ARES Letter for December 17, 2008

The ARES E-Letter
December 18, 2008
================= 

Rick Palm, K1CE, Editor

<http://www.qrz.com/database?callsign=K1CE>,

===================================
ARES reports, other related contributions, editorial questions or
comments: <k1ce@arrl.net>;;; 
===================================

+ The View from Flagler County

Steve Harding, KT6Z, of Lincoln, California, writes "Where is Flagler
County?" 

Dear Steve (and you, the other 32,000 plus subscribers to this
newsletter): Named after the robber baron, Flagler is a small county
on the north-central east coast (the "First Coast") of Florida,
between famous Daytona Beach, and historic St. Augustine. The area
features 18 miles of well-populated coastline, and a
sparsely-populated, rural, agricultural inland aspect, full of woods,
farms and lakes. A few years ago, it was the fastest growing county
in the country. Like everywhere in Florida, it is a target for
hurricanes. Flagler is not a tornado alley as in other parts of the
country, but we do have tornadoes on occasion. Thus, we are prone to
disaster, and have a robust panoply of emcomm groups, including ARES
of course, CERT, SKYWARN, REACT, GMRS, and the Flagler Emergency
Communications Association (FECA), which provides repeaters and
serves as a platform for many of these organizations. Another large
club in the area, the Flagler Palm Coast ARC, is involved with the
CERT program and also provides repeater and other support. Flagler
County is home to the corporate campus of the ARES E-Letter
(actually, a small room in the back of my house that doubles as a ham
shack). Thanks for asking, Steve!
____

I recently heard from Art Feller, W4ART, an old friend and former
Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance Communications Specialist.
(OFDA is part of the Agency for International Development (AID),
which is part of the U.S. State Department. I traveled extensively
with Art throughout the hemisphere in the late '80s and early '90s,
giving lectures on panels involving disaster communications to
governmental entities in places like St. Lucia, Jamaica, and Trinidad
and Tobago. Art's presentation on disaster communications modalities
always included a big section on Amateur Radio. We also had a lot of
fun, meeting the local hams. Art retired, and I lost track of him
until recently. He wrote to remind me of a few key definitions that
he used in all of his lectures: 

Emergency: an event requiring quick action to avoid serious
consequences. 
 
Disaster: a catastrophic event that exceeds the ability of the
community to cope. ("Community" may be anything from a household to a
planet; disasters can occur on different scales.) 
 
Art also wrote that "Flagler County is trying to prepare its local
Amateur Radio operators, which is wonderful. But, remember, a
disaster exceeds the ability of the community to cope, including
Flagler county. Therefore, help will be required from outside the
community. We, as Amateur Radio operators, have the flexibility to
help each other with better interoperability capability than most.
Thus, common and relevant training needs to be as widely available as
possible to enable all of us to work together." - Art Feller, W4ART,
Arlington, Virginia, retired OFDA Communications Specialist, Agency
for International Development, U.S. State Department

Art Feller, W4ART, is one of the lost unsung heroes of ITU Region 2
emergency communications. 

______
In This Issue:

+ Dartmouth, Massachusetts: SAR a Hundred Miles Away
+ Joint SAR Exercise With Georgia Appalachian Trail Club
+ Manchester, Connecticut: From SAR Drill to Emergency Activation
+ New Madrid Fault Report Released
+ Voice Radio Communications Guide for the Fire Service Released
+ LETTERS: More on Repeater Frequencies Availability
+ K1CE For a Final
_______

+ Dartmouth, Massachusetts: SAR a Hundred Miles Away

October 11, 2008 was one year to the day that an individual, Charlie
Allen, was last seen running into the woods in a manic state in
Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Although his sneakers and backpack were
recovered, nothing else was ever found. The Connecticut Canine Search
and Rescue team, affiliated with the Manchester Office of Emergency
Management's CERT team, was contacted this past September to assist
in a joint search operation on October 10, 11, and 12.  

The Town of Manchester has developed an integrated team of Emergency
Management volunteers called a Community Emergency Response Team
(CERT), comprised of three groups that joined forces to offer their
specialties: EMCOMM (55 Amateur Radio operators and foot searchers),
MBSAR (a 20 person Mountain Bike Search and Rescue team), and CCSAR
(a 20 person and 12 trained search dog team, the Connecticut Canine
Search and Rescue).  

