Emergency-Communications

QST de W1AW 
ARRL Bulletin 34  ARLB034
From ARRL Headquarters 
Newington CT  November 17, 2020
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB034
ARLB034 Clear Frequencies Requested for Caribbean Hurricane Emergency Traffic

Stations handling emergency traffic during the response to Category 5 Hurricane Iota, just off the eastern coast of Nicaragua, are requesting clear frequencies.

Radio amateurs not involved in the emergency response are asked to avoid (plus/minus 5 KHz) the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) and WX4NHC (National Hurricane Center) frequencies of 14.325 and 7.268 MHz, as well as a Honduran emergency net operation on 7.180 MHz (net control station is HR1JFA), and a Nicaraguan emergency net operating on 7.098 MHz.

With maximum sustained winds of 160 MPH, Hurricane Iota is expected to bring catastrophic winds, life-threatening storm surge, and torrential rainfall to Central America.

From ema.arrl.org:

On Tuesday Morning, 11/3/20, Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, KD1CY-Rob Macedo, did a virtual Meet & Greet with Massachusetts VOAD to explain ARES role and how ARES can support Non-Governmental Organizations. The 30 minute meeting was well received by the VOAD leadership that participated. ARES has been a member within the VOAD organization since 2012.

VOAD stands for Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster. The ARRL has a national level Memorandum of Understanding with VOAD and encourages section ARES programs to work with state VOADs. Examples of organizations that are part of VOAD include ARES traditional partners such as the American Red Cross, Salvation Army as well as Team Rubicon, various church groups that support disaster relief for individuals and families and many other organizations.

“We got to explain ARES role and what we can provide to Non-Government Organizations in both auxiliary communications, additional resources supporting communications and situational awareness information when normal communications means are up as well as what we can provide to them when other forms of communication fails. We also encouraged VOAD to look at ways we can help their organization based on their communications and technical needs after giving them some understanding of what we traditionally provide and explained to them all the MOUs ARES through the ARRL has with various organizations within VOAD and National VOAD” Macedo said.

Macedo reported that the members on the call understood how Amateur Radio plays a role and is often in the background performing important tasks that help their teams and other agencies. They were impressed with the presentation and look forward to future engagement both with Eastern Massachusetts ARES and Western Massachusetts ARES. “They asked for the Western Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator contact info which we provided to them along with a short presentation that we reviewed on the call and we look forward to a continued and stronger relationship with Massachusetts VOAD and the member agencies within VOAD going forward,” Macedo said.

The Eastern MA Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) will conduct a Simulated Emergency Test on November 14, 2020 from 10 AM to 12 Noon (setup to start at 9 AM where needed) to test its capability in establishing communications with stations inside and outside of the section. Operation “Fall Fury” will attempt to build upon the lessons learned from past operational exercises. This SET is being done in coordination with a Red Cross national exercise also being held on Saturday 11/14/20.

The exercise scenario involves a fictional Category 1 hurricane which strikes MA/CT/RI as a hybrid coastal storm, battering Cape Cod and the Islands with winds ranging from 90-100 MPH. Eventually, hundreds of thousands of people in Eastern Massachusetts are left without power as the rain rapidly changes to heavy, wet snow.

“This exercise guideline is deliberately broad and generic in nature. ARES groups are free to adapt this scenario and conduct their exercise as needed for their group,” writes District Emergency Coordinator Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O.

“This is also a great opportunity for new Amateur Radio Operators, whether they are involved in ARES or not, to check into nets, provide simulated information and exercise traffic, or just check in and learn how nets work and what ARES can do during an actual event. This includes the National Weather Service SKYWARN component of ARES” writes Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator.

With the ongoing COVID-19 situation in MA, it will be unlikely that groups will be able to operate at EOCs and other municipal locations. Therefore any activation of shelters will be simulated by role play. It is likely that most of the operations involved in this exercise will utilize home stations.

Some exercise objectives include:
• Simulate the activation of shelters in your area
• Simulate the activation of EOC stations in your area
• Establish and conduct a tactical net on simplex 2m FM/ repeater for your group
• Simulate contact with any Town EOC RACES stations
• Establish contact with other ARES districts where possible
• Establish an HF 75 meter voice net for all of MA (and potentially other areas)
• Pass an NTS type message on 2 meters VHF and/or 440 MHz
• Pass a SKYWARN and/or tactical message on voice 2 meters and on the HF net
• Optional components of the exercise to pass information digitally via Winlink and NBEMS (Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System)

For full details, see the “Eastern MA Simulated Emergency Test 2020 Scenario and Guidelines” document at https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/EasternMA-ARES-SET-11-14-20.pdf.

