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ARES E-Letter for November 26, 2008
The ARES E-Letter
November 26, 2008
=================
Rick Palm, K1CE, Editor
<http://www.qrz.com/database?callsign=K1CE>,
===================================
ARES reports, other related contributions, editorial questions or
comments: <k1ce@arrl.net>;;;
===================================
+ The View from Flagler County
Flagler ARES now has four active VHF repeaters located at strategic
points throughout the county. Last month, one of the repeaters took a
direct hit during an electrical storm. The antenna was blown to
pieces. The PolyPhaser in the coaxial line did its job and protected
the repeater system from more damage. One of our team members donated
the funds to replace the destroyed GAM antenna, and the new system is
functioning better than ever.
Flagler ARES officials are re-writing MOUs so that more local
government agencies can be served more reliably. Flagler Emergency
Management is now providing NIMS training at the EOC for our team. At
the moment, only IS-100 and 700 are required of team members working
in or from the EOC. The future of the training requirement is,
according to officials, in a state of flux.
Flagler ARES is not only part of ESF#2, but is also under the broad
roof of ESF#15. However, it is understood that the prime function of
ARES here is emcomm.
Our ARES team and the Flagler Emergency Service Volunteers (FESV)
will be holding a joint holiday party in December. The two groups
work well together during emergencies, as does ARES and the Flagler
County REACT. All ARES groups should seek out and work closely with
their local REACT groups. REACT is a fine organization, with a long
history of superb public service in the emcomm arena. ARES and REACT
together form a synergistic bond, with the public as beneficiary.
________
Perhaps the final shot across the bow of the U.S. for the
soon-to-expire tropical weather season was Hurricane Paloma, a Cat 4
storm that threatened the Cayman Islands and Cuba earlier this month.
The usual suspects were involved: The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN), the
VoIP Hurricane Net (VOIPWX) and WX4NHC -- the Amateur Radio station
at the National Hurricane Center (NHC), were all active and standing
by to take and relay reports from the affected areas.
A long time Cuban friend and colleague of mine in IARU Region 2
emergency affairs, Arnie Coro, CO2KK, was active, as usual, with
Cuban emergency nets on 40 meters. He relayed reports of widespread
communication outages: at least one communications tower was blown
down in Santa Cruz Del Sur. In the province of Camaguey, sustained
winds of 95 MPH and gusts to 155 MPH were recorded. Another long time
friend and colleague on the hurricane/emcomm circuit is Assistant
WX4NHC Coordinator Julio Ripoll, WD4R, who said "Arnie's reports were
used in official advisory statements issued by the NHC."
Reporting on the Caymans, VoIP Hurricane Net Director of Operations
Rob Macedo, KD1CY, said "there was significant damage, particularly
over Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. We received a relayed unofficial
report of a 155 MPH wind gust on Cayman Brac. Roofs were blown off
homes and significant damage was reported at resort locations on
Cayman Brac." This was personal for me, with a special love for the
Caymans and their friendly people, nurtured by two Dxpeditions there
(ZF2CE).
Ripoll said that the NHC used many of the reports received from the
Nets in the official advisory statements issued by NHC forecasters. A
complete list of reports received from various sources can be seen on
the VoIP Hurricane Net Report Viewer
<http://report.voipwx.net/qilan/nhcwx/list_VOIP_records?auth=OK>.
______
Here is some good advice I just received: "Hi Rick, in your 'View
from Flagler County' in the last issue, you said that Florida
residents are Number One in the nation for lightning strikes. We, the
citizens of the Republic of Texas, have discovered that it is much
safer inside and out of the rain than standing in the rain,
especially during a thunderstorm. Try it, it works. Hi. Keep up the
good work." -- Mike Deming, K6GTY, Livingston, Texas
<easttexas1@gmail.com>;
_______
In This Issue:
+ California Fires
+ Alabama County Hams Respond to Successful SAR
+ Applying Field Day Lessons to ARES Ops
+ 2008 SET Soapbox: Adding Exercise to an Exercise
+ Global Emergency Network Marks Record
+ Southern New England SKYWARN Group Cited
+ ARRL to Offer Self-Study Course on Digital Technology for EmComm
+ LETTERS: PowerPole Connector Configs for Different Supply Voltages
+ Indiana National Guard Seeks Amateurs
+ LETTERS: Hospital EMCOMM in Florida - Compliance Monitoring by AHCA
+ Who Can Use the Name ARES(r)?
