The ARES E-Letter

Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************

November 21, 2012

Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE 

In This Issue:

IN THIS ISSUE

- Superstorm Sandy Hotwash
- Georgia ARES Team Supports National Guard COMMEX
- Tennessee Amateur Radio Club Participates in Exercise "Winter Storm
2012"
- New England Forest Rally 2012: Challenging and Rewarding
- ARRL Public Service/Emergency Communications Training Program Changes
- Letters: On Recruitment Challenges
- Florida ARES Group Supports Great Floridian Triathlon
- Training Ops
- K1CE For a Final

_____________

==> SUPERSTORM SANDY HOTWASH

ARRL HQ coverage of massive storm Sandy and responses can be found here
.
Amateur Radio operators who wanted to assist those Sections affected by
Hurricane Sandy were advised not to self-deploy to those areas. "There
are many ARRL Sections involved in the impact area, and each has
different requirements on how they locate, credential and deploy
volunteers," explained ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey,
KI1U. "If a need for manpower is identified that cannot be met locally
or in the Section, Section leadership may contact other Sections for
assistance. If the need is still not met, Section leadership may then
contact ARRL HQ for assistance." ARRL HQ also sent Ham Aid radios and
equipment in response to requests, and Corey was active on major
disaster response nets from Connecticut. The following are summary
after-action reports received by your editor, by state or section. Many
sections that were active during the storm are not represented here, as
their leadership are still gathering reports from their operators for
compilation and forwarding to ARRL. Further reports are welcomed by
your editor at k1ce@arrl.org and will be considered for future issues
accordingly. The reporters represented below are to be commended for
their efforts to include what went right and what went wrong, lessons
learned and lessons applied from past events. And, of course, the field
operators that worked so hard while in harm's way for the safety and
security of citizens and property deserve the most credit and the
thanks of a grateful Amateur Radio community and public at large. -
K1CE

Eastern and Western Massachusetts

Eastern Massachusetts ARES was put on standby on Friday evening,
October 26, 2012 to obtain availability of Amateur Radio operators for
deployment at EOCs and shelters, reported Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Eastern
Massachusetts Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC). Western
Massachusetts ARES was placed on standby on Saturday evening.

Eastern Massachusetts ARES activated its Amateur Radio command centers
at the Town of Acushnet Emergency Management Agency and at the Clay
Center Observatory co-located at the Dexter-Southfield School in
Brookline, Massachusetts to assure the section would stay connected if
widespread 2 meter repeater outages occurred. The City of Boston EOC
requested Amateur Radio support, as did the Red Cross for several
regional shelters within Eastern Massachusetts. Cape Cod ARES supported
several regional shelters on the cape, and had radio amateurs at
several area hospitals. Operators ran net control for their district
net out of the Red Cross Chapter office in Hyannis under the call sign
K1PBO.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Region Two Office
in Bridgewater was also active as WC1MAB through the efforts of Region
Two RACES Radio Officer Mike "Sparky" Leger, N1YLQ, and John Miller,
N1UMJ. Finally, operators at the National Weather Service office
(Taunton) Amateur Radio SKYWARN station, WX1BOX, were active. Macedo
and Eastern Massachusetts ARES Assistant SEC Carl Aveni, N1FY, staffed
and operated WX1BOX.

In Western Massachusetts, SEC John Ruggerio, N2YHK, reported that
several Red Cross shelters were opened in his section. One shelter in
Northampton was staffed with an Amateur Radio operator, but for the
other shelters, hams were not requested. The Worcester Emergency
Communications Team (WECT) ran a resource net and supported Amateur
Radio SKYWARN operations with reports of damage across Worcester
County.

During Hurricane Sandy, the WX1BOX team handled several hundred reports
of wind damage (including roof structural damage reports in some areas
as well as many trees and wires down), wind measurements, rainfall
measurements, storm surge and urban flooding reports from heavy
rainfall.

Reports came through over a dozen local area VHF/UHF repeaters with
liaisons as well as through the use of the New England Echolink/IRLP
Reflector system IRLP 9123/Echolink conference *NEW_ENG* node: 9123,
which was combined and linked into the VoIP Hurricane Net IRLP
9219/Echolink conference *WX_TALK* Node: 7203 system. This created one
large hurricane net covering from the Delmarva region into New Jersey,
New York and New England. The Amateur Radio station at the National
Hurricane Center in Miami, WX4NHC, was also linked into this network.
The damage reports and meteorological information was shared with other
agencies such as the Red Cross, local and state emergency management
and the media to provide situational awareness and disaster
intelligence during Sandy's impact on the region. This has become a
very critical role for Amateur Radio in the region and is viewed as
equally important to providing communications when all else fails.

