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The ARES E-Letter

April 20, 2016
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE

In This Issue:

 *  Oregon Amateurs Aid SAR Mission
 *  ARRL to offer Understanding Local MOU's webinar
 *  Tip: FEMA Daily Operations Briefings, Other News, Alerts, Available by
    E-Mail
 *  Baker to Vegas Relay Challenge Supported by Mass of Southwestern Hams
 *  Letters: ARDF and SAR
 *  Tech Tip: ARES/RACES Powerpole Configuration
 *  Letters: Of Tone Squelch Systems and Alerts
 *  Letters: Check Laws before Spiking the Ground
 *  FEMA Bulletin: Learn to Protect Yourself in a Tornado Situation
 *  Parting Shots


ARES Briefs, Links

FEMA Official Tells ARRL Delaware Section Conference that Her Agency Values
Amateur Radio (4/14/16); Sign up for FEMA alerts, news, briefs here, see story
below; Ohio SEC Hoping to Expand "NVIS Antenna Day" Activity this Year
(4/6/2016); Hurricane Watch Net Seeks Net Control Operators (3/30/2016);
Washington National Guard Communications Exercise Involves Use of 60 Meters
(3/30/2016); Puerto Rico ARES Volunteers Take Part in Caribe Wave 2016
Exercise (3/21/2016)

The Florida Statewide Hurricane Exercise, tentatively scheduled for May 18,
includes Amateur Radio support for this year's event: the plan calls for every
county ARES group to send a simple message to the State EOC at Tallahassee via
HF or SARNet (UHF). Details will be forthcoming from ARRL section leadership.
An ARRL West Central Florida Section press release calls for ARES members
statewide to contact their local Emergency Coordinator for information on how
to participate.The State EOC has requested that individual amateurs are not to
contact the State EOC or Division of Emergency Management concerning the
exercise.

The ARRL Northern Florida Section ARES Communications Plan has been revised
and updated for NIMS compliance, new technologies and modes, and will be
released in time for implementation before the statewide hurricane exercise.
-- ARRL Northern Florida Section Manager Steve Szabo, WB4OMM

At the 25th DuPage County (Illinois) Advanced Severe Weather Seminar on March
12, one of the sessions was a retrospective of the event, being its 25th
anniversary. During that session, presenter Tom Mefferd paid tribute to Bob
Hajek, W9QBH (SK), whose contributions to SKYWARN in the NWS/Chicago coverage
area were numerous,[side-nws-sm.png] including the transmission of the NOAA
Weather Wire on 147.06 MHz and the Amateur Radio presence at the Weather
Service office during storm events. "I considered Bob a friend and mentor, and
it was good to hear his contribution woven into the history lesson," said ARRL
Illinois Section Manager Tom Ciciora, KA9QPN.

The ARRL Maine Section is promoting free critical radio-communications on-line
courses from Tait Radio Academy, an educational site sponsored by Tait
Communications, a radio and repeater source for LMR devices. The Maine Section
is recommending the courses on Basic Radio Awareness, Introduction to DMR, and
Introduction to P25. According to the ARRL Maine Section News column, those
that pass the final exams with 80% or better will be issued a certificate of
successful completion.


Oregon Amateurs Aid SAR Mission

Mike Moore, W7ECX, of Joseph, Oregon was relaxing with his family on Sunday
night, March 20, 2016 when he received a galvanizing call at 9:30 PM through
the local repeater: Mike Musia, KG7MVI, a member of Wallowa County Oregon
Search and Rescue (SAR), was calling Moore with a report of a missing
snowmobiler in the rugged Salt Creek Summit (SCS) area of the Wallowa
Mountains, 36 miles southeast of Joseph. The Wallowa County Sheriff's Office
(WCSO) had unreliable communications in this area and Musia wanted a solid
link back to SAR Incident Command. Moore immediately linked the local VHF
repeater to the Salt Creek Summit UHF repeater and VHF remote base. Both of
these facilities are owned and operated by Scott Hampton, KB7DZR. Musia was on
his way to the summit to check for what might be the missing snowmobiler's
vehicle on advice from the SAR dispatcher.

