<<>>
The objectives for Amateur Radio included
making contact with the Chatham County ARES group deployed to Fort
Stewart via HF voice and data, D-STAR, and, if time allowed, Echolink.
ICS-213 style messages were successfully passed via HF voice and PSK-31
and delivered to the intended recipients. Although the Fort Stewart
team could hear the Cobb ARES group via D-STAR emergency communications
Reflector 30C, a programming glitch prevented them from replying; the
Chatham hams solved the problem shortly before the exercise ended.
LTC Jeffrey Olive of the Headquarters Detachment, Joint Force
Headquarters at Clay National Guard Center led the way for a series of
VIP briefings given by Cobb ARES concerning the capabilities of Amateur
Radio as exemplified by the group's emcomm trailer and functioning. The
Guardsmen all seemed to be impressed with the possibilities for
interoperability, especially in the first 12 to 24 hours of any
possible National Guard callout such as for Hurricane Sandy that had
just hit the northeast and Atlantic states. This citizen soldier group
has plenty of sophisticated communications gear, but they also
understand that the Guard's mission often puts them in a position of
needing to communicate and coordinate with civil authority and NGO
support groups. Amateur Radio already plays a key role in disaster
scenarios with those groups; a little synchronicity may come into play,
meaning it is a good thing to interact and practice interoperability!
As the "ENDEX" was being sounded there were cries heard above the
background noise of the generator, "Wait! I want to try ..." As usual
the time flew by and all the communications exchange ended with that
one last thing yet undone: The Cobb County ARES group enjoyed lunch
with the National Guard team courtesy of LTC Olive and then packed it
all up, tired but happy to have had a successful deployment.
The Amateur Radio part of the exercise could not have taken place
without the other end to talk to: Chatham County ARES deployed to Fort
Stewart, Georgia, near Savannah. Newly appointed Metro Atlanta
Assistant DEC Guy McDonald, K4GTM, was there along with Greg Bandish,
W5GKB; Dwight Bliecher, K4YPM; and Dan Scott, KF4MND. Also, a special
thanks goes to SFC Tiffany Warren for her coordination efforts and
arranging access to the Clay National Guard Center. Thanks to LTC Olive
and all the Guard crew for letting Cobb County ARES be part of their
communications exercise. -- Ed Humphries, N5RCK, Cobb County (Georgia)
EC
[Editor's note: ARRL Southeastern Division Vice Director and Metro
Atlanta District EC Jim Millsap, WB4NWS, commented "The importance of
our providing communications services to our National Guard during a
disaster is evidenced by their now second request for support for their
COMMEX. Our folks performed well providing solid radio communications
200 miles apart. At one point, a soldier went down due to heat,
military comms became overloaded and Amateur Radio VHF was utilized to
communicate messages to command from the field.
Data and voice were used to provide support also."]
==> TENNESSEE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB PARTICIPATES IN EXERCISE "WINTER STORM
2012"
Members of the DeKalb/Cannon County (Tennessee) Amateur Radio Club
participated in an emergency exercise on Saturday, October 6, 2012. The
Simulated Emergency Test was titled "Winter Storm 2012," and was
conducted with DeKalb and Cannon County EMAs. The exercise scenario was
a winter storm that entered Tennessee from the west near Memphis and
moved into middle Tennessee west of Nashville by noon on Saturday. The
storm shut down all major Interstates and highways across the state,
with major widespread power outages.
Portable HF and VHF/UHF stations and antenna systems were constructed,
evaluated for performance, and deployed at several locations including
DeKalb West School, Woodland School, and atop Short Mountain. Stations
at Cannon County High School, DeKalb Community Hospital, and Stones'
River Hospital were also activated and evaluated for effectiveness.
The Amateur Radio station at the DeKalb County EOC located at the
Smithville Fire Hall was the command center for the exercise. Messages
were sent to the State EOC at the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency
(TEMA) in Nashville via wireless computer-radio links. These messages
contained SITREPs for DeKalb and Cannon counties, and were sent from
either the DeKalb EOC or the mobile station setup atop Short Mountain
by HF radio to an automated station in another part of the U.S.,
outside the local simulated disaster area. Messages then went via one
of five hardened servers located worldwide (for redundancy), and then
into the regular Internet, to be delivered via e-mail anywhere that
e-mail is available. Thus, if the Internet were down locally or even
regionally, by using the Winlink 2000 system, we would still have some
e-mail capabilities. This was in addition to and separate from the
usual local and area VHF/UHF operations.
