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   The ARES E-Letter   
      
   November 18, 2015   
   Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE   
      
   In This Issue:   
      
    *  Oregon 2015 QuakeEX SETs: A Recap   
    *  Maintain a Strict Listening Watch   
    *  Typhoon! -- A Lesson in Pacific Island Disaster Relief   
    *  Amateur Radio Club Helps Promote Diabetes Awareness   
    *  Veterans' Day Month: HDSCS Loses One of Its Own   
      
      
   ARES Briefs, Links   
      
   Hams Support Air Force Marathon (11/6/2015); Putting Contesting to Work for   
   Your Public Service Team (10/30/2015); Amateur Radio to Have a Presence at   
   National Tribal Assistance Coordination Group Workshop (10/27/2015); National   
   Emergency Net Active as Category 5 Hurricane Patricia Nears Mexico   
   (10/23/2015); Radio Amateurs in Mexico Prepare as Powerful Hurricane Patricia   
   Nears Landfall (10/23/2015); Amateur Radio Was Part of Typhoon Koppu Response   
   in the Philippines (10/19/2015)   
      
   Oregon 2015 QuakeEX SETs: A Recap   
      
   Next spring, FEMA Region X, county emergency management agencies statewide,   
   many others and Oregon ARES/RACES will participate in the FEMA Cascadia Rising   
   exercise. This is a functional exercise that will play out what might happen   
   should/when a major earthquake strike the Pacific Northwest. The drill   
   scenario anticipates widespread loss of normal communication modes such as   
   cell phones, Internet and public safety radio as well as major power outages.   
      
   To prepare for Cascadia Rising, Oregon ARES/RACES conducted two statewide   
   simulated emergency tests (SETs) patterned after the FEMA scenario playbook.   
   The spring 2015 SET involved 24 counties, four cities, ten hospitals, about   
   300 ARES/ACS/other volunteers and moved about 1,700 messages to various   
   addresses (mostly by HF Winlink Pactor) during the six hour SET. All traffic   
   went by simplex VHF (no repeaters), HF SSB and HF Winlink Pactor to out of   
   state gateways. All of this was done from within state/county/city EOCs   
   statewide. The fall 2015 SET played the same scenario but mostly from the   
   field on generators/batteries and in stormy weather. The November SET involved   
   16 counties and about 250 volunteers.   
      
   The differences between the two SETs were striking, proving that operating   
   from the field, Field Day style, is far more challenging. During high winds   
   and heavy rain, HF antennas were blown down, tents were flooded and operators   
   got uncomfortable. We discovered that under field conditions with no Internet,   
   if you haven't updated your modem firmware lately or obtained your Winlink   
   password, you are off the air. Repairing broken HF wire antennas in the wind   
   and rain means that you hope you have that backup antenna! And if the   
   generator won't start you have no power. If your people aren't trained or   
   prepared for contingencies, these problems just seem to multiply.   
      
   We've learned that as much as you might think you are "ready" to go into the   
   field in a major disaster like a magnitude 9 earthquake, it takes constant   
   preparation and training to be truly "ready." Those that have participated in   
   Oregon's Quake EX SETs have learned a lot and have a lot more work to do. It   
   was a realistic training experience. More information is available on-line at   
   Oregon ARES/RACES on the Cascadia Rising and SET pages. -- John Core, KX7YT,   
   Oregon ARES/RACES SET Coordinator, KX7YT@arrl.net   
      
      
   Maintain a Strict Listening Watch   
      
   "We have two ears and one mouth and they are to be used in proportion." -   
   anonymous. In the days where every ship of credibility carried a Morse code   
   set, the radio operator was required to maintain radio silence on the   
   international distress frequency of 500 KHz for a three minute interval, at 15   
   and 45 minutes of every hour. As radiotelephone came into being a 3 minute   
   watch was maintained at 0 and 30 minutes. If the disaster your vessel   
   encountered fit within the 30 minute schedule, your weak, plaintive CQD   
   (later, SOS) had a good chance of being heard amidst all the commercial   
   traffic and noise.   
      
   Today, satellite communications systems have forced these "antiquated"   
   structures into retirement, but not entirely. A few years ago I enjoyed a tour   
   of a huge container ship at Boston Harbor. After pleasantries with the Captain   
   I asked for permission to meet his Radio Officer. "Our Engineer holds that   
   title," he told me, "but in reality," with the Captain putting his hands on a   
   piece of satellite gear, "this is our Radio Officer." Paying deference to the   
   captain and the high tech gear, I then headed straight for the radio room -   
   thankfully they still had one -- and was warmly greeted by a middle-aged man   
   of professional bearing in full white uniform. There, in a large space, were   
   three racks, each with a high powered HF transmitter. The wise officer   
   revealed his best-kept secret to safety: "Should we be going down," he said,   
   opening a small desk drawer, "I'm using this." A rather sturdy Morse hand key   
   was revealed, and there began an understanding between   
   us. "The satellites don't talk back," he told me. "This does."   
      
