OCRACES Online and In-Person Meetings and Group Activities
OCRACES has resumed some outside group activities, while
observing current COVID conditions. Online OCRACES meetings have
been well-attended during the 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). However, due to new schedules in the OCSD
Mutual Aid Bureau,
mandatory PSR meetings will occasionally be held on Monday
evenings, resulting in OCRACES ACS net cancelations on those
evenings and possible shift in OCRACES meetings to a different Monday.
Websites with COVID-19 Information
The Orange County Health Care Agency website at
https://occovid19.ochealthinfo.com has information that is
regularly updated regarding the status of COVID-19 in Orange
County. A good site to monitor for the latest Orange
County COVID-19 news is
https://www.ocgov.com.
For information about COVID-19 in the state of California, visit
https://covid19.ca.gov. That site emphasizes that if you
have any symptoms or are at risk, it’s especially important to
stay home and avoid in-person contact with others.
CDC and FEMA have an informative website at
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/. You can also visit
https://www.fema.gov/disaster/coronavirus.
FEMA has a website at
https://www.fema.gov/disaster/coronavirus/rumor-control to help you
distinguish between rumors and facts regarding the response to
the pandemic.
Sign up for County of Orange AlertOC COVID-19 updates to your
smartphone. Text “OCCOVID19” to 888777.
Earthquake Drill on October 20,
2022, Has 36 Check-Ins
On Thursday, October 20, 2022, from 1000 to 1100 hours, OCRACES
conducted its annual Great California ShakeOut Drill, with 36
check-ins from OCRACES, city RACES, and EmComm members on the
146.895 MHz repeater. Participants reported observations of a
simulated strong earthquake, which began in San Diego County and
progressed up through the Santa Ana Mountains and then through
the Chino Hills and Puente Hills. Observations were given as
“Mike-Mike reports, using the Modified Mercalli Earthquake
Intensity Scale. Three simulated major damage reports were also
given. OCRACES Chief Radio Officer Ken Bourne, W6HK, was net
control.
Participating organizations and members included Costa Mesa
RACES (MESAC) (KM6UJD), Fountain Valley RACES (KK6OEX),
Fullerton RACES (KB4GOD), Huntington Beach RACES (KE6BNS and
KB6JOE), Irvine RACES (IDEC) (K6PB), Laguna Niguel ACS/OCHEART
(KK6BML, KB6BXD, WB6CKG, KK6CUR, K0PGE, KI6SHD, KK6URR, and
WB6VEM), Laguna Woods RACES (KN6CVB, K6EEE, AJ6VT, and NH7WG),
Los Alamitos/Seal Beach RACES (KM6RSY), Mission Viejo RACES-ARES
(W6EDT and K6WHC), OCHEART (KE6MVS), Orange RACES (COAR) (KJ6IA,
KF6WRM, and KK6YUP), Orange County RACES (KD6DAQ, KB6EID, WF6F,
W6HK, N6PRL, NJ6R, and N8RG) Placentia RACES (KB6FTI), Red Cross
(KG6WTQ), and Westminster RACES (N6HVC). N2VAJ in Orange also
participated.
City/County RACES & EmComm Drill Held on October 1, 2022
A City/County RACES & EmComm ACS Exercise was held on Saturday,
October 1, 2022, from 0900 to 1200 hours. It was basically a
field-deployment exercise focusing on alternative means of
communications in case of repeater failures. These alternative
means consisted of simplex communications on 2 meters FM and HF
NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave) on 60 meters, Winlink,
and AREDN mesh. Some county and city RACES and EmComm members
operated portable stations at locations that needed to be tested
for local and countywide simplex radio coverage, while most
participants remained at home. W6ACS net control was at the
Orange County EOC at Loma Ridge. Steve Livingston, NJ6R,
operated 2 meters, Randy Benicky, N6PRL, operated 60 meters, and
Scott MacGillivray, KM6RTE, operated Winlink.
From 0900 to 0930 hours, city RACES and EmComm units called a
roll of their members on their primary simplex frequencies,
while OCRACES W6ACS net control (operated by Steve, NJ6R) called
the roll of its members on the OCRACES primary simplex frequency
of 146.595 MHz. From 0930 to 1000 hours, net control called the
roll of the city RACES and EmComm units on 146.595 MHz simplex.
Each unit responded with the total number of participants from
their members and any visitors checking into their net.
On the 2-meter OCRACES roll call from 0900 to 0930 hours,
OCRACES members checking in included KD6DAQ, WF6F, W6HK, and
KJ6UJS. N6PRL (60 meters net control), NJ6R (2 meters net
control), and KM6RTE (Winlink) were operating in the RACES Room
at Loma Ridge.
From 0930 to 1000, City RACES and EmComm units checking in on
the OCRACES primary simplex frequency (146.595 MHz) with their
results included: Anaheim (10), Brea (6), Costa Mesa (8),
Cypress (3), Fountain Valley (5), Fullerton (4), Huntington
Beach (2), Irvine (22), Laguna Niguel (8), Laguna Woods (6 + 1
visitor), Mission Viejo (7), Orange (12 + 1 visitor),
Westminster (3), and Red Cross (1).
Beginning at 1000 hours on 60 meters, OCRACES W6ACS net control
(operated by Randy, N6PRL) ran a net on 60 meters channel 4
(5371.5 kHz dial frequency, upper sideband), using the same roll
call of county and city RACES and EmComm stations within Orange
County as on the regular weekly Saturday morning OCRACES ACS
net. Next, net control called for additional RACES and EmComm
stations in Orange County that are not on the regular Saturday
roll call. Then Randy called RACES/ACS stations outside Orange
County, and finally called non-EmComm stations on the regular
Saturday list.
