OCRACES Online and In-Person Meetings and Group Activities
OCRACES has resumed outside group activities. Online OCRACES
meetings have been well-attended during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We will continue online monthly meetings, interspersed with
in-person meetings, perhaps quarterly. Monday night 2-meter nets
at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday morning 60-meter nets at 10:00 a.m.
will continue (except for some major holidays).
OCRACES Participates in Field Day on June 22, 2024
Left photo: Ryan
Moore, KN6WSJ (left), and Robert Moore, KW6B, at their VHF/UHF
FM station. Center photo: Ted Lavino, KG6LZP, at his
HF/VHF/UHF SSB/digital station. Right photo: Steve
Livingston, NJ6R, at his HF SSB/digital and VHF Winlink station.
OCRACES participated in Field Day on
Saturday, June 22, 2024, in the parking lot of the Orange County
Sheriff’s Regional Training Academy in Tustin. Ryan Moore,
KN6WSJ, was the coordinator of the event, and configured it to
be more of an emergency communications field exercise rather
than competing contest-style in the nationwide ARRL event. He
consulted with OCSD Sergeant Nate Beyer to promote the event and
OCRACES with the PSRs in the Mutual Aid Bureau, and to arrange
for E-Z Ups for protection from the sun. Ryan also prepared a
flyer for handout to visiting Department personnel.
Three stations were set up for Field Day. One was by Ryan and
his dad, Robert Moore, KW6B, on 2 meters and 70 centimeters FM.
Ted Lavino, KG6LZP, made voice and data connections on 40 meters
and Winlink on 2 meters and 70 centimeters. Steve Livingston ran
voice and digital on HF and Winlink on VHF.
Also attending were RACES PSRs Randy Benicky, N6PRL, Ken Bourne,
W6HK, Scott Byington, KC6MMF, and Jason Ho, KJ6VSV.
City/County RACES & EmComm Drill Held on May 4,
2024
Ryan Moore, KN6WSJ (left),
operates 2 meters simplex; Robert Moore, KW6B (center), operates
60 meters; and Scott MacGillivray, KM6RTE (right), operates
Winlink during May 4, 2024, drill.
A City/County RACES & EmComm ACS Drill was held on Saturday, May
4, 2024, from 0900 to 1130 hours. Communications were on 2
meters simplex (simulating repeater failure), 60 meters SSB, and
Winlink. Some City RACES units also were active on AREDN mesh
during the drill. OCRACES PSRs operated net control at the
Orange County EOC at Loma Ridge, including Ryan Moore, KN6WSJ,
on 146.595 MHz simplex, Robert Moore, KW6B on 5371.5 kHz upper
sideband, and Scott MacGillivray on Winlink. Overseeing the
activity was Chief Radio Officer Ken Bourne, W6HK. Other
participating OCRACES members, checking in via 2 meters,
included Assistant Radio Officer Randy Benicky, N6PRL, Ted
Lavino, KG6LZP, Ryan Moore, KN6WSJ, Fran Needham, KJ6UJS, Chi
Nguyen, KE6MVS, Robert Stoffel, KD6DAQ, and Ken Tucker, WF6F.
Steve Livingston, NJ6R, as well as N6PRL and WF6F, checked in on
60 meters.
City RACES units calling into OCRACES net control on 146.595 MHz
simplex included Anaheim, Brea, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fountain
Valley, Fullerton, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Orange, Seal
Beach/Los Alamitos, Tri-Cities (Dana Point, San Clemente, and
San Juan Capistrano), and Westminster. EmComm units included
American Red Cross, Newport Beach Repeater Club, and OCHEART.
Whittier also checked in (LACDCS).
Checking in on 60 meters were City RACES units and members:
Anaheim (K6GRO), Fountain Valley (WA6FV), Irvine (K6PB), Laguna
Woods (AJ6VT and NH7WG), Los Alamitos/Seal Beach (KU6H), and
Orange (K0VNJ), as well as Cal OES CRU (NJ6U). Three visitors
from Orange also checked in (WD6AJR, K6BS, and N2VAJ).
