January-February 2025 SEPAR Report

SEPAR in 2024

Over this last year SEPAR has continued to remain active in many areas. The line between SARC and SEPAR (the club vs emergency program) is quite blurry.

Activities have included, in no particular order:

• Field Day (setting up the portable towers and SEPAR trailer etc.
• radio communications for the race Run Surrey Run,
• supporting a Surrey School initiative for high school students,
• weekly nets (several from the recently cleaned up and reorganized Fire Hall 1 radio room, with some new net control operators
• monthly tests of the commercial Inter-municipal Emergency Radio System,
• meeting the Cross Border Agencies in Washington State in person to restart the Cross Border Working Group,
• attending many Swap Meets and talking about the emergency program,
• attending the annual radio direction finding "Fox Hunt"
• maintaining and enhancing capabilities at the Operations and Training Center (OTC).
• participating in the annual Great Shake Out event (this year with some high schools now involved)
• holding antenna building workshops,
• supporting our team of instructors with licensing classes and GOTA workshops
• setting up a satellite station at the OTC radio room
• POTA events and training
• Winlink training sessions
• several fabulous presentations on various amateur radio interest topics (satellite and balloon launches etc.)
• having an online advanced amateur training group begin with club members,
• public displays at two emergency preparedness fairs
• And, our weekly breakfast and OTC drop ins.

The above list is by no means exhaustive and I have likely missed several activities.

With each activity whether it is a club event or an emergency program event we end up with active amateur operators who have more experience or have grown in their ability to use their radios. To see younger people coming and become active is exciting. I am thinking of the movie Field of Dreams "If you build it they will come". By taking the time to have an active slate of events, participation is growing in our community. We see new amateurs asking about volunteering in SEPAR program. In all cases we have a community that is using their radios and becoming more proficient radio operators.

It has been about friendships and supporting each other with antenna projects and over the air radio testing.

Our hobby has so many exciting facets there is always something new to learn.

All of these events lead to a better prepared community. With the amateurs knowing how to use their equipment and what to expect in a disaster situation we are all better off. In fact, we were laughing that the most recent presentation on “Setting up Winlink” was cut short because the power went out. The funny part was this was already a rescheduled presentation because the power went out at the one before as well. The next presentation we will bring the generator…

As we were traveling home from the OTC with the widespread power outage people were on their radios informing others which areas had outages, where trees were blocking roads etc. A real-life example of how radio can be used to provide valuable information in this situation. Radio allows one-to-many communication, so those listening could get a picture of what was happening and help others coming onto the repeater later in the day.

We look forward to new activities and adventures in 2025 and as the Volunteer Emergency Coordinator I am grateful for the team surrounding this program to make it a success.

Please continue to be involved, every small contribution adds to the collective progress and helps build the team. Participate when and where you can, try something new this coming year. Most of all turn on that radio and use it, from home, in your car, in a park, it is an adventure that can take place wherever you are…

As always if you want more information on the SEPAR or SARC program please reach out.

~ Gord VA7GK

   SEPAR Coordinator

November - December SEPAR Report

 The Great ShakeOut

Once again SEPAR participated in the BC Shakeout Exercise. This is an annual event to help remind people of the potential for an earthquake to impact our area of the country. Like our southern coastal neighbors in Washington, Oregon and California, Coastal BC is an area at risk to earthquakes. As a result, the annual Shakeout Exercise is designed to remind people of the risk, to provide tips on how to prepare for an earthquake and what to expect if a larger quake occurs.

Each year on the third Thursday of October at 10:17 we experience a “planned earthquake”. People are reminded to “Drop, Cover and Hold On” during an earthquake. This includes how to protect themselves from falling objects or what to do while driving. It is a good reminder on how to be prepared for family and friends. One of the components for a good plan is your personal communication plan.

