| |
CX2SA > ARES 17.04.09 01:29l 474 Lines 27394 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 25974-CX2SA
Read: GUEST
Subj: ARES E-Letter April 15, 2009
Path: IZ3LSV<IK2XDE<DB0RES<DK0WUE<SP7MGD<CX2SA
Sent: 090417/0015Z @:CX2SA.LAV.URY.SA #:25974 [Minas] FBB7.00e $:25974-CX2SA
From: CX2SA@CX2SA.LAV.URY.SA
To : ARES@WW
The ARRL ARES E-Letter April 15, 2009
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
* The View From Flagler County
* ARES Docket
* Connecticut ARES Ops Meet with EM/Homeland Security
* Hurricane Watch Net Looking To Grow
* "EMCOMM East" Slated for October
* Dayton Amateur of the Year an EMCOMM Ham
* Young Alabama Ham Active in ARES
* New FEMA EMI IS Programs Offered
* New ARRL Advanced Emergency Communications Course In the Works
* N3KN For A Final
The View From Flagler County
----------------------------
The days are long gone when the EOC was found in a dusty back room of the
county police or fire station. See the Flagler County EOC Web site and take
the tour. While you are at it, check out all of the safety tips, and ancillary
support functions that make up today's modern emergency management structure
at the county level. It's not your father's EOC any more.
______
Speaking of good Web sites, look at the latest items on the excellent
ARES/EmComm site run by San Joaquin County (CA) EC David Coursey, N5FDL:
http://www.n5fdl.com. Bookmark it.
______
ARES Docket
-----------
Red River Rising -- Since March 22, a group of ops have been providing
communications during the Red River flood emergency that threatened Fargo,
North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota and surrounding areas. Amateurs from
those cities and areas manned hospitals, EOCs and Salvation Army shelters.
Mark Johnson, KC0SHM, President of the Red River Radio Amateurs (RRRA),
reported that operations have wound down as water levels continue to recede.
As of April 3, the Red River was at 35.4 feet in Fargo. Flood stage is 18
feet. - ARRL Letter
Ferry County, Washington SAR - On March 22, CM Sam Jenkins, KE7OIA, EC Ferry
County, Washington, received a call from the SAR Unit to standby for a
mission, while the new Matt Lane Memorial, N7XAY, repeater on 145.19 MHz was
up and ready to serve as platform for its first net operation. The NCS
function was transferred to Edison Shaw, N7GCW, as Jenkins prepared his kit
for deployment to find a young man lost in the snow. Ferry CARES was placed on
standby status.
SAR members were dispatched with snow machines to Gold Creek Road, about 20
miles south of Republic off of Highway 21. It was reported that a young
caregiver had gotten stuck in the snow somewhere west of the highway on Road
64. Jenkins was stationed on Cemetery Hill just above Republic in order to
hear all repeaters. ARES officials Dave Klimas, N7DRK, Loren Holthaus, WZ7T,
and Gordon Grove, WA7LNC, Eastern Washington SEC were all notified that Ferry
CARES was on standby. At 2030, a Republic Police unit arrived to Jenkins'
position, as Denny Hughes, KE7TUQ, transmitted his assessment that he could
help the mission by searching in from the west side in Okanagan County, since
his home is not far from where a Forest Service road intersects with Gold
Creek road. After consultation, Hughes proceeded with his spouse Jeannie
Hughes, KE7TUP, who is also an EMT. Navigation and map support was provided by
Shawn Dunbar, KB7UZB, over the Matt Lane repeater. En route, Hughes ran out of
plowed roadway and continued in 4-WD mode onto one foot of snow on an
unplowed, badly rutted road, checking for tracks. He switched to the Tunk
Mountain 145.45 MHz repeater. Just after 2200, Hughes reported that he had
discovered a car stuck in the snow, lights still on, with a 70 year old female
occupant suffering from hypothermia and stranded. She had been waiting for her
caregiver, the lost young man to come back with help. She had been in the car
since 1400 with the back window broken out.
