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!


ISA Redo... Better than expected

Posted by Jim KN6PE, 27 May 2021

The Spring CARES Field Exercise was a revisit of the Infrastructure Safety Assessment (ISA) process with a twist. Following the November 2020 First Look Area (FLA) exercise, the amount of overlap of the different assessment areas became clear and doing both would be an inefficient use of everyone's time.

Our test would be managed under City activation CUP-21-24T. The ISA Assets were merged in with not only the list of FLA critical roads, but also our City and County Fire facilities. As a result, the new assignment structure worked well with 7 teams covering 10 of the 11 assignment-sets in about 2.0 hours. This was more than twice the number of assets surveyed during the 2017 ISA Exercise using the original survey approach with 5 ISA teams. CARES member message passing helped make this exercise go smoothly.

With the results in, there are several things on which to work including processes, forms, and improved data collection tools; this will definitely keep us busy for a while! Thanks to all members who participated and make this exercise a success.   


CV19 -- Finally turned the corner?

Posted by Jim KN6PE, 14 Mar 2021

updated: 3/14/2021. After the much-anticipated surge over the last few months, do we now see the downward trend in County Covid-19 infections? The Santa Clara County Covid-19 Cases Dashboard seems to point in that direction. That is indeed good news. That, along with reports from some CARES members that they are starting to get appointments for the vaccine, or have received the shorts already, puts us all on the road back to a sense of normalcy.

However, this will not change our operations immediately. We are still operating under the IDR Plan Protocol for responding during an infectious disease. We will still use zoom, possibly through the end of the year. And we will continue to look for ways to exercise safely.   


Lightning Watch; Bay Area Fires

Posted by Jim KN6PE, 26 Aug 2020

After the multitude of files triggered by lightning the weekend of 16-August, and given our proximity to the foothills, the City of Cupertino requested CARES to staff a lightning watch this past weekend. Fortunately, there were no strikes either within or in the surrounding ares of the City.

In the meantime, the Bay Area continues to have fires burning on almost all sides. Track the progress and conditions on our Wildland Fire Resource page.   


Managing the response during a Pandemic

Posted by Cupertino Citizens Corps, 2 Aug 2020

Given that the COVID-19 pandemic will be with us for a while, it is prudent to have a carefully though-out plan that guides a Cupertino Citizen Corps (CCC) emergency response. The complication of such cascading emergencies -- earthquake during a pandemic, or a wild-land fire threat during a pandemic -- must be factored into our existing plans to ensure we can not only meet any assigned mission, but also maintain the health and safety of both city responders and community members.

To this end, supplemental procedures and protocols for handling a response during a pandemic event was developed by CCC and approved by Cupertino OES. These changes are now in effect. The Infectious Disease Response Plan outlines new procedures, roles and responsibilities, and policies that we need to follow for the foreseeable future. Go-kit material additions are also called out.

A review of the plan will be held in at the September monthly CARES meeting.   


More News: Home, Recent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Previous

Upcoming Activities


23 Mar 2024, CCC Hands-on Radio
Follow-on FRS/GMRS radio use, familiarization, and simple practice, Monta Vista ARK, 10:00a to 12:00p.   

30 Mar 2024, Big Bunny 5K
For this annual public service event, CARES needs net controllers, field responders and a shadow. 7:30 to 10:30 am   More Details...

4 Apr 2024, General Meeting
Topic: TBD, St Jude Parish Hall, 19:30 to 21:00   

2 May 2024, General Meeting
Topic: TBD, St Jude Parish Hall, 19:30 to 21:00   

18 May 2024, MRC Exercise
Minimal CARES participation (Field and NCO) and traffic. Location, Time TDB.   

6 Jun 2024, General Meeting
Field Day Prep, St Jude Parish Hall,19:30 to 21:00   

22 Jun 2024, ARRL Field Day
Tentative: Memorial Park | Parking lot behind Quinlan Center, 10185 N Stelling Rd. 08:00 to 17:00