Registration

Welcome and introductory remarks.

Session 01: Keynote Speaker -- Communicating in the new world of Homeland Security

William (Bill) Lokey, Federal Coordinating Officer, FEMA Reg. X will cover the status of the new National Response Plan, ESF-2 (Communications), current FEMA operational capability in support of State and Local governments, and a basic overview of Federal response to disasters.

Session 02: Emergency Communications from a National Perspective

This interactive PowerPoint Presentation will invite input and discussion about how best to meet the ever-increasing demand for amateur radio operators to assist their communities and homeland security.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Dan Miller, K3UFG – Emergency Communications Course Manager, ARRL – the national association for Amateur Radio

Session 03: Public Health and Public Health Emergency Response and "Public Health's Amateur Radio Team

This presentation will be provided in two parts. The first part will be a discussion of current and emerging threats to public health, and how Public Health departments respond to public health emergencies. Byron will also discuss how communicators may be incorporated into the response, for communications assistance with mass immunization clinics; prophylactic pharmaceutical dispensing for large scale outbreaks, and the like. The second part will discuss the development of the PHAR (Public Health Amateur Radio) Team, their role and activities.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Byron Byrne is a Program Manager in the Preparedness Section of Public Health Seattle & King County. His portfolio includes planning and exercises. Additionally, Byron has emergency response assignments as a Public Health Duty Officer and as staff at the Public Health EOC. He participated in Public Health response to WTO, Y2K, the Nisqually Earthquake, 9-11, and recently the Dalco Passage oil spill. Christopher Skilton(KD7SCX) and Allan Persyn(K7NWR) are Public Health Seattle & King County employees and Amateur radio operators. Chris and Allen are an integral part of Public Health's emergency communications capability. They are also members of the Western Washington Medical Services Team.

Session 04: ABC's of Emergency Communications

An overview of the whole topic of emergency communications, especially as it relates to being a volunteer with a "served" agency. It covers everything from attributes of a good communicator to equipment considerations -- basics of communication to do's & don'ts. It is designed to be interactive. Target audience: ANYONE new or fairly new to the field of emergency communications, especially those just beginning to work with a served agency, no matter the volunteer capacity, no matter the equipment used (amateur radio, CB, FRS, GFRS pencil & paper, telephone).

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Sharon Steele, KD7OVK – ESCA RACES

Ham radio operator, general class KD7OVK, licensed since November, 2001 CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) volunteer & presenter at 2003 & 2004 CERT Expos in Snohomish County. Member of ESCA RACES, DEM RACES, & Snohomish County ARES. Member of the Lynnwood PD Citizens Patrol since January 1999: on the Board & training team for use of the radio - 800 MHz. Member of the Disaster Preparedness Team, Lynnwood DSHS co-located facility: presenter on disaster preparedness. Have logged approximately 4700 hours of volunteer service for various agencies over the past 30+ years. Have a passion for "making a difference" & doing it well!

Session 05: VHF+ RF Coverage Modeling with Radio Mobile Software

This course looks at basic VHF propagation modes and investigates probable RF coverage situations using the Radio Mobile for Windows Radio Propagation and Virtual Mapping Freeware program by VE2DBE. This software helps to verify the performance of point-to-point or a network of radio links. Shuttle Radar Topography maps are combined with Digital Elevation Map data and a choice of road map overlays to enable the accurate spotting of radio locations and the analysis of path loss between them. Networks of links can also be configured with control of the power, height, and gain, and environment conditions. This is useful for repeater location planning and frequency coordination as well as planning ad-hoc mobile simplex net control operating locations.

Mike Lewis, K7MDL, is an active VHF, UHF, and microwave experimenter and contester. Preferring to rove to mountain tops near and far during and between contests, he uses Radio Mobile to help select optimal travel routes and stopping points to extract the most contacts and put rare grids on the air. He is a Solution Architect at Microsoft Corporation, and a 28 year veteran of the nuclear power and telecommunications industry.

Lunch
IRIS Update by Peter Simpson; Drawings for Door Prize and raffle prizes

Session 06:Seaport Security and Security Awareness

Current Seaport security initiatives and basic security awareness. Target audience is the public, volunteers, anyone associated with/ or receiving goods that enter the country through the Maritime Transportation System.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Russ Read is a graduate of Oregon State University and has spent the last fifteen years involved in law enforcement and security in the Northwest. He was a deputy sheriff in Lane County, Oregon, and spent twelve years in the US. Coast Guard, with tours at Coast Guard Headquarters and the Marine Safety Office Puget Sound, in Seattle. His background in the Coast Guard includes environmental and emergency response, container inspections, foreign vessel regulatory compliance, contingency and operational planning, communications and intelligence. Russ is currently the Seaport Security Systems Manager and Facility Security Officer for the Port of Seattle seaport, and is responsible for seaport security systems integration and regulatory compliance for the Port's Seaport facilities.

Session 07: A Tri-band NVIS Dipole – for Fixed Installations

A brief description of NVIS theory, followed by construction details and discussion. This is the third NVIS presentation in a series.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Tom Sanders, W6QJI, Kitsap Co. ACS. Tom was first licensed as W6QJI in Sept. 1938, and with the exception of four years during WWII, he has been continuously active. During WWII he was an ET in submarine Radar with five successful war patrols. He is a graduate of the V12 Naval Officers Engineering program through the end of WWII.

Throughout his ham career, his principal interest has been antennas for use in EmComm, DX and an occasional rag chew. He holds DXCC, WAS and WAZ certificates.

