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CX2SA > ARES 21.05.22 15:46l 499 Lines 26913 Bytes #999 (0) @ ARRL
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Subj: ARES E-Letter May 18, 2022
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From: CX2SA@CX2SA.SAL.URY.SOAM
To : ARES@ARRL
The ARES E-Letter May 18, 2022
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
- June 2022 Pacific Northwest Exercises - Six Ways to Play
- Former FEMA Administrator on The Importance of Ham Radio in Disasters
- ARRL Section News
- K1CE for a Final: Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Test--Pure Fun for a Good
Cause
- ARES Resources
- ARRL Resources
ARES¶© Briefs, Links
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National
Hurricane Center (NHC) amateur radio station WX4NHC will be on the air for
its Annual Communications Test Saturday, May 28, 2022 from 9 AM-5 PM EDT
(1300Z-2100Z). This event marks the 42nd year of amateur radio public
service at the NHC. The purpose of the event is to test WX4NHC amateur radio
equipment and antennas at the center, as well as center operators' home
station equipment, antennas, and computers prior to this year's hurricane
season, which starts June 1 and runs through November 30.
WX4NHC station assistant coordinator Julio Ripoll, WD4R, said, "The event is
a good opportunity for amateur radio operators worldwide to practice
providing emergency communications during times of severe weather. We will
be making brief contacts on many frequencies and modes, exchanging signal
reports and basic weather data (sunny, rain, temperature, etc.) with any
station in any location."
WX4NHC will be on the air on HF, VHF, UHF, 2- and 30-meter APRS and Winlink
(subject lines of messages must contain "//WL2K"). Ripoll said "We will try
to stay on the Hurricane Watch Net frequency 14.325 MHz most of the time,
with an option of 7.268 MHz, depending on propagation and conditions.
However, we will be operating on different frequencies depending on QRM; you
may be able to find us on HF by using one of the DX spotting networks such
as the DX Summit." The operation will also be conducted on the VoIP
Hurricane Net at 4 PM-5PM EDT (2000-2100Z): IRLP node 9219/EchoLink WX-TALK
Conference node 7203. WX4NHC operators will also make a few contacts on
local VHF and UHF repeaters as well as the Florida statewide SARNET system
to test station equipment.
QSL cards are available via WD4R. Please send cards with a SASE. Please do
NOT send QSLs directly to the Hurricane Center address, as handling will get
delayed. Due to security measures and the COVID-19 pandemic, no visitors
will be allowed entry to the National Hurricane Center. For more information
about WX4NHC, please visit the station's website.
The US Department of Defense hosted this year's Armed Forces Day (AFD)
Cross-Band Test on Saturday, May 14. QSL card information is available from
US Army MARS. The AFD Cross-Band Test is a two-way communications exercise
between military and amateur radio stations: amateurs listen for stations on
military operating frequencies and transmit on frequencies in adjacent
amateur bands. Twenty-four military stations participated in this year's
event. More information is available at Department of Defense MARS. [See
K1CE for a Final below for your editor's experience on this test.]
Winlink Thursday administrator Wayne Robertson, K4WK, reported that Winlink
Thursday participation for May 5, 2022 "might be a record, with 757 entries,
and 95 percent accuracy." Winlink Thursday (WLT) has been an enormously
successful training event over the past few years, introducing radio
amateurs to the digital hybrid email/radio system that has become a critical
tool for communications in emergency and disaster situations for emergency
management at all levels. More information can be found at the EmComm
Training Organization (ETO) website. The recording of the ETO All Hands
Meeting held on May 9 is now available: The password is T5!FHHRD
A detailed analysis of the May 5 Winlink Thursday has been posted on the
Winlink Thursday Page. ETO's Semi-Annual Drill Operation "Ashfall" was held
on May 14. For more information see Instructions for ETO's Semi-Annual --
Drill Operation "Ashfall" on May 14. Results were pending at press time.