After Musia arrived at the summit, he found a vehicle, took its license plate
number, and radioed Moore through the SCS repeater system. Musia asked that
Moore relay the license number to WCSO Deputy Paul Pegano for identification,
who subsequently informed Moore that the vehicle registration matched the
identification of the missing snowmobiler. Pegano requested help from SAR to
mount a search and rescue mission. Pegano also requested that Moore join SAR
Incident Commander Jim Akenson at the SAR IC trailer in Enterprise to provide
ad-hoc training for rescuers on radio communications technique and their
multi-mode radios before they departed for the search area.

Although Moore's involvement was scheduled for only one or two hours, he
eventually stayed on with Incident Commander Akenson to ensure that all
communication systems were running properly and that the search teams were
versed in the use of their radios. In addition, Moore set up several SAR-owned
GPS trackers for each SAR member to carry as an added safety measure.

Salt Creek Summit posed temperatures in the mid-30s with winds of 10 MPH, and
a mix of rain and snow. The area was completely snowed in with the exception
of the summit access road from a nearby highway. Access to the rest of the
area from the summit is limited to tracked vehicles, skis, and snow shoes. The
SAR team operated with snowmobiles hauled up on trailers via the access road
to the summit.

As Musia and other SAR team members entered the search area, Musia maintained
contact with Moore through the remote VHF base. On advice from the missing
man's son, searchers started scouring the most likely route the snowmobiler
might have taken. At 3:00 AM, Musia radioed back to Moore that they had found
the missing man. Musia reported that the man was wet, cold, and dehydrated but
otherwise in good shape. Moore then contacted deputy Pegano who then contacted
the man's wife. The missing man's snowmobile ignition had failed several miles
down the trail and he had walked back two miles in a snow storm to a temporary
shelter. After a quick medical check, searchers brought the man back to the
summit and immediately returned to Enterprise, where the man's wife was
waiting.

Deputy Pegano told Moore that he was thoroughly impressed with the reliability
of Amateur Radio installations around the county. Pegano went on to say he was
gratified by the willingness of Amateur Radio operators to help out in an
emergency.

During the search, Scott Hampton, KB7DZR, Moore's wife Joy, K7DMK, and Musia's
wife Anna, KG7CWW, kept in contact via their radios and telephones, relaying
information and brain storming ideas to further serve the effort. -- Story
written by Tom Bingham, WB7EUX, Joseph, Oregon, with information provided by
Mike Moore, W7ECX, Joseph, Oregon


ARRL to offer Understanding Local MOU's webinar

ARRL Headquarters will be offering a training session for ARES Emergency
Coordinators, District Emergency Coordinators and Section Emergency
Coordinators on local, section, and state level Memorandums of Understanding
for ARES. The training webinar will be Tuesday May 24, 2016 at 8pm Eastern
Time. You may register for the webinar here. The webinar will be recorded and
made available online afterward. All EC's, DEC's and SEC's are encouraged to
participate. -- Mike Corey, KI1U, ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager.


Tip: FEMA Daily Operations Briefings, Other News, Alerts, Available by E-Mail

Thanks to a tip from ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey, KI1U, I
signed up last year to receive FEMA daily operations briefings by e-mail.
These briefings contain a quick summary of national weather forecasts, U.S.
fire weather outlooks, and hazards outlooks for three-day periods (examples:
much above normal temperatures, heavy rain or snow, severe weather). A Space
Weather report covers geomagnetic storms, solar radiation storms, sun spot
activity, and a world map and graphs of impacts on HF communications and radio
blackouts.

A table on disaster requests and declarations is furnished in the report. For
example, in the current briefing, there are three declaration requests being
processed: one for flooding in Louisiana, another for[logo-white.png] severe
drought in the Marshall Islands, and one for severe storms and flooding in
Illinois. Another map of the U.S. shows which FEMA field offices are open. Two
tables on FEMA readiness - one on deployable assets/teams, and the other on
national/regional teams - round out the report.

