ARES-LAX NE DISTRICT UPDATES

ALL INTERESTED AMATEUR AND ALL ARES MEMBERS - We will be organizing the Northeast District of the Los Angeles Section to participate with the other districts in the LAX Amateur Radio Emergency Services.

We will hold our Northeast District ARES meeting on the second Saturday of each month starting at 9 AM.

Northeast District Meeting News ←

  The ARESLAX Northeast District had a great presentation on July 10, 2010 at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, CA on hospital disaster communications. April Moell, WA6OPS, and Joe Moell, K0OV, of the Hospital Disaster Support Communications Systems (HDSCS) of Orange County gave a complete overview of what is involved and detailed specifics on what is needed in an emergency and what works. They have perfected their system with over 30 years of experience supporting numerous hospitals in Orange County. It was wonderful of them to share such valuable information and lessons learned with us. We had a great turnout and had to bring in extra chairs for our ‘standing room only’ crowd. Their website is a great resource and wealth of information. Be sure to check it out: http://hdscs.org

  Thanks to a recent presentation by Kate, K6HTN, who prepared us to be prepared for a large area disaster, aka, The Big One, and April and Joe’s presentation which pointed out that a small internal kink in the system that takes out a hospital’s communications is still a big disaster for that hospital, we should be prepared for anything. It doesn’t really matter what the nature of the event or disaster is, if normal communications are out, it is a disaster and we are needed. Things to remember:

• Always have your Ham Radio go kit and personal items go kit ready, up to date, and with you. Include license and ARES badge and any other necessary ID.

• Be prepared: Know where you are going and who to contact when you get there. Know the frequencies that will be used.

• Be flexible to meet the needs of the situation.

• Be courteous and professional.

• Hospitals will need support for internal communications as well as external communications.

  Remember, it took 30 years of fine tuning to make HDSCS what it is today. We don’t have to do it all on day one, but if we take advantage of their experience and lessons, we can get there much quicker. To quote John Wooden, "It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."

  Keep monitoring for upcoming drills. Thanks to all who attended and welcome to our new members. Next meeting, Saturday August 14, 2010 at 9 AM till about 11AM.

73,

Russ, KI6WIR DEC,

Northeast District ARESLAX

For those interested, we will need help setting up stations as the new hospitals come on line. Remember to join the Yahoo user group, http://groups.yahoo.com  and join the Northeast ARES group to keep in the loop with all of our activities and updates. Check in on the weekly net, Thursday at 1900 hours on the DARN system frequencies. Exciting things are happening. Let’s keep moving forward, growing, educating, training and preparing to serve. Thanks for being a part of ARES. http://arrllax.org

_Russ, KI6WIR

 DEC, Northeast District ARESLAX

Hospital Help ←

ARES Team Members: In addition to our established hospitals, Huntington Memorial and Pomona Valley, and our recently added hospitals, USC and Alhambra, we have a new request to support Garfield Medical Center. We also expect to have requests from several other area hospitals in the near future. If anyone is interested in getting involved with the initial set up at Garfield, please contact me or Dennis, KI6UNC as soon as possible.

Also, if you want to be on the list to help out at the other existing hospitals or future hospitals, let us know. Just send a quick email indicating your interest. We would like to have several team members at each hospital.

TNX and 73, Russ - KI6WIR, DEC-Northeast District, ARES-LAX  ki6wir@arrl.net

MEETING SCHEDULE

:: Aug 14th :: Sept 11th :: Oct 9th ::

LOCATION OF MEETING - Parking Information

If you live in the Northeast District which is from Pasadena east to the L. A. county line and north of the 60 Freeway, or are associated with a ham club in this area, come to our N.E. District ARES meeting. We will be meeting in the North-South Room in the Wingate Building.  Parking is in the East Parking Structure and is free on Saturday.

Directions are to go south on Fair Oaks Ave. and cross California Blvd. and go to the second driveway called Congress Street and turn right. The second structure is East Parking. The Wingate building is directly west from the parking structure.  The web site will show the directions at http://www.huntingtonhospital.com  then go to "Visitor Information" and click on "Facility Map."

The address is Huntington Memorial Hospital, 100 W. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA.

The meetings are in conference room E on the main floor of the Wingate building.

Meeting starts at 9 AM till about 11AM.

NET INFORMATION

WEEKLY: Thursday 7:00 P.M. - Using the DARN System.

Dennis Oszuscik, KI6UNC - ASSISTANT: Bill Brinkley, KC6UNY

All ARES members are encouraged to check-in and visitors are welcome of course.

FREQUENCIES FOR THE NET

DARN SYSTEM:

147.360 + PL/103.5 "ARES 2 DARN" - Mt Disappointment

1283.25 - PL/114.8 "ARES 3 DARN 1.2"

446.740 - PL/100.0 "ARES 4 DARN 1" - Palos Verdes

445.280 - PL/100.0 "ARES 6 DARN 4" - Verdugo Peak

446.940 - PL/100.0 "ARES 7 DARN 3" - Mt Wilson Peak

448.800 - PL/151.4 "ARES backup" - Raymond Hill.

Echolink: K6VGP-R Node: 8722

High Frequency - Section Wide Net 40 Meters 7.295 MHz

Note: This is a linked system. Use any frequency above to contact net control.

Note: The Frequency may vary based on congestion and coordination. Which H.F. frequency will depend on foF2 NVIS propagation.

Frequencies/ information is located at http://www.arrllax.org

QUESTIONS/ COMMENTS

Working as a volunteer should be a gratifying experience. We all work hard and spend a large amount of time preparing and training to assist the hospitals and other agencies. You are a communicator and should function within the scope of those duties. Your service is a wonderful reflection on amateur radio, and we thank you for it.

If you are interested in more information about ARESLAX and membership, please visit our website at: www.areslax.org or call Russ Keating - KI6WIR at 909-292-3419.

We welcome your question and comments.