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   http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/?issue=2016-08-17   
      
   The ARES E-Letter   
      
   August 17, 2016   
   Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE   
      
   In This Issue:   
      
    *  Spotlight: Boulder, Colorado ARES - A Juggernaut   
    *  Letters: Lesson Learned - Mag Mounts, Not So Much   
    *  California RACES/CERT Personnel Assist Seniors During Blackout   
    *  Letters: Local Simplex Contests Out There?   
    *  K4CJX to Chair a Regional Auxiliary Communications Working Group   
    *  San Diego Microwave Network Adds Important New Client   
    *  Palm Beach County (Florida) ARES Day A Success   
      
   ARRL Expresses Support for All Activities that Strengthen Emergency   
   Communications Infrastructure (8/3/2016)   
      
      
   ARES(R) Briefs, Links   
      
   Amateur Radio Plays Critical Role in Mountain Rescue (8/8/2016); Hurricane   
   Watch Net to Resume Operation as Earl Makes Landfall in Belize (8/4/2016);   
   Hurricane Watch Net to Activate (8/3/2016) MARS Sets Interoperability   
   Communications Exercise for August 15 (7/29/2016) [watch for after action   
   report in next issue -- ed.]   
      
      
   Popular ARRL Webinars Now Archived, Ready for Review   
      
   The following ARRL webinars garnered great interest and support from   
   participants, and are now posted online. Don't miss them!   
      
   2016 ARRL Hurricane Preparedness Webinar, hosted by ARRL Emergency   
   Preparedness Manager Mike Corey, KI1U   
      
   Contesting as Public Service/Disaster Communications Training, with Ward   
   Silver, N0AX, hosting. We hope you find them informative! -- Sean Kutzko,   
   KX9X, Media and Public Relations Manager   
      
      
      
   Spotlight: Boulder, Colorado ARES - A Juggernaut   
      
   Boulder County (Colorado) ARES assignments are like a box of chocolates -- you   
   never know what you'll get. From providing communications for the appearance   
   of the Dalai Lama to mega-concerts by superstar groups and everything in   
   between, this versatile and talented group of ARES volunteers respond with   
   professionalism and with state-of- the-art technologies in order to provide   
   their served agencies with real-time situational awareness and alternate   
   communications services. Just this summer alone, BCARES has been asked to   
   provide voice, data and digital ATV communication services for the Bolder   
   Boulder 10K run, public safety agencies securing the Dalai Lama visit to the   
   city and a concert by former members of the Grateful Dead, and most recently   
   the Cold Springs Fire, a 600-acre wildfire that threatened the mountain   
   community of Nederland, Colorado.   
      
   The Bolder Boulder 10-kilometer run had over 54,000 runners, walkers, and   
   wheelchair racers, making it the second largest 10K race in the US and the   
   fifth largest road race in the world. BCARES provided situational awareness   
   via their pioneering digital ATV systems along the entire course to the finish   
   line in Colorado University's Folsom Field. The video was sent simultaneously   
   to race officials, the Boulder Police Department, the Colorado University   
   Police Department and a federal agency.   
      
   The visit of the Dalai Lama to the Colorado University campus packed it with   
   more 50,000 in attendance. BCARES deployed its ATV assets to monitor the large   
   crowds and traffic in and around the stadium. This provided the CU and Boulder   
   PDs and event organizers with live situational awareness at their incident   
   command posts.   
      
   The following week, Folsom Field played host to concerts by original members   
   of the Grateful Dead. They played to back-to-back sold-out crowds for both   
   weekend nights. BCARES members again provided their video situational   
   awareness to the police departments and event organizers, when EMTs were   
   requested for medical incidents. The live video feed proved invaluable for   
   event personnel to provide timely and appropriate responses. During football   
   games in the fall season, the BCARES group uses the CU campus and Folsom Field   
   as training grounds for their advanced digital ATV ops and test links to   
   served agencies.   
      
      
      
   Cold Springs Fire Response   
      
   Most recently, BCARES was called out by the Boulder Office of Emergency   
   Management and the Boulder County Sheriff's Office to provide alternative   
   radio communications services during the Cold Springs Fire. Affected was   
   Nederland, a small town west of the City of Boulder, high up in the mountains   
   and surrounded by State and National forest land. Forced evacuations were   
   called for and evacuees were sent to three different locations; their large   
   animals were evacuated to the Boulder County Fairground facilities.   
      
   During this incident, no ATV was asked for due to the volatile fire situation   
   and concern for the safety of BCARES ATV operators. Fire Incident Commanders   
   closed many of the access roads to and from Nederland in order to provide safe   
   routes for the wildfire crews being deployed to various hot spots.   
      