The young man was found by Ferry County SAR to the east just before Hughes
found the woman. Hughes called Jeannie to get the ambulance on its way from
Tonasket while he placed the woman into his truck and started warming her up.
She was dehydrated, so Hughes gave her water to drink on the ride. He then had
to back up the same road for a mile before he could find a place to safely
turn around. At 2250, the ambulance met them near Aeneas Valley road and
transported her in fair condition to the Tonasket Hospital. Ten Ferry CARES
members on the Matt Lane repeater, who had relayed traffic for, and
coordinated with, the Ferry County Sheriff's Office, happily stood down at
2300.
Matt Lane, N7XAY gave his life in May, 2003, on an SAR mission. The new Matt
Lane Memorial repeater, N7XAY, saved a life in its first SAR operation and
net. Ferry CARES thanked Steven County ARES members for standing by and the
Okanagan County ARES for their action. - report by CM Sam Jenkins, KE7OIA,
Ferry County EC, forwarded by Mark Tharp, KB7HDX
San Joaquin County (CA) SAR, March 28 -- Amateur Radio's slogan, "When all
else fails," does not mean everything has to fail for hams to contribute. Just
a single failure is enough to create an impressive success for Amateur Radio
in the eyes of served agencies and the public.
That is what members of San Joaquin County ARES discovered during the second
weekend of the search for Sandra Cantu. The Tracy second-grader was reported
missing on March 27. Tracy is a city of 84,000, located in the San Joaquin
Valley, about 60 miles east of San Francisco. The search marked the first time
San Joaquin County ARES had been activated for an emergency since its
formation two years ago. It was also the first callout for Tracy's CERT team,
which includes several amateurs.
Both CERT and ARES were activated on Saturday, March 28, to coordinate teams
of emergent volunteers going door to door with flyers seeking any witnesses.
ARES provided the CERT communications backbone throughout the weekend, linking
field teams, CERT headquarters, and Incident Command.
The next day and on the following Saturday, professional search and
rescue teams from six nearby counties arrived to conduct extensive field
searches. Early on Saturday, April 4, ARES members were tasked
with distributing radios to the search team leaders.
Following a communications failure, ARES was then asked to immediately
establish communication between the Incident Command Post and four Division
Command Posts located in rural areas up to eight miles away.
Repeater coverage was a potential problem, as the search area was far enough
from the AB6CR repeater at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that
signal strength back into the machine was a concern. Fortunately, John
Pimlott, AF6JP, had taken a 40-mile bicycle ride through the search area just
the day before, checking signal strength and braving strong headwinds to map
the signal coverage area. Thanks to his reconnaissance, operators could be
sent into the field with hand-helds and no signal problems were noted.
More than a dozen amateurs went into the field, working at command posts, as
members of search teams, and at CERT headquarters, where the public picked up
missing person flyers that were distributed throughout the community and
across Northern California.
When a law enforcement communications bus was unable to get on the air, Jeff
DuPont, KI6KBQ, and Steggy Stegmeier, WY6E, quickly installed a talkie, power
supply, and externally mounted wire J-pole antenna. This allowed Linda Kruse,
KZ6Y, to contact the Incident Command Post via radio, which was not possible
previously during the incident.
Throughout the day, EC David Coursey, N5FDL, operated as a mobile net control,
solving problems in the field as they occurred. AF6JP operated from the
Incident Command Post.
The Incident Operations Chief was pleased with ARES' ability to get into the
field quickly and relay needed data back to the Command Post. Law enforcement
officials were impressed by the hams' ability to communicate when there was no
one trained to operate the computer-based dispatch console in their command
vehicle.
