DIS-101C An Introduction to the District 14 Emergency Plan

DIS-101C
Lesson 3
An Introduction to the

District 14 Emergency Plan

EXCERPTED from District 14 Emergency Communications Plan (DIS-101)
Prepared Oct. 6, 2017 by KE5JBW
Revised 01/2018


Tonight’s training is taken from Section 2 of the District 14 Emergency Communications Plan and is about our status and responsibilities as volunteers and also about the administrative structures regarding District and Unit Emergency Coordinators and Assistant Emergency Coordinators.

ARES® members are FCC-licensed Amateur Radio operators who have voluntarily registered their capabilities and equipment for public service communications duty. All District 14 ARES® personnel are strongly encouraged to obtain a State of Texas Division of Emergency Management State RACES Authorization Unit Number.

Under Federal regulations, Amateur Radio public service communications are furnished without compensation of any kind. All District 14 ARES® radio operator personnel are federally licensed, receive no remuneration of any kind for their services and, in most cases, provide the equipment utilized at their own expense.

District 14 ARES® functions under this Emergency Plan by direction of the District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) who is appointed by the ARRL® South Texas Section Manager. Where conflict may exist between this District Emergency Plan and the South Texas Section Emergency Plan, the South Texas Section Emergency Plan will take precedence and the District 14 Emergency Plan will be subordinate.

As an ARES® volunteer you are working for ARES® and operate within ARES® guidelines and FCC regulations. You are not an employee of the served agency. Although we serve and operate strictly within their operational rules and regulations, we are not their employees. If you desire to take on an assignment other than your current District 14 ARES® assignment you must clear that with the on-site District 14 ARES® leader or supervisor with whom you are currently working and ensure that a qualified replacement is available to cover your assignment for the remainder of its duration.

District 14 ARES® personnel are dispatched to supported agencies and other assignments as required. Supported agencies with Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) will have priority for District 14 ARES® resources. (The MOU is a formal agreement among different agencies or entities indicating an intended common line of action.)

Remember the following guidelines in all your ham-radio communications, but especially when
you are operating as an ARES® volunteer:

  • Never interfere, always be courteous and, if interference occurs, report the circumstances relating to interference to the appropriate District or unit AEC.
  • Restrict the use of repeater output frequencies for simplex communications to repeater outages, emergencies or situations where specifically authorized by the repeater trustee.
  • Follow the band plans for all HF, VHF and UHF Amateur Radio bands.
  • If you are intentionally interfered with on a simplex or repeater frequency, ignore the interference. Confrontation is what the interfering station wants. Ignore it, move on and report the circumstances with as much information as possible.

This training, An Introduction to the District 14 Emergency Plan, Part 3, was excerpted from the District 14 Emergency Communications Plan, Section 2.

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

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