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Subj: ARES E-Letter June 17, 2015
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Sent: 150621/1321Z @:CX2SA.SAL.URY.SOAM #:22448 [Salto] FBB7.00e $:22448_CX2SA
From: CX2SA@CX2SA.SAL.URY.SOAM
To : ARES@WW
The ARES E-Letter June 17, 2015
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
In This Issue:
-Hurricane Season 2015: Florida Statewide Hurricane Exercise Helps ARES
Plan, Prepare
-Hurricane Center Station Tests Positive
-Exercise Regimen of City ARES/RACES Group in California, A Model of
Excellence
-New Workbook/Workshops are Part Mission Critical in Texas
-Letters: ARES/SAR Operations Save Lives in New Mexico
-ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section: A Hotbed of Public Events, Service
-Santa Clara County (California) ARES/RACES Mesh Networking for
Event/Incident Response
-K1CE for a Final
ARES Notebook
-------------
"This has probably been the most significant weather event to hit Texas,"
said ARRL South Texas Section Manager Lee Cooper, W5LHC. "We have had major
tropical storms and hurricane events, but the widespread combination of
heavy rains, tornadoes, and flooding all at same time and covering
two-thirds of the state, is pretty much unprecedented for us." Click here
for SKYWARN and ARES reports on the responses to these severe weather events
across the south-central part of the country.
Happy 50th Anniversary to the Hurricane Watch Net. The Hurricane Watch Net
(HWN) celebrated its 50th anniversary on the air, June 13-14. HWN members
used the call sign WX5HWN, operating on 14.325 MHz but with stations active
on or near 7.268 MHz as well. More here.
ARES Activity Reports from the Field Are Important
ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey, KI1U, reminds ARES members
that ARRL HQ needs reports and updates on ARES activities related to severe
weather responses, and any responses for that matter. This information is
important for several reasons: recording ARES activity for ARRL reports,
updating national partners on our activity, and identifying any needs in the
field. Please keep HQ in the loop on activities of ARES groups (and others,
eg, SATERN, MARS, amateurs assisting VOADS). Please remember to complete the
reporting form FSD-157. Reports can easily be made on-line here.
New Edition of the ARES Manual Now On-Line
Click here for the new ARES Manual. As reported in last month's issue, the
ARES Manual and NTS Manual have together long been part of a single
publication, the Public Service Communications Manual. The two manuals will
now be separate publications. NTS leadership is currently reviewing and
preparing to update the NTS Manual.
The new ARES Manual includes several new additions: inclusion of ICS forms
213, 205, and 214 for ARES use; an expanded discussion on training
resources; clarification of the role and purpose of RACES; and copies of all
current ARRL MOUs. The update is the first in over two decades and was a
collaborative effort of field organization leaders, federal partners, and
ARRL staff. The new manual is available online as a downloadable PDF.
ARRL 2015 Hurricane Season Webinar: July 20
The ARRL 2015 Hurricane Season Webinar is scheduled for Monday, July 20 at 8
PM eastern time, and will run for approximately one hour. Agenda items
include welcome and introductions, a report from the National Hurricane
Center Station WX4NHC team and VoIP Hurricane Net, ARRL Public Information,
Canadian Hurricane Center, Hurricane Watch Net, and ARRL HQ Hurricane
Response. More details to come. Don't miss this opportunity to discuss
hurricane season plans and issues with leaders from the Amateur Radio
hurricane response community.
Hurricane Season 2015: Florida Statewide Hurricane Exercise Helps ARES Plan,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prepare
-------
ARES members from all three Florida ARRL Sections (Northern Florida,
Southern Florida, West Central Florida) participated in a statewide
hurricane response and communications exercise on May 30, a day prior to the
start of the 2015 hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.
Florida is the 20th largest state (by land area) and third largest state by
population, in the US, and is exposed hurricanes, and other severe weather
such as tropical storms and tornadoes.
