Here’s to a successful 2009.
I’ve been spending way too much time on Twitter recently so my postings here have been minimal. Some upcoming blog posts will cover, the backyard coax burial project and replacement Cobra antenna install.
Boxboro Convention 2008, ICS Training
August 28, 2008 By
Last Saturday, I got to put on my spiffy, brand-new N1HIT shirt and answer questions about D-Star at Boxboro, the ARRL New England Division Convention, where N1HIT had a booth. Great crowd and a lot to see.
Before Boxboro officially started, I drove down on Friday and took an 8 hour class on ICS 100. ICS is the Incident Command System,
“A standardized on-scene emergency management construct specifically designed to provide for the adoption of an integrated organizational structure that reflects the complexity and demands of single or multiple incidents, without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries.”
Basically, ICS enables all the different groups that respond to an emergency (a car accident, a forest fire, a major terrorist act, etc.) to operate as one unified force. For us hams, I feel that we must understand and be able to operate under the Incident Command System and the National Incident Management System (NIMS). I’ve taken the ARRL Emergency Communications Course 1 (EC-001) and plan on taking the remaining two courses as well as continuing with ICS training. That said, all the classes and books in the world on handling an emergency are not going to be of much help unless you practice. Tonite, I’ll be the Net Control Station/Operator for our weekly ARES Net. I’m off to prepare my notes.
Yet another amateur radio post…
August 5, 2008 By
It’s been an interesting summer. Got the HF dipole up (it rocks, signal reports have been very positive) and the electrical storms have kept me busy.
The past several weeks have seen a lot of rainy afternoons with strong winds and lightning here in Southern NH. We even had an EF-1 to EF-2 tornado cause some major damage and, sadly, a death and injuries. My home was far from the path of the tornado and spared any damage but I’m working diligently on a better grounding system for my radios with lightning arrestors and other improvements. The first and easiest step I took was to better protect the HF balun from the elements. Here are a few pics of the housing I put together to keep the balun relatively dry and above the snow line come winter.
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