Berkeley CERT and Inter Neighborhood Network
"Dedicated to connecting Berkeley CERT Teams and neighborhoods to improve our collective disaster response capacity and effectiveness"
Site content pages:
Special Event - Fall 2022 Solano Stroll September 11
On-air Net - First and Last Tuesday of each Month, 7:30pm
Emergencies - how to communicate during a disaster
Radios - acquire and set up a radio for the repeater, get a GMRS license
Map - locations of participants and emergency services & infrastructure
News - events & updates
Contact - get in touch or join the email list
Local - Bay Area GMRS Resources
BeCERTAINN is a Berkeley-wide radio network designed to enable CERT Teams, neighborhoods and individuals to communicate effectively during an emergency. BeCERTAINN uses General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) – a licensed radio service. The most common use of GMRS channels is for short-distance, two-way communications using hand-held radios (walkie-talkies).
Why? After a large-scale disaster, it is likely individuals and neighborhoods will need to rely on their own resources for an extended period of time. That has lead to a growing interest in emergency communications between CERT response teams – neighborhood to neighborhood networking. BeCERTAINN enables this networking via radio to support community collaboration.
How is BeCERTAINN unique? We maintain a radio repeater, which receives signals and re-transmits them at a higher power, over longer distances. In our case, the Neighborhood CERT Repeater is capable of receiving and re-transmitting a signal from and to most locations in the City of Berkeley.
The best way to participate is to:
Obtain a GMRS License
Acquire a repeater capable GMRS radio
Participate in practice nets on the First and Last Tuesday of each month, at 7:30pm
Where can I get a GMRS capable radio? Most off-the-shelf GMRS walkie-talkies cannot access repeaters – a special repeater function is required. BeCERTAINN has acquired several repeater-capable GMRS radios for groups to borrow and test.
For more info on radios, repeaters, licensing and operating, see the Radios page