OCRACES stations participating on 60 meters included WF6F and
W6HK, with N6PRL at W6ACS net control. NJ6R (2-meter net
control) and KM6RTE (Winlink) were also at Loma Ridge. City
RACES units checking in included Brea (K6UDW), Cypress (W6CYP),
Laguna Niguel (N6JCN), Laguna Woods (K6EEE and NH7WG), Mission
Viejo (W6EDT), and Orange (KG6MIG and K0VNJ). NI6E checked in
for Newport Beach Repeater Club. W6GMU checked in for Cal OES
from Cypress. ACS stations checking in from outside Orange
County included W6CAW (Cal OES in Campo, San Diego County) and
N6WIX (Ventura County ACS in Ventura). Participating non-EmComm
stations included WD6AJR (Orange), AA6RF (Riverside), N2VAJ
(Orange), and W6YLD (Santa Maria).
A total of 51 Winlink messages were sent and received, with
messages sent from 25 unique callsigns. The majority of
operators (48.0%, 12 operators) used telnet communications mode.
The next most used communications mode was packet on VHF band
(44.0%, 11 operators). Information was requested about the
Winlink operator’s role in their city or MOU organization that
they were participating on behalf of. In total, 15 organizations
were represented and the operators identified a total 26
instances of membership with these organizations.
City/County RACES & MOU ACS Exercise Held on May 7,
2022

Steve Livingston, NJ6R
(left), at the 2-meter simplex station; Scott MacGillivrary,
KM6RTE (center), at the Winlink station; and Ken Bourne, W6HK
(right), at the 60-meter station at the OC EOC RACES Room. Chi
Nguyen, KE6MVS, operated the OCHEART station.
Simulating repeater outage, a City/County RACES & EmComm ACS
exercise was held on Saturday, May 7, 2022, on 2 meters simplex,
60 meters SSB, Winlink, and AREDN mesh. OCRACES and OCHEART net
controls were at the Orange County EOC at Loma Ridge. The drill
began at 0900 hours with each agency calling its members on
their primary 2-meter or 70-centimeter simplex frequencies for
the first half hour, and then reporting to OCRACES net control
on 146.595 MHz simplex how many had checked in on their primary
frequencies. Participating OCRACES members included Robert
Stoffel, KD6DAQ, Ken Tucker, WF6F, Ken Bourne, W6HK, Scott
Byington, KC6MMF, Randy Benicky, N6PRL, Steve Livingston, NJ6R,
Scott MacGillivray, KM6RTE, and Fran Needham, KJ6UJS. Besides
OCRACES, other participants (their unit check-ins in
parentheses) included RACES units from Anaheim (5), Brea (6),
Costa Mesa (15), Cypress (6), Fountain Valley (5), Fullerton
(4), Huntington Beach (5), Irvine (26), Laguna Niguel (7),
Laguna Woods (5 + 3 guests), Mission Viejo (12), Orange (13),
and Westminster (4), plus Newport Beach Repeater Club (5) and
OCHEART (9). The 60-meter portion of the exercise began at 1000
hours, with 34 check-ins, including stations throughout Orange
County plus San Diego County and Ventura County. On Winlink, 91
messages were sent and received from 31 unique operators, over a
24-hour period. There were 19 operators on telnet. AREDN mesh
participation included RACES units from Anaheim Costa Mesa,
Fountain Valley, Irvine, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, and
OCRACES, plus OCHEART. Most had RF connection to the network.
There were 17 successful VoIP phone calls, and 25 files were
successfully transferred to the FTP file server.
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.
|
Events Calendar
March 4: 0900 hours
Prescreen for PSR Applicants OC Sheriff's Regional Training
Academy, Tustin
March 4: 1000 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 60 meters channel 4
March 6:
1900 hours OCRACES ACS Net 2 m: Robert Stoffel,
KD6DAQ
March 6: 1930 hours OCRACES Meeting (online)
March 11: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net 69
meters channel 4
March 13: 1900 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 2 m: Chuck Streitz, KK6HFS
March 18: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net 60 meters
channel 4
March 20: 1900 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 2 m: Randy Benicky, N6PRL
March 25: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net 60 meters
channel 4
March 27: 1900 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 2 m/70 cm/1¼ m/6 m: Ken Tucker, WF6F
April 1: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net 60 meters channel
4
April 3: 1900 hours OCRACES ACS Net 2
m: Ernest Fierheller, KG6LXT
April 3: 1930 hours OCRACES
Meeting OC Sheriff's Regional Training Academy
April 8: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net 60
meters channel 4
April 10: 1930 hours
OCRACES ACS Net 2 m: Ken Bourne, W6HK
April
15: 1000 hours OCRACES ACS Net 60 meters channel
4
April 17: 1930 hours OCRACES ACS
Net 2 m: Eric Bowen, W6RTR
April 22: 1000
hours OCRACES ACS Net 60 meters channel 4
April 24: 1930 hours OCRACES ACS Net 2 m/70 cm/1¼ m/6 m:
Scott Byington, KC6MMF
April 26: 1830 hours Orientation for PSR
Applicants
May 6: 0900-1200 hours
City/County RACES & EmComm ACS Exercise
May 17
OC EOC Functional Exercise |