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| The ARES E-Letter for January 20, 2016 |
| 20 Jan 16 12:14:20 |
If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/?issue=2016-01-20
The ARES E-Letter
January 20, 2016
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
In This Issue:
* Answering The Call To Serve In Historic Missouri Flooding
* ARES(R) Supports Major Flood Response in Pacific Northwest
* GlobalSET 2015 is a Wrap, with Lessons Learned
* West Central Florida ARES/ACS Group Learns in SKYWARN Course
* Winter Field Day at End of Month
* Northern Indiana Hams Activate NWS Office for SKYWARN(TM) Recognition Day
* Letters: HOA Embraces Amateur Radio for Emergencies
* Tips for Beginning Net Control Operators
* Sacramento EC Recognized for Past Service
* See Something, Say Something
* ARES in 2015
ARES Briefs, Links
First Geosynchronous Orbit Amateur Radio Payload Could Aid Disaster
Communication (12/24/2015) -- AMSAT figure and Virginia Tech researcher Bob
McGwier, N4HY, reports the Amateur Radio payload planned to go into
geosynchronous orbit in 2017 will be like "a new ham band" for the Americas,
available every hour of every day. McGwier said the satellite's geosynchronous
orbit also makes it viable for emergency and disaster communication. AMSAT-NA
announced in April that Amateur Radio would be a "hosted payload" on the
geosynchronous satellite that Millennium Space Systems (MSS) of California is
under contract to design, launch, and operate for the US government.
__________
Answering The Call To Serve In Historic Missouri Flooding
Amateur Radio operators put their skills to work during historic flooding in
the greater St. Louis area earlier this month. ARES(R) volunteers from three
counties contributed extensive time, talent and equipment to emergency
efforts. According to Bill Grimsbo, N0PNP, District C Emergency Coordinator,
"More than one hundred and seventy hours of volunteer service on the part of
Amateur Radio volunteers working with response agencies were invested in
District C during this emergency. These people commit their personal time as
well as working regular hours at jobs that represent a cross section of
America's workforce for the greater good of the community."
[According to the National Weather Service, a prolonged period of rainfall
occurred from December 26 to December 28, with the heaviest rainfall occurring
in a 50 to 75 mile wide swath from southwest Missouri through the Greater St.
Louis Metropolitan area and into central Illinois. Storm total rainfall for
this range was six to 12 inches. The heavy rainfall led to life threatening
flash flooding and historic river flooding. The rain in this event capped off
the wettest year on record for St. Louis at 61.24". (The old record was 57.96"
in 2008). - ed.]
More than 26 radio amateurs from St. Louis Metro ARES, St. Charles County
ARES, Illinois Section ARES, and St. Louis and suburban radio club members
worked with the American Red Cross in serving in excess of 19,400 meals and
coordinating more than 640 overnight stays. ARES and club operators were asked
to help coordinate communications among shelters in four counties and Red
Cross headquarters. On average, the volunteers worked six to eight hour shifts
using personal radio equipment while employing local repeaters maintained by
area radio clubs to pass messages. They worked with shelter staff to fulfill
the needs of hundreds displaced by severe flooding in the St. Louis area.
Much of the radio traffic was handled on a repeater maintained by the Monsanto
Amateur Radio Association, a repeater that had been damaged by a lightning
strike in August. Repairs were completed just weeks prior to the onset of
flooding in the area.
"The Amateur Radio operators in the greater St. Louis area have knowledge and
equipment to connect any agency to another when in times of need," Steve
Wooten, KC0QMU, St. Louis Metro ARES Emergency Coordinator said. "We can set
up and be connected within an hour of responding to the call for assistance."
St. Charles County Division of Emergency Management also called on ARES in
that county to execute road closure reconnaissance for emergency services.
Volunteers also performed "windshield" damage assessments where they drove by
hundreds of homes, surveying them for minor to catastrophic damage.
In a demonstration of solidarity in this disaster, St. Francois and Ste.
Genevieve County ARES organizations worked together, assisting the Ste.
Genevieve County Emergency Management Agency with 24 hour walks to assess the
condition of the critical levees that protect lives and property in Ste.
Genevieve County.
More than 20 people died in the historic flooding. Hundreds were displaced
from their homes as rivers, streams and lakes overflowed banks and levees.
