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Subj: ARES E-Letter January 17, 2018
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The ARES E-Letter January 17, 2018
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
In This Issue:
-DOD Comex 17-4: A Resounding Success
-ARRL Georgia Section Conducts Wide-Ranging 2018 Statewide Annual ARES
Meeting-Training
-Ohio ARES VHF Simplex Contest Tests Hardware, Coverage
-Real Disasters Happen to Real Hams: The Great Tubbs Fire of 2017
-K1CE For a Final: IARU Spectrum Management and Planning
ARES Briefs, Links
------------------
Radio Amateurs Track Major East Coast Winter Storm (1/10/18); Thomas Fire
Response Also Demonstrates Amateur Radio's Social Media Value (01/05/18);
Philippine Radio Amateurs Activate for Weather Emergencies (12/26/17)
The latest version of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Emergency
Telecommunications Guide is available for downloading in PDF format here.
The guide was developed to provide the IARU member-societies with materials
for training their members to participate in emergency/disaster response,
but also provides guidance to the individual amateur operator for enhancing
skill sets and a better understanding of basic theory and practice of
handling emergency telecommunications traffic.
_________
There is a wealth of technical information of interest to the ARES operator
on the ARRL's The Doctor Is In podcast. Start here for information on
current programs and an archive of past shows.
_________
DOD Comex 17-4: A Resounding Success
------------------------------------
From November 4-6, 2017, the Department of Defense (DOD) sponsored a
communications exercise that focused on interoperability between DOD
elements, other federal agencies, and the Amateur Radio community. While the
DOD exercise began two days earlier, the Amateur Radio portion of the
exercise kicked off again with a high power information broadcast on 60
meters channel one (5,330.5 kHz) from a military station on the east coast
and the Fort Huachuca HF gateway station located in Arizona.The high power
broadcasts gave basic exercise information and requested amateur stations to
make contact with Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) stations on 60
meters in order to provide a county status report. Amateur Radio operators
also had the opportunity to submit a "broadcast reception" report in order
to receive a QSL card. New for this exercise, planners divided the
continental US geographically and assigned each region to one of the
60-meter channels in order to make more efficient use of all five channels.
Planners roughly divided the US into northeast, southeast, northwest,
southwest, and central regions.
Also new for this exercise, military planners incorporated a daytime
broadcast on a DOD 13 MHz frequency--the purpose was to continue the
exercise outreach to the amateur community in order to provide updates to
the exercise and to continue gathering county status reports as well as
broadcast reception reports.
Amateur Radio support for these DOD interoperability exercises continues to
grow. For the November exercise, the military received a total of 738
broadcast reception reports. 494 or 67% of these reports were from the
60-meter broadcast while the remaining 244 reports were for the 13 MHz
broadcast. The 60-meter broadcasts were received by stations in Canada,
Spain and Switzerland. Included in the reception reports were several from
the shortwave listening (SWL) community.
There were 1,925 amateur service stations participating in the exercise by
submitting a total of 3,025 county status reports. After duplicate county
reports were removed, there were a total of 1,272 unique county status
reports submitted from the amateur community. QSL cards for amateur and
shortwave listening stations who participated in this exercise are being
processed and will be mailed in January.
Leaders from the supported DOD headquarters as well as the Chiefs of both
the Army and Air Force MARS programs appreciated the nearly 2,000 Amateur
Radio stations that trained during this exercise. -- US Army MARS Program
Manager Paul English, WD8DBY
ARRL Georgia Section Conducts Wide-Ranging 2018 Statewide Annual ARES
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Meeting-Training
----------------
The ARRL Georgia Section conducted an ambitious, well-executed statewide
Annual ARES Meeting and Training program this past Saturday, January 13,
2018 at the Georgia Public Service Training Center in Forsyth. A few of the
offerings included:
Advanced Storm Spotter Training - This course reviewed thunderstorm anatomy,
reportable weather phenomena, advantages and limitations of
dual-polarization Doppler weather radar, winter and severe weather products,
and what is included in warning statements.
First Aid - Hams support hundreds of public events across Georgia every
year; it's important for operators to know how to respond to injury/medical
issues. The 2017 Peachtree Road Race had an individual suffer a heart attack
just short of the finish line, for example. First Aid training was conducted
at this year's statewide ARES meeting.
Introduction to Hospital Operations - This class covered the Hospital
Emergency Operations Plan, which was mandatory for serving as a hospital
operator. Deployment and activation, situational awareness, the ICS
structure, modes and methods of communicating traffic and information,
deactivation and personal issues were all discussed. A Mutual Aid course
covered the ARES Mutual Assistance Team (ARESMAT) concept.
