How to Use COTrain, the Colorado state training web site:
1. Browse to http://train.org/colorado/welcome
2. If you do not have a COTrain account, click on the Create an Account button; if you have an account, log in and skip to step 5
3. When the COTrain Create Account page appears, fill in the fields as directed and click Create Account
4. Log in using your new user name and password
5. To check what courses COTrain has on file for you, click YOUR LEARNING and then click on the Your Transcript tab
6. To see what courses are available for you to take, click on COURSE CATALOG
7. Type ICS in the search window and click on the magnifying glass icon to search for ICS-related courses; you can search for specific courses by listing them in the search window, for example, ICS-100 will give a listing of all the ICS-100 courses available (we want IS-100.C, by the way)
8. For more information on how to use COTrain, click on HELP; the TRAIN Tutorials are very good resources
Here is the upcoming training meeting schedule for the 2020 calendar year:
- January: Winter Net Training. Presented by John, ADØPD
- February: Winter Go Bags. Presented by Ben, KBØUBZ and the Yaesu Fusion system, presented by Mark, KA0TPG
- March: ICS Forms. Presented by Randy, N0OEM
- April: Ham Software. Presented by Mark, KD5DKQ
- May: AuxComm. Presented by Emit Hurdelbrink, WØUAW
- June: Arapahoe County OEM Nate Fogg - COVID 19
- July: Damage Assessment - TBA
- August: Shelter and Communications - TBA
- September Medical/Hospital and Communications - TBA
- October POD Operations and Communications - TBA
- November Winter Weather Preparedness and Communications - TBA
- December Debrief of 2020 Training/Exercises - 2021 Planning - TBA
All meetings are held at the Cherry Creek Schools Education Support Center (ESC), 4700 S Yosemite St, Greenwood Village, CO 80111 (Meetings are being held on Google Meet until further notice)
New AUXCOMM Position Task Book Release
John E. Peterson, N4KEA, Telecommunications Specialist with the Emergency Communications Division (ECD) of the US Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), announced in the DHS AUXCOMM forum at the Dayton Hamvention this year that the new AUXCOMM Position Task Book had been approved by DHS for use by the states in training Auxiliary Communicators. The former Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) is now ECD within CISA.
The new Position Task Book (PTB) documents the performance criteria a trainee should meet to be certified for the position of Auxiliary Communicator within a given state. The performance criteria are associated with core National Qualification System (NQS) competencies, behaviors, and tasks.
Evaluators observe and review a trainee's completion of PTB tasks, initialing and dating each successfully completed task in the PTB. Evaluators complete an Evaluation Record Form documenting the trainee's performance. A final evaluator verifies that a trainee has completed the PTB and his/her verification is sent to a review board with ideally at least one member who is an experienced Auxiliary Communicator with Public Safety experience. After board review, a Documentation of Agency Certification is issued as appropriate.
An example of one of the tasks is:
§ Monitor operational performance of AUXCOMM communications systems throughout the duration of the incident.
§ Monitor operational status of all AUXCOMM equipment in use.
§ Establish an operational test schedule and perform tests of communications equipment throughout the duration of an incident.
§ Establish a plan for battery replacement.
§ Establish contingency plans to minimize interruptions in AUXCOMM communications infrastructure and systems.
The PTB can be found on the SAFECOM website at: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/cisa_auxcomm_ptb_-_final_508c_-_051619.pdf