How To Join
Our Contact page contains suggestions on how to contact us. The most direct method is email (to be provided).
If you are interested in joining we'll do our best to smooth the process. In general we ask that you are prepared to commit to joining us on at least two in-person exercises a year such as those we outline in the Exercises section. We also ask you to attend a number of the training sessions held between 20:00-21:30 in Waterbeach on the third Wednesday of every month. As volunteers, we know that not everyone can attend every exercise and training session but a minimum level of commitment is necessary.
There is also, of course, the implicit willingness to be called upon in the case of an actual emergency in the county where our skills and training can make a difference.
Membership
Membership of the National Raynet[1] organisation is an intrinsic part of joining us, providing you with an ID card and insurance, the details of which can be found on the national site. There is a modest cost associated with this which, if you meet minimum attendance requirements, we fund out of the income we receive from donations. Membership of the national body is recognised by other Raynet groups around the country and it's common for members of one group to assist other groups, so you are not a member of just the Cambridgeshire group.
We are a volunteer body and there is no remuneration for volunteering. As usual, the reward for volunteering is a feeling of contribution, of fellowship with others, of personal experience and growth and perhaps from time to time introduction to events you would not otherwise encounter.
As a volunteer group we have no full-time staff or officers. Experienced members have the opportunity to join the committee, which has a number of nominated positions such as Group Controller, Treasurer, Events Secretary and so on, but in general everyone does everything.
The monthly training sessions have a stated start time of 20:00 but it's normal for many to arrive an hour early, get food locally and then spend an hour socialising and chatting before the start of the session. The social aspect of membership is an element that is not ignored.
The training session following an exercise usually also serves as a de-brief where improvements are discussed.
Get On With It
If you notice things or procedures that you feel are missing and ask 'why has this not been done?' then you can expect immediately to be given the job of doing it. This is how we have a membership handbook. Being told 'just get on with it then' is exactly how voluntary groups make progress.
Speaking of which: members receive our membership handbook which provides a significant amount of information about how we work and also, importantly, describes the radio procedures that we ask members to adhere to. Formal procedures are essential for accuracy, brevity, confidentiality and speed when passing messages whose contents must be clearly and speedily delivered so we try to stick to those as much as possible.
For day-to-day communications between members we have an email group messaging list and also use whatsapp. The contents of those is far from formal.
Our members volunteer not only their own time and expertise but also typically their own radio equipment and transport. As a group we do possess a certain amount of equipment such as radios, generator, Incident Control Vehicle and numerous hand held radios. The bulk of that is also shared with the Camb-Hams / Cambridge Repeater Group[2] and also Cambridge 105 Radio[3], groups that have extensive overlap with Cambridgeshire Raynet members.
Training and Learning
Whilst there isn't a formalised qualification process within our group it obviously takes time to learn the ropes, so depending on your background and skills level you will most likely start by (in rough order)
- Attending an exercise where 'Flossie' our incident control vehicle is being operated by experienced members, with another operating as exercise liaison. You will shadow the various tasks performed during the event as appropriate
- Attending training sessions, where you can participate as much as you can.
- Attending an exercise shadowing an experienced operator and assisting
- Moving on to taking a role as an unsupervised operator in your own right
- Learning how to deploy the control vehicle with assistance
- Learning how to deploy the control vehicle unassisted
- Taking control of an exercise as a control operator
- Selflessly taking on one or more thankless committee rôles
Each person's route through the group will be different but in broad-brush terms, that's typically what will happen. The more you put in, the more you will get out of it. Our members are helpful and most things are handled without rigid process.