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The ARES E-Letter
November 16, 2005
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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