A total of 14 radio amateurs from throughout middle Tennessee checked
into the emergency radio network. Local amateur repeaters were used as
well as VHF/UHF and HF point-to-point networks. Check-ins included ARRL
ARES officials DeKalb County EC Kathy Kujawski, NF9G, and Cannon County
EC Freddy Curtis, KC4GUG. Additional stations checking into the radio
network were John O'Conner, KD4WX, ARES District 6 Emergency
Coordinator; Dallas Rife, KK4ISW, Shelbyville; and Gary George, WB4CWS,
of McMinnville.
The club thanked DeKalb County Emergency Management Director Charlie
Parker, and Cannon County EMA Director Faye Morse, as well as DeKalb
Community Hospital and Stones' River Hospital for their support of
local participation in this annual state-wide exercise. The club is
affiliated with the ARRL. -- Wm. Freddy Curtis, KC4GUG, DeKalb/Cannon
County Amateur Radio Club, Smithville, Tennessee
==> NEW ENGLAND FOREST RALLY 2012: CHALLENGING AND REWARDING
Using your radio to serve the public is not only a great way to give
back, but it's also quite rewarding on a personal level. A secondary
benefit to volunteering your time to perform public service through ham
radio is that it's an excellent environment in which to hone your
skills in case you're needed in an emergency. The protocols employed at
a public service event are much like those used by hams called out to
assist in disasters and emergencies.
This past spring, I worked the Boston Marathon. Weeks ago I was at the
summit of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire braving sustained winds of 50
mph while logging cyclists crossing the finish line of the grueling
Newton's Revenge race. At the end of the second week of July, 2012,
thousands of people descended upon Newry, Maine for the classic New
England Forest Rally (NEFR). If you were anywhere near this remote
western part of Maine, you saw street legal racing cars covered with
decals roaming Route 2 side by side with cars and trucks sporting
Amateur Radio antennas and operators providing safety communications.
The NEFR is an event that provides excellent training for disaster
response operations: there are dense forests, hills, dust, heat and no
fixed repeaters nor commercial power.
The team I was assigned to worked the prestigious Concord Pond stage on
the first day of the rally and both Lost Weekend stages on the second
day of the event. The Lost Weekend stage is a loop road raced
counterclockwise (CCW) in the morning and clockwise (CW) after lunch.
For operators, an H-T was quite limited unless it was paired with a
mobile 50-watt radio that can cross band repeat. That's how I worked
the rally this year: I used my Yaesu VX-7R on 439.000 MHz set on low
power, and had my Yaesu FT-8900R in my truck to capture my H-T signal
and boom it out at 50 watts on the primary simplex 2-meter frequency we
were using. I was usually no more than 300 feet from my truck, so the
low power setting on my H-T was perfect. This helped preserve battery
power in the H-T and allowed me to work all day with one battery.
It's helpful to have a portable mast-mounted antenna that you can
connect to your car, truck or a tree. You suspend from the top of the
mast a 2-meter J-pole antenna that allows you, in most cases, to hear
every other ham on that stage. Using a rooftop antenna on a car or
truck will work, but I was not able to hear all the other radios on my
stages all the time. Next year I'll have a mast antenna that I can
erect in minutes and connect to the mobile 50-watt radio in my truck.
If you like bugs, dust, mud, the woods, fast cars, food from plastic
bags and challenging work, then the New England Forest Rally is the
place for you. In all seriousness, I highly recommend working this
event, or any other rally event, if you want to see how you might
perform under pressure in a real disaster. -- Tim Carter, W3ATB,
Meredith, New Hampshire
==> ARRL PUBLIC SERVICE/EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS TRAINING PROGRAM
CHANGES
Revised Field Instructor (FI) and Mentor Qualifications/Requirements
have been implemented for the ARRL Public Service/Emergency
Communications Training Program. Our continuing effort to improve and
adjust our training program to adapt to the role we play in public
service and emergency communications response with other local and
national agencies necessarily results in changes from time to time.