This plan includes a contact list of family and friends which you will contact after an event. This will help people to know you are ok and how you plan on reunification. I.e. Where are you going to meet, and when? It might also include your expected route and when you will connect again with each other. This might be by cell phone, text, an app, or your ham radio. You should consider who will be your local contacts and your out of area contacts. Those physically in your geographic area are those you may want to check in with first and know they are ok, or what help they might need. Your out of area contact can help reach out to others for you, so you can concentrate on dealing the earthquake’s impacts. Don’t forget it is also a good idea to have the phone numbers listed on a card just in case you lose or damage your phone and have to borrow one.

As part of your plan as an amateur radio operator you should consider what frequencies/repeaters you may want to use to make contact and gather information. As part of your preparedness plan have you a spare battery or backup power plan? For handhelds do you have a better antenna than the stock antenna to help improve your signal?

Each week we have a practice SEPAR net where we do our regular check ins on the primary repeater and then move to a backup frequency test which is often via simplex. This means that participants start to understand how they are being heard from their location and how to relay a message if they are not being heard by net control. Part of our net script reminds everyone that during an emergency or disaster the repeater should be used as a primary check-in, and if the repeater is not working to move to our local simplex frequency in the plan.

So, with all of this we were able to hold a net on Thursday Oct 17 just after 10:17am. We had 27 check ins from around the city and neighboring communities. This year we also had several students who recently graduated from a summer school electronics class in which they also were taught the local Surrey Amateur Radio Club (SARC) amateur radio licensing class. https://www.surreyschools.ca/_ci/p/168383/new-radio-frequency-communications-summer-course-in-surrey.

From this, students from around the school district were licensed as Hams. SARC as well as several club members have donated both their time and radios to make this program a success. The teacher Adam Drake VE7ZAL (also a recent SARC class graduate) was the driving force to create and teach this over the summer. After the success of the summer school class, he arranged for students from some of the schools to participate in the Great Shake out Drill. The lead SARC instructor John Schouten VE7TI, who helped teach the class throughout all of July, went to the Surrey School Board Office and the participated in the Net with school board officials watching. As the net started students checked into the net and passed along an update from the school simulating what the school would be doing if the earthquake was real. The school board officials were able to hear the reports from the surrounding area and the schools where the check ins were coming from. The local media were also present and ran a story on the CityTV nightly news.

Overall, this was an excellent example to our community of the value of amateur radio and how it is a great tool to help in a disaster. The students are excited by what they have learned. Many are now participating in weekly nets and coming to Club drop in events. As the news clip indicates some are even recognizing how this could lead to future education plans and a potential career.

At SEPAR we encourage licensed amateurs to get involved, know the local area emergency communications plan and test out your equipment. We often run across individuals who have their license and even a radio but have not used it. They believe this will provide them their “emergency radio/communications” during a disaster. We encourage and help them to get their radio programmed, and teach them how to use it with “Get on the Air” classes and nets. SARC includes as part of the radio licensing class an antenna workshop. This teaches theory and has the students finish with their own roll up J-Pole antenna which will help improve their handhelds signal when needed. Unless a class is using the facility on Saturday morning, we host a weekly drop in to visit, work on projects and help those with questions, radio programming, radio installations etc. This helps with our community being better prepared and makes our radio “hobby” a very enjoyable one.

As always if you want more information on SEPAR please reach out. Our website is www.SEPAR.ca

~ Gord Kirk VA7GK
   SEPAR Coordinator

 

Run Surrey Run

 Another successful community event supported by SEPAR operators

We can once again take satisfaction that our SEPAR Communications team was mentioned as an invaluable part of the Run Surrey Run organization. For the first time the event was competitive, rather than a ‘fun run’, with runners taking priority over traffic. It went better this year than both previous years in large part due to the improved road closure plan. This eliminated many of the annoyances that our team faced with poor traffic management because of inadequate closures.

A strong positive was that we once again had an excellent connection to the City Emergency Operations Centre (EOC). The value of that direct connection was most noticeable when the event start was postponed by police because the route had not yet been fully secured.