The briefing is, well, brief - a lot of valuable information is presented
mostly graphically, rendering the report easy and quick to scan and read. I
can get through it in just a minute or two. I recommend to ARES, RACES and
other program members to sign up for this daily FEMA mailing for national,
regional and local situational awareness.


Other FEMA Mailings

I've signed up for other FEMA mailings, too. I receive updates to emergency
and major disaster declarations, CERT program updates, and a host of other
topics. There is a wealth of information that would be of interest to ARES
leadership and registrants. Readers can learn more and sign up for e-mailings
here. Check it out! [I've reproduced a typical FEMA educatonal e-mail bulletin
on tornadoes below] - K1CE


Baker to Vegas Relay Challenge Supported by Mass of Southwestern Hams

Hundreds of Amateur Radio operators, principally from California, Nevada and
Arizona, came out to support the 2016 Baker to Vegas Relay Challenge, March
19-20. The more than one hundred hams from the ARRL Los Angeles Section made
up a significant number of those providing communications support. In many
cases the operators camped out overnight either before or after the event in
order to accommodate the large event schedule. As in previous years, Joy
Matlack, KD6FJV, was the Communication Director with significant help from
Margie Hoffman, KG6TBR. Together they were responsible for organizing the
amateur communications effort, which is no small task and involves nearly a
full year of planning and preparation.This event played host to 264 law
enforcement teams in a grueling 120 mile relay race course beginning just
outside Baker, California (near the south end of Death Valley) and ending in
Las Vegas, Nevada. Amateurs provided needed race staffing, but also filled
potential emergency communication gaps in remote portions of the course.

Los Angeles ARES (ARESLAX) had teams covering/operating the Relay Challenge
stages number three (#3), number eight (#8) and number nine (#9), led by DEC
Roozy Mulbury, K1EH; ARES member Jim Stoker, AG6EF; and ARES member Carina
Lister, KF6ZZY.

The winning teams by order were the LAPD Department Team, the LASD County Wide
Team and the New York Police Department Team.This event allows the
southwestern US amateur community to showcase its abilities to the country's
law enforcement community. -- ARRL Los Angeles Section Manager David Greenhut,
N6HD


Op-Ed: Evolve Our Communication or Wither

Our FCC license grants us privileges within technical standards as operators.
We can lash equipment together and establish networks, creating links for
agencies with facilities and resources. Then what? Our license takes us no
further than the point of pressing the transmit button, for out of the box
most of us are indeed operators, but we may not be communicators; often left
to chance, especially in the service of larger organizations and complex
incidents or events such as the Boston Marathon, my main focus in public
service. We are often weak in the communication department.

For 16 years I've volunteered as an operator/communicator at countless public
events and for the past three years have organized and led many of them,
including the extraordinary group effort involved with the Boston Marathon.
Impressing me the most, having served on both sides of the table, is the
enthusiasm that volunteers bring. But, depressing me the most, is the
misassumption that our FCC ticket automatically makes us experts. Training
certainly helps, but reading or listening to a classroom lecture is one thing,
applying it is another, hence the sidelining of our service sometimes for an
unhealthy know-it-all attitude. We sometimes fail to communicate the right
things -- attitude, service orientation, quiet confidence, and the willingness
to take direction -- with the very people we aim to communicate for. "We are
communicators, first" I tell my team members. We need to communicate a wanting
to serve the public and agency, not ourselves. We need to communicate a sense
of humility, not hubris.

To accomplish this, it takes empathy, leadership, listening, trust-building,
and learning the culture of our served partners. Our local, county, state and
national leadership need to recognize, embrace and work to meet this
communication challenge in creative and bold ways, such as retooling our own
culture. Leaning on old paradigms and culture, offering "when all else fails"
is somewhat obsolete: We need to go to work to communicate with, take
direction from, and support our partners before all else fails.