+ LETTERS: HDTV Transmissions in the Field, Comments
+ LETTERS: The Need to Build Strong Relationships
+ LETTERS: Coaxial Antenna Versus J-Pole
+ QST Author/ARES Op Presented Cover Plaque Award
+ LETTERS: Repeater Info Should Be Readily Available
+ K1CE For a Final
________
+ Southern California Fires
[ARES reports are spotty at this point, but a few have been received
so far. More will be published as they are forthcoming - ed.]
The Hospital Disaster Support Communications System (HDSCS)
<http://www.hdscs.org/>, a specialty ARES group of Orange County near
Los Angeles, aided hospitals during wildfire-related evacuations.
Shortly before noon on Saturday, November 15, a wildfire broke out
northeast of Brea-Olinda High School, possibly sparked by embers from
the Freeway Complex Fire that had been burning near the 91 Freeway at
Green River since 9 AM that day. A threat to Kindred Brea Hospital
caused HDSCS to be activated and members checked in. At 2:45 PM, as
the HDSCS operators were in place and in communication with the HDSCS
net from Kindred Brea, a page was received from St. Jude hospital and
a call came in from Placentia Linda hospital requesting Amateur Radio
operators. St. Jude was receiving heavy smoke and had gone on
diversion status. Placentia-Linda had been advised that it might
receive chronic pulmonary patients from skilled nursing facilities.
HDSCS members were immediately sent from the net to these facilities.
A member also went to the Orange County Emergency Medical Services
Agency's Operations Center.
At 3:15 PM, a decision was made to close and evacuate Kindred Brea
Hospital, moving 36 patients by ambulance to four other Kindred
hospitals in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. Ten of these patients
were on ventilators. HDSCS operators assisted with communications
during the evacuation and the HDSCS net kept officials at Emergency
Medical Services Agency informed of the situation. All patients were
under way by 6 PM.
Amateur Radio communications continued at Placentia Linda Hospital
until 6:20 PM and at St. Jude Hospital throughout the night until 2
PM the next day.
ARESLAX and Sylmar Fire, November 15, 2008 -- At 2:58 AM ARESLAX
<http://www.ARESLAX.org/> received a call from the county requesting
ARESLAX emergency support at Olive View Hospital. The hospital
experienced a power and telephone outage and it was reported that a
patient evacuation was imminent. Marty Woll, N6VI, and Tom Turner,
KI6CCW, were immediately dispatched. Olester Santos, KI6RWR, Jim
Curio, KI6FGV, Wyatt Underwood, K6LZL, and Los Angeles Section
Emergency Coordinator Dennis Smith, KA6GSE <ka6gse@sbcglobal.net>;,
provided net and operational support.
At this time, the media was reporting that the city's power system
sustained damage. The public was being requested to reduce power
usage in order to avoid power outages. Planned rolling power outages
were possibly to occur. ARESLAX planned on an immediate hospital
deployment. Emergency Coordinators were requested to monitor their
hospitals' status and the general area's Amateur Radio need. No ARES
member was to deploy without authorization and proper instructions.
ARESLAX provided emergency net services, operated over the DARN
repeater system. The net exchanged fire observations with
communications and power outage reports in and around Los Angeles
County. Information was used to activate ARES and any other
participating emergency Amateur Radio groups. For more information
about ARESLAX and its net frequencies: <http://www.ARESLAX.org/>
(Source: David Greenhut, N6HD, DEC ARESLAX NorthWest)
[As more after-action debriefings are held, and reports become
available, we will provide additional coverage in next month's issue.
-- ed.]
+ Alabama County Hams Respond to Successful SAR
At 8 AM Saturday morning, November 1, an 85-member team initiated a
search for a missing Auburn University student in a heavily wooded
area of southwest Lee County, Alabama. Participating organizations
included the Auburn PD, Lee County Sheriff's Office, EMS, Red Cross,
Civil Air Patrol, Lee County EMA, Alabama State Troopers, Lee County
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and the East Alabama Amateur
Radio Club. The missing student had spent three days and nights in
the woods before he was successfully found in good health at 10:15
AM.