   Quiet Periods, Listening Watches and Amateur Radio   
      
   He knew about the quiet periods and listening watches of old and the stories   
   of lives lost and saved. He also knew that the necessity of maintaining a   
   strict listening watch has not been lost to time and technology. In fact, it's   
   a greater necessity than we may have considered in our own Amateur Radio   
   service. The very first Amateur Radio public service event I was responsible   
   to organize included this concept. "Let's keep an ear on the radio, so we   
   might be less tied up with getting your attention and have more time to pass   
   actual traffic." Time and experience reveals that other problems such as the   
   limitations of newer digital modes are mitigated by the maintenance of the   
   strict listening watch.   
      
   My local club, the Police Amateur Radio Team (PART) of Westford,   
   Massachusetts, operates a 2-meter analog repeater that is a fantastic   
   performer. It's reliable. It has a wide reach. It is well maintained. Still,   
   there are instances where the combination of interference, distance from the   
   repeater site, and operator technique combine adversely.   
      
   The Boston Athletic Association Boston Marathon communications system offers   
   excellent fodder for study. With almost 300 communications volunteers and a   
   few dozen unique repeaters and other radio-communication systems all pressed   
   to the limit within a very short time span, anything and everything that can   
   go wrong generally does go wrong. I have, as a volunteer (this is my 15th   
   year), listened in pain to dreadfully long attempts at getting a simple   
   message between two units, which generally begin with several unanswered   
   calls, adding to the mess. In 2015, in a leadership capacity, I targeted the   
   only variables within our immediate control: the operator on both ends of the   
   circuit. Maintaining a strict listening watch became a mantra, and it will   
   continue as long as we hold a radio in one hand and a cup of coffee in the   
   other.   
      
   At a public service event many of us clip our radio to the belt. Body fading,   
   the same physical phenomena that aids us in Fox Hunting, attenuates what's   
   coming in and of course what goes out. I now encourage my Net Control   
   Operators (NCO) to request that field units "raise the radio over your head   
   and try again" in the first instance where that unit is unreadable. This   
   solves the input problem in almost all cases. With sufficient practice, it's   
   hoped that awareness will spread, and the reminders be made obsolete.   
      
   The output problem - the ability to receive the repeater output in the field -   
   is rarely that the (stronger) repeater transmission cannot be heard. It's   
   simply that the operator is not focused, not listening for the call. The   
   operator is chatting with friends, tired and glazed, or listening to other   
   communications. One volunteer insisted that he bring along another radio so he   
   might "listen in on public safety." "That's nice," I replied, "but it's not in   
   our job description." I feared that, while lost to more exciting radio banter,   
   my volunteer would lose awareness - of our situation and responsibility -- so   
   necessary to maintain. I was right. He was often difficult to reach and   
   generally ineffective. Hopefully it was a lesson learned.   
      
   Sure, our work can sometimes involve simply waiting for that one call, and   
   this can be boring. But think of how interesting we can make our listening   
   watch when we form a picture in our mind of what's happening at the event   
   overall, and what has happened in the past, to grasp that we perform a life or   
   death function. 100% focus on our duty and assignment is critical to our   
   "client" event officials being able to secure the public's safety as best they   
   can, at the rest stop, intersection, or Red Cross facility to which we are   
   assigned.   
      
   Maintaining that strict listening watch repeatedly overcomes the limitations   
   inherent in our technical communications method, promotes situational   
   awareness, improves our effectiveness to the teams we support, and in the end   
   is a discipline that keeps us focused on the reason we're standing underneath   
   that silly orange hat in the first place: to provide instant, reliable   
   communications.   
      
   So maintain that strict listening watch. Your performance and overall   
   satisfaction, and public safety at the next public service event will be all   
   the better for it. -- Mark Richards, K1MGY [Richards serves as a member of the   
   Boston Athletic Association Communications Committee, and is a frequent public   
   service event volunteer and organizer. He is employed in the technical design   
   and product development of hand-held environmental monitoring instrumentation].   
      
