Welcome to Cupertino ARES/RACES
This site is operated by and for Cupertino Amateur Radio Emergency Service (CARES) members interested in emergency preparedness and amateur radio communication. Visitors are welcome to check us out.
What's News!
Packet Party Time!
Posted by Jim KN6PE, 17 Sep 2016
What's more fun than pond full of ducks? How about no pond, no ducks, but a Packet Party in the Park! CARES hosted a hands-on packet session today to give our members a chance to get more up close and personal with packet operations.This idea came from one of the recommendations from our Comm Outage Exercise held back in May where packet was the main player for passing 9-1-1 messages (see the story further down in this list). Eleven CARES members came out with their own kits, or borrowed some of ours. We operated off the grid using newly created battery paks as well as one generator. With exercises in hand, everyone had plenty of time work packet!
Watch for more hands-on packet sessions planned for later this year!
Cupertino Hazards and Risks Update
1 Sep 2016
During the September General meeting, we took time out to review the various hazards that we face within the City, as well as what CARES, and Citizen Corps, has done to prepare for them.The top city hazards include dam failure, earthquakes, power failure, terrorism/WMD, and wildland fires. Cupertino Citizen Corps has had some type of exercise in almost all of these areas to test our readiness and refine our response.
To this end, there are exercises planned for later this year -- in October, Cupertino Citizen Corps will take the lead on testing our ARK Zone Safety Assessment process. In December, CARES will use an earthquake scenario where we will open all City ARKs for a Zone Reporting/Communications exercise. See the calendar for events leading up to both drills. More Details...
City Hall & De Anza ARKnet Sites Deployed!
Posted by Marcel AI6MS, 27 Aug 2016
It's been a busy few months for the ARKnet project since the Lehigh Sector Site was deployed in February. Today, we successfully deployed the City Hall Client Site and brought the initial system online! A HUGE thanks to Ken Erickson from the City and our amazing volunteers Hella KJ6OHF, John KI6QDF, Javen KF7JO, and Paul for helping during each of these recent deployments. The De Anza ARK site was deployed on Saturday 7/16/2016 and is now our second fully off-grid solar-powered radio site and ready to be tested out in our next communications drill.The ARKnet project network now has three functional sites which are the City Hall/EOC, De Anza ARK, and Lehigh Sector Site. With these three sites now deployed, we can start testing out the system and working with CARES and CERT to determine how we want to use the system and what our next features and sites will be.
If you want to learn more about this system, Marcel AI6MS will be giving a presentation on the ARKnet Project at the Pacificon Amateur Radio Convention on Saturday, October 15, 2016 in San Ramon. More information at www.pacificon.org.
Comm Outage Exercise, this time by Packet
Posted by Jim KN6PE, 7 May 2016
CARES hosted a second Communications Outage exercise with the support of Cupertino Citizen Corps, the big difference was passing all simulated 911 message traffic by packet. How did we do? Eleven field teams were deployed with scenarios heavily weighted toward 911 traffic. Considering the time to set up individual packet stations, and that this was a predominantly off-the-grid event, we passed more 911 traffic to County Comm in less time! And, they were all legible!See the entire list of 911 Messages that were received by our simulated County Comm packet station as well as the event's After Action Report. Also, check out the Photo Album for a look at some of the field stations! More Details...
Upcoming Activities
5 Sep 2024, General Meeting
Cupertino Parks on the Air Overview, Zoom, 19:30 to 21:00
3 Oct 2024, General Meeting
Windshield Survey and Drill Prep, St Jude Parish Hall,19:30 to 21:00
19 Oct 2024, CCC Exercise
Communications Exercise using Windshield Survey and Ark Support. 08:00 to 12:00
7 Nov 2024, General Meeting
Informal Message Passing, St Jude Parish Hall,19:30 to 21:00
5 Dec 2024, General Meeting
Topic Year End Review, St Jude Parish Hall,19:30 to 21:00