Category Archives: Uncategorized

Deployment, Uncategorized

General Information

NO MEMBER OF SRQARES WILL SELF DEPLOY FOR ANY REASON.

Activation and Deployment may occur at the same time or at some period of time after Activation. Deployment is where SRQARES members accept assignments and then go to a location to provide emergency communications. This will be dependent upon the needs and requests from our served agencies. Not all of our served agencies will have the same needs at the same time. The Red Cross for example, does not staff immediate need shelters, as these are operated and staffed by Sarasota County. The Red Cross is tasked with operating any long-term shelters and providing meals and disaster assistance. As the time this Communications Plan is written, SRQARES is collaborating with SMH to identify employees who are interested in becoming licensed Amateur Radio Operators, and they will assume the task of providing backup communications and provide them with the necessary training.

SMH has also agreed to allow spouses of deployed SRQARES members to stay at their facilities during a deployment. SMH also has pet shelters at both their SMH-S and SMH-V facilities. Thus, if an SRQARES member resides in a zone that is subject to evacuation, typically Zone A or Zone B, this is an option for them to go to one of the facilities as opposed to going to a shelter and being in the general population. This document will be updated as this becomes an operational unit.

The health and safety of ALL VOLUNTEER MEMBERS is of paramount importance. The first step in any emergency response is to assess the situation and plan for the health and safety of the responding resources. Be realistic about your ability to deploy. Consider you own situation first. Are there any health concerns, family or work commitments, or time constraints? If you have questions about the assignment and the deployment please ask!

Sarasota County EOC and the Red Cross will have a Mission Number for any deployments, as reflected in the Incident Action Plan. These Mission Numbers are important for tracking hours and expenditures.

SOP, Uncategorized

Check In Procedure

LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN

Once SRQARES is activated, SAR-1/SAR-2 becomes a controlled R&I (Resource & Information net. Always follow the instructions of the Net Control Station and only transmit when invited to do so. All routine voice traffic is expected to move to alternate frequencies. The R&I Net is intended for Emergency and Priority traffic only. Note that Outbound Health and Welfare traffic is considered to be Priority Traffic while inbound Health & Welfare requests are not.

Check into the R&I net when requested using normal check in procedures: i.e. Net Control this is W4XYZ. Wait for Net Control to acknowledge your transmission and follow net controls instructions.
Once checked into the R&I net, continue to monitor SAR-1 or SAR-2 at the top of each hour to keep up to date on SRQARES status and possible advanced mobilization if required. You do not need to check into the net more than once but are expected to monitor the net awaiting further instructions or assignments. The R&I Net Control will contact you if needed. Start your ICS 214 form, reporting any significant events heard. This log is needed following an event for financial reimbursement of the county by the Federal Government. It also serves as a valuable record for after action reporting of what worked and what we need to improve upon.

During the incident, we expect that there will be little if any traffic passed with the possible exception of unexpected emergencies and weather information.

SOP, Uncategorized

Simplex Operaton

With Simplex operation, many stations may or may not be able to reach the Net Control Station.  In this case, you may need to take the initiative and act as a relay station.  You can hear the calling station but Net Control doesn’t respond or acknowledge the transmission.  Copy the calling stations traffic to relay.  Re-enter the net with the proword “Relay” and your call sign”.  Net control will acknowledge your call sign and request your traffic at which time you can relay the message.  In some cases, multiple relays may be necessary.  Speak slowly and use ITU phonetics to avoid having to repeat your traffic multiple times.

Uncategorized

Communications Plan

Sarasota Amateur Radio Emergency Service (SRQ ARES)

February 2024

ARES Logo

General Overview of ARRL ARES

SRQARES Organization

SRQARES Membership Training Levels

SRQARES Team Leadership

Activation of SRQARES

SRQARES Standard Operaing Procedures (SOP)

SRQARES Deployment

Served Agency Membership

SRQARES utilizes the vast communication infrastructure of SERC for emergency communications. We are very fortunate to have the American Red Cross as a served agency. We have a very strong relationship with our local chapter. Our communications center, aka REDCOM is located in the Red Cross Chapter Headquarters at 2001 Cantu Court, Sarasota 34232 and is fully equipped and is available to us on a 24/7/365 basis. They have requested that a volunteer member of the Red Cross be present when REDCOM is open, operational and staffed. This is mainly for liability purposes.

It is strongly suggested that because the Red Cross is a served agency, members of SRQARES should become a Red Cross volunteer member. While not a requirement for membership in either SERC or SRQARES, there are advantages to being a Red Cross volunteer member. The Red Cross volunteer category, in the past, for SERC & SRQARES has been in the “Disaster Services Technology/ “Disaster Workforce Member” or “General Volunteer” group. As of 03/27/2023, the Red Cross has created a specific position for SERC/ SRQARES as “Ham Radio Operators- Regional”. Volunteer hours and mileage can be entered and tracked via the Red Cross Volunteer connection website.

The Red Cross is supporting us and we should support their mission, which states “The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors”.

Uncategorized

Team Meeting

Team Meetings

The SRQARES team meets on the first Saturday of each month at 10 am at the American Red Cross building on Cantu Ct. in Sarasota. The purpose of these meetings is to conduct required training of ARES members in the many skills needed to be effective emergency communicators.