Chuck Motes, K1DFS, writes:

A big Thank You to all those in Connecticut who participated in the annual Section Emergency Test (S.E.T.) this year.  It took place during the first weekend of the month.

Members of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) CT and NTS CT were active on their respective nets, and a large number of messages were sent and received.  Of particular note was the use of the ICS-213 Form, which is the heart of municipal, state and federal communications messages.  A lot of us picked up very successfully on that form.  Also in use (for the MARS COMEX) was a report called the SWEAT.  It’s the report the feds (military) use to assess conditions and emergencies nationwide.  It’s short, it’s quick and it’s fast.  Hams in Connecticut made extensive use of the report.

These reports were sent via voice, via digital on HF and VHF and via Winlink radio and internet.  One set of these reports numbering 52 in total was relayed to MARS via 60 meters in one burst using MT-63 digital.  This was a month-long opportunity for hams to contact MARS stations directly, and is authorized through the end of October.

The MARS COMEX (Army and Air Force) was terminated normally on 23 October.

Thanks to all — hams, ARES, NTS, especially the Section Emergency Coordinator, the District Emergency Coordinators and the NTS officials–everyone who participated in the S.E.T. and in the COMEX.  Call it a resounding success.

73 to all, and have a great Halloween!

——————————————————————–
ARRL Connecticut Section
Section Manager: Charles I Motes Jr, K1DFS
k1dfs@arrl.org
——————————————————————–

From the ARRL Letter, October 21, 2020:

The Nationwide Red Cross Emergency Communications Fall Drill is a joint exercise with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) set for November 14, an evolution of the highly successful Spring Drill that had hundreds of participants from some 40 states and Puerto Rico.

The Fall Drill will be a Winlink-specific event with the following goals: (1) pass traditional Red Cross (ARC) forms from as many states and as many radio amateurs as possible to one of six Divisional Clearinghouses, and (2) bring as many radio operators as possible up to a “basic” level of Winlink proficiency. [To prepare, there is a twelve-week series of Winlink Workshops held each Thursday at 0100Z on Zoom. Join the SEC-ARES group for announcements and discussions. Include your name and call sign when registering on SEC-ARES.]

Winlink Proficiency Goals have been written, a Winlink Technical Support Team has been formed, and Metrics for Drill Success have been developed. The proficiency goals are established as a training guideline and references online training resources. Many hams new to Winlink should find these resources helpful.

Over 300 radio amateurs have signed up for the event and more than a hundred were on a Briefing Call on October 5. There will be one other Briefing Call, in early November. This event is open to all radio amateurs; if interested in more information, contact Mike Walters, W8ZY, for ARES-related questions or Wayne Robertson, K4WK, for Red Cross-related topics.

A simulated emergency test will be conducted in Maine on Saturday October 24th from 8 AM until 1 PM. The goal of this exercise will be to relay, send and receive messages over voice and/ or digital means from and to various county Emergency Management Agencies (EMAs) and Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). It will be a simulated weather emergency whereby the internet has gone down and repeaters have failed, therefore more focus will be placed on simplex communication (VHF/HF).

If you are interested in participating, please reach out to your local ARES/RACES team for more information.  –Maine Telegraph Newsletter, October, 2020

Tom Kinahan, N1CPE, writes:

For almost the whole month of October, (now through October 26) the Department of Defense is conducting a series of exercises that will train the connection of MARS members to the Amateur Radio Service.

There are opportunities for hams to participate in this exercise.

1) Every day at noon local time, there will be a net on 60 meters channel 1 (5.3305 MHz USB) to have checkins from hams. The NCS will ask for your callsign, city and state. As the month moves on, there may be other unplanned requests.

2) Familiarize yourself with the METAR which is transmitted on VHF AM from all major and some less major airports as weather information for pilots. See if you can transcribe the weather information. They speak fast, and usually in mumbles. This is valuable information to the DoD in times of communication outage. Contact me for additional details.

3) There will be ICS-213 messages originating in MARS for certain ARRL and other local ham radio leaders refiled into the NTS system for delivery. NTS nets may carry these messages. Be ready to copy these messages and deliver them, by checking in to your local NTS net.

If you have any questions, please let me know!