Over two weekends, some two-dozen amateurs participated in the search, along
with more than 300 SAR team members, dozens of CERT members, and many hundreds
of community volunteers. Sadly, the young girl's body was later discovered
stuffed into a suitcase that had been dumped into an irrigation pond. Amateurs
and CERT members, including ARES liaison Kenn Silligman, KS5ONE, were among
the hundreds who attended a memorial service for Sandra, held on April 16. An
arrest has been made in the case. Despite the tragic outcome, amateurs were
able to use their communications skills to improve the quality of the search
for the missing girl. - San Joaquin County (CA) EC David Coursey, N5FDL
Connecticut ARES Ops Meet with EM/Homeland Security
---------------------------------------------------
Amateur Radio emergency communicators from across the state gathered in
Southbury, Connecticut, on March 28, to participate in a day of radio
technology training at the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and
Homeland Security Region 5 Headquarters. The event, sponsored by ARES in
western Connecticut Region 5 District, drew from experts both locally and from
across the country to present an update on emergency planning and review new
technologies for use in Amateur Radio. This "Spring Training" event was made
possible through the support of the Connecticut Department of Emergency
Management and Homeland Security, the ARRL, and other emergency organizations
in the area.
Eight topics were presented during the day, including Data Communications,
Near Vertical Incident Skywave (NVIS) transmission, the State Tactical On-
scene Communications Systems,
D-Star digital radio technology, Propagation and Space Weather, Emergency
Power, APRS(r) (Automatic Packet Reporting System) and WiFi technology, and
Radio Frequency Safety. Several mobile emergency communications vehicles were
on-hand for participants to explore between presentations. Another highlight
of the event was the "Go-Kit" competition, where attendees displayed and
presented their rapid-deployment emergency communication equipment.
Connecticut SM Betsey Doane, K1EIC, commented: "The event was fantastic. Each
participant received a binder with the proceedings of the workshop. It was
executed in a professional manner. All the ops were glad to see each other but
that was not their focus on that day, which was to participate in active
learning." -- Dana A. Borgman, KA1WPM, ARRL Public Information Officer,
Connecticut Section
Hurricane Watch Net Looking To Grow
-----------------------------------
Los Lunas, New Mexico -- Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) Manager Dave Lefavour,
W7GOX, announced that the HWN is looking to increase its membership. Lefavour
explains, "The Hurricane Watch Net relies on volunteer operators, our members,
who serve as our net control stations. HWN members are hams who have above
average stations, are capable of effectively conducting HF net operations, and
are willing to commit their time to operating in support of the HWN's mission
during net activations. The net sessions can be long, and, in the recent
absence of sunspots, pretty grueling."
Lefavour says that the HWN is looking for new members with stations that can
effectively communicate with Central America and the Caribbean, Mexico and
south Texas on 20 meters. "With the low solar activity, our Assistant Net
Manager, Brad Pioveson, W9FX, is very interested in finding more members that
can help with net control station duties on the low ends of the 40 and 80
meter phone bands, as we're having to broaden our focus from only operating on
14.325 MHz. After the sun went down during 2008's hurricanes, 20 meters died.
We no longer had the ability to effectively communicate with reporting
stations - or, the National Hurricane Center. So, in preparation for the 2009
season, we're open to applications from qualified amateurs who are located
anywhere within North America or the Caribbean. With propagation having been
so unpredictable in the past couple of years, you never know who's going to be
able to hear the hurricane-affected area."
"Bilingual hams are especially welcome," said Lefavour. "We recognize that
some Latin American operators hesitate to check in and send reports to us if
they aren't fluent in English, so, we're also interested in hearing from hams
that are fluent in both Spanish and English. When we're working storms that
are either affecting or threatening areas where Spanish is the language of
choice, we always try to have one or more bilingual HWN members on hand to
help with reporting."
Lefavour closed by saying, "Those who have previously applied for HWN
membership are encouraged to submit new applications. Those with an interest
in joining the HWN can find more information about and membership applications
on the HWN Web site." The Hurricane Watch Net is, generally, activated when a
named Atlantic basin storm is within 300 miles of landfall. The 2009 hurricane
season officially begins June 1.
