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Subj: ARES E-Letter August 17, 2016
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From: CX2SA@CX2SA.SAL.URY.SOAM
To : ARES@WW
The ARES E-Letter August 17, 2016
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
In This Issue:
* Spotlight: Boulder, Colorado ARES - A Juggernaut
* Letters: Lesson Learned - Mag Mounts, Not So Much
* California RACES/CERT Personnel Assist Seniors During Blackout
* Letters: Local Simplex Contests Out There?
* K4CJX to Chair a Regional Auxiliary Communications Working Group
* San Diego Microwave Network Adds Important New Client
* Palm Beach County (Florida) ARES Day A Success
ARRL Expresses Support for All Activities that Strengthen Emergency
Communications Infrastructure (8/3/2016)
ARES Briefs, Links
Amateur Radio Plays Critical Role in Mountain Rescue (8/8/2016); Hurricane
Watch Net to Resume Operation as Earl Makes Landfall in Belize (8/4/2016);
Hurricane Watch Net to Activate (8/3/2016) MARS Sets Interoperability
Communications Exercise for August 15 (7/29/2016) [watch for after action
report in next issue -- ed.]
Popular ARRL Webinars Now Archived, Ready for Review
The following ARRL webinars garnered great interest and support from
participants, and are now posted online. Don't miss them!
2016 ARRL Hurricane Preparedness Webinar, hosted by ARRL Emergency
Preparedness Manager Mike Corey, KI1U
Contesting as Public Service/Disaster Communications Training, with Ward
Silver, N0AX, hosting. We hope you find them informative! -- Sean Kutzko,
KX9X, Media and Public Relations Manager
Spotlight: Boulder, Colorado ARES - A Juggernaut
------------------------------------------------
Boulder County (Colorado) ARES assignments are like a box of chocolates --
you never know what you'll get. From providing communications for the
appearance of the Dalai Lama to mega-concerts by superstar groups and
everything in between, this versatile and talented group of ARES volunteers
respond with professionalism and with state-of- the-art technologies in
order to provide their served agencies with real-time situational awareness
and alternate communications services. Just this summer alone, BCARES has
been asked to provide voice, data and digital ATV communication services for
the Bolder Boulder 10K run, public safety agencies securing the Dalai Lama
visit to the city and a concert by former members of the Grateful Dead, and
most recently the Cold Springs Fire, a 600-acre wildfire that threatened the
mountain community of Nederland, Colorado.
The Bolder Boulder 10-kilometer run had over 54,000 runners, walkers, and
wheelchair racers, making it the second largest 10K race in the US and the
fifth largest road race in the world. BCARES provided situational awareness
via their pioneering digital ATV systems along the entire course to the
finish line in Colorado University's Folsom Field. The video was sent
simultaneously to race officials, the Boulder Police Department, the
Colorado University Police Department and a federal agency.
The visit of the Dalai Lama to the Colorado University campus packed it with
more 50,000 in attendance. BCARES deployed its ATV assets to monitor the
large crowds and traffic in and around the stadium. This provided the CU and
Boulder PDs and event organizers with live situational awareness at their
incident command posts.
The following week, Folsom Field played host to concerts by original members
of the Grateful Dead. They played to back-to-back sold-out crowds for both
weekend nights. BCARES members again provided their video situational
awareness to the police departments and event organizers, when EMTs were
requested for medical incidents. The live video feed proved invaluable for
event personnel to provide timely and appropriate responses. During football
games in the fall season, the BCARES group uses the CU campus and Folsom
Field as training grounds for their advanced digital ATV ops and test links
to served agencies.
Cold Springs Fire Response
Most recently, BCARES was called out by the Boulder Office of Emergency
Management and the Boulder County Sheriff's Office to provide alternative
radio communications services during the Cold Springs Fire. Affected was
Nederland, a small town west of the City of Boulder, high up in the
mountains and surrounded by State and National forest land. Forced
evacuations were called for and evacuees were sent to three different
locations; their large animals were evacuated to the Boulder County
Fairground facilities.
During this incident, no ATV was asked for due to the volatile fire
situation and concern for the safety of BCARES ATV operators. Fire Incident
Commanders closed many of the access roads to and from Nederland in order to
provide safe routes for the wildfire crews being deployed to various hot
spots.
