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 The City of Hillsboro depends upon FCC-licensed amateur radio operators to provide backup emergency communications capability during exercises, disasters, and special events. We have a dedicated group of volunteers that regularly meet, plan, train and exercise their skills and equipment in order to be prepared to respond during disasters.
The City of Hillsboro's amateur radio volunteers operate the radio equipment at our Emergency Management office under the station callsign K7HIO. Our volunteers provide a wealth of skills, knowledge and talents. Through their efforts, our backup emergency communications capabilities include the ability to send and receive:
- Voice messages - short conversations with other jurisdictions/agencies or between our station and field observers. Examples of uses include to deploy volunteers to their assignments, provide instructions, answer questions, check connectivity, etc. Most useful when formal documentation or word-for-word relay of the information is not required.
- Text messages - short text exchanges. Examples of uses include when accuracy is important, surrounding noise levels make voice conversations difficult, or if immediate response is not required.
- Photos - sending pictures over the radio. This capability is especially useful for damage assessment, when an accurate description of damages is important. Sometimes, a picture is worth more than a thousand words!
- Documents - word processing documents, spreadsheets, .pdf files, etc. Examples might be a signed declaration of emergency,
spreadsheet of deployed resources by location, purchase order for supplies, or the lunch order for deployed volunteers. Especially useful when accuracy is important, formatting of the information is important, or signatures are required.
K7HIO's volunteers are dual-affiliated with both Washington County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and Washington County Radio Amateur Civic Emergency Service (RACES). These organizational affiliations provide the flexibility to operate under many different circumstances and in support of many jurisdictions and agencies throughout Washington County.
We also use non-licensed volunteers for duties such as scribes for our radio operators or staffing our message center. Contact us if you are not currently licensed, but you would like to be involved. We participate in a variety amateur radio activites, so it's a great way to "try the hobby on" while you study for your license. (If you don't plan to get a license, that's OK, too.)
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