Carroll & Grayson Counties including the City of Galax, Virginia
RACES is the acronym for the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service, is the registered trademark of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and should not be confused with any private corporation or organization
Glen Sage Webmaster
Briarpatch Amateur Radio Club
Information for Agency and Emergency Management
Registration for EARS/RACES Twin County On-Line Form (Now Active)
Twin County RACES Standard Operating Procedure
SKYWARN Page with forms for the Blacksburg National Weather Service Office
Twin County RACES Net forms and other informational files
Local Weather Station at the home of W4GHS Glen Sage
Local Served Agencies
Breaking News
Twin County RACES Members Only page (Password Required)
SKYWARN News for the local repeater 145.130
Winlink System, NEW
American Red Cross Local Chapter
EARS/RACES Training Page
Information on FEMA's RACES Program
The American Radio Relay League.
Older Front Page Articles
Emergency (2008) Communicaiton Class
Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service
The Twin County RACES unit is establishing their own local registration. This membership will be shared with local government agencies that the local unit has agreed to support in times of communications emergencies. With local registration we are also recognized by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management as RACES and receive the same state protection as any RACES group. Click HERE for additional details.
Why register with you local RACES unit? Because you are needed. In our area (the Twin Counties) we have mountains over a mile high and other areas are less than 1200 feet above sea level. In the higher elevations we have "whiteout conditions" during severe snow storms. We are plagued with ice storms that create power and telephone outages that have lasted for many days. Click HERE for additional information.
Our local unit is involved in supporting Blacksburg VA Skywarn through out local Skywarn repeater, 145.13-600 Khz with a tone of 103.5. Junior Diamond, N4VL is our Skywarn Coordinator on the N4VL repeater.
EARS/RACES
Leadership
Net Report
(Online)
Operation Deep Freeze
Radio Interoperability with " Bridge" equipment
License and Emergency Communications Exams
Skywarn
Skywarn Active on December 18-19: Thanks to all those in the Twin Counties and surrounding area for Skywarn assistance in our recent snow storm. Junior Diamond, N4VL headed up the net control operation on the 145.13 repeater and Carter Craigie, N3AO served as liaison with the NWS and David Puckett, KI4AVS served as liaison for other outlying repeaters. Reports for our area were received for snowfall amounts of 11 inches to 15 inches. A number of modes were used including HF, VHF, Winlink and WXSpots. There were reports that flowed in on a regular basis.
Remember have a measuring stick, snowboard and a means for securing temperature and other readings. Guessing at snowfall amounts has little value. A cheap yardstick can be a real asset. During events such as this, give lots of pauses if you are engaged in non-weather reporting so Skywarn can break in for reports.
RACES Training Certification
We are in the process of setting up training standards for RACES certification and IDs. There are currently no national or state level standards in Virginia for emergency communication operation in the Amateur Radio ranks. We plan to set up common sense standards that also comply with local volunteer pubic service requirements. The common sense standards are those that apply directly to practical operation by ham radio operators in an emergency. The other standards are the ICS and NIMS course requirements required by local emergency management. We have 3 levels of registered participants. The first is a 1 year "training" program designed for new hams. The second is a "basis" level that requires understanding of how to conduct nets and participate in nets and a basic emergency communications training. The "advanced" certification has more advanced requirements and certification. IDs will be laminated and use photo ID along with a barcode record of training certifications. All levels will require a background check. Previous background checks from any served agency will suffice. A larger ID that is to be worn on a lanyard or clip-on will also be issued. This second ID will have the same information as the wallet size but will allow viewing from a distance. There is no cost for required courses unless you choose an option that is a fee type course. There is no cost for the IDs. Training completion forms will appear on this site soon! Registration and certification are available regardless of organizations they may belong. If you are RACES through state or local registration with emergency management, you may apply.