At the height of the storm, numerous wind gusts exceeding hurricane
force (74 MPH) were recorded across southeastern New England with wind
gusts as high as 70 MPH recorded across interior locations of southern
New England. Two critical reports from Westerly, Rhode Island, of
sustained winds of 64 MPH with a wind gust to 86 MPH as well as a wind
gust reported by Cape Cod ARES District Emergency Coordinator (DEC)
Frank O'Laughlin, WQ1O, of 76 MPH in the Marstons Mills section of
Barnstable, Massachusetts were received by WX1BOX and relayed to WX4NHC
and appeared in the 5 PM Monday, October 29, National Hurricane Center
Advisory.

Power outages numbered 386,000 in Massachusetts, 122,000 in Rhode
Island and 630,000 in Connecticut. This meant over 1.1 million people
were without power in southern New England at the height of Sandy's
impact. Despite that many people without power, southern New England
was luckier than New York City/Long Island and New Jersey where power
outages lasted longer and affected over 3 million people. "I never
thought I would say with close to 400,000 people without power in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts that we would say we were lucky but that
is definitely the case in comparison to the other areas," Macedo said.

Surge flooding was heaviest in southern New England. Beach erosion with
sand as deep as 4 feet covered beach roads with homes damaged and even
knocked off their foundations by the storm surge in Charlestown, Rhode
Island. The south coastal areas were restricted to residents only and
required a pass to get into those locations. However, Amateur Radio
operators embedded with local town Emergency Management and Public
Safety teams facilitated reports on the damage from storm surge and
pictures after the situation passed for the NWS Taunton SKYWARN
program.

Lessons Learned

What Worked: There was significant reporting of conditions across the
region from Amateur Radio operators including those embedded with
Emergency Management and other agencies as well as APRS/CWOP weather
stations. On-air operations were professional and efficient. There was
seamless transfer of information from the local to regional to national
level as seen in reports from southern New England making it into NHC
advisories by contact with the National Hurricane Center via the VoIP
Hurricane Net and the Hurricane Watch Net. There was strong contact
with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Region 2
Office and Emergency Management agencies that were on the air at
various local cities and towns. There was good PR generated with
various local TV and newspaper outlets mentioning Amateur Radio efforts
in their publications and on-air programs. A tremendous amount of
pictures and videos that were generated by many Amateur Radio operators
and SKYWARN spotters will allow for a historical guide for what
Hurricane Sandy's impacts were in the region.

What Needs Improvement: Several agencies waited until the last minute
to request Amateur Radio operators unlike during Hurricane Irene when
these agencies made requests upfront. This may have been due to the
lack of Hurricane Warnings issued up the coastline. This could
potentially be addressed via tabletop exercises with various agencies.
The number of Amateur Radio operators needed to create depth to do
multiple shifts for a situation that is over a 24-hour period remains
an issue. This will be addressed through more aggressive training
programs, district ARES meetings and drills. And finally, getting
SKYWARN Spotters embedded with Emergency Management to see storm surge
areas if safe to do so for near real-time reporting is a goal. This is
an issue that will also be coordinated with the National Weather
Service in Taunton. - Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Eastern Massachusetts SEC

Eastern Massachusetts Section Manager Phil Temples, K9HI, said that
"Macedo and his ARES staff did a stellar job in the planning stages.
They held numerous teleconferences in the days leading up to our
near-brush with disaster. Our section's seamless integration of ARES
and SKYWARN gave the players an excellent window into what lay ahead.
And, of course, NWS benefited greatly from our real-time weather
criteria reporting via VHF/UHF repeaters tied into the
IRLP/EchoLink/VoIP network."

