6/16/2021 Team Meeting
A huge thank you to Kriss Larson (KR6ISS) for covering the Orange County Emergency Channels that can be monitored with your amateur radio or a regular scanner. You can watch the discussion here and read the details below. All Orange County city and county police, fire and paramedic communications are on one 800 mHz digital […]
OCHEART Team Meeting 2/17/2021
Our February OCHEART Team Zoom meeting was a terrific introduction to APRS lead by Ted Lavino (KG6LZP). Starting with the definition of APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System), Ted reviewed how APRS works (see APRS.org for additional details), the frequency we use here in the US (144.39) and the system’s architecture. From there Ted explained the […]
OCHEART Team Meeting 1/20/2021
At the OCHEART January 2021 Zoom Team meeting, Kriss Larson (KR6ISS) educated the Team about the non-Amateur communication tools that most U.S. medical facilities use today. He discusses how the staff members use the various communication devices and explores some of the options additional options available to hospital staff as well as some of the […]
OCHEART BOSS Team Meeting 12/6/2020
The OCHEART BOSS team held it’s first meeting to discuss the details for the upcoming simplex exercise. OCHEART members participating in these BOSS exercises will test the ability to communicate using amateur radio simplex channels from various medical facilities to various hilltop locations in Orange County. The results of these tests will be used to […]
Team Meeting July, 18 2020
We held our first Team meeting via Zoom on Saturday July 18th and had a good turnout. Nicki Harwood (Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, St. Joseph Medical Center in Orange) spoke to us about how important Ham operators are to the hospital when communications systems fail and what we will be doing when we respond to an […]
What is a Trauma Center?
When talking about medical facilities, at some point the conversation turns to “Trauma Centers” as the highest level of service when it comes to emergency medical care. So what exactly is a Trauma Center? The American Trauma Society has a great definition and explains the difference between a designation and a verification which is voluntary: […]
What if?
What would happen if your local hospital’s communications systems were overwhelmed by: Damage to its electrical connection Damage to its telephone system Overwhelming patients due to Major earthquake Chemical explosion Massive wildfires Flooding Normal communications were disrupted resulting in confusion This is why OCHEART exists. Our Team of volunteers works with hospital administration and the […]
OCRACES and OCHEART sign MOU
Monday March 2, 2020 was a historic day for OCHEART as we were able to sign a memo of understanding (MOU) with OCRACES to use their repeaters for our weekly nets as well as emergency operations when OCRACES is not activated. This is important for OCHEART as the county repeaters cover most of the county […]