EOC to EOC Communications Drills

The RACES team at the Washington State EOC is starting a series of EOC-to-EOC communications exercises.  Exercises will take place on a quarterly basis on the fifth Saturday of the month.

The first few exercises will stress exploring voice and data connectivity between participating EOCs.  Subsequent exercises will gradually shift emphasis toward traffic handling.  A poll was taken of likely participants in November. Poll results favored Saturday exercises, limited to two or three hours in length.

All EOCs located within or adjacent to Washington State are invited to participate, including regional, county, city, medical, and disaster relief agencies.    Initially the exercises will start at 9:00 AM local time. EOCs with HF radio capabilities should check into the WSEN net (3.985 MHz LSB primary / 7.245 MHz LSB alternate) at the beginning of their net. A special call will be made for EOCs participating in the exercise. Following that check in, EOCs will be excused and asked to move to 3.980 or 3.975 (depending on band usage) to begin the exercise.

EOCs planning to participate are encouraged to pre register for the exercise by filling out and submitting an informational form listing their capabilities, and the bands and/or repeater systems they wish to "test". While pre registration is optional, it is highly encouraged and will expedite entry into the exercise.

Communications modes will include HF voice & data, 6 meter voice, 2 meter voice & data, 2 meter APRS messaging, and 220 & 440 MHz voice.