Chris Tate, WX4CAP, lead the on-site Lee County EMA response while
Mary Moore, WX4MM, was the duty officer at the EOC. Team leader Mike
Watkins, WX4AL, lead an outstanding, well-coordinated 20 member Lee
County CERT search effort including Amateur Radio operators Debra
Ward, KI4YZY, and Justin Webster, KI4HKZ, while Tom Moore, WX4TM,
coordinated on-site communications. Marty Nelson, KI4NHW, led the Lee
County Red Cross response. Thanks to Curtis Jennings, KI4FUS for
arranging for a troop of Boy Scouts to assist had the search been
prolonged. -- Tom Moore, WX4TM, Valley, Alabama
+ Applying Field Day Lessons to ARES Ops
During Field Day 2008 site visits in Western Washington, I picked up
a few tidbits of useful information that applies to ARES operations
as we head into the winter storm season.
In Pacific County, the need for back-up emergency communications
became apparent not only from the three-day, hurricane-force wind
storm, but from distant illegal drug users. In their quest to steal
copper to sell and fuel their drug addiction, drug users cut out the
major phone cable that provided service--including calls to 911--to
the Pacific County area. What the wind will do in winter, the drug
users can do in pristine weather.
The Aberdeen, Washington hams warned me about the need to secure
emergency equipment. The same three-day storm forced many residents
-- and hams -- to use generators for a week or more. Unfortunately,
nearly 12 residents on one street had their generators stolen. An
enterprising group of thieves located the generators from the noise
and then swooped in during the day when residents were gone. The
lesson: Emergencies bring out the good and the bad, so be prepared
and lock down your emergency equipment.
The value of local media in smaller towns should not be overlooked.
By sending out Field Day announcements well in advance and working
with the local media, the Stanwood, Washington group had visits from
individuals, officials, and groups of children. Each child who made
their first contact on the radio received a certificate of first
contact to take with them. Communication and recognition go far in
keeping our ARES teams well populated and these are two important
factors to keep in mind when preparing for the storm season. -- Bruce
Miller, KC7IAY, Public Information Coordinator, Western Washington
Section
+ 2008 SET Soapbox: Adding Exercise to an Exercise
Here's an idea from Jim Fey, KO6UW, that should become part of
ARES/SET lore. (Fey leads the Manteca, California ACS group, and is
an AEC with San Joaquin Valley, California ARES).
His great idea: Have SET mobile operators report all emergency
vehicles they see--police, fire, EMS, etc.--back to net control. That
simple activity turned what would have been a boring SET exercise
this year into a good training event. And it impressed our served
agency.
This happened last week. Several agencies were holding a flood
evacuation exercise and hams--for the first time in several
years--were invited to participate. Fourteen hams were involved.
In a real flood, the hams would be the eyes of the EOC. We'd be
driving around reporting on flooding, evacuation traffic, and
generally looking for problems the EOC needed to know about. For the
drill, Fey sent our mobile hams to assigned locations. While this
proves we can drive our cars and find intersections (given a small
map), it doesn't do much more.
So, to make things interesting, Fey asked the mobiles to report to
Net Control every time a police, fire, or EMS vehicle passed their
location. With the drill going on, he knew the vehicles would be
driving around. As soon as the mobiles got to their posts, the
reports started coming in.
Not just emergency vehicles, but our operators were reporting school
buses, city trucks, police motorcycles, and anything else
official-looking that happened to pass by. Sometimes the reports
would track the vehicles from one of our posts to the next. One of
the posts was near the corporation yard, where city vehicles are
kept, and another near the bus barn for the public school system.
This created nearly constant traffic on the net, with a reasonable
amount of doubling and other minor problems. These were quickly
handled with a little on- air education for the operators, who
responded perfectly. Net Control (me) came down with writer's cramp
from logging all the reports. Good experience all around.
As we always warn our operators, ham radio can be (and is) widely
listened-to. And such was the case at the EOC, where members of
served agencies got to hear our traffic and were impressed by how
professionally our "amateurs" worked together.
By adding a ton of traffic to an otherwise pretty boring drill, KO6UW
made certain our operators would have a good learning experience. And
our served agencies heard an example of how ham radio can "do the
job" when called upon. And that's about as good an exercise as you
can have. (This drill was used as our 2008 Simulated Emergency Test).
-- David Coursey, N5FDL [Coursey is EC for ARES of San Joaquin
County, California. He is also ACS/RACES officer for the City of
Tracy, CA, and manages an Amateur Radio program for the San Joaquin
County Emergency Medical Services Agency.]