   The operators did have the opportunity to prove out the BCARES Mountain   
   Emergency Repeater Network (MERN) that had provided a critical communications   
   platform for the area during the floods of 2013 that destroyed many   
   communities to the north and east of Nederland.   
      
   During that flood, telephone poles and fiber optic lines were down, but   
   communication links remained intact between the amateurs and the Boulder EOC   
   and OEM. "We were able to maintain effective communication between the hills   
   and the valley, which was critical in meeting citizens' needs," said Mike   
   Chard, Director of Boulder OEM. "We were able to coordinate air drops of   
   resources via ham radio -- it was an incredible effort."   
      
   The MERN was a project initiated by BCARES EC George Weber, KA?BSA, who   
   recognized the communication gaps caused by fire damage to communication and   
   commercial power infrastructure, and planned power outages. Cell phone   
   coverage is spotty; the Internet and wireless services go down. The MERN, a   
   network of 2-meter repeaters, was designed to bridge these gaps, and   
   constructed thanks to the donations of Boulder area hams and other funds. The   
   installation was performed by BCARES personnel.   
      
   Community leaders partnered with BCARES and its instructors and VEs taught   
   licensing classes and administered the exams that yielded so many new   
   licensees from the mountain community. BCARES members re-purposed older VHF   
   radios, and gave them to each new licensee to use in weekly training nets.   
   These new, local hams have since organized their own inter-mountain radio net;   
   many have upgraded their licenses and radios. They recently formed their own   
   ARRL affiliated club -- Indian Peaks Radio Club -- and installed their own   
   repeater, used in conjunction with the original MERN system.   
      
   For the recent fire, these residents-hams of the mountains monitored their   
   repeater, the MERN and BCARES ops at the Boulder County EOC, as well as local   
   fire and police frequencies for up-to-the-minute situation reports on fire   
   parameters, conditions, evacuations, road closures, and weather conditions.   
   They relayed information to and from their area shelters and sent current   
   assessments to Boulder County emergency officials. When the wildfire was   
   upgraded, operators stayed on task.   
      
   BCARES recently incorporated the Everbridge System, an app provided to the   
   group by its served agency and put into service for this wildfire. Everbridge   
   sends messages to all BCARES members via telephone, text message and email,   
   and allows emergency managers to track geotagged tweets that contain specific   
   hashtags and use this information to respond to incidents as they occur. The   
   app allowed members to respond to duty requests, allowing full staffing   
   throughout the incident, and freeing the repeaters of these requests in favor   
   of emergency communications.   
      
   In the US, the Boulder County ARES group stands out as a leader in public   
   event, emergency and disaster communications technology and its use in   
   diverse, major incidents. - Jack Ciaccia, WM0G, Colorado Section Manager   
      
      
      
   Letters: Lesson Learned - Mag Mounts, Not So Much   
      
   I have a humorous, but notable "Lesson Learned" from last year's PPD Beach 2   
   Battleship (B2B) iron distance (140 miles) triathlon held in Wilmington, North   
   Carolina. A local bicycle shop supplied the SAG (Support and Gear) vehicles   
   and provided repair services along the 112-mile bicycle route of the   
   triathlon. Each of the five SAG vehicles had a radio amateur assigned to help   
   coordinate communications along the largely rural route where cell coverage   
   was intermittent. The bike shop had rented several Ford F-150 pickup trucks to   
   be used as the SAG vehicles. When we went to place VHF/UHF mag mount antennas   
   on the trucks' roofs, they literally slipped off! We learned that the new   
   F-150 trucks have aluminum bodies! We improvised by using either temporary   
   cowl mounts or steel cookie sheets as ground planes held in place by bungie   
   cords. Lesson Learned: mag mounts won't work on all vehicles! -- Bill Morine,   
   N2COP, ARRL Vice Director, Roanoke Division   
      
      
      
   California RACES/CERT Personnel Assist Seniors During Blackout   
      
   Huntington Beach (California) RACES (HBRACES) was activated on Saturday, June   
   4, 2016 when the power went out at both the Huntington Gardens and Five Points   
   senior residences. The buildings are each 14 stories tall.   
      
   At the Huntington Gardens when the power went out, a generator supplied power   
   to the hallways and elevators, but there was no power to the individual living   
   units and telephone system. Consequently, the residents had no lights or any   
   way of calling 911 in case of an emergency. At the Five Points Senior   
   Apartments there was complete power failure, with no generator, lights, nor   
   elevator service. The facility was in complete darkness.   
      