The objectives of this exercise were to evaluate current procedures,
identify areas for improvement, and achieve a collaborative posture with
partner-agencies. A major goal was an assessment of the ability of players
to establish and maintain multi-disciplinary communications networks during
a response to a hurricane incident. Assessment of hurricane preparedness was
also an exercise objective, with adequacy of plans for responding to a
potential Category 3 hurricane land fall addressed, including issues of
resource management, and information control.
During the exercise, players responded to simulated events and information
as if the emergency was real, unless otherwise directed by ARES leadership.
ARRL Northern Florida Section Manager Steve Szabo, WB4OMM, exhorted his ARES
team members to "have fun, work with your peers, and think creatively."
Informal post-exercise debriefings with local ARES groups were held to
assess local group needs, individual operator needs and
amendment/modification of ARES emergency response plans as indicated.
Players and their leaders were advised to conduct exercise activities within
their staffing capabilities and procedures according to their local plans.
Exercise Parameters
Reporting forms were mandated to be ICS/NIMS compliant. Communications modes
were primarily RF-based, and not overly dependent on Internet hybrid
systems, although hybrid platforms in common usage were to be tested,
including D-RATS, Winlink, and others. Power sources were
battery/generator-based, independent of commercial mains.
ARES groups were tasked with activating and staffing their local EOC (real
or simulated); and deploying members to any two partner-agencies (hospital,
fire house, shelter, police/sheriff office, Red Cross, Salvation Army,
church, school or any entity facility in the local community served by the
group). Once on site, ARES exercise players established communication links
via an RF-based mode (on HF, VHF, UHF, with CW/FM/SSB/data modes). Operators
obtained the name of their served agency, its street address and point of
contact (POC) information (name and position/title) and provided it to the
county EOC on a NIMS compliant message form (ICS-213) via the RF
communications mode.
In turn, operators at the EOC then checked-in to a net such as a Florida
traffic/ARES net, SARNet, Florida State-Wide Hurricane Net, or used an
Internet-assisted mode such as D-STAR, D-RATS, Winlink2K, SEDAN, or others
to send the information and a test message listed in the communications
plan, and SITREPs to county ARES Emergency Coordinators (EC). The EC in turn
sent activation, deployment locations/POC information, check-in data and
messages to the Section Emergency Coordinators (SEC) as a SITREP. Summaries
of all exercise results were to be forwarded to the Florida State ESF-2
(Emergency Support Function #2 -- Communications) Coordinator at the State
EOC in Tallahassee before the end of the day.
REPORTS
ARRL Northern Florida Section
Although reports are currently being received and compiled, Section Manager
Steve Szabo, WB4OMM, reported that the exercise was a success from his
perspective in part "because we found some things that didn't work" to
address and correct for possible real activations this season. Section
Emergency Coordinator Strait Hollis, KT4YA, is compiling a section-wide
after-action report. Initial exercise observations included propagation
challenges on the Northern Florida Net on 80-meters, mandating turning to
the net's alternate frequency on 40-meters. Net Manager Mac Ardle, W4NFG,
managed the changes to keep the net going.
A key ARES asset, the Orange City Statewide Amateur Radio Net (SARNet) UHF
repeater was down, preventing many counties from using it. The Statewide
Amateur Radio Network (SARnet) is a network of linked UHF voice repeaters
that serves the State of Florida. "The key to what makes SARnet work so well
is that this network uses dedicated bandwidth that is separate from the
Internet," noted from its website.
Some messages using some modes did not go through, and more message handling
training for operators is indicated for the future. Szabo concluded that all
operators learned something from the exercise, and noted the great numbers
of groups and operators participating. An After Action Report/Improvement
Plan is to be distributed by the end of July.
ARRL Southern Florida Section
ARRL Southern Florida Section Manager Jeff Beals, WA4AW, and Section
Emergency Coordinator Larry Zimmer, W4LWZ, reported that five major Southern
Florida Section counties participated in the Statewide Hurricane drill,
including Broward, Indian River, Lee, Martin and Palm Beach counties.
