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
