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CX2SA > ARES 21.02.21 15:31l 563 Lines 28325 Bytes #999 (0) @ ARRL
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Subj: ARES E-Letter February 17, 2021
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From: CX2SA@CX2SA.SAL.URY.SOAM
To : ARES@ARRL
The ARES E-Letter February 17, 2021
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
- ARRL Committees Report to Board on ARES Program, Related Topics
- ARRL Board Recognizes Trio of Emergency Service-Oriented Clubs
- Northern California's South Coast ARES Joins CERT in Evacuation Exercise
Operation
- Winter Yellowstone VHF Radio Rally Involves ARES
- Duval County (Jacksonville, Florida) ARES Winter Field Day Educates Visitors
- MARS Announces Schedule of Dates for 60-Meter Interoperability
- Letters: A HamWAN and Red Cross Drill Connection
- Note Your Successful Training Completions in the ARES Emergency
Communicator Individual Task Book
- 2021 "Whirlwind Boom" Exercise Planned for Next Month to Involve Amateurs
from Southeastern US
- K1CE for a Final: Solar Cycle 25 Implications
ARES Briefs, Links
The Spring 2021 Red Cross Nationwide Emergency Communications Winlink
Exercise will be held on May 8, which is World Red Cross and Red Crescent
Day 2021. Details and instructions are available; sign up for email updates.
Ahead of the May nationwide exercise, the American Red Cross (ARC) Emergency
Communications training group will continue its Winlink Thursdays training
sessions on the second Thursday of the months of March and April.
A fine article on the Indiana ARES organization recently appeared in The
Hoosier Responder -- Jimmy Merry, KC9RPX, ARRL Indiana Section Manager
The Mississippi Valley Amateur Radio Association (MVARA) of Wisconsin
acquired a full-sized bus and has been refurbishing it for emergency
communications service over the past year. Recently, club members sought an
opportunity to operate from the bus, test improvements made, and assess
their ability to setup a viable HF communications center in less than ideal
conditions. The Minnesota QSO Party looked like the perfect answer, with
sub-zero degree cold weather. The club is officially based in Wisconsin and
holds the club call sign W9MVA, but for the Minnesota QSO Party the club
applied for and was granted the 1x1 call sign WM.
The club received permission to establish its operation in the parking lot
of a TV station's studios at a high location in Houston County. The news
department staff couldn't resist checking out the operation and it ended up
being covered on the nightly news broadcast.
The club operation netted 57 US states and Canadian provinces, 54 Minnesota
counties (out of 87 possible), and 10 DX QSOs. The operation set a new
all-time record for the multi-operator category in the Minnesota QSO Party.
Organizer Scott Neader, KA9FOX, said "We had a blast and are looking forward
to more operations like this--we successfully tested the bus as a mobile
tool to support our communities with emergency communication services,
educate area students and the general public about amateur radio, and
recruit new hams." -- Thanks, Scott Neader, KA9FOX, La Crosse, Wisconsin
ARRL Committees Report to Board on ARES Program, Related Topics
---------------------------------------------------------------
The ARRL Board of Directors--ARRL's elected policymakers--held its Annual
Meeting last month, and heard and considered reports and recommendations on
public service-related topics from its committees. The Board's Programs and
Services Committee (PSC) reported that at its October 21 teleconference,
ARRL Director of Emergency Management (EMD) Paul Gilbert, KE5ZW, joined the
meeting to introduce himself and share his initial observations of the ARES
program.
Last July, the ARRL Board of Directors had added tasking to its Emergency
Management Director Search Committee (EMDSC), charging it with (1) providing
guidance and support to the incoming Emergency Management Director and Chief
Executive Officer and (2) reporting on and making recommendations regarding
changes to the League's By-Laws and Standing Orders necessary for the
creation of a Standing Committee [a permanent committee that specializes in
the consideration of particular subject areas--Ed.] for emergency
communications.
The emergency management committee reported back to the Board last month at
its Annual Meeting--"With respect to task (1) above: Subsequent to the July
Board meeting, [committee] members have provided input to, and collaborated
with, Emergency Management Director (EMD) Paul Gilbert, KE5ZW, on multiple
EmComm and Public Service topics, including participation by ARRL's National
Traffic System in the October 2020 Army MARS communications exercise (COMEX)
and the MARS-hosted follow-up debriefing videoconference; assisting in
review of the EMD's planning effort; and discussing the impact of evolving
AUXCOMM participation on ARES requirements. Most recently, the committee met
with the EMD to review the current and future status of ARES Connect
reporting software." [see the article on the status of ARES Connect in last
month's issue. - Ed.]