Based on feedback from individuals and leaders in our community and
changes in FEMA training we are making some changes to strengthen our
training program. Effective November 1, 2012 we are updating the
qualifications/requirements for those who wish to serve as Field
Instructors or Online Mentors for ARRL's Emergency Communications
training program. Changes to qualifications include the addition of
SKYWARN training and some changes in the list of FEMA training required
of instructors and mentors. Updated requirements include listing field
classes with the ARRL Continuing Education Program office, and filing
student rosters and student evaluations with the CEP office. We are
also adding a 3-year term of service to this appointment. You can
review the updated qualifications/requirements on the ARRL website at:
www.arrl.org/requirements-for-field-instructors
and
www.arrl.org/mentoring-online-courses
.
The list of prerequisites for completion of the Public Service and
Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs (EC-016) Course
has also been updated to reflect changes in the FEMA training program,
as well as other appropriate training for field leadership. Review the
updated list of prerequisites in the course description at:
www.arrl.org/online-course-catalog
. -- Mike Corey, KI1U, ARRL
Emergency Preparedness Manager and Debra Johnson, K1DMJ, ARRL Education
Services Manager
==> LETTERS: ON RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES
In response to the thoughtful letter in the last issue from John
Lawrence, W1QS, about getting new operators into your organization, we
can honestly say in more than 20 years serving the Medtronic Twin
Cities Marathon we have never had a problem getting staffed up to
around 130 volunteers for a seven hour event, and running a year round
technical/Linux development team that is world class. Here's what we
do:
1. Run a big tent -- we take anybody with a license or even without a
license for certain jobs like checking in patients in our medical tent
or looking up the status of missing runners.
2. Have an obsessive focus on the needs for health care support and
safety in your event/served agency -- we are introduced and assigned as
"part of the Medical Team."
3. Take related duties as assigned and do them perfectly -- some of
these, like driving medical carts can be interesting.
4. Embrace the newest technology - this year we were asked about
supporting iPhones and sending text messages to family members of
injured runners.
5. Follow ICS/NIMS best practices, including decentralizing operations.
This provides us with more leadership opportunities.
6. Drive to a mission statement -- ours is to deploy world class
Amateur Radio infrastructure and highly trained volunteers to help make
our community safer.
7. Show off a little. I will never forget the gratitude on the faces of
the fledgling medical department at a new running event three years ago
who called us in to help. On a hot steamy race morning we brought in an
Incident Action Plan co-written with the City/County, two multi-million
dollar communications trucks, 20 hams and eight EMTs from our local
Native American community. Two of the MDs from that event now volunteer
for us.
8. Work seamlessly with Public Safety professionals and under their
direction. Led by our energetic Medical Director, we have been
recruiting new health care volunteers and are helping to glue our
various agencies together to improve the overall level of emergency
response. -- Erik Westgard, NY9D, Volunteer Medical Communications
Coordinator, Twin Cities in Motion, www.14567.org
I feel the pain of John Lawrence, W1QS. As the leader for a successful
VE team we have developed a comprehensive means to meet our recruitment
goals. A good PIO or PR person is a must. You need a strong person or
team to get your message out as well as manage your message. We
actively go after CERT volunteers, Public Safety officials, Boy Scouts,
Civil Air Patrol, Library patrons, pilots, boaters, Senior Center
residents, and so on, to get interested persons licensed and ultimately
on our team. Use some imagination.
Look at your served agencies as a potential recruiting pool,
especially. Going after them also promotes communication, cooperation
and coordination.
Bring people together by generating training and activities, as well as
social events. Networking and getting people to work together as a team
are major factors to a healthy organization. People will be involved if
they feel engaged and that they can contribute. -- Bill Neill, NE1LL,
Westerville, Ohio, ne1ll@ymail.com
==> FLORIDA ARES GROUP SUPPORTS GREAT FLORIDIAN TRIATHLON
The Lake County (Florida) ARES took an active support role in the Great
Floridian Triathlon that was held on October 20, 2012 in Claremont,
Florida. The major contest is the "Iron Man" where athletes complete a
2.5 mile swim, a 112 mile bicycle ride and a 26 mile marathon run.
