ARES Letter for November 16, 2005
================= The ARES E-Letter November 16, 2005 ================= Rick Palm, K1CE, Editor =================================== ARES reports, other related contributions, editorial questions or comments: <k1ce@arrl.net>; =================================== + The View from Flagler County We dodged a bullet from Hurricane Wilma here on the central east coast of the Florida peninsula, but unfortunately our colleagues in south Florida were not so lucky. Southern Florida SEC Jeff Beals, WA4AW, filed a report that is included in this issue. As this is written, there is more tropical weather disturbance in the Caribbean, with possible ramifications for us and others here in the southeast. We've had an ARES shake-up here in the county and district. Long time East Central DEC Dave Flagg, N4BGH, has retired, as has the county's EC Art Cooper, AG4QQ, opening slots that have been filled by two ARES veterans who happen to be father and son: new DEC Jay Musikar, AF2C, and Merrill Musikar, KG4IDD, new county EC. The district and county host separate weekly nets on regional repeaters. I've accepted an AEC position for training, which I'm looking forward to performing. My first training tip will be on "Break Tags," featured in this issue. Our monthly ARES meeting is being held tonight, at the fire station in Flagler Beach. + Katrina, Rita, and Wilma Photos Needed for Coffee Table ARES Book The ARRL may commission a coffee-table book of color photographs of radio amateurs performing communication duty during this year's wild hurricane season. *You or your group could be featured in this book!* We are looking for good quality photos of amateurs in action against these storms. In terms of resolution, we need at least 300 DPI when the picture is sized at about 5 X 7 inches. As a rule of thumb, a file for a photo at this resolution is about 300 kbytes or larger. Note: Please avoid sending the usual "grip and grin" photos of the subject holding a hand-held up in the air and grinning from ear to ear. We're seeking photos of amateurs working their radios in the harsh conditions of these storms and their aftermath. Photos showing the emotional and physical strain of the rugged radio amateurs are best; they tell the story. You get the idea. Send your good quality photos of ARES action during Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma to the editor, either by e-mail <k1ce@arrl.net>; or to: ARES Coffee Table Book Rick Palm, K1CE, Editor 31 Burning Ember Lane Palm Coast, FL 32137 ============================== In This Issue: + The View from Flagler County + Katrina, Rita, and Wilma Photos Needed for Coffee Table ARES Book + Hurricane Wilma + VoIP Hurricane Net Activates for Hurricane Wilma + Cuba: A Message from Professor Coro + "Tracker System" Employed in Florida This Season + Hurricane Volunteers to be Honored in QST + Evansville (Indiana) Tornado Response + October Rains on the Northeast; Amateur Radio Shines + When Telephones Fail + When Hospital Communications Fail + ARES in South Dakota? Yes! + Break Tags + ARES on the ARRL Web Site + K1CE for a Final =================================== + Hurricane Wilma Eleven out of the fourteen southern Florida counties activated for Hurricane Wilma. Collier, Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties sustained amateur operations for up to a week after landfall, supporting communications to shelters, staging areas, feeding stations, EOCs and the Red Cross. In the initial days after Wilma, the Amateur Radio link between the staging area at the Palm Beach County Fairgrounds and the Broward EOC was invaluable, as it was the only reliable communications available. The AB2M Wilma database provided volunteers to support amateur operations in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Sixteen out-of-area volunteers were deployed, some for up to one week. These deployments were coordinated with the assistance of the Northern Florida and the West Central Florida SECs. We held conference calls along with the State Government Liaison Theodore Zateslo, W1XO, the three state SMs and ARRL staff at HQ. A tree crushed my pick up truck bed. -- Jeff Beals, WA4AW, Southern Florida SEC + VoIP Hurricane Net Activates for Hurricane Wilma The VoIP Hurricane Net activated Sunday night, October 23, as Hurricane Wilma threatened the Florida peninsula, coinciding with WX4NHC (National Hurricane Center station) activation. The net was active while Wilma remained a threat to Florida. The purpose of the net is to link SKYWARN coordinators and their programs at the local level, EOCs and other served agencies with WX4NHC, local National Weather Service offices and other EOCs that may be on the system. Over the course of the night, several reports were received