Getting on the air at Diamond Head Emergency Communications

Amateur radio operators on Oahu that participate with emergency communications are registered with Department of Emergency Management (DEM) on Oahu as RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) radio volunteers. Click on this link for more information on C&C DEM OCD RACES.

Similarly, amateur radio operators working with Hawaii SCD (State Civil Defense) are registered under SCD's RACES program and other amateurs are registered with their respective agencies. Many are registered with ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service), the emergency communications portion of the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League), the national organization of amateur radio operators in the United States.

As one of the original contributors to ARRL's Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course (ARECC) in 2000, I highly recommend becoming proficient in passing messages, with special emphasis on timeliness and ACCURACY, and having your radio station ready to operate at all times. I also recommend the use of the ANDERSON Powerpole connector for your 12 volt DC power needs. You just never know when you'll need to communicate as a result of an unexpected emergency.

Enjoy, and feel free to drop me an e-mail if you have any questions.


There are quite a number of incidents on Oahu each year that could potentially lead to situations requiring emergency communications.

Preparation:

January 5, 2008

These are general articles on amateur radio.

If you interested in some simple ideas that you can accomplish to be better prepared, see these six simple tips. It doesn't take much or very long to implement, but it goes a long way to being prepared. If you're wondering why, consider the key points about Hawaiian geography and radio propagation highlighted in this article. If you wish to be better prepared, check out this list.

To practice, join in some of these radio nets. To practice writing messages for the practice nets, click here. Also practice how to pass messages written on the ICS-213 form, click here.

Alerts: To get advanced warning of weather, tsunami and other alerts, you may wish to pick up a Radio Shack Weather alert radio with the SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) feature. You may wish to refer to the Hawaii SAME Codes to program the SAME codes into your radio.

For further information, see: Emergency Alert System and NOAA Weather Radio SAME codes

Personal Preparation

August 31, 2002

A lot of your personal success to weather a disaster or interruption involves how much preparations you've made when the situation is normal for the difficult times. Just before a disaster strikes, it's very hard to mobilize and reposition many things that's needed, so now is the time to get it done. Just make a checklist and accomplish one item at a time.

Click on these logos for more information about these programs.


Find out more by contacting:  rhashiro(remove this part)@hawaiiantel.net
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Updated: March 30, 2008

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