+ Global Emergency Network Marks Record
The Global ALE High Frequency Network (HFN), an international Amateur
Radio Service organization of ham operators dedicated to
emergency/relief radio communications, has become the first network
to operate continuously for more than 500 days on all international
Amateur Radio short wave bands simultaneously. According to HFN
International ALE Coordinator Bonnie Crystal, KQ6XA, the main purpose
of the Network is to provide efficient emergency and disaster relief
communications to remote areas of the world. "Beginning with a core
group of six North American radio operators in June 2007, HFN rapidly
expanded to cover large areas of the planet with 24/7 digital
communications," she said. "HFN was designed to be an open framework
for global Amateur Radio emergency services to interoperate on HF
using the Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) system." Relying on
ionospheric radio communications, interconnected HFN base stations
scan the radio bands every 10 seconds, from 3.5 MHz-28.0 MHz. Through
this Net, Crystal said, ham operators stay connected with each other
at all hours of the day or night in any mode of operation, and can
send Internet e-mail or cell phone mobile text messages from the
field." - ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/>
+ Southern New England SKYWARN Group Cited
At a Saturday, November 15, Amateur Radio SKYWARN Coordinators
Meeting at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Taunton,
Massachusetts, the coordinating team was presented with an award from
NWS Taunton Forecasters citing excellence in service to the NWS
Taunton office and service to the people of Southern New England. The
glass trophy was presented to Rob Macedo, KD1CY, ARES SKYWARN
Coordinator for NWS Taunton and Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section
Emergency Coordinator and the two dozen SKYWARN Coordinators
representing portions of the four New England states the NWS Taunton
office covers.
"Today was a special meeting," remarked Macedo, "I wasn't expecting
the trophy that's sitting on top of the power supply here at the
station. I was surprised. Very well done, I must say. It is a tribute
to the team effort exhibited by Amateur Radio operators and SKYWARN
Spotters across the four state region."
The award meant even more to the Amateur Radio team since it was
funded not by NOAA, but rather by the forecasters at the station who
paid for it out of their own pockets. The award reads: "Presented to
NWS-TAUNTON AMATEUR RADIO TEAM / WX1BOX With Sincere Appreciation for
your Long-standing Commitment to the National Weather Service and the
People of Southern New England and with Particular Recognition for
your Tireless Support during the Unusual 2008 Severe Weather Season."
The 2008 summer Severe Weather Season in Southern New England
featured 974 reports that appeared in Local Storm Report products
with 917 of those reports coming from the Amateur Radio SKYWARN
Spotter Network representing 94% of all reports received in those
products. There were two stretches in June and July where SKYWARN was
activated in some portion of the NWS Taunton coverage area for seven
days straight and in August from the period of August 3 through
August 18, SKYWARN was activated 14 out of 18 days with 50 total
SKYWARN Activations recorded over the summer of 2008.
"It is the most active year in the 13 years I've been involved in the
SKYWARN program. We hope next year will be calmer in terms of severe
weather." Macedo said.
On the same evening as the SKYWARN Meeting, a Tornado Watch was
posted for much of Southern New England until 2 AM. While the watch
was later cancelled, strong winds out ahead of a cold front resulted
in pockets of tree and power line damage across Connecticut, Rhode
Island and Massachusetts with some minor structural damage also
reported as wind gusts of 50-70 MPH occurred with a wind gust of 67
MPH recorded at the Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, Massachusetts.
"Somehow, given such an active year in 2008 for severe weather, it is
no surprise that we had a wind damage event on the evening of our
coordinators meeting. We hope this is the end of the active stretch,"
Macedo quipped.
+ ARRL to Offer Self-Study Course on Digital Technology for Emergency
Communications
With digital technology becoming an integral part of Amateur Radio,
hams interested in Emergency Communications now have a new tool to
help them take advantage of emerging modes such as Packet Radio APRS,
Winlink 2000, IRLP, EchoLink and WIRES-II, D-STAR, APCO25, HF sound
card modes and Automatic Link Establishment (ALE). The ARRL Digital
Technology for Emergency Communications Course will introduce hams to
all of the ways Amateur Radio operators are using digital technology
as a valuable emergency communications tool.
