Nearly a hundred islanders took part in the regional Evergreen Quake on June 5th & 6th at the Vashon Emergency Operations Center.

It was fairly historic for a number of reasons:

- Initial test of Operation Lifeline (King County’s redirecting their passenger ferry or hiring a barge – to support emergency needs on Vashon) - The Planning Section has adopted the standard ICS Planning Clock - and had the 1st real run-though of this during a major exercise - The Public Information Team...

As mentioned at last night’s annual meeting, preparedness efforts on Vashon made strong strides over the past year. These successes are only partially due to VashonBePrepared’s efforts, and mainly by our various partners, including some independent accomplishments by others in our community. Here’s the listing presented:

Business Neighborhood Emergency Response Organization created, numerous meetings led by Vashon Chamber of Commerce Enhanced relations with King County Office of Emergency Management: Operation Lifeline - Plan & contract for hiring a barge or dedicated ferry to shuttle supplies if normal ferry operations are down MOU with Vashon Island School District to serve as a Disaster Campus MOU with Camp Burton to house disaster workers from off island Vashon integration w/ county computer alerting/management systems Enhanced integration of CERT & MRC & EOC Team with VIFR ops Disaster Emergency Response Trailer...

Vashon Maury Island Radio Club announces an Amateur Radio (Ham) License testing session will be held on Vashon Island around the middle of March. Test costs about $14. Take advantage of these Technician, General, and Extra levels tests given on island.

Training for the exams will not be provided this time, so you’d have to study the ARRL manuals yourselves or go off island for training. Exact date, and location TBA. Please contact Sharon at kharazi@aol.com if you want to take any level test. Details on the Vashon-Maury Island Radio Club can be found at: www.w7vmi.org/

The residents of Vashon and all the volunteers and organizations under the VashonBePrepared banner were honored Friday, September 30th by King County Executive Dow Constantine and King County Councilmember Joe McDermott - the final day of National Preparedness Month. As described by the actual 2011 King County Executive Award for Community Preparedness, and by the official King County press release, the award was to the entire community and emphasized the many contributors to Vashon’s preparedness. The Carnation-Duvall Citizen Corps Council was likewise lauded with a similar award.

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On September 30th, King County Executive Dow Constantine presented the citizens of Vashon and the organizations that comprise VashonBePrepared with his 2011 Award for Community Preparedness as noted in the King County press release and my comments on...

Sept. 30, 2011

Two King County organizations honored...

36 amateur radio operators and elected officials attended Vashon-Maury Island Radio Club’s 2011 Field Day Saturday and Sunday.

The formal objective for Field Day is:

To work as many stations as possible on any and all amateur bands (excluding the 60, 30, 17, and 12-meter bands) and to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions. Field Day is open to all amateurs in the areas covered by the ARRL/RAC Field Organizations and countries within IARU Region 2. DX stations residing in other regions may be contacted for credit, but are not eligible to submit entries.

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John Galus will give an Introduction to Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) to VIFR firefighters and EMTs at VIFR Fire Station 55 at 7 PM(?) on July 5th.

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes.

For details on the Western Washington Section see: www.arrl.org/Groups/view/western-washington or wwa.arrl.org. Washington State ARES info is at: www.wastateares.org

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Vashon Maury Island Radio Club will celebrate Washington’s Amateur Radio Week on Vashon with our own Field Day. (We’ll actually be over achievers by holding a two day event, on June 24 & 25!)

Events kick off Saturday with breakfast at Sporty's (an hour early at 8:00 AM) with a procession to the venue on Sunrise Ridge where we’ll...

There’re a few hot new releases from this weekend’s Hamvention over in my old home state. And I’m not referring to the sewage issue there!

The Elecraft KX3 is a new 1.5-2 pound, 10W PEP (& KXPA100 100W companion amp), 160-6 Meters, Software Defined Radio (SDR), Trail Friendly Radio (TFR, i.e., light, small, ~150 mA current) with many cool features like 8 AA batteries/internal charger & optional microphone, for ~$800. It does all modes: SSB/CW/AM/FM/DATA - including built-in PSK31 and RTTY encode/decode/display....

The Vashon Maury Island Radio Club’s May meeting will be this coming Tuesday, May 3rd. 7:00PM at Vashon Fire Station 55 in the EOC room. Our first Show & Tell "Topic - Randy Bardwell, K7RDB presents his home-brew, high tech "uber go-box" and also VMIRC Business Meeting.

- Sharon Danielson KE7HBZ, VMIRC President

Randy’s got the hottest (communications, not survival) go-box on Vashon – at least that I’m aware of. I don’t see any straps on it to carry it around, but otherwise it looks pretty impressive. Check it out at NineByFive.com

Also Randy has just created a new MeetUp group for W7VMI. Join up at www.meetup.com/Vashon-Radio-and-Technology-Meetup/

Curious how...

Amateur Radio operators are people from all walks of life--no matter what age, gender or physical ability. Did you know that most of the astronauts are Amateur Radio Operators? You're never too young or old. And, getting started in Amateur Radio has never been easier! Now, you no longer have to learn Morse Code to get your first Ham Radio License, the Technician Class, as in years past! Just pass a 35 question multiple choice exam given by volunteer Ham Radio Operators and you will be "on the air" in no time!

Vashon - Maury Island Radio Club in conjunction with West Seattle Ham Radio Club will be presenting a Technician License Exam Preparatory Class Friday evening, 05-20-2011 to Sunday evening 05-22-2011.  This is a free course but participants are required to purchase a text book (approximately $29) and your ARRL VEC Test Fee will be $15

If you would like to sign up for this class, please contact Sharon Danielson at kharazi@aol.com

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Thanks to Phil W7PDZ, Tim W7TRH, Jim WA7KYI & VIFR’s Bob Larsen...

The ARRL is mobilizing the amateur community to oppose HR 607, a bill that would offer up the entire amateur 70 cm allocation for other purposes as part of a spectrum swap: www.arrl.org/hr-607 www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h607/show  

HR 607 would devastate W7VMI and local ARES emergency efforts. The bill was introduced on 2/10. Voice your option to: www.opencongress.org/people/show/400262_James_McDermott

http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/lubbockleft/2011-02-27/gop-targets-public-radio-amateur-radio-and-pbs ties this with the apparent additional effects of the bill to defund PBS and NPR.

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In a Report and Order (R&O) released Wednesday, July 14, the FCC stated that under new guidelines, amateurs employed by non-governmental agencies, such as hospitals, may participate and operate in drills sponsored by their employer. Specifically, the FCC will now permit Amateur Radio operators "to transmit messages, under certain limited circumstances, during either government-sponsored or non-government sponsored emergency and disaster preparedness drills, regardless of whether the operators are employees of entities participating in the drill." More information will be posted on the ARRL Web site.

-- www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2010-07-15

Date:  Sunday, 11-Jul

Time:  1400 – 1700

Where:  Pt Robinson Lighthouse upper parking lot

Equipment:  CERT helmet and safety vest.  Long sleeve shirts and long pants with closed toe shoes or boots suitable for uneven terrain.

If you have an FRS, hand-held radio please bring it, if not we will have radios you can borrow. We have run two of these events before - once in December, it was cold and rainy, but fun.  Once at the end of May, it was heavenly.  We expect this weekend to be very enjoyable and we will learn a lot.

If you have any questions, please call Catherine at 463.4558. She can send you the Training Authorization for this Sunday's training.  It contains many details such as time, place, agenda, equipment, communication.

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