ECTAR Inc.
Emergency Communications Through Amateur Radio

"The coordination of effort between private volunteers and local government resources is critical in assuring the public of the best possible communications link during emergency situations."

Tom Perkins
Former Supervisor, Third District
County of Monterey

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Monthly Meetings

     First Friday of every month
     Time:        6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
      Location: Monterey Moose Lodge, KM0OSE
                       555 Canyon Del Rey Blvd.
                       Del Rey Oaks, CA 93940
      Talk in:    145.430, 441.650 and 224.240

      Dinner at 6:00 pm, meeting starts at 7:00 pm
***Please RSVP for dinner sal@n6spd.com ***

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ECTAR Inc. is a California non-profit 501(C)(3) organization serving Monterey and neighboring counties with emergency communications support.

What is ECTAR's purpose?

As an ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) group and ARRL (American Radio Relay League) affiliate club, ECTAR is dedicated to providing trained amateur radio communicators to local government agencies, emergency support services, and disaster relief agencies such as the American Red Cross. In the event of a natural or man made disaster and the assistance of ARES is called upon, ECTAR members are prepared to station themselves where needed to provide these necessary emergency communications.

ECTAR also believes that everyone should be prepared for an emergency. Everyone, not just emergency service personnel and emergency volunteers, should know what to do before, during, and after an emergency such as an earthquake or flood. To this end, ECTAR sponsors training and education classes at its monthly meetings which are completely free of charge and open to the public. Click on Meeting Presentations on the left to see past and upcoming presentations and get directions to the meeting location.

What are ECTAR's goals?

Beyond public education and training, through donations and grants, ECTAR plans to complete the goal of establishing an emergency powered amateur radio communications network that would be made available by volunteer amateur operators to local, state, and federal emergency response agencies. To meet this objective, the Monterey County Emergency Communications Amateur Radio Project (MCECARP) was developed by ECTAR and is divided into 3 phases designed to meet the overall project goal.

Phase 1 - Establish a county wide emergency powered communications network.

Phase 2 - Establish a digital communications network.

Phase 3 - Design and equip a self contained mobile communications command center.

Why do we need ham radio and groups like ECTAR?

Although most agencies have their own radio equipment, during a disaster the radio systems for agencies such as police departments, fire departments, ambulance services and the like are very busy! If the disaster is large scale, even cell phone systems may be unusable or even completely out of service. Ham radio operators are completely self contained and our radio gear is always ready to go. These agencies have come to rely on ham radio volunteers to more evenly distribute the communications workload.

Are you paid for doing all this?

Not only aren't we paid, we can't be! Amateur radio is a hobby and FCC regulations specifically prohibit using it for business purposes. We, by law, cannot accept payment for our service, but we can accept donations to help cover expenses. Participation in ARES activities or other functions by all radio amateurs is strictly on a volunteer basis. Our members donate their own time and equipment for one reason...they desire to help their community when help is needed.

How does ECTAR and ARES help me?

At 5:04pm on October 17th,1989 the second deadliest earthquake in US history hit Northern California in what ended up to be called the Loma Prieta earthquake and disastrous flooding during the El Nino event hit Monterey County in 1995. If you needed assistance during either of these events, chances are we already have! During the 95 flooding ECTAR members supported Red Cross shelters as well as local hospitals and ARES members were directly responsible for saving two homes and one family! After the Loma Prieta earthquake, ARES members got messages of well being out to relatives of family members here who could not call them because the phone systems were down.

What does ECTAR do when there is no need for emergency communications?

In "peace time" as we call it, ECTAR sponsors communications support for three local fundraising events. The nationally renown AT&T Pro-am golf tournament, the Monterey County Volunteer Center "Human Race" is a walk/jog-a-thon in Pacific Grove, and the Multiple Sclerosis "Back to the Beach Bike Tour" in Santa Cruz/Watsonville draws riders from all over the world! We also assist other groups with communications support for other events throughout the year such as the Big Sur marathon and the Watsonville Airshow.

Kim (N6LP) passes radio traffic at the AT&T Pro-Am golf tournament.

With other members out on the course, Don (KQ6FM) and Dan (W6FDO), staff the control station for the Monterey County Volunteer Center's "Human Race".

Two of our members supporting the Santa Clara County
 Multiple Sclerosis walk-a-thon with radio and first aid equipped bicycle units.

Steve (KB6GNG) passes information to "fly-in command" at the
Watsonville airshow.

ECTAR sets up a display booth promoting amateur radio at an event called "Discovery Day"
held at the Naval Postgraduate School.

I'm a licensed ham. Does ECTAR have open repeaters I can use?

Yes -- and an affiliated linked system. Click on ECTAR Repeaters on the left to get information on them. Please feel free to use our repeaters anytime and you are always welcome to join us for our weekly net on Wednesdays at 7:00pm.

Do I have to be a ham radio operator to join ECTAR?

No. Membership only requires that you have a desire to help your community in time of need. There are many ways you can help without being a communicator however, should you feel you might be interested in the communications aspect and amateur radio, our club can help prepare you to take the test for getting an amateur radio license. It's not as hard as you think and the entry level license no longer requires a morse code test.

I'd like to join ECTAR! What do I do?

You need to complete a membership application and send it to us. The questions on it are only for our membership database and not to determine eligibility. Dues are only $12 per year. You can email, call, or write us for an application or get a printable PDF version here (If you need Adobe Acrobat for the PDF, see the links page). Mail the completed application along with your check or money order made out to ECTAR Inc. to the address below. 

I don't wish to join ECTAR, but I'd like to help. How can I?

If you don't wish to join our organization, but are interested in supporting our effort, your tax deductible donations of cash or equipment useful to us are always very much appreciated. Contact us for equipment donations or mail cash donations as a check or money order made out to ECTAR Inc. to:

Are there other amateur radio or related sites on the internet?

You bet there are! Click on Links and Ham Radio FAQ's on the left to see a list of some of them.

I hope we answered any questions that you may have had and that you found this site interesting and educational. Come back again soon.

Rick Lagerstrom, KN6FR
President, ECTAR Inc.
kn6fr@westlog.com

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Since August 1999

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