"EMCOMM East" Slated for October
--------------------------------
EmComm East is an ARRL-sanctioned Amateur Radio emergency communications
conference, where operators involved in EmComm can attend training sessions on
technical topics, learn from served agencies, obtain VE testing for license
upgrades, and interact with other EmComm operators from all over the area.
EmComm East will be held on October 3, 2009, in Rochester, New York. Sign up
for e-mail announcements or subscribe to the RSS feed, and keep informed of
new developments in this exciting opportunity.
Presentations are currently being solicited: send an e-mail if interested in
presenting. Questions will be answered here. -- Jeff Wigal, WY7Q, EC, Monroe
County, New York ARES
Dayton Amateur of the Year an EMCOMM Ham
----------------------------------------
Amateur of the Year Wade D. "Danny" Hampton Jr., K4ITL, of Raleigh, North
Carolina, is the architect of the Piedmont Coastal Repeater Network,
established in the early 1970s, which today sports more than 40 machines in
North Carolina. The system is heavily used for public service work. Hampton
has enhanced the network's utility with custom audio processing boards and RF
components. The North Carolina Office of Emergency Management and SKYWARN have
recognized the network's vital role in emergency communication. Recently,
Hampton helped coordinate the development of a local hospital-based Amateur
Radio emergency repeater system that ties 10 facilities together.
A ham since 1958, Hampton is Southeastern Repeater Association (SERA)
technical committee chairman as well as ARRL North Carolina Section Technical
Coordinator. "Danny's extensive knowledge of the two-way and broadcast radio
industries in this state has enabled him to assist many repeater owners," said
North Carolina SM John Covington, W4CC. "His advice in resolving RFI problems
between repeater and commercial services, and other technical matters, has
been extremely valuable to the Section." - Dayton Amateur Radio Association
Young Alabama Ham Active in ARES
--------------------------------
Jacob Romine, KJ4HJO, is a 12 year old that has been active in the Limestone
County (Alabama) ARES group since getting his ham license in October as an 11
year old. Jacob is eager to serve as the net control for the weekly net. He
has also helped provide communications in the annual Athens-Limestone
Christmas Parade.
Jacob is the son of Darrin and Beverly Romine and the grandson of Felix
Birdwell, KD4NTK. Felix is the AEC for Limestone ARES. Jacob is working on his
dad to get his license. He is already talking about upgrading to General this
summer after school.
Jacob is a sixth grader at Athens Intermediate School. Shortly after getting
his license he gave his class a demonstration of ham radio. - Joe Ivey, W4JSI,
Limestone County, Alabama EC
New FEMA EMI IS Programs Offered
--------------------------------
The EMI Independent Study Program is pleased to announce the launch of three
new courses. These courses are:
* IS-197.EM: Special Needs Planning Considerations for Emergency Management
* IS-26: Guide to Points of Distribution
* IS-836: Nuclear/Radiological Incident Annex
To complete these courses, go to http://training.fema.gov and click on 'FEMA
Independent Study' in the green bar. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to
see all of the new courses or click on 'ISP Course List' in the red box to see
all courses that are available. If you have any questions, please contact the
Independent Study Office via email at Independent.Study@DHS.gov or by phone at
(301) 447-1200 during normal business hours of 7:30AM-7:30PM ET Monday through
Friday, excluding federal holidays. -- Dennis C. Dura, K2DCD, Manager,
Emergency Preparedness and Response, ARRL
New ARRL Advanced Emergency Communications Course In the Works
--------------------------------------------------------------
Over the past several months, ARRL staff have been reviewing the Amateur Radio
Emergency Communications online course program and have decided to combine two
of the three Emergency Communications courses. According to ARRL Education
Services Manager Debra Johnson, K1DMJ, the review included a critical
examination of the course content, as well as methods of course delivery and
interrelationships with government organizations. Johnson said that the
decision was made to revise the Level 3 course to become a new Advanced
Emergency Communications Course; this, she said, will replace both the current
Level 2 and Level 3 courses. The new advanced course is set to be released
during the last quarter of 2009.