Labor and resources donated by volunteers and organizations may help local
and Commonwealth agencies save taxpayer money by offsetting local costs
under FEMA's Public Assistance Program. Individuals and organizations often
donate resources to assist with disaster response activities. FEMA does not
provide Public Assistance funding for donated resources. However, FEMA
allows the applicant (local and Commonwealth agencies and certain private
nonprofits, including houses of worship) to use the value of donated
resources (non-cash contributions of property or services) related to
eligible Emergency Work or categories A and B (debris removal and emergency
protective measures) to offset the non-federal cost share of eligible
projects and direct federal assistance. See FEMA's Fact Sheet. - Thanks,
Craig Fugate, KK4INZ
This just in at press time: North Florida Amateur Radio Club (NFARC) officer
Gordon Gibby, KX4Z, reports that the FEMA Region 4 (Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Mississippi, and
Tennessee) and Region 6 (Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico, Louisiana and
Oklahoma) Emergency Communications Coordinating Working Groups (RECCWG) are
planning a cyber attack exercise on June 1, 2022. Several major metropolitan
areas will be cited as the "affected areas" and both CISA SHARES and amateur
radio Winlink will be used to provide ground truth information back to the
appropriate sources.
"We radio amateurs are only a portion of this wide-ranging exercise that
includes (and thus compares) multiple federal/state communications reporting
systems," said Gibby. "It is a fairly simple collection of 'ground truths'
for a simulated cyber-attack on a limited number of high population
centers," he said. "The Winlink response is requested from both CISA SHARES
personnel and radio amateurs." The exercise involves creating a single
message in a specific Winlink template addressed to specific recipients, not
unlike the ETO's Winlink Thursday exercises. The message can then be sent
using Telnet (internet) or any desired radio technique (e.g., ARDOP, VARA,
PACTOR). This is an excellent opportunity for amateur radio operators to
provide critical information from their home locations, and ARRL ARES will
be involved. - Thanks, Gordon Gibby, KX4Z, CISA SHARES and NFARC; and Steve
Waterman, K4CJX, DHS CISA SHARES Auxiliary (Winlink Admin), FEMA R4 RECCWG
auxiliary communications Committee, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency
COMU, Winlink Administrator, Winlink Development Team, ARSFI Board of
Directors
June 2022 Pacific Northwest Exercises - Six Ways to Play
--------------------------------------------------------
The Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) is an area 70 to 100 miles off the west
coast of North America stretching between Cape Mendocino in Northern
California and Nootka Island in British Columbia where three tectonic plates
are moving eastward and gradually slipping beneath the North American Plate.
When, not if, the next full-length "megathrust" rupture of the CSZ fault
occurs, it will likely be the worst natural disaster to hit the United
States. The Amateur Radio Service should be prepared for communications in
the aftermath of a magnitude 9.0+ earthquake, an immediate drop (subsidence)
of coastal shoreline areas from 4 to 13 feet (with twice-a-day high tide
flooding for decades), a tsunami exceeding 30 feet in height, flooding of
Pacific coastline beaches up 100 feet in depth, liquefied soils in tidal
flats and river estuaries, and landslides along steeper slopes and
reactivation of older deep-seated landslides.
To prepare for this very bad day, response efforts continuing for weeks to
months, and a recovery period stretching into years, six preparedness
activities are taking place in the Pacific Northwest in June 2022.
Activity #1: Washington EMD Workshops
The Washington Emergency Management Division (WA EMD) will hold two
single-day virtual discussion-based workshops as their "Cascadia Rising
2022" (CR22) engagement, focusing on days 5-8 of the incident. According to
email from the EMD, "This exercise series is hosted by Washington Emergency
Management Division and is open to all Washington tribes/nations, state
agencies, political subdivisions, emergency management
agencies/organizations, local jurisdictions, non-governmental organizations,
non-profit and volunteer organizations, the private sector, and federal
partners."
A Critical Transportation (ESF #1) workshop will be on Monday, June 13, and
a Mass Care Services (ESF #6) workshop will be on Wednesday, June 15.There
is no Operational Communications (ESF #2) component to these discussions as
one of the exercise planning assumptions for this scenario is that all
commercial communications will have been restored by the start of day 5.
Some amateur radio operators are scheduled to be involved in the discussion
groups, but not in communications roles.
Radio amateurs in Washington who wish to participate in the CR22 workshops
should contact the Emergency Manager of their local jurisdiction for
registration details. The Washington EMD will conduct vetting of all
participant applicants.
Activity #2: WSDOT Functional Exercise
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will hold a
"Cascadia Rising 2022" (CR22) functional exercise on Wednesday, June 15, and
Thursday, June 16. Due to the massive scale of a CSZ rupture incident,
volunteers will be needed to supplement WSDOT staff in performing
post-incident assessment of the critical transportation situation. For this
exercise, amateur radio participants will travel to bridges on state and
federal highways in their local area, perform "Level 1 Post Earthquake
Bridge Inspections," and transmit a "Bridge Damage Report Form" to WSDOT.
