ARES Letter for May 17, 2006

The ARES E-Letter
May 17, 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 county has a new EOC. The following is a quick tour by DEC and
county AEC Jay Musikar, AF2C, a veteran ARES leader here, who
represented us at the grand opening. (Some readers asked for the
location of Flagler county: We are in prime hurricane territory on
the east coast of Florida just north of Daytona Beach and south of
St. Augustine. The eastern part of the county along the coast is
becoming crowded, while the western part is rural, mostly wetlands)].


A new paradigm of EOCs in Florida opened on April 22, with many State
and local officials present for the ribbon cutting, along with
representatives of various ESF organizations. The 25,000 square foot
facility is designed to withstand winds of 185 mph and has the latest
technology, and ergonomics. The complex is equipped with two back-up
400 KW generators.

The role of ARES was discussed by EOC staff with guests touring the
"War Room." ARES, as a part of ESF 2, was credited with supplying
communications for the county when other services failed during the
wildfires of 1998, recent hurricanes and other major events. 

The Operations Center is a huge room equipped with four plasma
screens with LCD projectors. The room is designed to seat 35, and can
hold up to 60 reps from various ESF entities. Each position is
equipped with phones and computers.

Surrounding the main hub are conference rooms, a media room, 911
Center, broadcast center, Emergency Management office, ARES and REACT
facilities. ARES is good to go: We will conduct monthly meetings in
the new facility and train for emergencies there. Flagler ARES is
excited about operating and training from the new EOC.

====================
In This Issue:

+ APRIL ARES REPORTS
+ PERSPECTIVE: KATRINA OPS OBSERVATIONS
+ LETTERS:  USE "HAM" INSTEAD
+ OPINION: HARDENED 800 MHz SYSTEMS AND AMATEUR REPEATERS
+ EMCOMM HINTS AND KINKS
+ VALUE OF VOLUNTEER TIME UP 49 CENTS IN 2005
+ SOUTH CAROLINA ARES GROUP TO ACTIVATE EOC FOR FD
+ IN RE PERSPECTIVE: EMERGENCIES VERSUS DISASTERS
+ NEAR REAL TIME ALERT RESOURCE
+ AMATEUR RADIO AT THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CONFERENCE
+ 2006 FLORIDA GOVERNOR'S HURRICANE CONFERENCE
+ 2006 ARES E-LETTER TITLEIST SELECTED
+ K1CE FOR A FINAL

====================

+ APRIL ARES REPORTS

April 7, Western Tennessee -- ARES was activated for tornadoes. SEC
Jimmy Floyd, NQ4U, said more than 70 counties were affected. The NWS
issued more than 130 weather watches and warnings, and reported at
least 26 tornadoes. Twelve people died. The Middle Tennessee
Emergency Amateur Radio Society (MTEARS) repeater system carried
numerous reports of severe weather and damage to many areas of the
state. The MTEARS UHF system spans most of Tennessee, with Nashville
as its hub. Both the NWS and the Tennessee Emergency Management
Agency (TEMA) monitor the system. 

Wilson County EC Pete Navarra, K4IWX, said that because of
information relayed via Amateur Radio, his county was able to
dispatch three ambulances, two rescue trucks, one fire engine and a
host of CERT search-and-rescue responders and their mobile command
post to hard-hit Sumner County. "It was interesting to hear several
calls from the Metro Nashville Office of Emergency Management,
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and other local agencies trying
to communicate," he said. "Conventional methods of communication did
not work--even cell phone service in Wilson County had gone out.
Amateur Radio is needed and it works." -- Rick Lindquist, N1RL, ARRL
Letter

April 13, New Mexico -- A small, 150 acre fire near Mora roared into
a 10,000 acre blaze overnight. ARES in Santa Fe, Taos, Los Alamos and
Sandoval Counties were activated. Mike Scales, K5SCA, Gary Surad,
K5BIQ, Andrew Parker, KC5ZYF, Jay Miller, WA5WHN, and Don Scott,
N5UJT, all from the Sandoval County ARES, went to assist Mora County
Red Cross shelters and the New Mexico State Police Mobile Command
Center. All traffic was handled via voice through the 147.30 MHz Elk
Mountain Repeater, allowing direct communications with Santa Fe and
Rio Rancho, or VHF simplex. -- Charlie Christmann, K5CEC, ARRL PIO,
New Mexico Section

April 13, Iowa City, Iowa -- Tornadoes struck and hams from the Iowa
City Amateur Radio Club's HamRad group provided communications
between the Johnson County Emergency Management Agency (JCEMA) EOC
and Red Cross shelters set up in the area. HamRad is organized to
work with Johnson County in emergencies.