The scenario for this drill was civil unrest, disrupting public
order to the extent that a countywide emergency had been
declared, requiring auxiliary communications to be provided to
county and city law-enforcement agencies. Some of the simulated
reports received by OCRACES net control from OCRACES members and
City RACES units included: freeway shutdown near Euclid Street
in Fullerton by protesters (reported by Robert Stoffel, KD6DAQ);
a mall in Huntington Beach lost power, while people with hats
and masks were looting (reported by Chi Nguyen, KE6MVS); utility
water supplies were unreliable and cyberattacks in Dana Point;
I-405 was blocked in both directions in Fullerton and all power
was shut down; a large group of protesters and internet outages
were in Costa Mesa; a power failure occurred in Brea (real!) and
there was unrest at the Brea Mall with many people (scenario);
the Westminster Police Department lost power and was operating
on backup, while suspicious people were at Bella Terra Mall;
protesters were crossing a bridge from Costa Mesa to Huntington
Beach (reported by American Red Cross), Laguna Woods had
scattered power outages; there was civil unrest in Whittier with
storm troopers storming the police station, followed by zombies
(!); there were looting and rioters around Fullerton; and two
guys in fatigue clothes were in Aliso Viejo, with a black rifle
bag and camouflage gun bag (reported by Randy Benicky, N6PRL).
Scott MacGillivray, KM6RTE, reported the Winlink portion of the
drill had the highest message traffic and operator participation
since Winlink was incorporated into the countywide ACS drill in
May 2022. A total number of 122 messages were received and sent
during the 24 hours allocated to Winlink. Using Winlink Express,
48 messages had an attached Field Situation Report. A testing
goal was to determine if there were any operational VHF packet
Winlink RMS gateways reachable from San Clemente. The KM6SLF-12
RMS in Dana Point was accessible from all eight locations.
Connection with the KM6RTE-12 RMS at Loma Ridge was successful
from seven of the eight locations.
Earthquake Drill on October 19, 2023, Has 34
Check-ins
On Thursday, October 19, 2023, the Great California ShakeOut
officially occurred at 10:19 a.m. In conjunction with this
event, OCRACES conducted an earthquake drill that day from 1000
to 1100 hours, simulating a strong earthquake striking Orange
County. Net control asked for locations and observation reports
from participants in county and city RACES and EmComm units via
the 146.895 MHz repeater and via Winlink. Simulated reports were
given as “Mike-Mike” intensities, using the USGS Modified
Mercalli Earthquake Intensity Scale. The drill had 34 check-ins.
OCRACES Chief Radio Officer Ken Bourne, W6HK, operated ShakeOut
net control from the EOC RACES Room at Loma Ridge. OCRACES
members checking in with Mike-Mike reports and observations
throughout Orange County included: Heide Aguirre, K3TOG;
Assistant Radio Officer Randy Benicky, N6PRL; Joel Bishop,
AJ6ZP; Steve Livingston, NJ6R; Scott MacGillivray, KM6RTE (also
for COAR); Robert Moore, KW6B; Ryan Moore, KN6WSJ; Chi Nguyen,
KE6MVS; Robert Stoffel, KD6DAQ; and Ken Tucker, WF6F.
Members of several City RACES units checking into OCRACES net
control included Brea RACES, W6BRE. For Costa Mesa RACES
(MESAC): Ashley Fisher, KM6UJD; and Don Haddock, KN6QDV. For
Fountain Valley RACES: Ken Hemkin, KK6OEX; and Garry Jones,
N6NQN. Fullerton RACES, K6FUL. For Irvine RACES (IDEC): Pete
Bergstrom, K6PB; Avram Grossman, KN6BMO; and Steve Skwarlo,
WB6CJH. For Laguna Niguel ACS (WE6ACS): David Black, WB6VEM;
Kevin Korff, KK6KUR; Marlene Ruderman, KN6USQ; and Haney
Williams, KJ6JIA (in Anaheim). For Laguna Woods RACES: Bruce
Bonbright, NH7WG. For Mission Viejo RACES-ARES: Cher Baker,
K6CHR; Scott Holcomb, K6WHC; and Phil Lonzello, WA6LDI. For
Placentia RACES: Duke Walls, W6EIF (in Yorba Linda). For
Westminster RACES: Adam Valek, N6HVC. Other EmComm check-ins
included: Gary Standard, K6GSX, for Newport Beach Repeater Club;
Robert Gimbel, KG6WTQ, for American Red Cross; and David Gorin,
KB6BXQ, for OCHEART. Carlos Adams, KE6QEU, checked in from Naval
Weapons Station Seal Beach.
City/County RACES & EmComm Drill Held on October 7,
2023
Joel Bishop, AJ6ZP (left),
operates 2 meters simplex; Robert Moore, KW6B (center), operates
60 meters; and Scott MacGillivray, KM6RTE (right) operates
Winlink during October 7, 2023, drill.
