1. The next meeting of Hamilton County RACES will be a brief planning meeting at 0830 hours at the start of TechFest on Saturday, October 7 at Billericay Park in Fishers. CIARA will not meet formally but all members are welcome to participate in TechFest beginning at 0915 hrs and lasting until 1600 hrs. Bring any transceivers you need help programming; new antennas to put up and tryout; power supplies or other equipment that need Anderson Power Poles; or any show and tell gear. There will be VOMS, antenna analyzers to check your base and mobile radio SWRs as well as an oscilloscope for troubleshooting. Those with go-kits can bring them in for VERA-FM/Winlink certification or help in getting them set-up. We will be participating in the Indiana Section Emergency Test (SET) from that location…and more.
2. The next Amateur Radio license exam schedule for 2024 has been released for anyone studying for any class of license. Exams will be given by our ARRL VEs in the training room of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office at 1030 Saturday mornings on January 13, April 13, July 13 and October 12 – 2024. The last exam session this year by Hamilton County VEs will be Saturday, Oct. 14 at 1030 in the Sheriff’s training room in Noblesville.
3. FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on Oct. 4.
The national test will consist of two portions, testing WEA and EAS capabilities. Both tests are scheduled to begin at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
The WEA portion of the test will be directed to all consumer cell phones and will be the third nationwide test, but the second test to all cellular devices. The test message will display in either English or Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset. The EAS portion of the test will be sent to radios and televisions. This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test.
FEMA and the FCC are coordinating with EAS participants, wireless providers, emergency managers and other stakeholders in preparation for this national test to minimize confusion and to maximize the public safety value of the test.
The purpose of the Oct. 4 test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level. In case the Oct. 4 test is postponed due to widespread severe weather or other significant events, the backup testing date is Oct. 11.
The WEA portion of the test will be initiated using FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a centralized internet-based system administered by FEMA that enables authorities to send authenticated emergency messages to the public through multiple communications networks. The WEA test will be administered via a code sent to cell phones.