With respect to task (2) above, it was noted that some portions of the
current system of election or assignment of Officers, Directors, and Vice
Directors to the various committees are codified in the By-Laws, while
others are present-day customs that fall within Board and presidential
prerogatives. Consequently, the committee determined that its final proposal
for a standing committee on emergency communications would need to be
drafted in concert with the Legal Restructuring Committee's (LRC) overall
review of the Articles of Association, By-Laws, and Standing Orders, which
is also in process at this time.
The committee's intent is to prepare and approve a proposal, consistent with
the LRC's work, for the establishment of a Standing Committee dedicated to
Emergency Communications and Public Service, in the form of a Motion to be
presented at the July 2021 Second Meeting of the Board, or earlier, if
circumstances permit.
Separately, the PSC was asked at its January 2021 meeting by Bud Hippisley,
W2RU, the Chair of the PSC's Public Service Enhancement Working Group
(PSEWG), to "sunset" that working group inasmuch as its role has now been
subsumed by the emergency management committee, which is also chaired by
Hippisley. PSC members agreed and by formal Motion discharged the PSEWG,
with thanks to its members.
ARRL Board Recognizes Trio of Emergency Service-Oriented Clubs
--------------------------------------------------------------
Among the actions of the ARRL Board of Directors at its Annual Meeting last
month, the League's policymakers recognized the Garden State Amateur Radio
Association (GSARA), which serves the public through the American Red Cross
in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, which is in the ARRL Northern New Jersey
section but has many members in both Northern and Southern New Jersey
sections. The GSARA also has an outstanding record of learning and education
programs including youth programs. The club was first affiliated as an ARRL
affiliated club on January 22, 1951, and celebrated its 70th anniversary of
affiliation.
The Board also recognized the Boeing Employees Amateur Radio Society - St.
Louis (BEARS-STL), which was first affiliated as an ARRL affiliated club on
May 6, 1971. The club has served the public and the Boeing community in St.
Louis by supporting various needs for radio communications in times of
emergency, requests for support of public service events, development and
training in the field of radio communications technologies and the licensed
amateur radio operators of The Boeing Company located in the metropolitan
St. Louis area.
The club has a long history of supporting the emergency preparedness
activities of the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency
Management Agency as well as state and local emergency management agencies
through the provision of their VHF/UHF repeater systems and HF
communications systems for use in both actual and simulated emergency tests
such as TOPOFF exercises and the Great Shakeout with highly effective and
reliable systems. The ARRL Board congratulated and recognized the Boeing
Employees Amateur Radio Society - St. Louis on the 50th Anniversary of being
an ARRL affiliated club.
The Board also recognized The Amateur Radio Club of the University of
Arkansas (ARCUA), W5YM, formed in 1916 with the call sign 5YM. ARCUA
continues to operate as a college club under the call sign W5YM, and is a
long-time ARRL affiliated club in the Arkansas Section of the ARRL Delta
Division. [Emergency preparedness is ARCUA's top priority. Each year,
members participate in campus-wide disaster drills. These drills familiarize
members in emergency procedures and familiarize public safety officials with
ARCUA's communications capabilities.] The ARRL Board congratulated and
recognized ARCUA, W5YM on their 105th Anniversary.
Northern California's South Coast ARES Joins CERT in Evacuation Exercise
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operation
---------
In California, the SC4ARES group, sponsored by the SC4 Amateur Radio Club of
La Honda, Loma Mar, Pescadero, San Gregorio, and South Skyline in the ARRL
Santa Clara Valley Section (south of San Francisco in northern California),
joined South Coast CERT in late January for a joint evacuation exercise. The
scenario involved notifying residents in the CZU Lightning Complex burn scar
areas of mandatory evacuations in front of a moderate Atmospheric River
event that had the potential to cause debris flows in those scarred areas.
[Atmospheric rivers are columns of vapor that move with the weather,
carrying an amount of water vapor roughly equivalent to the average flow of
water at the mouth of the Mississippi River. When the atmospheric rivers
make landfall, they often release this water vapor in the form of rain or
snow].
Ahead of the exercise, Chief Ari Delay of La Honda Volunteer Fire Brigade --
an SC4ARES served agency --called together ARES and CERT leaders on January
24 to evaluate the areas to be evacuated and identify and assess residents
who hadn't already left the area. Angelo Dragone, N6QAD, Bob Smith, W6RES,
and Peter Chupity, KI6FAO used Radio Mobile to assess likely relay spots in
the mountainous terrain of the areas of Whitehouse Creek, Gazos Creek,
Butano Creek, Dearborn Park, and Loma Mar, and then tested these areas using
UHF as a stand-in for the GMRS radios that CERT members would be using for
the actual exercise.
