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CX2SA > ARES 19.09.12 05:52l 577 Lines 32908 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: ARES E-Letter September 19, 2012
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From: CX2SA@CX2SA.SAL.URY.SA
To : ARES@WW
The ARES E-Letter September 19, 2012
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
Hurricane Isaac Prompts Disaster Response
-----------------------------------------
Seven years to the day that Hurricane Katrina smashed into New Orleans,
Hurricane Isaac came calling. But instead of making landfall right at New
Orleans like Katrina (a Category 3 storm) did on August 28, 2005, Isaac
veered slightly to the west of the city. Through it all, hams at WX4NHC --
the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami,
Florida -- and those supporting the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) and the VoIP
Hurricane Net, along with various nets within the ARRL's Delta Division,
relayed reports to their served agencies on Isaac's progress and the damage
the storm created in its wake. More here. -- ARRL HQ
The VoIP Hurricane Net running on the *WX_TALK* EchoLink conference node
7203/IRLP 9219 was active over a two day period from Tuesday, August 28,
through Wednesday, August 29, as Hurricane Isaac pounded the US Northern
Gulf Coast with high winds, extremely heavy rainfall, significant storm
surge and river and stream flooding. The VoIP Hurricane Net operated for
more than 25 hours continuously during the US coast landfall. More here. --
ARRL HQ
ARES EC's, DEC's, and SEC's: Don't forget to report activity related to
Hurricane Isaac. -- Mike Corey, KI1U, ARRL HQ Emergency Preparedness Manager
Mississippi Responds
[The following report came from ARRL Mississippi Section Manager Malcolm
Keown, W5XX]. Mississippi has managed to escape the hurricane bullet for
three years in a row, but our luck ran out this year. Isaac came ashore on
August 28 leaving substantial damage to the power grids in south Mississippi
and southeast Louisiana as well as long term flooding. The Mississippi
Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) reports that the most damage was
experienced in Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, and Pearl River counties with 44
more counties north of the Coast being impacted.
The ARES/RACES response was well organized with station KM5EMA on from MEMA,
the Delta ARES Emergency Net handling tactical traffic, and the Mississippi
Emergency Net handling health/welfare traffic. Thanks to Jim Rapp, WS7EOC,
Richard Webb, NF5B, and Douglass Sullivan-Gonzalez, K5DSG, respectively, for
managing these operations. In addition, James Ready, N5LRQ activated the
two-meter link from Jackson to the Coast, and several SKYWARN nets were
activated. Operation from county EOCs was reported from Forrest, Greene,
Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Jackson, Lauderdale, Pearl River, Stone, and
Warren counties. Others may have been activated but have not been reported
as of this writing.
NF5B reported that the Delta Emergency Net operated continuously for 46
hours. Many thanks go to net control stations who manned one or more two
hour shifts. Net Manager K5DSG reported that the Mississippi Emergency Net
operated for 30 hours.
A widespread communications emergency did not develop and there was not much
resulting traffic; however, this was an excellent opportunity to test our
readiness for catastrophic events in that we had not had an exercise of this
magnitude since 2008. Many thanks the DEC's, EC's, AEC's, and ARES members
who activated stations as part of the ARES response to Isaac.
William Musa, K5YG, advised from the Ocean Springs EOC that the Ocean
Springs Command Center asked that an emergency message be passed to
authorities in Louisiana regarding two adults and one child that were
trapped in an attic as a result of attempting to escape flood waters. This
message was passed on the Delta Emergency Net to the Louisiana State EOC.
Later in the day word was received that the three people had been rescued
along with 15 others rescued as a result of the message originating from the
Ocean Springs EOC.
From the September 2012 issue of the MCARA Splatter, Harry Samuelson, KB9ZR,
reported that the Harrison County EOC was activated on August 28. In
response, Harrison County EC Jeff Smith, N9OKV, activated ARES to man the
EOC station W5SGL. The ARES team was divided into three shifts to ensure 24
hour coverage. W5SGL operators monitored the HF Nets as well as the local
Emergency Net on the Biloxi 146.73 MHz repeater. Many area hams checked into
this net and monitored, ready to respond. These hams provided the EOC team
with information as to conditions in their respective areas. W5SGL was
secured on August 30, 2012.
