Volunteer radio network grows to link Upper Highway 4 residents during outages

Kirk Boynton, president of the Ebbets Radio Safety Net and a Pine Brook Homeowners Association board member, said the volunteer group now has “almost 80 members,” 68 of whom take part in regular weekly nets aimed at keeping people connected when power, cell or internet service fail in Calaveras County’s Upper Highway 4 corridor.

The network grew from neighborhood conversations about communication failures during heavy snow and public-safety power shutoffs and now offers regular check-ins, technical help and community training to help residents check on neighbors and coordinate local responses during outages and wildfire threats.

ERSN began after Pine Brook neighbors raised concerns about reaching people during severe weather and utility outages. Boynton said Dan Papias, a Pine Brook homeowner, brought a radio and the idea that a community radio net could provide local communications when other systems were down. “We were just going to start something small,” Boynton said, but the effort expanded as other residents, including Marlene Cober and radio volunteer Ken Sanders, joined and helped set up repeaters and procedures.

The group holds short check-in nets to keep member locations current and relay urgent local information. Boynton laid out the regular schedule: a 15-minute net Saturday mornings at 9 a.m., a Wednesday check-in at 7 p.m., and a Monday net that uses a Murphys-area repeater. He also said the group plans to install another repeater to broaden coverage.

Members use inexpensive handheld radios (Boynton noted a two-pack currently sells for about $38) and, for longer range, General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) models that allow higher power and upgraded antennas. Boynton explained listeners must register for a GMRS license through the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Licensing System; the license covers an entire household, carries a small fee and is valid for 10 years. “There is no test,” he said, distinguishing GMRS licensing from amateur (ham) radio requirements.

ERSN also experiments with Meshtastic, a low-power, text-focused mesh network technology that links small nodes to allow Bluetooth-connected phones to exchange messages without cellular service. Boynton described Meshtastic as “the text equivalent” of voice radio and said a subgroup of volunteers is exploring how it can complement the voice nets.

Technical infrastructure includes solar-powered repeaters that rebroadcast handheld signals from higher-elevation sites to overcome ridgelines and trees; Boynton said the solar arrays have been built to last several days without sun. He credited Ken Sanders with technical coordination of frequencies and repeater setup to avoid interference.

Boynton said ERSN maintains a website, ersn.net, with a channel guide, step-by-step licensing instructions and programming help, and the group uses a Facebook group and Nextdoor for event announcements and informal coordination. He encouraged residents to contact ERSN for radio programming assistance at community events.

The interview closed with an invitation to the Firewise Calaveras Festival on Nov. 1 at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, where Boynton said ERSN will have informational materials and volunteers available. “That has all of our contact information, as well as general information on how to get started,” he said of the group website.

ERSN represents a volunteer, neighborhood-level approach to emergency communications rather than a substitute for official county or state alert systems; Boynton noted the system complements existing county alerts and sheriff notifications and is designed to help residents check on neighbors and relay locally specific needs during outages.