DIS-101D RRT’s and Other Abbreviations

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DIS-101D
Lesson 4
RRT’s and Other Abbreviations

EXCERPTED from District 14 Emergency Communications Plan (DIS-101)
Prepared Oct. 7, 2017 by KE5JBW
Revised 1/2017



Tonight’s training is taken primarily from Section 12 of the District 14 Emergency Communications Plan and from Appendix E of the Plan.

RRT’s:
Most ARES® units employ some form of rapid response team (RRT). In some areas they are called Quick Response Teams (QRTs). The ARRL® Emergency Communications Course calls them Rapid Response Teams, or RRT’s, and there are many other variations, including Ready Response Teams.

While the team name may be different, they all have a similar role to play in the EmComm scheme of things. That role is to provide effective and efficient emergency communications when required. Within District 14 ARES®, the goal is to have an “RRT” assigned to each served agency. Served agencies with which a Memorandum of Understanding has been entered into will receive priority.

Each RRT is composed of three to five qualified Amateur Radio operators, including the RRT Leader. The primary goal of the RRT is to provide service as a team of qualified EmComm communicators for the specific served agency to which it is assigned. When the team arrives on site they are READY, familiar with the needs of the served agency, trained and ready to go to work. When not called upon to support their assigned agency, their secondary objective is to provide backup support to other RRTs.

In District 14 ARES®, RRT’s are called Rapid Response Teams. They are comprised of a group of 3 to 5 qualified EmComm operators who are permanently assigned to a served agency. A Team Leader is responsible for their organization and training. RRTs should be prepared to operate from an assigned agency for 36 to 48 hours with operators rotating and under a pre-planned ICS formatted plan.

Now that you know about RRT’s, here are some other abbreviations that are used in ARES:

  • ADEC – Assistant District Emergency Coordinator, an appointee 2nd in command of ARES® activities in a county cluster or contiguous counties comprising a District.
  • AEC – Assistant Emergency Coordinator
  • APRS – Automatic Packet Reporting System – A digital system that transmits and displays data on maps on computer screens. Highly effective as a parallel to voice circuits
  • DEC – District Emergency Coordinator, an appointee in charge of ARES® activities in a county cluster or contiguous counties comprising a District.
  • EC — Emergency Coordinator – An ARES appointee who supervises emergency planning operations in a specified geographical area. Reports to the DEC.
  • EOC – Emergency Operations Center
  • FEMA – Federal Emergency Management Agency
  • ICS — Incident Command System– This is a management tool designed to bring multiple responding agencies including those from different jurisdictions together under a single, overall command structure.
  • MOU — Memorandum of Understanding
  • NOAA — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This is the home agency for the National Weather Service.
  • NTS – National Traffic System. A field organization of the American Radio Relay League.
  • NWS – National Weather Service.
  • QST – “Attention all listening stations.” A comprehensive listing of “Q” signals used by military
  • and Amateur Radio operators can be found on the Internet by simply entering “comprehensive
  • list of Q signals” in Google or another search engine.
  • RACES – Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service
  • SEC — Section Emergency Coordinator. The Official responsible for all ARES activities within a Section.
  • SEOC – State Emergency Operations Center in Austin, Texas.
  • SET – Simulated Emergency Test, which is a national communications exercise held each year in October. The American Radio Relay League sponsors the annual SET
  • STX — South Texas, referring to the South Texas Section of the ARRL; the website for the South Texas Section is www.arrlstx.org.

This is not a complete list of all the abbreviations that are used in the District 14 Emergency Communications plan or that are used in ARES, the ARRL or other ham-related organizations.

The one “Q”-code in this list is the only item on the list that is not a true “abbreviation,” which would use the first letter of each word of the term referred to, or just the first part of the word, as we do for months, such as Oct. for October. Q-codes themselves are in four groups: one for the International Civil Aviation Organization, which of course is called ICAO. There is also a group for the Maritime Mobile Service, and another assigned by the International Telecommunications Union Radiocommunication Sector. The Q-codes we use were developed by The American Radio Relay League (ARRL).

This training, An Introduction to the District 14 Emergency Plan, Part 4, was excerpted from the District 14 Emergency Communications Plan, Section 12 and Appendix E.

That concludes tonight’s training. Are there any questions, comments or suggested additions to this material?

Thanks, this is (callsign) clear to net control.