ARES Letter for December 20, 2006
The ARES E-Letter December 20, 2006 ================= Rick Palm, K1CE, Editor <http://www.qrz.com/database?callsign=K1CE>, <http://www.iaru-r2emcor.net/> =================================== ARES reports, other related contributions, editorial questions or comments: <k1ce@arrl.net>;;; =================================== + THE VIEW FROM FLAGLER COUNTY Our Flagler ARES meeting was held last night at the Fire House, and was essentially an "End of Year Party" (with the obligatory copious pizza and soda). There was one piece of business transacted relative to the proper way to check into our nets and the use of accepted (standard) phonetics. A list was distributed to all in attendance. The socializing was wonderful, and it occurred to me that it's the camaraderie that still floats my boat in ham radio after all these years. It was a great evening. Thanks to FECA for the pizza! ________ With hurricane season over, our section's ARES leadership is studying jump teams. SEC Joe Bushel, W2DWR, wants every county to draft their own group ready to deploy to another county to provide relief operators. He also wants each ARES district to have a super jump team composed of radio amateurs with other specialties: pilots, divers, law officers, medical professionals, and electronics techs, for examples. Bushel's initiatives are laudable, and we are grateful to have him as our SEC in Northern Florida. _________ Controversy swirls about the Red Cross requiring background checks, and our section's policy is that ARES works under government emergency management, not the Red Cross. In the EOC, the Red Cross has its own ESF number, and Communications has its own ESF number. A shelter is opened by emergency management, requesting it under the Red Cross ESF. Communications is provided to that shelter under the Communications ESF at the request of emergency management to the local EC. Untested yet, but Red Cross doesn't seem to be in a position to demand clearance of persons working in shelters under control of the EOC. At least that's the current thinking of our section's leadership. ==================================== IN THIS ISSUE: + THE VIEW FROM FLAGLER COUNTY + ECV SURVEY CLOSES DECEMBER 31 + MASSACHUSETTS ARES/RACES ACTIVATES FOR EXPLOSION + FLORIDA COUNTY USAR TEAMS UP WITH AMATEUR RADIO, CERT, OTHERS + EMCOMM IN THE AFTERMATH OF CASTRO'S DEATH + LETTERS: "NATION'S OLDEST WEATHER NET" + MISSISSIPPI HAMFEST FORUM REPORT HIGHLIGHTS KATRINA STATUS + LETTERS: RED CROSS BACKGROUND CHECKS + LETTERS: PERSONAL PUBLIC SERVICE RETROSPECTIVE + LETTERS: HELP WANTED + K1CE FOR A FINAL ==================================== + ECV SURVEY CLOSES DECEMBER 31 ARRL seeks data on mobile emergency communications vehicles: The League's National Emergency Response Planning Committee (NERPC) continues to invite responses from clubs or groups having access to an emergency communications vehicle (ECV). If your group has an ECV and has not yet participated in the survey, please have someone take a few minutes and be a part of this effort. The Committee's response to the ARRL Board is due in January. A number of responses have been received to date, but the Committee wants to collect as much information as possible to develop its report. As of November 29, clubs and groups had entered information on 29 ECVs into the survey database. Most ECVs are owned by individuals or local governments, 14 have portable repeaters onboard and another 25 have their own power generators. This information will help determine what assets are available and help in planning for future disasters. To participate, visit the Emergency Communications Vehicle Survey Web site <http://www.bullock.org/nerpc>. + MASSACHUSETTS ARES/RACES ACTIVATES FOR EXPLOSION Eastern Massachusetts ARES and RACES teams went on alert November 22 after an early-morning explosion destroyed a paint and ink plant in Danvers, 15 miles north of Boston. The blast, felt as far away as Southern Maine, destroyed more than a dozen nearby homes and damaged upward of 100 others. Minutes after the 2:45 AM explosion North Shore ARES members initiated an informal net on a Danvers repeater while monitoring the situation. The blast awakened North shore EC Jim Palmer, KB1KQW, who lives about a mile from the plant site. "As soon as I heard the explosion, I followed our well-established ARES protocols by getting on my local SKYWARN/ARES frequency and starting an informal net," Palmer said. "I also monitored my scanner to hear information directly from the incident area." DEC Eric Horwitz, KA1NCF, and Eastern Massachusetts SEC Rob Macedo, KD1CY, were notified, as well as Region One RACES Radio Officer Terry Stader, KA8SCP. Macedo contacted Massachusetts Bay Red Cross, which opened a shelter at Danvers High School to accommodate some 100 to 150 displaced residents. Radio amateurs were ready to provide communication support for the Red Cross or other agencies. "We continued the informal net until 6 PM and secured," Macedo said. "No deployments were required, but we were ready to deploy if needed. We had over 40 check-ins to the informal net and between 6 and 12 amateurs ready for deployment." - excerpted from the ARRL Letter + FLORIDA COUNTY USAR TEAMS UP WITH AMATEUR RADIO, CERT, OTHERS The Alachua County (Florida) Fire Rescue's Reserve Division K-9 Search and Rescue unit has teamed up with local radio amateurs, members of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and