There were over 106 check-ins on two-meters, one emergency message was sent,
136 routine RMS messages sent, and numerous bulletins passed during the
activation period. The EOC team used RMS Express for the first time, passing
information to MEMA in Jackson, the SHARES Coordinator at DHS in Washington,
DC, and ARRL Mississippi Section Manager W5XX via the Internet, VHF, and HF
channels. Much was learned about EOC operations/procedures by everyone. EC
N9OKV was very pleased with the ARES activation and thanked his team for
their support.
In Hancock County, the EOC was manned by Thom Kelly, KF7SEB, and Jeff
Urbaniak, KF5JTK, the entire time of the event lasting approximately 50
hours. The traffic passed was minimal, mostly local reports of roads
flooded. The Hancock County EOC was not located in a permanent location
using a building that could be penetrated by RF and the team was unable to
find an available opening to run coax for an outside antenna and was forced
to use Echolink during the first 36 hours of the operation. After the
Internet went down, KF7SEB resumed operations from his vehicle until the
MEMA link to Jackson was lost. KF7SEB noted that the activation went as well
as could be expected considering the activation was on very short notice and
trying to operate from a non-radio friendly structure. He looks forward to
working on a solution for future events including plans to have a cross band
repeater or a full mobile repeater.
From Forrest County, EC Sam Williams, N5SP, reported that he and Lex Mason,
KD5XG, DEC Larry Morgan, AG5Z, and Roderick Balam, KF5BLR, went to the EOC
prior to the arrival of Isaac to inspect and determine the operational
status of the Amateur Radio equipment. It was determined that additional
equipment was needed to interface the HF radio to the amplifier. A phone
call was made to MFJ and with their assistance an order was placed. Upon
arrival, the equipment was installed, which solved the problems. The EOC
activated at 1700 on August 28, with Emergency Management District Forrest
County ARC station KC5WFM being activated at the same time. The emergency
nets were monitored and checked into numerous times.
Jasper County EC Albert McDonald, WV1Q, reported that the South Central
SKYWARN net and Jasper County ARES Emergency Net were activated due to Isaac
affecting the region. Jasper County had power outages countywide and low
land flooding in several areas. In addition, there was flooding on Highway
528 in Heidelberg with many roadway blockages from falling trees and heavy
rains. And from Central Mississippi SKYWARN, Linda Goodman, KE5PYM, reported
that WX5JAN was on the air for 60 hours from the Jackson National Weather
Service office.
See also the Section Web Site at www.arrlmiss.org. - W5XX
ARRL Delta Division Director Issued Commendation
As expected, Hurricane Isaac made landfall in the early morning of August 28
in Louisiana, south of New Orleans as a Category One storm. The Greater New
Orleans area and adjacent parishes along with the Mississippi Gulf Coast
counties continued to be buffeted by winds and torrential rainfall, causing
power outages and flooding. ARES/RACES members were on the Delta Emergency
Net and from local and State EOC's and shelters in the affected region. I
wish to commend all our Delta Division amateurs involved in these operations
for their professionalism and their on the air demeanor.
As Isaac moved north through Louisiana and into Arkansas we expected heavy
rains, high winds and tornadoes. EOC's were activated in front of the storm
through Friday. Power outages posed a potentially big problem in drought
stricken areas of Arkansas since the trees were already stressed and the
high winds would cause a greater number of trees or larger limbs to fall on
power lines.