If you are in a position of leadership, embrace change and this challenge. If
you're a volunteer, press your leaders to raise the bar, to bring us to a
level of competence that matches the level of those we seek to serve. It
begins with communication. By meeting us with silence sometimes, our potential
partners are sending a message: "Evolve, or wither. It's up to you." -- Mark
Richards, K1MGY, Littleton, Massachusetts [Richards is a frequent contributor
to this newsletter, and a member of the Boston Athletic Association
Communications Committee, which supports the Boston Marathon.]


Letters: ARDF and SAR

I read with interest your story in last month's issue of the efforts of the
ARRL Maryland-DC Section ARES in supporting the search for an autistic man
wearing a radio beacon leg bracelet. It was another fine example of an
opportunity for ARES to work shoulder-to-shoulder with an agency to save lives
and serve the public. For the best chance of success in such incidents, there
needs to be advance coordination, planning and training. That is exactly what
has happened in some places such as San Luis Obispo County, California. I
wrote about the hams there who regularly support Project Lifesaver in my
Homing In radio direction finding column in CQ-VHF Magazine for winter 2008.
That article is on my web site here.

I hope this article serves as an inspiration for ARES groups in other areas
served by Project Lifesaver to get involved with it and to equip them in
advance with appropriate radio direction finding equipment for the most rapid
response. (For example, the "phase Doppler radio direction finder equipment"
mentioned in your story is not the best RDF method for this application, as my
article explains.) I would welcome the opportunity to correspond with hams and
ARES groups who seek to support Project Lifesaver in their own localities. --
Joe Moell, K0OV, ARRL ARDF Coordinator
www.homingin.com


Tech Tip: ARES/RACES Powerpole Configuration

I switched all of my DC power connectors to Powerpoles years ago. I found that
descriptions of configurations like "tongue up, hood down," etc. were not
clear. I ended up looking at a picture for the correct configuration. An easy
way to remember the ARES/RACES Powerpole orientation is: Red on Right, Letter
A Up on both connectors. You cannot confuse the hood or tongue, etc.-- Lew
Wallach, N9WL, Albuquerque, New Mexico


Letters: Of Tone Squelch Systems and Alerts

When Citizens Band (CB) became available in the late 1950s, operators wanted
to eliminate the constant chatter but still have their radios on to hear a
family member or a friend calling. Two-tones transmitted at the start of a
transmission brought up the desired station, leaving out the undesired. For
those who had radios without the built-in selective calling capability, they
used an external box that connected to the ear-phone jack, which contained the
tone decoder, an audio amplifier and loudspeaker. When the proper tones were
received, the audio signal from the radio was passed to the audio amplifier in
the box and out the box's speaker.

Today we have more sophisticated methods, such as Digital Code Squelch (DCS or
CDCSS), CTCSS (sub-audible tones), and other digital modes that could provide
a reliable way to activate ARES/RACES program hams for a drill or an
emergency. I've wondered why hams still rely on cell phones and other
non-amateur technology for such purposes when we could be using our own
amateur systems.

Having a reliable selective calling system would enable hams involved in
emergency communications to monitor one or more frequencies 24/7 yet not
disturb their families with routine ham communications. Why isn't such a
system currently in use? Why don't we see articles on how to implement
selective calling in the literature? -- Rich Stiebel, W6APZ, Palo Alto,
California


Letters: Check Laws before Spiking the Ground

As a CERT instructor, Amateur Extra class licensee and the Project
Facilitator/Utility Cut Inspector for the City of St. Joseph, Missouri, I read
your warning to check for underground facilities before driving in a ground
spike. In Missouri, an excavator must call the One Call Center at least two
and not more than ten (10) working days prior to disturbing soil. Setting up a
portable antenna for a disaster does not meet the definition of an emergency
on the excavator's part.