On January 26, the CERT and SC4ARES members met at Pescadero High School to
deploy teams to warn evacuees and leave literature describing the nature of
the incoming weather. The CERT members communicated with the ARES team, and
the ARES team kept in contact with the temporary operations center at the
high school. In Whitehouse Creek canyon, all CERT members were also hams, so
GMRS radios were not needed. The CERT/ARES operators communicated with
KI6FAO, who was perched on a hilltop to relay to the operations center.
The exercise operation was a success, and under the exercise plan, the
hourly rainfall rate did not reach the threshold to trigger debris flows in
any of those areas. -- Thanks to Lisa Short Chupity, W6LSC, PIO,
SC4ARC/ARES; ARRL Santa Clara Valley Section News; Rick Lindquist, WW1ME,
ARRL News Desk
Winter Yellowstone VHF Radio Rally Involves ARES
------------------------------------------------
January 30, 2021 -- The morning dawned dark and gray with heavy snow falling
and the roads were slick. It was winter in the Greater Yellowstone
Ecosystem. The North Yellowstone Amateur Radio Club/Park County Amateur
Radio Emergency Service has 15 active members scattered across this sparsely
populated area of northern Wyoming and southern Montana. Many more bison and
elk roam the roads than do hams.
The critical duty in winter for the North Yellowstone operators is
deployment to remote locations of winter emergencies. To train for these
responses, the members devised the VHF Radio Relay, a radio scavenger hunt
designed to get members out to remote road locations where winter
emergencies may require radio communications support. The group uses the
Eagle's Nest repeater located at 8,000' on Electric Peak southwest of
Gardiner, Montana, the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park; the
machine covers the northern one-third of the vast park and southern half of
Park County, Montana.
For last month's exercise, with COVID-19 precautions rigorously observed, at
8:45 local time, the participating hams received their instruction set
consisting of two pages. The first page contained the directions for
completing their call out assignment and listed 15 carefully chosen
locations requiring hams to go to the far reaches of the radio coverage
area. The second page consisted of a map showing the designated general
locations. There are only three roads in the area and conditions on one dirt
road are normally difficult. Each route had five locations along the way to
the terminal check point. The 15 widely spaced locations guaranteed that no
operator could visit all of them.
A tactical call sign was assigned to each location. The communicators had to
use GPS locating devices to verify that they were at the exact locations. At
all locations, hams radioed Net Control to have their location verified
before moving to the next location.
On two roads, there was an interpretive sign at the last check-in point.
Hams were required to radio in from the sign and then were given
instructions on how to find a code word hidden on the sign to verify their
location. For example, when a ham called in, he might be told to find the
seventh word in the third paragraph and relay it to net control. There was a
different code word for each ham.
Locations were chosen such that hams needed to plan their route strategy --
ideally before leaving the starting point. Hams also needed to have their
GPS devices working. At the start point, participants' odometer readings
were recorded. Directions included a safety warning about bison and elk on
the road, and bad driving conditions due to snow. Hams were reminded to obey
speed limits and modify speeds as necessary for safety.
All were off at 09:00 on their quests. Hams were required to be back at the
starting point at 11:30. A prize was awarded to the ham who visited the most
locations with the least mileage on his vehicle's odometer. The winners:
First place, Doug MacCartney, K7GRZ; second place, Reve Carberry, KX4LZ. Jim
Halfpenny, K9YNP, served as Net Control Station. -- Jim Halfpenny, K9YNP,
ARRL Public Information Coordinator, and Emergency Coordinator, Park County
ARES, Montana
Duval County (Jacksonville, Florida) ARES Winter Field Day Educates Visitors
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thirty-one hams and community members visited the Hogan Baptist Church ball
fields and picnic area in Jacksonville, Florida, to operate radios, educate
visitors on amateur radio, view antenna displays, and for the operators,
complete ARES Emergency Communicator Individual Task Book training
objectives. The Duval County ARES group's 2021 Winter Field Day event was
held outdoors with four amateur radio stations set up around the ball fields
and pavilion providing phone, FT8, Winlink, satellite and JS8Call
communications.
Several Duval ARES members tested new antenna designs with satisfactory
performance. A Yaesu FT-817 QRP station and a Yaesu FT-991A 100 watt station
were powered completely by solar power.
