Helpful Links

This page contains links to what I think are helpful sites related to Emergency Communications (EmComm), ARES and RACES. These will be expanded as additional useful sites are located.

The link above is the official ARRL Section link for the WV Section.

The link below is the WV Section site maintained within the state (not maintained by ARRL).

I highly recommend the emcomm.org monthly newsletter. It contains some great suggestions.

The above link to the Cloud Cowboy reference is full of information for the SKYWARN spotter.

Handling message traffic is a vital part of emergency communications. During an emergency is not the time to learn how to handle traffic. Be comfortable with handling message traffic during the non-emergency times and it will be easier and faster when things do get bad! Here are some links for helping with handling message traffic:

The tutorial above also has links to message handling instructions and ARL numbered messages (these are common messages that have had numbers assigned to them to make things faster).

Monitoring public service radio transmissions can be helpful in disasters (besides it is fun to listen to the scanner during non-disaster times). A great resource for scanner frequencies is linked below.

Some additional link for ARES and EmComm operators:

Risk Management Game: Yes a game! This game is designed to raise the public's awareness ofdisaster risk and preparedness issues. Read the game guide before starting.

FEMA National Incident Management System: <http://www.fema.gov/nims/>;
IARU Emergency Communications: <http://www.iaru.org/emergency/>;
IARU Region 2 Emergency Communications: <http://www.iaru-r2emcor.net>;
Major Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Nets:
Hurricane Watch Net: <http://www.hwn.org/>;
Maritime Mobile Service Net: <http://www.mmsn.org/>;
Salvation Army (SATERN) Net: <http://www.satern.org>;
Waterway Net: <http://www.waterwayradio.net/>;
VoIP SKYWARN/Hurricane Net: <http://www.voipwx.net/>;
ARRL/Served Agency Memoranda of Understanding:
<http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/mou/>;
National Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster:
<http://www.nvoad.org/>;
American Red Cross: <http://www.redcross.org/>;
National Weather Service: <http://www.nws.noaa.gov/>;
Department of Homeland Security - Citizen Corps, FEMA:
<http://www.citizencorps.gov/>;, <http://www.dhs.gov/>;,
<http://www.fema.gov/>;
Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials- International:
<http://www.apcointl.org/>;
National Communications System: <http://www.ncs.gov/>;
National Association of Radio and Telecommunications Engineers, Inc.:
<http://www.narte.org/>;
Salvation Army: <http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn.nsf>;
Society of Broadcast Engineers: <http://www.sbe.org/>;
Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. <http://www.QCWA.org/>;
Radio Emergency Associated Communication Teams:
<http://www.reactintl.org/>;
SKYWARN: <http://www.skywarn.org/>;