The ARRL Delta Division MOU is still in effect and net control operators
were called to fill shifts into the weekend, depending on the extent and
duration of the localities' storm event effects. Section leadership
coordinated this effort: Section Managers, Section Emergency Coordinators
and local Emergency Coordinators kept ARES members and RACES operators up to
date as to ARES and net requirements. ARES members were called upon to work
through the chain of command during this incident. -- ARRL Delta Division
Director David A. Norris, K5UZ, k5uz@arrl.org
In This Issue:
* Hurricane Isaac Prompts Disaster Response
* Wisconsin ARES/RACES' Busy Summer
* Reading List: When GPS Leads to SOS
* Letters: Internet-based Systems' Fallibility
* Letters: At Ground Zero
* Letters: Mesh Networks in the USVI
* Letters: Mental Health Risks
* Behind the Circle - Tim Holland, KK5H, EC, Madison County, Alabama
* Neighborhood HamWatch in Central Florida
* ARES QSO Party Concept Feedback
* From ARRL HQ: Lessons Learned from Isaac
* K1CE For a Final
Wisconsin ARES/RACES' Busy Summer
---------------------------------
Two Wisconsin ARES/RACES teams in opposite corners of the state had major
incidents to deal with this past summer. Milwaukee County ARES/RACES stood
up three times, deploying their communications van for the tragic shooting
incident in Oak Creek on Sunday, August 5, 2012. And in another corner of
the state, the Douglas County ARES/RACES team assisted with communications
for their neighbors in Duluth and surrounding counties in Minnesota and
northern Wisconsin during the severe flooding in the June 17 to 20 period.
The Milwaukee County ARES/RACES communications van staged once and deployed
twice in support of public safety agencies for the tragic shooting incident
in Oak Creek that sad Sunday. The team owns and operates the van with
equipment that is able to link different public safety radio networks
together by employing a Raytheon ACU-1000 network cross-connecting device.
This force multiplier allows police, fire, and other emergency services with
radio systems using different technologies to communicate with each other.
That Sunday, the team was alerted on MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System)
with instructions to stage the van, ready to deploy, at the Greenfield Fire
Department. Even though most ARES members from Milwaukee and Waukesha County
were in Whitewater providing communications support for the MS150 Bike Ride,
the team was able to respond with two hams -- James Langer, WI9FF, and David
Lofy, KC9TGE -- who were able to get to the van, and get it prepped and
ready to roll in just 30 minutes from the time of the initial request from
Emergency Management.
On Tuesday, August 7, Milwaukee ARES/RACES received a call from Emergency
Management requesting the van roll to Oak Creek to assist with
communications support for the community's National Night Out and Prayer
Vigil being held for the victims of Sunday's shootings. The mission again
was to patch radios together for public safety agencies coming in from
Madison, Dane, Racine and other surrounding counties. WI9FF and Phillip
Rebensburg, KC9CI, staffed the van and reported to the Oak Creek Police
station. High profile officials were coming to attend the Prayer Vigil,
including the Governor, a U.S. Senator and Representative to Congress. Brian
Jansen, KC9GMW, a Milwaukee County AEC, and lead COML for the State,
assisted in setting up a communications plan and the ARES van remained on
standby at the Oak Creek Police Station through the entire event.
A memorial event was held on Friday, August 10, and again ARES/RACES was
involved with van and communications support. The Milwaukee group's van
provides tremendous service for multiple public safety agencies and
recognition of that fact came by the calls made during this tragedy of
violence.
Superior/Duluth Flooding
In June, Superior, Wisconsin and Duluth, Minnesota roads and bridges were
washed out, and five feet of standing water was left in low-lying areas.
Water rescues were effected, entire neighborhoods were evacuated, highways
were cut off, and Internet and cell service was gone on the North Shore of
Minnesota. Members of the Douglas County ARES/RACES team went to work.
Douglas Nelson, AA0AW, and Garry Hooghkirk, KD0DHB, organized an effort to
staff the Douglas County EOC, provided mutual aid across the border to the
St. Louis County EOC and the National Weather Service's Duluth office. It
took many hours to get the Lake County, Minnesota EOC open, due to road
closures. This team worked with many local radio amateurs to collect
information on road closures and damage reports from throughout the area.
