Emergency Communications Workshop in Boston

There will be an Emergency Communications Workshop on Saturday August 8th, 2009 from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM at the Boston Salvation Army Headquarters. This session is being put on by the ARES Section Staff through the efforts of Metro Boston ARES District Emergency Coordinator (DEC), Blake Haskell, K1BTH, and the cooperation of the Massachusetts Division of the Salvation Army through the efforts of Frank Murphy, N1DHW, leader of the Boston SATERN team. This Emergency Communications Workshop will provide the background and information to serve Amateur Radio Operators when they need to respond to a communications emergency or when supplemental communications via Amateur Radio is required. It will feature an Introduction and Conclusion to Emergency Communications, and five 1-hour training sessions on topics including:

Overview of Eastern Massachusetts ARES-RACES-SKYWARN Programs:

  • Net Operations
  • NTS Traffic Message Handling
  • Basic Overview of ICS
  • Go Kits

The Boston SATERN Team will also give an overview of the SATERN/TSA agreement that was put in place a number of months ago.

This training will also feature a 1-hour lunch that will be provided at no coerced cost to any Amateur who attends the session. The presentations will be given by other Amateur Operators well versed in the topics listed above. The training will be a worthwhile endeavor not just for emergency communicators but for anyone who is an Amateur Radio Operator, and wants to learn more about the hobby. Preregistration is requested but is not required in case anyone would like to attend at the last minute. Please try to preregister by Monday August 3rd, 2009 to assure the meeting place is setup properly and we have enough refreshments for breaks between lectures and for the lunch break. We will, however, accept any last minute preregistrations after that day or any walk-ins as long as space permits.

Directions to Salvation Army Massachusetts Division Headquarters are available at the Boston Amateur Radio Club (BARC) web site. Please enter on the Columbus Avenue side.

Talk-In will be on the 145.230-Boston Repeater PL: 88.5 Hz.

For any additional information and to preregister for the workshop, please contact:

  • Frank Murphy, N1DHW: n1dhw-at-comcast-dot-net
  • Blake Haskell, K1BTH: k1bth-at-aol-dot-com
  • Rob Macedo, KD1CY: rmacedo-at-rcn-dot-com