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=================
The ARES E-Letter
=================
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE February 21, 2024
- ARESİ Briefs, Links
- Takeaways from the 2024 Orlando HamCationİ Forums
- Tips for Writing an Effective Emergency Drill
- ARESİ Resources
ARESİ Briefs, Links
-------------------
The Amateur Radio Workshop for the 2024 National Hurricane Conference in
Orlando, Florida, will be conducted on Tuesday, March 26, 1:30 - 5:00 PM, at
the conference venue, the Rosen Centre Hotel. The primary goal of the
National Hurricane Conference is to improve hurricane preparedness,
response, recovery, and mitigation in order to save lives and property in
the United States and the tropical islands of the Caribbean and Pacific. In
addition, the conference serves as a national forum for federal, state, and
local officials to exchange ideas and recommend new policies to improve
Emergency Management.
The perennial Amateur Radio Workshop has been included in the conference
breakout sessions for over 25 years. It is always well attended, with a
panel of hurricane communications veteran experts and leaders from the
community, including the National Hurricane Center's Amateur Radio Station
WX4NHC volunteers, led by Julio Ripoll, WD4R, the station's assistant
coordinator, representatives from the Hurricane Watch Net, the VoIP
Hurricane Net, and other luminaries. Rob Macedo, KD1CY, of the VoIP
Hurricane Net and ARRL Field Organization, is one of the masters of
ceremonies. ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV,
will present on ARRL HQ's support for the field during hurricane disaster
situations. Your ARES Letter editor Rick Palm, K1CE, will speak on his
personal Hurricane Idalia experience, lessons learned, and solutions
implemented since that devastating storm. Hope to meet and greet readers
there!
The 2023 Great ShakeOut Multi-Agency Exercise After-Action Report is now
available. Since 2020, Winlink Global Radio Emailİ has supported and
participated with the US Geological Survey (USGS) in the world's largest
earthquake exercise. Past participation had been primarily concentrated
within California. The 2023 Great ShakeOut exercise Winlink participation
included an expanded effort by FEMA and their stakeholders, designed to
highlight the utility of the Winlink system for emergency management. With
Winlink, participants can provide accurate, timely situational awareness --
or "ground truth" -- in the early stages of any casualty event. Thus, the
USGS, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Regional Emergency
Communications Coordination Working Groups (FEMA RECCWG), and stakeholders
collaborated with the Winlink team to provide both agency and volunteer
radio operators an opportunity to participate and train on the procedures of
information reporting and delivery with the option of not having to depend
on conventional communications.
The APCO 2024 90th Annual Conference and Expo is August 4-7, in Orlando. An
ARRL partner entity, the Association of Public-Safety Communications
Officials International, Inc., and ARRL have had a memorandum of
understanding for decades, sharing the common bond of communications in the
public interest. APCO International is made up of Emergency Medical, Law
Enforcement, Fire, and other Public Safety Communications personnel whose
primary responsibility is the management, design, maintenance, and operation
of communications facilities in the public domain.
The ARRL Foundation is now accepting grant applications from amateur radio
organizations for eligible amateur radio-related projects and initiatives.
Echolink now has a web interface. The service appears to be a welcome
addition for users. As always, after setup, users are encouraged to connect
to 9999 -- the Echotest server -- to adjust their transmit and receive audio
before connecting to other users. - Lloyd Colston, KC5FM, FEMA Reservist,
Retired Emergency Manager, All-hazards disaster planning, response,
mitigation, and recovery; Incident Command System Trainer [Colston's service
has included the Joint Information Center at the Utah Olympics, and Fire
Management Assistance for the Grant fire response, among many others. - Ed.]
Takeaways from the 2024 Orlando HamCationİ Forums
-------------------------------------------------
The 2024 Orlando HamCationİ, held February 9-11 at the Central Florida
Fairgrounds, served as the ARRL Florida State Convention this year. It's the
world's second-largest ham radio event, and is sponsored and conducted by
Florida's oldest amateur radio club, the Orlando Amateur Radio Club. I
attended the event. Here are a few key takeaways.
First, I was amazed at the sheer volume of attendees: the fairgrounds were
packed with vendors, the forums were well-attended (some with standing room
only), and the flea market was being picked clean of a wide variety of new,
old, and vintage items that evoked memories of ham radio in the 1950s and
later. It was so much fun. But the main takeaway was the evidence that
amateur radio remains a cosmically popular avocation and widely embraced
venue for public service, especially emergency communications.
AUXCOMM Forum SRO
I attended the AuxComm Florida forum on Friday morning, conducted by Roger
Lord, Statewide Interoperability Coordinator (SWIC), Florida Department of
Emergency Management; Justin Waters, Functional Manager, Planning and
Training, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, US Department of
Homeland Security; and Dave Byrum, KA4EBX, DHS/OEC COML Instructor,
Department of Homeland Security, Office of Emergency Communications. Byrum
is a veteran AUXCOMM instructor out of St. Petersburg, Florida.