There were participants from several different countries and many from
all over the United States. There were 300 people who took part in the
Iron Man event and another 100 who competed in an intermediate contest.
Lake County ARES (LCARES) provided radio communications along the 112
mile bicycle route consisting of three laps of nearly equal mileage.
ARES was there to make sure the ride was safe and those riders who
broke down or had a medical problem could get help quickly. Several
ARES volunteers had put in a 12 hour day by the time the communications
trailer was pulled out at dusk.
LCARES turned out 13 volunteers to provide the necessary radio
communications using their own radio equipment and vehicles as well as
the ARES mobile communications trailer. The trailer was set up at the
Lake Minneola Park site in Claremont next to the event headquarters. A
VHF/UHF vertical antenna was placed on top of the 40 foot crank up
tower, which served very well as contact was established with all the
mobile and hand-held 2 meter radios throughout Lake County. The N4FLA
repeater on 147.000 MHz was the primary frequency, with simplex 2 meter
frequencies also used for short range contact to the trailer from event
headquarters and staging area. The Lake County EMS provided ARES with
one of their portable radios for use in the trailer to report cases
that needed medical attention. We had to use this radio on three
occasions when Amateur Radio mobiles reported medical emergencies.
We also had Nextel communications with event personnel and with the
mobile bicycle repair vans who also provided the SAG wagons. There were
three rest stops along the route with Amateur Radio operators at each
of them to report rider progress, request supplies, or look out for
certain riders. We had 10 requests for the mobile repair vans when
mechanical breakdowns were reported by Amateur Radio operators who were
patrolling the course.
Lessons Learned
Everything was going smoothly until for some yet undetermined reason in
the afternoon our primary repeater locked up and made it unusable.
Being flexible ham radio operators, we quickly switched to our
secondary repeater on 146.255 MHz without missing a beat. Taking part
in events such as this gives the ARES personnel practical experience in
setting up emergency radio equipment, how to function as a team in an
emergency and to properly communicate by radio under these
circumstances. This is important as we are sometimes called upon to
support public safety first responders in times of natural disasters
such as hurricanes and tornados, which are not strangers to this part
of Florida.-- Ted Luebbers, K1AYZ, Lake County ARES PIO, Tavares,
Florida www.k4fc.org or www.n4fla.org
==> TRAINING OPS
I found this while browsing a Utah state government site, which seemed
of interest to ARES. AUXCOMM Training
Descript
ion:
This workshop is designed for the amateur radio/auxiliary communicator
or group who provides emergency communications backup support for
planned or unplanned events at a State/Territory, Tribal, regional, or
local level. This offering is designed for amateur radio
operators/organizations who work with public safety and
cross-disciplinary emergency response professionals and
coordination/support personnel with an amateur radio background. The
course focuses on educating attendees about auxiliary communications
interoperability, emergency operation center etiquette, on-the-air
etiquette, FCC rules and regulations, auxiliary communications training
and planning, certification and accreditation and emergency
communications deployment. It is intended to supplement and standardize
an operator's basic knowledge of emergency amateur radio communications
in a public safety context. Prerequisites: General Class or higher
amateur radio license. Also, IS-100, IS-200, IS-700, and IS-800. The IS
courses can be completed online at: http://training.fema.gov
the FEMA Independent Study Website. -- K1CE
==> K1CE FOR A FINAL
Here's what I took away from reading and compiling the reports received
after the disaster responses were wrapped up from storm Sandy: ARES and
Amateur Radio emergency/disaster response communications have evolved
exceptionally well in this post 9/11 and Katrina era. ARES has kept
pace, step for step with the emergency management community at large as
we have embraced digital modes, new technology, and especially more and
better training, professionalism and maturity as a critical component
of the overall radio communications emergency support function. We
should be proud of our efforts that have produced a better, more
valuable service for our neighbors and communities, our served
agencies, and indeed our own Amateur Radio community.
______
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==============================
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---
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