      
   Typhoon! -- A Lesson in Pacific Island Disaster Relief   
      
   With a population of 103,000, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the   
   Pacific is comprised of four states -- Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk and Yap. There   
   are more than 600 islands, spanning 1800 miles from east to west and several   
   hundred miles north to south. On the night of March 31, 2015, super typhoon   
   Maysak struck Ulithi Atoll in Yap State. With winds of more than 160 mph and   
   gusts greater than 210 mph, Maysak was a Category 5 storm. A major storm surge   
   resulted and on most islands, infrastructure including schools, homes, power   
   and communication systems, suffered major damage or were destroyed completely.   
   No fatalities occurred on Ulithi.   
      
   I have a home there (on Falalop Island) and my job is to develop computer   
   systems for schools. I also teach technology to the schools' students and   
   train their teachers. I also provide humanitarian services with the help of   
   our local radio club, the Big Island Amateur Radio Club. I was off the island   
   when the typhoon hit, but was ticketed to fly home on April 10 - my mission   
   upon arrival would be disaster relief.   
      
   I packed communications equipment, emergency power sources, antennas, tools,   
   spare parts, survival equipment, and enough emergency food for my adopted   
   family of 14 (including ten hungry high school students from Satawal Island)   
   for a period of five weeks. Some of the supplies were shipped to Yap just   
   before I left Hilo, Hawaii, but 11 bags had to be taken on the plane.   
   (Hawaiian Airlines waived all excess baggage fees). There were some customs   
   hang-ups to be dealt with.   
      
   My house survived, but power lines were down and the diesel generator power   
   house was partially destroyed. The International Office of Migration (IOM)   
   loaned me two 60 amp/hour batteries and gave me a ride to my home. Richard   
   Darling, AH7G, and Barbara Darling, NH7FY, had provided funding for a Renogy   
   100 watt suitcase folding solar panel, inverter, battery pack, and toolbox. By   
   morning, I had set up the batteries and solar power systems, and an Icom   
   IC-718 HF transceiver. Fiberglass masts and antennas were erected. I then   
   contacted Richard Darling, AH7G, and William Radolfetheg, V63YWR, as   
   scheduled, with good propagation and signals. We ultimately conducted 35   
   health-and-welfare phone patches from Falalop, Ulithi, and another 38 patches   
   from Federai back to Hawaii and beyond.   
      
   ARRL Pacific Section Manager Bob Schneider, AH6J, procured an ARRL HF Go Kit   
   from ARRL HQ to be set up as a secondary station at the dispensary. The kit   
   contained four VHF hand-held radios, which proved useful for local   
   communications.   
      
   Falalop Island was devastated, with vegetation gone, including food plants.   
   There was no shade. Our household had only 48 hours' supply of potable water.   
   Much of the water catchment systems on the island were destroyed. In many   
   cases, remaining standing water was contaminated and amoebic dysentery became   
   a problem. The water problem was solved when IOM set up a desalinization   
   plant. Water was then transported to the people by wheelbarrow or by whatever   
   containers could be found. Relief food and supplies started to arrive from   
   Guam.   
      
   Many had no houses left and the houses that remained had no roofs. The United   
   States Agency for International Development (USAID) sent tarps for temporary   
   roofs. Most of the island's HF, SSB and VHF communications were down for an   
   extended period -- there was no power and most of the antennas were destroyed.   
   We got the dispensary's VHF communication systems up and running again with   
   emergency repairs on its antenna.   
      
   Insult to Injury   
      
   On Monday, May 4, tropical storm Noul hit us, and the next morning it hit the   
   rest of Yap as a full category 1 typhoon. Our 20-meter vertical was blown   
   almost horizontal, but continued to hang in there. During this storm, we   
   remained in communication with Darling, Radolfetheg, and Ray Gibson, KH2GUM on   
   Guam. Granola bars were the food of the day. Between 8 pm and 10 pm that night   
   our dining hut with my antenna still attached finally blew away. The next day,   
   after the storm had blown by, we gathered all of the pieces of the hut and   
   rebuilt it. The vertical antenna and mast had survived but the radials had   
   broken. After more work, everything was repaired and we were back up on the   
   air. Unfortunately, all of the USAID tarps on the roofs had blown down so we   
   were back to square one with no roofs to protect many of us. A week later,   
   typhoon Dolphin came along, but thankfully it missed us on Ulithi by a few   
   hundred miles. It did hit Guam.   
      
   I was then tasked by the Yap State Department of Education to assist in   
   rebuilding and restarting the schools that had been destroyed. All of these   
   buildings were constructed with concrete!   
      