+ LETTERS: PowerPole Connector Configs for Different Supply Voltages
Several readers wrote in about my Hands-On Radio experiment
concerning Go-Kits. (Experiment #70, "Three-Terminal Regulators",
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/Hands-On-Radio/>). Their
suggestion is to stack the 6V PowerPole connector pair one "above"
the other, so that the longer side of the connector bodies are
together. The 12V PowerPole connector pair can remain in the more
common side-by-side configuration shown in the article. With the two
different configurations, different voltage systems cannot be
connected together. I've done this in my own go-kit and urge others
to do the same. The impetus for this protocol came from Al Wolfe,
K9SI, Sidney, Illinois, who wrote:
"As the National Electrical Code recognized years ago, it should be
impossible to plug something into the wrong voltage or current
receptacle. Therefore, they set up the many standards for different
kinds of plugs and receptacles for power distribution. A simple
solution to the instant dilemma would be to lock the Powerpole
terminals together vertically for the lower voltage instead of the
more common horizontal method; i.e., with the flat contacts in
parallel instead of in the same plane. This should reduce the
possibility of plugging in the 6 volt devices into the 12 volt supply
by mistake."
This is also noted on the HOR Web page for experiment #70. - H. Ward
Silver, N0AX, Vashon Island Assistant EC, Western Washington; QST
Columnist, Hands-On Radio
+ Indiana National Guard Seeks Amateurs
The Indiana Guard Reserve (IGR) is soliciting Amateur Radio operators
throughout the State of Indiana to become part of its Communications
Branch. The IGR is activated by the Adjutant General of Indiana when
there is a major incident or exercise that requires the services of
the 190 disaster responders that make up the IGR. One of the
functions the IGR needs to improve is ESF #2 Communications. -- LTC
Spencer Gibbs, N9DVL, USA ret., Indiana Guard Reserve
Communications/Electronics Officer, Master Military Emergency
Management Specialist <n9dvlin@gmail.com>;
+ LETTERS: Hospital EMCOMM in Florida - Compliance Monitoring by AHCA
Regarding the most recent ARES E-Letter item on hospital emcomms, our
local hospital communications contact sent us information from
Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), a
compliance-monitoring agency looking for documentation of agreements
with Amateur Radio groups and hospitals.
<http://www.fdhc.state.fl.us/MCHQ/Plans/pdfs/physical_plant_improvements.pdf>
The protocol is: "X. RECOMMENDED EXTERNAL EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
STANDARDS a. Each facility should provide for external electronic
communication not dependent on terrestrial telephone lines, cellular,
radio or microwave towers such as on-site radio transmitter,
satellite communication systems or a written agreement with an
amateur radio operator volunteer group(s). This agreement should
provide for a volunteer operator and communication equipment to be
re-located into the facility in the event of a disaster until
communications are restored." -- Jeff Capehart, W4UFL, Gainesville,
Florida <w4ufl@arrl.net>;
+ Who Can Use the Name ARES(r)?
ARES(r) is a registered trademark of the ARRL. As such it can only be
used by groups that are officially affiliated with the ARRL. There is
a PDF with the details at
<http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/forms/ARES-Registered-Trademark.pdf>
--Dan Henderson, N1ND, Regulatory Information Manager, ARRL
+ LETTERS: HDTV Transmissions in the Field, Comments
[Last month's item on the impending TV Digital conversion and the
need for emcomm ops to monitor TV transmissions in the field brought
a panoply of responses. Here is a sampling. - ed.]
I was a TV broadcast engineer in the analog days, and I recently put
together a slide show on DTV (of which HDTV is a subset), and in
doing so I had to learn new things. You are correct: There will be no
more analog broadcasts, either video or audio, after February 17,
2009, with the minor exception of translators and low power TV
stations. Cable TV is permitted to continue delivering analog.
Let me list several options to receive broadcast digital TV in the
field:
1. A DTV converter in front of any conventional analog TV tuned to
channel 3 or 4 is the first option. I bought two RCA DTA800B1 digital
converters for $20 each over the $40 government coupon. (Each
household can get two coupons.) Converter and remote control weigh 1
lb. Sensitivity is adequate.
With a converter you'll get more channels than before because three
or more video/audio streams are put on each ATSC channel (in the same
6 MHz width and in some of the same bands as the old NTSC system).
With a converter you get optional caption decoding and display, and
you get composite video and stereo audio outputs and RF output. This
converter plugs into 120V, but I would be surprised if it could not
be modified to work off 12 volts. The RF could be split to feed
several NTSC receivers if desired.