Broward county ARES/RACES operators activated their VHF network, exercising
their local nets. Operators also made contact with the State EOC in
Tallahassee on the SARnet. A challenge that could not be overcome was to
contact the State EOC on HF, and solutions will be worked out.
Indian River county ARES/RACES participated in a tabletop version of the
exercise with their county emergency management team.
Lee county ARES/RACES operators were able to establish contact with the
state EOC on HF from the Lee County EOC.
Martin county operators activated their EOC and Red Cross facilities. They
were able to make contact with the state EOC both on SARnet and on HF.
Palm Beach county ARES/RACES operators checked into the State EOC net on HF
and on the SARnet from the Palm Beach EOC.
ARRL West Central Florida Section
ARRL Assistant Section Manager Randy Payne, K4EZM, is currently compiling
reports of activity from the section surrounding Tampa, on the Gulf side of
the Florida peninsula. Darrell Davis, KT4WX, Section Manager of the ARRL
West Central Florida Section, noted the critical, on-going process of
working out a framework for how all three ARRL Florida Sections will
interface with the State EOC during hurricane situations. "A great second
meeting at the Orlando Hamcation in February was held to continue that
process," Davis said. "All three of us (Jeff, Steve, and myself) think of
our three Sections as three branch offices of the same organization." "That
is the way it should be; we get together whenever we have the opportunity,"
Davis concluded. Collaboration and cooperation, working together, is in
evidence in the state of Florida.
Hurricane Center Station Tests Positive
---------------------------------------
The National Hurricane Center Amateur Radio Station WX4NHC conducted their
Annual Station Test on May 30. This is the 35th year of volunteer public
service by the WX4NHC Group at NHC. WX4NHC operators conduct this event each
year in preparation for hurricane season, which started June 1. The station
was tested on many frequencies and modes, including HF, VHF, UHF, and
Winlink, VHF/HF APRS, EchoLink/IRLP/All-Star, e-mail and on-line forms
sharing. All operators and communications systems performed well.
The WX4NHC test event is also valuable for Amateur Radio operators
worldwide, especially in hurricane prone areas, to test their station's
ability to contact WX4NHC should the need arise during a hurricane. It was
also a good opportunity for National Weather Service (NWS) field staff to
become aware of the unique capabilities of Amateur Radio during severe
weather and disaster situations, when conventional communication modes fail.
WX4NHC was on-the-air for eight hours. Contacts were made and surface
reports were received from many stations throughout the US, Canada, and
countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America.
The VoIP Hurricane Net on (IRLP node 9219/EchoLink WX-TALK Conference node
7203) worked perfectly and hosted many contacts. More than 40 D-STAR/D-RATS
Surface Weather Reports were received at WX4NHC. The D-STAR//D-RATS net and
reporting was coordinated by John Davis, WB4QDX. WX4NHC managers are excited
of the potential posed by D-STAR/D-RATS modes that can produce hurricane
surface reports in formats readily used at WX4NHC. These reports may someday
fill in a very important gap in surface data during a hurricane that could
not be garnered through other modes.
WX4NHC also participated in the Florida Statewide Hurricane Exercise (see
above story) on the UHF SARnet making many contacts throughout the state of
Florida and with EOC stations. WX4NHC is fortunate to have a SARnet UHF
repeater on campus, courtesy of station manager John McHugh, K4AG. WX4NHC
operators also contacted Ted Okada, N4HNL, FEMA Chief Tech Officer, and FEMA
chief Craig Fugate, KK4INZ. ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey,
KI1U, and Hurricane Watch Net Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, both were heard
loud and clear into WX4NHC. For more information, please visit wx4nhc.org
Exercise Regimen of City ARES/RACES Group in California, A Model of Excellence
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cupertino ARES/RACES (CARES) provides emergency and public service
communications to the City of Cupertino, California, and adopts a
professional approach to training and exercising, responding and embracing
the latest in technology. Let's take a look at their exercise models, from
its website, with the permission and courtesy of Jim Oberhofer, KN6PE,
Emergency Coordinator for the city group.