They also provided the only link to the outside world for Lake and Cook
counties in Minnesota, established contacts with Life Flight services for
the Grand Marais Hospital, handled traffic for doctor exchanges on the North
Shore and provided support for Emergency Management in the region. Upon
receiving the news of service restoration for the North Shore, the crews at
the EOCs stood down. Many of the members of the Douglas County, Wisconsin
ARES/RACES team live right across the border in and around Duluth. The
cooperation across state lines is tremendous on both sides of the border.
Here is a link that shows the infrastructure damage to the Duluth/Superior
area including a major fiber optic cable conduit break affecting
communications. Many thanks for the fine efforts of these dedicated
Wisconsin ARES/RACES teams from two opposite corners of the state. - Skip
Sharpe, W9REL, Chief Radio Officer, RACES, State of Wisconsin; Paul
Gruettner, WB9ODQ, Emergency Coordinator, Milwaukee County ARES/RACES; Dave
Miller, W0NWO, Emergency Coordinator, Douglas County ARES/RACES; Gary
Sorensen, W9ULK, Section Emergency Coordinator, Wisconsin ARES/RACES
Reading List: When GPS Leads to SOS
-----------------------------------
This New York Times article doesn't mention ham radio as such, but it
presents a scenario we may face in the future: When GPS Leads to SOS. --
Mike Harla, N2MHO, EC, Cumberland County, New Jersey
Here's another NY Times article that will lend some perspective on spectrum
needs versus technology advancement and efficiency as applied to the
cellular, broadband services, but is applicable to all radio spectrum use. I
learned a lot from this piece: Carriers Warn of Crisis in Mobile Spectrum -
As data usage multiplies on mobile devices, carriers say they need more
spectrum, but scientists and engineers say newer technologies can improve
efficiency. - K1CE
Another recommendation for your reading pleasure and/or induction of
cognitive dissonance: Space Weather: What Emergency Managers Need to Know by
Elaine Pittman on March 26, 2012, in Emergency Management newsletter. -- K1CE
Letters: Internet-based Systems' Fallibility
--------------------------------------------
As a regular reader of the ARES E-Letter, I've watched the newsletter
consistently espouse the use of D-STAR for disaster response and emergency
communications services. One of the ARRL's catchy slogans, which is really
more than just a slogan as it rings true is: "When all else fails, Amateur
Radio."
Here in the mid-peninsula area south of San Francisco, we regularly train
using simplex among hams, relaying as needed, to ensure all exercise
participants get the messages. Among other things, these exercises encourage
us to put up more effective antennas to ensure we can communicate across our
cities on simplex and not rely on the numerous local repeaters.
I have nothing against D-STAR, IRLP, EchoLink, or repeaters. They can be
very useful systems when they are available. My concern is the emphasis on
relying on the availability of the Internet for emergency communications. I
would like to suggest that any emergency exercise that uses the Internet to
pass traffic, also include direct ham-to-ham communication to pass traffic.
Furthermore, the ARES E-Letter should encourage this direct communication so
that we will truly be prepared for an emergency when/if the Internet is not
available: "When all else fails, Amateur Radio." -- Rich Stiebel, W6APZ,
Palo Alto, California, CERT, ARES/RACES, w6apz@sbcglobal.net [Stiebel sent
this follow-up note: Our last Monday night ARES/RACES net was called "Rubber
Ducky Night." Everyone checking in was asked to use their hand-held with
either the stock rubber ducky, or an after-market antenna that mounted on
their hand-held, i.e., an antenna that one could walk around with on the
radio to simulate what communications would be like if our homes' outside
antennas were knocked down. Yes, the net took a bit longer with people
relaying messages for those who could not be heard by the entire net, but it
was good practice." - Ed.]