I’d also like to single out Grace VA7LZT and Elisabeth VA7EVJ. Grace was one of the graduates of our summer school youth RF Communications course, who came out to participate in RSR. Elisabeth did a stellar job as the only available bicycle-mobile station. That is even more noteworthy given that the day before she participated in the Grand Fondo bicycle event to Whistler. Kudos to both of you.

Of course, along with the usual gratitude of the event organizers and SEPAR for donating your time, I’d like to add my personal appreciation for your individual effort and cooperation. We have a fabulous team and are certain to be invited to next year’s run.

~John Schouten VE7TI
 RSR Communications & Emergency Planner

 

September - October 2024 Report

 U.S. National Preparedness Month and PACE

This month we may hear many messages about being prepared and emergency preparedness as our US neighbors recognize September as National Preparedness Month. In Canada we have “Emergency Preparedness Week” during the month of May.

Whether it is the US influence in Canada or our own Canadian EP week it is always a good reminder that we should be prepared. SEPAR (Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio) has the specific focus of planning and helping with preparedness to aid in communications should normal communications methods fail. As part of the local Surrey Amateur Radio Communications (SARC) club we take our hobby and look at how we could help with communications if needed.

This does take a club of active members to make a healthy program. All the events, from socials to workshops, help build relationships, generate ideas, and take individuals areas of interest to help build creative solutions to help with emergency communications. A small group interested in Meshtasic, or VARA for Winlink can help others understand how this works and can be applied to passing messages when needed.

Often just the basics of helping a newly licensed amateur get on the air, use a repeater, or get a home HF station with a limited antenna on the air are some of the best things we can do. Remembering this is meant to be a fun hobby, and having active radio operators is one of the best things a club can do.

Weekly nets are “practice” sessions, as are contests. Each of these ensures working equipment and a more experienced operator. Knowing we could help with disaster communications is also a good reminder for each of us to be personally prepared.

Of course, the basics of having a prepared home include food, water, alternative methods to stay warm (or cool), alternative light sources, medical needs etc. All these basic preparedness items, lists, plans etc. are easily available with a simple internet search. For the radio operator we also include alternate ways to power our radios (or recharge batteries), knowledge on how to program and use our radios and what the local amateur community will do in an emergency. We should know the main repeaters around the area and their coverage footprint. We should have an idea of our radio reach without a repeater (simplex). We should have an idea of how long we can run our radio on alternative power etc.

Each of us should have a personal Family Communications Plan and your Emergency Communications Group should also have a communications plan for the organization. One of the easiest ways to build these is using a PACE Plan. PACE stands for:

Primary (what is your normal day to day method of communications? Cellular, Text (SMS) etc.?

Alternate (If the primary above is not working what would you do next? Internet based communication like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger etc.)

Contingency (Things are not working so you go to radio (frs/gmrs, cb, ham) or satellite phone or messenger.

Emergency Plans. (A predetermined meeting location or message on a board etc.)

These above examples are just that, examples. The idea is most of us use cellular based communications each day so that will likely be the first option. If cellular is not working but the internet is up, have you an app or agreed upon method to message one another.

If you go to radio, do you have a time, a frequency (repeater) etc.? Have you thought about having as out of area contact as you might be able to contact them and use them to relay messages etc. The point is taking some time think this through and write it down on a card, put a pdf on your phone etc.

This same principle works for your Emergency Communications group. In Surrey we meet each week on the net and as part of it go to simplex or another repeater to make sure people know what to do, and how their radios work. Each week the net controller reminds people that in an emergency we will use the repeater and if it fails, we will go the local agreed upon Simplex Frequency.

The SEPAR and SARC net scripts are available on the website if you are wanting an example of how we run the nets. See www.ve7sar.net

As we finish summer vacations and many of us go back into fall routines with work, school etc. it is a good time to be reminded of this communication plan need. Many of us have the 72 hours plus emergency preparedness covered and don’t have a simple, no cost communications plan developed. I encourage you to help your family and friends to build a PACE plan, in fact if you do this and share it with your family it may help highlight other areas your family is concerned about.