In the past year, the combined teams have drilled in missing person
searches, pandemic flu outbreaks, radio signal propagation surveys as
well as assisted in numerous local search and recovery missions. Here
was the opportunity to use our training, a hundred miles away in
Dartmouth.

Upon arrival in Dartmouth, 200 volunteers were assembled, including a
large contingent from the Bristol County Sheriff's Office. The lead
investigator spoke, as did the passionate family of the missing man.
 
The mountain bike team searched an area with 40 miles of single-track
trails; they were in constant communications with the Command Post.
The EMCOMM teams worked with CCSAR dog teams for communication
support in their assigned grid searches. Other EMCOMM teams performed
line searches. All communication was accomplished with 2 meter HT's
in the field and the EMCOMM outposts used their go kits, built from
various radio gear manufacturers, to provide 50 watts of
communications support to the outlying areas. All teams, in the many
search areas, marked the exact location(s) of all clues found during
their searches using GPS and UTM grid coordinates. 

As the hours passed, the radio traffic would peak when potential
clues were found and the investigators were called in to retrieve the
item(s).  Many items were retrieved including handguns, not related
to the lost person. All of the items were sent to FBI labs for
further investigation.

As the day closed to an end, the Red Cross tents offered hot meals
and it was a time to reflect on our training and what we can do
better or different tomorrow. We covered a lot of ground, and most of
all, showed the family that a team from a hundred miles away came to
help them.  -- Kurt Wagner, K1MTB, Manchester, Connecticut

+ Joint SAR Exercise With Georgia Appalachian Trail Club

Nineteen Gwinnett County (Georgia) ARES members participated in a
joint search and rescue training exercise with the Georgia
Appalachian Trail Club. The exercise was organized by Eddie Foust,
WD4JEM, who is a member of both organizations. The Incident Commander
was Mike Reiser, WB4WTL. The group assembled at Little Mulberry Park
in northeast Gwinnett County on Saturday morning, November 22, for a
briefing and assignments. The park encompasses about 900 acres, much
of which is undeveloped and provided a realistic environment.

The ARES Mobile Communications Vehicle trailer was onsite and
provided support for Net Control operations. All communications were
handled on simplex to simulate remote search conditions with no
available repeaters. ARES members were assigned to search teams as
communicators. The exercise used the ICS structure for organization
to give both groups experience for future operations.
 
The exercise provided many lessons learned from the challenges of
simplex communications over the large area of the Park. Field teams
within range of remote teams and Net Control served as relays, but
slowed communications and search area coverage. GATC members
participating in the exercise did not have any previous experience
working with communicators as a part of teams.

The exercise concluded with a thorough debriefing and plan to conduct
additional joint exercises. After the exposure to Amateur Radio, some
GATC members plan to obtain their licenses. Gwinnett ARES regularly
conducts its exercises with a variety of groups and agencies to
jointly gain experience for future operations. -- John A. Davis,
WB4QDX, EC, Gwinnett County, Georgia, ARES <wb4qdx@arrl.net>;

+ Manchester, Connecticut: From SAR Drill to Emergency Activation

The scenario was daunting: Find two lost hikers with possible
hypothermia over 33 miles of trails at night, in cold weather.

August 22 was a beautiful night for a drill on Case Mountain in
Manchester, Connecticut. The Manchester EMCOMM and CERT teams along
with the Glastonbury Fire Department were asked to find two lost
hikers with the temperature falling to the low 30's. The mock victims
were placed deep in the woods and the Connecticut State Police
Helicopter (Trooper 1) was to participate using their night vision
goggles to locate the mock victims. With 33 miles of trails, the five
teams of two bikers would take hours to search all the trails. This
was a perfect opportunity for the bikers to work with other resources
and the EMCOMM team to assist with communications and coordinate with
the Incident Command Post. 

Two EMCOMM teams staged in the woods were awaiting Trooper 1 to
locate the mock victims, and guide the bike team to the general area.
The EMCOMM teams, using two meter HT's, acted as communications relay
points for the bikers, who use very short range GMRS radios. The
EMCOMM teams would also serve as front line staging points in the
event additional resources were needed to shuttle emergency
equipment, and assist at guiding the resources in the right
direction.  