Navigating and Using WebEOC - This class covered the Georgia Hospital
Association 911/WebEOC system for situational awareness as well as reporting
status updates. A simulation was run. Using Winlink Express for Hospital
Communications was an advanced class for operators with a basic working
knowledge of Winlink and its various modes (Winmor, Winmor P2P, Packet,
Packet P2P, and Pactor). Understanding the HIPAA Privacy Rule instructed
hospital-based operators how to comply with the Health Insurance Portability
and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The course was taught by Michael Patterson,
KM4HDS, RN, EMHP and Director of Emergency Services, Fannin Regional Hospital.
Other courses covered Basic Winlink -- As one of the three Amateur Radio
data applications used in Georgia ARES, Winlink provides email capabilities
to other Amateur stations as well as standard Internet email accounts using
worldwide message servers for redundancy. A course on PSK - Phase Shift
Keying -- covered the mode as a platform for the NBEMS suite of tools
including fldigi, which allows operators to send and receive data using
nearly any computer and any analog radio without requiring a dedicated
digital infrastructure or specialized modem hardware. D-RATS - data
messaging over D-STAR -- covered chat, messaging, file transfer, position
reporting and forms. There was instruction on installation, configuration
and use of D-RATS over a D-STAR radio or an Internet connection.
ICS Forms - This course was taught by Georgia Emergency Management Agency
(GEMA) staffers to prepare operators to fill out and use certain ICS forms.
Recent operator experience in the State Operations Center during Hurricane
Irma indicated a need for greater proficiency in using these forms if ARES
is to better function alongside GEMA during a crisis. ARRL - There was a
table set up with ARRL information, with time for small group discussion and
networking.
Georgia Section Manager Notes "Positive Response"
ARRL Georgia Section Manager David Benoist, AG4ZR, commented on the Annual
ARES/Training Meeting: "Even with some problems with the class registration
process, we have received a positive response from those that participated.
Given that this was our first try at conducting a training convention as
opposed to our standard convention of years past where we simply had a
series of guest speakers, we have received probably the highest positive
feedback in years.
"We realized after our 2017 convention that attendance was falling off so we
decided to do something different. We had been conducting our Digital
University training program by visiting around the State of Georgia for the
last two years and decided to duplicate and expand on it. Its primary goal
is still digital mode training that includes Winlink, Fldigi, and D-RATS,
but this year we added training on deployment basics, ICS forms, first aid,
emergency power, advance spotter training, and mutual assistance. We also
included a track of hospital-related training classes for our Hospital
support component of ARES that included advanced Winlink communications,
hospital operations, HIPAA for hospital communicators, and WebEOC. The
Georgia Public Safety Training Center and the Georgia Emergency Management
Agency (GEMA) assisted with the registration and classrooms.
"All of the teachers were volunteers drawn from our digitally skilled
members, a GEMA member, the NWS, and the hospital program. For our digital
mode classes we had volunteer technical proctors that roamed the classroom
assisting members with software and application issues."
Ohio ARES VHF Simplex Contest Tests Hardware, Coverage
------------------------------------------------------
The purpose of the Ohio ARES VHF Simplex Contest is to help operators
discover issues with and improve station and antenna performance, and to
test simplex coverage areas - information that could be critical in times of
emergency when repeaters have failed and simplex is the only method of FM
communication. Primary activity occurs on the 2-meter band, but six meters
and the UHF bands and above are also used. Entry categories include: FIXED,
FIXED EOC, PORTABLE, and ROVER. The exchange includes station call sign and
county. In the case of stations outside Ohio, operators include their state.
Each contact is worth 1 point; each contact with an EOC station is awarded
an additional 5 points per QSO; each contact with an AEC or above is +5
points.
For more information on the Ohio ARES VHF Simplex Contest, click here. -
Ohio Section News
Real Disasters Happen to Real Hams: The Great Tubbs Fire of 2017
----------------------------------------------------------------
At 11:02 PM, October 8, 2017, I answered my land line and heard:
"THIS IS SONOMA COUNTY SHERIFF EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION -EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY
- THIS IS AN EVACUATION CALL - THIS IS NOT A DRILL -EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY -
THERE IS A WILDFIRE AND MARK WEST SPRINGS ROAD MUST EVACUATE"
I don't remember the exact wording, but that robot call really wanted me to
wake up and pay attention. I had already been patrolling my driveway for an
hour. There was too much smoke -- thick, choking smoke -- although I could
not see fire anywhere. I have chronic asthma and I am always alert to such
pollutants. My husband and son were traveling out of state, so this was a
solo evacuation; I was on my own.