Letters: At Ground Zero
-----------------------
I want to thank you for the article in September 2012 QST about Bob Hejl's,
W2IK, service at Ground Zero on 9/11. Thanks to Bob for sharing this with
the members. It really shows not only the value of Amateur Radio
communications, but also depicts the dedication and caring that so many of
us in the service share. Many of us lost relatives, friends and
acquaintances that tragic day. No one will really ever know how many heroes
there were. The article was very enjoyable. Again, thank you both. -- Mark
Rappaport, W2EAG, Retired Firefighter, New York, nccwman@aol.com
Letters: Mesh Networks in the USVI
----------------------------------
Mesh was brought to the US Virgin Islands about six months ago by Peter
Sinkowski, KP2US, and the networking has spread like wildfire. KP2US
purchased many units, flashed them and sold complete "starter kits" at cost.
It's grown from there with our own reflector facilitating dialog.
There are presently about three dozen nodes in the USVI, and more are coming
on-line quickly. We found a source for "rootennas" (outdoor router-antenna
combinations) and are in the process of building up those for permanent
deployment in strategic locations, i.e., attended locations with backup
power, particularly at radio amateurs' home sites. We also have a cheap mesh
go-kit design using kitty litter/food plastic containers.
Inter-island mesh links are high on the agenda. Installation of a 10-mile
link between St. Thomas and St. John is slated for the near future.
Commercial 2.4 WiFi signals have been copied across the 40-plus mile St.
Thomas to St. Croix link and the design of a 2-way link is underway.
A demonstration of mesh network capability was given to the local EMA, VI
National Guard, TSA, E-911 and VI PD. It was well received and we are moving
toward designing systems to provide backup voice/data /video communications
at key locations: the EOC, E-911, shelters, points of distribution,
airports, and ports.
System design is greatly enhanced with the path profiling utility on Google
Earth. While it is not an absolute predictor of reliability, it saves a ton
of field time checking path reliability. - Fred Kleber, NP2X, K9VV, ARRL
Virgin Islands Section Manager
Letters: Mental Health Risks
----------------------------
I'd like to congratulate you on an excellent Public Service column in July
2012 QST. I believe it is very important for those involved or contemplating
involvement in emergency communications to understand the risks to their
mental health as a result of what they may experience.
Although one may experience a traumatic event that causes nightmares and/or
depression during ARES events, it is also possible to trigger PTSD of
traumatic events of many years or decades past. My personal experience and
one apparently common to many Vietnam veterans, was PTSD triggered by the
events of 9/11. After more than thirty years home and with a successful
career in telecommunications and RF applications development for State Farm
Mutual, PTSD and depression happened to me post 9/11.
Prior to 9/11, I enjoyed the challenge of developing disaster recovery
communications procedures for State Farm and being involved with MARS, FEMA,
and ARES communications. It took several years of psychiatry and medication
post 9/11 to recover. Now, while I will support the local emergency
communicators as a technical resource, I can no longer be a communicator or
be on-site for training or actual events.
Thank you for addressing the issue of the mental health risks as an ARES
volunteer. I wish you better times and relief from PTSD. -- CSM(r) Gary L.
Huber, AB9M, Bloomington, Illinois
Your short article in July QST was both touching and compelling. Thank you
for presenting a sensitive topic so eloquently. -- Curt Wilbur, K7CU,
Immediate Past President, Utah DX Association; CQ Magazine Awards Checkpoint
Behind the Circle - Tim Holland, KK5H, EC, Madison County, Alabama
------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim L. Holland, KK5H, is the EC for Madison County, Alabama who took time
away from his vacation recently to visit your editor K1CE at the hospital in
Daytona Beach, Florida, where he works. Holland was appointed an AEC and Net
Manager in 2008, responsible for providing training to his team. (It was the
team's dedication to training and participation in ARRL SETs that paid off
when it was deployed for the infamous tornado outbreak in April 2007).
Holland was appointed EC this past summer. He said "I am proud of our ARES
team for having a respected working relationship with the county EMA. We
have open access to the EOC for meetings and exercises." Holland has many
county hams and seven AECs to assist him with his active ARES team.
