Arlington County RACES

1
Arlington County RACES

• David Jordan
• Chief Information Security Officer
• OEM Emergency Support Function 2 Lead

2
ABOUT RADIO AMATEUR CIVIL EMERGENCY SERVICE
(RACES)

• RACES was established under the Federal
  Communications Commission Rules and Regulations,
  47 CFR 97.407, as part of the amateur radio
  service.
• RACES is employed during a variety of
  emergency/disaster situations where normal
  governmental communications systems have
  sustained damage or when additional
  communications are required or desired.
  Situations that RACES can be used include
  natural disasters, technological disasters, civil
  disorder, nuclear/chemical incidents, acts of
  terrorism or enemy attack.

3
ARLINGTON RACES MISSION

• The mission of Arlington County RACES is to
  establish and maintain the leadership and
  organizational infrastructure necessary to
  provide amateur radio communications in support
  of emergency management in Arlington County
  Virginia.
• Arlington Countys RACES Officer (RO) reports to
  the OEM Emergency Support Function 2 Emergency
  Communications Lead.

4
RACES MISSION FOCUS

• RACES Mission Communications (Unless otherwise
  requested by the served agency)
• Use of RACES assets for other purposes
• Assisting in searches
• Setting up or staffing shelters
• Moving, setting-up or troubleshooting equipment
• Answering telephones or keyboarding data into
  networks
• MUST NOT jeopardize the primary communication
  mission!

5
RACES EARLY BEGINNINGS IN ARLCO

• ARLCO OEM Establishes RACES RO
• Arlington County Public Service Club sponsors
  RACES
• ARPSC installs 2m, 220, Red Cross repeaters
• RACES Volunteer recruitment starts Oct 05
• 25 licensed amateurs sign-up
• 30 unlicensed county employees express interest
  in getting a license.
• Technician Class developed for WEBCAST
• Basic RACES Operator Class developed for WEBCAST

6
OEM Emergency Support Function 2 EmCom

• ESF 2 responsible for County Government voice,
  video, data, EOC, MCVs, ETSU support and RACES.
• Three RACES Alternate Radio Officers
• Three Arlington RACES teams (ARL, FFX, ALEX,
  other jurisdictions).

7
Current ARLCO RACES Status

• 21 Certified RACES volunteers as of 06/06
• RACES Team has participated in two major
  exercises (Fairfax, VA AEOC drill and ARRL Field
  Day)
• Weekly Net exercises
• Arlington Alert activation by cell phone,
  email, etc.
• W4AVA.ORG website updated regularly

8
Volunteer Requirements

• Mandatory character background checks
• Successful completion of basic communications
  training
• Pass vehicle inspection
• Maintain active roll in exercises
• FEMA NIMS training required
• County issued OEM ID badge

9
RACES BASIC OPERATOR TRAINING

• UNIT 1 Introduction to Emergency Communication
• UNIT 2 Operating Procedures for Voice Nets
• UNIT 3 Message Handling Using ICS 213 Form
• UNIT 4 Personal Preparedness and Equipment
  Recommendations
• UNIT 5 RACES Interfaces and Functions in the EOC
• TEST (85 or 38/50 required for passing)

10
Emergency Technology Support Unit Objectives

• Provide high speed Inet and Internet access to
  users and additional communications vehicles.
• Allow inbound and outbound connections from
  multitude of video end-points and to allow video
  conferencing from the vehicle and to host
  conferences from other video end-points
• Provide a mobile data storage solution to allow
  access of county resources such as Pictometery,
  traffic cameras, GIS data, and reporting tools.

11
FEDERAL FACILITIES IN ARLCO

• Pentagon, Navy Annex, National Airport
• National Guard Readiness Center
• State Dept. Foreign Affairs Training Center
• 30 other Federal agencies
• ARLCO responsible for first response to these
  agencies

12
RACES W4AVA REPEATERS OVERLOOKS DC/NOVA

• 144 220 MHz Coverage
• W4AVA HF with antennas for 80 - 10 M
• Antenna site shared with National HQ American Red
  Cross GMRS, NRC business band repeater and county
  public safety 800 radio system site.

                                               S
TATION W4AVAThe Arlington Radio Public Service
Club operates W4AVA, the National Capital
Region's first club Internet Remote Amateur
Radio (IRAR) HF station.
13
ARLINGTON RACES FUTURE

• Develop General class on-line licensing and RACES
  Basic Operator Courses ongoing
• Weekly practice nets, monthly activities
• FEMA Courses IS-100, IS-700 etc. for Leaders and
  Operators
• Dual band 2m/440 radios and base antenna
  equipment located at ARLCO Fire stations
• Future goals Packet equipped and trained, HF
  liaison stations ready

14
Contact Information

• David Jordan
• Arlington County Government, Virginia
• OEM ESF 2 Lead, RACES Radio Officer
• Department of Technology Services
• Chief Information Security Officer
• 703-228-3185
• Djordan_at_arlingtonva.us
• www.arlingtonalert.com