To ensure response processes work, CARES complements its training activities
with exercises and public service events. These activities work well in
helping test tools, processes, and procedures with the goal of fine-tuning
them as necessary.
Exercises are designed to test specific aspects of response. There is a
specific set of exercises that are scheduled over a two year period that
align with the key response processes that we (CARES) have been asked by the
city to perform. These include:
-Preliminary Safety Assessment (PSA). This is a field exercise that tests
our ability to effectively pass a fixed-formatted message from the field to
the EOC. The PSA process provides a Cupertino EOC with an early snapshot of
potential damage immediately after an infrastructure-shaking event, thereby
helping the city with their response priorities. This drill is based on a
city Preliminary Damage Assessment Procedure.
-Infrastructure Safety Assessment. This is a full field deployment
exercise where CARES members locate and report on critical infrastructure
assets of our partner/served agencies with the goal of verifying the asset's
state. Once the asset is inspected, its condition is reported to the EOC and
the agency. This drill is based on a city Infrastructure Safety Assessment
Procedure.
-Field Communications Deployment. These are field deployment exercises
where CARES members are sent into the field to provide communications
support. The exercise may indicate deployment to one of the city's CERT
incident reporting points, shelters, medical centers, or as a shadow
assignment (where a communicator stays with an official to assist with
message handling). Assignments may also result in deployment to a location
to make actual or simulated observations based on a plausible response
scenario. This drill is based on a city Field Assignment Procedure.
-EOC Operations Support. This activity is usually performed in
conjunction with any field deployment that takes place. Its purpose is to
orient responding CARES members with our roles and responsibilities when
assigned to the EOC, the different radio equipment used on the Cupertino
Comm Van, and the kinds of interactions CARES may have with the EOC staff.
-Emergency Communications Station Exercise. This exercise is to test
CARES' ability to establish and operate a communications facility that could
be used to support the city with backup field-based local and long distance
communications during an emergency or disaster. This drill also coincides
with the ARRL Field Day event, which is the weekend of June 27-28 this year.
[For a wealth of other information and resources from the CARES website,
click here. Thanks to Cupertino ARES/RACES EC Jim Oberhofer, KN6PE. -- ed.]
New Workbook/Workshops are Part Mission Critical in Texas
---------------------------------------------------------
As the role of Amateur Radio in emergency communications continues to
evolve, both Harris County (Texas) ARES and ARRL South Texas Section
leadership are constantly working to provide current, relevant training to
the ARES membership to keep up with the changing requirements and needs of
partner agencies. Training includes the FEMA Independent Study courses
IS-100, IS-200, IS-700, and IS-800. To be in an ARES/RACES leadership
position, individuals may also take the IS-300 and IS-400 courses.
Additional coursework is also indicated, such as the ARRL Amateur Radio
Emergency Communications Course (EC-001) and even the Public Service and
Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs (EC-016) for
leadership positions.
Locally, each South Texas ARES district leaders provide weekly on-the-air
training that is tailored to the environment, conditions and needs specific
to the section and district. Harris County ARES has implemented a training
program with all four ARES units conducting the same training approximately
20 times per year. This program is now being carried over to the entire
section where all districts will conduct a similar regimen of training
sessions.
In addition, the South Texas section now publishes a personal training
workbook for individual operators that outlines training requirements and
encourages members to demonstrate their skill sets to their EC and have
skills checked off/documented in their workbooks. In order to facilitate
this process, a number of Saturday training events will be held, with the
first session held on Saturday, May 23, 2015. It was attended by 25 Harris,
Fort Bend and Galveston county ARES members who received training on
Anderson Powerpole assembly, demonstrated their ability to field program an
H-T radio with repeater offset and tone, and completed and sent an ICS-213
message form.