As always please reach out if you have any questions or comments or if you would like to participate in the SEPAR program within Surrey.

~ Gord Kirk VA7GK
SEPAR Coordinator

 

July - August 2024 SEPAR Report

  Another Field Day Success

Field Day 2024 is now behind us, and it was a great success. One of the purposes of the annual event is treating it as an exercise to run emergency communications for 24 hours. This involves the planning, set up, actual operation as well as the demobilization at the end.

Whether the event is being held in an outdoor temporary setting or at an existing EOC (Radio Room) there are so many different areas to utilize for the contest points.

Once again, this year we chose to activate at the SEPAR/SARC Operations and Training Center (OTC). This is a shared space with the South Fraser Search and Rescue Team that the city provides to our respective volunteer organizations for the purposes of providing these emergency programs.

We moved “Bigfoot” our portable 110 foot antenna trailer from its covered parking into position on the grass next to the building and set it up. This unit has a beam, and rotator along with a propane generator and all the required coax to set up anywhere we can find a level spot. We have worked with the city, and they have prepositioned 3 large concrete blocks to use as anchor points for the tower guy ropes. This location does allow us to have a splace and plan that we can move onto and set up whenever it is needed.

SEPAR does have a radio room at Fire Hall One for EOC communications. Our OTC will allow a remote radio relay point to be staffed and operated with minimal impact around a very busy operational fire hall. The OTC is the extension of the Fire Hall 1 radio room allowing for two HF towers and a dipole in the nearby trees.

We expanded to add another HF station outside of the radio room to provide another HF radio station to operate. In this shared room we have added a junction box on the wall to hook up coax etc. to help keep cables off the floors. This is also available during our weekly drop-in to have space to hook up and test radios etc.

Outside in the parking lot we again set up the SEPAR trailer and public display tables. The SEPAR trailer has an HF Station and two VHF/UHF spots. This year ICOM Canada allowed us to borrow an IC-7610 radio for the GOTA station. We set it up and those dropping-in were able to try to make a contact or two. Again, during set up we identified a couple of areas to improve the trailers operation and also areas to improve / fix. Some missing items were identified to be purchased to help ensure the trailer is fully equipped for future deployment.

Many of the projects worked on last year (see previous SEPAR Updates in the Communicator) worked very well and made our set up so much easier and safer.

Speaking of safety we did have a safety briefing by the Field Day Coordinator Andrew VA7LGN.  He led the field day planning team and organized a great event. During his briefing he made sure everyone signed in (also making provisions for guests to sign in), identified the muster point, had emergency instruction if help was needed and posted these throughout the area, in the radio room, on the trailer etc. The City does require a legal agreement and proof of insurance when we set up the tower. As part of the city’s emergency program the Fire Department assisted us in getting the agreement looked after. They also worked with the City Council to Proclaim Amateur Radio Week in the city, recognizing the volunteers and their commitment to making a safer community.

Invitations were sent out and we had representatives from the City Council stop by, say hello, and tour of the event. We also had a representative from the Provincial Government’s Emergency Management & Climate Readiness (EMCR) stop in. Our city is the location of one of the PREOC’s (Provincial Regional Emergency Operation Center) so it will become a hub for communications in a regional emergency. Also, we had visitors from the Fire Department and from the city’s new municipal Police Service stop in for a tour.

There were also visitors from the public, other radio clubs, and families who stopped in at various parts of the event. Those who came by around dinner time on Saturday were invited to join us for another great BBQ hosted by SARC and prepared by two of the SEPAR volunteers Nell and Ralph. During the BBQ several
commented on how important the times of just visiting, hanging out and laughing etc. are to make such an active group a success.

We had some firsts that will likely be covered in other articles, but in summary we saw our new satellite radios and antenna array in action, we had a 10 Ghz radio demonstration, and had two visitors inquire about licenses and sitting an exam. One of the club’s examiners offered to have them write the exam immediately, if they wanted to try. They agreed and both passed. So, we immediately encouraged them to go out to the SEPAR trailer and “get on the air” which they both did. After this success we invited them to join us for dinner to celebrate.

