County of Orange RACES

County of Orange RACES, an auxiliary communications unit of the Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD), is administered by OCSD's Communications & Technology Division. Members are registered as Disaster Service Workers with OCSD's Emergency Management Bureau. They are trained to provide voice, video, and data communications during emergencies, using their own equipment on County VHF and UHF repeaters and simplex frequencies. When activated, OCRACES provides emergency communications support, handles messages between incidents and the EOC, or between public-safety agencies and critical locations, and reports conditions from the field to the EOC or Command Post.

Next OCRACES Meeting: June 3rd

The next County of Orange RACES meeting is on Monday, June 3, 2013, at 7:30 PM, at 840 N. Eckhoff Street, Suite 104, in Orange. Newport Beach RACES Member Peter Putnam, NI6E, will demonstrate packet transmission and reception of a text-based ICS-213 form, using RMS Express software in peer-to-peer mode.

A new Information Manual will be distributed to all members at this meeting. Members are requested to turn in their old Information Manual when they receive the new edition.

OCRACES Rides Tall at Radio Rodeo

OCRACES exhibited its emergency communications response vehicle at the California Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee Southern Planning Area "Radio Rodeo" in the Knott's Berry Farm Hotel parking lot in Buena Park on Tuesday, October 9, 2012. Other Orange County Sheriff's Department mobile communications vehicles included Samantha II, Incident Support Trailer, and OASIS trailer. Three counties participated in Radio Rodeo, including Orange, Riverside, and San Diego. Each set up at a central location with individual agencies testing the equipment inside the various mobile communications vehicles. Other agencies at the Knott's location included the Anaheim Police Department, Cal EMA (MCV-1), Caltrans, Huntington Beach Police Department, Newport Beach Police Department, Orange County Medical Services, Orange County Fire Authority, Santa Ana Police Department, and West-Comm. Additionally, the AT&T Remote Mobility Zone Unit was on site for demonstration. All vehicles, including the OCRACES van, participated in interoperability testing on many public-safety frequencies from 0900 to 1100. Participating from OCRACES were Chief Radio Officer Ken Bourne, W6HK, Radio Officer Harvey Packard, KM6BV, Assistant Radio Officers Jim Carter, WB6HAG, and Chuck Dolan, KG6UJC, Marty Oh, KJ6RWE, Tom Tracey, KC6FIC, and Applicant Tom Riley, K6TPR.

OCRACES Participates in SRRU Exercise

OCRACES van was parked next to the Incident Command Post, for easy interfacing with SRRU leaders.

County of Orange RACES participated in the OCSD Search & Rescue Reserve Unit (SRRU) mutual-aid exercise on Sunday, January 15, 2012. Members functioned as the communications dispatchers for the event, operating from the OCRACES emergency communications emergency response vehicle positioned next to the Incident Command Post. The location was east of San Juan Capistrano. The drill scenario was to search for a downed aircraft and victims in the mountain wilderness.

Tom Tracey, KC6FIC, who wrote the communications plan for the exercise and reviewed it with SRRU Capt Steve Riches, N6SOG (who headed the exercise), served as Dispatcher 1. RACES Sgt. Chuck Dolan, KG6UJC, served as Dispatcher 2. Both operated on law-enforcement frequencies on UHF and 800-MHz trunked. RACES Capt. Ken Bourne, W6HK, was the communications unit supervisor, interfacing, along with Tom, with the SRRU leaders. Also assisting was John Bedford, KF6PRN. Tom's communications plan detailed personnel assignments, planned times of major events, and radio channels and their functions. He also prepared various forms such as a check-in list, clue log, incident communications team status chart, and communications log.

Other participants in the drill included the OCSD Aero Squadron Reserve Unit (ASRU), about 70 personnel from San Diego County Search & Rescue, the Civil Air Patrol, and Boy and Girl Scouts (some of whom were dressed as air-crash victims).

RACES Wants You!

Experience the most exciting and rewarding part of amateur radio. Being a RACES member gives you the opportunity to sharpen your operating skills and technical knowledge while volunteering your services in public-safety communications. Get involved in emergency communications now. Click the Contact OCRACES link for more information.

Events Calendar

May 20: 1900
OCRACES ACS Net
2 m: Ralph Sbragia, W6CSP
Pager: Chuck Dolan, KG6UJC

May 20: 1915
City/County RACES & MOU Meeting, 840 N. Eckhoff Street, Suite 104, Orange

May 27: 1900
OCRACES ACS Net
2 m: Joe Selikov, KB6EID
Pager: Ernest Fierheller, KG6LXT

June 3: 1900
OCRACES ACS Net
2 m: Tom Tracey, KC6FIC
Pager: Harvey Packard, KM6BV

June 3: 1930
OCRACES Meeting
840 N. Eckhoff Street, Suite 104, Orange

June 10: 1900
OCRACES ACS Net
2 m: Brian Turner, KI6WZS
Pager: Ralph Sbragia, W6CSP

June 17: 1900
OCRACES ACS Net
2 m: Jack Barth, AB6VC
Pager: Ken Bourne, W6HK

June 22-23
Field Day, Craig Park

June 24: 1900
OCRACES ACS Net
2 m: John Bedford, KF6PRN
Pager: Jack Barth, AB6VC

August 18-21
APCO 2013: APCO International's 79th Annual Conference & Expo
Anaheim Convention Center

The County of Orange disclaims all warranties, express or implied, for any of the materials provided on this site, or any improper or incorrect use of them. The materials in this site are provided "as is,” and you are under no obligation to use them. County information and services may also be accessed by telephone, in person, or by mail. http://ocgov.com/contact/disclaimer

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Webmaster: Ken Bourne, W6HK, Chief Radio Officer, County of Orange (California) RACES
Last Update: May 20, 2013