NETGuard

[Agentblack]

Good evening everyone, hope this finds each of you well. I wanted to pass this along to those who may be interested. Hamilton County (Noblesville) has been chosen to participate along with three other counties in the United States in a program called NETGuard.

The idea behing NETGuard is to provided trained and cedentialed deployable volunteers that can be requested by the Emergency Management Agency to provide disaster communications or information technology services.

I have attached a flyer to this post in PDF Format for your review. I also have another document I can send you privately as it is too large in PDF Format to attach to the forum.

I invite anyone with radio communications or Information Technology skills like Microsoft Certifications, Server Administrator skills, and/or Networking Skills to contact Mike Alley for further information.

This is an exciting program and a chance for those who wish to give back to their communities. Please contact Mike Alley at:

[EMAIL="malley@lighthousereadiness.com"]malley@lighthousereadiness.com[/EMAIL]

 

[kb9sxk]

Interesting concept. keep us informed on how things develop.

 

[Agentblack]

Yes it is. It sounds like its going to be a great program. I invite you to contact Mike with further questions if you wish. Thanks for the comments! I'll let you know if anything newsworthy develops!

Btw, your radio list: Very nice. the p7100 800mhz? or just vhf?

 

[K9WG]

Interesting concept. keep us informed on how things develop.

Yes, interesting concept. It sounds a lot like... Ham Radio....

 

[Agentblack]

Yes, interesting concept. It sounds a lot like... Ham Radio....

It's much more than that, but yes it does deal with Ham Radio as well. However it's much more in depth than that.

 

[SCPD]

This was on the news months ago mainly for IT people also a mailing went out to Hams in Hamiltion County I got one back a few months ago. Funny how now they are asking for help and a few years ago they did not want any help from the Hams up here.

 

[Agentblack]

This was on the news months ago mainly for IT people also a mailing went out to Hams in Hamiltion County I got one back a few months ago. Funny how now they are asking for help and a few years ago they did not want any help from the Hams up here.

Thats odd because when people found out I was a ham, they were very interested in getting me on board. Maybe it's something you did or said? They have always been welcoming to me as a ham and value the service of the ham's that volunteer. Never has my help been turned down.

 

[W9NES]

No one in the Ham Radio Community in Metro Indianapolis/Marion county has any knowleadge of this program.

 

[Agentblack]

No one in the Ham Radio Community in Metro Indianapolis/Marion county has any knowleadge of this program.

Marion county was not one of the counties selected to participate in the program. For more information about who was, visit

National Emergency Technology Guard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here is a little blurb about it on FEMA's site:

FEMA: Citizen Corps Program National Emergency Technology Guard (NET Guard) Pilot Program

If you are interested in the program, I suggest you contact Mike. I'm sure he can fill you in, and i'm sure he will set up some kind of public info meeting for those wishing to participate. But i'm not sure what exactly he has planned.

 

[radioman2001]

Not to put anybody or anything down, but I guess with all the budget cuts and lack of funds, the powers to be finally realized that you get more as much from a volunteer as you will get from a paid person. As I remember after Katrina a lot of the agencies didn't want volunteers there, they wanted paid personnel, what a change a few years and lots of money makes. I hope this succeeds, it will show the people in power that you don't need shine new equipment and highly paid personnel to put things right. BTW I am a volunteer who has had paid positions in emergency services for nearly 40 years, so I am not partial to either, but both should work together to make it happen.

 

[kb9sxk]

Yes it is. It sounds like its going to be a great program. I invite you to contact Mike with further questions if you wish. Thanks for the comments! I'll let you know if anything newsworthy develops!

Btw, your radio list: Very nice. the p7100 800mhz? or just vhf?

800 edacs...work radio.

 

[AK9R]

No one in the Ham Radio Community in Metro Indianapolis/Marion county has any knowleadge of this program.

Tim, you really need to be careful making blanket statements about things without knowing the facts.

A ham from Marion County and myself attended a meeting back in January regarding amateur radio emergency communications. At that meeting, Mike Alley from Hamilton County made a short presentation about NETGuard.

 

[bdub5]

Very interesting opportunity. Good luck!

 

[SCPD]

It’s nothing I did or said it is a known fact that in Hamilton County even Marion County volunteers used to get frowned on and treated like crap having anything to do with EMA or Public Safety and it has always been a political game in these county’s that’s why a lot of hams don’t jump on opportunities to help out as much as they used to and have a hard time getting a lot of help from people for something as simple as a marathon. Don’t get me wrong it is a great idea and hope it works but if EMA and Public Safety turn it into a big political game as they have in the past it won’t work. It may even turn out to be a good time to listen to the radio traffic but from what I have seen about it that it was more geared for IT and networking issues than radio traffic.

 

[W9NES]

I was told by a local Hamilton County Ham Radio Operator that the flyers that were sent to all Ham Radio Operators in the county ended up being thrown away and put in the trash can.This would explain why NO one in Marion or Hendricks County Knew about this thru FEMA. Some of the Amateur Radio Community would like to see this in operation instead of being kept in the"Dark.What about inviting other hams other than just (1) from Metro Indianapolis/Marion County and the surrounding counties to be involved and needed in times of emergency when the communication infrastructure is down and needs to be restored.

 

[Agentblack]

I don't think they would "kick" anyone out for attending an informational meeting. I would assume it would be open to all of central indiana or at least the counties around marion.

I'm sure others from outside of the area could attend and gather further information about what it is, but im not in charge of it. I just offered to post the information on here to give everyone a chance to come check out the program if they were interested. I honestly do not have any technical details other than what I've read online and i'm pretty sure those are just area specific so who knows. This could turn out to be a statewide program or it could just be metro area. I honestly don't know what the future holds.

 

[bdub5]

I was told by a local Hamilton County Ham Radio Operator that the flyers that were sent to all Ham Radio Operators in the county ended up being thrown away and put in the trash can.This would explain why NO one in Marion or Hendricks County Knew about this thru FEMA. Some of the Amateur Radio Community would like to see this in operation instead of being kept in the"Dark.What about inviting other hams other than just (1) from Metro Indianapolis/Marion County and the surrounding counties to be involved and needed in times of emergency when the communication infrastructure is down and needs to be restored.

If you are interested, contact Mr. Alley. If you are not interested, then don't go on and on about it.

 

[AK9R]

Some of the Amateur Radio Community would like to see this in operation instead of being kept in the Dark.

During last Sunday's Hamilton County ARES/RACES net, an announcement was made about a NET Guard presentation that was to be made to amateur radio operators on Tuesday evening. You must not have been listening to the net.

What about inviting other hams other than just (1) from Metro Indianapolis/Marion County and the surrounding counties to be involved...

For the record, the meeting I attended back in January when NET Guard was discussed was not a NET Guard recruitment meeting. The other ham and myself were not invited to the meeting specifically to hear about NET Guard.

...and needed in times of emergency when the communication infrastructure is down and needs to be restored.

NET Guard has a very specific purpose and role. As stated earlier in this thread, the program is looking for people with Information Technology skills, Microsoft Certifications, Server Administrator skills, and/or Networking Skills. If you don't have those skills, you won't be much help to NET Guard.

 

[Agentblack]

W9RXR tech skills seems to help, but communications skills are needed too. it sounds like its a combo team.. tech skills and radio skills. I would just say that if anyone has questions, please contact mike or attend an informational meeting.

 

[W9NES]

No one can hear that repeater and the anoucement needs to be put on the 146.700 Weds Night Net and then be posted on Indyhams.org and also on the Central Indiana Ham Radio Yahoo Group.This way all of us will not be left in the "Dark"