ACES

The first ACES-Basic certification class held in Whatcom County, Washington concluded with all 14 attendees completing the program. Thanks to logistical support from the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office and the Blaine Police Department, the course was hosted at the North Whatcom Fire / Whatcom County Sheriff's substation. Organized by Whatcom County Sheriff's Office Auxiliary Communications Service Director Brian Lawler, KN0N, and assisted by Kelly and Joyce Kiniski, the course took place over a 3 day weekend. Course costs were covered by the agencies who sponsored attendees. Many of the students stayed for the additional train the trainer module to be available to assist with future class offerings in the area. For a full write-up, see Brian's blog.

Oregon ACES was invited to the annual UASI CERT Rodeo held in Sherwood to provide a training module on communications.  A special program was developed to introduce CERT members to Amateur Radio and to educate them on basic communications skills and concepts.  It also included a presentation of advantages and disadvantages of FRS and GMRS radios as well as tips for optimizing their use. The rodeo is structured as 10 groups of CERT members rotating through different stations, each about 35 minutes in length.  Students were introduced to Amateur Radio as a communications solution for CERT operations, and provided resources for licensing and training.  Since some of the CERT members were already licensed, several took the opportunity to sign up for the ACES Basic course offered in Hillsboro.
 

Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay recently sponsored an ACES class in Manzanita, Oregon. Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay was started as a Map Your Neighborhood effort and has grown into a many pronged organization that includes MYN (98 neighborhoods), CERT (57), Red Cross (45), Ham radio operators (43), 12 of which completed the ACES Basic Certification.  EVC continues to be a model community program, recently installing their own amateur radio repeater and winlink node to provide service in their area.   Working directly for Tillamook County Emergency Management, the EVC group continues to develop and train responding personnel and citizens in all aspects of emergency preparedness.  The BASIC course included seven ACES instructors teaching different units with practical message passing, tactical nets, and a deployment exercise.

Depoe Bay CERT and Lincoln County ACS sponsored an ACES BASIC class at the Gleneden Beach Depoe Bay Fire Hall.  The class consisted of new North Lincoln and Depoe Bay CERT communicators as well as ACS/RACES communicators.  Four ACES instructors participated in the presentation and fourteen people graduated from the program.  Depoe Bay CERT has been very proactive in encouraging their members to get amateur radio licenses.  Student experience ranged from less than one year to well over 30 years, with the more experienced students pitching in to help the newer folks learn the techniques needed for emergency communications.