He first became interested in EmComm in So. Calif. in 1948. He participated in post event earthquake communications support of LA Co. Fire, Police and Red Cross and in various Comm. Nets. He has been active in Kitsap and Pierce Co. EmComm programs for 15 years and held a temporary DEC position for one year. He currently holds an OES appointment

Working with the Western Washington Section Mgr. Ed Bruette (N7NVP) and the Pierce Co. DEC Mark Yordy (W7BBO), they have developed a series of very successful NVIS antenna designs.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: WWA Section Manager Ed Bruette, N7NVP is a retired US Navy Submarine Communications Officer who was first licensed in 1988 and became active in emergency communications the following year. He served as Kitsap Co. ARES Emergency Coordinator for 4 years, Assist. State RACES Officer for 4.5 years, ARES WWA Section Emergency Coordinator for 5 years and currently is the State RACES Officer. Additionally he has held several elected positions in the North Kitsap Amateur Radio Club and the Western WA Amateur Relay Assoc. His interest in NVIS antennas was sparked while searching for a reliable method of communicating statewide during disasters.

Session 08: Mount St. Helens--The 2004-05 Eruption in Progress

Mount St. Helens made a spectacular reawakening in Fall 2004. This ongoing eruption has disappeared from news headlines but continues today. A growing lava dome is rebuilding the mountain which had lost much of its volume in catastrophic eruption and landslide of May 18th, 1980. This talk focuses on the sequence of events during the 2004-05 eruption, on hazards and future eruptive activity at Mount St. Helens.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Carolyn Driedger is a Hydrologist with the US Geological Survey. She has worked at the US Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory since 1990. During Carolyn's scientific career she focused her studies on glacier-related floods and volcanic hazards caused by the enormous loads of snow and ice covering the Cascade volcanoes. Most recently, Carolyn is spearheading an effort to inform public officials, emergency planners and educators in communities at risk about volcanic hazards.

Session 09: Back-Up Electrical Sources – Installation and Safety

Having a back-up electrical source that is improperly configured or connected can be as lethal as any emergency that may have necessitated the activation of your back-up system to begin with. This presentation will briefly cover various back-up generation systems widely available and cover proper ways to connect them to your residence. Target audience: Anyone considering buying or using an electrical generator for use during emergencies.

Allan Kush, WV7R, Radio Officer, W. WA. Medical Services, Communications; Owner, Reliant Electric. Allan currently is a partner in a Seattle area electrical contracting company. With over 20 years of experience in the field, he holds a State of Washington Master Electrician Certificate, and has worked as a municipal electrical inspector.

Break
Van and Exhibitor displays

Session 10: Earthquakes in the Cascadia Region: Where, when, and how?

The instructor will focus on the three earthquake sources in Cascadia, new evidence for previously unidentified faults, and what past earthquakes tell us about future earthquake hazards in western Washington.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Brian Sherrod, Research geologist - USGS. Brian Sherrod is a research geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Seattle, Washington. He received a B.S. in Geology from James Madison University in Virginia, a M.S. in Geology for the University of Pittsburgh, and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of Washington. His main area of research is paleoseismology of western Washington - basically he looks for evidence of past earthquakes in the geological record. He is currently working on evidence for surface ruptures along the Seattle fault zone, the Tacoma fault zone between Tacoma and Hood Canal, and coastal uplift and surface rupture along the southern Whidbey Island fault zone.

Session 11: Winlink 2000 Boot Camp

PowerPoint presentation on the basics of the Winlink 2000 system. This will include Winlink associated software Airmail, Telpac, and Paclink. It will answer the questions, ? What Winlink 2000 is. ? How it works. ? What Hardware do you need? ? What Software you need and where to get it. ? How to set-up your HF or VHF station. A complete Pactor III HF and Telpac/Paclink VHF station will be there.

This is designed as an entry level presentation to help the new user to get started in the right direction.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Robert Kesson, K7CGA; US Coast Guard Auxiliary Asst. Communications Officer. Mr. Kesson has been an amateur radio operator for 43 years and has an Extra Class License. Active as a volunteer in the public service arena in Dayton, Ohio since 1973, he was a Firefighter / Paramedic and is still member of Dayton Amateur Radio Association, serving on the DARA Hamvention Talk-in team and the DARA Mobile Command Center operations staff. Currently living in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Bob is the Communications Staff Officer for the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, Pacific Area District 13(East) and Division 8.

Session 12: Thinking Ahead – Amateur Radio Planning and ICS

Using actual incidents, this tabletop exercise will cover the uses of amateur radio, the limitations of AR during a disaster, and spares. Level 100 ICS strongly recommended.

Tom Cox, VE6TOX, is the Emergency Coordinator for the Edmonton Region ARES. With 15 years of emergency volunteer work ten years as a licensed amateur, Tom has had experience in both Alberta and British Columbia, including training the Vancouver Disaster Assistance Team, creating the TOPHAT emergency communications contests and volunteering with the Vancouver Emergency Community Telecommunications Organization (VECTOR). He is currently running a two year training program for amateurs in the Edmonton region on disaster characteristics, incident command and emergency communications for both events and emergencies. He also writes on various aspects of emergency communications. You can find most of his material at www.amateurradio.ca.

Session 13: Communications in the Field

A discussion and demonstration of equipment to support field communications, includes useful ideas for packaging, emergency deployment, etc.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Ralph Javins, N7KGA, is a retired former motorcycle road racer. Now builds ham radio equipment and plays radio. Ralph has been a licensed Amateur Radio operator since 1955, first getting his license in Hawaii. He previously built satellites for the US Navy Research Lab. He was a traffic signal technician for the Washington State Dept of Transportation, until retiring last year.