The operators did have the opportunity to prove out the BCARES Mountain
Emergency Repeater Network (MERN) that had provided a critical
communications platform for the area during the floods of 2013 that
destroyed many communities to the north and east of Nederland. During that
flood, telephone poles and fiber optic lines were down, but communication
links remained intact between the amateurs and the Boulder EOC and OEM. "We
were able to maintain effective communication between the hills and the
valley, which was critical in meeting citizens' needs," said Mike Chard,
Director of Boulder OEM. "We were able to coordinate air drops of resources
via ham radio -- it was an incredible effort."
The MERN was a project initiated by BCARES EC George Weber, KABSA, who
recognized the communication gaps caused by fire damage to communication and
commercial power infrastructure, and planned power outages. Cell phone
coverage is spotty; the Internet and wireless services go down. The MERN, a
network of 2-meter repeaters, was designed to bridge these gaps, and
constructed thanks to the donations of Boulder area hams and other funds.
The installation was performed by BCARES personnel.
Community leaders partnered with BCARES and its instructors and VEs taught
licensing classes and administered the exams that yielded so many new
licensees from the mountain community. BCARES members re-purposed older VHF
radios, and gave them to each new licensee to use in weekly training nets.
These new, local hams have since organized their own inter-mountain radio
net; many have upgraded their licenses and radios. They recently formed
their own ARRL affiliated club -- Indian Peaks Radio Club -- and installed
their own repeater, used in conjunction with the original MERN system.
For the recent fire, these residents-hams of the mountains monitored their
repeater, the MERN and BCARES ops at the Boulder County EOC, as well as
local fire and police frequencies for up-to-the-minute situation reports on
fire parameters, conditions, evacuations, road closures, and weather
conditions. They relayed information to and from their area shelters and
sent current assessments to Boulder County emergency officials. When the
wildfire was upgraded, operators stayed on task.
BCARES recently incorporated the Everbridge System, an app provided to the
group by its served agency and put into service for this wildfire.
Everbridge sends messages to all BCARES members via telephone, text message
and email, and allows emergency managers to track geotagged tweets that
contain specific hashtags and use this information to respond to incidents
as they occur. The app allowed members to respond to duty requests, allowing
full staffing throughout the incident, and freeing the repeaters of these
requests in favor of emergency communications.
In the US, the Boulder County ARES group stands out as a leader in public
event, emergency and disaster communications technology and its use in
diverse, major incidents. - Jack Ciaccia, WM0G, Colorado Section Manager
Letters: Lesson Learned - Mag Mounts, Not So Much
-------------------------------------------------
I have a humorous, but notable "Lesson Learned" from last year's PPD Beach 2
Battleship (B2B) iron distance (140 miles) triathlon held in Wilmington,
North Carolina. A local bicycle shop supplied the SAG (Support and Gear)
vehicles and provided repair services along the 112-mile bicycle route of
the triathlon. Each of the five SAG vehicles had a radio amateur assigned to
help coordinate communications along the largely rural route where cell
coverage was intermittent. The bike shop had rented several Ford F-150
pickup trucks to be used as the SAG vehicles. When we went to place VHF/UHF
mag mount antennas on the trucks' roofs, they literally slipped off! We
learned that the new F-150 trucks have aluminum bodies! We improvised by
using either temporary cowl mounts or steel cookie sheets as ground planes
held in place by bungie cords. Lesson Learned: mag mounts won't work on all
vehicles! -- Bill Morine, N2COP, ARRL Vice Director, Roanoke Division
California RACES/CERT Personnel Assist Seniors During Blackout
--------------------------------------------------------------
Huntington Beach (California) RACES (HBRACES) was activated on Saturday,
June 4, 2016 when the power went out at both the Huntington Gardens and Five
Points senior residences. The buildings are each 14 stories tall.
At the Huntington Gardens when the power went out, a generator supplied
power to the hallways and elevators, but there was no power to the
individual living units and telephone system. Consequently, the residents
had no lights or any way of calling 911 in case of an emergency. At the Five
Points Senior Apartments there was complete power failure, with no
generator, lights, nor elevator service. The facility was in complete
darkness.
