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CX2SA > ARES 21.08.18 14:18l 463 Lines 25714 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: ARES E-Letter August 15, 2018
Path: IW8PGT<IR2UBX<F1OYP<ON0AR<OZ5BBS<CX2SA
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From: CX2SA@CX2SA.SAL.URY.SOAM
To : ARES@WW
The ARES E-Letter August 15, 2018
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
- ARRL Board Meets, Addresses Proposed ARES Program Changes, Applauds
Microwave Group
- ARRL Seeks Comments on ARES Strategic Plan from Section Managers and
Section Emergency Coordinators
- AREDN Project Announces Strategic Changes
- Letters: On Challenges to Mesh Networking
- Follow Up on Damage Assessment Practice by California Groups
- FEMA: Evacuation Versus Shelter-in-Place Considerations
- ARRL Section News
- K1CE For a Final: See You in September, at Boxboro!
- ARRL -- Your One-Stop Resource for Amateur Radio News and Information
ARESİ Briefs, Links
-------------------
California Fires Responses -- ARES operators were involved with
communications service as record-breaking catastrophic wildfires struck
California. Volunteers from multiple ARRL Sections in the state served. ARRL
Sacramento Valley Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) Greg Kruckewitt,
KG6SJT, said American Red Cross shelter communicators worked for 10 days of
support. Initially, there were four shelters in Redding.
On August 5, the Shasta-Tehama ARES team was able to take its communications
trailer to Trinity County to support a shelter in Weaverville opened for
Carr Fire evacuees. "This relieved the Sacramento County ARES volunteers who
had been up there for several days," Kruckewitt said. "For mutual assistance
to Weaverville, it is a 4.5- to 5.5-hour drive for the Sacramento Valley
Section people who helped out. Communications at the shelter were important,
as power and cell phone coverage was often spotty, with power going off for
hours at a time." At one point, more than a dozen ARES volunteers from
Shasta, Sacramento, Butte, Placer, and El Dorado counties were working at
shelters opened for the Carr Fire.
Sacramento Valley ARES member Michael Joseph, KK6ZGB, is the liaison at the
Red Cross Gold County Region Disaster Operations Center (DOC) in Sacramento
and had been in the DOC since the fire started: "When the fire in Sonora
started, we scrambled to get some ARES members to that location to see what
communications the shelter needed."
Kruckewitt said Winlink continued to be the go-to mode, as fire damaged
several repeaters and no repeater path exists to the Gold County Region of
the Red Cross in Sacramento.
"One difficulty we ran into this weekend was that the Red Cross needed [ARES
Emergency Coordinator and SEC] contact information for various counties that
were also experiencing fires and having to open shelters," he said.
Completing that task involved lots of phone calls. "We encourage all ARES
members to get to know their neighboring ARES groups and check into their
nets."
Demand for ARES communicators rose as the fires grew. One problem in
deploying volunteers were closed roads. In the San Francisco Section,
Section Manager Bill Hillendahl, KH6GJV, said the four-county repeater was
destroyed by wildfires a couple of years ago. Power has just been restored
to that location, and Hillendahl said that with fires crossing county lines,
his Section was considering getting the repeater back in service. A key node
for the Carla system of linked repeaters was destroyed by fire, further
hampering intrastate communication for ARES teams. -- adapted from ARRL
News, Rick Lindquist, WW1ME
The ARRL 2017 Annual Report, which highlights the League's efforts and
activities throughout 2017, is now available. Starting with the cover photo,
Amateur Radio's response to the Atlantic hurricane season figures
prominently in the report. Puerto Rico was especially hard hit by Hurricane
Maria, and the cover depicts an October 4 message from the Mayor Carlos
Mendez of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, calling for an Amateur Radio operator to
support communication between his town and the capital city of San Juan.
ARES Annual/Monthly Reports can be found here, organized by date, with a
link to download a PDF of the full report.
Archives of the ARRL ARES E-Letter going back to the original issue
(September 2005) are available for download.
ARRL Emergency Coordinators may register their ARES group here for a group ID.
ARRL Simulated Emergency Test: Plan Now, Execute This Fall
It's not too early to start planning for the annual Fall classic, the ARRL
Simulated Emergency Test (SET). Click here and scroll down for complete SET
guidelines and reporting forms for Emergency Coordinators and Net Managers.
The primary League-sponsored national emergency exercise is designed to
assess the skills and preparedness of ARESİ and other organizations involved
with emergency and disaster response. Although the main SET weekend this
year is October 6-7, local and section-wide exercises may be held throughout
the fall season. Start plans now.
Editorial Note: Experience with Registering via ARES Connect
Recently, Volusia County, ARRL Northern Florida Section, Emergency
Coordinator (and newly appointed Section Emergency Coordinator) Karl Martin
KG4HBN, issued county ARES registration forms using the new ARESİ Connect
online system. Many other ARES participants around the country are probably
receiving similar registration requests through the new system. I took a few
minutes to complete my registration, and was impressed with how efficient
the system works: it was easy to provide my basic information, and also easy
to enter my relevant frequency and mode capabilities and assets,and FEMA and
ARRL training courses completed, among other things. There is a new section
for registering for volunteer service at scheduled public events --
currently no events are scheduled for the county. The required registration
information was appropriate -- not too much or too little was asked. It was
just right.
