Tag Archives: Radio Communications

10 Oct

2026 MWJN DISASTER DRILL – 10/18/26

Our yearly Disaster Drill will be held on Sunday October 18, with block activities running from 2pm – 4pm including a debrief at 5 Points with pizza. Clean up and wrap will conclude by 5pm. We have conducted Map Your Neighborhood training in more than 25 MYN Blocks to promote “neighbor helping neighbor” response in a widespread disaster.

2023 MWJM Disaster Drill
2023 MWJM Disaster Drill

In the 10/18/26 Drill,

At 2:00 PM, DROP – COVER – HOLD ON!
Then do what you learned from the Map Your Neighborhood program:
At 2:02 PM, Check on loved ones, dress for safety, check your house, turn on 2-way radio
At 2:10 wear protective gear, take search supplies, place fire extinguisher in front of house,
post OK sign, go to Block Gathering Site
At 2:20 at Gathering Site, choose leader, form BASE and Search TEAMs, set up & check
radios
At 2:30 the search TEAMs leave the Gathering Sites to find and address incidents, using
radios
At about 3:00 the Teams should have completed their search and returned to BASE and report
results, and discuss how we can improve future Drills, or in a real disaster. If there is time,
update a master copy of the MYN Contacts and Skills/Equipment lists
At about 3:30 all Blocks’ members can gather at Five Points for debriefing, information, and
refreshments
At about 4:00 PM the event will end – return to your Blocks
Cleanup at 5 Points and in Blocks should be completed by 5PM.

Everyone should bring their walkie talkies and MYN booklets, and a pen or pencil if they have them. If you need any of these check with your block leader. If you don’t know who that is, ask a neighbor or contact us .

Watch for more information here and from your Block leaders!

05 Jul

MWJN ZOOM RADIO WORKSHOP 7/8/20

Example Radio plan

As part of our preparation for our RADIO DRILL on July 26, we are offering a guided workshop hosted by Pierre Landry via Zoom on Wednesday, July 8 from 7-8:30 pm. We will be covering:

  • How radios fit into our MYN Response Plan
  • Review of the the block-level radio plan
  • Basic 2-Way radio tips
  • Practice radio transmissions
  • Next Steps

Please email: info@mtwashingtonjessica.org to sign up and get the Zoom link

05 Jul

Socially Distanced Radio Drill 7/26

Ben during the 2019 Drill – right before the sprinklers went off behind him

Every year we try to have a drill to practice our Map Your Neighborhood skills and sometimes to coordinate with our local Community Emergency Response Teams. The pandemic has made such team efforts unlikely and even unsafe. This year we will focus on Communications through a Drill using walkie talkies from our homes.

We won’t be going to our gathering sites but we can form “pretend teams” on the radio. There won’t be any incident cards to find, we’ll just discuss various possibilities over the radios.

  • Everyone stays at their home location, uses their radio
  • Block TEAMS check in with their BASE Operator (there are 22 of these)
  • BASE Operators check in with their HUB Operators (there are 5 of these)
  • HUB Operators check in with STAGING Operator (Only 1 of these)
  • Practice passing information through the network
  • Virtual Debriefing on Zoom or on FRS Channel 5

In a real disaster, being able to communicate with your neighbors is extremely important. We’ve been trained to do this by all going to the same place to coordinate a response plan. If something major were to happen during at stay at home pandemic, we would need another way to account for everyone. We have our contact lists, but if power were to go out and cell towers overloaded, our battery operated walkie-talkies would be a much better bet than phones or email/text

We will have several opportunities (see News and Events) to practice and get our radios in working order before the drill. If you don’t know where yours are, now’s a good time to look. Please plan to participate on Sunday, July 26 from 2-4 pm. What else did you think you were going to do that day??

10 Oct

Radio Workshop Wednesday, Oct. 16

Pizza fro CERT/CSMR provided by ASNCDid your walkie -talkie work as planned during the drill? Are you overwhelmed by technology and need a little hand-holding to get started? Can you turn it on but don’t know what to say or when to say it? Do you understand everything there is to know about using radios but wish your neighbors had better training?

 

COME TO A SPECIAL RADIO WORKSHOP 

Wednesday, Oct 16  from 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Coptic Church – 4900 Cleland Ave. 90042
(downstairs – walk down the driveway on the left side of the church as you’re facing it and enter through the doorway on your right)

Bring your radios (whether you purchased them yourself or received a set for your block)

We will go over:

  • Turning radios on and off
  • Charging, battery care and maintenance
  • Changing channels
  • Push-to-talk
  • Effective protocols (what to say)
  • Our Mt. Washington Jessica radio plan
  • Challenges of our hilly neighborhood
  • What is a repeater and what  you need to know about it
  • What worked and didn’t with radios during our last drill
  • Any questions you may have about radios