What to Do in Case of An Emergency with Communications (Ontario Stake)

At the time of this writing there are not comprehensive disaster plans for our Stake or Wards regarding emergency communications.

Presently the focus is on individuals and families being able to equip themselves and hear information for themselves when there is a loss of communications.  As more people become emergency communications capable, we will begin to develop, practice and implement emergency communications plans as needed. 

As a side note, we regularly drilled for emergencies in the military.  When a crisis happened, we were often making-it-up-as-we-went hoping things would work out, because disasters rarely read, let alone follow and abide by the rules. However, having practiced made it much easier to improvise than it was to figure out what we were doing and how our gear worked.

We won't be using emergency communications unless all other forms of communication are down.  Many ham radio operators have their radios on listening much of the time.  I only turn mine on if something unusual is happening.

These resources can be used to gain information, and you do not have to wait for a major disaster to start practicing these skills and becoming familiar with these resources. For example, if the internet and power go down, I check to see if the repeaters are operating and might ask if anyone else has an outage or has info.If I'm hearing sirens and there is a lot of activity in my neighborhood I check EMS frequencies (look them up and print them out and start practicing listening to them).

Remember, if there is a life-threatening emergency, anyone is authorized to use any form of communication available to call for help - you do not need a ham radio license.  However, I strongly encourage you to get a license so you can practice and be familiar with your equipment in the event of an emergency. 

Ham lingo: Traffic = messages, information or communications, checking for traffic means seeing if anyone is sharing anything, has any info or news.

1) Is power out?  y/n - if so - see 2.

2) Are all other forms of communication down? y/n - if so, see 3

3) Make sure your family's needs are taken care of first - only follow the rest of these if it helps your family and doesn't distract from, or only adds to their immediate care.

4) Tune in to local EMS frequencies to see if there is any additional information being given (suggest city, then county, then state levels).

5) Tune into Malheur Butte Repeater to check for traffic 147.100, +0.6, PL=100.0 

6) Tune into Sheep Creek Repeater to check for traffic 145.390, +0.6, PL=100.0

7) Tune into Lime Repeater to check for traffic 145.170, -0.6, PL=110.9

8) Tune into NOAA to check for any government notifications (162.400MHz, 162.550MHz)

In the even that repeaters are down or have other priority users we will be using the Stake simplex frequencies: 

144.990MHz 

445.850MHz (backup)

The National Call Frequencies of 146.520MHz and 446.00MHz are often monitored by other hams and may have people listening to them (however, this is an extremely rural area that tends to be fairly quiet for ham radio operators, I've only picked up someone once on the National Call Frequencies here in Ontario - in Boise, it's pretty regular).

Ultimately, ERC operators responsibilities are to help facilitate the directions of priesthood leaders.  So Stake and Ward responses fall on the Stake Presidency and Bishoprics.  So in the even of a major emergency of any prolonged duration we'll be turning to our priesthood leaders for direction and using our communications to help facilitate any of their directions as needed.