Huntington Beach RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) and CERT
(Community Emergency Response Team) members were immediately activated by
Brevyn Mettler, Emergency Services Coordinator. An automated call-up, email
and text alerts went out to all RACES and CERT members. Steve Graboff,
W6GOS, RACES Chief Radio Officer, and Steve Albert, KE6OCE, Assistant Radio
Officer, started a two meter net and logged in responding and available
communicators. Within minutes, operators checked into the net were advised
to proceed to the staging area at the entrance to the City Council chambers
at the Huntington Beach City Hall.
Graboff said "the response to the call to activation by HBRACES was
impressive. The professional communications skills displayed by the
operators were outstanding. The quality of HBRACES training was clearly
evident in all of our responders, including those deployed in the field and
others who were assigned to the incident command post. I am extremely proud
of the Huntington Beach RACES response to this immediate, unexpected, call
to activation."
HBRACES communicators were paired with a Huntington Beach CERT responder,
and the pairs were assigned to each floor of the two facilities. With this
arrangement, both communication and rapid response functions would be
available in the event of any emergency or priority situation. This was the
first time Huntington Beach RACES and CERT members had been deployed in
pairs, whereas previous joint deployments had them working cooperatively but
not directly together. They were assigned a 12 hour shift from 6 PM to 6 AM.
Given the loss of electricity with blacked-out buildings, housing many frail
and elderly residents created a dangerous situation, not only for these
residents but also for the volunteers patrolling the floors of the buildings
in the dark, looking and listening for people in need of help, or criminals
looking to take advantage of the situation.
Not only was immediate aid available to the residents, but essential direct
emergency communications to the Huntington Beach Fire and Police Department
was instantaneous. These agencies continually supported the efforts of
HBRACES and the CERT throughout the duration of this incident. Although the
Red Cross typically does not respond to localized power outages, in this
case they dispatched a canteen truck to support the volunteers with snacks
and coffee. The cause of the power failure was a chain reaction
fire/explosion in the underground southern California electric vaults in the
area.
Graboff said "the pairing of RACES and CERT brought an impressive set of
skills together to serve the health and welfare of all at the incident site.
Having both organizations working together created a safer environment for
the volunteers since they were not alone. They also brought essential
communications and CERT training to each floor of the buildings. RACES and
CERT worked well together, and I believe this is a response model we will
use again in the future."
Carol Burtis, the CERT Coordinator, said "this event turned into an
extremely well-coordinated mutual-agency response situation and proved the
ability to rapidly stage on the order of 60 people in a very short period of
time. The reward came the following morning when several residents thanked
the RACES and CERT volunteers for being there; one resident said
specifically 'that knowing we were in the hallway was the only thing that
allowed her to get sleepy that night.'"
Lessons Learned
It was found that 12 hours on duty is a long shift, especially in the dark
of night, so in the future RACES may adjust its protocol to a shorter shift
time of 6 hours, staging personnel to rotate every 6 hours and rest in
between.
This "no warning" immediate activation was a wake-up call to all Huntington
Beach RACES operators to be sure their "grab and go bags" are always ready
with essential gear, especially flashlights and extra batteries, food,
water, and personal items such as spare reading glasses and a small supply
of personal medications that need to be taken. - Bob Zamalin, WA6VIP,
Huntington Beach, California
Letters: Local Simplex Contests Out There?
------------------------------------------
Can you solicit information from your readership about FM simplex contests
that are held in their areas? And, possibly 10 meter or other locally
oriented contests in their areas? If readers can send in a basic description
and website URL for such local contests, perhaps a table could be created
and published in the contesting and public service pages of QST somewhere,
promoting greater interest and activity. -- Ward Silver, N0AX [editor's
note: Send any info to Rick Palm, K1CE, for compilation. Thanks!]
K4CJX to Chair a Regional Auxiliary Communications Working Group
----------------------------------------------------------------
The FEMA Disaster Emergency Communications (DEC) Division effects services
and information systems critical to the agency's role in coordinating the
Federal government's response, and support for communications to emergency
responders at all levels of government. The Division helps establish
interoperability during operations anywhere in the country. In 2007,
Congress established 10 Regional Emergency Communications Coordination
Working Groups (RECCWG) to support its mission. These groups serve as a
coordination point for Federal, State, local, and Tribal officials as well
as private sector service providers and volunteers at the regional level.
