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Subj: ARES E-Letter September 18, 2013
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The ARES E-Letter September 18, 2013
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
In This Issue:
-Docket of Disaster
-Major Conference in Michigan Involves Planning for Amateur Radio
-Fireball 2013: Tennessee EMA Exercise
-Florida Amateurs Support Kiwanis Midnight Run Public Service Event
-Field Day 2013: Virgin Islands EMA Director Lauds Amateur Radio
-Trans-Pacific Exercise: "Great Showing"
-FEMA: 10th Annual National Preparedness Month
-Got Water?
-New Twitter Address for ARRL ARES
-K1CE For a Final
Docket of Disaster
------------------
A spate of natural disasters and resulting ARES responses have been reported
by ARRL recently. Here is a digest:
Colorado Storms and Flooding
More than five dozen ARES volunteers have deployed in and around
flood-stricken counties of Colorado, providing critical communication for
Red Cross shelters and state and local emergency operation centers. Recent
heavy rains have caused veritable mountainside tsunamis that have caused
rivers and streams to overflow their banks, ravaged roads and property and
displaced an undetermined number of residents. At least three people are
known to have died. ARRL Colorado Section Manager Jack Ciaccia, WMG, says
that with power cut off to affected communities and many cell telephone
towers along the Big Thompson River toppled by the flooding, ham radio is
providing medical and health-and-welfare traffic between evacuation centers
and the EOCs. The complete story, updated as of September 14, can be found
here.
Morgan Incident Fire, California
The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) went on standby alert, and
the Red Cross and the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN)
were called out in the wake of the so-called Morgan Incident Fire, in
chaparral southeast of Clayton, California. The blaze, on the eastern flank
of the north peak of Mount Diablo, put at least four Mount Diablo Amateur
Radio Club (MDARC) repeaters off the air September 8. More here.
Hurricane Watch Net Activates for Hurricane Ingrid
Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, announced that the
net planned to activate Sunday, September 15, at 1500 UTC on 14.325 MHz in
response to the approach of Hurricane Ingrid, only the second hurricane of
the 2013 season. More information here.
ARES/RACES Stands Down After Rim Fire at Yosemite
Amateur Radio volunteers supporting the Red Cross and local government in
the wake of the gigantic Rim Fire, in and near California's Yosemite
National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest, have stood down after 16
days on duty. The initial callout on August 19 responded to a request to
assist the Red Cross in setting up an evacuation center in Groveland,
California. More information here.
(All sources are ARRL).
Major Conference in Michigan Involves Planning for Amateur Radio
----------------------------------------------------------------
John J. McDonough, WB8RCR, Michigan's Emergency Management Coordinator,
RACES Officer, and ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator filed a report on a
major state planning meeting that had wide ranging implications for Amateur
Radio.
The conference was sponsored by the state's emergency management agency,
which is the Michigan State Police. The Emergency Management and Homeland
Security Division of the Michigan State Police (EMHSD) hosted the conference
at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, August 21 and 22. There were
representatives from ARES, RACES, MARS, SATERN and CAP from each District,
as well as county emergency management coordinators and the State Police
District Coordinator.
The conference was kicked off with a keynote speech by Tony Katarsky, the
Assistant Division Commander of EMHSD, who pointed out how the involvement
of Amateur Radio has become more important as the reliance on technology
grows. Katarsky said he recognizes the fragility of the state's
infrastructure, particularly in the face of growing cyber threats.
Conference organizer and State EOC engineer Don Bouffard reviewed how we
might coordinate and work together on this point in the future. Forums
followed giving county emergency managers and volunteer radio operators the
opportunity to share their perceptions and potential opportunities on this
theme.
McDonough gave a presentation reviewing the breadth of Amateur Radio and
trained volunteers' capabilities for the benefit of emergency managers who
were unaware of current technologies like NBEMS, packet and SSTV, or of the
incredible range of frequencies (and RF propagation aspects) that amateurs
are privileged to use in emergency and disaster response communications, and
service to the public interest.
The conferees closed the first day with a presentation from the State's
technology department on their interoperability initiatives, and discussed
the state's evolving communication system, the Michigan Public Safety
Communications System (MPSCS), and how dependent the state is on it.
The next morning, an EMHSD District Coordinator outlined the role of his
position in emergency management: In addition to managing the various county
emergency management coordinators, the District Coordinators attend every
EOC that is activated and provide "eyes and ears" for the Governor, who keeps
close watch on any event in the state.
"The current governor pays particular attention to any incident, and I have
been privileged to participate in an exercise where the governor himself was
an active player," McDonough said.