The workshop was proven to be an excellent opportunity for ARES members to
test abilities and elevate their games. Disaster/emergency communications
training is a never ending task as is finding ways to demonstrate to our
partner agencies that we are qualified for the job of providing reliable
auxiliary communications services. -- Mike Urich, KA5CVH, La Porte, Texas
Letters: ARES/SAR Operations Save Lives in New Mexico
-----------------------------------------------------
ARES is alive and well in McKinley County, New Mexico. ARES there is
embedded with the County Search and Rescue (SAR) organization that has 27
active members, 15 of whom are Amateur Radio operators. Also included in the
membership is a rope team, two medical doctors, a nurse-practitioner with a
search dog, four EMTs and a paramedic. The group is supported by a local
Med-Flight helicopter transport service to assist in quick searches of
remote areas, and triage.
Four years ago, an incident involving a mountain climber prompted the
McKinley County Fire and Rescue Team to invite the county SAR/ARES to join
forces to improve response and assistance. With this consortium, response
times have improved from hours to minutes. The SAR/ ARES members take the
same training as volunteer firefighters and rescuers. Training includes
radio communication tracking, use of ropes in rescue, emergency medical
procedures and wilderness first aid.
To keep in practice, the group works numerous public events each year,
providing communications, emergency medical assistance and off-road
transport for participants in bike races, motocross events, and the annual
Gallup Balloon Rally.
The group has participated in searches for lost persons and has provided
communications for Fire/Police/Medical personnel and even the FBI in a
forensic evidence collection case.
Hiker Falls Off of Cliff
In February, 2013, a hiker fell off of a cliff, landing on a narrow ledge 30
feet down that was still 100 feet above the ground. He called for help on
his cell phone and his approximate location was determined by triangulation
on the cell phone signal. Fire Department personnel searched the area,
finally locating him high above on the ledge.
Dan, KE5FYL, Team Leader of the Rope Team that finally rescued the hiker,
studied maps and considered advice of the locals who knew the area, enabling
the team to get positioned above the subject. Rescue gear was divided among
Dan's five man team: long ropes, short ropes, a pickoff harness, webbing,
carabiners, and rappel devices. "I used my 2 meter radio to keep us in
contact with the rest of the team via a local repeater during our climb,"
Dan reported.
Finding a way up to the top of the mesa above the stranded hiker in the dark
was difficult and took several tries, backtracking and scouting different
approaches each time. The team used a rope to belay members up at a few
spots. The most agile climber in the group was sent up a short technical
section with a couple of spotters, and then he found a good anchor for
himself, wrapped the rope around his body, and belayed the rest of the team
as they climbed up.
Once on the top of the mesa, Dan's team moved to the target coordinates,
could see the lights of the rescuers below the subject, and found the
subject's foot prints. "We followed them down the easy part of the cliff,
and got to a good spot directly above the subject," Dan said. The subject
was on a one and a half to two foot ledge about twenty feet below the team.
It was decided to send one rescuer down to the subject to make an
assessment. Another rescuer sat on the edge, talking to the subject, while
the rest set up an anchor and ropes. A rescuer took a jacket, the pickoff
harness and a helmet, and was lowered to the ledge. He attached the pickoff
harness to the subject, and attached it to the rope. Getting the subject
down was priority number one; he had fallen so there was a risk of spinal
injury, but did not have any altered sensations in his extremities. He was
cold. An assessment and plan were quickly adopted, and the rescuer traversed
the ledge with the subject to a point directly below the anchor, and they
weighted the rope. The rest of the team on top of the cliff lowered them
down. The subject was taken to the hospital for evaluation, and did not
sustain any substantial injuries.
Jimmy Graham, K5GRA, president of the ARES/SAR team, said he "got into ARES
and emergency rescue services to save lives and we have saved lives." --
Michael Daly, N5SJ, Gallup, New Mexico
ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section: A Hotbed of Public Events, Service
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section has long been one of the most active
sections in the country. Recent events there prove that this is still the
case.
