W.E.A.R.C.

               West Essex Amateur Radio Club, Essex Fells, NJ

                                   an ARRL Special Service Club             

  Web Links

Retailers

KJI Electronics
Ham Radio Outlet
AES
Texas Towers
Ham City
Radio Works
R & L Electronics
HamPros
Burghardt
Ebay
Chassis Kits & Enclosures

Manufacturers 

Kenwood
Icom
Yaesu
TenTec
Alinco
SGC
MFJ
GAP Antenna
Elecraft
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Essex County EmComm ARES/RACES

EmComm Equipment Preparedness

 You don't have to be a zillionaire Ham to have the basic gear necessary to participate in EmComm.  We salute those Hams wealthy enough to have dedicated fully stocked "Go-kits", but most of us would rather not spend several hundred dollars or more on gear we will rarely use outside drills.  Therefore, EmComm preparedness is a combination of having some static supplies on stand-by, and everyday gear you can quickly assemble into a Go-Kit.

Below is a general guide, not a cast in stone requirement for EmComm work.  It is really just a common sense approach to some of the things you should have handy if you are going to participate in EmComm activity:

Communications Gear:

• a Dual Band hand-held preferably with 5w max power output and speaker mic

• An extra battery for hand-held

• An AA dry-cell accessory battery pack if your rig manufacturer offers it

• A cigarette lighter/charger adapter.

• A cigarette lighter/charger universal wall plug adapter

• Universal powerpoles or other power connectivity gear common to EmComm

• Auxiliary mag mount type dual band Antenna for mobile work

• An emergency wire J-pole. one for each band.

• 4 RG-8X coaxial jumpers

• 1 or 2 lengths of 50ft of RG-8X w/PL-259 connectors attached

• Assorted connectors and adapters for antennas, coax and audio.

• ARRL Message Forms

• Copy of FCC license

• Spare wire and antenna making supplies (insulators, etc)

General Go-kit gear:

• Personal sized First Aid kit

• 6 pack of bottled water

• Small tool kit and/or multi-tool

• Electrical tape, liquid electrical tape, duct tape

• Flashlight w/spare batteries or self powering/rechargeable

• Small pad with several pens

• Placard or 'cheat sheet' with critical local frequencies, telephone numbers

• Equipment check list.

• A supply of any important medications you take regularly.

• 100' - 200' of rope for supporting antenna's

• Pack of candles w/matches or a supply of glow sticks.

 'Nice-to-have' gear: (for those with money to burn)

• A small low-noise portable generator

• A small solar powered battery recharging station

• An emergency rapid deploy light duty antenna mast w/hardware

• A spare small VHF/UHF beam for rapid deploy mast

• One or more larger gel cell batteries for auxiliary hand held battery supply

• A dual band mobile rig capable of cross band repeat, and minimum 25 watts output

 Web Links

Resources 

ARRL
FCC
R.A.C.E.S.
Essex SKYWARN
ARRL Hudson Div
QRZ
Eham.net
AMSAT
NJDX Assn
NNJ Red Cross ARC
Int'l Dx Assn (INDEXA)
NOAA
HDTV Links Page

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