It is now official: the state of Florida has adopted AUXCOMM. Just prior to
the convention, 20 students were taught by the panel of three instructors in
the AUXCOMM training course at a local public safety facility. All 20 passed
this rigorous, demanding program.
This was the third year in a row that the AUXCOMM forum was conducted at the
convention, which has grown along with the vitality of AUXCOMM itself in the
state. The panelists discussed two deployments during 2023: Hurricane
Idalia, and a spate of tornadoes, when the radio room at the State EOC in
Tallahassee was stood up by vetted/trained radio amateurs.
Over the course of the year, six AUXCOMM candidates had their AUXCOMM
Position Task Books signed off on. (There are now four instructors in the
state). The state EOC is the primary served entity. Primary communications
systems include SARNET (a dedicated 70-centimeter FM repeater network that
links all counties in the entire state); the SHAKES - the ShakeAlert System;
and Winlink.
Waters reported on his agency's efforts to update the COML (Communications
Unit Leader) and AUXCOMM courses. He also told the crowd that Florida has
the strongest AUXCOMM program in the country. For deployment to other
states, Florida AUXCOMM operators will be required to have passed the course
and have their AUXCOMM task books signed off on by the Florida Statewide
Interoperability Coordinator.
The question-and-answer session followed, with the panelists answering a
wide range of questions. Roger Lord explained the FDEM's SERT TRAC program -
the State Emergency Response Team Training Resources and Activity Center.
Created primarily as a calendar and registration tool, many additional needs
were identified and added, such as tracking attendance and completion of
courses; issuance, uploading, and archiving of course completion
certificates, career path tools; and other features. For example, radio
amateurs wishing to be deployed must have registered their primary, required
FEMA independent study (IS) courses, the now ubiquitous IS-100, 200, 700 and
800 courses, online at the SERT TRAC repository.
I asked about the status of the "AUXC" position - the Auxiliary
Communicator. Lord essentially said that the state conveys the title to
those who have completed the 20-hour AUXCOMM Course and the AUXC Position
Task Book (PTB). The PTB is checked off by leadership at the local served
agency such as a COML, or other ICS head, or by a State of Florida
SWIC-approved exercise evaluator who must be the applicant's incident
supervisor.
Florida's SWIC must approve in advance any exercises at which PTB tasks are
being evaluated for signoff. Once completed, the packet and application go
to Florida AUXCOMM Coordinator David Byrum, KA4EBX, for review. It then is
reviewed and approved at FDEM by the SWIC.
Florida AUXC regional coordinators have the best awareness of events and
exercise opportunities to complete official recognition, and are also a good
resource for mentoring, other opportunities, and questions. The State of
Florida recognizes the national Department of Homeland Security (DHS) PTB
document -- other organizations' PTBs cannot be accepted for recognition.
The most current version of the AUXC PTB can be downloaded here. AUXC task
books now take about a year to complete - there should be multiple
events/incidents participation with multiple signoffs, and multiple
checkoffs by different evaluators. Completed and signed off task books give
the volunteer "credibility," said Lord. Incident Personnel Performance
Rating (ICS 225) forms may also be required. He also said that the applicant
should have an agency behind the applicant, with signoffs by agency officials.
Lord also mentioned that even professional emergency management
communicators are now taking the AUXCOMM course.
In the ICS structure, the Communications Unit is now under the ICT Branch of
the Logistics section. A change consolidates ICT services within one branch
in the Logistics Section while designating the delivery of services as
either interoperable communications, IT or cybersecurity services. This
organization streamlines incident communications and IT requirements within
the Logistics Section. There are potentially three units within the ICT
Branch: the Communications Unit oversees the delivery of interoperable
communications, including the management of radio and telephone equipment.
The IT Service Unit delivers data services, including by managing the
Unified Help Desk and securing data network systems. And, the Cybersecurity
Unit identifies cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities and assesses threats
to the ICT infrastructure and the incident management organization.
In other updates, the 2024 Florida Field Operations Guide (FOG) has just
been published. The national-level AUXFOG and NIFOG books are other valuable
resources, available online.
Byrum reported that another AUXCOMM course will be offered later this year,
in the southern part of the state.
All Florida Sections Forum
Hosting ARRL Northern Florida Section Manager Scott Roberts, KK4ECR, Section
Emergency Coordinator Arc Thames, W4CPD, and other ARRL leadership officials
reported on activity across Florida for 2023. There was one official
Statewide activation over the course of the year. Thames reported that the
ARRL Emergency Communications Course (EC-001) is in the process of updating,
with the new edition to dovetail with the ARRL ARES Position Task Book. He
also reported on the "best relationship with the Florida Department of
Emergency Management (FDEM) in years." A priority with Thames' ARES program
was to test his volunteers' ability to communicate with the State EOC. ECs
can now upload their county's activity reports.