If your ARES/RACES/ACS/auxiliary communications group would like to
participate in this CR22 exercise:
ƒ?½ In the WSDOT Southwest Region (Clark, Cowlitz, Klickitat, Lewis,
Pacific, Skamania, and Wahkiakum counties) contact Steve Aberle, WA7PTM,
wa7ptm@arrl.net.
ƒ?½ All other counties contact Mike Montfort, KB0SVF, kb0svf@arrl.net.
Activities #3 & #4: NTEMC Full-Scale Exercise
The National Tribal Emergency Management Council (NTEMC) will hold a
"Thunderbird and Whale 2022" (TW22) full-scale exercise on Thursday, June 9,
through Sunday, June 19. The name change from CR22 to TW22 was made to honor
tribal oral histories about the struggle between Thunderbird and Whale,
which generally describe the effects of an earthquake and a tsunami.The
exercise will cover FEMA Response Phases 2A, 2B, and 2C, and all Community
Lifelines will be activated. Tribes in multiple states (AK, WA, OR, ID, CA)
and perhaps BC will be involved. Federal partners include USDOT, USGS, CISA,
DOI, BIA, USCG, NOAA, US CBP, FirstNet, and FEMA Regions 8 & 9. State
partners include Oregon Health Authority, WA Dept. of Agriculture, and WA
Dept. of Health. Local and community partners include NGOs, food banks,
several airports, and many others.
As this exercise kicks off on Thursday, June 9, simulated situation reports
(SITREPs) will be collected from amateur radio stations in the affected
areas. This will be on HF in order to reach out beyond the disaster area.
Although SITREPs will be taken and collated in Eastern Washington, many
signals may hop over them, so relay stations from throughout the US and
Canada will be needed. All radio amateurs are welcome to participate. If you
are interested in helping in this portion of the TW22 exercise, contact
Frank Hutchison, AG7QP, ag7qp@arrl.net.
The backbone of ESF #2 Communications for TW22 is ham radio, which will be
supporting nearly all other ESFs. Portable HF and/or VHF/UHF stations will
be needed in many locations throughout Oregon, Washington, and Northern
California. This includes radio support for agencies participating in the
exercise as well as tribes.
The protocol for participation with a tribal nation is that they must first
extend an invitation to a non-tribal amateur radio group. The NTEMC is in
contact with the tribes and is helping to facilitate those invitations where
needed. If your ARES/RACES/ACS/auxiliary comms group is interested in
participating in this portion of the TW22 exercise (should it be invited by
a tribe), or you are in the Puget Sound region and can assist with radio
communications at the NTEMC EOC (in the Woodinville area) or for a partner
organization (at various locations), contact Ray Smith, KD7AVP, ray@ntemc.org.
Activity #5: Washington DART/EVAC Functional Exercise
Several Disaster Airlift Response Teams (DARTs) and the Emergency Volunteer
Aviation Corp (EVAC) will hold a "Thunder Run 2022" (TR22) functional
exercise on Saturday, June 18, testing the "West Coast General Aviation
Response Plan." These groups will use general aviation aircraft to fly
17,000 pounds of food from a supply depot at the Walla Walla Regional
Airport to two distribution hub airports in the Puget Sound area of
Washington. In addition, the Aero Club of BC (BCAERO) from British Columbia,
Canada, will fly 30,000 pounds of food initially into Bellingham
International Airport (as the customs/drop-in point), and will then assist
other aircraft flying supplies to airfields in the Puget Sound area. Some of
the destinations will involve the use the seaplanes which were evacuated
from Lake Washington at the start of the exercise.
Amateur radio support will involve tracking aircraft arrivals, supply
manifests, and aircraft departures and then passing that information on
Winlink. If you are interested in participating in the TR22 exercise,
contact Dee Williamson, KE7CFM, ke7cfm@arrl.net.
Activity #6: Oregon DART Functional Exercise
The Oregon Disaster Airlift Response Team (DART) will hold a "Whale Run
2022" (WR22) functional exercise on Saturday, June 18, and Sunday, June 19.
General aviation aircraft will be used to fly 10,000 pounds of food from a
supply depot at the Walla Walla Regional Airport to three distribution hub
airports in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. From those hubs, food supplies
will be flown to destination airports near tribal populations in Southwest
Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.