October 7 was the date of the annual California QSO Party. My friend, Carole
Whitteberry, W6TTF, had travelled up from Fresno to join me for a
much-needed, laid-back contest. We weren't trying to run up the numbers this
year - the goal was to just have fun. Her husband, Jan, WA6WTF, had become a
Silent Key in July. We made just 90 QSO's in 24 hours. No rush, no worry, no
sweep. At the end of the contest, for the first time in my ham life, I
submitted our log before shutting down the computer. Good move. Several
hours later, my house was vaporized.
I earned my Technician license in 2006, with the call sign KI6TII. I earned
my Extra class license in 2009, and was granted my Dad's call, KU6F. I
quickly developed new interests - contesting and net controlling. I joined
the Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS), got my Sheriff's volunteer ham
radio operator ID, trained in traffic control and emergency services, and
learned how to stay safe in an emergency - training that ended up saving my
life and the lives of my immediate neighbors. Who would have known?
After I submitted our log for CQP 2017 and sent Carole on her way back to
Fresno, I settled into my evening routine. After nightfall, however, I began
to smell wood burning smoke, too much of it. I had feeds from the Sheriff's
office and City of Santa Rosa Police forwarded to my cell phone. At
approximately 10:45 PM, I received a feed that Porter Creek had received
evacuation orders, at which point I put both cats into their carriers and
"staged" them with my briefcase, purse, phone, Rx bag, and power cords at
the front door. My dog was passed out on the bed.
I walked to the top of the driveway and watched the full moon go from
crimson red to completely blacked out - not good. At 11:02 PM, I received
the emergency evacuation call on my landline and raced to the closest
neighbors and woke them up. I phoned the more distant neighbors, rousing
them - FIRE, GET OUT NOW, EVACUATE NOW!!!
After loading both cats, my luggage, and my very old, slow walking dog into
my car, I went back into the house for food. But, I heard in my head "NO!"
so I immediately moved towards the front door. I asked "what do I need
before I leave?" and heard the answer in my head "YOU NEED TO GET OUT NOW!
LEAVE NOW!" I grabbed my flashlight and sleeping bag, locked the front door,
got into my car, and drove away.
At 11:26 PM, I drove down Mark West Springs Road, which was surreal. I knew
there were fires at Riebli and Sky Farm, visible from the road, but all I
could see was dark smoke, like an inverse valley fog. There was no one else
on the road until I got to Old Redwood Highway where the sheriff had set up
a roadblock. I drove south on route 101, again finding no one on the road
with me heading southbound. I was in a between-evacuations bubble, for which
I was grateful. Emergency vehicles sped north on 101. I drove to our shop in
Roseland where I spent the night watching the emergency feeds, talking with
various friends "yes, I am safe," and helping others with what was going on.
What a crazy night it was. I was thankful I had my office in Roseland with
both cats and the dog.
Fast forward to November 18: Alan, K6SRZ and his wife, Carole, have put my
family and pets up in their home in Penngrove while we search for our new
home. We are safe, and Alan and I are working single station multi-op for
November Sweepstakes - a perfect ending of ham radio, how it keeps me happy
as a hobby, how it prepared me for this emergency. -- Saraj Cory, KU6F,
Santa Rosa, California, ARRL Life Member
K1CE For a Final: IARU Spectrum Management and Planning
-------------------------------------------------------
Spectrum is the lifeblood of Amateur Radio, of course, and is the tableau on
which ARES and other amateur service emergency/disaster communications
programs are painted. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and its
Member Societies has worked for our frequency bands -- protecting these
allocations, promoting their continued use and pursuing modest amounts of
additional spectrum to satisfy our dynamic requirements.
The new (as of September 2017) IARU document Spectrum Requirements for the
Amateur and Amateur-satellite Services sets out the current allocations to
the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite Services and highlights spectrum where the
requirements of these services are not fully met. The IARU believes that, in
the future and under the appropriate conditions, it may be possible to
achieve some improvement in the allocations. The most recent allocation
action was that the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference made a
worldwide secondary allocation of 5351.5 to 5366.5 kHz to the Amateur Service.
As an ARES operator, take a few minutes to review the new document to learn
about our present and possibly future allocations. It was a good exercise
for myself. What jumped out at me was the wealth of spectrum in the
microwave regions that pose endless possibility for the evolution of amateur
broadband capabilities, extensions of existing modes and programs from MESH
technology, for example.
_____________
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