   Huntington Beach RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) and CERT   
   (Community Emergency Response Team) members were immediately activated by   
   Brevyn Mettler, Emergency Services Coordinator. An automated call-up, email   
   and text alerts went out to all RACES and CERT members. Steve Graboff, W6GOS,   
   RACES Chief Radio Officer, and Steve Albert, KE6OCE, Assistant Radio Officer,   
   started a two meter net and logged in responding and available communicators.   
   Within minutes, operators checked into the net were advised to proceed to the   
   staging area at the entrance to the City Council chambers at the Huntington   
   Beach City Hall.   
      
   Graboff said "the response to the call to activation by HBRACES was   
   impressive. The professional communications skills displayed by the operators   
   were outstanding. The quality of HBRACES training was clearly evident in all   
   of our responders, including those deployed in the field and others who were   
   assigned to the incident command post. I am extremely proud of the Huntington   
   Beach RACES response to this immediate, unexpected, call to activation."   
      
   HBRACES communicators were paired with a Huntington Beach CERT responder, and   
   the pairs were assigned to each floor of the two facilities. With this   
   arrangement, both communication and rapid response functions would be   
   available in the event of any emergency or priority situation. This was the   
   first time Huntington Beach RACES and CERT members had been deployed in pairs,   
   whereas previous joint deployments had them working cooperatively but not   
   directly together. They were assigned a 12 hour shift from 6 PM to 6 AM.   
      
   Given the loss of electricity with blacked-out buildings, housing many frail   
   and elderly residents created a dangerous situation, not only for these   
   residents but also for the volunteers patrolling the floors of the buildings   
   in the dark, looking and listening for people in need of help, or criminals   
   looking to take advantage of the situation.   
      
   Not only was immediate aid available to the residents, but essential direct   
   emergency communications to the Huntington Beach Fire and Police Department   
   was instantaneous. These agencies continually supported the efforts of HBRACES   
   and the CERT throughout the duration of this incident. Although the Red Cross   
   typically does not respond to localized power outages, in this case they   
   dispatched a canteen truck to support the volunteers with snacks and coffee.   
   The cause of the power failure was a chain reaction fire/explosion in the   
   underground southern California electric vaults in the area.   
      
   Graboff said "the pairing of RACES and CERT brought an impressive set of   
   skills together to serve the health and welfare of all at the incident site.   
   Having both organizations working together created a safer environment for the   
   volunteers since they were not alone. They also brought essential   
   communications and CERT training to each floor of the buildings. RACES and   
   CERT worked well together, and I believe this is a response model we will use   
   again in the future."   
      
   Carol Burtis, the CERT Coordinator, said "this event turned into an extremely   
   well-coordinated mutual-agency response situation and proved the ability to   
   rapidly stage on the order of 60 people in a very short period of time. The   
   reward came the following morning when several residents thanked the RACES and   
   CERT volunteers for being there; one resident said specifically 'that knowing   
   we were in the hallway was the only thing that allowed her to get sleepy that   
   night.'"   
      
      
   Lessons Learned   
      
   It was found that 12 hours on duty is a long shift, especially in the dark of   
   night, so in the future RACES may adjust its protocol to a shorter shift time   
   of 6 hours, staging personnel to rotate every 6 hours and rest in between.   
      
   This "no warning" immediate activation was a wake-up call to all Huntington   
   Beach RACES operators to be sure their "grab and go bags" are always ready   
   with essential gear, especially flashlights and extra batteries, food, water,   
   and personal items such as spare reading glasses and a small supply of   
   personal medications that need to be taken. - Bob Zamalin, WA6VIP, Huntington   
   Beach, California   
      
      
      
   Letters: Local Simplex Contests Out There?   
      
   Can you solicit information from your readership about FM simplex contests   
   that are held in their areas? And, possibly 10 meter or other locally oriented   
   contests in their areas? If readers can send in a basic description and   
   website URL for such local contests, perhaps a table could be created and   
   published in the contesting and public service pages of QST somewhere,   
   promoting greater interest and activity. -- Ward Silver, N0AX [editor's note:   
   Send any info to Rick Palm, K1CE, for compilation. Thanks!]   
      
      
      
   K4CJX to Chair a Regional Auxiliary Communications Working Group   
      
   The FEMA Disaster Emergency Communications (DEC) Division effects services and   
   information systems critical to the agency's role in coordinating the Federal   
   government's response, and support for communications to emergency responders   
   at all levels of government. The Division helps establish interoperability   
   during operations anywhere in the country. In 2007, Congress established 10   
   Regional Emergency Communications Coordination Working Groups (RECCWG) to   
   support its mission. These groups serve as a coordination point for Federal,   
   State, local, and Tribal officials as well as private sector service providers   
   and volunteers at the regional level. RECCWGs address the survivability,   
   sustainability, operability, and interoperability of emergency communications.   
   The focus and direction of the RECCWGs is determined by the RECCWG members in   
   each Region.   
      
