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Chapter 1.1.1

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Basic Disaster Response Procedure
For the Amateur Radio Operator in Santa Clara Valley
Revised July 26, 1998

1. Make sure your location is secure, no gas smell, no electrical hazards, building seems safe.

 
2. Announce yourself on the local ARES repeater (146.115). If you are not acknowledged (i.e., you are the first one on), then you are Net Control.

 
3. Be ready to acknowledge other stations checking in and get their report and location.

 
4. Now that there are other stations in the net, you may relinquish your Net Control position if you wish. If you retain control, then appoint an alternate Net Control.

 
5. Report to new net control or alternate net control the information you have gathered, who checked in, and what they reported.

 
6. If disaster seems to be out of immediate area, send stations to high level repeaters to get reports from stations further out:

 

145.330 for North and Central Valley.
146.760 for Coastal

7. Once area of disaster is pinpointed, determine if scope of problem will likely require Amateur Radio assistance. If you cannot decide, request an ARES official to make decision; send representatives to other repeaters if necessary to get a decision.

 
8. If amateur assistance is NOT REQUIRED, send reps back to repeaters they have checked into to advise that you are shutting down. Thank those who checked in, and return the repeater to normal operation.

 
9. If amateur assistance IS LIKELY to be required, but no specific need is known now, ask stations to prepare to lend assistance, and to listen periodically (every hour, half hour, or whatever).

 
10. If specific assistance IS NEEDED now, declare emergency session and call for volunteers. You may wish to appoint another station to keep a duty roster. You will also want a roster of net controls to keep the net going.

 
• Send stations to OTHER REPEATERS to announce your status and to request they send volunteers to the coordinating net.

 
• Announce on the ALERTING FREQUENCY, 145.695 simplex.

 
• If this is the disaster area and the repeater is down, switch to an alternate repeater, or operate simplex on the repeater output frequency. If the alternate repeater does not have the same coverage, have someone guard the downed repeater frequency to catch stations calling there. If this is a multiple casualty incident, see “Multiple Casualty Incident Plan" in this notebook.
  
  
  

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