A City/County RACES & EmComm ACS Drill occurred on Saturday,
October 7, 2023, from 0900 to 1200 hours for the simplex
portion. Conducting operations from the Orange County EOC at
Loma Ridge were OCRACES Chief Radio Officer Ken Bourne, W6HK,
with Joel Bishop, AJ6ZP, on 2 meters and Robert Moore, KW6B, on
60 meters. Scott MacGillivray, KM6RTE, handled the Winlink
portion of the drill.
The scenario for this drill was a series of cyberattacks that
disabled major infrastructures, including power and gas
utilities, water and wastewater facilities, telephone companies,
cable systems and internet service providers, hospital networks,
banks and other financial institutions, law-enforcement and
other government administrative systems, transportation systems,
dams, education, and postal and shipping services. In addition,
all repeaters had failed, and all communications were on simplex
frequencies.
Communications consisted of simplex communications on 2 meters
FM and HF NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave) on 60 meters.
OCRACES net control operated from the Orange County EOC. Most
City and County RACES and EmComm members operated portable
stations at locations that needed to be tested for local and
countywide simplex radio coverage.
The simplex drill ran from 0900 to 1200 hours. On 2 meters, the
first hour was devoted to communicating with each RACES unit’s
own members on their primary simplex frequency. Check-ins
included simulated emergencies and requests for resources. The
remaining two hours were for communications between OCRACES and
city net controls on 146.595 MHz, while city RACES and EmComm
members continued to call their net controls for urgent
resources.
From 0900 to 1000 hours, OCRACES members checking in on 2 meters
included Robert Stoffel, KD6DAQ, Ken Tucker, WF6F, Chi Nguyen,
KE6MVS, Ron Mosher, K0PGE, Randy Benicky, N6PRL, and Fran
Needham, KJ6UJS, as well as OCSD Emergency Management Division
Deputy Director Lee Kaser, KK6VIV, who was driving through the
canyons and checking coverage. At 1000 hours, RACES units from
Anaheim, Brea, Costa Mesa (MESAC), Tri-Cities (Dana Point, San
Clemente, and San Juan Capistrano), Fountain Valley, Mission
Viejo, and Orange, as well as the Newport Beach Repeater Club,
checked into OCRACES and gave their reports of check-ins during
the previous hour. Gordon West, WB6NOA (MESAC) reported that 50
gallons of fuel were needed at the Costa Mesa Fire Station.
The 60-meter net occurred on 5371.5 kHz upper sideband. At
first, net control used the same roll call of Orange County City
and County RACES and EmComm stations as on the Saturday morning
OCRACES ACS net. Check-ins included: Dale Tyler, W6EDT, for
Mission Viejo RACES; Gary Standard, K6GSX, and Roy Shlemon,
K6GVG, for Newport Beach Repeater Club; Gordon West, WB6NOA, for
Costa Mesa RACES (MESAC); Garry Jones, N6NQN, for Fountain
Valley RACES; Pete Bergstrom, K6PB, for Irvine RACES (IDEC);
Steve Livingston, NJ6R for OCRACES; Bruce Bonbright, NH7WG, for
Laguna Woods RACES; Bill Kreutinger, KM6SLF, for Tri-Cities
RACES; and Paul Gussow, NJ6U (Cypress), and Craig Williams,
W6CAW (Campo, San Diego County), for Cal OES Communications
Reserve Unit. Non-EmComm stations included Neil Smith, K6KWI
(Anaheim Hills), and Tony Scalpi, N2VAJ (Orange).
In the Winlink portion of the drill, messages were accepted over
a 24-hour period, from 1500 hours on Friday to 1500 hours on
Saturday. Participanting operators totaled 26. Information was
requested about the Winlink operator’s role in their city or
EmComm organization that they were participating on behalf of.
In total, 13 organizations were represented and the operators
identified a total 29 instances of membership with these
organizations.
OCRACES Participates in Alternate EOC Drill on June 30,
2021
OCRACES played a role in the
2021 Alternate EOC Exercise on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
For realism, this exercise was kept confidential from
much of OCSD Emergency Management Division (EMD)
personnel until it was activated Wednesday morning.
