The NIH National Cancer Institute will hold its annual Emergency Preparedness Fair on Wednesday, August 19 (rain date: August 26). The fair will feature exhibits by federal, state, and local emergency and public safety agencies as well as community partners. As an added inducement to attend, you can shop at the Shady Grove Farmer’s Market, which is held weekly in the same parking lot during the midday hours of Wednesday. The fair will be held in the NCI parking lot at the southeast corner of Route 28 and Broschart Rd. If programming a navigation device, you can enter the coordinates 39.104250, -77.199250.

Montgomery County ARES/MCACS members, along with members from the NIH Radio Amateur Club (NIHRAC) will demonstrate amateur radio communications capabilities from HF to microwave frequencies. The MCACS van will be on display with its complement of HF/VHF/UHF equipment. We will set up a broadband NVIS HF antenna and deploy a 2m/1.25m/70cm base station antenna atop the van’s 50-foot pneumatic mast. We also demonstrated the van’s VoIP telephone system and stream live video from a remote camera to the van via a broadband microwave link.

We will interact with members of the public as well as representatives on other agencies and organizations active in disasters response and recovery. Moreover, this annual event provides a good opportunity for our members to practice setting up and using the resources of the van.

We plan to arrive on site at 8:30 AM to set up. The fair is officially open to the public between 11 AM and 2 PM, although in practice, folks can stop by at any time. We should be completely done packing up by 3 PM.

If you can help for part or all of the day, drop a note to ataylor@mcacs.org. Or, just drop by during the fair hours to check out the exhibits.