Rolla Regional Amateur Radio Society


Emergency Preparedness

Suggestions to Consider During Emergencies
  • In any emergency, your first priority should be the safety of your family and yourself and your property.
  • Monitor local commercial radio stations for information.
  • If the WØGS repeater (146.790 MHz, PL 88.5 Hz) is operational, monitor it for activity. Remember that if you are in or near the City of Rolla, you can use the alternate repeater (147.210 MHz, PL 88.5 Hz) which is linked to the 146.790 MHz repeater.
  • If you have an important message or need to communicate, make a brief call on the repeater to ask for assistance, identifying the level of importance of your message or need (classes would be "EMERGENCY" "PRIORITY" "INFORMATION").
  • If the WØGS repeater is off the air, set your radio for SIMPLEX operation on 146.790 MHz and make any necessary calls. Make sure you tone squelch is turned off, and reduce your audio squelch to minimum so you can copy weak signals.
  • If the WØGS repeater is working, and you have lengthy information to pass or receive, please coordinate another frequency with the other station (suggest 146.500 MHz simplex, if you can reach each other directly).
  • You might also check other regional repeaters for information, for instance 146.895 MHz at Brinktown, MO, 145.450 MHz (WØEEE repeater at the University campus), 146.700 MHz (PL 88.5 Hz) in Lebanon, etc.
  • The most important thing is that if you have no significant messages to send or receive, please do not transmit, but monitor in case you might hear of a situation in which you can help. If there is a net control station and he asks who is monitoring, please let him know that you are there. Otherwise, just listen.
EMERGENCY OPERATION FREQUENCY SUMMARY
  • Voice Operations
    1. Primary Voice VHF-FM Repeater: 146.790 MHz and 147.210 MHz, PL 88.5 Hz, WØGS repeaters -- If one of the two repeater frequencies is disabled, or if needs warrant, the two repeaters may be un-linked. However, both repeaters will normally be linked.
    2. Secondary Voice VHF-FM Repeater: 145.45 MHz, PL 110.9 Hz, WØEEE repeater -- This may also be in use for digital operations (see below).
    3. Primary Voice VHF-FM Simplex: If the 146.790 MHz repeater is not working, use 146.790 MHz SIMPLEX (no PL tone)
    4. Secondary Voice VHF-FM Simplex: 146.500 MHz for traffic, but may make brief coordination calls on 146.520 MHz
    5. Voice UHF-FM Repeater: 443.700 MHz, PL 77.0 Hz, KAØGFC repeater
    6. Primary Voice UHF-FM Simplex: 446.000 MHz (no PL)
    7. Primary Voice HF-SSB: 3.963 MHz, LSB, Missouri Emergency Services Net
    8. Secondary Voice HF-SSB: 7.263 MHz, LSB
  • Digital Operations
    1. Primary Digital VHF-FM Simplex: 145.600 MHz (no PL) -- Other digital frequencies may be coordinated by voice through repeaters
    2. Primary Digital VHF-FM Repeater: 145.450 MHz, PL 110.9 Hz, WØEEE repeater
    3. Secondary Digital VHF-FM Repeater: 146.790 MHz and 147.210 MHz, PL 88.5 Hz, W0GS repeaters -- The WØGS repeaters should only be used for OCCASIONAL digital traffic if absolutely necessary so that they may be left open for wide-area coordination using voice traffic.
    4. Primary Digital UHF-FM Simplex: 432.200 MHz (no PL)
    5. Primary Digital HF: No designated frequencies -- Suggest following currently accepted digital band plans as starting points (e.g., 3.580 MHz, 7.035 MHz, 10.140 MHz, 14.070 MHz, 18.100 MHz, 21.080 MHz, 28.120 MHz -- USB on all bands). Suggest making initial call using PSK31, then change modes to improve reliability and speed of traffic handling.
SKYWARN...

Posted here is a SKYWARN spotter guideline quick-reference handout (Acrobat .pdf file). Feel free to print this for your reference.

ARES®...

Contact your county EC, found at the Missouri ARES® web page.

If you are going to be involved in ARES®, you should take the free "Introduction to the Incident Command System" ICS-100 course offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The ICS-100 course is a self-paced on-line course. The ARRL also offers (for a $50 fee *now FREE* for ARRL members) the EC-001 "Introduction to Emergency Communication" course, and this is a mentored course, so you will have interaction with an instructor. The EC-001 course is focused on the part amateur radio operators can play in local emergency services.

Please consider purchasing from the ARRL, or printing a free .pdf copy of the ARES Field Resources Manual.

All ARES® members should read the Public Service Communications Manual at the ARRL web site (here is a .pdf of a slightly older version).

Links of Interest...
Web master contact: rrars@rrars.org