[SMCARA] A Belated Thank You!

[Ray]

At the end of August I requested help with the Annual Chaptico Classic
Walk/Race.  I was very last minute with the request for help, like less that
48 hours. I asked for six operators, we had seven respond.

In retrospect, that is how an emergency request for help would play out.
With our near miss with the Hurricane, I am very grateful for the great
group of folks we have in the area.

 There are two basic ways we might be asked to help in an emergency. First,
in a pre-event like a hurricane where we know the event is coming and we are
asked to help our community.  We have time to take care of our families and
make plans to help.  The second, when we are asked to help outside our
community.  A much harder request to fill because we are not directly
affected but would be asked to leave our families and our jobs and work for
a defined amount of time away from our homes to help another community that
can not help it's self because of an emergency event like a Tornado.

In both cases, training, short term and long term planning are a must.  Take
that ICS course on line, make two go bags, short term (one or two days) and
long term (three plus days).  In the NIMS, we our a typed resource and would
be ordered like a  contractor orders heavy equipment.  In our case, we would
be requested by number of operators and communications equipment required.
The largest group would be 12 operators with vhf/uhf/hf equipment and it
breaks down to smaller groups so the Incident Commander can tailor the
resource needs to fit the emergency.

So, to all that are interested in Emergency Communications - Fill the goggle
bar with the correct phrases and a wealth of information will be presented.
Try EMCOMM, CERT, NTS, ICS, ARRL just for starters.

Now to thank the folks that helped with the Chaptico Classic:

Dan KB3UUN

Eric N3UH

Mike N3KUN

Nick N3JDG    Net Control

Tammy N6VDM

Tom AB3IC

Thanks again!

Don't forget, Septembers Club meeting will be in Leonardtown same day and
time - just a different place.  The place is the Old EOC in down town
Leonardtown.  It's in the parking lot next to the Court House and the old
historic jail.  If you know where or can see the monopole towers (2) the
building is located at the base of the town.

Later,

Ray kb3fww