reserve EMTs to form a combined resources team for improved wilderness and urban search and rescue (USAR). In November, the USAR K-9 team initiated training in basic SAR skills for the new team members. Held near the Gainesville Airport, team members conducted practice searches and practiced skills required for the NASAR SARTECH II certification. Nearly 20 volunteers participated in the on-going training, learned teamwork, and were cross-trained in skills such as medical, communications, and navigation. The team's goal is to increase their response capability and improve the level of service to the community. + EMCOMM IN THE AFTERMATH OF CASTRO'S DEATH The Miami Herald ran an interesting article this week about the extensive preparations being undertaken by the State of Florida, DHS, and others to prepare for events in the aftermath of Cuban President Fidel Castro's death. The article cited potential problems with communications. It would seem to me that in the event of widespread civil unrest in Cuba, Amateur Radio could help in the following areas: (1) Handling direct requests from the population of Cuba for aid, emergency supplies, etc.; (2) Providing real time intelligence about conditions on the ground, by relaying reports from Cuban amateurs; and (3) Relaying critical communications for the US entities on nets like MARS, SHARES, Maritime Mobile Nets, etc. It would be interesting to hear if any of the various ARES groups have started to train or prepare for this eventuality. -- Les Rayburn, N1LF, Helena, AL, Official Emergency Station [As IARU Region 2 EMCOR, I can tell readers that there is a robust amateur radio emergency communications community in Cuba. Of all the countries in Region 2, Cuba's radio amateurs are at the top of the list for severe weather and other emergency communications planning and practice. - K1CE] + LETTERS: "NATION'S OLDEST WEATHER NET" In the November ARES E-letter I read with interest the item about Wisconsin's Badger Weather Net. The net was described as the nation's oldest weather net, organized in December 1964. While this net has been in operation for a long time, there is another Weather net called "The New England Weather Net," operating continuously even longer, since December, 1955. I first checked into the New England Weather Net in August 1959, and am currently the Tuesday net control operator. I have been active in this net for the last 47 years serving as net control for much of that time. The New England Weather Net was founded by a small group of amateurs in the Boston-Cape Cod area who were interested in exchanging weather information and communicating with other amateurs involved in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the "Texas Towers" early off-shore radar detection operations. Members of the Weather Net were able to provide that vital link to the mainland that was so appreciated by those stationed at sea and on the towers. The net is still active today with 30 to 40 stations reporting their weather conditions each morning from all of New England, to as far north as Nova Scotia, as far south as Florida, and as far west as Idaho. There are check-ins from 17 states, primarily in the eastern section of the country. The net meets each morning from 0530 to 0620 local time. At 0620, a summary of the reports received is given by the net control station. Each report contains the station's temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, cloud cover, precipitation amounts, 24 hour temperature gradient and any other data the reporting station wishes to give. All stations are welcome and no membership is required. We meet every day except Sunday on 75 meters at 3905 kHz. Additional information can be received by contacting the net manager Dave Haas, N1PT, Lancaster, New Hampshire. See <http://newn.org/about_newn.asp> -- John P. Bretz, KE2EA <KE2EA@infoblvd.net>; + MISSISSIPPI HAMFEST FORUM REPORT HIGHLIGHTS KATRINA STATUS [ARRL Delta Division Director Henry Leggette, WD4Q, and Vice Director Karl Bullock, WA5TMC, attended the Ocean Springs, Mississippi Hamfest last month. Here are portions of Bullock's report. - ed.] This was the first hamfest I'd been to on the Gulf Coast since Katrina. The hamfest was a success, though the clubs there have lost membership, and are in the rebuilding stage. The ARRL Forum was the liveliest ever. The attendees were the hams who walked through the fire last year, and we listened carefully. TRAINING. "We're going to have to look at NIMS training, whether we like it or not", was a recurring comment, along with "but, none of these courses instruct hams how to communicate in an emergency. Such training should be done in person. Clubs would be ideal for conducting this training. Certification would be nice upon completion. Needed is a syllabus, and some training aids, probably in the form of a DVD video that clubs could obtain at minimal cost from the ARRL." Other comments: Assembling a working station isn't enough. Training on message handling is needed. Attendees liked our idea of having HQ originate test emergency messages, in addition to taking another look at strengthening the SET. "We weren't ready then, and we're not ready now," was a resonant comment. LICENSE EXAMS. There should be some emphasis on emergency communications in the VEC Question pool. LACK OF EQUIPMENT. On the coast, pre-disaster, the local hams had constructed an emergency communications