HamRad teams stayed on the job until the next day, when National
Guard units could take over command, ensuring that shelter management
and the EOC could communicate and serve victims.

Rhode Island - SEC Seán Brennan, KE1AB, <ke1ab@arrl.net>; was invited
to speak on behalf of ARES to the RI Emergency Management Agency's
Emergency Planning Seminar to promote Amateur Radio use in the local
community EMA for backup communications. The presentation addressed
ARES abilities and incorporation of the organization into community
entities. 

Alachua County, Florida -- ARES operators provided 120 hours of
public service communications, supporting the March of Dimes
WalkAmerica in Gainesville. The event is the largest walk in Florida
at 8.6 miles and $750,000 was raised. Hams provided logistics
communications for 14 stations along the walk route, provided mobile
communications, EMS and law enforcement communications support, and
ran the net from the Sheriff's Mobile Communications Vehicle. -- Jeff
Capehart, W4UFL, Alachua County EC

+ PERSPECTIVE: KATRINA OPS OBSERVATIONS

[On the eve of hurricane season here in Dixie, the following are the
timely observations of Daisy Crepeau, KT4KW, and Ray Crepeau, K1HG,
who were deployed to Hancock County, Mississippi following Hurricane
Katrina, and to Palm Beach County, Florida, in the wake of Hurricane
Wilma last season. - ed.]

Training: No longer is the ham with an HT adequately able to respond.
Nor is the ham with mobile equipment or even a radio equipped "jump
kit." Amateur operators need to be adequately trained. The ARRL ARECC
courses should be required, period. FEMA training, consisting of
courses ICS 700, 800, 100, and 200 also should be required. Hams need
to understand and be able to operate under the Incident Command
System (ICS) and the National Incident Management System (NIMS).
Training to operate under extreme stress is needed. 

We saw a new ham arrive who didn't understand that two-way radio
communication required releasing the PTT button to hear the other
party. This individual also needed a crash course in the phonetic
alphabet. An extreme case perhaps, but such operators were
liabilities, not assets. Proper training and credentialing would
prevent this.

Credentialing: FEMA, most state Emergency Management departments, law
enforcement agencies, and even the Red Cross do not recognize hams
with a local badge. The ARRL supports the local EC as the point
person for Amateur Radio emergency operations, but the reality is
that most disasters are going to encompass more than the local area.
ARESMAT [ARES Mutual Assistance agreements] is the right idea but few
ECs have built the necessary relationships with others outside their
locales.  

Resource Typing: We need a system of Amateur Radio "resource types"
that FEMA (or anyone needing communications support) can request when
needed. See the work of the World Radio Relay League and their idea
of "Amateur Radio Communications Teams" (ARCT)
<http://www.emcomm.org/> and <http://www.wrrl.org/>. FEMA is in the
process of specifying "resources." We need to be in that system.  

Deployment Tasking: Pre-departure briefings covering assignments,
duties and responsibilities in the deployed area, and conditions
there, should be plainly explained and understood.  When we went to
Mississippi we were sent to the wrong place and spent half a day
finding where we were to go. 

Message Handling: Passing messages from point A to point B is the
primary mission during emergency responses. Hams are the worst at
relaying messages. Butchering of messages passed to the EOC or to
action personnel occurred in Mississippi. So, message handling
training is absolutely necessary: The radiogram format gets the job
done.

Recognition: The Red Cross is mandated by the federal government to
manage shelter care and mass feeding of disaster casualties. The ARRL
has many MOUs with a number of different agencies both federal and
private. But in the real world they don't mean a thing. The Red Cross
prefers to use persons who have been through their training
sequences. FEMA couldn't care less about hams in spite of an MOU. And
the list goes on and on. The ARRL needs to become recognized as a
"Non Government Organization" (NGO), which will be called upon. When
it hits the fan, FEMA will call for Amateur Radio resources to
establish communication links, and not commercial entities. -- Ray
Crepeau, K1HG, and Daisy Crepeau, KT4KW

+ LETTERS: USE "HAM" INSTEAD

Re last month's item on "Amateur" as a stigma: We "amateurs" have to
some degree brought it upon ourselves by using the formal term -
Amateur - in our dealings with the public and public officials. We
have a tendency to use the terminology of the FCC and ARRL in
referring to ourselves in a public setting. When you mention to
someone that you are an "amateur radio operator," they often don't
know what you are talking about. But when you tell them you are a
"ham," they immediately know what you do and have a good impression
from the many favorable news stories about our work, services and
rescues. Dropping the regulatory terminology and referring to
ourselves instead as "hams" will go a long way to avoiding the stigma
of the word "amateur." -- Rabe Marsh, W3TNU <w3tnu@arrl.net>;

+ OPINION: HARDENED 800 MHz SYSTEMS AND AMATEUR REPEATERS 
 
[The following is a response from a Palm Beach County, Florida public
safety official and RACES Radio Officer to our periodic discussion of
the merits and detractions of 800 MHz trunking systems viz a viz
amateur and other systems. -- ed.]

