [phone]. The reason for
this is that repeaters in Southern California developed at a
greater rate before present day band plans and there can be
conflicts between existing systems and the simplex plan in
certain areas.
We wish to express our appreciation to Dave Tyler, N6DRT, of the
Pacific Division American Radio Relay League for his major
contributions in both the concept and preparation of this plan.
Action: (1) Obtain a copy of the plan from your State OES Region
office. (2) Amend your county RACES plan to include these new
frequencies. (3) Include your simplex frequencies in your county
RACES plans yet to be written. (KH6GBX)  RB012

OBTAINING SURPLUS PROPERTY FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
QUESTION: "How can local RACES units obtain State and Federal
surplus two-way radios?" ANSWER: The State Department of General
Services suggests that the local government write to: Surplus
Property General Services Department State of California, 140
Commerce Circle Sacramento, CA 95815 (916-924-2970)
The local government's letter should request the person screening
the request "to be on the lookout for ...." [That is, specify
here what it is you want; such as "mobile, portable and fixed
two-way FM radio communications equipment."]
The person handling the request may not have any specific
knowledge of two-way radios and may simply send to the requesting
agency the manufacturer's name, make and model. The requesting
agency must have the expertise to determine whether or not it is
desired. The requesting agency pays the State a handling fee that
ranges from less than 10% to 33% of the acquisition cost. Many
government agencies get their desks and supplies this way. State
surplus property screeners also tour Federal surplus warehouses
for you. That is why it is important to file a letter with the
State DGS.
Surplus property is not available to private individuals. Any
questions should be directed to the DGS address or telephone
number shown above.
Some State agencies do not turn in surplus radio equipment to DGS
but dispose of it themselves. We cannot speak on their behalf but
some of the big users include Caltrans and the CHP. In State OES
we occasionally offer surplus communications equipment, when
available, to people or organizations in the following priority:
(1) State RACES personnel; (2) County and city RACES units; (3)
any Amateur and the CAP; or (4) destroy it. If we do, we issue a
bulletin statewide on packet. RB042

FOOTNOTE TO BULLETINS-BY-TOPIC
This material is the result of the interest of people from many
areas around the country. Their ideas, questions and suggestions
were then put into these bulletin formats by Stanly Harter,
KH6GBX, State Races Coordinator, Office of Emergency Services,
2800 Meadowview Road, Sacramento, California 95832 between l985
and l992. Input and comments are welcomed by mail or packet radio
to W6HIR @ WA6NWE.#NOCAL.CA [Telephone [phone].]