By dave benjamin
Staff Writer
DAVE BENJAMIN Manalapan police Capt. Louis Moreto (l), township deputy emergency management coordinator; Skip Gracon, amateur radio coordinator; and Police Chief John J. McCormack, the community’s emergency management coordinator, are ready to handle all emergencies as the township’s mobile communications unit has been tested and is ready to go.
MANALAPAN — The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES) team antennae is up and ready to go.
Recently, the team conducted its annual test in conjunction with the Manalapan Police Department and the local emergency management team.
"The RACES team is a group of amateur radio operators who are an integral part of the emergency management team," said Police Chief John J. McCormack, the town’s emergency management coordinator. "They provide vital communication links when other means [of emergency communications] are inoperable."
McCormack said the RACES team is always there whenever there is a need.
"Today’s event is an exercise to ensure that everything is working and [if there are any problems, we can] correct any deficiencies," the chief said.
Looking back to the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on America, the chief noted there was a major problem with telephone communications. Problems can be expected in any major event, McCormack said.
"Having these dedicated individuals atthe disposal of [the emergency management team] ensures a vital communications link during any local or national disaster," he said.
In the event of an emergency, the Office of Emergency Management, under the direction of McCormack, would handle the coordination of all responding emergency services.
Manalapan police Capt. Louis Moreto, deputy emergency management coordinator, said, "It’s comforting to know that in times of emergency when other kinds of communications are down, we have the ability to call upon the RACES team to get us through the trying, difficult times."
Skip Gracon, the RACES coordinator for Manalapan, explained that the team’s radio communications facilities, which are tested on an annual basis, would be available should the police and fire frequencies become saturated by use.
During an emergency, telephone lines may become saturated.
Cellular phones may also face the same problem due to people calling friends and relatives.
That’s where RACES comes into play, he said.
RACES provides the supplemental communication using amateur frequencies, Very High Frequencies (VHF), Ultra High Frequencies (UHF) and lines of sight.
With the help of repeaters and simplex operations, RACES can operate voice messaging and can also send information from computer to computer over radio waves.
During the annual test, RACES sets up its communications system using batteries and generators and runs through a simulated emergency. The emergency system can communicate with other emergency services hundreds of miles away and can gather and relay information whenever and wherever needed, even outside the disaster zone.
"The annual event aims to take [the regular] training and put it to use, in addition to testing out all the hardware," Gracon said, adding, "but we train on a biweekly basis. This exercise, although an annual event, is made possible by biweekly training that the RACES team conducts on the air throughout the year."
Members of the local RACES team are Skip Gracon, Ollie Eavener, Walt Kapica, Pat Reagan, Mal Turdo, Marian Gracon, Matthew Gracon, Neil Feibusch and Rick Snyder.