[ILHam] Heads-Up re: Chicago UASI/TICP Communications Drill

[Neil R. Ormos N9NL]

Dear Cook County ARES Members and Friends:

This following a "heads-up" for those who work or
live in the City of Chicago, and those interested
in monitoring public safety and emergency
management activities:

The City of Chicago (and possibly Cook County)
have scheduled a UASI/TICP communications drill on
Wednesday, September 20th.  Unlike the Central
Business District evacuation exercise a couple of
weeks ago, this drill has not been well
publicized.

For those who left their homeland security
initialism dictionary in their other suit, "UASI"
is the Urban Area Security Initiative, a
federal-government program for prioritizing and
funding security-related projects in urban areas.
TICP refers to a Tactical Interoperable
Communications Plan, which is expected to be
developed and evaluated by local officials in
consultation with federal and state officials.
The TICP is incrementally refined through
exercises and critiques.

I haven't been able to get any additional
information about the drill, so I don't know
whether it will be executed in the field or as a
tabletop.

People interested in such things may wish to have
an HT or scanner with them on Wednesday (if you
don't already do this as a matter of course) and be
on the lookout for interesting radio and physical
activity, including Chicago's new communications
command trucks.

Thanks much to our Illinois Section Emergency
Coordinator, Pat Ryan KC6VVT, for alerting me to
this event.

73

--Neil Ormos N9NL
Emergency Coordinator
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
Suburban Cook County