[MarinTeams] Storm Preparation

[dorseymct at comcast.net]

Listening at the top of the hour is a good idea. 
What channel? Five? 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Bill Smith" <wbs at hbco2.com> 
To: marinteams at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 2:32:32 PM 
Subject: [MarinTeams] Storm Preparation 

As you are no doubt aware, a strong storm is slated to impact our area in 
the next 24-48 hours. According to the National Weather Bureau, the first 
effects of the storm are forecast to arrive sometime after midnight tonight, 
and continue through the morning. The storm is thought to continue through 
Thursday day with the worst over before Friday. 



Now is a great time to check flashlights, charge cell phones and radios in 
anticipation of potential power outages. 



With respect to CERT Radio, it is always important to keep in mind that we 
are citizen volunteers and that as individuals no special action should be 
taken except in the case of dire emergency. An emergency condition exists 
only with the inability of first responders to marshal resources, and from 
this vantage point it seems we are a great distance from anything remotely 
approaching that condition. If an incident develops, stay away and let 
first responders take care of the situation. 



The storm has attracted some attention, however, and it seems a good 
opportunity to ready ourselves as an exercise. One thing we can do is 
establish a reporting center which will appear as a simple status report on 
our CERT Radio webpage http://www.certradio.org <http://www.certradio.org/> 
. We are taking steps to prepare this capability. Each of us can also 
monitor the repeaters, or if they are disrupted, we can use simplex Channel 
3. One suggestion is that we turn on our radios at the top of each hour and 
listen for five minutes past each hour. We should be able to identify any 
issues at that time, and if needed we can extend our operations to longer 
listening intervals. Let's hope there will be simply hours of quiet, 
however don't hesitate to converse using the repeater, after all we are 
amateurs and we can always start a directed net if needed. 



As exercise, utility disturbance (e.g. power outages), and transportation 
will likely be of interest. We might also note instances of very heavy 
downpours, or reports of unusually strong winds. 



In the worst case, we can appoint our own area contact representatives in 
Northern, Central and Southern Marin. Unfortunately, our West Marin 
repeater is still under reconstruction and we have to rely upon simplex 
communications to contact stations in that area. Locations at high 
elevations should monitor Channel 3 (145.640 MHz) for any activity in 
addition to monitoring the 146.775 MHz repeaters. 



All in all, remember safety is the primary concern. We do not deploy, but 
thanks to all of you, perhaps we can demonstrate the communications resource 
we have in amateur radio. 



73 de Bill, AB6MT 

415-258-0864 

hbco2 at hbco2.com 











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