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CX2SA > ARES 21.09.20 13:31z 456 Lines 22966 Bytes #999 (0) @ ARRL
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Subj: ARES E-Letter September 16, 2020
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From: CX2SA@CX2SA.SAL.URY.SOAM
To : ARES@ARRL
The ARES E-Letter September 16, 2020
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
- Amateurs Support Hurricane Laura Disaster Response
- Public Information Officers' Key Role in Emergency/Disaster
- Former FEMA Administrator Advocates Using Mesh Networks for Disasters
- September is National Preparedness Month
- ARRL Learning Network Seeks Speakers on Emergency Communications
ARES© Briefs, Links
Amateurs Support Response to Iowa Derecho -- A derecho hit South Dakota,
Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio on Monday,
August 10, 2020. The storm had a duration of 45 minutes, with sustained wind
speeds of up to 140 MPH. FEMA declared Linn County, Iowa, including the city
of Cedar Rapids, a Major Disaster. [A derecho is a straight-line wind storm
that is associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms known as
a mesoscale convective system and potentially rivaling hurricane and tornado
force. Derechos can cause hurricane-force winds, tornadoes, heavy rains, and
flash floods. Click here for procedural information regarding the Stafford
Act disaster declaration process. - Ed.]
Linn County amateur radio operators were a vital source of community safety
information. The derecho caused the loss of landline and cell phone service,
internet, local TV and radio, and NWS information. After the storm, most of
the local public safety and amateur radio repeaters remained accessible on
emergency backup power. Local hams conducted a net for 6 days, providing
assistance with health and welfare checks and sharing information about gas,
food, generators, and disaster-related safety issues.
Iowa ARRL Section Manager Lelia Garner, WA0UIG, reported that the Cedar
Rapids community is beginning the long-term recovery process after 2 weeks
of heavy lifting to repair, replace, and restore power and communication
services. Recovery from the derecho includes addressing widespread damage to
the amateur radio communications infrastructure that proved essential to
life and safety in this disaster.
________
Fires Prompt Sacramento Valley, California, ARES to Activate -- On Saturday,
August 15, 2020, the Sacramento Valley and other parts of California
suffered from an unprecedented electrical storm that ignited approximately
30 fires or "complex of large fire starts" with more than 300 total new
starts. Northern California alone, including the Sacramento Valley, had
approximately 12 fire or "complex of fires" starts.
ARRL Sacramento Valley Section ARES teams were activated on a stand by
capacity. More than 100 members from Sacramento north to the Oregon border
volunteered to assist. Several of these volunteers were personally affected
by the fires by being either evacuated, or in an area where they may have
had to evacuate at any time.
The primary reason for the activation was to assist the American Red Cross
with potential Sheltering operations. The Red Cross opened three shelters in
the fire zones and hotels were used to house additional evacuees.
Sacramento Valley's ARES teams stood down on Saturday, August 22, 2020. The
Red Cross leadership in the area had reported that the situations were
stabilizing and thanked members for being ready to support and assist. --
Michael Joseph, KK6ZGB, ARRL Sacramento Valley Public Information Officer
_____________
Next Nationwide Red Cross Exercise Set for November 14 -- Building on the
success and the lessons learned from the May 30, 2020 nationwide Red Cross
exercise, the planning group is preparing a second exercise for November 14,
2020. In May, amateurs learned several valuable lessons on how to request,
pass/send and report information. ARES along with Red Cross and SATERN
operators across the country filed reports via Winlink using VHF, HF and
standard internet connections. With hurricane season upon us and parts of
the northeast just recovering from tropical storm Isaias, it is important
for all ARES operators to know how to send and receive messages via Winlink
and other systems - the November 14 exercise will provide a good opportunity
for such learning and practice.
The ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) weekend this year is October 3 and
4. With the Red Cross event scheduled for November 14, messages generated
from the earlier SET activity should qualify for handling in this drill.