including from John Van Pelt, K4JVP, and Danny Musten, KD4RAA, of sustained winds of 70 MPH with gusts of 96 MPH measured in Naples. (Van Pelt runs a program called "StormStudy" where he teaches storm safety and assists with research for significant weather events such as hurricanes. His web site can be seen at <http://www.stormstudy.com/>). Reports of storm surge flooding, power outages and tree damage were received from Key West, Boynton Beach and Deerfield Beach, Florida as reported by Lu Vencl, KA4EPS, in Deerfield Beach, and Ronald Keister, KG4DWP, who was located at the Boynton Beach EOC. The VoIP Hurricane Net asks stations in the affected area to connect to the system and report damage and weather information to the net to fulfill WX4NHC's mission of gathering surface reports and damage information for Hurricane Center forecasters. - Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Net Manager for VoIP Hurricane Net Activations + Cuba: A Message from Professor Coro Long time friend and IARU Emergency Coordination Advisory Group member Arnie Coro, CO2KK, reported from Havana that Cuba's emergency nets worked very well during the Hurricane Wilma emergency. "We are using 7 MHz during the daytime and shift to 3.75 MHz at night," Coro said. The two-meter band, repeaters and simplex modes, were also employed. Coro noted that the new Cuban third class (no code) license has brought in many new radio amateurs, "and they are doing great, already providing valuable emergency communications." Cuba runs a 40-hour training program to prepare candidates for the exam, and to teach the importance of emergency communication ability. Coro was also monitoring the Mexican 7060 kHz net that "tells me that the destruction in Cancun, Cozumel and areas nearby is really huge." + "Tracker System" Employed in Florida This Season Seventy-five radio amateurs met at the Florida state EOC in Tallahassee on June 18, just prior to the start of this year's hurricane season, to review the Northern Florida Emergency Communications Plan update. Attendees included Section Managers from the West Central Section, and Northern Florida Section, as well as SECs, DECs, ECs and several Assistant Emergency Coordinators. A review of 2004 hurricane activity and the state's operating procedures led to several enhancements for this season. One was the institution of the "Tracker System" for managing resources, including the deployment of amateur operators. The 67 counties were required to place their needs in the tracker system for resource management. According to Rudy Hubbard, WA4PUP, Northern Florida's veteran Section Manager, the tracker system was also used to assign Florida operators to the Mississippi state EOC, at its request, after Katrina. The volunteers were listed in a database maintained by Northern Florida SEC Joe Bushel, W2DWR. The Mississippi operation called for 24/7 duty for several weeks. Hubbard added "the three SMs and SECs of Alabama, Mississippi and Northern Florida worked very well together" under this system, as did the three Florida SMs and SECs. Cooperation and collegiality were hallmarks of Amateur Radio responses this season. The tracker system was also used for the Florida portion of the Hurricane Wilma emergency. County managers, and the three SECs of the state coordinated requirements and resources under the system. The state EOC monitored the tracker system and it appears that all requests for resources were handled expeditiously. Hubbard concluded: "I highly recommend the tracker system as it provides the instrument for managing our resources." [From various reports. For more information on the tracker system, contact Rudy Hubbard, WA4PUP <wa4pup@arrl.org>;] + Hurricane Volunteers to be Honored in QST Amateurs who participated in communications support during recovery efforts for hurricanes Wilma, Rita and Katrina will be honored with a special listing, including names and call signs, in the February issue of QST magazine. To be eligible for the list, you must complete the ARRL Hurricane Relief Volunteer Service Report on the Web at <www.arrl.org/FandES/field/agencies/vol-report.html>. The deadline for the QST list is December 9. You do not have to be an ARRL or ARES member to be included in the list. + Evansville (Indiana) Tornado Response [As reported in the ARRL Letter, Amateur Radio volunteers assisted in relief and recovery efforts after the November 6 tornado that left 22 people dead and hundreds injured. Here are operational aspects from Bob Pointer, N9XAW. -ed.] A station was set up at the Evansville Salvation Army office by the request of well-known SATERN manager Major Pat McPherson, WW9E, and a net control took names and call signs of volunteers. Assignments were made, and operators placed at priority locations