Good morning, here is the News:
Hours Due—Hours are due for the month of
February. Please have them in to Jennifer (
zhinan@gmail.com) by Thursday, 28 February
at 5:00pm, we want to get them in on Friday if at all possible.
March Team Meeting—Our annual radio drill. Jen
and I have not really talked about this yet, and I'm pretty sure she has some
ideas to make it better. So please don't think any of the following drill
description is set in stone. I borrowed heavily from last year's
description, to remind returning members and give our new people some idea of
what this is about.
You will probably need to RSVP for this drill, so we can
give out call signs for privacy's sake. You will get an email from me
with your call sign. If you don't want to participate in the actual
drill, but would like to observe, just show up at the rally point at
5:30pm.
You will start from your residence, or a location of your
choosing in the area. If you are NOT starting from your residence, let
us know where you are starting from when you RSVP. You will need an
FRS radio for this drill, and something to write on/with. We will use
Channel 7. Before the drill, please be sure your radio has a full charge
and is tuned to Channel 7. If you bought two radios, and have not used
FRS before, you might want to practice with someone else. There is a
brief delay between keying the radio for transmission and actual transmission,
so if you start talking immediately, you will get cutoff. This takes some
getting used to.
Promptly at 5:30, we will make the following announcement
from the rally point (near the Recreation Center on New Salem, just east of
Camino Ruiz):
Attention. Attention.
Attention. This is Mira Mesa net
control, calling the Mira
Mesa Community Emergency Response Team. This is a drill. This
is a directed net. Please make no transmissions unless called upon by the
net control station. Emergency traffic may break into this net at anytime and
will be acknowledged by net control. I will ask
for check-ins of CERT members by area. When you check in give your
call sign, the street you are on and nearest cross street. Make a
note of any check ins you hear from your location and bring your list to the
team rally point.
We will then ask for responses by
quadrant as follows:
Quadrant 1: North of Mira Mesa
Blvd, East of Camino Ruiz
Quadrant 2: North of Mira Mesa
Blvd, West of Camino Ruiz
Quadrant 3: South of Mira Mesa
Blvd, East of Camino Ruiz
Quadrant 4: South of Mira
Mesa Blvd, West of Camino Ruiz
We will acknowledge your
transmission by call sign. Please make a note of all other call signs you
hear from your location (but do not contact them). After you have made
contact, proceed to the rally point. Keep your radio on, and report any
"new" transmissions you heard on your way in until you get to the
rally point. You can record them of course, but only if it is safe to do
so (pull over or stop at a light).
Do NOT, under any
circumstances, operate your radio while driving. It may or may not be technically illegal, I don't really
care.
If you don't hear my announcement,
but you hear someone else's response, you can request a relay from them.
The transmission sequence is:
"[call sign] to [call sign
relay] request relay to net control"
"[call sign relay] to [call
sign] acknowledged"
"[call sign relay] to [net
control] I have contact with [call sign]"
"[net control]
acknowledged"
If you can't hear our announcement,
request only one relay, don't request a relay from everyone you can hear (but
do record them). Do not communicate with another station unless you need
to make a relay.
If, after 5 minutes, you have not
heard from anyone, drive half the distance to the rally point (or as far as
makes sense to you), pull over and try again. You may need to get out of
your car, FRS inside a vehicle can be iffy.
When we all get to the rally
point, we will plot locations on a map of Mira Mesa and see how we did.
Last year the coverage was truly horrible. In previous years it has gone
from not bad to really pretty good.
If you do not have an FRS radio,
but would like to participate, let Jen know right away. We can probably
get a few with some notice.
St. Patrick's Day Parade—This is a very cool parade. CERT marches right behind
the Firefighters, who march right behind the Royal Shamrock (Firefighter)
bagpipe band. Note that this is scheduled for SATURDAY, March 16, not
Sunday, which is the real St. Patrick's day. Jen and I both have plans
this year, which pains me a bit, because I really enjoy this parade, but next
year. Carie did a really fine writeup on this, and I really can't improve
on it, so I include it here. NOTE: the comments about alcohol apply to
all CERT events. You may not imbibe at any time while wearing the CERT
livery. There are no exceptions. Really. Anyway, here's
Carie's stuff:
Below is the Agenda for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day
Parade. As always, it is recommended to carpool as parking is
scarce. CERT members will be walking during this parade behind the CERT
vehicle. Comfortable shoes are a must! Lighten your CERT packs but
still carry the basics should something happen…like Brian Kidwell doing a spot check
(lol).
5:30am – 9:00am: Annual Emerald Society Firefighters
Breakfast at the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Firehouse Museum (1572 Columbia St. in
Little Italy). There is not a charge, but donations are accepted!
They also sell t-shirts and other items, so please be sure to bring cash if you
think you might want something.
9:30am: CERT Members will arrive at this time (no
later, please!) at the staging area for the parade. The staging location
is on 6th Street BETWEEN JUNIPER AND IVY. Look for the CERT
truck and/or the green CERT vests. This is the part where we will wait,
and wait, and wait…but that does not mean that we should show up any
later. 9:30am is the arrival time; please be sure to get there on
time.
12noon: This is the time the parade usually wraps up.
Afterwards there is a St. Patrick’s Day Family Festival at Balboa Park.
It’s a great family-friendly, interactive festival that is on my to-do list
this year!
Here are some FAQs:
Q: What do we wear:
A: CERT helmet, CERT Vest, CERT backpack…comfortable
shoes, layers of clothing, and either a poncho or umbrella…just in case!
Q: What if I don’t have my CERT pack and gear?
A: Please let me know ahead of time and I will bring
spare vests and helmets (sorry, no spare packs are available).
Q: Can my family walk with me?
A: We respectfully request that non-CERT family
members position themselves along the parade route to cheer you on!
Q: Can I partake in the alcoholic libation at the
breakfast?
A: No. As is stated in the CERT Code of Conduct,
“The use of any alcoholic beverages and non-prescription drugs is strictly
prohibited by any member involved in CERT activities. This includes prior
to and during trainings, exercises, meetings, and special events.”
Q: What about after the parade at the Festival?
A: (so long as you are 21 and over) Yes, but please be
sure to remove your CERT gear before partaking.
Reminders: Teams can only receive team meeting credit
if their team leader/established assistant team leader is in attendance for the
full parade. No exceptions.
Q: Where do I park?
A: There is not parking set aside for parade
participants (other than the vehicles who are in the parade). Please plan
ahead and consider carpooling.
Q: Can I get CE credit for this?
A: No. Only Team Meeting credit is available IF
your team leader/established assistant Team Leader is in attendance at the
parade and participates. Otherwise, your time in this parade will be
considered volunteer hours.
OK, I'm back, if you do this I highly recommend that you
park over at the old Balboa Hospital lot (free) and catch the free
shuttle ( a tip for the driver is always recommended if you can). I think
it lets you off about a block from the rally point (I'll check on this).
Sorry, as Carie said, no Team Meeting credit as Jen and I will not be there,
but it is still a really good time.
All for this week, questions, comments, please drop Jen a
note.
-Steve
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