station complete with equipment necessary to manage a large-scale local disaster. They had radios across the spectrum, including SHARES, local government, HF, VHF, digital, antennas, and backup power with fuel. It was totally destroyed in the early hours of Katrina. Nothing else came close to providing that capability, and equipment that would show up would disappear when those who brought it had to go home. The equipment from HQ was welcome, but again, not everything the operators needed. They didn't have a solution to the problem, but we do need to look at providing more capability in these large disasters. -- Karl Bullock, WA5TMC, Delta Division Vice Director, and member, ARRL National Emergency Response Planning Committee + LETTERS: RED CROSS BACKGROUND CHECKS As for the Red Cross background checks, I am concerned about identity theft and exposure to errors that are inherent in any system. Would the Red Cross be liable for my costs to correct problems? What protection is offered? I know of two people who have still not recovered from theft of their identity. I will decline the overly broad demand of every bit of personal information that is required to be authorized for collection. I can see the criminal check for people who are working with kids and stressed adults, but what business is it of theirs to find out that I owe no one anything and have never missed a payment? I have done checks with the three reporting companies and have found errors like one that listed some 20 credit cards as active when the number is just three. I will probably drop out of ARES and concentrate on RACES where the Vermont DPS has already run a more reasonable background check. -- Gordon Pugh, PE, W2NH + LETTERS: PERSONAL PUBLIC SERVICE RETROSPECTIVE Last night I was watching a TV program on the 1996 civil war in Liberia. At the time of the conflict, I was tuning around on 20 meters when I heard an emergency call to any US ham. For the next several hours I relayed information from our embassy in Liberia to the State Department in Washington concerning health and welfare. Rebels had taken over the capitol and shut off all communications. Our embassy was able to communicate using ham radio as hundreds of people herded into the embassy compound for safety. I was a first responder at Ground Zero, 9/11. Again, I concentrated on performing the communications job at hand and was not able to contemplate the event's significance, as the rest of the world could. There was info going out of the area, but none coming in. The helplessness of the country as they saw the damage in New York and Washington must have been terrible. I feel it now, as, after watching that TV program, I now feel what went on in Liberia in 1996, when I was doing my communications "job." In 1996 I had no idea of the slaughter that was taking place in that country, nor its significance. Perspective during an emergency is a strange thing: it's lost. During an emergency we are so focused on doing what needs to be done that we lose the impact of the event and the feelings that other people experience. Amateur Radio has allowed me to help others, but I feel as if I have missed real-time significance by being in another "loop." - Bob Hejl, W2IK + LETTERS: HELP WANTED Our ARES district has been asked by a local fire department to teach a basic license course for their radio dispatchers. Regional police have also indicated an interest in a similar course, and efforts are underway to involve dispatchers from two other fire services. Having taught adult learners for a living, I know how important it is to make the information relevant to their jobs. That's where I need some assistance. Apparently, the idea of dispatchers having radio amateur licenses came from a conference in the U.S. I'd sincerely appreciate hearing from anyone who may have attended such a conference session, or anyone who may be teaching a similar course. -- Gord Hewit, VE3GIH, <VE3GIH@rac.ca>; + K1CE FOR A FINAL It's the time of year for cheer, friends, family, reflection, but also melancholy and loss. We recently lost SEC John Warne, K4KAM. Joe Bushel, W2DWR, writes: "He was a Ham's Ham, and a tremendous friend. During the years that I knew John, I found him to be always there when I needed his advice, which I often did, and he never shirked a request for assistance. He fought illness for years with a positive attitude in all he did. When North Florida lost John Warne, they lost a terrific ham and a very dear friend." ________________ For us sentimental old fools, check out http://www.novice.bappy.com/ for a short walk down memory lane. ________________ And finally, a gem from Joe Shea, of the HQ's Production staff, reflecting on the FCC's Morse code decision, sung to the tune of "Mr. Ed": A Morse is a Morse, of course, of course, And no one can talk with Morse of course, That is, of course, unless the course is taught by A-R-R-L. Go right to the source and ask about Morse, We'll give you a program that you'll endorse, You'll always stay on a steady course, Contact A-R-R-L. Phone ops yakkity yak a streak and waste your time of day, But Morse operators will never "speak" unless they have something to say A ham is a ham, of course, of course, And some will talk 'til their "voice" is hoarse; Would you rather sound like a horse's a--? Well why not learn this: "dot-dit-dit-dit-dash" ________________ Happy Holidays! Keep warm by those glowing rectifier tubes! 73, Rick, K1CE