Dave Rockwell, W4PXE, the West Central Florida Section Traffic Manager, said
that one of his priorities is to assist Assistant Section Managers in
identifying and recruiting active appointees. He spoke about AUXCOMM, and
the need for appointees to submit reports for the ARRL Public Service Honor
Roll each month. And on the topic of reports, Rockwell said his section
leadership officials need a better percentage of activity reports filed from
section and local appointees.
Roberts emphasized that all clubs must be engaged to recruit more ARES
operators - more outreach is required. And at a more basic level, all hams
should have a 30-40 second "elevator speech" prepared where in a short
period of time, interest in ham radio can be generated among the general
public to get more interest and licensees.
There were seven ECs in the room as well as three Assistant ECs (AECs). The
need for "amazing" AECs is great. AECs can serve as training officers and
logistics/planners.
Darrell Davis, KT4WX, of the West Central Florida Section, spoke about his
Section's communications support for the Bike MS Suncoast Challenge bike
ride scheduled for April 20.
In conclusion, it was great to observe the level of vitality in the ARRL
Field Organization across the state - and other states, too.
New Space Coast ARES Van Exhibited
Brevard County ARES van
The Brevard County ARES Team's new mobile communications van. [Photo]
A big draw in front of the main convention hall was the new mobile
communications van owned and operated by a major county ARES program on the
central east coast of the Florida peninsula. Amateur Radio Emergency
Services of Brevard, Inc, aka the Brevard County ARESİ Team (BCAT) is
dedicated to serving Brevard County communities by working hand in hand with
local and state entities and served agencies. BCAT provides FEMA- and
ARRL-trained volunteers, and the communication equipment needed, in order to
deliver professional-grade auxiliary communications utilizing amateur radio
in times of emergency; and, to provide communications support for community
events when requested.
Tips for Writing an Effective Emergency Drill
---------------------------------------------
Chuck Johnston, W4CWJ, started in firefighting many years ago and has been
the team leader for 14 years on one of four State of Florida Disaster
Emergency Teams. He worked on many incidents as the Incident Commander in
Florida and across the country. This article discusses his experience in
choosing and executing drills and simulated emergency tests (SETs). As a
training officer, he has developed insights that would be valuable
guidelines for anyone designing or overseeing a drill.
Here are a few of his tips:
Evaluate students, their perception of the training, and fit tasks to their
needs, always giving them a way to grow and be successful - but with a
challenge. If the drill is not a challenge, it's not worth doing. If it is
over the students' heads, it will only be frustrating. Carefully consider
the needs of your team members.
Make your drill or exercise pertinent to current conditions; things change,
communities change, and needs change. Emergency radio 30 years ago as
compared to the needs and requirements of communities today has changed.
Consider updating/upgrading to produce a better outcome for your area.
Historical knowledge is vital. What really happens in your area?
Meteorological and hydrological data reveal what disasters are likely to
occur. Build a weather scenario patterned on actual weather conditions in
your area.
Johnston learned from others and from experience. He uses multiple
techniques to reach ever-higher goals and enjoys producing realistic drills
and exercises that train rookies for the real thing. Being a wise
instructor, Johnston is cognizant that reality can distort everything and
has experienced team members at the ready to gently lend a hand when things
became confusing or overwhelming to one of his rookies. Making everyone feel
needed and productive is vital to a successful exercise.
Johnston carried these principles into a two-part drill that became reality
during Hurricane Ian. High and Dry I and II covered the first and second
operational periods of a flooding disaster. Weeks of preparation were
required for each three-hour drill. Besides creating a book showing all the
contacts that would be needed, along with detailed information on the rivers
and roads present in their locale, drill team members developed a complete
communication system that would function well in rural areas.
After much experimentation, they chose one of the new digital modes - NXDN.
They used tactical calls for critical locations and included repeater
failures and other possible technological incidents as injects. They never
ceased to improve: each drill gave them a new way to refine the procedures.
By the time Ian caused a levy break with extensive flooding, they had
already mapped out escape routes, emergency shelters, personnel, and a great
communication system to keep everyone, including police and fire rescue, up
to date and on the same page. Johnston and his team saved lives that night
and helped others to do the same. I am very proud of him and his hard work.
He is a teacher and motivator. If readers have questions, he is willing to
discuss your plans with you. Many thanks to Chuck Johnston, W4CWJ, for his
hard work, effective training skills, and willingness to share ideas with
the rest of us. - Christine Duez, K4KJN, Assistant Section Manager, ARRL
West Central Florida Section
__________________________________
ARESİ 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 Serviceİ (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.
Support ARES: Join ARRL
ARES is a program of ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radioİ. No
other organization works harder than ARRL to promote and protect amateur
radio! ARRL members enjoy many benefits and services including digital
magazines, e-newsletters, online learning (learn.arrl.org), and technical
support. Membership also supports programs for radio clubs, on-air contests,
Logbook of The Worldİ, ARRL Field Day, and the all-volunteer ARRL Field
Organization.
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