SATURDAY ====== 09:00 ====== Session 01: Keynote: Snow, Ice and Flooding: King County's Response to Severe Winter Weather / Robin Friedman Robin Friedman will discuss the local response to the series of consecutive winter storms that significantly impacted the Puget Sound Region from November 2008 - January 2009 including how King County interacted with other city, county, and state agencies to coordinate communications and resources. Robin is the Director of King County's Office of Emergency Management. Previously, he served as Director of Security and Emergency Management for Seattle Public Utilities, and has participated in a wide variety of emergency management efforts, both locally and nationally. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Robin served sixteen years in the United States Army before honorably retiring in 1996. Since April 2008 he has effectively collaborated with city and county departments and regional partners to enhance emergency management coordination and readiness capabilities. ====== 10:45 ====== Session 02: Radio Basics: Getting your first radio / Speaker to come This session will examine the choices you have in choosing your first radio - mobile vs. HT vs. base, single vs. dual band vs. tri band, new or used, HF??, and of course -- how much is it going to cost! We'll explore the choices from the major manufacturers, how to read and interpret the literature, where to find product reviews, where you can get the radio, and how to sort out the questions to help you choose the best radio for what your interests are (and wallet can afford). This session will also look at accessories that you may want to consider, antenna choices for various applications, and battery considerations. About the Radio Basic Sessions Do you feel like you rushed through the technician class, got your license, but now you find yourself asking, "What do I do now"? This track will try to help answer that question by looking at "what they didn't teach you in the technician license class". This track is geared toward the new technician class licensee who may have completed self-study or a weekend technician class and is ready to take the next step into amateur radio. Various instructors will take newly licensed or beginning radio operators through a five-session course to help them learn what they didn’t in licensing class. See additional classes: Session 07: I have my radio, now how do I turn it on? Session 15: But I'm afraid to talk into that microphone! Sunday Session 18: This is fun, what's next! Session 23: I get it now! "EmComm 101 Basic Equipment Needs for Voice and Digital Field Stations" (Technology Lab) Dave Mann, Chris Osburn Session 03: Ready or not . . . here comes disaster / JoAnn Jordan Disasters happen. The challenge is taking preparedness serious enough to get ready before it happens. Preparedness reduces the impacts and speeds up the recovery. Preparedness doesn't have to take a lot of time or money. It can be fun and empowering. This class will highlight the importance of preparedness, suggest simple actions to take to get prepared and give participants the power to influence others into taking actions to be better prepared at home and work. JoAnn has a bachelor’s degree in education from Central Washington University. She has been in the field of education nearly 30 years, with experience teaching all ages. JoAnn was hired by City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management in 2006 as Public Education Program Coordinator. Prior to Seattle, JoAnn was with the City of Bellevue Fire Department as the Education Coordinator for the Emergency Management Division. She has been working in the field of Emergency Management, specializing in Disaster Preparedness Education for schools, businesses, and neighborhoods for 18 years. JoAnn has received several awards including Bellevue Fire Department "Employee of the Year", "Public Educator of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement" from the Washington State Public Fire Educators Association. Her unique disaster preparedness education programs have received national honors from the International Association of Emergency Managers. Session 04: Disaster: Is it lessons learned or just lessons observed? / Bill Lokey Lokey will cover the basic principals of emergency management and look at the recurring problems that always seem to occur when communities are overwhelmed by disaster. The presentation will also suggest some basic strategies that can improve a community or organization's preparedness and response capabilities. William Lokey has been active in emergency management and search and rescue for over 40 years. He began as a Mountain Rescue volunteer and a survival and search & rescue instructor for the US Antarctic Program in the late 1960’s, spending three winter-overs in Antarctica. He went to work for the Washington State Department of Emergency Management in 1977, working on development of the State Disaster Plan, earthquake preparedness and search and rescue. In 1981, he was appointed Assistant Director for Operations, responsible for disaster response, warning, communications, search and rescue, hazardous materials planning and recovery efforts and Restricted Zone management for Mt. Saint Helens. In 1986, he became the Director of Emergency Management for Pierce County. Pierce County DEM was the sponsor of the Washington Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, one of the federal government’s National Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Response teams. He responded as a Task Force Leader with the Washington team to the Northridge Earthquake and the Oklahoma City Bombing. Bill became a Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO) for FEMA in April of 1999. He has served as FCO for 24 declared disasters including for Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. In February, 2007, Bill left FEMA and joined James Lee Witt Associates as a Program Director and attached to the JLWA Sacramento Office. He works with private and public sector clients on plan development, training and disaster recovery. Session 05: Anatomy and Comparison of Digital Voice Modes / Nick Sutton, N7QOR Explore emerging technology in Digital Voice modes, including D-Star, P25, & NXDN, digital voice modes, features of each mode, and benefits to EMCOMM operations. Nick Sutton is an Extra class HAM and has been licensed for more than 15 years. Nick has been a licensed Journey Level Electrician specializing in Low Voltage signaling and communications technologies for more than 20 years. Nick enjoys many aspects of Amateur operation including HF, VHF/UHF, and digital modes. Session 06: Using Microsoft Groove as a communication tool for ARES teams / Kevin Natale, KD7WES How Redmond ARES uses Groove to communicate and collaborate with each other. Groove (written by Ray Ozzie and purchased a few years ago by Microsoft) is in use around the world in situations where poor or unreliable data network conditions exist and is also used by many governmental agencies such as FEMA, and