   The Value of Amateur Radio   
      
   There were two amateurs on Federai Island: William Radolfetheg, V63YWR and   
   Albert Haped, V63YAH. Richard Darling, AH7G, Ray Gibson, KH2GUM, and I were in   
   communications with Federai every evening as the storm approached. We remained   
   in communications until four hours before the storm made landfall. As a   
   result, the Federai community took our warnings very seriously and was well   
   prepared: Roofs were tied down with large ropes, school computers were stored   
   in the new dispensary, and families with children were sheltered in the   
   dispensary building. While Federai also had a lot of storm damage, they fared   
   much better than the other islands. The point is that Amateur Radio   
   communications can be even more valuable in advance of and leading into a   
   disaster like this where there is time for preparations to be made. Amateur   
   Radio communications in remote locales like this is more effective and   
   efficient than all other communication systems -- both before and after the   
   onset of the effects of the disaster. The health-and-welfare phone patches   
   alone were of great humanitarian value.   
      
   A technical note on antennas: the elevated ground plane antenna with resonant   
   radials performs very well. It's an inexpensive, effective, efficient antenna,   
   easy to transport, and easy to assemble. It is more resilient than other   
   antennas.   
      
   See the V63JB page on QRZ.com for photos and more information on typhoon   
   responses. -- John Bush, KH6DLK/V63JB; and Bob Schneider, AH6J, ARRL Pacific   
   Section Manager [Bush is the 2012 ARRL International Humanitarian Award winner   
   - ed.]   
      
      
   Amateur Radio Club Helps Promote Diabetes Awareness   
      
   Members of the University of Mississippi Amateur Radio Club (UMARC) provided   
   on-course communications for the annual Walk For Diabetes held in Oxford on   
   Sunday, November 8. The walk, sponsored by the Diabetes Foundation of   
   Mississippi, began at the Lyceum Loop on the university campus and continued   
   to the downtown area before returning to the Lyceum.   
      
   UMARC members took up positions at rest stops and key junctions, calling in   
   status reports on the progress of the more than 150 walkers via the club   
   repeater located on the campus.   
      
   The Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi conducts these and similar events to   
   raise awareness of diabetes and raise financial support in helping them   
   provide care for Mississippians who have diabetes.   
      
   Sarah Abraham, Program Coordinator, made the request to UMARC for supporting   
   the event. A number of walkers assembled in groups, each distinguished by   
   colorful tee shirts showing their support for a loved one who has diabetes.   
   All who finished the walk received a medal to wear and most got a tee shirt   
   promoting diabetes awareness.   
      
   Located on the university grounds, UMARC operates with station call sign   
   W5UMS. Members provide similar coverage for other local events such as the   
   annual Double-Decker Fun Run and anticipate a continued partnership with the   
   Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi. -- Ron Lefebvre, W1IBL, President,   
   University of Mississippi Amateur Radio Club   
      
      
   Veterans' Day Month: HDSCS Loses One of Its Own   
      
   On November 6, the ARES-affiliated Hospital Disaster Support Communications   
   System, Orange County, California, lost member Roman Kamienski, KG6QMZ, a Lt.   
   Colonel in the Army Reserves and active Army MARS operator. He was remembered   
   in a military memorial service complete with flag presentation to his wife and   
   a 21 gun salute. Only 56, he died of complications from a ruptured cerebral   
   aneurysm. During Roman's 12 years with HDSCS he participated in almost every   
   major drill. He also communicated in some actual emergencies, including a 2004   
   phone failure caused by a power interruption at an Anaheim Hospital. In 2005   
   he was on site for a standby operation during phone work at St. Jude Hospital   
   in Fullerton, which then turned into an all-night emergency when the system   
   did not come back on line. In addition to a display of his military   
   certificates and medals, including the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf   
   cluster for distinguished achievement presented in 2007, Roman's wife added   
   his HDSCS blue vest, name badge, certificates related to HDSCS service and an   
   HDSCS commemorative challenge coin numbered 73. We were honored to have had   
   him in HDSCS as a communicator and antenna team member. - April Moell, WA6OPS,   
   District Emergency Coordinator, Amateur Radio Emergency Service; Hospital   
   Disaster Support Communications System, Orange County, Cailfornia   
      
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   )\/(ark   
      
   "So let me ask you a question about this brave new world of yours. When you've   
   killed all the bad guys, and when it's all perfect, and just and fair, and   
   when you have finally got it exactly the way you want it, what are you going   
   to do with the people like you? The trouble makers. How are you going to   
   protect your glorious revolution from the next one?"   
   - The twelfth Doctor   
      
   ... A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and my offline mail reader.   
   ---   
    * Origin:  (1:3634/12.73)