"Our aim is to develop professional level courses which are widely accepted by
other organizations for the emergency communication component of Amateur
Radio," she said. "We are investigating requirements that the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) is currently putting in place for approved courses, as
well as other possibilities to develop emergency communications training that
meets the emerging training needs surrounding emergency communications."
Students who have previously taken the Level 2 course will need to have the
new advanced course to complete the current Amateur Radio Emergency
Communications training program, Johnson explained. "Those who have completed
the Level 1 course may progress directly to the advanced course when it is
made available; this new course contains content formerly included in the
former Level 2 and 3 courses."
Johnson said that there are no current plans to change the Basic Level 1
course and that that course will continue to be offered in its current format.
With the combining of the Level 2 and 3 courses, Johnson said that anyone who
had signed up for the Level 2 course set to begin April 17 may apply for a
refund. Any scheduled field instruction of the Level 2 content, as well as
Level 2 exam sessions, will also be suspended. "We will honor exam sessions
that have been previously scheduled and award Level 2 certificates for any
exams successfully completed up to May 31," she said. "Our training program
mandate is to provide the training that ham radio communicators need to be
prepared to serve our communities in time of communications emergencies,"
Johnson explained. "This consolidation of program content will streamline the
delivery of the training and apply volunteer and administrative support
resources more effectively."
N3KN For A Final
----------------
[The following is a summary and perspective of two vital ARES issues--training
and recruitment--provided in the landmark report of the ARRL National
Emergency Response Planning Committee of two years ago, which continues to
resonate today. Principal author is Kay Craigie, N3KN, chairman of the
committee and currently the ARRL's First VP. -- K1CE]
For many years, Amateur Radio has longed to be taken seriously by governmental
authorities as a professional-quality resource in disaster response. Although
there are areas of the country where achieving and maintaining emergency
management agencies' respect is still a struggle, Amateur Radio's service
during 9/11 and the major hurricane disasters of the 21st century has brought
us a new level of respect and new opportunities at the national level.
Being taken seriously as a resource comes with a price, however. It is a price
that must be paid by individual volunteers, not in dollars but in precious
personal time. When the federal government instituted the National Incident
Management System (NIMS), it imposed a set of requirements on state and local
emergency management agencies and their personnel. Affected personnel include
not only paid employees of emergency management and related agencies but also
volunteers such as those in volunteer fire companies, ARES, and RACES. If the
emergency management agencies are to continue receiving federal funds,
personnel must complete a number of FEMA training courses having to do with
the Incident Command System (ICS) and NIMS. Individuals who do not complete
the training will not be allowed to participate, even as volunteers.
These FEMA courses are free of charge, available on line or sometimes in
person at emergency management offices, and not particularly difficult. The
courses are useful in familiarizing volunteers with the specialized vocabulary
and principles of the Incident Command System and showing where communications
fits into the ICS structure. This is valuable knowledge, because if Amateurs -
particularly those in leadership positions - cannot "talk the talk" then
authorities may well assume that we cannot "walk the walk."
However, the required courses have little or nothing to do with the specific
duties performed by Amateur Radio emergency communicators and may be time-
consuming for the volunteer to complete. Just as many volunteer firefighters
who have been on the job for decades resent being forced to take courses that
they perceive as unrelated to their competency in fighting fires, many
experienced ARES communicators have objected to being required to pass a set
of government courses that they consider irrelevant and a waste of time.