Overall, we had a great time. Many who came to operate may not realize that all the equipment setup, testing, repairs, and planning, including providing food and drink, are all part of an annual exercise to help our community be ready should a disaster occur.

A big thank you to everyone who helped with this year’s event. Having such a great team of volunteers makes our volunteer SEPAR program a success.

If you would like more information on the Surrey Emergency Program, please reach out.

Please note our new email address below (SEPAR@ve7sar.net).

~ Gord Kirk VA7GK
   SEPAR Coordinator
   SEPAR@ve7sar.net

 

May - June 2024 SEPAR Report

 It is that time again to provide an update.

SEPAR continues to see new members who have in interest in volunteering within the community join our group. Most of the new members come as a result of taking the Amateur Radio Licensing Course offered by Surrey Amateur Radio Communications. During the class they hold a Saturday Morning antenna workshop where students build a roll-up J-Pole and get some practical experience tuning an antenna. This hopefully reinforces some of the radio theory they have been learning during the course.

During these hands on courses the students get introduced to several club members and we get an opportunity to explain the SEPAR program and how licensed amateurs can help. From each class some of the students start to join us on a regular basis either for our breakfast or drop in at the OTC.

As these newly licensed hams become active through the Get on the Air Workshop, weekly nets, etc. they will often join the city’s Emergency Program. We also get individuals who reach out through the city via their Emergency Program website and we follow up with these individuals as well.

Today I spent a few hours with a recently licensed amateur who is also a local teacher. He has received the local school boards approval to teach an RF electronics course over the summer for students.

We discussed the impact RF has in day to day lives whether through wifi, bluetooth, GPS or cellular and how it is often not “visible” to the users. As part of the class students will also be taught the required material to take the Canadian Amateur Radio Licensing exam. We are excited to see the impact this will have and whether we will see any of the students become move involved after the summer school program finishes.

As I was thinking of the potential I also reflected on some of the new SEPAR members and their contributions to building a better program. One of the new members has started helping with a group to understand the new Meshtastic devices and seeing how these devices could help in situations where normal commercial communications are not available.

Another one of the members recently volunteered to help with radio communications for the local Sun Run. He has helped in the local Run Surrey Run race and is now helping again with another event. The practice and understanding of managing this large event will be invaluable during an emergency.

We also have one of our members who immigrated to Canada and through the Amateur community has made friends throughout the area. She was recently interviewed about her experience coming to the city and how she has integrated with the community. In fact during my morning commute she was active on the air checking into a local net. During her interview she spent time to ask for the portion being filmed to be done in the radio room at the OTC. This is an excellent promotion for the program, and also helps demonstrate the value volunteering makes to community. She has also spent many hours at the Fire Hall Radio room, cleaning, organizing etc.

Another member has helped take on the task of checking in on the monthly Inter-Municipal Emergency Radio System (IMERS) commercial radio system. This is a check of the commercial radio system which allows for EOC to EOC communications as well as coordination with the Provincial Regional Operations Center (PREOC). This is a midweek morning checkin so it is helpful to have retired volunteers that have the ability to participate at times when others may be at work.

Our upcoming field day (again an emergency exercise) is being organized this year by one of our newer SEPAR volunteers. This is a big event in our calendar to test our equipment, bring awareness to our capabilities and get as many of the members involved as we can. We also invite our local political leaders, and emergency service etc. Last year we focused on GOTA and this led to many new amateurs getting excited about HF communications. This has increased contest participation and radio operators skills.

Some non-radio organizational skills have also been impactful to help our organization. Our website template was rebuilt by one of our members and is maintained by another. He is also a volunteer who has helped with our repeaters and getting the Wires-X working on one of the repeaters. On a very regular basis he also comes each Saturday morning to help program newly licensed hams’ radios. He has taken the time for review the radio communications plans in each of our program grab and go kit radios to have each be consistent with the local communications plans.