North Carolina

Newport SKYWARN was activated on Saturday, October 27, after a
conference call briefing conducted by Richard Bandy, Meteorologist in
Charge of the Newport NWS office, with check-ins from numerous areas.
ARES operators participating in the net monitored their local
repeaters, reporting flooding and damage reports. Reports came in from
Down East Carteret County of storm surges more than 2 feet above high
tide. Highway 70 was flooded. Bulkheads were breached and wind gusts
went up to 50 mph. Rob Shonk, N4JKL, reported that his yard in Buxton
was flooded with 4-5 feet of water. Shonk also witnessed a house
sliding into the sea and two nearby houses leaning on each other in
Rodanthe. -- Janice Hopkins, KJ4JPE, ARRL PIO, Newport, North Carolina
SKYWARN Net Control

Connecticut

Connecticut SM Betsey Doane, K1EIC, and SEC Wayne Gronlund, N1CLV,
reported that 80 stations checked into the SM/SEC planning net held on
Sunday night, October 28, before the arrival of major storm effects
there. Doane and Gronlund briefed the group, and recruited volunteers
to fill gaps in operations where needed. Doane also took calls from
served agencies to fill their requests. All requests were met and
problems were solved quickly by the ARES leadership pair and the entire
section ARES team.

SEC Gronlund worked from the Division of Emergency Management and
Homeland Security (DEMHS) Region 4 Headquarters. The SEC's leadership
nets met every two hours on the KB1AEV linked repeater system. Some
members of these nets were operating from their respective DEMHS Region
Headquarters stations. All participated, giving reports of current
conditions in their respective regions.

SKYWARN was busy, with Assistant DEC for SKYWARN Jim McBride, KD1LD,
keeping the nets updated on conditions. SKYWARN ECs coordinated
activity in their respective counties, performing very well as trained.
Well known SKYWARN operator Roger Jeanfaivre, K1PAI, coordinated 10
weather nets for Hartford County.

Craig Lang, W1MHZ, ran a net while camped out at his neighbor's home,
as he had to be evacuated. Assistant SEC Art Fregeau, AF1HS, posted
alerts on the CTARES  Web site, while others
kept the ARES Discussion email reflector operational. In general,
repeaters went down, but backup repeaters and power quickly restored
communications.

Operators were deployed by the Greenwich American Red Cross office. In
Stamford, operators were recently CERT trained and were under the
umbrella of the City of Stamford as they provided backup communications
for the city. Led by EC Jon Perelstein, WB2RYV, operators were deployed
to the shelters as needed, and provided valuable support to the
Stamford Office of Emergency Management, manning phones; they had over
700 evacuees. The town of Darien had one operator deployed for the Red
Cross. In Norwalk, the shelter was staffed around the clock by ARES,
with one operator also being an evacuee. In Wilton, one operator was on
site at the EOC. Greater Bridgeport Amateur Radio Club operators were
at their EOC -- their area had over 800 evacuees in three evacuation
centers.

Many other shelters throughout the Section were supported by Amateur
Radio operators, some of whom are also CERT trained. EC Perelstein
reported that eight volunteers and two Red Cross disaster leaders, most
of whom are members of the Stamford Amateur Radio Association,
supported the three Stamford shelters, manned the City's Citizen
Service Line, and provided backup communications for Red Cross between
the shelters, the EOC, and the Darien Red Cross chapter house. Those
manning the shelters did everything from intake to cooking to support
for the elderly and infirm. Those who manned the Citizen Service Line
were the City's direct communication to residents as they called for
advice on evacuation. Doane said that ARES operators also became
involved as "expediters" in dealing with various problems such as
untangling a (non-radio) communications issue that was interfering with
food deliveries to the Stamford shelters.

In the aftermath of the storm, the Mayor was careful to single out
participants to various visiting politicians, including U.S. Senator
Richard Blumenthal. Both the Mayor and the Director of Public Safety
made specific mention of Amateur Radio in thanking the various
volunteer groups who helped the City of Stamford.

In Region 2, DEC Douglas Sharafanowich, WA1SFH operated for two days
from DEMHS Region 2 Headquarters and ran nets every hour on Monday.
This region was recently reorganized, and Doane commended the DEC and
his team on getting so many trained people out in the field for this
storm.

In Eastern Connecticut, the following towns in Region 4 opened shelters
that were supported by ARES and/or Red Cross Amateur Radio operators:
East Lyme, New London, Groton, Stonington, Norwich, and Colchester and
the Area 4 Waterford Office of the Red Cross (K1ARC).

The East Lyme Regional Shelter was opened on Sunday, October 28, by the
American Red Cross. Amateur Radio assistance was requested to link it
to the Waterford American Red Cross Headquarters. The link was
established by a shelter radio, go-box, and antenna that had been
assembled by ARES from a Homeland Security Grant. A Region 4 Resource
net was operational with 31 stations checking in for duty.