Congratulations for a job well done goes to the ARRL Administrative
Headquarters staff, and to the ARRL Board of Directors' Public Service
Enhancement Working Group (PSEWG), with Great Lakes Division Director and
Group Chairman Dale Williams, WA8EFK, and staff liaison Mike Corey, KI1U,
ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager, and the rest of the working group. I am
excited to see how the ARES Strategic Plan, which is currently in the late
drafting/development stages with field leadership input sought, will turn
out. If it is as well thought out as ARES Connect, it should be a historic
upgrade to the venerable ARES program, which has seen few major changes in
its 83 year history. (See related stories below). -- K1CE
ARRL Board Meets, Addresses Proposed ARES Program Changes, Applauds
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Microwave Group
---------------
The ARRL Board of Directors, the League's policymakers, met last month for
its second session of the year, considering major issues of interest to ARES
members and other amateur emergency service groups. The Board considered the
report of its Public Service Enhancement Working Group (PSEWG) tendered by
chairman and Great Lakes Division Director Dale Williams, WA8EFK. The group
has been receiving input from the field on major upgrades to the ARES
program and its administration.
The Board's Programs and Services Committee directed the PSEWG to continue
its work during the current roll-out and implementation of the ARES Connect
program. Headquarters staff will continue to work with the PSEWG on getting
information to the membership, including with an update in the September
issue of QST. The Board was concerned that there was not sufficient input
from certain experts in the field, even with the peer review group including
members of the section field leadership.The Board agreed to obtain
additional field input before approving the PSEWG revision of the ARES
program. The Board offered a plan and resolution of thanks to the group:
WHEREAS the Public Service Enhancement Working Group (PSEWG) has spent the
last 24 months defining, beta testing, and then further refining an ARES
Strategic Plan; and, WHEREAS the PSC extends appreciation to the PSEWG on a
job well done; and, WHEREAS the PSC has reviewed the interim draft plan and,
more recently, the proposed final plan; and, WHEREAS the PSC unanimously
approved the ARES Strategic Plan on June 28, 2018; THEREFORE, the ARRL Board
of Directors establishes a three-month general comment period for the ARES
Strategic Plan with comments due no later than October 31, 2018, after which
the PSEWG will present the final plan to the ARRL Annual Board of Directors
meeting in January 2019 for consideration for adoption. (See related article
below).
Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) Wins Microwave Use Award
The Board also passed with applause the following resolution:
WHEREAS the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) Project team has
made noteworthy progress in utilizing the amateur radio microwave bands
including: Extending the high-speed multimedia AREDN network capabilities
from solely the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band to 900 MHz, 3 GHz and 5.8 GHz. On the 2.4
GHz band, the range was extended to include two channels on amateur radio
frequencies below the Wi-Fi channels, thus improving SNR and throughput;
Supporting weatherproof, commercial Wi-Fi devices from Ubiquiti and TP-Link
Enabling over-the-air software upgrades to eliminate the need to physically
visit remote units; Built-in tunneling capability to enable connecting mesh
"islands"; Added 802.11n to the RF protocol which improves the maximum data
rate capability from 54 Mbps to 144 Mbps; Continuously expanded the number
of supported devices within the Ubiquiti AirMax product line so that hams
have more choices suited to more conditions; Improved a variety of technical
and user interface components to make AREDN networks easier to configure and
manage; THEREFORE, the ARRL Board of Directors confers the 2018 ARRL
Microwave Development Award on the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network
(AREDN) Project team.
ARRL Seeks Comments on ARES Strategic Plan from Section Managers and Section
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Emergency Coordinators
----------------------
Following up on an ARRL Board of Directors directive at its July meeting
(see story above), the Public Service Enhancement Working Group (PSEWG) has
contacted all ARRL Section Managers (SMs) and Section Emergency Coordinators
(SECs) seeking comments and suggestions regarding the proposed ARES
Strategic Plan via an online form. The deadline is October 31, in order to
give the PSEWG sufficient time to review the comments and suggestions,
formulate any necessary revisions, and submit the revised document to the
Board for consideration at its January meeting.
Created in 1935, ARES has undergone very few changes over the years, while
the agencies ARES serves have undergone many. The PSEWG evaluated the ARES
program for two years and drafted several proposed enhancements aimed at
updating the program.
The ARES Strategic Plan introduces changes and a platform for future
growth. For many, this will represent a major paradigm shift; for others, it
will formalize many of the requirements they have employed routinely for
several years.
An independent team of individuals experienced in ARES and emergency work
from across the US has reviewed the proposed plan. Their suggestions and
recommendations were carefully considered, and many were included in the
plan during its development.
Now, the ARRL Board wants SMs and SECs to have the opportunity to offer
comments on the recommended changes prior to implementation of the plan.
While SMs and SECs are invited to reach out to their Emergency Coordinators
(ECs) for their thoughts and feedback, formal resp |
