Purpose
The Pinellas ACS training net will be used to familiarize ARES®/ACS participants with net procedures, message formats, phonetics, use of prowords, and other basic skills. The training segment of the net will be narrowly focused on a small set of skills and will be designed to require less than an 30 minutes to complete. This segment of the net will also be used to provide members with detailed information about upcoming drills and exercises.
The NCS will announce the net using the NCS script located on the ACS website. The net is divided into the seven segments listed below.
- Call for Priority Traffic
- Call for General Check-ins
- Bulletins
- Staff Reports
- Traffic and Announcements
- Training
- Final Announcements and net shutdown
Schedule
The Pinellas ACS Training Net will take place once per week at 1930 hours on Tuesday evenings.
Resources
The Pinellas ACS training net is a directed net that will make use of the W4ACS VHF/UHF repeater system. This is a linked repeater system. Operational frequencies and tones for the net are listed below.
Activity
2021 Weekly Training Material.
2022 Weekly Training Material.
The training material associated with each 2023 weekly training net will be posted below following the completion of the net.
Date
Description
Training Info
14 November 2023
Prowords and Fill Requests: An introduction to Introductory words, operational words, punctuation, and fill requests used when handling formal verbal message traffic.
7 November 2023
ICS204 Assignment List: Description of the Assignment List form used within the Incident Action Plan.
24 October 2023
Event Specific Operations: An overview of the severe weather events that could cause ACS to activate, the potential impacts to critical infrastructure we need to plan for, the communication networks that could be activated, and the ACS assets required during a deployment.
17 October 2023
NIFOG: An introduction to the National Interoperability Field Operations Guide (NIFOG).
10 October 2023
Record Keeping: Description of ICS 214, Activity Log and ICS 309 Communications Log.
3 October 2023
PinCo ACS Activation: A review of the activation procedure within Pinellas county.
19 September 2023
SKYWARN®: An overview of the SKYWARN® program and its operation in Pinellas County.
12 September 2023
Tactical Call Signs: An Introduction to the use of Tactical Call signs.
29 August 2023
No Training – Hurricane Idalia Activation.
22 August 2023
Net Check-in Procedures: An overview of the recommended procedures to be used when checking into a Pinellas ACS net.
15 August 2023
Personal Training Activities: An overview of recommended FEMA Individual Study (IS) and ARRL classes.
1 August 2023
Message Content, Security, and Precedence: An overview of message precedence and information that should not be passed via Amateur radio.
25 July 2023
Management of Communication Resources – Part II: Introduction to the ICS 205 Incident Radio Communications Plan.
18 July 2023
Management of Communication Resources – Part I: Introduction to the ICS 217A Communications Availability Worksheet.
11 July 2023
PinCo ACS Groups.io: Overview of the new PinCoACS Groups.io website.
4 July 2023
No training held during the week of July 4th, 2023.
27 June 2023
Shelter Go-Kit: An overview of the personal Go-Kit that each member of ACS should put together when assigned to an emergency evacuation shelter.
20 June 2023
Communications Plan: An overview of some of the radio nets that Pinellas ACS could potentially use during an activation event.
13 June 2023
ICS-213 General Message Form: Overview of how to transfer the information from the ICS213 onto a standard ARRL radiogram for transmission using a voice net.
6 June 2023
ICS201 – Incident Briefing Form: Detailed description of the Incident Briefing Form, ICS201.
30 May 2023
Winlink: An introduction to the Winlink Digital email capability.
23 May 2023
No Training held during the week of 23 May 2023.
16 May 2023
ICS204 Assignment List: Description of the Assignment List form used within the Incident Action Plan.
9 May 2023
NIFOG: An introduction to the National Interoperability Field Operations Guide (NIFOG).
2 May 2023
PinCo ACS Activation: A review of the activation procedure within Pinellas county.
25 April 2023
Record Keeping: Description of ICS 214, Activity Log and ICS 309 Communications Log.
18 April 2023
Prowords and Fill Requests: An introduction to Introductory words, operational words, punctuation, and fill requests used when handling formal verbal message traffic.
11 April 2023
SKYWARN®: An overview of the SKYWARN® program and its operation in Pinellas County.
4 April 2023
No Training held during the week of 4 April 2023.
28 March 2023
No Training held during the week of 28 March 2023.
21 March 2023
Tactical Call Signs: An Introduction to the use of Tactical Call signs.
14 March 2023
Event Specific Operations: An overview of the severe weather events that could cause ACS to activate, the potential impacts to critical infrastructure we need to plan for, the communication networks that could be activated, and the ACS assets required during a deployment.
7 March 2023
Net Check-in Procedures: An overview of the recommended procedures to be used when checking into a Pinellas ACS net.
28 February 2023
Personal Training Activities: An overview of recommended FEMA Individual Study (IS) and ARRL classes.
21 February 2023
Message Content, Security, and Precedence: An overview of message precedence and information that should not be passed via Amateur radio.
14 February 2023
Management of Communication Resources – Part II: Introduction to the ICS 205 Incident Radio Communications Plan.
7 February 2023
Management of Communication Resources – Part I: Introduction to the ICS 217A Communications Availability Worksheet.
31 January 2023
Communications Plan: Overview of the radio nets that PinCo ACS could used during an activation event.
24 January 2023
PinCo ACS Groups.io: Announcement and overview of the new PinCoACS Groups.io website.
17 January 2023
ICS201 – Incident Briefing Form: Detailed description of the Incident Briefing Form, ICS201..
10 January 2023
No Training held during the week of 10 January 2023.
03 January 2023
No Training held during the week of 03 January 2023.
