Emergency Preparedness Committee
special power/communications out meeting
5/02/20

The meeting was called to order at 8:33 am using the Webex virtual club room. Members present included Doug/K4DGG, Eric/WA4EMN, Dick/W4NWD, Joe/W0QF, Keith/KI5US, Jeff/KX4RP, Paul/KM4VRH, Dan/N2MEO, John/WA9OXB, Dennis/KM4WMC

The purpose of this meeting was to discuss what we would do if our club room and club resources were not available in the event of an emergency when both power and communications capabilities were lost. Dick/W4NWD thinks we have 5 areas of potential responsibility.

1. We are committed to back up the EOC communications to the State EOC in Tallahassee. It may be a remote probability that both the EOC and KPARC are down at the same time.
2. We serve as a monitoring station for SCCARC and assist with communications when they are overwhelmed.
3. We are spinning up support for a community Disaster Radio System (DRS) using community FRS and GMRS radios supported by club ham operators.
4. We provide health and safety messaging after an emergency
5. We provide other communications support, as needed

We talked about developing working relationships with other local clubs where we could provide mutual support. We also talked about the need to have an ongoing message passing test session possibly on a weekly basis. We are looking for someone who could lead this effort.

Action Items:

• Keith/KI5US suggested we develop a document that articulates our capabilities and intentions for emergency communications. He will start a document that we can work on collaboratively.
• Joe/W0QF will contact the Sumpter County radio club to find out what they do in power out emergencies and what their plans are. He is also considering what kind of working relationships we might want to have with other radio clubs who could assist us or who we might be able to assist in emergencies.
• Eric/WA4EMN will reach out to the Florida Disaster Net to see if we could develop a closer working relationship with them and if mutual aid agreements might be viable.

The meeting was adjourned at about 9:33 am
Doug/K4DGG