The ARRL offers free online ECOMM training. All Mahoning County ARES volunteers are encouraged to take these courses.

EC-001: Introduction to Emergency Communication+ Description. This course is designed to provide basic knowledge and tools for any emergency communications volunteer. The course has 6 sections with 28 lesson topics. It includes required student activities, a 35-question final assessment and is expected to take approximately 45 hours to complete over a 9-week period. You will have access to the course platform at any time of day during this 9-week period so you may work according to your own schedule.

Prerequisites. Before you begin the course you should have completed the following prerequisites. These courses provide a foundation for the content of this course. These are free mini-courses you can take online:

• IS-100.c Intro to Incident Command


• IS-700.b NIMS An Introduction to the National Incident Management System

EC-016: Public Service and Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs+ Description. This course is designed to train licensed Amateur Radio operators who will be in leadership and managerial roles organizing other volunteers to support public service activities and communications emergencies. In this course you will learn how radio amateurs prepare and organize to support local community events, and, working in coordination with governmental and other emergency response organizations, deploy their services to provide communications when needed in an emergency.

Prerequisites. Before you begin the course you should have completed the following prerequisites. These courses provide a foundation for the content of this course:

• ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1/ Basic (EC-001)


• Skywarn Training



And the following Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) courses::

• IS-100.c Intro to Incident Command


• IS-200.c ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents


• IS-700.b NIMS An Introduction to the National Incident Management System


• IS-800.b National Response Framework, an Introduction





PR-101: Public Relations 101 for Radio Amateurs

Description. This is a basic training course for PIOs and anyone interacting with the media and promoting Amateur Radio.

This course is designed to give hams a quick overview in public relations activities. It uses the skills of experts in various aspects of public relations to provide volunteer Public Information Officers with the basic skills and expectations that a PIO needs to know to be effective in their home region. PR-101 covers everything from the basic news release to Web sites and video work.

Prerequisites – None.

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