In Region 5, DEC Dave Hyatt, K1DAV, manned the Torrington EOC. The War
Memorial Shelter was supported by hams. Herb Kommritz, N1KWV, managed
the Red Cross operation in Bethel. The Region 5 Resource Net run by
Hyatt had 17 towns represented. In Bethel, Tom Cheslock, K1TJC, acted
as a Red Cross shelter manager for seven days and six nights. He and
his wife Carol looked after clients, manned radios, and handled many
difficult situations. Laura Vasile, KB1SOM, Bethel's Health Director
handled all of the health decisions. Ken Weith, KD1DD, ran shelter
communications, assigning town radios to key people. CERT training
served the volunteers well in this long term shelter assignment,
reported Weith.

The Stratford EOC was supported by Gary Moyher, WE1M, and SM Doane. The
pair set up EOC VHF/UHF radios and antennas at Bunnell High School (the
Stratford shelter). The EOC and shelter were then continuously manned
by additional operators.

On the digital front, Assistant SM Larry Buck, K1HEJ, reported that the
Flexnet packet nodes maintained connectivity. There was good use of
Winlink gateways, Buck said, and also 29 nodes were connecting to the
W1HAD packet network as platforms for disaster response messages. NTS
nets ran as scheduled but stood by to handle only emergency record
traffic to accommodate repeaters on backup power. Many operators stood
by; lots took part actively. Those at shelters supported communication
functions when asked and helped out with other related tasks. Doane
thanked her ARES operators: "We're a team!" -- Betsey Doane, K1EIC,
Connecticut Section Manager

Southern New Jersey

Ocean County ARES was activated and conducted status nets on the WA2RES
repeater twice each day during the emergency and response phases. The
Ocean County EOC requested Amateur Radio communications for each Red
Cross and municipal shelter, which was met by Ocean County EC Robert
Murdock, WX2NJ. Six shelters were opened, but county ARES did not have
enough equipment to serve all shelters, so a request was made to
Southern New Jersey SEC John Zruba, K2ZA, and ARRL HQ responded by
sending six transceivers, power supplies, coax and antennas to the ARES
group under the Ham Aid program.

Murdock went to the EOC, took possession of the equipment and returned
to his home, where he worked through the night to inventory the gear,
program the transceivers, assemble antennas and test all power supplies
and coax for proper operation. There was no commercial power at his
home, but his ham shack was being powered by a 9KW propane-powered
emergency generator.

By Thursday, November 1, the emergency phase changed to the recovery
phase, which will take a long time to complete in the nine counties of
the ARRL Southern New Jersey section. Commercial communications systems
were being restored in most parts of the section, but Amateur Radio
operations continued in Ocean and Atlantic counties under the direction
of their ECs. Murdock said the ARRL Ham Aid VHF radios worked very
well. Both shoreline counties will continue to determine their long
term Amateur Radio needs daily based on Red Cross sheltering plans, and
the state of commercial communications restoration.

Zruba was also the Incident Commander for this event. He polled other
counties in the section for mutual aid operator support for Atlantic
county to relieve weary operators there. The ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania,
Northern New Jersey, and Western Massachusetts sections all offered
operators and ARESMAT teams.

The last session of the Section Resource net on the SNJ ARES repeater
was held on Thursday morning. Thanks were given to all ARES/RACES
operators who showed that planning, regular monthly tests, and
dedication pay off when it comes to helping their fellow citizens in a
major communication emergency. When all else fails, Amateur Radio
works! -- Gary Wilson, K2GW, Assistant SM, Southern New Jersey Section

Virginia

Virginia Section Manager Carl Clements, W4CAC, reported that ARES
groups in Fairfax County, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Virginia
Beach staffed EOCs and the Isle of Wight was also activated. "Most of
our damage here in the Tidewater area (Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake,
and the Beach) was a few downed trees and power lines with minor
flooding. When our folks were activated, they responded!"

Delaware

The ARRL Delaware Section ARES/RACES was tasked with providing back up
communications for the State EOC in Smyrna and each of the three
individual Delaware county EOCs at New Castle in New Castle county,
Dover in Kent county, and Georgetown in Sussex county. (Delaware has
only three counties). The team also provided back up communication for
the City of Wilmington in New Castle county and several small towns in
Sussex County.