Randy Williams, KD8MOK, from the Department of Technology, Management and
Budget then gave a presentation on Michigan's interoperability initiative
and made a plea for amateurs to get involved with the initiative for better
understanding of the needs of the state for communications support in the
event of an infrastructure disruption.
The conferees broke up into groups by Districts to discuss how to move
forward, and the opportunities posed by potential grant projects. McDonough
said that "Michigan is a diverse state, and each District is quite
different, but more attention was paid to improvement, simply sitting down
and talking about issues raised in the "just do it" category.
McDonough concluded "As we closed, each District reported back to the entire
group, and it was clear that every District's discussions were very
productive. The State Police indicated that they would like to see this
conference become an annual event, and I think everyone was pleased with the
progress made over two short days." [John J. McDonough, WB8RCR, is Emergency
Management Coordinator; RACES Officer, State of Michigan; ARRL Section
Emergency Coordinator and Section Traffic Manager; and ARRL Emergency
Communications Advisory Committee Representative, Great Lakes Division]
Fireball 2013: Tennessee EMA Exercise
-------------------------------------
Dubbed Fireball 2013, this exercise was planned for September 12-14, at
press time. Sponsored by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA),
the purpose of the exercise is to provide a forum for participants to
practice passing messages and conduct simultaneous nets with all three MARS
branches and Amateur Radio for emergency response to a large scale or
catastrophic event. It includes passing messages between all of these
services using both voice and data. Goals are to consider medical facility
evacuation needs and present possible solutions; consider shelter and
evacuation needs and opportunities; provide practice and training in field
deployment; and identify logistical challenges and opportunities and suggest
solutions - all for the benefit of local, and state EOCs. Consideration of
additional communications needs and support for existing systems was also to
be a priority.
The scenario involves the drought conditions in Tennessee and the consequent
threat of wildfire, which are seen as "cascading events." Responders will be
tested on their ability to support evacuations of more than 5000 citizens,
with MARS and Amateur Radio used for communications functions. - from a
report forwarded by Steve Waterman, K4CJX, Nashville, Tennessee (Waterman is
Winlink 2000 network administrator).
Florida Amateurs Support Kiwanis Midnight Run Public Service Event
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dunedin, FL, July 15, 2013- Amateur Radio operators from Pinellas County,
Florida, ACS/ARES, Eastlake CERT, and the Tampa Amateur Radio Club manned
critical communications posts along the Kiwanis Midnight Run race route to
ensure the safety of the participants during the event held on July 3-4,
2013. In all, 22 hams manned 13 positions that evening including shadowing
Dunedin EMS personnel. There were 3 separate events, a 1-mile run with 199
participants, a 5K run with 1261 participants, and the 10K run with 570
participants, a total of 2030 runners.
During the 4-hour event, hams assisted in alerting EMS teams of two runners
in need. One runner had fallen and the other was experiencing breathing
problems. Both runners had to be transported by ambulance to the hospital.
"Not only does an event like this provide a means to test our emergency
communication preparedness, it also provides a great service to a worthy
cause. Providing communications and EMS support for the runners helps to
keep them safe but also helps us in the long run to insure we are ready when
called upon in a large scale emergency event," said David Moore, KK4DLX.
The Kiwanis Morton Plant Mease Midnight Run is held annually on the evening
of July 3 and the morning of July 4. The previous 33 Midnight Run events
have raised more than $640,000 for the Kiwanis clubs of Dunedin and Top of
the Bay community service activities. The Pinellas County Amateur Radio
Emergency Service (ARES) is proud to serve the Pinellas County Auxiliary
Communications Service (ACS) and meets on the third Thursday of the month at
the Pinellas County EOC. - Kevin Poorman, KV4CT, ARRL Public Information
Officer, Assistant EC
Field Day 2013: Virgin Islands EMA Director Lauds Amateur Radio
---------------------------------------------------------------
Fred Kleber, NP2X/K9VV, President of the St. Croix ARC and ARRL US Virgin
Islands Section Manager, relayed this quote from the USVI Territorial
Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA) director, on the occasion of Field Day
2013 there:
"As an emergency management agency, building a strong relationship with the
ham radio operator community is critical," said Elton Lewis, VITEMA
Director. "They can come through in catastrophic events where even our best
communications infrastructure may not survive. This was very evident in
Hurricane Hugo when our communications capabilities were wiped out. VITEMA
continues to work and train side by side with VI amateur radio clubs and, in
fact, they are imbedded in our organization. I encourage everyone to take a
moment to see the public demonstrations and to learn more about amateur
radio."