Amateur radio support will involve tracking aircraft arrivals, supply
manifests, and aircraft departures and then passing that information on
Winlink. If you are interested in participating in the WR22 exercise,
contact Ralph Garono, KA8ZGM, ka8zgm@arrl.net.
The NTEMC and DART/EVAC exercises, which are separate but in sync with each
other, are endeavoring to be as close to a real-life scenario as possible,
with only a very few artificialities to facilitate exercise play. These are
fairly complex exercises and amateur radio communications will be the
showpiece of ESF #2.
-- Steve Aberle, WA7PTM, Assistant Director, Northwestern Division
Former FEMA Administrator on The Importance of Ham Radio in Disasters
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[Blogger Brian Haren, W8BYH, served over 23 years of active duty with the US
Army Corps of Engineers as a geospatial engineer and today works as the
Geospatial Services Manager for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
Airport in Atlanta. He is an ARES Assistant Emergency Coordinator and is an
active Army MARS and SHARES member. Haren is the author of the Georgia ARES
Situational Awareness Web Map and writes about amateur radio and related
topics on his PRC-77.com blog. His summary of, and comments on, a
presentation made by former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, KK4INZ, are
reproduced below with permission. - Ed.]
"On April 9, the Coastal Plains Amateur Radio Club in southeast Georgia
hosted a presentation by former two-term FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate,
KK4INZ, titled 'The Importance of Ham Radio in Disasters.' The club
subsequently posted the video of the meeting and made it available on YouTube.
"I have to say, Mr. Fugate hit it out of the ballpark: He provided the best
insight and guidance I've ever heard regarding disaster communications and
amateur radio support. When I watched the video I came away with a full page
of notes that I've distilled here:
¶ú Focus training on low probability/high consequence events -- hurricanes,
wildfires, earthquakes, etc.
¶ú ARES and auxiliary communications are not the same, and ARES still has a
primary role at the local level.
¶ú ARES #1 mission needs to be making sure the local EOC can talk to the
state EOC. The #2 mission is making sure that the local EOC can talk to its
subordinate fire and EMS stations and, by extension, its local medical
facilities (hospitals, critical care centers, etc.)
¶ú One of the first consequences of any disaster is that all commercial
comms systems will be overloaded, particularly cell circuits. The cell sites
may be up and functioning, but the demand will overwhelm them.
¶ú All comms systems, regardless of how well they are hardened, have
multiple points of failure. It's not uncommon for EVERYTHING to fail. In
fact, it happens with alarming regularity.
¶ú Any comms infrastructure reliant on IP -- cell phones, VOIP, internet,
etc. -- is particularly vulnerable. Even commercial SATPHONEs at some point
tie back to an IP-based ground system, and the connections will fail.
¶ú AT&T's FirstNet is IP-based and is not well hardened (he wasn't very
complimentary of the whole FirstNet concept).
¶ú Supporting local shelters with communications really isn't all that
important. Most of them will have all the comms they need.
¶ú Focus on developing digital mode expertise. Digital can carry more
traffic, more accurately and under more adverse conditions, than voice.
¶ú Repeaters will fail and 2-meter simplex will run into coverage issues
very fast. Focus on HF.
¶ú Most emergency managers at all levels have no idea what digital
capabilities ARES can bring to the EOC. Some have heard of Winlink, few know
what it really is or what its capabilities are. Almost none have heard of
FT8, JS8, etc.
¶ú In a disaster, antennas are more vulnerable than radios. Have spares.
¶ú Backup power -- YES! Generators fail with alarming frequency.
¶ú Risk. FEMA reimbursement rules don't cover privately owned radio gear if
it gets damaged or destroyed while supporting a declared emergency. The
point here is to push your local EMA to fund the necessary gear and have the
ARES operators fall in on it.
"Craig's strong focus was on the use of HF for both local and long-haul
communications -- get the local EOC talking to state ASAP and don't rely on
anything that has a high risk of failure (like repeaters). His perspective
is interesting - he's seen too many commercial and government communications
systems fail during real world disasters, particularly IP-based systems.
"We can distill Craig's guidance down to one simple statement: EMAs at all
levels need point-to-point communications systems that don't rely on any
infrastructure. This is the key role that ARES is best suited to fill at the
local and state levels, and that needs to be our primary mission and
training focus.
"I consider this presentation, the lessons learned it discusses, and the
advice it provides, to be a critical guide to future ARES and auxiliary
communications mission definition and training. Craig's advice is both
invaluable and unassailable. If there was a way I could force every local
and state emergency manager to sit down and watch this video and absorb the
lessons, I would."