Watch for further details, and be ready to be a part of a pair of the most
significant exercises in the country this year. Further information is
available from the liaison committee: Wayne Robertson, K4WK, Team Lead;
Rosty Slabicky, W2ROS, Red Cross Disaster Services; Mike Walters, W8ZY, ARES
Liaison -- Thanks, Mike Walters, W8ZY, Connecticut Section Emergency
Coordinator
_________________
5 Centimeter Ham Band Used For Wildfire Report -- Emergency communications
via amateur radio isn't always about audio, sometimes it is about video.
This was the case on the morning of September 8, 2020, when two hams in the
Puget Sound region of Washington State were watching the live camera feed
from the Mt. Baldi HamWAN site and spotted a wildfire in the surrounding
forest.
After a brief chat in the IRC chat room, Ian Gallagher, KE7MAP, was the
first person to report the fire to the Washington Department of Natural
Resources/Wildfires.
Later that day, State Route 410 was closed to motorists and it was not
expected to open until the following week. The following afternoon, Nigel
Vander Houwen, K7NVH, used the Mt. Baldi HamWAN camera to capture a video of
an air tanker dropping water on the fire. Two days after the fire reports,
updated GPS information recorded the fire perimeter of the "Fish Fire" at
120 acres (10% contained), down slightly from the initial estimate. This
could have been far worse had it not been for the early reporting by amateur
radio.
Initiated in 2013, HamWAN (Ham Wide Area Network) is a system of commercial
microwave radios tuned to the 5.65-5.925 GHz amateur radio band. The
installations consist of dish style radio antennas for point-to-point signal
distribution, and up to three 120ø sector antennas for client connections to
the radio-based data network. Data speeds between the link sites vary
depending on the path, but speeds four orders of magnitude faster than 9600
baud packet is common. Sunba cameras with semi-public PTZ control have been
added to many of the link sites.
The adoption of HamWAN as a backup emergency communications system
throughout the Interstate-5 corridor in Washington is growing. The
Washington Emergency Management Division EOC, the Washington State
Department of Transportation Southwest Region EOC, two county and four city
EOCs, three hospitals, and one Red Cross office already have permanent
connections (so far). HamWAN carries a portion of the DMR backbone so that
system can remain operational when the internet fails. -- Steve Aberle,
WA7PTM, Asst. State RACES Officer, Washington
__________________
Amateurs Support Hurricane Laura Disaster Response
--------------------------------------------------
The unprecedented Hurricane Laura event began in late August as two tropical
storms entered the Gulf of Mexico -- two potential hurricanes that
threatened the Gulf Coast at the same time.
Tropical Storm (TS) Marco never realized its potential to become a
hurricane. Marco traveled across the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico
striking southeastern Louisiana on August 24 near the mouth of the
Mississippi River before turning south along the Gulf coast and dissipating.
Tropical Storm Laura proceeded into the Gulf and once reaching much warmer
waters quickly grew from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane.
Hurricane Laura followed TS Marco with a one-two punch to the
Louisiana-Texas coast coming ashore at Cameron, Louisiana on August 27 with
CAT 4, and nearly CAT 5 winds, rain and storm surge.
Laura, once ashore, turned north taking CAT 2 and CAT 1 force winds up
through Louisiana into Arkansas. As Laura moved into Arkansas, damage from
wind and flooding occurred. Laura then turned east across the mid-eastern
states exiting into the Atlantic on August 27 where it finally dissipated.
Significant wind damage and flooding also occurred in southeastern Texas, in
the Beaumont area, and northward.
Power, public safety and commercial communications outages were reported as
Laura progressed. At one point nearly 750,000 customers were out of power
and 77 cell sites were reported down. As of September 2, power outages were
down to approximately 250,000 and cellular service was reporting less than 7
percent of the affected area non-operational. Public Safety communications
fared well with few outages, mostly from power or wind issues.