Several position task book training objectives were approved/recorded,
marking significant progress towards getting members fully qualified. [See
article on the ARES Emergency Communicator Individual Task Book below]. --
Brian Schultheis, K4BJS, Assistant DEC, Crown District Assistant EC, Duval
County, ARRL Northern Florida Section
MARS Announces Schedule of Dates for 60-Meter Interoperability
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) has announced dates in 2021
during which MARS members will operate on 60 meters or interoperability with
the amateur radio community. Some dates coincide with quarterly Department
of Defense Communications Exercises (COMEX). All exercises will begin on
channel 1 as the initial calling channel and move to other 60-meter working
channels as may be appropriate.
"In addition to voice calls, I want to introduce passing ICS-213 messages in
both voice and digital modes to enhance the overall interop experience,"
said US Army MARS Chief Paul English, WD8DBY. "Our exercises will yield the
frequencies to other scheduled exercises or mission activations, which may
be called by other agencies for interop support (e.g., hurricane, wildfire,
etc). We regularly instruct MARS members to work cooperatively with the
amateur radio community during the use of the 60-meter interop channels. We
will continue to track our 60-meter usage and activities. English said he
plans to provide a quarterly usage report of 60-meter interoperability
activities.
February 23 - 27
Exercise: DOD COMEX 21-1
Location: CONUS
March 1 - 7
Exercise: Interop Outreach
Location CONUS
April 3 - 10
Exercise: Interop Outreach
Location CONUS
April 30 - May 6
Exercise: DOD COMEX 21-2
Location CONUS
May 7 - 8
Exercise: Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Test
Location: CONUS
June 1 - 6
Exercise: Interop Outreach
Location CONUS
July 5 - 10
Exercise: Interop Outreach
Location CONUS
July 20 - 22
Exercise: DOD COMEX 21-3
Location: CONUS
August 2 - 8
Exercise: Interop Outreach
Location CONUS
September 1 - 6
Exercise: Interop Outreach
Location CONUS
October 1 - 31
Exercise: DOD COMEX 21-4
Location: CONUS
Letters: A HamWAN and Red Cross Drill Connection
------------------------------------------------
Combining the technology described in the article Upgrade Your Emergency
Data Communications Toolkit with HamWAN [December 2020 QST] with the Red
Cross drills discussed in Major Drills Demonstrate Evolving Partnerships
with Red Cross and USGS [February 2021 QST] seemed like the logical thing to
do. So, in mid-January I moved my Winlink setup (PAT client on a Linux
computer) from UHF to SHF and participated in the Red Cross Winlink practice
session on January 28th. My Winlink messages now leave my home on a 5.9 GHz
radio connected to a HamWAN node, and then travel by amateur service
microwave frequencies for 181 miles to Seattle for handoff to the internet.
My SHF client connection typically runs around 14.4 Mbps, which is
significantly faster than connecting to the 9600 baud Radio Mail Server
(RMS) on UHF. -- Steve Aberle, ARRL Official Emergency Station, Washington
[HamWAN is a non-profit organization (501c3) developing best practices for
high speed amateur radio data networks. HamWAN also runs the Puget Sound
(Washington State) Data Ring, which is a real-world network implementation
of the proposed designs. The system is described on the group's website as a
modern, multi-megabit, IP-based, digital network for amateur radio use. - Ed.]
Note Your Successful Training Completions in the ARES Emergency Communicator
Individual Task Book
Published by ARRL, the ARES Emergency Communicator Individual Task Book is a
working document that enables those ARES communicators in the ARRL-approved
training plan to track and document their training plan elements as they are
completed towards the various levels of increasing proficiency. The Task
Book should contain all training plan items, completion dates and sign-offs
as the ARES communicator transitions through the three skill levels. The
communicator is responsible for maintaining his/her Task Book and having it
with him/her during training and assignments. The Task Book also contains
sections with definitions of the communicator levels, as well as common
responsibilities.
Since the Task Book is personal to each ARES Communicator, each user should
feel free to adapt it to their needs and requirements of their geographical
region.
Recommendations of minimum proficiencies and skills per level are listed.
ECs, at their discretion, can add or substitute skills that they consider
important. Prior known experience may be substituted for some listed tasks.
It is suggested that items in the proficiency/skills section be used in
training sessions or for meetings/events presentations. [See, for example,
the story above on the Duval County (Jacksonville), Florida Winter Field Day
- Ed.]
The approving EC should meet/exceed the qualifications for each level they
are signing off on. At the end of this Task Book is a change log page that
communicators should use to keep track of changes to the Task Book.
Skill Levels: Level 1 -?_ Entry level into ARES, includes skills learned
when obtaining an Amateur Radio license; Level 2 -?_ Set of Skills desired
by ARES obtained through coursework and training; Level 3 -?_ Increased
skill set that initiates a pathway to leadership positions and assignments.
