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AE5ME > ARES 17.06.16 18:33l 59 Lines 5970 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : FL8E2IPR235S
Read: GUEST
Subj: ARES E-Letter June 15 Part 4 of 4
Path: IW8PGT<F1OYP<SR1BSZ<GB7CIP<GB7YEW<VK2DOT<KQ0I<N0KFQ<AE5ME
Sent: 160617/1543Z 39758@AE5ME.#NEOK.OK.USA.NOAM BPQ1.4.65
Before Deployment: Personal, Family Safety First
Prepare yourself and your family to ensure their safety and the protection of your property well in advance of any possible activation; you may be required to report to your assignment immediately without being able to stop at home first. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
· Your family needs at least three days of non-refrigerated food and bottled water available.
· Have a medical kit available and make sure your family knows how to use it.
· Have fire extinguishers at home; make sure your family knows how to use them.
· Make your family aware of escape routes from the immediate area. Give them a map.
· Pre-designate a place for them to go: a friend's house or alternate agreed-upon meeting place.
· Have phone numbers in your wallet/purse for your family's alternate shelter(s).
· Have alternate means of communication should cell/landline phone systems be down.
· Consider registering with the Red Cross's Safe and Well service.
· Keep valuable documents in a safe place or take them with you.
· Have cash on hand for you and your family as ATMs will likely be down.
These are just a few ideas; there are many more. Study FEMA's Ready website for more. The above list was adapted from the Department of Homeland Security - Office of Emergency Communications - excellent reference guide Auxiliary Communications Field Operations Guide (AUXFOG).
Ad
FEMA Encourages Preparedness for the 2016 Hurricane Season; ARES Should be Ready Now
FEMA, an ARRL partner, is calling on individuals and families across the nation to prepare for the 2016 Atlantic Hurricane season, which began two weeks ago and runs through November 30. The NOAA Climate Prediction Center outlook for 2016, released at the end of May, states the season will most likely be near-normal, but uncertainty about the formation of Atlantic storms makes predicting this season particularly difficult.
ARES operators should already have plans and procedures, protocols, and frequencies in place, ready for emergencies and disasters spinning off from hurricanes. Inland ARES groups should also be prepared as severe weather generated by hurricanes can impact communities hundreds of miles inland. When a hurricane hits, it can bring high winds, heavy rainfall, coastal and inland flooding, rip currents, and even tornadoes. Storm surge produced by hurricanes poses the greatest threat to life and property along the coast.
"The United States has not had a significant impact from a hurricane or tropical storm since Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012," said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, KK4INZ. "But luck isn't a strategy when it comes to being ready. If you live in a potentially affected state, you are at risk for storm surge, extreme winds and flooding during a hurricane. Now is the time for you to learn your evacuation routes and develop a hurricane evacuation plan. Prepare now and enjoy the summer with confidence that if a storm threatens you'll be ready."
Monitor Pre-Planned Hurricane Emergency, Disaster Frequencies
On HF, monitor the activity of the venerable Hurricane Watch Net on 14.325 MHz. The Net is a group of amateur operators, trained and organized to provide essential communications support to the National Hurricane Center. Net members are dispersed throughout North America, the Caribbean, and Central America for communications coverage from storm-affected areas to the forecasters at the NHC.
Reports are relayed from the field to the National Hurricane Center amateur station WX4NHC. The primary mission of the Hurricane Watch Net is to disseminate tropical cyclone advisory information and collect observed or measured weather data from amateurs in the storm affected area as well as any post storm damage, and convey that information appropriately. The Hurricane Watch Net activates whenever a hurricane is within 300 miles of expected landfall. When activated, the net runs on 14.325 MHz during the day and 7.268 MHz at night.
The VoIP SKYWARN/Hurricane Net combines both the Echolink and IRLP linked repeater networks for handling critical wide area communications during major severe weather events. The weekly VoIP SKYWARN/Hurricane Preparation Net meets every Saturday evening at 0000 UTC Sunday. Use the EchoLink *WX-TALK* Conference server Node #:7203, which is integrated with IRLP Reflector 9219.
K1CE For a Final
Have a fun and safe Field Day!
ARRL Field Day remains the mother of all emergency/disaster/public event training exercises. Miss it at great expense to your annual training regimen. It's in two weeks! It is always held annually on the fourth weekend of June - this year, June 25-26.
ARRL Field Day is the most popular (and in my opinion, the most fun) on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. More than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, ARES groups or simply with friends to operate from remote locations, ideally outdoors in a true field somewhere.
The experience and training gained from transporting your radios and antennas to the field, setting them up, using them as you would in an emergency/disaster/public event, troubleshooting problems, deriving efficiencies and effectiveness, and learning lessons and fixes to be applied for the next time, are arguably more valuable than any other training exercise, class or manual.
Activate for this month's Field Day and make yourself a better public service field operator for yourself, your ARES member-teamates, and the public safety agencies and public event organizers and managers we work with during the rest of the year.
I'll be operating Field Day with Eliot Mayer, W1MJ, from the summits of the beautiful and rugged White Mountains of New Hampshire, on emergency power, of course! Look for W1MJ and give us a contact! I hope all readers have a great Field Day, the mother of all emergency/disaster preparedness training exercises! -- 73, Rick Palm, K1CE, Daytona Beach, Florida
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