But, as the bike teams approached EMCOMM Team 1, Town of Manchester
Emergency Manager Don Janelle, N1DAJ, called to stop the drill, as
there was an actual emergency on the other side of town; EMCOMM
services were being requested. Trooper 1 was diverted to the same
call in search of a mentally challenged person who wandered away from
a group home.  

The mock victims were to be extracted, but something was terribly
wrong. At nighttime, simple trail navigation can become an
overwhelming task. It was reported to base command that the victims
took a wrong turn. Amateur Radio was used to keep communications open
with the three bike team members in the woods, and EMCOMM command
post as well as with newly-realized real victims. With the hills and
valleys, two meter communication was spotty. The bike team members
asked the victims to describe their terrain, and using these clues,
finally were able to guide them out to safety. 

Efforts were now brought to bear on the other side of Manchester for
the real activation. The EMCOMM team, bike team, and sister
organization CCSAR (Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue) were on
scene, with Dave Bidwell, N1ZNA, establishing a base station and net
control until the arrival of Don Janelle, N1DAJ, from the drill
location.  

EMCOMM/Bike Team member Kurt Wagner, K1MTB, used two meters for a
neighborhood communication relay with net control. All bike team
members carried GMRS radios and they would inform Wagner of their
location and streets that had been cleared. In the three hour search,
the five bike teams covered over 20 miles of roads, parks, woods,
reservoirs and hundreds of open shelter condo garages.

Francine Diana, K1ELI, gave up a party on her fortieth birthday to
work with Bruce Kramer, KB1QNO, to search a condominium complex and
adjoining neighborhood. No stone was left unturned as cars, garages,
porches and sheds were thoroughly searched.  

EMCOMM members Andy Zajak, N1ORK, and Paul Gibson, N1TUP, teamed with
their CCSAR team counterparts and their dogs. Their objective was to
search an area closest to the group home. One block from the group
home, a dog alerts and runs to his trainer, and led the team to the
missing person. He was hiding, not visible from the road, in foliage
between two houses. He appeared to be uninjured, but agitated. The
team immediately notified net control and help arrived quickly. 

The transfer from drill to activation was seamless. Once on scene,
all the training kicked in and everyone knew what his or her task
was; there was nothing to be done better.  On this night, it all came
together for the public interest. -- Kurt Wagner, K1MTB, Manchester,
CT EMCOMM

+ New Madrid Fault Report Released

Amateur groups in the southern and central United States usually
contend with severe weather, large scale accidents, missing person
searches, winter weather, and the occasional hurricane, but there is
another threat that we should plan and exercise for: A large scale
earthquake along the New Madrid fault zone. 
 
DHS/FEMA has just released a comprehensive new report on the threat
and it contains a wealth of information for those who may be planning
tabletop exercises or fodder for next year's SET. The complete report
is a large PDF file (over 70 megs) but well worth the download time.
A direct link to the full report is at: 
<https://www.ideals.uiuc.edu/bitstream/2142/8971/2/ImpactofEarthquakesontheCentralUSA.pdf>
 
Keep in mind that quakes in the New Madrid Fault Zone have produced
some of the largest ever recorded in US history. Earthquakes in 1811
and 1812 caused widespread damage, and loss of life even though the
region was sparsely populated compared to today. This report details
the "worst case scenario" for all states within the region. 
 
In Alabama, we could expect 13 "critical" counties in the northern
part of the state to be affected. While even these counties are on
the extreme perimeter of the impact zone, we would still experience
tens of thousands of homes experiencing moderate to complete damage.
The total among mobile homes is even higher. Damage to critical
infrastructure, including communications would be moderate, but would
still dwarf any other event in our state with the exception of a land
falling hurricane.
 
With impacts in surrounding states being far worse, we could expect
the need for Amateur Radio communications support to dwarf even that
of Katrina.  
 
