2008 will be another building year for the Galveston County ARES. We have 2 certified instructors / examiners / mentors for the ARECC programs now and have begun training classes for Emergency Communications, Level I.

ARES Participation is free to any Ham and ARRL membership is not required. There are no dues or other requirements except to improve our skills as communicators. Galveston County has a new Emergency Operatin Center on Hwy 146 just East of the Gulf Freeway and many of us participate with theGalveston County Emergency Communicatons Group. Several cities in Galveston County maintain their own EOCs as do some major corporations. We have several large hospitals, the Red Cross and Salvation Army that may require our services and many designated shelters. We are not going to invent another service but intend to support the many existing organizations working though the Office of Emergency Mangement and Incident Command System.

THE PLAN:

1... Compile a spread-sheet of active Hams in the county, their capabilities, equipment, and priorities so that we may better apply our resources.

2... Coordinate efforts of various groups by sharing the Tuesday night net on 147.14MHz, the Texas City Repeater.

3... Use the Galveston County OEM callout system of e-mail, cell-phone, and trunked radios

4... TRAINING! Everyone should (must) have FEMA IS-100 & IS-700 to enter a federal disaster area and we need ARRL EC-1.

5... Help on all sides--- in the form of Assistant Emergency Coordinators for West side, East Side and Galveston Island to help organize.

6... Develop a liaison system to move traffic in and out via the NTS, SATERN, MARS, SHARES, TRANSTAR, etc.

7... Utilize both direct and WinLink packet messaging.

THE BIGGEST STEP: Please visit: http://www.gcecg.org

to find applications including RACES which is also important for our mission.

Fill out all the pertinent information along with your intended priorities and any other helpful information such

as net and club affilitations.

Thanks to all who train and prepare with us. Our ultimate goal is to be like the Maytag repairman and never be needed.

If needed we must present a timely and professional effort to support the first responders and those at risk.

73 de Ken, KØKS