   Recently, the FEMA Region IV (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN) RECCWG members   
   formed an auxiliary communications working group to improve the relationship   
   between agencies and auxiliary communications volunteers. Well-known veteran   
   Winlink administrator and emergency management/communications advisor Steve   
   Waterman, K4CJX, a RECCWG member, was asked to chair this working group.   
   Objectives include providing a model plan for regional agencies wishing to   
   incorporate qualified auxiliary communications volunteers, mainly Amateur   
   Radio operators. Other goals are to enhance working relationships among these   
   volunteers, groups such as ARES, the agencies they seek to support, and other   
   radio services. The group will study successful Amateur Radio programs to   
   draft a set of best practices and standards. The group has a diverse,   
   credentialed membership. It will provide interim and final reports. For more   
   information, contact Steve Waterman, K4CJX.   
      
      
      
   San Diego Microwave Network Adds Important New Client   
      
   The San Diego microwave network known as HDRENS (High Data Rate EmComm   
   Network, San Diego) and its partner in Baja, Mexico, CREBC (Club de Radio   
   Experimentadores de Baja California) have activated a new link in their   
   extensive microwave private LAN. This LAN employs standard commercial   
   equipment at 5 GHz, includes over 20 major nodes, 70 IP's and extends for over   
   70 miles along the coast and inland in southern California and Baja. The   
   HDRENS-CREBC network has as a main objective "to provide backup communications   
   for clients in the public health services in the event of a blackout of the   
   commercial Internet services." The US end operates as a community service and   
   is funded and maintained by active amateur operators.   
      
   The San Diego Blood Bank provides important services to hospitals and other   
   medical providers throughout the San Diego County area. There is an active ham   
   radio station at its HQ, and executive, Gloria Lyons, KI6DTA, and volunteer   
   Communications Coordinator, Roy Gallagher, KR6RG, support the operations   
   there. CREBC member Mike Burton, XE2/N6KZB, offered that the blood bank could   
   enhance its communication links in emergencies to their client facilities by   
   joining the HDRENS-CREBC network; it was quickly accepted.   
      
   HDRENS member, RB Smith, WW6RB, with assistance from Fred Nusbickel, N6QKE,   
   Corbett Stone, KK6DKW, and Ed Sack, W3NRG, evaluated the path between an   
   HDRENS access point and the blood bank location. While the distance was only   
   four miles, trees and a bridge posed potential interference, but a test   
   indicated a connection was possible, and the design and implementation of the   
   link followed. Data rates of 144 mbps transmitting and receiving were   
   recorded, and with success at hand, the next steps will include site studies   
   for links of the three blood bank remote locations. -- Ed Sack, W3NRG,   
   Coronado, California   
      
      
      
   Palm Beach County (Florida) ARES Day A Success   
      
   Palm Beach County ARES(R) held ARES Day on July 30 at the Palm Beach/Martin   
   County Red Cross Chapter facility in West Palm Beach. Fifty radio amateurs   
   attended, and 15 new hams joined the ARES program. Support and representation   
   was provided by local ham radio clubs, District Emergency Coordinator Charlie   
   Benn, WB2SNN, South County EC Bob Vastola, KK4ATI, North County EC Chris   
   Anderson, KK4ENJ, and Central County EC Barry Porter, KB1PA. ARRL Section   
   Manager Jeff Beals,WA4AW, and Section EC Larry Zimmer, W4LWZ, were in   
   attendance.   
      
   Activities included a demo of emergency power equipment, digital   
   communications using packet and Winlink, how the National Traffic System and   
   NTS Digital system work to send emergency message traffic outside of the area,   
   and a hands-on demonstration of how to build an effective UHF/VHF external   
   antenna. There were also stations to test, calibrate and program mobile and   
   portable radios, a demo of what is inside a Red Cross Emergency Response   
   Vehicle, and demos of portable VHF and HF antennas that can be used in a   
   deployment. ARES ID cards were given to those interested, and there was lots   
   of socializing and exchanging of ideas. A list of Palm Beach, Martin and   
   Broward county 2 meter, 1¬ meter and 70 cm repeaters in all modes was   
   available, as was the Palm Beach County ARES ICS-205, populated with county   
   assets and data. Thanks went to the Red Cross and all who attended. Palm Beach   
   County ARES is now more prepared to meet the needs of our served agencies.   
   ARES Day was a positive event that energized all who attended. - ARRL Palm   
   Beach Central County EC Barry Porter, KB1PA   
      
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   )\/(ark   
      
   Always Mount a Scratch Monkey   
      
   ... "Zalig Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieukjaar." - Dutch   
   ---   
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