in the affected area. The local repeater would not provide enough coverage, so a portable repeater was set up in Chandler, Indiana, a more central location for most areas. Two simplex repeaters were also added. Radio amateurs provided logistical communication support to the Salvation Army's Mobile Canteens. These canteens served hungry working crews in the disaster areas. Calls for extra food and supplies were handled as well as messages to and from Salvation Army volunteers in the field. (Cell phone service was unreliable). Local amateur volunteers contributed more than 500 person-hours. Some amateurs who could not work donated their radios, antennas and power supplies to the effort. Others used their personal pickup trucks with two-meter radios as delivery vans. They burned a lot of their own gasoline, and put in long hours. Coincidentally, an emergency communication class had been held just before the tornado disaster struck; many lessons discussed in this class were employed in the actual response. The Evansville SATERN was shut down on Sunday, November 13, after eight days in operation. For photos and more coverage, see: <http://www.w9og.net/> -- Bob Pointer, N9XAW + October Rains on the Northeast; Amateur Radio Shines SKYWARN networks in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire were active Friday, October 14, and Saturday, October 15, as heavy rainfall led to flooding across much of the New England states. This same area was hit by heavy rainfall on the previous weekend, and rain continued intermittently throughout a nine-day period that began on October 7 and ended October 15. Operations started at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Taunton, Massachusetts under call sign, WX1BOX, Friday evening. First reports of flooding came from southwest New Hampshire. As the night wore on, the heaviest rainfall and flooding would push into southeast New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Homes, apartments, and businesses were evacuated for floodwaters in this region as numerous small rivers, streams and brooks flowed out of their banks causing various road washouts, closures and flooded homes and basements. NWS Taunton SKYWARN operators stayed up through the night to provide critical reports to the weather service, which were relayed to state and local emergency management officials. VHF and UHF repeaters including six meter machines were employed, as was an EchoLink/IRLP VoIP cross-link system known as the New England Network. With daylight, the severity of the flooding became clearer and rain continued to fall. Rivers flooded more homes and businesses, resulting in rescues by boat. Amateur Radio was the vehicle for intercommunication and operability among public safety agencies and the National Weather Service. Through Saturday, reports of road closures, rivers and streams flooding roads, homes and businesses in flood-prone areas across much of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island were reported by Amateur Radio SKYWARN spotters. The SKYWARN activation spanned more than twenty hours and four states with more than one hundred flooding and rain gauge reports handled. "This exemplifies Amateur Radio's importance to operations for the NWS Forecast Office in Taunton, Massachusetts, and is the biggest reason why I obtained my Amateur Radio license five years ago," said Glenn Field, KB1GHX, Warning Coordination Meteorologist of the NWS office. "We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the entire amateur community in the Connecticut, Western Massachusetts, Eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire ARRL sections for their timely severe weather reporting to NWS Taunton for the protection of life and property," Field said. [This report from Bruce Hayden, NI1X, Taunton RACES Radio Officer and ARES EC who also wrote a report on the Whittenton Pond Dam threat seen on CNN. Readers can view his report at the following link: <http://www.ema.arrl.org/>]. + When Telephones Fail A telephone outage in southern California on October 11 left at least 150,000 customers without telephone and Internet service for up to twelve hours. Many cell phones were cut off from service as well. The outage also disabled 911 services in communities along the coast and through parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties. The Long Beach EOC, which serves both police and fire, declared a communication failure protocol, and local radio amateurs stepped in to provide emergency communication. Amateurs worked alongside the police chief and fire chief to support the departments with auxiliary communication. Radio amateurs were also stationed at 17 of the largest nursing homes. The emergency net successfully relayed traffic through the EOC to the