A well designed and maintained 800 MHz trunked radio system remained
on the air while a majority of key amateur repeaters went off the air
during Hurricane Wilma in South Florida last year.  
 
As the RACES Radio Officer and the Radio System Manager for Palm
Beach County's Trunked/Simulcast 800 MHz radio system that provides
interoperable communications for the County Law Enforcement, Fire,
EMS, EOC/Public Works, and all of the municipalities in the County
(5000+ users), I'm reporting that all of the Public Safety 800 MHz
trunked systems in Palm Beach County withstood Wilma flawlessly while
the majority of amateur repeaters that were club and privately owned
in both Broward and Palm Beach County went off the air. The repeater
failures reported to us at the EOC were initially reported as power
related and later updated to say most took major antenna and/or
transmission line damage. What we can deduct from this is that a
majority of amateur repeater owners in this area did not have
adequate placement, design, and/or maintenance of their machines. 

To coach the local amateur repeater owners in Palm Beach that want to
continue to participate in the County's RACES program, I developed a
"best practices guide" of what we would like to see implemented. It
closely resembles the design practices of the five County-maintained
amateur repeaters that did not sustain any damage. These amateur
repeaters, like the current trunked system for which I was the County
project engineer, survived the storm because they used the same
designs of our other Public Safety communication systems. 

In closing, Public Safety trunking radio systems can be reliable.
After two wild hurricane seasons, we have all learned a lot about how
our radio systems react at crunch time. As a result, I have installed
concrete barriers around key generators, added additional automatic
redundancies, and improved transmission line placement. It's now time
to consider these types of changes to the Amateur Radio
infrastructure as well. Comments welcome. -- Mark Filla, KS4VT, Palm
Beach County 800 MHz System Administrator; Palm Beach County RACES
Radio Officer; Florida Repeater Council District #2 Director
<http://www.pbcgov.com/fdo/ESS/800MHz.htm>

+ EMCOMM HINTS AND KINKS 

Typically, there is a small blizzard of lists, procedures and
documents that every ARES team member is supposed to have - and the
latest version, too. To make syncing-up a little easier to manage,
the Vashon (Washington) ARES team's "Document Master" maintains a ZIP
file of all the required stuff on the club server. That way, it can
all be downloaded at once and kept on a home PC, rather than on a
server that may not be available in an emergency. Of course, it's
also available on the server and can be accessed from anywhere when
needed, too. -- Ward Silver, N0AX

Make reduced-size photocopies of your certificates that the Emergency
Management Institute sends in the mail. By doing this, and putting
the reduced size copy in laminate, it can be carried in one of those
neat neck lanyards available from the ARRL. Add a simple plastic ID
carrier, available at any office or department store, and you have
what is needed to prove compliance of any number of courses or
classes. I carry my ARRL orange call sign badge, along with my ARES
ID card, Red Cross First Aid and CPR cards, and the reduced size FEMA
certificates IS-100, IS-200, IS-700. With three plastic ID pockets
and the call sign badge, it makes a neat and professional looking
arrangement.  -- Jerry Palmer, N3KRX, Houston, Delaware

+ VALUE OF VOLUNTEER TIME UP 49 CENTS IN 2005

Independent Sector <http://www.independentsector.org/>, a Washington,
D.C.-based coalition of philanthropic organizations dedicated to
strengthening the nonprofit sector, announced that the value of a
volunteer hour was $18.04 in 2005, up 49 cents from a year earlier.
Nationally, IS estimates the total value of hours volunteered in 2004
was equivalent to approximately $280 billion of contributed services.
"It is a challenge to place a dollar value on the important work
volunteers do for millions of charitable organizations and
communities across the country," said IS president and CEO Diana
Aviv. "But this number can help put into perspective the enormous
contributions provided by our nation's volunteers."
<http://www.independentsector.org/media/20060306_volunteer_time.html>
Independent Sector Press Release 3/06/06 -- Alan Bosch, KO4ALA, EC,
Arlington, Viginia  