Neighborhood HamWatch in Central Florida
----------------------------------------
A new program in central Florida helps neighbors and communities in times of
need, with minimal extra effort, right from our own homes: The Neighborhood
HamWatch. NHW is not an organization. There are no tests to take nor
structured organization to follow. It is rather a simple service program
where every ham has the opportunity to use his/her license and radio skills
right where they live to support their neighbors during times of an extended
power outage or isolation in a disaster or incident. All an NHW operator
needs is his or her radio and an emergency backup battery or generator power
supply.
Neighbors could be physically isolated due to downed trees, wires, flooded
rivers or unsafe roadways. Community life is disrupted, a situation that can
last for days or weeks. Residents are under stress from electrical and
communication blackout and personal isolation. Media reception is disrupted,
telephone and cell phone circuits are overloaded or down and the sense of
community is shaken. During these periods of isolation, fear and rumors fill
the gap created by a lack of official information and the inability to
contact someone outside of the affected area.
This is the scenario where Neighborhood HamWatch operators activate using
their preplanned simplex (with repeater backup) radio relay network to break
through the barrier of silence. They can establish two-way communications to
alert ARES officials at the EOC, keep local authorities up to date, and
reconnect neighbors with friends or relatives outside the affected area with
health and welfare traffic. In the program, you're a ham, you're a licensed
radio communicator and you know what to do: Know the NHW net frequency,
check in, observe your surroundings and gather and report neighborhood
messages and conditions, needs and requests. -- Norman Lauterette, WA4HYJ,
Casselberry, Florida
ARES QSO Party Concept Feedback
-------------------------------
I agree with you regarding it being time to consider the drafting and
development of an ARES QSO Party. In order to promote on-the-air practice of
skills of message handling and efficiency and the networking of local,
district and Section ARES groups across the country it would need to have
local, regional and national components.
While digital communications is a growing component of emergency and
disaster response communications, I would not advocate that this QSO Party
include a digital component. I feel we spend a lot of time tweaking newer
technology but often neglect the "shining light" of Amateur communications,
the down and dirty direct, point to point communications that forms the
foundation of our ability to communicate when others cannot: Simple, direct
and effective, not dependent on anything but our power source, our radio and
our skills at getting a signal out and a message delivered. - James
Burrough, N5DTT, Bellaire, Texas [Burrough also added this as support for
his position:
http://www.arrl.org/news/the-amateur-amateur-some-aggravation-required -- ed.]
I was chuckling about replying, "It's called Sweepstakes" but then the
thought occurred to me that maybe a hybrid would make more sense and not
require a completely new contest. Here's a suggestion: start with
Sweepstakes. That's a nation-wide HF contest and not really within scope for
most ARES teams - they are local/regional. So tack on local communications
by using the Sweepstakes info to generate traffic the ARES members then
exchange locally, similarly to WAE QTC. Prototype QSO party: (1) Operate
Sweepstakes Phone using standard rules. All QSOs must be made according to
Sweepstakes rules and a Sweepstakes log MUST be submitted in standard
format; (2) Complete 5 Sweepstakes QSOs, then change to local VHF/UHF
simplex frequency (no repeaters) designated by SEC/DEC and pass received SS
QSO information to local station. Local station could be another QSO party
participant or designated QTC handler station(s); (3) Score is SS score +
Local QTC total; (4) Local teams verify SS QSO information by comparing QTC
log against submitted SS log. No additional HQ processing or resources
required, combines HF operating with VHF/UHF message passing. Local teams
can optimize however they feel it is appropriate for them. Time periods can
be limited or open-ended. -- Ward Silver, N0AX, St. Charles, Missouri
[Silver, while living on Vashon Island, Washington, worked closely with
community leaders and the Vashon-Maury Island Radio Club (W7VMI) to provide
effective emergency communications. Working together, the fire district,
CERT, and radio club members created one of the best local communications
systems in the state of Washington. He is currently a member of the St.