nursing homes, hospitals and ambulances services. Radio amateurs provided communications when all else failed, and they ensured that patients had access to 911, medical and ambulance services. The City of Long Beach built a new EOC three years ago. Casey Chel, KD6DOV, Emergency Services Coordinator, who had the foresight to include a complete Amateur Radio room for the times when all other communications might fail, headed the project. That foresight paid off on October 11. -- Carina Lister, KF6ZYY [Lister is president of the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach. The official station of the ARALB is W6RO on the Queen Mary, where she is an operator in the Wireless Room on the fourth Thursday of each month, 5 PM - 9 PM Pacific Time. You can learn more about the ARALB and W6RO on the Queen Mary by visiting <http://www.aralb.org/>]. + When Hospital Communications Fail [The famous Orange County (California) Hospital Disaster Support Communications System (HDSCS) was nominated for the ARRL International Humanitarian Award in 2001 and subsequently won a National Certificate of Merit from the ARRL Board of Directors for its work in providing back-up communications to a vast number of hospitals in the area. - ed.] HDSCS communicators were requested by St. Jude Medical Center on the night of July 27 for an "emergency standby" while phone technicians tried to troubleshoot problems with the new phone system. The timing was not good with many HDSCS communicators set to participate early the next morning in a terrorism drill in Anaheim. But true to our mission, we supported the request. The standby was set for 9 PM to midnight but as many of these events go, midnight came and went. Our coverage continued in hospital key areas and the shadowing of the administrative nurse. At 8:30AM and during the next five hours HDSCS communicators were activated to the participating hospitals, including St. Jude, to provide backup communications related to the scenario of a sarin gas terrorist attack at the Anaheim Convention Center. In the midafternoon, after all 21 communicators had secured and were recharging batteries, the disaster/safety coordinator from St. Jude once again contacted HDSCS to request standby communications for that night. The work was scheduled for 9 PM to midnight. Another three-hour event not only went past midnight, but during the phone work a major alarm failure occurred. Not only were phones down but the hospital's various back-up systems failed also. Good thing we were there BEFORE ALL ELSE FAILED. Critical tactical communications were handled between the emergency department and other units during that time. By 6AM on Friday, July 29, HDSCS communicators could finally secure. I share this event to point out the value and importance of the following: being integrated into hospital disaster plans, and having activation plans so hospitals can contact Amateur Radio teams directly. Have portability and flexibility; we used no installed equipment. And have depth in your group: We were stretched throughout the event and we have a pretty big group from which we can draw. -- April Moell, WA6OPS, Emergency Coordinator, Hospital Disaster Support Communications System, Orange County, California <emcom4hosp@aol.com>; and <http://www.hdscs.org/> +ARES in South Dakota? Yes! After the spate of hurricanes in the southeast, South Dakota's governor called for white papers from all state agencies in regard to their emergency communication capabilities. "Luckily, we had people in the right places, so one of the organizations asked to submit a paper was South Dakota ARES," reports SEC Jerry Hawley, KG0GG. "We quickly appointed a special committee that compiled information on individual, club and ARES capabilities," Hawley said. "Among items gathered were a general statement of our abilities, a callout roster and a complete listing of all radio amateurs interested in emergency communication service, with their capabilities." There will be an ongoing effort to keep the information given to the state Office of Emergency Management up to date. Another development is a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the South Dakota Department of Public Safety/Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and South Dakota ARES. Initial responses from OEM are good. The MOU will lead to ARES' ability to use state towers and structures for amateur equipment, which will be great assets to Amateur Radio, OEM and the people of South Dakota in the event of a disaster. South Dakota has a statewide linked repeater system. "During our recent Simulated Emergency Test we used the system to pass traffic for the governor and the OEM staff into the state capitol of Pierre," Hawley said. - From a report by Jerry Hawley, KG0GG, South