Upcoming RATPAC Presentation: 2026 Amateur Radio ShakeOut – Preparedness for Everyone!

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, September 23, as the Radio Amateur Training Planning and Activities Committee (RATPAC) hosts "2026 Amateur Radio ShakeOut – Preparedness for Everyone!"

Earthquake safety and all-hazards preparedness start with practice! In this session, discover how ham radio operators around the globe can participate in the upcoming Great ShakeOut drill using Winlink and digital messaging. Presenters Oliver K6OLI (LAXNORTHEAST) and Bob KM6SO (Emcomm Training Organization) will guide participants through the importance of all-hazards emergency readiness and provide a step-by-step walkthrough on how to complete and transmit:

  • A Winlink USGS "Did You Feel It?" (DYFI) report

  • The 2026 ShakeOut Preparedness Survey

  • The 2026 ShakeOut Preparedness Quiz

Whether you operate online or completely offline, learn how your station can contribute vital data to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) while honing your EmComm skills.

Date:   Wednesday, September 23, 2026, 9:00 PM ET / 8:00 PM CT / 7:00 PM MT / 6:00 PM PT / 01:00 UTC 

Details & Zoom Info:  Visit RATPAC.us https://www.ratpac.us 

2026 Amateur Radio ShakeOut Exercise Instructions

We invite you to participate and send DYFI reports, Survey and Quiz answers between October 10, 00:00 UTC, and October 19, 00:00 UTC.

Online Version

1. Sending a Winlink USGS DYFI to USGS with CC: SHAKEOUT;ETO-DRILL;WLNET-OE as instructed here .

2. Answering the 2026 Amateur Radio ShakeOut Preparedness Survey and sending the answer CSV to SHAKEOUT;ETO-DRILL;WLNET-OE

3. Reading the The Essential Earthquake Preparedness Guide.

4. Answering the 2026 Amateur Radio Great ShakeOut Quiz and sending the answer CSV to SHAKEOUT;ETO-DRILL;WLNET-OE

Offline Version

An offline version is available for stations operating without internet access:

1.  Send your Winlink USGS DYFI to USGS with CC: SHAKEOUT;ETO-DRILL;WLNET-OE 

2. Request the "ShakeOut Guide, Quiz and Survey" zip via Winlink

   1. In Winlink > New Message 

   2. To: INQUIRY

   3. Subject: REQUEST

   4. Message: https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1IAbKJofyCsSER2YyOjcrewDUukKCxAFV 

   5. Unzip the forms and follow the instructions on each form.

3. Send your Survey answers as CSV attachment to SHAKEOUT;ETO-DRILL;WLNET-OE 

4. Send your Quiz answers as CSV attachment to SHAKEOUT;ETO-DRILL;WLNET-OE 

Let’s show the power of amateur radio in action—support science, improve preparedness, and participate in the Great ShakeOut!

Bob KM6SO (ETO) Shows ShakeOut 2026

Bob KM6SO (ETO) Shows Offline ShakeOut 2026

Amateur Radio Community Intensity Map - ShakeOut Results

This maps shows DYFI messages received by tactical address "SHAKEOUT". 

Amateur Radio Support for USGS

On International ShakeOut Day, October 15, 2026, at 10:15 AM local time, millions of people worldwide will practice earthquake safety. After you “Drop, Cover, and Hold On,” amateur radio operators have a unique role to play: supporting the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) by submitting Winlink DYFI (“Did You Feel It?”) reports. These reports provide valuable ground-truth data that helps USGS monitor and respond to earthquakes.

By sending your DYFI report via Winlink (Cc: SHAKEOUT; ETO-DRILL;WLNET-OE), you are not only testing our emergency communication readiness, but also contributing directly to a critical USGS data stream that informs science, emergency management, and community resilience.

📢 The Emcomm Training Organization Posts Results for the "Great ShakeOut" Exercise

See the ETO web site:  :: Winlink Thursdays :: EmComm-Training.org™ ::

Special thanks to Bob KM6SO and ETO for his excellent work compiling the results and providing individualized feedback.

We recommend everyone take a moment to look through the ETO results and analyze their feedback. It is a great opportunity to learn!

🔂 Refresh the webpage to see the latest entries.

The Amateur Radio Community Intensity Map plots "Did you feel it?" reports sent by radio operators with Winlink with CC: SHAKEOUT. It uses the report latitude and longitude for location.

Teachable Moment: The bubble colors represent Mercalli intensities calculated in the Winlink form. Note that the USGS calculates Mercalli intensities for an area when there are at least 20 reports. The more reports submitted for a specific area, the more accurate and significant the intensity measurement becomes.