Responsibilities: Individual -- Review and understand Task Book
requirements; identify desired objectives/goals; satisfactorily demonstrate
completion of tasks for each level; assure the evaluations are completed;
maintain and keep the Task Book up to date; make Task Book available during
assignments; submit completed Task Book to Section Management
Evaluator -- Be knowledgeable and proficient in the tasks being evaluated
and approved; meet with Communicator and evaluate past experience; current
qualifications and desired objectives/goals; review tasks with Communicator;
Document completion of tasks with Task Book sign-offs; complete the
sign-off, comments and qualifying Section.
Download the ARES Emergency Communicator Task Book. There are two forms:
fillable, and a Word document.
2021 "Whirlwind Boom" Exercise Planned for Next Month to Involve Amateurs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
from Southeastern US
--------------------
March 19, 2021, 7 PM-9PM EST, is the date and time for the full scale,
deployment exercise dubbed Whirlwind Boom, planned for 2 hours at multiple
locations throughout northern Florida, The exercise will involve include
participants from throughout the southeastern United States. Exercise play
is open to a wide array of volunteers including traffic net volunteers, and
volunteers participating in the 2021 Florida Baptist Disaster Relief
(Jacksonville) on-site training. Other participants will include Florida
state emergency management personnel, County staff and volunteers, ARES
communicators, SHARES personnel (federal, state, local, or volunteer), and
any other interested amateur radio operators.
Threat Hazard
The exercise threat-hazard is an extreme weather event complicated by human
terrorist effort, resulting in infrastructure failure of multiple types
leading to communications failures and risk to population.The scenario is
multiple tornadoes damaging a swath across the peninsular state of "Roflida"
from one coast to the other as a result of a fast moving cold front with
large numbers of displaced persons seeking shelter. The scenario involves
widespread power and communications systems outages. The scenario's second
event is a massive explosion near an "NT&T" central switching site in
"Johnsonville, Roflida," leading to massive loss of public switched
telephone system performance and damage to the "SuperNet" emergency-response
cell-phone based emergency communications system.
Core capabilities are Mass Care Services and Operational Communications.
Exercise objectives to be met include antenna deployment; emergency power
usage; communications planning; voice communications; establishment of a
Command Net; handling formal Status Reports; tactical communications;
Survivor Messages handling; data communications; writing Status Reports;
handling Resource Requests; efficient Response Times; promoting
interoperability; and Volunteer management.
Exercise sponsors include the Florida Baptist Disaster Relief,
Communications & Technology Ministry. Participating organizations include
Alachua County (Gainesville) Emergency Managemen, ARRL Northern Florida
Section ARES; and multiple county ARES organizations including groups from
Alachua, Santa Rosa and Flagler counties, among others. Also participating
is the SHARES (Southeast) organization -- SHAred RESources (SHARES) High
Frequency (HF) Radio program. For more information, Point of Contact.
K1CE for a Final: Solar Cycle 25 Implications
---------------------------------------------
Dave Davis, WA4WES, Net Manager for the ARRL Northern Florida Section ARES
net, which meets daily on 3950 kHz, reported that HF conditions in recent
years have been a problem for the net: "By 1000 hours 80 meters has shut
down, and will not open again until late afternoon," adding, "when that
happens we try 40 meters, which can be useful. In an emergency, net control
stations will use propagation charts to find the best frequencies. Net
managers have been exploring use of digital modes, especially weak
signal-capable Winlink. Net members are also exploring the use of CW, which
can work given programs that will read the Morse code."
There may be help for HF public service nets like Dave's, coming from Solar
Cycle 25. With the solar minimum behind us roughly two years ago, the net
and other HF voice ARES and public service nets may get a boost from new
Solar Cycle 25, bringing better conditions on the low bands. The zenith of
sunspots in Solar Cycle 25 is predicted for 2025.
It's time to renew support for, and activity on, the low band ARES and
public service nets.
____________________
ARES Resources
Download the ARES Manual [PDF]
ARES Field Resources Manual [PDF]
ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Fillable PDF]
ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Word]
ARES Plan
ARES Group Registration
Emergency Communications Training
The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs
who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment, with
their local ARES leadership, for communications duty in the public service
when disaster strikes. Every licensed amateur, regardless of membership in
ARRL or any other local or national organization is eligible to apply for
membership in ARES. Training may be required or desired to participate fully
in ARES. Please inquire at the local level for specific information. Because
ARES is an amateur radio program, only licensed radio amateurs are eligible
for membership. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is desirable,
but is not a requirement for membership.
How to Get Involved in ARES: Fill out the ARES Registration form and submit
it to your local Emergency Coordinator.
ARRL Resources
Join or Renew Today! Eligible US-based members can elect to receive QST or
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