Louisiana and Delta Division
The majority of ARES activity was in Louisiana. Section Emergency
Coordinator James Coleman, AI5B, provided excellent SITREPs as the storm
traversed his state. ARES activity from the Louisiana Section included
activation of the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency
Preparedness (GOHSEP) station, the Delta Division and Louisiana Section ARES
Emergency Nets as well as numerous local ARES teams and nets.
As the storm moved inland it caused significant damage to some areas,
notably the Lake Charles area, which reported power outages and loss of
Public Safety, cellular, and commercial broadcast services.
The storm moved on, affecting Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi with
heavy rains. ARES volunteers were placed on active standby, with some
serving at emergency operations center stations where requested.
Southeastern Division
ARES members in the Southeastern Division prepared for action as Marco
appeared it was going to strike Florida or Alabama coasts. Marco turned and
did not strike their coastlines, but ARES members were ready. Laura did
deposit rain and wind in Alabama with some flooding and wind damage.
West Gulf Division
In Oklahoma, ARES volunteers were placed on active standby and in Texas,
ARES was placed on active standby to assist as needed to the communities
along the Texas-Louisiana state line. While heavy flooding was reported,
there were not any known requests for activation from Texas emergency
communications officials.
The West Gulf Division Communications Task Force teams were placed on
standby in case of need for long to short range amateur radio communication
needs. The teams were equipped with Ham-Aid kits from ARRL HQ that included
Winlink modems, HF and VHF-UHF radios.
ARRL
Additional emergency communications kits (Ham Aid) from ARRL had been
pre-positioned in Louisiana and the other Gulf states in 2018-2019 in
preparation for this and other weather events and could have been used if
needed.
At ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, the Headquarters Emergency
Response Team (HQERT) was activated and its members were provided with
updates on the storms progress via the National Hurricane Center, ARES field
personnel, and various media outlets.
ARRL and W1AW were prepared to respond to any needs brought forth by the
sections affected by Laura and Marco. ARRL asked the FCC to issue a 30-day
rules waiver to facilitate PACTOR 4 relief communications in the wake of
Hurricane Laura. The waiver temporarily permitted amateur data transmissions
at the higher symbol rate of PACTOR 4.
ARRL sent emails to all Gulf coast Sections, including South and North
Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Northern Florida, West
Central Florida, and Southern Florida, soliciting information on requests
for assistance and situation reports reporting on where amateur radio was
being utilized in standby or activations, and operations.
ARRL Headquarters maintained constant communications with section leadership
throughout the affected states via phone, email and online video conferences
using Zoom throughout the week into the weekend.
W1AW went to standby status at 1600 EDT on Thursday, August 27. While W1AW
was not called upon to relay emergency or priority traffic it was prepared
to do so. In conclusion, amateur radio was ready and met the needs of those
that called for it. Incidents such as Marco and Laura are a prime reason to
always be prepared to meet the call for help whether it is radio or
logistics related by a served agency. - Paul Gilbert, KE5ZW, ARRL Director
of Emergency Management
Lessons Learned
Louisiana Section Emergency Coordinator and former Section Manager James M.
Coleman, AI5B, presented his view of the key takeaways for future responses.
Before an event:
ú Section ARES Emergency Communications Plan updated in place and available.
ú ICS 217 (Communications Resource Availability Form) at the Section,
District, and County levels in place and available.
ú Experienced net control operators for local VHF nets, HF traffic nets,
Section-level HF ARES Net, and HF Emergency Net to operate as a team.
ú Well-developed team of Division-level cabinet members operating as a team.
ú Well-developed Section-level leadership operating as a team.
ú Longstanding, frequently used social media presence for ARES related
information.
ú Fully populated ARES Connect database for effective email information
distribution to all ARES members (not just leadership).
During an event:
ú Begin social media weather alerts approximately 4 days before landfall to
build awareness.