VITEMA was also kind enough to greatly enhance the operation by allowing the
Field Day group to use their emcomm van, Kleber noted.
Trans-Pacific Exercise: "Great Showing"
---------------------------------------
Fort Huachuca, Arizona -- Everything about Pacific Endeavor-13 (see
background in last month's issue ) was simulated except for one big
surprise: Electric power actually failed in "Pacifica," the simulated
disaster-battered Asian nation that a small band of amateurs around the
globe were seeking to assist. It happened right at the start of the
globe-spanning exercise organized by the U.S. Defense Department Sunday
night into morning (August 25-26).
At 9N1AA in Nepal, the real "Pacifica," Dr. Sanjeeb Panday and fellow
operators kept going on battery power with only 25 watts output. But a
stroke of the other kind of luck provided a low-power digital link to an
amateur in Afghanistan. He had joined Army MARS only days before the exercise.
Although the operation only lasted under three hours, months had gone into
preparing PE-13. The Pentagon and U.S. Pacific Command set it up as a test
of amateur emergency support in Asia after Japan's tsunami catastrophe,
using procedures of the International Amateur Radio Union. MARS, military
stations and amateurs all collaborated on this exercise.
"We had stations monitoring in the continental US, Hawaii, Japan, Germany,
and Afghanistan," reported Paul English, Army MARS program officer. "There
was only intermittent reception in Germany and the US on PSK31, but we had a
solid connection between Nepal and Afghanistan. Approximately 2 hours and 20
minutes into the exercise, power was restored in Nepal and we did have
marginal voice communications from Nepal to Afghanistan and Germany.
"We were able to submit a number of spot info reports to the Pacific Command
and responded to a number of information requests in a timely manner,"
English said. "This was a great showing by all."
A star of the show was PSK31, the very basic digital mode that travels well
on low power, even in the otherwise grim propagation conditions during
PE-13. "When power was restored in Nepal," English said, "we did make
limited voice contacts with Afghanistan. Germany and Hawaii could hear but
not talk to Nepal. Propagation for voice only lasted a few minutes."
A preliminary account had a total of 60 stations logged at MARS headquarters
at Fort Huachuca and the station in Germany of MARS region director Daniel
Wolff. Participants, including MARS stations in the U.S., and Japan, used
their amateur call signs.
One unique feature of PE-13 was use of the Defense Department's open
bulletin board for civil emergencies, APAN (All Partners Access Network).
Army MARS Operations Chief David McGinnis coordinated information flow via
APAN to the DoD and U.S. Pacific Command. Stations avoided public alarm from
use of usual emergency language by using terms from the game of cricket
instead.
"There are many lessons learned from this exercise and I hope for a great
learning process for all participants," English commented. "Propagation was
challenging throughout the exercise. We had real-world challenges just as
one would expect in a natural disaster." 9N1AA had the last word: Dr. Panday
messaged his relay station just over 1,000 miles west along the Himalayas,
"I am very thankful to you. You did a great job." - Bill Sexton, N1IN, Army
MARS
FEMA: 10th Annual National Preparedness Month
---------------------------------------------
On September 4, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator
Craig Fugate, KK4INZ, kicked off the 10th annual National Preparedness Month
(NPM), joining local New York City Emergency Management officials and New
York City Citizen Corps Council, at the Children's Museum in Staten Island
to talk about the importance of family and community emergency preparedness.
"Each September, we commit to focusing our collective efforts on raising our
level of readiness to be prepared for any potential hazard with National
Preparedness Month," said Fugate. "It is a time for us to promote individual
and community preparedness. Events like the one today in New York serve as a
reminder for all Americans to be prepared in order to successfully respond
to and recover from emergencies and disasters."
NPM is led by FEMA's Ready Campaign in partnership with Citizen Corps and
the Ad Council, and is a nationwide effort encouraging individuals,
families, businesses and communities to work together and take action to
prepare for emergencies.
In June 2003, ARRL became an official affiliate program of Citizen Corps.
The Statement of Affiliation made ARRL an affiliate under the four charter
Citizen Corps programs--Neighborhood Watch, Volunteers in Police Service,
Community Emergency Response Teams and Medical Reserve Corps.
NPM is an opportunity for ARES and other radio amateurs to disseminate
emergency preparedness information and host sponsor activities across the
country to help Americans understand what it truly means to be ready, and
that they should be cognizant of neighborhood CERT and Amateur Radio
operators for potential communications with the outside world in a disaster
or emergency.
