FRS/GMRS Radio Exercise June 11th

Greetings,

This is a quick reminder that our city-wide FRS/GMRS Radio Training Exercise is currently scheduled for the morning of Saturday June 11th. Many of the neighborhood associations in the City of Lake Oswego have received Family Radio Service (FRS) radios as part of a disaster supply equipment cache. The purpose of this exercise is to test/evaluate a city-wide communications plan developed to assist FRS and General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) users during a natural or man made disaster when traditional communication paths (i.e. phones/internet) are not functioning.

We will be holding an online WebEx meeting on Thursday June 2nd at 7:00 PM to provide pertinent background on the exercise and to describe the roles that participants will fill during the exercise. The link to the online meeting will be emailed out on Thursday morning to those who sign up. If you are interested in participating in this radio exercise or simply wish to be informed, you must sign up online to receive the webinar link or further information. If you have already signed up, you’ll receive the link on Thursday morning.

Details on this exercise and the instructions to sign up are available online at: https://www.ci.oswego.or.us/fire/lofd-radio-communications-exercise

FRS radios are relatively inexpensive, do not require a license to operate, are simple to use and allow reasonable communications within a typical neighborhood. FRS radios are ideal to have as part of a 72-hour emergency kit. GMRS radios operate on the same 22 frequencies (i.e. channels) as FRS radios but allow for the use of 8 additional repeater channels. GMRS radios are similar in cost to FRS radios, can operate at higher output powers, allow use of external antennas to increase coverage but do require a license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate. A local GMRS repeater provides coverage for users to communicate across the City of Lake Oswego and into neighboring communities, well beyond the range of an FRS radio. The GMRS license costs $35, is valid for 10 years, does not require a test and can be utilized by all immediate family members.

To learn more about the various radios for emergency communications, how the local GMRS repeater works, how you can participate in a weekly radio net, view one of our online training videos or to download instructional guides for conducting your own neighborhood training exercises, please visit: https://www.ci.oswego.or.us/fire/emergency-communications

Lastly, volunteers with the Lake Oswego Amateur Radio Emergency Services (LO ARES) organization will be setting up a variety of radio types on Saturday June 25th at Lakeridge High School; joining more than 40,000 hams across North American on the air. This Field Day event allows amateur radio operators to demonstrate to the public how radios can be used to meet the challenges of emergency preparedness, allow the public an opportunity to get on the air and answer questions that the visitors may have with regards to radio communication. You can learn more about the event at: https://loares.org/

If you have any further questions, comments or feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly.

Regards,

David Smith | Deputy Fire Marshal

https://www.ci.oswego.or.us/fire/lofd-radio-communications-exercise