We learned today of the passing of Steve Greenberg - Whiskey Quebec Zulu Delta 822. Many of you may recall Steve’s omni-present check ins either from home calling in as "Ada Ordway CERT" or frequently as WQZD 822 pedestrian or bicycle mobile. Steve was also a District Coordinator for Berkeley CERT. In terms of organizing and educating for preparedness and resiliency, Steve was both an anchor and the glue. When BeCERTAINN needed volunteers to support the Berkeley Path Wanders, Steve was not only the first to volunteer but he always took the longest and most challenging route. During our first spring exercise, Steve made a point of visiting multiple operating locations in the spirit of his role as District Coordinator: Mr. Glue. He visited our 1500 M L King command center, where we were operating in an open-air rooftop deck, and said, “you know it could be raining when the Big One strikes.” Shortly thereafter we purchased a weatherized canopy.

The crazy thing about disaster preparedness, like the safety announcement on an airplane, is that you learn and practice something you never really want to use, but if that time comes, you really, would like to have an anchor and glue to ground your operations. Today, we have lost an incredible force for preparedness.

To honor Steve’s commitment and contribution, we will forever dedicate our last Net in February to WQZD 822.

Photo: Steve was also recognized for Exceptional Service at the Berkeley Lab

The City of Berkeley and Berkeley Fire Department hosted Fire Ready Fest at Live Oak Park on Sunday Sept 17, 2023. It was a community fire preparedness event & centennial commemoration of the 1923 Berkeley Fire. The Event included history, public education about emergency preparedness, food and games. View the flyer here. 

BeCERTAINN participated with a booth, radio demonstrations, and talking to many interested neighbors and visitors.    

For Berkeley's National Night Out on Tue Aug 1, 2023, BeCERTAINN recommended folks get on the radio and consider the following activites:

• There will be an extended BeCERTAINN "open" Net; check in at any time

• If you neighborhood has an engagement with a public safety team; realy your contact over the net

• Walk your neighborhood and check in from Night Out events

• Engage residents at events (let them check in on your radio) and email or text them the BeCERTAINN flyer (you can download it here)

In February 2021 BeCERTAINN installed a Comet CA-712 EFC antenna for the repeater. This new equipment adds approximately 6 feet of height above the previous model and is tuned specifically for the GMRS band. In January, the antenna cable was replaced with high performance coaxial cable. After testing on multiple nets, the result has been improved repeater communication for the limited number of neighborhoods that experienced difficulty "holding the repeater" in the past, and clearer and cleaner signals for everyone else.

Going forward, BeCERTAINN nets will happen twice per month, on the first and last Tuesday of each month, at 7:30pm.  In September 2020 BeCERTAINN changed from weekly nets down to once per month nets (first Tuesday). After a member survey in January 2021, with results announced Feb 2nd, it was decided to try two nets per month.  

The GMRS Emergency Network - Oakland (GENOAK) announced the launch of its official website at www.genoak.org.

Congratulations to our friends at GENOAK for the well designed site with great information. They quickly established a new GMRS group for Oakland and nearby cities, in collaboration with Oakland Community Preparedness & Response and the Oakland Firesafe Council. 

BeCERTAINN now has an official website at: www.BeCertainn.org

It includes information on the organization, our regular nets, and how to get involved. In development since October, it has finally been polished up and launched publicly. 

The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services published a video about how a community in Northern California adopted GMRS radio to communicate during wildfires, when other services are down. 

Grass Roots Radio Solves Rural NorCal Community's Disaster Communication Quandary

Short version (3m50s),  Long version (5m40s)

BDPNN hosted a Community Emergency Preparedness Fair at James Kennedy Park in Berkeley. BeCERTAINN and NALCO both had booths demonstrating radio communications, and had a solid stream of interested visitors. More info at the link below:

East Bay Community Emergency Prep Fair

BDPNN and BeCERTAINN held a citywide drill that included communication via BeCERTAINN's GMRS radios and repeater. More info at the link below:

City-wide Activation Drill (with BeCERTAINN)

The Berkeley Disaster Preparedness Neighborhood Network (BDPNN) hosted a presentation by Geoff about BeCERTAINN. Details at the link below:

BeCERTAINN: Repeater Radio Communications in a Disaster

In early January 2019, BeCERTAINN set up a new repeater that has a more powerful transmitter, and more sensitive receiver, so it should perform better for participants who had trouble hearing or reaching the repeater in the past. This also allowed us to change the outgoing PL tone from 71.9 Hz, so that it now matches the incoming PL tone of 88.5 Hz. 

For more info, see this mailing list message.

The Berkeley Path Wanderers Association (BPWA) partnered with BDPNN and BeCERTAINN to survey paths and trails in the Berkeley hills, which  could serve as evacuation routes in a fire, earthquake or other emergency. More info at the links below:

BeCERTAINN Path Survey Communications Report (PDF)

SF Curbed article: Berkeley group is surveying all city paths to better prepare for evacuations

Berkeleyside published an article highlighting BeCERTAINN, the radio technology, and how to get involved. It sparked a lot of interest in BeCERTAINN.  Read the article at this link:

Berkeley neighbors seek to widen grassroots emergency radio system

In January 2017, BeCERTAINN announced the availability of its first GMRS repeater.  Read the original announcement here.