⚠️ Note: ARCIM charts the data it receives from the Winlink DYFI CSV. However, Winlink seems to have a problem exporting PAT reports to CSV. ARCIM can obviously not map any data that is missing in the CSV. 

⚠️ Google Chrome users: If you see the error message “We're sorry! Looker Studio is not available right now. Please try again later,” please try viewing the site in an Incognito window or use a different browser. 

USGS 2024 ShakeOut Scenario

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/scenarios/eventpage/usshakeout2024_se/executive

DYFI: SHAKEOUT

Please submit an exercise DYFI report for ShakeOut!

In Winlink Message > New Message > Select Template > Standard Templates > USGS > USGS DYFI.txt

then

Select EXERCISE

ExerciseID: SHAKEOUT

Date: 10/15/2025

Time: 10:15

Did you feel it? (REQUIRED): Yes

Your location: Full street address of your current location

LAT, LON: The latitude and longitude of your current location.

Questions: Select your answers to match Mercalli Intensity V or higher

Additional comments: Tell the USGS about yourself and how you are sending this message in this format - 

AFFILIATION, ORGANIZATION, MODE, BAND, COMMENTS 

(Example: LAXNORTHEAST, Organized Exercise, VARA FM, 2m, Fun exercise with 57 other radio operators! )

and

CC: SHAKEOUT;ETO-DRILL;WLNET-OE

RESULTS

Amateur Radio Community Intensity Map by LAXNORTHEAST 

DYFI reports with Cc: SHAKEOUT can be viewed at 

https://www.laxnortheast.org/exercises/shakeout 

Usually updated within 24 hours. 

EMCOMM TRAINING ORGANIZATION (ETO) EXERCISE WEBSITE

DYFI reports with Cc: ETO-DRILL can be viewed at 

https://emcomm-training.org/Non-ETO_Exercises.html  

⌚ Timeline for 10/15, 10:00AM to 11:00AM

All SoCal stations are welcome to check-in on our regional ShakeOut Net on October 15. We will take check-ins by county, starting in San Diego and moving North: San Diego, Orange County, Riverside, LA County, Ventura County, San Bernardino County, others. 

The net will happen on the DARN system of repeaters. See the frequencies here: https://darn.org/repeaters/

• 10:00 Informal Net on DARN (frequencies here)

• 10:15 Earthquake! 

  • Drop, cover, hold on!

  • Secure your space!

  • Take photos!

  • Send DYFI with Cc: SHAKEOUT;ETO-DRILL

• 10:20 Begin SoCal ShakeOut Net Check-ins

• 10:50 Begin SoCal ShakeOut Net Check-outs 

Q: What is the Exercise ID for ShakeOut?

The Exercises ID is SHAKEOUT per USGS request.

Q: My group does not live in earthquake country. May we participate?

A: Yes! USGS welcomes Winlink exercise traffic from all parts of the world.

Q: My group is international. May we participate?

A: Yes! USGS welcomes and encourages international exercise participation .

Q: Which timezone is the Time?

A: All times are local time.

Q: I won't be able to send my DYFI Report until I return from work. May I send my traffic later in the day or the next day?

A: Yes! Make sure that you are entering the date and time correctly (October 16, 2005 at 10:16) on the Winlink USGS DYFI form and send your  report when you can.

Q: Can I send messages other than USGS DYFI reports to USGS?

A: No! The USGS email in the Winlink message only accepts properly formatted USGS DYFI Reports. All other messages are filtered out.

Q: We are planning an exercise in addition to DYFI. Is that okay?

A: Yes! Shakeout is a great time to test your local and regional radio plans and operations in addition to sending Winlink DYFI Exercise reports.

Q: Would peer-to-peer (P2P) and radio-only (RO) Winlink messages be received by USGS?

A: No. USGS requests that you send your DYFI messages to the official USGS email address the form adds adds automatically.

That means you must use an RMS (Winlink gateway) with an internet connection or Telnet (i.e. the internet) for your DYFI report to be received. USGS does not monitor P2P nor RO.

Q: We are planning a ShakeOut exercise before/after the official ShakeOut date. Is that okay?

A: Yes! You may report your own exercise earthquake event with Winlink DYFI Exercise form submissions. Make sure that your group is aligned on your selected Exercise ID, Date and Time in the Winlink USGS DYFI form . You may customize those.

Q: What is the main goal?

A: Have fun! Shakeout is a great opportunity to learn about disaster preparedness and how volunteer radio operators can help. It is an excellent opportunity to test your radio and group disaster response capabilities.