RECCWGs address the survivability, sustainability, operability, and
interoperability of emergency communications. The focus and direction of the
RECCWGs is determined by the RECCWG members in each Region.
Recently, the FEMA Region IV (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN) RECCWG members
formed an auxiliary communications working group to improve the relationship
between agencies and auxiliary communications volunteers. Well-known veteran
Winlink administrator and emergency management/communications advisor Steve
Waterman, K4CJX, a RECCWG member, was asked to chair this working group.
Objectives include providing a model plan for regional agencies wishing to
incorporate qualified auxiliary communications volunteers, mainly Amateur
Radio operators. Other goals are to enhance working relationships among
these volunteers, groups such as ARES, the agencies they seek to support,
and other radio services. The group will study successful Amateur Radio
programs to draft a set of best practices and standards. The group has a
diverse, credentialed membership. It will provide interim and final reports.
For more information, contact Steve Waterman, K4CJX.
San Diego Microwave Network Adds Important New Client
-----------------------------------------------------
The San Diego microwave network known as HDRENS (High Data Rate EmComm
Network, San Diego) and its partner in Baja, Mexico, CREBC (Club de Radio
Experimentadores de Baja California) have activated a new link in their
extensive microwave private LAN. This LAN employs standard commercial
equipment at 5 GHz, includes over 20 major nodes, 70 IP's and extends for
over 70 miles along the coast and inland in southern California and Baja.
The HDRENS-CREBC network has as a main objective "to provide backup
communications for clients in the public health services in the event of a
blackout of the commercial Internet services." The US end operates as a
community service and is funded and maintained by active amateur operators.
The San Diego Blood Bank provides important services to hospitals and other
medical providers throughout the San Diego County area. There is an active
ham radio station at its HQ, and executive, Gloria Lyons, KI6DTA, and
volunteer Communications Coordinator, Roy Gallagher, KR6RG, support the
operations there. CREBC member Mike Burton, XE2/N6KZB, offered that the
blood bank could enhance its communication links in emergencies to their
client facilities by joining the HDRENS-CREBC network; it was quickly
accepted.
HDRENS member, RB Smith, WW6RB, with assistance from Fred Nusbickel, N6QKE,
Corbett Stone, KK6DKW, and Ed Sack, W3NRG, evaluated the path between an
HDRENS access point and the blood bank location. While the distance was only
four miles, trees and a bridge posed potential interference, but a test
indicated a connection was possible, and the design and implementation of
the link followed. Data rates of 144 mbps transmitting and receiving were
recorded, and with success at hand, the next steps will include site studies
for links of the three blood bank remote locations. -- Ed Sack, W3NRG,
Coronado, California
Palm Beach County (Florida) ARES Day A Success
----------------------------------------------
Palm Beach County ARES held ARES Day on July 30 at the Palm Beach/Martin
County Red Cross Chapter facility in West Palm Beach. Fifty radio amateurs
attended, and 15 new hams joined the ARES program. Support and
representation was provided by local ham radio clubs, District Emergency
Coordinator Charlie Benn, WB2SNN, South County EC Bob Vastola, KK4ATI, North
County EC Chris Anderson, KK4ENJ, and Central County EC Barry Porter, KB1PA.
ARRL Section Manager Jeff Beals,WA4AW, and Section EC Larry Zimmer, W4LWZ,
were in attendance.
Activities included a demo of emergency power equipment, digital
communications using packet and Winlink, how the National Traffic System and
NTS Digital system work to send emergency message traffic outside of the
area, and a hands-on demonstration of how to build an effective UHF/VHF
external antenna. There were also stations to test, calibrate and program
mobile and portable radios, a demo of what is inside a Red Cross Emergency
Response Vehicle, and demos of portable VHF and HF antennas that can be used
in a deployment. ARES ID cards were given to those interested, and there was
lots of socializing and exchanging of ideas. A list of Palm Beach, Martin
and Broward county 2 meter, 1 meter and 70 cm repeaters in all modes was
available, as was the Palm Beach County ARES ICS-205, populated with county
assets and data. Thanks went to the Red Cross and all who attended. Palm
Beach County ARES is now more prepared to meet the needs of our served
agencies. ARES Day was a positive event that energized all who attended. -
ARRL Palm Beach Central County EC Barry Porter, KB1PA
_________________
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