Daily Archives: January 27, 2015

Jan 27 2015

Final Response To Joe AC2ND’s Inquiry About ACT (Revised)

Joe replied:

Thanks for the detailed explanation.  It reminds me of the REACT (Radio Emergency Action Civics team) from the 1970’s.  I was in the group in Nassau County when I was a teen.  It predated cellphones was an “eyes and ears” organization.

My Response To Joe: (slightly enhanced and corrected) Yes I remember react. It was another very active group way ahead of its time. Out here in Suffolk it was very busy and paticipated many events.

I spent many years in Brookhaven ARES/RACES. Spent many hours shadowing shelter managers, using the .82 repeater to help with coordination during the Suffolk County wildfires and Hurricane Gloria, attended special events and rebuilt equipment in EOC.

Recently, I asked to be removed from Brookhaven ARES because I don’t care for the current politics. From what I understand, those in charge of Town communications basically ignore ARES. As I understand from a reliable source, Brookhaven ARES is not activated because paid Town employees cover communications.

Self activation gets the job done…

Regards, Gary

Jan 27 2015

Differences Between ARES and ACT

Yesterday I sent out our list of emergency phone numbers to the BNLARC Radio Club via the BNL Reflector. I did receive one response from Joe AC2ND. Joe thanked the Team for the list of emergency numbers and gave our ACT  Site a Thumbs Up.

Joe’s comment was: I am not sure how this differs in mission from ARES.

I sent a reply to Joe and thought I’d share it with our Team:

Hi Joe,

Please read the about page to find out more about ACT.

We are self activated and do not need to be called out by any Federal State County or local Agency which is the primary difference.

Our group is made up of Fire EMS retired sheriffs and others who basically take care of many issues in the community south of the LIE.

For example today we handled an MVA and called it into police dispatch and then dispatched a group member to the scene to take a photograph and check on the status of the individuals.

We don’t do emergency communications per-se because we leave that up to the police fire and EMS individuals who are the real first responders.

We handle missing persons, damage assessment caused by man-made and natural disasters. We also check on seniors and take care of other individuals that may need our assistance.

We also have been monitoring Radio and scanner frequencies all day and will all night and also tomorrow due to the inclement weather.

ACT is relatively new but we have ham friends in Indianapolis and they are starting a second chapter there.

As you might imagine ARES RACES organizations in Indianapolis are huge and well-funded have amazing amounts of equipment and work tightly with the government and police and other organizations there.

So we are hopeful that the second chapter of ACT will spring to life and ideas can be shared between the ACT groups.

Best Regards,
Gary KE2YK