[Haren's summary can be found here.]
ARRL Section News
-----------------
ARRL San Diego Section -- Mountain Endurance Race Rescue
On Saturday, May 14, 2022, the air temperature had climbed above 90 degrees
and runners were dropping out of the rugged Pacific Crest Trail 50-mile,
10-hour mountain endurance race in droves when reports came into a remote
aid station of a runner in distress a mile up the trail. The lead ham at the
aid station, J Rollins, KM6NUY, handed an FRS (Family Radio Service) radio
to the non-ham aid station captain who then sprinted up the trail to the
distressed runner to evaluate his condition. Attempts to cool the runner
failed, so the aid station captain used the loaned FRS radio to ask the ham
team to summon EMS. With no cell phone service in that remote area, this
request for aid was relayed from the aid station by radio operator Caleb
Rollins, KN6ODW, through a Mountain Empire Amateur Radio Club (MEARC)
2-meter repeater in Campo, California, to the event net control near Buckman
Springs, California, where net controls Gary Holmes, KM6LKP, and Lori
Palmer, KE6ZLV, coordinated the emergency response. A few minutes after
placing the call for aid, the responding medics called to ask for driving
directions because they could not use the GPS latitude and longitude
provided to find the location on the side of a mountain, far from marked
roads. Local resident Craig Williams, W6CAW, provided driving directions for
the responders. During the emergency, back at the aid station, Mark Warrick,
KM6ZPO, and Julie Warrick, KN6AOC, continued to track runners passing
through the aid station and explained ham radio to inquisitive onlookers
while other hams dealt with the emergency. With the help of EMS, the runner
made a full recovery. Lessons learned included the value of using FRS as a
communications link for non-hams, depth on the bench, and the need to
tabletop with emergency responders before an event. -- Thanks, Rob Freeburn,
K6RJF, San Diego, California; and ARRL San Diego Section Manager Dave
Kaltenborn, N8KBC
ARRL West Texas Section - Hospital Use of Amateur Radio
ARRL West Texas Section Manager Dale Durham, W5WI, writes: April 6, 2022 --
"Over the past couple of months, we have learned of several hospitals
wanting their staff to obtain ham radio licenses to enable the staff to
operate amateur radio equipment placed in the hospital during emergencies.
In consultation with retired FCC Legal Counsel Riley Hollingsworth and by
reviewing Federal regulation 47 CFR Part 97 in Section 97.113 Prohibited
Transmissions, Exceptions, we find that the regulation does allow amateur
radio licensed hospital staff limited use of the amateur radio equipment for
tests and drills ONLY. The regulation spells out the parameters of the
limited use. This limited use does NOT allow amateur radio licensed hospital
staff to use the amateur radio equipment during actual emergencies. Amateur
radio licensed volunteer groups like ARES are the best alternative to
providing emergency communications for hospitals and other NGO agencies."
(Thanks, Duane Mariotti, WB9RER, Kaiser Permanente Amateur Radio Network
Coordinator)
K1CE for a Final: Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Test--Pure Fun for a Good Cause
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had the honor, pleasure, and privilege of participating in the Armed
Forces Day Cross-Band Test this past Saturday, working station NSS at the US
Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, inside/outside the 20-meter amateur
band. The split operation had NSS and other military stations transmitting
outside the amateur bands, with radio amateurs transmitting in the adjacent
amateur frequency band. In addition to the excitement of working the Naval
Academy station, it gave me the opportunity to learn how to program my HF
radio for split operation.
ARRL has promoted the participation of military and amateur radio stations
in the AFD event for more than 50 years. In the August 1950 issue of QST, it
was noted that "232 persons made perfect copy of the 'Greeting to Amateurs'
broadcast at 25 w.p.m. over 13 military frequencies and have received a
Certificate of Merit signed by the Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Louis
Johnson."
_________________________________________
[Correction: In the last issue's article, "Trending in Event
Communications," by Erik Westgard, NY9D, the second bullet point should have
read as follows: "Dashboards and databases - faster real-time data access
and decision making. Peter Corbet, KD8GBL, wrote a medical tent capacity
front end to our database." - Ed.]
_____________
ARES Resources
--------------
¶ú Download the ARES Manual [PDF]
¶ú ARES Field Resources Manual [PDF]
¶ú ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Fillable PDF]
¶ú ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Word]
¶ú ARES Plan
¶ú ARES Group Registration
¶ú 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
--------------
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