several state EOC's. It functions under a distributed peer-to-peer model where everyone has access to data and there are no (required) servers to keep the environment up. ====== 12:00 ====== Lunch, ARRL Awards, Networking, Door Prizes, etc. ====== 13:30 ====== Session 07: Radio Basics: I have my radio, now how do I turn it on? / Speaker to come Now that you have a radio, what are all these buttons for? This session will be a hands on session - bring your HT if you have one, but there will be demonstrations if you don't. The class will start with the basics - understanding the instruction manual, how to read and follow the instruction manual, and understanding the various functions and capabilities of the radio, including an overview of simplex and repeater operation. The hands-on part will have you perform the basic functions from your own manual (or watch a demonstration) - turning the radio on, using the VFO to program both a simplex frequency and a repeater frequency, understanding memory channels, and storing a frequency into a memory channel. We'll also have a quick look at some of the more advanced features that may be available on your radio. The class will also demonstrate aids to helping you with your radio, such as programming software and "cheat sheets". Finally, you will learn where to find those frequencies to program into your radio. Session 08: Two-Way Radio Mobile installations / Wesley Pellum This goal of this lecture is to provide the target audience with a clear understanding of the appropriate installation standards of mobile two way radios into vehicles. This lecture will cover topics such as the proper manner to route cables, current/ wire gauge requirements, proper grounding, most importantly what not to do. This will be a PowerPoint presentation that will have slides to accompany the lecture. Wesley Pellum has 14 years of experience in the two way radio business. After serving in the Marine Corps as an Aviation Radio Technician, he made the transition into the civilian world as a two way radio installer for the City of Charlotte in NC. His ambition led him to a quick promotion to Radio Technician. Shortly afterwards, Wesley moved to the Phoenix area to take the position of Field Radio Tech and Sr Field Radio Tech soon after. After spending a few years as a Sr Field Tech, Wesley pursued a degree in Business in order to broaden his skill set. Wesley currently works as the Assistant Service Manager at Day Wireless Systems in SeaTac, Wa. Wesley has a skill set that ranges from two way radio installations to integrating multimillion dollar public safety systems. Session 09: Washington State and 2010 Olympic Communications Interoperability / Charles Radabaugh A discussion on work currently being done to support the 2010 Olympics as it relates to Washington State Charlie Radabaugh is the Co-Chair 2010 Olympics Security Committee Communications Interoperability Work Group, He has spent the past 27 years of Government service as an Electronics Technician, The last nine years at Telecommunications Manager for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Session 10: EmComm Resource Mapping and What-if Disaster Planning Made Easy / Kim S. Buike Responding effectively when the emergency occurs is very much dependent on how well organizations have planned and prepared BEFORE something happens. This presentation introduces a new kind of “what-if” mapping software named Depiction that makes it easy to map EmComm and other resources and information; and allows users to develop and visualize different disaster scenarios to improve planning effectiveness. Kim S. Buike is a retired Navy Captain having served on active duty for 27 years and is the former Commanding Officer of Naval Station Everett, WA. He is a member of the Snohomish County Red Cross and United Way Boards of Directors and volunteers as the ESF-6 (Mass Care) Representative in the County EOC during disasters. Kim holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in business. He currently works for Depiction, Inc. in Everett, WA. Session 11: D-Star System Overview / Scott Honaker, N7SS DSTAR has grown into a system well suited for emergency communications. This introduction will describe the technology and some potential applications. This presentation should be of interest to anyone providing digital services to served agencies. Scott is President of the Microsoft Amateur Radio Club (Microhams) and the Snohomish County RACES Radio Officer. He has a keen interest in digital modes and is in the process of getting a DSTAR repeater system on the air. ====== 15:15 ====== Session 12: "Ask The Doctor" Forum / Moderator Ward Silver, N0AX An open forum panel Q&A on technical and operating topics. Participants of all levels are encouraged to ask the panelists for explanations or solutions to all kinds of technical and operating challenges. Panelists: Jim Hadlock, K7WA; Ralph Javins, N7KGA; Rick Olsen, N6NR; Dennis Dura, K2DCD Session 13: "D-RATS: Making the most of D-STAR slow data" / Dan Smith, KK7DS Discussion of the design and implementation of D-RATS, a tool to leverage the D-STAR slow-speed data channel. Overview of the D-STAR system and data component, as well as a summary of the current level of functionality provided by D-RATS. Dan Smith, KK7DS, is a software engineer for IBM's Linux Technology Center in Beaverton, OR. He has been a licensed amateur operator since 2004, and recently interested in D-STAR since January 2008. Session 14: Urban Survival In Times of Extreme Emergencies / Richard Nelson This presentation focuses on Basic survival skills for coping with a disaster when you are in a city. It is targeted at anyone who lives in a larger city, but would be of interest to those in small or medium size cities as well. Richard Nelson is a former Wilderness Ranger; Snohomish County K9 Search and Rescue; Lecturer on Survival, Map Compass and GPS Navigation; Emergency Preparedness Consultant for Businesses; Inventor of the Stove Buckworks, an ultra-lite emergency stove and heat source; currently Founder of NelsonNelson, Inc. a digital marketing and advertising consulting company. Session 15: Radio Basics: But I'm afraid to talk into that microphone! / Speaker to come We have all had mike fright, and it not only strikes beginners! This session will help you overcome that mike fright by explaining amateur radio etiquette - knowing the procedures will help you build confidence to get on the air! The do's and don'ts of talking over the radio will be demonstrated, and you will have an opportunity to both observe and practice these techniques "off the air" in a friendly environment. We'll go over typical net procedures and how to "check in" to a net, and how to start a contact on the air with someone you never met. Then, you will have an opportunity to actually get on the air in the Comm Academy's own "Comm Academy Net". Session 16: Impacts to Infrastructure and Communications from the Wenchuan, China Earthquake / David B. Swanson, PE/SE David is a Principal and Director of Structural Engineering with Reid Middleton.