Magic Valley ARES/RACES Meeting
December 1st, 2018 at 09:00 – Loong Hing Restaurant
Number of people present: 20

Welcome
K7THF: Welcome to Dan Marler, K7REX, for attending and bringing insights from the ARES Section Level ARRL.

ARRL ARES/RACES State Level
Dan, K7REX “Each section has its own RACES Database. They are out of date. Webinar needs to maintain the Idaho database. Will be getting a system in place so that each County EC can communicate. Need to show that we are useful to each of the agencies. ARES is not running smoothly.

ARES and RACES are organizations that support other organizations in what they need to be taking care of. The roles can change as the situation changes”

K7THF: As part of our development of more meaningful By-Laws for MV RACES/ARES we will be finding the appropriate alignment with both ARRL and IOEM (Idaho Office of Emergency Management) to properly conduct our operations.

By-Law Revision
Meet Annually and have elections yearly for the person that runs the group.
Election should be a 2 or 3 year office holding, unless other issue(s)
Workgroup –Jeremy, KA7BIF, Alex, KF7LDR Will work with K7THF
K7THF: We need to acknowledge our affiliation with MVARC.

Leadership
Will be worked on with the Workgroup about election changes and other things.
K7THF: A new protocol for identifying the leadership and provide for ascendance after an appropriate learning curve is needed to provide a learning opportunity and also avoid burnouts.


Going Digital
Fusion is in the valley, but us as a group, we aren’t ready for the conversion.
Lance, KB7SQS Kelly K7SU, and Jim W7OUU to work on seeing what is needed to get ARES/RACES in Fusion.
K7THF: The Fusion working group will study the best way to incorporate Fusion into our RACES/ARES operation and make recommendations of equipment, primary frequencies and protocols to best take advantage of our new systems.

Training
Need to know how to match up with the state/county. ICS 800 National Response. CERT Qualified. Recommended to at least do ICS 800, but not needed right now. Needed right now are ICS 100, ICS 200, ICS 700.
Don’t know if need the latest version of the course, or what you currently have.
By-Laws – Continuing Education Standard – unknown if present.
K7THF: As we determine the needs of our IOEM and ARES parent organizations we will update the required standards for members and how to provide for training needs. Additionally, we need to look to the needs of our own members and will develop a “101 “course agenda to assist those new to EMCOMM, Fusion, GPS and Topo and perhaps more as topics are identified.

Field Exercises
We need to do an exercise – Having issues with getting a date setup for exercise. The 100-Mile Bike race is our primary exercise. Need to function on the fly both setup and problem solving on the fly. Some required training is the responsibility of the individual.
Should have training when the weather is not the best.
How about a simple training – training 101 – then training 102
Workgroup to design one – Dean, KI7CC - Brack, KI7LVZ - Ken, KI7ANO

Call Out Methods
Do have access to Sircom Everbridge – Text, Call, Email
What if don’t have power
Radio? ReCall List?
System is good as is, and if a there’s an issue we already turn the radios on
Let’s monitor 146.760 (Repeater) Primary 146.520 (Simplex) Secondary
Digital Working Group will setup a 440MHz setup as well for listening – Maybe Jerome

Trailer Operations
Pullers are Terry,K7THF Jim, W7OUU Doc, AC7M
Need to have a Training 101 on it. Can also take it on for training purposes.
Pulling it for a training is fine.

Additional TOPIC:
Group is not registered with ARES, so technically not a ARES Member. Need to join the group to keep calling up ARES.
We are currently just a RACES Group.
Terry, K7THF will work with Dan, K7REX to see what is needed to get the organization as ARES.

K7THF: As you can see we covered many topics and stayed pretty focused for about 2 hours. I appreciate the enthusiastic way everyone presented concerns and suggestions. Obviously this will be work in progress but we will no doubt become a more effective emergency response unit… capable and ready!
I also appreciate those who have stepped up to be part of the working groups as we research the relevant materials and protocols needed to improve/validate our organization.
Thanks to all who attended and those who have made the decision to join the RACES/ARES effort. I’ll try to be more effective and keep everyone better informed as we make these advancements. If you have questions or concerns regarding this note taking, please contact me. Likewise if this spurs additional thoughts, questions or comments, let’s hear from you.. Thanks, Alex for taking the original notes for me.


73
Terry Fletcher, K7THF
MV RACES/ARES Liaison Officer
Magic Valley Amateur Radio Club