Dakota ARES Section Emergency Coordinator + Break Tags [Check this out, a great idea from Connecticut SEC Rod Lane, N1FNE - ed.] Some of our DECs and other leadership are drilling their crews on a new method of getting attention on a net called "Break Tags." When net communication gets heavy, someone may have a quick solution to a problem that is taking up too much valuable airtime for discussion, but can't break into the net to share it. We came up with "Break Tags" to deal with such a scenario. There are currently seven one-word Break Tags. They are: "answer," "question," "info," "priority," "medical," "emergency" and your call sign. Most of these tags have been used with great success in large public/emergency services nets. Here is how they work: Instead of saying "break" between transmissions during a directed net, the operator uses the word specified as a Break Tag without a call sign. They are to be used only when the operator's traffic will be appreciated by net control and results in more efficient communication. They are to be used wisely, as net control is directed to stop and turn over the net to the breaker. The message that follows a break should be as short as possible. Definitions and use: "Answer": To be used when you have the definitive answer to a question currently being discussed on the air. "Question": To be used when the answer of a question can't wait; for example, when the mayor is standing next to you and requesting you to get information using your radio. "Info": To be used when information needs to be transmitted rapidly but is not related to what is being said on the air; for example, if an event that net control needs to know about is going to happen in the next few seconds or if waiting for the end of an exchange will negate the value of the information. "Priority": To be used to report an important but non-life threatening situation such as a fender-bender that just happened. "Medical": To be used to report a minor medical incident that affects the operator in some way; for example, having to leave his/her post for a few minutes to walk someone with a minor cut over to a med tent. "Emergency": Only to be used to report an ongoing life or property threatening or damaging incident. Your Call Sign: An indication that the operator has traffic that can wait and does not require the cessation of the ongoing exchange. This tag is an expectation to be put on hold and in queue for transmission. "Break Tags" takes little training. Its use is contagious and comes very naturally. I hope that everyone adopts it. I would like to hear if other groups try it and how it works. It will be a part of our communications from here on in.-- Rod Lane, N1FNE, Section Emergency Coordinator, Connecticut Section <n1fne@arrl.net>; + ARES on the ARRL Web Site The ARRL staff is studying how they can better support ARES via the ARRL Web site. As ARES and emergency communication are pillars of the ARRL strategic vision, the ARRL needs to do a much better job of promoting and supporting these activities. Please send in your ideas. The ideas considered so far fall into two basic categories: information resources, and interactive applications. Goals for information resources: include more information on digital ARES networks such as WinLink; provide links to information on FEMA training; publish explanations of SKYWARN, NVOAD, RACES and other non-ARRL programs; archive the Web news stories about, for example, ARES, SATERN, SKYWARN, and other programs into one area; and list ARES pages set up by ARRL sections. Goals for Interactive Applications: enhance and integrate Electronic Public Service Activity Reports, such as the Volunteer Reporting and Public Service Stories databases that have recently been added; and include a database searchable by authorized users. The ARRL could host an ARES forum on-line community where ARES participants could share information. This may include forums restricted to ARES officials as well as ones open to all ARES members. An ARES locator could be established as a place where ARES and government officials could find contact information for local ARES officers. Whatever ideas are eventually implemented, ARES information on the Web site needs to be integrated into a cohesive, high-profile whole that can be easily found, accessed and promoted. Ideas? Send them to the editor for compilation, publication and forwarding to HQ staff for consideration. + K1CE for a Final Many readers wrote about the policies of the Civil Air Patrol with regard to the modification of Amateur Radio equipment for CAP frequency use. For information on CAP radio policies, see <http://level2.cap.gov/visitors/programs/operations/communications/radios_radio_network.cfm> See you next month, barring any disasters. -- K1CE