Social Media: Follow Ready online www.twitter.com/readygov,
www.facebook.com/readygov, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow
Administrator Craig Fugate's activities at twitter.com/craigatfema. Learn
more about the Ready Campaign at www.ready.gov & Citizens Corps at
www.citizenscorps.gov.
Dates for Your Calendar!
September 1 - 30 : National Preparedness Month
October 6 - October 12: National Fire Safety Week
October 17: The Great Shakeout
May to December: Regional Emergency Management Summits
November 14 - 16: Wildfire Education Conference
Got Water?
----------
Has the water run dry in your emergency supply kit? If so, it's time to fill
'er up! One of the most essential components of a disaster-ready kit is
water. A well maintained kit prepares you before disaster strikes.
After an emergency, clean drinking water may not be available if your usual
water source is cut off or contaminated. When replenishing your supply
remember that individual needs may vary depending on health, age, diet and
climate. As a general rule, store one gallon of water per person per day to
last for at least three days.
There are several options for building your water supply. The safest and
most reliable choice is to buy commercially bottled water and open it only
when you need to use it. Store the containers in a cool, dark place and note
the expiration date.
If you choose to prepare your own containers of water, purchase food grade
water storage containers from a surplus or camping supply store or two-liter
plastic soda bottles - not bottles that contained milk or fruit juice. Keep
in mind these containers must first be properly cleaned!
To learn more about maintaining your kit, click here. Information about
water treatment is also available at RedCross.org. -- FEMA
New Twitter Address for ARRL ARES
---------------------------------
Effective September 16 the Twitter address for ARRL ARES has changed. The
new address is www.twitter.com/arrl_ares. This feed is for ARES, public
service communications, and other announcements of interest to ARES members
and those interested in public service communications. It is managed from
ARRL HQ by League staff.
K1CE For a Final
----------------
I wrote the following in this column in the June 2013 issue: "I recently
loaded the software for RMS Express/WINMOR and managed to send an e-mail
message to myself via the Telnet mode, and have moved on to adjusting the
sound card and software for transmitting e-mail messages over the air on the
HF bands. WINMOR is a sound card mode that is a less expensive alternative
to the hard multi-mode data controllers while admittedly sacrificing some
efficiencies. The RMS Express/WINMOR combo sees a lot of use in disaster
response communications planning and operations."
I wanted to follow up on my experience: After some initial failures in
connecting to a Winlink hub to send my drafted Winlink e-mail message, I
bought a superb little piece of equipment - a SignaLink USB digital
interface that also incorporates a high-quality sound card, on the basis of
a recommendation I had read somewhere. The on-board sound card greatly
simplifies the processing of the signals back and forth between the laptop
computer and radio, in my case, an ICOM IC-7000. An inspired part of the
overall RMS Express/WINMOR suite is the incorporation of a propagation
utility, ITS HF (the ITS is the Institute for Telecommunications Sciences of
the NTIA), for help in choosing the best hub based on best path for sending
your messages. It's all a bit intimidating at first, but the thrill of
connecting to Bud Thompson's, N0IA, system on forty meters here in Florida
and uploading my first Winlink messages was not to be denied. It worked very
well, efficiently sending my message to my own regular e-mail account within
seconds. The advantage of a global e-mail network independent of local
Internet infrastructure is without a doubt a huge potential asset in major
disaster response communications planning and operations.
Just a tip or two: To set up the SignaLink unit for your specific radio and
application, you need to open the case and push some jumper wires into some
small sockets. As the original appliance operator, it made me nervous to
have to perform this set-up procedure with my 60-year old eyes and
hand/finger coordination, but I had no problem. Just take much time and
concentration to do it right the first time: You don't want to bend those
itsy-bitsy wires too much, or you could end up breaking them off in the
sockets with no hope of retrieving the stubs. Just be careful, that's all.
And lastly, to run CW with the unit, the wires have to be reconfigured with
different sockets. Don't bother futzing with it. Do what I do: have another
unit pre-configured for Morse code sending, and simply swap units as
necessary. For CW sending, I use my tried and true Rigblaster Plug and Play,
another great little product: It plugs into your USB port and into the
radio's key jack. It works like a champ. I use the CW Type software with it.
I received a letter from a reader who was disheartened about my apparent
lack of attention to the NBEMS suite, and in response, I downloaded the
primary program files and will experiment with them as my next project. I'll
report my experience here in a future issue. There was a good two-page
article on NBEMS in this month's QST - check it out. - K1CE
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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