Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Communications topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Depoe Bay volunteers plan radio and mesh‑text trainings ahead of ShakeOut drill
Summary
At a Depoe Bay preparedness meeting, volunteers and presenters urged residents to join a local radio network and trial mesh-text devices as backups to cellular service; organizers recommended using the Oct. 16 ShakeOut drill and scheduled follow‑up trainings and monthly checks.
Michael Tomlinson, a retired staff oceanographer, told Depoe Bay emergency-preparedness volunteers that relying solely on ham radio leaves many residents without timely information and urged wider use of GMRS/FRS and mesh-text devices that work when cell towers are down.
"Beyond ham radio, getting the information to residents" was the theme of Tomlinson’s presentation, in which he demonstrated a credit-card-size mesh unit paired to a phone and described an app (referenced in discussion as "Mesh Task/meshtastic") that enables text messaging without cellular service. He said the mesh becomes more reliable as more nodes join the community and likened its redundancy to how early internet routing worked.
Committee members discussed operational details for the statewide ShakeOut exercise on Oct. 16, agreeing that neighborhood groups should perform simple status checks (for example, "no damage, everybody's fine") and then check in on a higher-power channel to a designated control station. Presenters recommended channel 15 for higher-power relays and warned that channels 6 and 7 are low‑power and subject to range limits.
Speakers reviewed equipment and licensing: GMRS radios require a family license (committee discussion cited a $35 fee with 10‑year duration) and models discussed ranged from roughly $22 to $150. Tomlinson and others described giving low‑end FRS radios to new residents, distributing one‑page instructions for powering on, changing channels and checking batteries, and running monthly radio checks to keep skills current.
Tomlinson framed the urgency with local and regional hazard experience, including recent wildfire smoke and the prospect of a major Cascadia earthquake and tsunami. "There are no small tsunamis," he said, adding that even a low‑height tsunami can move huge volumes of water quickly and cause severe damage.
Next steps recorded by the committee included asking HOAs to confirm participation by e‑mail, scheduling a post‑meeting training in November (committee noted Nov. 10 as the next regular meeting), and using the ShakeOut drill as an opportunity to exercise relays and net control procedures.