ú Begin Situation Report distribution to entire ARES membership
approximately 36 hours before landfall.
ú Information distribution includes ALERT and STANDBY notifications, ICS
205s and key ICS 205 data in consumer-friendly format.
ú Carefully coordinate net STANDBY and ACTIVATION dates and times to
maximize usefulness and minimize burnout.
ú Return system to NORMAL as soon as possible (for personnel safety).
In the Hurricane Laura event, the following resulted in a return to NORMAL
status shortly after the storm exited the Section:
ú Hardening of communication infrastructure during the 15 years subsequent
to Katrina resulted in just enough redundancy to maintain field
communication by public safety radios and cell phones during the period just
after the event and before remediation personnel arrival.
ú The storm's landfall footprint was narrow enough to allow surrounding
infrastructure to pick up the load during the search and rescue period.
ú Sufficient Cellular on Wheels (COWs) and aerial cell sites were placed in
service to assume the increased communication demands during the present
remediation efforts.
Hurricane Watch Net
The venerable Hurricane Watch Net logged almost 30 hours of continuous
operation. Read the full story here.
Public Information Officers' Key Role in Emergency/Disaster
-----------------------------------------------------------
ARRL Public Information Officers (PIOs) play an important role in promoting
amateur radio throughout an emergency or other crisis, and reporting on the
good work of our fellow volunteers. PIOs can even be effective gatekeepers
between ARES volunteers and the media, allowing operational people to keep
doing their job during an emergency.
During the active hurricane season now under way, the ARRL Headquarters
Emergency Response Team is monitoring storm activity, and Section leaders
are being encouraged to share activation reports, news of ARES net
activations including frequencies of operations, names of ARES groups called
up, shelters being opened and staffed, numbers of operators involved or
needed, etc., with section PIOs and ARRL News, which has posted stories
including summaries from the Hurricane Watch Net, Section Emergency
Coordinators, Section Traffic Managers, and ARES teams in the field.
News and media hits mentioning the response of radio amateurs should be
emailed to newsmedia@arrl.org. You can also share your media hits via this
reflector - so we can all learn together. It's helpful to see what attracts
the attention of the media. Media hits are regularly posted by ARRL at
www.arrl.org/media-hits. PIOs and PICs in affected and nearby Sections and
Divisions are encouraged to follow information updates from their Section
Emergency Coordinators and Section Managers. Remember, it's always best for
PIOs and PICs to have a well-established relationship with Section leaders
and ARES groups BEFORE an emergency. A well-coordinated effort ensures PIOs
and PICs get the information you need to share with news and media outlets.
Finally, if you are a designated spokesperson for an ARES group or other
Section emergency group, make sure you have some basic info before speaking
with the media. Review public information with served agency PIOs when
possible and when required. - ARRL HQ
Former FEMA Administrator Advocates Using Mesh Networks for Disasters
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Former Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Administrator
Craig Fugate, KK4INZ, encouraged the use of mesh networking to help empower
volunteers during natural disasters, such as hurricanes and wildfires.
During a keynote at the International Wireless Communications Expo's (IWCE)
Virtual Event, Fugate noted "By building these types of networks, you can
put people back into communication and put people to work where they're
needed." He encouraged public safety agencies to work with local amateur
radio groups and commercial providers to create solutions that can build
these mesh networks when the main network goes down. [See the August 2020
issue of the ARES Letter for a story on how mesh networking is gaining
traction in Ohio - Ed.] .-- FEMA Disaster Emergency Communications News
Clippings and Topics of Interest Vol. 9 Issue 16, August 16-31, 2020
September is National Preparedness Month
----------------------------------------
National Preparedness Month (NPM) is recognized each September to promote
family and community disaster planning now and throughout the year. As our
nation continues to respond to COVID-19, there is no better time to be
involved this September. The 2020 NPM theme is: "Disasters Don't Wait. Make
Your Plan Today."
