[K3PZN-List] County Emergency Preparedness Exercise this Saturday evening

[n3sb at qis.net]

Greetings Friends;

REMINDER: The county's emergency preparedness exercise is being held this
Saturday evening, starting around 6:00 PM. If you have a scanner, there will be
TONS of interesting things to hear, as local Police, Fire, Ambulance, and other
services are going to be VERY BUSY! If it's anything like last year's exercise,
there will also be newspaper and television coverage. The county has been
planning this exercise for months. This is a major event, and it WILL have
surprises. 

What's REALLY neat is that the county NEEDS US to participate! This is our
opportunity to show the community how we can provide a valuable service, and
why we deserve to have millions of dollars worth of spectrum space and those
big antennas in our back yards. 

I expect that EVERY CLUB MEMBER will at least CHECK INTO THE NET, so that we can
show the county how many hams can be available when disaster strikes. 

If you've never been involved in ARES, or helped out with a public service
event, then this is an excellent time to listen and start learning. Activities
will be concentrated on the 145.410 and 147.285 repeaters. If you would like to
be more involved, then don't hesitate to volunteer. Last year, one of the crew
supporting the Carroll Hospital Center wasn't even a ham, but she was given an
FRS radio, and provided an essential communications link between the hospital's
incident command center, and where our voice and packet stations were located.

If you have worked a couple public service events before, or have experience
with passing NTS traffic, then please make plans to participate! Its estimated
that at least 20 hams will be needed for this exercise. Federal, State, and
local officials will be watching and listening closely, and our performance is
going to be evaluated. 

The county has provided us several very nice repeater locations, a great place
to have our meetings and to set up a club station, and a variety of equipment
over the past years. They did this for us so that we can provide backup
communications services when the worst happens. This Saturday will provide us
an opportunity to show the county that we're worth our keep. 

73; Steve, N3SB