According to the study, a major quake of magnitude 7.0 or higher in
the region within the next 50 years is better than 90%. We can't
afford not to include this in our planning. -- Les Rayburn, N1LF,
Alabama Section Emergency Coordinator; NCS-SHARES NCS-047

+ Voice Radio Communications Guide for the Fire Service Released
 
Amateurs who wish to keep abreast of public service communications
will find an updated guide useful. Here's the story and link: The new
Voice Radio Communications Guide for the Fire Service provides
updated information on communications technology and discusses
critical homeland security issues and concepts, such as SAFECOM, that
did not exist when the original manual was first published. It also
provides a wide fire service audience with a minimum level of
familiarity with basic communications issues such as hardware, policy
and procedures, and human interface. Available at:
<http://tinyurl.com/6lc2p5> -- Les Rayburn, N1LF, Alabama Section
Emergency Coordinator; NCS-SHARES NCS-047

+ LETTERS: More on Repeater Frequencies Availability

For a sample of key frequencies in an ARES area, check out the .pdf
file we have in Lane County, Oregon at
<http://www.valleyradioclub.org/home.htm> and click on ARES/RACES
Frequency Chart in the middle of the page. We also have a packet
frequency chart, as well as other ARES resources on that page. --
Mark Perrin, N7MQ, Lane County (Oregon) Emergency Coordinator,
ARES/RACES 

I do believe that a State or Regional list should be available for
ALL areas and easily accessible. Many State Coordination agencies
list their frequencies on-line, but some don't. Some won't list them
on-line because they want you to pay for the information by
purchasing their database book. Of course, the ARRL Repeater
Directory is available each year, but it does not identify primary
ARES/EMCOMM systems. I think one way to get this information out to
the EMCOMM community would be for the State Emergency Management
agencies to gather the data from their ARES/RACES coordinators and
post it on the State/Local EM Web site, as a publicly accessible
file.
 
On the topic of CTCSS tones, the idea of having system operators be
able to turn off the tone access in emergencies may cause more
problems than solutions. Most systems have resorted to CTCSS access
because of local interference, regional co-channel interference or by
Coordination Agency mandate. Especially with Coordination Agencies
dropping the accepted separation distances on co-channel operation to
as little as 70 miles or less, CTCSS is a must. For EMCOMM
operations, these primary systems do not need to be susceptible to
interference. 
 
Being involved in EM, ARES/RACES and Frequency Coordination, I have a
unique vantage point on these issues. I think there are some good
ideas being tossed around here; let it continue for the betterment of
Amateur Radio emcomm. -- Robert King, W5LVB, Arkansas ARES/RACES
District EC - K; Garland County, Arkansas EM Communications Officer;
Arkansas Repeater Council - Frequency Coordinator 

My thought on this matter is: Google is not the answer. The question
is the ready availability of information on repeaters in a limited
geographic region. I propose the best tactical answer is: APRS. 
Specifically, "Local Info objects" - see
<http://aprs.org/localinfo.html>. I read Mr. Bruninga's description
of the initiative and realized there was indeed a direct and
immediate application for it. As a result, and as a RACES member, I
have taken my own personal initiative to place an Antenna object with
a roughly accurate position and the full frequency and tone
requirements for key repeaters in the area on the 6m, 2m, 1.25m and
70cm bands. The County EOC has an object, as well as four key
Hospitals. I note for the benefit of anyone who wishes to emulate
what I've done in my area to use a path of no more than WIDE2 for
objects. There is little need or point to sending information about
an object well outside the range of the repeater. - Chris Sylvain,
KB3CS, Silver Spring, Maryland <kb3cs@arrl.net>;

+ K1CE For A Final

The holidays are a time for joy, but also a time for reflection on
what life means to give to others. I thought I would conclude this
holiday issue with a look at the life of one who gave of himself, as
an example for the rest of us. I never knew nor even heard of Bob,
nor KD7YVV, who kindly and thoughtfully wrote to inform me of Bob's
passing. Here is Bob's story in brief: Milton Robert Knight, W7MZO,
served two years in the Army Signal Corp near Anchorage, Alaska. He
graduated from Whitworth College in Spokane with a degree in Physics
and Engineering, and worked for 39 years as a design engineer and
supervisor for United Control/Sundstrand Data Control in Redmond.
Upon retirement, Bob organized and volunteered with the Kirkland
Amateur Radio Emergency Service. He also was a volunteer for the
Puget Sound Blood Center. Kirk Bellar, N7UK, King County DEC/RRO,
said Bob was EC for Kirkland until about four years ago, when he
stepped down for health reasons. George White, KD7YVV, of Kirkland,
wrote that "Bob introduced me to ARES back in 2003."

A life of service, lived well. And, a gift to us all. 

See you next year, when, beginning with the January issue, the ARES
E-Letter will be going to an HTML format, with cool pics and
graphics! Make sure to send photos along with your ARES reports. 73,
Rick, K1CE