Amateur Radio Emergency Service / Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service
 (ARES/RACES)
 
Operations Manual
for
Columbia County Oregon

Table of Contents

BACKGROUND

The Columbia County Amateur Radio Emergency Service/Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (ARES/RACES) Operations Manual was developed to disseminate information to members of the organization in a standardized format and to provide a text for the training of new members.

In the past, members who missed a meeting during which operating procedures were discussed had no ready means to become familiar with those topics. This gave rise to confusion and frustration during drills and exercises when all members did not follow the same procedures. This Operations Manual will aid members in finding information as the need arises, with minimal or no difficulties.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this manual is (1) to disseminate operating procedures that will be applied uniformly by the Columbia County ARES/RACES group while engaged in emergency communication and/or simulated emergency exercises, and (2) to provide a text to be used as the source of material in training meetings of the Columbia County ARES/RACES teams.

MANUAL ORGANIZATION

This manual is organized into five main sections as shown in the Table of Contents. These five sections become the standard operating procedures (SOP) for the Columbia County ARES/RACES organization. The remainder of the manual consists of Appendices where information for various topics can be collected as time goes by. The appendices are not individually paginated, so the user can add information from other sources on any given topic as needed. It is suggested that you place the five main sections and the appendix information in a 3-ring, loose-leaf binder with divider tabs for each section and appendix topic. A "D-ring" binder is best, as it allows the binder to lay flat. It is also suggested that you obtain a zipper case which will fit in the back of your 3-ring binder to hold items such as pencils, pens, ruler, note pads, county map, ARES/RACES badges, etc.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The table of contents is listed here as links to each section of the manual. At this time not all sections have been created for the web site. Table of content items that are links will allow you to view that section of the manual. Additional manual pages will be available in the future.

MANUAL COVER

MANUAL SPINE (In Word Format so you can Change the Call Sign)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INDEX TABS

SECTION 1 - ARES/RACES Organization

SECTION 2 - Columbia County ARES/RACES Plan

SECTION 3 - Call-out Procedure & Net Operation

SECTION 4 - Handling Radio Traffic

SECTION 5 - Setting Up & Operating an Emergency Station

APPENDIX A - Glossary of Terms, Initials and Acronyms

APPENDIX B - Columbia County ARES/RACES Organization

APPENDIX C - ARES/RACES Frequencies

APPENDIX D - Packet Information

APPENDIX E - County and State ARES/RACES Information

APPENDIX F - Emergency Power Supply Information

APPENDIX G - Emergency Antenna Information

APPENDIX H - Emergency Preparedness Information

APPENDIX I - Tables & Charts

APPENDIX J - ICS FORMS

APPENDIX K - Message Forms

APPENDIX L - Training Sources

APPENDIX M - Contact Information (Password Protected)

 

Updated: 2/16/10