2. With your converter, use an LCD monitor/receiver that will work
from 12 volts via its in-line switching power supply. I use a 15" AOC
LV15X221 computer monitor/cable-ready NTSC TV receiver (~$150 from
CompUSA). It's probably obsolete, but see <http://www.aoc.com/> for
ATSC (digital) receiver/monitors.
3. The little grocery-store 5-inch B/W receiver can be used with the
converter, but with lots of intercarrier buzz.
4. Consider the cheapest digital TV that has a digital tuner but
displays NTSC.(Consider it a digital converter and an NTSC receiver
in the same box.) Here's a 7-inch LCD 12-V portable for $112:
<http://www.amazon.com/Haier-HLT71-7-Inch-Portable-
CD/dp/B001E78UQY/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1224966207&sr=1-13>
Finally, if you have an NTSC tuner in your computer or on USB, use a
converter with it. Consider a *digital* USB tuner, using a laptop as
a monitor. Search Amazon for "USB digital tuner." You'll want to look
into the sensitivity of USB tuners.
An informative DTV Web site is <http://www.hdtvinfoport.com/> --
Travis Hardin, KE3Y, Huntsville, Alabama
This is the HDTV box I use for portable and mobile apps: A 5" LCD
monitor for the video with the audio piped into my Jeep's broadcast
radio. I picked this box specifically since it has a direct 12 vdc
power input. I've never seen another model with this. The antenna is
a homebrew Yagi. For the mobile, I plan to add a larger flip down
monitor. It's eligible for the coupons too.
<http://www.artectv.com/ehtm/products/t3apro.htm> -- Ronny Julian,
K4RJJ, Dallas, Georgia
Ward Silver's (N0AX) letter regarding clear audio for HDTV struck a
chord with me on one of my projects. A group of ARES/MARS ops in
Delaware are helping me construct a new Mobile Communications Unit.
We have a Silicon Dust HDTV tuner (the "HDHomeRun"), which converts
the off-the-air HDTV signals (up to 2 simultaneously) into packets on
the Local Area Network and allows the use of a wide variety of PC
software (Windows, MAC and Linux) to view/listen to the commercial
station.
We also have a low-cost 4-channel DVR (designed for security
cameras), which allow LAN-attached PCs to view real-time and archived
Amateur TV and DirecTV programming. All of this equipment is quite
inexpensive. All of this is available to our served agencies via the
mobile unit's wired and wireless networks. More on the project at:
<http://www.armymars.net/ArmyMARS/MCU/index.html>. - John Scoggin,
Jr., W3JKS/AAT3BF/AAM3EDE/AAA9SL, US Army MARS, Delaware Gateway
Station AAB3DE, Special Consultant - Technology; Emergency Operations
Officer - Delaware <aat3bf@armymars.net>;
+ LETTERS: The Need to Build Strong Relationships
A great article was published in American City & Country, about the
need to build strong relationships within the emergency management
community. It's filled with anecdotes and makes for compelling
reading.
<http://americancityandcounty.com/pubsafe/communications/wakeup_call/>
During our recent experience here with Hurricane Gustav, I was
shocked to find that some of our county EC's didn't even know the
names of the leaders at their served agencies. As I've pointed out to
many of them since, trying to forge those relationships and bonds of
trust during an emergency is the worst possible time.
During the hotwash for this event, I had one local EC give me a blank
stare when I asked if he had ever met the Red Cross representative.
He didn't know what either organization was, and had never attended a
meeting.
If you're currently serving as an EC and you don't have a good
working relationship with your local EMA Director, Red Cross
Director, police and fire chiefs, etc. make it a point to cultivate
those now. If your county has a Local Emergency Preparedness
Committee (LEPC) try to attend the meetings, or consider appointing
an Assistant EC who can represent Amateur Radio at those functions.
If your community has an active chapter of VOAD (Voluntary
Organizations Active in Disaster) you should try to obtain membership
for your ARES/RACES group.
It's important to understand that Amateur Radio is one piece of the
emergency management puzzle, and for us to serve our role we must be
aware of what the big picture looks like. Make it a top priority over
the next few months to build those relationships. -- Les Rayburn,
N1LF, Alabama Section Emergency Coordinator, NCS-SHARES NCS-047
+ LETTERS: Coaxial Antenna Versus J-Pole
In re my item in the last issue on coaxial antennas and readers'
responses, there was the original statement that the coaxial antenna
has "some gain," but this was not to mean that it has some gain over
a dipole. The Coaxial Antenna is a variant of a half-wave dipole.