Wastewater treatment facilities were overwhelmed and some drinking water
treatment facilities were shut down. President Obama issued a Federal Disaster
Declaration and the Federal Highway Administration pledged $1 million for
emergency highway repairs. -- Janelle Haible, N0MTI, St. Louis (Missouri)
Metro ARES, Public Information Officer
ARES(R) Supports Major Flood Response in Pacific Northwest
Once again, the Centralia area in southwest Washington State was on Mother
Nature's target list for December rains and local flooding. The week of
December 2-8 brought continuous rain to the Pacific Northwest with very heavy
rains on Monday, December 7th. Three major rivers -- the Chehalis, the
Skookumchuck and the Newaukum -- quickly reached flood stage. The City of
Centralia opened its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on Tuesday, December 9,
to get ahead of the potentially devastating flood waters. By 5 PM Tuesday, the
Centralia ARES team was activated on a 24 hour basis. During hours of
darkness, team members monitored the EOC Amateur Radio systems and helped set
up the remainder of the EOC for a full scale response on Wednesday.
During the early morning hours of Wednesday, December 9th, two local creeks --
China Creek and Salzer Creek -- overflowed their banks and inundated the
Centralia downtown area with water, before the major rivers had reached flood
stage. As a result of the Incident Action Plan issued at 8 AM Wednesday, ARES
team members began the second phase of their response duties, performing
"windshield surveys" to determine the extent and depth of water in each
residential area in the city. Additionally, teams monitored selected high
water points to provide eyes on the scene information on how fast flood waters
were rising. Throughout the day, hams reported conditions block by block,
response area by response area to the EOC and Incident Commanders.
Late in the day on Wednesday, the area caught a break when the rains slowed
and then stopped. By late Wednesday evening, even though the rivers were still
climbing to flood stage, emergency managers could breathe a sigh of relief as
it was clear the local flooding was not going to be the disaster we've
experienced before when Interstate 5 was closed for days due to water over its
roadway. Area wide, several dangerous landslides occurred and the Hwy 12 over
White Pass to Eastern Washington was closed as the road was washed away in
four locations. This pass will potentially remain closed for weeks or even
months as snow on the pass hinders roadway repairs.
In all, the ARES team deployed 75% of its members totaling just over 70
volunteer hours for the community. Each flood is different from the last.
Centralia ARES has worked through four major floods since 2007 and with
localized flooding almost every November or December. The ARES team continues
to refine its response techniques, drill on flood responses and work with its
served agencies to shape the way it provides disaster information to the EOC.
Flexibility has allowed the ARES team to be useful in several different
directions as we continue to serve our small community. -- Bob Willey, KD7OWN,
Emergency Coordinator, Centralia Amateur Radio Emergency Service
GlobalSET 2015 is a Wrap, with Lessons Learned
More than three dozen countries took part in the 2015 Global Simulated
Emergency Test (GlobalSET) last month, organized by IARU Region 1 and designed
in part to measure the disaster readiness of Amateur Radio. IARU Region 1
Emergency Communications Coordinator Greg Mossop, G0DUB, pointed out that the
2015 event differed from other GlobalSETs held since 2006, which emphasized
message handling and setting up stations in the field.
"The IARU emergency communications coordinators decided that the best way to
achieve this would be to have an availability or 'call-out' exercise," Mossop
said. "It asked all countries with emergency communications groups to contact
their members and ask them how quickly they could get on the air if required."
The start of the exercise was not announced in advance but propagated via a
variety of channels, including e-mail and social media. IARU regional
coordinators chose December 18 as being clear of most social and cultural
events. A time limit of up to 48 hours was set for potential responding
organizations to complete the local callout exercise and submit results via a
web form.
The survey results covered an estimated 8466 members worldwide, of which 2048
reported they could be available in less than 1 hour.
"This exercise occurred on a normal business day in many countries," Mossop
said. "An availability rate of 20-30 percent of stations is very good and does
seem reasonable as a planning assumption for future exercises."
Mossop said the exercise identified a need to revise or improve alerting
procedures. "Where possible a mixture of methods should be used for alerting
members with automatic feedback of message delivery or the response," he said,
adding that reliance on any single system, such as e-mail, was not the best
approach. Read more. -- Thanks to Jim Linton, VK3PC; ARRL Letter
West Central Florida ARES/ACS Group Learns in SKYWARN Course
Largo, Florida - Private citizens, amateur operators and CERT team members
gathered last month at the new Pinellas County EOC for a SKYWARN training
class. Pinellas County is west of Tampa, Florida, with a population of almost
a million, exposed to severe tropical weather on the coast of the Gulf of
Mexico. Its county seat is Clearwater, and its largest city is St. Petersburg.
The class was hosted by the Pinellas County ACS/ARES unit, along with their
sponsoring agency, the Pinellas County Emergency Management agency. The
Pinellas County ARES and ACS (Auxiliary Communications Service) are comprised
of Amateur Radio operators who provide support to government and other
agencies as needed.