Charles (Missouri) Amateur Radio Club (WBHSI) and active in the ARES Rapid
Response Team (RRT). Silver is the 2008 Dayton Hamvention Amateur of the
Year and prolific QST writer and book author. -- Ed.]
Regarding your call for ideas for an ARES QSO Party: Don't limit the Party
to a traditional HF only contest -- it should be more like Field Day.
Although allowing use of repeaters would be desired from an "all ports in a
storm" approach, one person could monopolize a repeater. However, allowing
ARES repeaters to announce local non-repeater VHF/UHF frequencies being used
by ARES QSO party members once an hour would seem prudent. It would also
give some attention to this event. If the logistics of this recommendation
are too onerous, require anyone who would use VHF/UHF to pre-register with
the ARES group. By doing so, they could have input to the ARES group and the
ARES group could publish the frequencies used during the VHF/UHF part of the
ARES QSO Party.
Although Morse code is an important emergency capability mode, care should
be taken to allow voice-only ARES members to be able to win. This is
traditionally accomplished by keeping awards segregated by mode. If this
isn't possible, ensure adequate voice-only awards.
Give a nod to all the different kinds of ways that emergency people provide
service. Have the exchange include "years of emergency service." Also, have
the contest exchange include all the roles (titles) served over those years.
Have the contest entry include all the agencies served as well. Include
RACES. -- Randy Wing, N0LD, Butler County, Kansas
From ARRL HQ: Lessons Learned from Isaac
----------------------------------------
As we all know every event has lessons to teach us, whether the event be big
or small. Isaac, while not packing the punch of Katrina or Ike, still had a
tremendous impact on the Gulf coast. In the aftermath lessons emerged for
your staff at HQ.
As we've seen in the past, a Major Disaster Emergency Coordinator (MDEC)
would have been a huge asset. Hurricanes have a tendency to remind us of
this since the operational level rises from the local level to the section
level as state assets come into play and typically involve many sections
(Isaac involved 13 and Irene in 2011 involved 19 sections). The idea of an
MDEC is not new and more information can be found on the ARRL website.
Having that go between during multi-section events would be a great tool in
the toolbox.
We have also seen the value of contest stations during an emergency. When
net control stations were needed during Isaac, contesters volunteered their
skills and stations to serve. When planning, be sure to reach out to the
contest community. These top of the line stations and operators with sharp
skills can and want to assist.
And finally, the methods we use to get information from the field could use
some improvement. Our primary method for receiving updates is via e-mail.
The e-mails give us a snap shot of what is happening, but they lack hard
numbers. A modernization of our on-line reporting system, for both major
disasters and routine ARES activations, may need to be considered.
Information from the field is critical: It keeps us aware of Amateur
activity, provides us with information to share with national partners, and
helps increase our visibility to media and the public.
Lessons learned has been a buzz word in disaster response for many years and
these lessons are important. However, what matters is lessons applied. I've
been amazed at how many times the same lessons learned emerge again and
again with each disaster. Lessons applied is how we get prepared for the
next one. It shows that we don't suffer from disaster amnesia. Here at HQ
we'll work on building from the lessons learned, as we did after Irene and
the 2011 Halloween Nor'easter.
And finally, I invite ARES groups and others to share your lessons learned
and lessons applied with us at HQ. Remember, someone else may have faced the
same problem, found a solution, and can share the results. 73, Mike Corey,
KI1U, ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager
K1CE For a Final
----------------
September is National Preparedness Month. The ARRL Simulated Emergency Test
(SET) is October 6-7; yes, that's right, that's just a few weeks from now!
Click on the links for more information. Get psyched for SET!
_______
It had been a while since I took and passed FEMA's Introduction to the
Incident Command System, IS-100.b, so I took it again. To take this course,
which is an essential for any ARES operator, click here. And while you're at
it, take IS-200 and IS-700, too, on ICS for Single Resources and Initial
Action Incidents and the National Incident Management System (NIMS),
respectively!
Have a great ARRL SET! See you next month! 73, Rick, K1CE, Daytona Beach,
Florida
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