A J-Pole is a fine antenna. However, the J-Pole has the following
disadvantages:
1. Construction is not as straight forward as the Coaxial.
2. The copper version of the J-Pole does not deploy as easily as the
coaxial antenna described.
3. With no real models for comparison, it is difficult to compare
patterns for each antenna. I would suspect that the J-Pole would not
have an omni-directional pattern and would therefore produce a lobe
or lobes giving gain in some directions.
The purpose of my article was to introduce or reintroduce the Coaxial
antenna to those who have never used or seen one--especially as a
great addition to an emcomm operator's "Jump Kit."
1. Coaxial antennas have a gain of about 2dBi (about the same as a
Center-fed dipole).
2. Coaxial antennas may be fed with 52 Ohm coaxial cable without
cumbersome tuning.
3. Coaxial antennas require little if any horizontal displacement.
(It's very compact).
4. Coaxial antennas have a low angle of radiation.
5. The lower sleeve or shield helps prevent the induction of current
in the outer conductor of the coaxial cable caused by energy radiated
by the antenna. No further matching is required as is required with
the typical J-Pole. - Jay Musikar, AF2C, DEC East Central District,
Northern Florida ARES
+ QST Author/ARES Op Presented Cover Plaque Award
At the November meeting of the ARES unit in Cupertino, California,
ARRL Pacific Division Director Bob Vallio, W6RGG, presented Jim
Oberhofer, KN6PE, of Cupertino, with the QST Cover Plaque Award.
Oberhofer's article, "Outpost: Packet Radio for Emergency Messaging,"
was published in the April 2008 issue of QST. The winner of the QST
Cover Plaque award -- given to the author or authors of the best
article in each issue -- is determined by a vote of ARRL members on
the QST Cover Plaque Poll Web page.
+ LETTERS: Repeater Info Should Be Readily Available
The letter "ARES Groups Should Publish Repeater Frequencies for
Googling" in the September issue reminds me of how hard it can
sometimes be to get up on the air in disaster conditions: it's not
just the disaster but also the lack of information (sometimes the
result of the disaster).
Yes, we should be able to find repeater information on Google. But we
should also be able to find the PL tones. (And sometimes we won't be
able to connect to Google or anything else wired). The repeaters we
can hear should be telling us their PL tones every time they
identify. Better yet, unless there is an actual repeater
interference problem, the PL tone system should be turned off in a
disaster response. That PL tone may well be known to the locals
(actually, probably not anymore since it's been put in the rig
memory). The PL tone will not be known to anyone else such as
travelers with emergency traffic, visitors, etc.
Especially in extremis, we should be doing what we can to facilitate
communication, not prevent it. -- Bart Lee, KV6LEE, ARRL Government
Liaison and Volunteer Counsel, former LO San Francisco ACS, former EC
ARES San Francisco, and Deputy Communications Lead, New York Red
Cross
How about the list at <http://www.artscipub.com/)>? I find this list
to be fairly accurate. -- Lloyd Colston, KC5FM, City of Altus,
Oklahoma
For several years now, I've maintained a list of primary Emergency
Frequencies in use in each West Central Florida County
<http://www.saracs.org/docs/frequencylist.pdf> These frequencies and
alpha-numerics can then be pre-programmed into radios and when folks
are deployed to other counties, they simply need to dial in the
correct "channel" listed on the Communications Plan, and they'll be
ready to go with no programming needed in the field. -- Ron Wetjen,
WD4AHZ, EC Sarasota County, West Central Florida, Sarasota County
Auxiliary Communications Service <http://www.saracs.org/>
+ K1CE For a Final
Web site of the Month: <http://n5fdl.com/davids-blog/> It is superb!
Thought of the Month: "To every man there comes in his lifetime that
special moment when he is tapped on the shoulder and offered the
chance to do a very special thing. What a tragedy if that moment
finds him unprepared and unqualified for the work which should be his
finest hour." -- Winston Spencer Churchill (Tnx to N9DVL).
Happy Tnxgiving to all! 73, Rick K1CE
Copyright 2008 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
======================================================================
The ARES E-LETTER is published on the third Wednesday of each month by
the American Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur
Radio--225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax
860-594-0259; www.arrl.org. Joel Harrison, W5ZN, President.
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