While it seems there is a never ending long list of things to do, and some great ideas it takes a team to make our program successful.

We have many volunteers that take on small tasks to build such a large program. I cannot detail all of the individual activities that go into SEPAR/SARC programs and this update is certainly not exhaustive. As I was reflecting on all of the actives and people involved I was grateful for the volunteer team involved in our city’s Emergency Program.

I want to take the time as the volunteer coordinator to thank each and everyone who has helped in the program. As volunteers we form part of the fabric of our community and it is a better place because of you.

If you would like more information on the Surrey Emergency Program please reach out.

~ Gord Kirk VA7GK

 

March - April 2024 SEPAR Report

More updates at firehall one

In the last update we talked about the ongoing work updating our radio room at Surrey Fire Hall #1. Again our amazing team has continued to work on small but important tasks. We have all of the VHF/UHF and 220 radios functional and reprogrammed. Our computer is updated and working. There are still a couple of remaining tasks. Our HF radio still needs the roof top antenna serviced. We have permission to go to the roof top to to make the necessary repairs. This does need to be done during business hours and we are waiting for some improvement in the weather to get this task completed.

The other large project is to get our Digital communications updated and working. Fire Hall #1, our SEPAR trailer and the Grab and Go Kits all have SCS Pactor modems installed. This part of our renewal will see the computers updated and our Winlink stations revitalized.

This will also lead to a training focus to ensure our members are able to work with Winlink and are confident in using the program to pass messages.

In SEPAR we also are part of the BC Wireless Amateur Radio Network -BCWARN (https://bcwarn.net/). Our primary repeater site hosts a link to form part of the regions network. This allows us to connect Fire Hall #1 and our trailer to this network. From this we have a phone system to other EOC’s and a connection to the internet outside of our local area. Again with the help of the BCWARN technical team and our SEPAR Team led by Reg VE7ZEB the switches for this system have been replaced and upgraded, our phone and the data via BCWARN network is once again tested and functional.

We have both primary and back up switches installed and tested. The Yeasu Fusion repeater with Wires-X is also now using the internet via BCWARN. We hopefully will see further expansion of our use of this system within Surrey and the surrounding areas.

BCWARN

“From the BCWARN website here is the description of what this network is designed for.

BCWARN is an association of amateur radio groups sharing the common goal of building a high-speed data network, capable of operating independent of commercial "internet" providers.

One of the goals of BCWARN participating groups is to assist in connecting Emergency Operations assets (EOC's, PEP HQ's, reception centers, etc) together with a common, independent network.

The BCWARN network allows its users to exchange information between the connected sites such as email, internet-chat, remote printing, VoIP telephone and fax calls, and virtually anything else that you would use the "internet" for, but without having to rely on commercial network infrastructure.

Note however, that during the majority of the time, there are gateways to the "internet" that allow traffic from BCWARN sites to communicate all over the world. However, should a major incident cause those gateways to fail, the BCWARN sites will still be able to communicate with each other and exchange their information.”

SARC VE7RSC Repeater Site

Next Steps

As the weather begins to improve we look forward to completing the rooftop antenna work. We will also continue on the SEPAR Trailer work we began last year. This will include updating the BCWARN equipment in the trailer, updating the radios and computers. This will also see the digital equipment upgraded.

Our weekly nets, and Saturday drop in sessions continue to be well attended. We continue to see membership growth and interest from our program volunteers.

Kjeld Frederiksen VE7GP SK

It is with sadness we mourn the passing of one of our oldest SEPAR and SARC members.

Kjeld Frederikson VE7GP joined SEPAR prior to Oct 2007. He was a very active participant and in earlier years hosted one of the original club repeaters at his home. He also helped with the build out of our SEPAR trailer. It was an honour to have him spend his time with us and to help build a safer community. He will be missed.

If you would like more information on the Surrey Emergency Program please reach out.

~ Gord Kirk VA7GK
   SEPAR Coordinator.