Basic Certification

On March 30, 2010 feedback was integrated into this outline from Oregon ARES ECs, Oregon Emergency Managers, and amateur operators from across the country.

During 2020, the material was updated to synchronize it with the Federal AUXCOMM course and make it possible to deliver in a weekend.

This training and certification will involve sixteen (16) hours of classroom and/or online training including practical evaluation where the operator must demonstrate the specific learning competencies outlined for the course. This course will cover basic emergency communications topics and procedures for operating VHF/UHF voice only.

Students attending this course are expected to bring a hand held amateur radio with instruction book as well as proof of completion of IS-100, IS-200 and IS-700 FEMA courses.  Students should have a working knowledge of their radio and be able to do basic programming of frequencies and other parameters covered in the course.

The following outline is representative of the material to be presented in the classroom.

Unit 1:  Introduction to Emergency Communications

Unit 2:  Programming and Operating VHF/UHF Equipment


Unit 3:  Emergency Communications Groups and Served Agencies

Unit 4:  Basic Communications Skills for Emergency Communications

Unit 5:  Basic Equipment Selection for Emergency Communications

Unit 6:  Public Safety and Other Communications Systems

Unit 7:  Mapping and GPS use

Unit 8:  Incident Command System for Communications

Unit 9:  Activation and Response

Unit 10:  Weather and Situational Awareness

Unit 11:  Basic Message Handling

Unit 12:  Message Handling Classroom Exercise

Classroom Exercise

Unit 13:  Troubleshooting Field Operations

Unit 14:  Communications Integrity

At the end of the course there will be a comprehensive 40 question multiple choice test.  Students must pass with a 75% or higher score.
At the end of each session, there is an exercise to demonstrate the following skills:

Individual


Classroom