The Sussex County Radio Amateur Civil Emergency System (RACES) program will hold its next meeting for interested radio amateurs at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010, at the Sussex County Emergency Operations Center near Georgetown.

The meeting is offered to radio operators interested in volunteering their time to assist the RACES program. The meeting will be held in the training room of the Sussex County EOC, 21911 Rudder Lane, east of Georgetown.

At this month’s meeting, Ron Block, a consultant on lightning protection and a representative for PolyPhaser, a worldwide producer of lightning protection products, will present a program on ‘Lightning Protection for the Amateur Station.’

Sussex County RACES is a corps of volunteers assigned to aid the Emergency Operations Center during major disasters, providing a critical communications link in the event conventional radio, telephones or other forms of communication are down. The group meets the second Thursday of each month at the EOC to discuss issues related to amateur radio and emergency preparedness.

Coming up next month, Bruce Carpenter of Bruce Carpenter Consulting LLC will discuss ‘Grounding and Bonding’ and the system that currently protects the County’s EOC. That meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11.

Presentations in the months ahead will include battery safety, preparing a family emergency plan, ‘Surviving the Storm’ and ‘Preparing Your GO Kit,’ to name a few.

If you are interested in participating with RACES, this meeting would be a perfect opportunity to learn more and get involved. For more information on the RACES program, visit sussexcountyraces.com, or contact RACES radio officer John Ferguson at (302) 858-5310 or k3pfw@arrl.net.

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