York County EC Sandra Goodman, N3ECF, reported on the May 3 Multiple
Sclerosis (MS) Walk in John Rudy Park, York. Thirteen operators participated
for the three-hour period. Operators placed at strategic locations around
the mile long course monitor for medical and other problems with walkers.
Three operators walked the course, embedded with the participants. Operators
can call for assistance quickly.
Thirty operators supported the YMCA York Marathon on May 13. The event is a
qualifier for the Boston Marathon. Several operators worked as Net Control
and at the Finish line, including aiding the announcer by providing runner
numbers as they approached the finish. Operators are placed at nine water
stations along the 26-mile route. Two operators on bicycles followed the
runners, watching for any incidents.
Because the terrain makes it difficult for all locations to reach the local
repeater, a rail trail portion of the course was divided into three zone
nets. Each net covered three or four locations, with operators communicating
via VHF simplex. Each Zone net then communicated with the Main Net Control
at the Finish in York City via the VHF repeater. Operators track the first
and last runners in each direction, and at the end of the race, advise event
directors on other runner movements.
On May 30, 45 Lycoming County amateurs and others from across the section
served with partner agencies to support the Worlds End Ultra-Marathon in
Forksville, Sullivan county. 50K and 100K trail runs were conducted through
Worlds End State Park and the Loyalsock State Forest. Travis Best, W3TMB,
was Communications Coordinator. Loyalsock Volunteer Fire Company personnel
brought IMU-18 (Incident Management Unit), which was used as a Command Post
for communications and was staffed by Amateur Radio operators, Sullivan
County EMA and Pennsylvania EMA personnel. The Montgomery county EMA brought
Special Unit 630 and a portable trailer-mounted tower for use at one of the
Aid Stations. Communications were handled using the State of Pennsylvania's
OpenSky network with Amateur Radio 2-meter communications systems as
back-up. A portable 2-meter repeater, provided by the Bald Eagle Repeater
Association, was used to extend coverage throughout the mountainous terrain.
- Thanks to ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section Emergency Coordinator W.T.
Jones, W3LUZ, for compiling and forwarding these reports.
Santa Clara County (California) ARES/RACES Mesh Networking for
--------------------------------------------------------------
Event/Incident Response
-----------------------
Broadband data networking via Mesh is picking up speed in areas of the
country. The Santa Clara County (California) ARES/RACES has published a page
of related presentations, documentation, training and resources that is
current as of June 15, 2015. A link to a presentation on Amateur Radio Data
Networking for Event/Incident Communications is included. Check out the
group's activity and page here.
K1CE for a Final
----------------
I had the good fortune of having lunch with busy ARRL Northern Florida
Section Manager Steve Szabo, WB4OMM, last week. Steve is a whirling dervish:
He's a law enforcement professional and emergency manager here in Volusia
County, Florida, and a traveling trainer for ICS/NIMS compliance with the US
Department of Homeland Security.
As busy as he is, Steve is engrossed in and committed to his job as ARRL
Section Manager. He travels across his section almost constantly for club
meetings, hamfests, and emergency management and other meetings. Our ARRL
section is geographically large, a section that includes the Orlando,
Jacksonville, and Tallahassee metropolises, and almost countless tiny rural
farm towns that dot the northern Florida landscape of agriculture, forests,
springs, and rivers, bordered by two oceans.
Steve is a renaissance man in terms of his operating interests: a DXer,
contester, active on VHF, UHF and HF using voice, CW and data modes. Steve
has a good understanding of volunteer management and human nature, and is a
good "people person." We talked about the challenges, problems, issues and
concerns faced by today's Section Manager, from ARES program recruitment, to
volunteers' understanding and embracing of our roles in working with partner
agencies in emergency management, and public safety. Thanks for lunch, Steve!
_______
And last, but certainly not least: Have a great Field Day 2015!! -- 73, Rick
Palm, K1CE, Daytona Beach, Florida
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