The class boasted 100 attendees, and was taught by Dan Noah, NOAA Warning
Coordination Meteorologist at the Ruskin, Florida National Weather Service
office. The class was welcomed to the new Pinellas County EOC by Emergency
Manager Sally Bishop, who said in part, "This effort on the part of our ACS
group netted the largest Spotter training class that Ruskin National Weather
Service has ever had. We are grateful for the community service provided by
the Spotters as it is a vital piece of the process that takes place between
the Weather Service and Emergency Management to ensure the community is warned
and as ready as possible for weather events."
Noah said "SKYWARN is a program sponsored by your National Weather Service
(NWS) consisting of trained weather spotters who provide reports of hazardous
weather to help in the warning process. SKYWARN spotter reports provide vital
'ground truth' to the NWS. These reports serve the NWS mission of protecting
life and property from the adverse impacts of severe weather. Each year our
Spotters donate their time and/or equipment to help the NWS in the severe
weather warning process."
Clayton Parrott, KJ4RUS, Pinellas County ARES/ACS Radio Officer and Emergency
Coordinator said "We are helping our citizens become more aware of weather
related events such as tornados, lightning, and now the threat of El Nino by
providing them with preparedness tools such as this SKYWARN training. In doing
this, we help them to be better prepared for severe weather related events in
their communities."
There are no prerequisites to become a SKYWARN spotter, but spotters must be
18 years of age or older to receive a SKYWARN certification and a spotter ID
number.
Training included what to look for when reporting weather, what to report, how
to estimate hail size, wind speed and the format to use, i.e., "TEL," which
means Time, Event, Location. Since El Nino will be a major weather factor
weather for the next few months, Noah detailed some of the added risks for
Florida.
When asked about the effect of El Nino on weather in Florida, Noah replied "El
Nino, the warming of the waters in the tropical Pacific, naturally occurs
every 2 to 7 years. During an El Nino, Florida has an increased risk of severe
weather and flooding from January through April as the upper level jet stream
changes its path from north of Florida to crossing central Florida. This
allows environmental conditions to become more favorable for severe weather
more often. There will be about seven or so nights this winter and spring
where people will want to pay extra attention to the weather as it moves
through their area." Noah suggested having multiple ways to receive tornado
warnings, including NOAA Weather Radio and smart phone Apps. -- Kevin Poorman,
KC4VT, Public Information Officer, Pinellas County, Florida, ARES/ACS Public
Service Communications
Winter Field Day at End of Month
Winter Field Day is held annually on the last full weekend of January. This
month, it will be held January 30-31, 1700Z-1700Z. The Winter Field Day
Association (WFDA) is a group of amateurs who sponsor this event. From their
website, they believe that emergency communications skills, practice and
training in a winter environment is as important as the preparations and
exercising performed in the more benign seasons. Winter conditions pose
special environmental challenges to operators in the field. WFDA's stated goal
is to "help enhance your skills and ready you for all environmental conditions
found in the US and Canada during the spring, summer, fall, and winter." For
rules, click here. Contact WFDA here. -- Winter Field Day Association
Northern Indiana Hams Activate NWS Office for SKYWARN(TM) Recognition Day
Fourteen operators from various northern Indiana Amateur Radio clubs
collaborated to activate the National Weather Service office in North Webster
for the 17th annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) on December 5, 2015. When
Michael Lewis, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the Northern Indiana NWS
office, asked for a radio club to organize the event, the Fort Wayne Radio
Club accepted the task. Jim Moehring, KB9WWM, District 3 ARES DEC, served as
the point of contact for volunteers to register. For security purposes at the
NWS office, all volunteer operators were required to pre-register for
operating time slots to gain access to the facility.
Setup began at 2030 UTC on December 4. The set up team installed a custom made
bracket to one of the parking lot light poles, which served as the common
mounting point for three end-fed antenna matching boxes. The end-fed antennas
have demonstrated their effectiveness and ease of installation in several
other field operations. 20-meter and 40-meter tuned end-fed wires were
stretched to conveniently located 30 foot tall light poles. Ropes were lifted
over the light poles using an extended painter's pole. This avoided the
hassles that are associated with air cannons and slingshot projectiles for
such placements. A multiband Chameleon EMCOMM II end-fed antenna was placed
over a third light pole using the same technique. A dual-band aluminum J-pole
was placed 20 feet in the air on a telescoping aluminum mast mounted in a
heavy-duty tripod base. Coax was run from the four antennas to a 4" diameter
pipe pass-through in the wall of the NWS office directly into the operations
conference room.
