Having the resources to monitor disaster response communications can be an invaluable tool to keep you, your family, and your community ahead of the information curve.  Here are some resources to help you know where to tune in for an increased chance of catching information flowing between government agencies and Amatuer Radio Operators.  Although this is oriented toward the Cascadia Rising disaster training exercise, the resources below will be very useful in any real-world disaster situation in the future, anywhere in the country.

Partisan Radio Volume 37

If you cannot see the audio player above this line, click on the lock in the upper-left corner of your screen to the left of the URL.

 

Documents:

EXERCISE SCENARIO DOCUMENT Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) Functional Exercise

This document is the PDF outlining the exercise with area, geography, damage, and casualty assessments.

 

Nationwide Emergency Nets & Frequencies

This PDF document lists nationwide emergency net freqs, as well as statewide ARES/RACES HF frequencies.  Find your state, and surrounding states, and copy/paste them into a document to add to your comms binder.  I recommend programming those freqs into your radio(s).

 

FEMA AUXFOG

The Auxiliary Communications Field Operations Guide.  This document is an EXCELLENT emcomm guide with too many valuable resources to list here.  This is a ‘must have’ document to have in your library.  Great radio communications resources.  We’re not FEMA fans, but whoever worked on this guide did an outstanding job.

 

CHALLENGE:  Go to Appendix D ‘Improvised Antennas’ and make one of the antennas during T-Rex.  Field test it, take pics, and send in a description of your experience and a report on how well your antenna fared during the exercise!

 

NIFOG

National Interoperability Field Operations Guide.  Great resource with many frequencies which may be used by government and NGO disaster response.