With all of the fiber optic and plastic lines being bored in, it would be
dangerous to drive the ground stake in without waiting the two day minimum.
This law includes homeowners working in their own yard. There are only two
exceptions to the law: (a) a homeowner planting a garden or (b) a farmer
plowing less than 16 inches deep. I am not familiar with the One Call laws in
other states. -- John Bowser, N0YXG, Missouri Valley Amateur Radio Club [I
found a homeowner's guide to California's DigAlert one call notification
center laws and protocols here. Other states have their own systems and laws.
-- ed.]


FEMA Bulletin: Learn to Protect Yourself in a Tornado Situation

Plan ahead! Your primary goal is to go to the safest place for protection
before the tornado approaches and take additional measures for personal cover.
If a tornado warning is issued, immediately move to the best available
protection.

Having advance notice that a tornado is approaching your area can give you the
critical time needed to move to a place with better protection. The best
protection in all tornadoes is to seek shelter in a structure built to FEMA
safe room or International Code 500 storm shelter standards.

If you're unable to get to a safe room during a tornado, move to an interior
windowless room on the lowest level of a building, preferably the basement.
Take personal cover under sturdy furniture such as a table. Cover your head
and neck with your arms and place a blanket or coat over your body.

The America's PrepareAthon! How to Prepare for a Tornado guide provides
preparedness tips if you live, work, or travel through an area that is
susceptible to tornadoes:

 *  Know how to stay informed, including monitoring weather reports provided
    by your local media;
 *  Consider buying a National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Weather
    Radio All Hazards receiver, which receives broadcast alerts directly
    from the National Weather Service and offers warnings, watches,
    forecasts, and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week;
 *  Download the FEMA mobile application for disaster resources, weather
    alerts, and safety tips;
 *  Know where you would go to have the best level of protection from a
    tornado for every place you spend a lot of time, such as home, work,
    school, or place of worship;
 *  Practice how you will communicate with your family members in case
    you're not together during a tornado; complete the Family Emergency
    Communication Plan;
 *  Store at least a 3-day supply of food, water, medications, and items you
    may need after the tornado passes; and
 *  Store the important documents on a USB flash drive or in a waterproof
    container that you will need to start your recovery.
 *  Some locations don't provide protection from tornadoes, including:
    manufactured (mobile) homes/offices, the open space of open-plan
    buildings (e.g., malls, big retail stores, and gymnasiums), vehicles,
    and the outdoors. An alternative shelter should be identified prior to a
    tornado watch or warning.

You can find additional resources online, including a tornado checklist that
provides guidance on what steps to take before and after a tornado. -- FEMA


Parting Shots

Cape Cod (Massachusetts) ARES held its winter exercise on January 30.
Operations were based out of the Sandwich EOC and run by Cape Cod ARES with
support from the Sandwich emergency management agency. More than 30 stations
were contacted on VHF and HF bands, with the furthest VHF direct contact being
the South Shore Hospital (40.3 miles) in Weymouth and into Maine on HF. Narrow
Band Emergency Messaging Software (NBEMS) was used during the exercise.
Operations were conducted using a backup portable emergency generator. -- ARRL
Eastern Massachusetts Section News

The Midwest's Sioux City area is unique--there are three states separated by
rivers just across from each other. Until recently there has been little club
activity on the Nebraska side. All that changed recently when the Emergency
Management Director of Dakota County, Nebraska asked that the ARES program be
rebuilt to support county emergency communications needs.

To meet the request and add new hams and ARES members to the area, it was
decided to hold a Technician class; several Emergency Management and Health
Department officials wanted to take the class, too.

A flyer with class information was sent to other emergency managers and on
social media with the result that potential students from as far as 75 miles
away registered for the class.

Students started the two classes, including the county sheriff and a local
police officer.The classes were held in the South Sioux City Law Enforcement
Center training room, with logistics support courtesy of the Emergency
Management Director. Nineteen new Technician class licensees (and ARES
candidates) were the happy result. -- ARRL Nebraska Section News

______


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---
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