Communications provided during the storm consisted of essential
elements of information in the form of local road and weather
reporting, high water, downed trees and power outages. There was
exchange of local welfare information about open shelters. Updates were
communicated to the National Hurricane Center during the storm's
progress. There were about 100 radio amateurs involved throughout
Delaware. Section Manager Frank Filipowski, KB3QQZ, managed his team
from the State EOC.

The primary HF frequency used was 3905 kHz for the Delaware Traffic Net
with check-ins from each of the EOCs. HF communications were also
established using Winlink, Army MARS, and CAP frequencies. VHF and UHF
communications were maintained during the storm without power outages
in most cases. Most of the traffic and messages were passed using local
VHF and UHF activated nets for each county.

SM Filipowski said "Although the eye of Hurricane Sandy passed over the
state of Delaware, we escaped much of the damage that was reported to
areas north of us." Sussex County ARES provided emergency back-up
communications during Hurricane Sandy from October 28 through October
30. ARES members furnished over 360 hours of communications support at
served agency locations as well as from their homes and mobile units.

Preps

Based on the increasing potential of a damaging storm, Sussex County
ARES encouraged members to check their Go-Kits and overall readiness.
As the storm continued to develop a bulletin was issued on October 26
giving details of potential shelter and hospital activations. On
October 26 and 27, the EC attended statewide conference calls at the
county EOC. Information obtained from these calls was helpful in
creating the ARES plan for Sandy response. A special pre-hurricane net
was called on the evening of October 27 to answer questions and discuss
assignments and operating requirements. The detailed ARES plan was
issued on Sunday morning, October 28, which included frequencies,
personnel assignments, reporting requirements, and a request for
additional personnel. Activations began at 1200 on October 28. Sussex
County ARES operators deployed to several served agency locations and
shelters.

The operating environment was generally high, gusty winds with heavy to
moderate rain. Winds peaked late afternoon and evening of October 29.
Nearly all traffic was "tactical." Information requests from the EOC
were made in this format, as were most responses. The Indian River High
School shelter ARES team used the ICS-213 message format for shelter
head count reports. They obtained Shelter Manager signatures on each.
Practice/test WINLINK messages were exchanged between the hospitals and
the EOC.

Accomplishments/Lessons Learned

Sussex County ARES provided communications at two shelters housing over
500 residents. For many Sussex County ARES members, this was their
first opportunity to operate during an emergency and each of them
stepped up. Net discipline was greatly improved. With our training
emphasis and the importance of the actual situation at hand, chatter
and general comments were at a minimum. The radios that were recently
installed at Nanticoke Hospital worked very well. Data communications
using WINLINK and WINMOR/PACTOR as well as voice were available
throughout the storm. The pre-net offered an opportunity to announce
and discuss final plans.

Permanent antennas at shelters and hospitals are essential. This has
been stated after several SETS and drills and following Hurricane
Irene. The marginal communications attained with portable J-Poles and
jury rigged solutions stands in stark contrast to the success with the
permanent antennas at Nanticoke Memorial hospital. On a positive note,
ARES has learned that Sussex County has procured equipment for
permanent installation at five shelter facilities. At Beebe Medical
Center, antennas have been purchased with the next step being
installation. Completion of these installations will mark a significant
milestone. It is hoped that the shelters and Beebe hospital will have
permanent antennas in time for the next emergency.

WINLINK was available at Beebe and Nanticoke and at the EOC, but none
of the shelter operators had this capability. ARES is continuing to
train and emphasize the importance of this digital mode. The goal is to
have WINLINK at each deployed location/served agency. The ICS-213 is a
useful tool in traffic handling. During Sandy, only one site used the
form in submitting shelter headcount reports. The operator obtained Red
Cross Shelter Manager signatures on each message. We will continue to
underline the value of the 213 in our training and at the same time
emphasize the need to send messages slowly and only after direction
from the NCS to begin transmission.

We must redouble our efforts to encourage members to deploy to served
agencies. During Sandy, we satisfied our mission, but had the storm
lingered, our deployed manning level would have been insufficient to
the task. ARES leadership has identified several members who will be
contacted individually and asked to deploy during the next activation.

NCS and served agency operators used ICS-309 for communications
logging. Newer members were unsure about the form, but tried their best
to fill it out. ARES will conduct training on the use of ICS-309,
ICS-213 and ICS-214 forms.