The entire four antenna setup was completed before dusk at 2215 UTC. Three HF
stations and one VHF station were quickly connected to the coax with time to
spare before the 0000 UTC December 5 SKYWARN Recognition Day start time. The
Northern Indiana NWS was activated for the full 24 hour period of the event.
HF propagation ebbed and flowed during the event, but didn't dampen the spirit
of the operators. Many contacts were made using IRLP via the K9DEW repeater
outside Warsaw. The repeater owner/trustee, Dewey Thrasher, K9DEW, graciously
permitted extended operation on his 145.13 MHz repeater IRLP node. Many NWS
offices were connected to the IRLP Eastern Reflector during the event.
The final QSO count of 181 total contacts included 46 other NWS offices. Some
offices were contacted on multiple bands. Approximately 2/3 of the QSOs were
with individual hams not affiliated with NWS offices.
The Northern Indiana NWS SKYWARN Recognition Day operation succeeded with both
goals: (1) Demonstrate communications continuity between NWS offices when
usual means are overloaded or non-functioning in a disaster; and (2) Promote
goodwill and positive public relations between amateur operators and the
National Weather Service. Following the event, Michael Lewis sent
congratulations to all the operators who supported the Northern Indiana
operation along with a certificate of appreciation from the NWS. - ARRL
Indiana Section Newsletter, December 2015
Letters: HOA Embraces Amateur Radio for Emergencies
A new club has formed in Gainesville, Virginia -- the Heritage Hunt Hams.
Heritage Hunt is a gated, 55 plus community of 1800 homes near the
intersection of Highway 66 and Highway 29, about 30 miles west of Washington
DC. Two dozen amateurs participate in an annual emergency exercise for the
community. Eighty trained emergency volunteers (many of whom are doctors,
nurses, firemen, policemen, and military officers) participate in the same
exercise. The hams are the primary source of communication. The HOA has
purchased radios, power supplies and 2 meter/440 MHz antennas for four
locations, supported by emergency power. The group's amateurs offer support to
the Prince William ARES organization for emergencies at the western end of the
county. -- Dr. Tim Tatum, K6SLK/4, Gainesville, Virginia
Tips for Beginning Net Control Operators
Here in northwest Ohio, we have acquired many new hams and encourage them to
operate as net control station (NCS) for various routine nets to gain them
experience, providing us with a pool of competent net controllers in the event
of an emergency/disaster. Here are some of the basic tips we convey to our
novice net control stations for a smoothly running net:
ú Get a glass of water or something to drink.
ú Make yourself comfortable. Sit in a good location with plenty of room on a
desk or table to write.
ú Have a good writing instrument and a back-up along with an extra piece of
paper in case you need to jot down notes.
ú Take your time; go at your own pace. Remember, you are in control of the net
and the frequency.
ú Don't worry about making mistakes; there are no mistakes to be made.
ú To handle the crowd that is trying to check in, you will develop your own
way.
ú Stop stations from checking in ("Let's hold it for a minute") until you are
caught up.
ú Weak stations and stations who give their call signs too fast, are always a
problem -- skip them at first. Go back later for repeats.
ú Write your log as you see fit. You are the one that has to read it.
ú Headphones are a good idea -- they help you focus on what you are hearing
and help keep you from getting distracted.
As I mentioned before, there are no mistakes, only experience. When you've
finished the net that is what you will have. -- Steve Bellner, W8TER, Maumee,
Ohio
Sacramento EC Recognized for Past Service
At the January 9, 2016, Sacramento County (California) ARES Training Class
held at Metro Fire District Station 106, past Sacramento County ARES Emergency
Coordinator John Staples, KI6ZWW, received a plaque "in appreciation for all
of his time and hard work spent to improve Sacramento County ARES and RACES
during 2012-2015." District 3 EC Greg Kruckewitt, KG6SJT, and Sacramento
County Assistant EC Vince Cracchiolo, KI6NHP, presented the award on behalf of
all members of Sacramento County ARES/RACES and the Sacramento County Office
of Emergency Services.
Sacramento County ARES officials held its first training meeting for 2016 on
January 9, at the Metro Fire Training Center Station 106 in Sacramento.
Training was based on an Emergency Communications course, which is part of the
Disaster Deployment Core Training. For more information, and course materials,
click here. -- ARRL Sacramento Section News
See Something, Say Something
Amateur Radio plays a significant role in communication before, during and
after local crisis but we are always communicating so we may be the first to
see and hear things of a suspicious nature. The nature of our community
outreaches and partnerships allow us to quickly communicate as a team. Let's
help keep our nation safe and secure by keeping a watchful eye and ear for
potential threats. Find additional information on the Homeland Security
website at
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