OCRACES, which is an EMD AuxComm unit, was made a
component of the exercise, and the exercise was also
kept confidential to its members until the OCRACES
2-meter repeater was activated for the event. The
exercise scenario was a fail-soft of the 800-MHz radio
system, coupled with immediate and severe network
connectivity issues at 0600 hours. OCSD Dispatch and
Control One experience identical failures, rendering
them unable to communicate. |
|
Radio Officer Scott
Byington, KC6MMF, Assistant Emergency Manager Lee Kaser,
KK6VIV, and Chief Radio Officer Ken Bourne, W6HK (left
to right), at OCFA during the Alternate EOC Exercise. |
OCSD Systems confirmed that both the 800-MHz system and the OCSD
network connections to Loma Ridge had experienced a very complex
cyberattack and they were unable to estimate when the services
to the facility would be restored. OCIAC determined that
multiple response agencies, transportation, and large
corporations across the county were having similar issues and
that a foreign government may be at the root of the problem.
The next step in the scenario was for OCSD Executive Command to
place all sworn and essential professional staff on Tactical
Alert. The OCSD Department Operations Center (DOC) activated to
Level 2 at the Southwest Operations Division, Saddleback
Station. EMD activated OCRACES on the 2-meter repeater for
deployment to predetermined areas to assist with communications.
A decision was then made to relocate the EOC to an alternate
location. EMD staff rallied at Orange County Fire Authority
(OCFA) Headquarters in Irvine, recovered the Alternate EOC
equipment, and began setup. OCRACES Chief Radio Officer Ken
Bourne, W6HK, and Radio Officer Scott Byington, KC6MMF, were
assigned as AUXC to Control 7 at OCFA, to operate net control,
beginning at 0930 hours. Joe Selikov, KB6EID, was ready to
activate OCRACES members via AlertOC. He and Steve Livingston,
NJ6R, and Fran Needham, KJ6UJS, sent and received exercise
traffic in the field.
FEMA ICS and NIMS procedures were followed during the exercise.
An ICS-211A form was used at Control 7 for checking in Ken and
Scott. Messages were sent and received with the ICS-213 form.
All activities were logged on an ICS-214 form.
RACES Wants You!
Experience
the most exciting and rewarding part of amateur radio. Being a
RACES member gives you the opportunity to sharpen your
operating skills and technical knowledge while volunteering your services
in public-safety communications. Get involved in emergency communications now.
To become an OCRACES member,
you must first be a Sheriff’s Professional Services Responder
(PSR, which is a non-sworn Reserve) or a Reserve Deputy Sheriff.
PSR information may be found on
this page on the Orange County Sheriff's website. Click on
“Reserve Interest Form” in the left column. Then attend the next
PSR Orientation followed by the PSR Prescreen. You can find the
dates for those events by clicking “Reserve Testing &
Orientation Dates” on the above web page. A background check
will be conducted by the Sheriff’s Department. You must also
attend three OCRACES meetings (online or in-person), in addition
to passing the OCSD background for PSR, to become an OCRACES
member.
OCRACES members need to have
a dual-band radio to access our 2-meter and 70-centimeter
repeaters. Members are also required to pass the IS-100, -200,
-700, and -800 courses, which may be found on the FEMA website
at
https://training.fema.gov/is/crslist.aspx?lang=en.
Click the
Contact
OCRACES link for more information.
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Events Calendar
November 2: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net
60 m channel 4
November 4: 1900 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 2 m: Robert Moore, KW6B
November 4: 1930 hours OCRACES Meeting Online
November 9: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net
60 m channel 4
November 11: 1900 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 2 m: Fran Needham, KJ6UJS
November 16: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net 60 m
channel 4
November 18: 1900 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 2 m: Joe Selikov, KB6EID
November 23: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net 60 m
channel 4
November 25: 1900 hours
OCRACES ACS Nets 2 m/70 cm/1¼ m/6 m: Chuck Streitz, KK6HFS
November 30: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net
60 m channel 4
December 2: 1830 hours
OCRACES Holiday Dinner No net, no regular meeting
December 7: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net 60
m channel 4
December 9: 1900 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 2 m: Randy Benicky, N6PRL
December 14: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net 60 m
channel 4
December 16: 1900 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 2 m: Joel Bishop, AJ6ZP
December 21: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net 60 m
channel 4
December 23: 1900 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 2 m/70 cm/1¼ m/6 m: Ken Bourne, W6HK
December 28: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net
60 m channel 4
December 30: 1900 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 2 m: Eric Bowen, W6RTR |