The initial NCS operator was on duty for twelve hours. After that, with
the addition of two more operators, shifts were six hours. This still
proved to be too long, so in the future we will use three-hour shifts
so that operators do not become so fatigued. Reporting criteria need to
be emphasized. We did a much better job in reporting than we did during
Hurricane Irene. The EC requested a list of reportable information from
the EOC and this was generally provided by radio amateurs accordingly.
A few unnecessary reports ("it's raining in Lewes") mean that we must
continue to emphasize that only information requested by a served
agency is to be reported.

Individual operators reported radio, home generator, and TNC problems
as they attempted to use their equipment during the storm, pointing to
the importance of regularly checking out our equipment.

Summary

During the storm we received an inquiry from the Delaware State Police
asking about our ability to provide support if it became necessary. The
storm concluded without our activation, but we were pleased to be
considered as a potential resource. Beebe and Nanticoke hospitals were
very complimentary, frequently expressing their appreciation for our
support. Shelter managers were very cooperative in helping the ARES
teams find operating areas that were separate from the actual shelter
areas. This marked an improvement over the situation during Hurricane
Irene. An ARES press release was provided to local media outlets. Based
on a September meeting with Sussex County, ARES provided a listing of
all deployed operators so that they could be covered under the county's
insurance plan.

Sussex County ARES provided 365 person hours of communications support
to our community. An additional 21 hours were dedicated to the
pre-storm planning net, 13 hours to planning and coordination including
two meetings at the EOC, and 10 hours of after-action analysis and
reporting. In total, 409 hours of service. -- Frank Filipkowski, AD3M,
Delaware Section Manager

Northern New York

Two days after the ARRL Northern New York section's SET, superstorm
Sandy hit the east coast. In most of the Adirondacks, the storm seemed
almost a non-issue. We had some trees down and power outages for a
short time, but nothing too serious or prolonged. However, this was not
the case elsewhere, obviously.

As a member of the Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS), I
spent the better part of three days checked in to the USAF MARS
emergency communications nets -- monitoring, relaying messages, or
acting as net control. MARS and ARES/RACES are complementary volunteer
emergency radio services, with ARES/RACES primarily supporting civilian
agencies and MARS supporting the military and other federal government
agencies such as FEMA. MARS members are Amateur Radio operators who
have special training in military communications procedures and operate
on assigned military frequencies outside the ham bands.

During one of my net control shifts we handled a message to the FAA
about loss of tower lighting at a nuclear power facility, a potentially
hazardous situation especially with disaster relief aircraft in the
area. The problem was observed by a mobile station in New Jersey and
relayed by an HF station in Virginia to a military station in New York
who in turn contacted the FAA, which in turn issued a bulletin on the
situation to warn pilots. - Pete Newell, KC2WI, Lewis County ARES
Emergency Coordinator/RACES Radio Officer; Lewis County Emergency
Communicators ; AFA2CQ, Military Auxiliary Radio
System

==> GEORGIA ARES TEAM SUPPORTS NATIONAL GUARD COMMEX

Zero-dark-thirty hours comes early for anyone, but especially for
civilians getting up to be part of a military communications exercise!
But members of the Cobb County (Georgia) ARES team, along with their
counterparts from Chatham County were up (literally!) for the Saturday,
November 3, 2012 National Guard COMMEX with time to spare -- or so it
seemed right up until net operations began.

Cobb ARES Emergency Coordinator (EC) Ed Humphries, N5RCK, along with
his wife Dawn, KI5EV, were joined by Anthony (Tony) Gaito, KC0CSG and
James (Jim) Wingate, WA2EIU, to meet up and convoy together to
Georgia's Clay National Guard Center, recently opened on the site of
the former Naval Air Station (NAS Atlanta). Gaito towed the group's
emergency communications trailer, which recently completed build out,
to the site. Working in two teams, the group set up the trailer and its
antennas for HF/VHF/UHF and weather along with the emcomm generator and
a DIY 40 meter folded dipole erected as an NVIS antenna in an inverted
V configuration. Everything was in place and tested prior to the 0800
"STARTEX."

After EC Humphries visited the Georgia National Guard Joint Operations
Center inside the Guard's newly completed headquarters building, the
COMMEX began in earnest.
<<< concluded in next message >>>


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