Make A Plan: Talk to your friends and family about how you will communicate
before, during, and after a disaster. Make sure to update your plan based on
the Centers for Disease Control recommendations due to the coronavirus.
Build A Kit: Gather supplies that will last for several days after a
disaster for everyone living in your home. Don't forget to consider the
unique needs each person or pet may have in case you have to evacuate
quickly. Update your kits and supplies based on recommendations by the
Centers for Disease Control.
Prepare for Disasters: Limit the impacts that disasters have on you and your
family. Know the risk of disasters in your area and check your insurance
coverage. Learn how to make your home stronger in the face of storms and
other common hazards and act fast if you receive a local warning or alert.
Teach Youth About Preparedness: Talk to your kids about preparing for
emergencies and what to do in case you are separated. Reassure them by
providing information about how they can get involved. [In June 2003, ARRL
became an official affiliate program of Citizens Corp, an initiative within
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to enhance public preparedness and
safety. [Please see Ready.gov -- Ed.]
ARRL Learning Network Seeks Speakers on Emergency Communications
----------------------------------------------------------------
The ARRL Learning Network is seeking speakers on the subject of emergency
communications, among other topics. The webinar series has become popular:
During the months of July and August the ARRL Learning Network offered seven
webinars presented by member-volunteers, with over 1,500 live attendees. The
ARRL Learning Network is looking forward to offering more webinars every
month. The schedule for September and October can be found online, along
with a link to recordings of past sessions. More webinars are added
regularly: http://www.arrl.org/arrl-learning-network We are looking for
prospective speakers on emergency communications and other subjects:
http://www.arrl.org/ARRL-Learning-Network-Speakers-Form
-- Kris Bickell, K1BIC, ARRL Lifelong Learning Manager
__________
ARES Resources
ú Download the ARES Manual [PDF]
ú ARES Field Resources Manual [PDF]
ú ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Fillable PDF]
ú ARES Standardized Training Plan Task Book [Word]
ú ARES Plan
ú ARES Group Registration
ú Emergency Communications Training
The Amateur Radio Emergency Service© (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs
who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment, with
their local ARES leadership, for communications duty in the public service
when disaster strikes. Every licensed amateur, regardless of membership in
ARRL or any other local or national organization is eligible to apply for
membership in ARES. Training may be required or desired to participate fully
in ARES. Please inquire at the local level for specific information. Because
ARES is an amateur radio program, only licensed radio amateurs are eligible
for membership. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is desirable,
but is not a requirement for membership.
How to Get Involved in ARES: Fill out the ARES Registration form and submit
it to your local Emergency Coordinator.
ARRL Resources
Join or Renew Today! Eligible US-based members can elect to receive QST or
On the Air magazine in print when they join ARRL or when they renew their
membership. All members can access digital editions of all four ARRL
magazines: QST, On the Air, QEX, and NCJ.
Subscribe to NCJ -- the National Contest Journal. Published bimonthly,
features articles by top contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA
Sprint and QSO Parties.
Subscribe to QEX -- A Forum for Communications Experimenters. Published
bimonthly, features technical articles, construction projects, columns, and
other items of interest to radio amateurs and communications professionals.
Free of charge to ARRL members: Subscribe to the ARES Letter (monthly public
service and emergency communications news), the ARRL Contest Update
(biweekly contest newsletter), Division and Section news alerts -- and much
more!
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ARRL offers a wide array of products to enhance your enjoyment of amateur
radio.
Donate to the fund of your choice -- support programs not funded by member
dues!
Click here to advertise in this newsletter, space subject to availability.
__________
The ARES Letter is published on the third Wednesday of each month. ARRL
members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data
Page as described at http://www.arrl.org/ares-e-letter.
Copyright ¸ 2020 American Radio Relay League, Incorporated. Use and
distribution of this publication, or any portion thereof, is permitted for
non-commercial or educational purposes, with attribution. All other purposes
require written permission.
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