The obligation to pass a list of FEMA courses in order to be allowed to
participate with an ARES group that serves emergency management is making it
harder for ARES groups to recruit and retain volunteers. For amateurs whose
participation in emergency communications is the main thing or the only thing
in their Amateur Radio lives, taking these courses is not perceived as an
imposition. But what about Amateurs with a less-fierce personal devotion to
emergency communications? Most ARES volunteers and prospective ARES volunteers
also have various other interests in Amateur Radio. Their desire to take part
in emergency communications, no matter how sincere, exists in some kind of
balance with their other interests.
Being told they must spend part of the limited personal time they have to
devote to their Amateur Radio avocation in taking jargon-laden courses could
be the last words they hear on their way out the door.
Like it or not, these formal requirements are here to stay and more may
follow. At the national level, Amateur Radio has earned the respect we always
wanted, bringing us closer to the emergency management establishment. The
challenge now is persuading both casual ARES volunteers and experienced
volunteers to meet the requirements that follow from being part of the system.
This will not be easy. The national-level ARRL must be aware of that and
develop ways to help local and Section ARES officials bring their volunteers,
both old-timers and newcomers, into the new era.
Another challenge following from being more a part of the establishment is
ensuring that Amateur Radio does not lose that famous ability to improvise and
innovate which permits us to accomplish supposedly-impossible tasks.
Bureaucracies are by nature inflexible, and disaster plans run to thousands of
pages of dense language in small print. A major asset that Amateur Radio
brings to any disaster is our ability to decide on the fly when to go by the
book and when to close the book and just go. If Amateurs give up the "McGyver"
component of our character in order to fit into the establishment whose
respect we desire, then we will have been absorbed into the "all else" that
typically fails. As a national organization, the ARRL needs the wisdom to help
ARES organizations achieve the best balance between being "cowboys" and being
"suits."
Given the challenges of recruiting and retaining ARES volunteers in the
present emergency management environment, the ARRL should improve resources
available for outreach to amateurs who are not now involved in and
knowledgeable about emergency communications.
Amateur Radio's value as an emergency resource is the first item listed in
Part 97's statement of the basis and purpose of the Amateur Radio Service.
Everyone with a United States Amateur Radio license should feel some duty to
be prepared to provide communications in an emergency. Our common experience,
however, is that the majority of licensees may give lip service to emergency
communications - especially when they want to persuade neighbors to accept
their antenna installations - but are not active in ARES, RACES, SKYWARN,
SATERN, or similar organizations even in the immediate aftermath of the
disasters we have observed over the past five years. The reality is that too
few will prepare, even in the highest-threat areas.
How do we reach more Amateurs nationwide with the message about emergency
communications? If we cannot get uninvolved Amateurs to come to an ARES
meeting, then we must go to where those Amateurs congregate. Amateurs with
expertise in both teaching and emergency communications are able and willing
to develop lively in-person introductory presentations that catch people's
interest through hands-on experience with radio equipment, messaging, and so
on. These presentations could be distributed by the ARRL and would be suitable
for club meetings and conventions. This is not intended to replace or undercut
the ARRL's on-line emergency courses but rather to stimulate interest in
emergency communications among Amateurs who have never heard of the on-line
courses or never considered taking them.
An ARRL video showing what ARES communicators actually do both in preparing
for and serving in disasters, with examples from many parts of the USA, would
also be useful in catching the interest of the uninvolved. The League should
pursue the cost effective development of such a video.
It is possible that these presentations, whether videos or in-person seminars,
may not yield a huge number of new ARES volunteers. However, if we always do
what we always did, then we will always get what we always got. Today, "what
we always got" is not sufficient to live up to our self-promotion and our
growing obligations to government and charitable agencies.
The ARRL should begin developing effective universal emergency communications
training materials aimed specifically at the Amateur Radio operator who is not
already active in emergency communications, to be delivered through ARRL-
affiliated clubs and ARRL convention programs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ARES E-Letter is published on the third Wednesday of each month. ARRL
members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data
Page as described at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/.
Copyright ¸ 2009 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