+ SOUTH CAROLINA ARES GROUP TO ACTIVATE EOC FOR FD 

Berkeley County, South Carolina, ARES will activate the Berkeley
County EOC as a Class F Field Day site for the 2006 ARRL Field Day.
This will be only the second EOC activated in this class for the
State of South Carolina and the first in the Low country. Berkeley
ARES enjoys the strong support of the County Council, Office of
Emergency Preparedness and the Sheriff's Office. All Council members
and staff, along with county employees are invited to attend this
event and operate our station. Berkeley ARES will operate HF,
VHF/UHF, along with an ATV demonstration station. Contacts with other
Class F stations are invited and will receive a special QSL card. --
Dennis Zabawa, KG4RUL, Information Officer

+ IN RE PERSPECTIVE: EMERGENCIES VERSUS DISASTERS
 
Tom Cox, VE6TOX, may be technically correct, but "Emergencies versus
Disasters" in the last issue is a bit nit-picky. (Semantics,
semantics, semantics.) If the emergency is your house that is on fire
or your ship that is sinking, it is a disaster for you! 

Sadly, few hams are capable of handling calls for help whether they
are large or small, an "emergency" or a "disaster." There is no
guarantee that a distress call from land, sea, or air will be picked
up by normal "professional" services.  As radio amateurs, we should
always be ready to handle any call for help accurately, efficiently
and quickly. Several years ago I monitored one call that was botched
so badly that I finally had to break in: The calling operator had a
heavy accent, but he knew and was using ITU phonetics. The U.S.
operator who was attempting to assist did not know ITU phonetics. If
I hadn't stepped in, the victims would probably still be waiting for
help. 
 
Remaining alert and knowing proper radio operating procedure is
important. Maintaining a level of readiness includes keeping a "ready
book" that contains key emergency telephone numbers for your local
agencies plus your nearest Coast Guard station and USAF Rescue
Coordination Center. (Calls normally should originate with a local or
state SAR Coordinator.)

A skilled operator will listen carefully, determine the nature of the
emergency, the number of persons affected, the exact location or
position, and write down everything immediately. Remain in contact
with the calling party if possible, and notify authorities. If the
calling station is low on power, maintain a radio watch, and inform
them that you are monitoring. Make a schedule to contact them if
appropriate. All other stations on frequency should monitor, and
stand by for relaying duty if needed. Stations should not break in
and offer to help unless absolutely necessary or additional
assistance is requested. -- D. W. Thorne, K6SOJ, Sacramento Valley
(California) SEC, Editor-Publisher EMCOMM MONTHLY 

+ NEAR REAL TIME ALERT RESOURCE

A great link that I find useful here is the Emergency and Information
Service Website: 

<http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/usa_alert.php?lang=eng>

It has near real time alerts for fires, NOAA weather events,
Geological updates, Avian Flu, Mumps, et cetera. -- Les Rayburn,
N1LF, National Communications System-NCS047, ARES-SHARES-SKYWARN ARRL
EmComm Level 3 Certified Official Emergency Station

+ AMATEUR RADIO AT THE 2006 NATIONAL HURRICANE CONFERENCE

Amateur Radio was featured at the annual National Hurricane
Conference in Orlando, Florida.  On Tuesday, April 11,
representatives from ARRL Headquarters and the ARRL Field
Organization helped sponsor a training session to discuss lesson
learned from the 2005 hurricane season.  Nearly 80 persons attended
the afternoon session.  

Gary Sessums, KC5QCN, RACES Radio Officer; ARES EC, Hillsborough
County, Florida, started the presentations with an in-depth
discussion and slide show of his ARES team's deployment experiences
to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina.  Later
in the session, Rick Muething, KN6KB, and Bud Thompson, N0IA, gave a
talk on Winlink 2000 and discussed how this system is presently
working. Questions and answers were entertained. 

Other attendees  also had a chance to talk about their experiences
during this last hurricane season.  During the "open forum" portion
of the session, attendees discussed issues surrounding their work
with served agencies and emergency communication training.  -- Steve
Ewald, WV1X, ARRL Headquarters.

+ 2006 FLORIDA GOVERNOR'S HURRICANE CONFERENCE

The 20th Annual Florida Governor's Hurricane Conference was held May
8 through May 12, 2006 at Fort Lauderdale. A Radio Amateur Civil
Emergency Service (RACES) training session was held May 10. This
session is designed to provide emergency management personnel with an
overview of the myriad of volunteer, local, state and federal
backup/auxiliary communications systems available during disaster
response and recovery.

For more information about the Florida Governor's Hurricane
Conference, 
please visit <http://www.flghc.org/> -- Gary Sessums, KC5QCN, RACES
Radio Officer; ARES EC, Hillsborough County, Florida

+ 2006 ARES E-LETTER TITLEIST SELECTED

"How about asking for something more useful next time? What purpose
is served by showing off the number of titles you can attach after
your name? Asking who has the most titles is almost as bad as asking
who has the most antennas on his car or the most HTs on his belt.
Give me the guys with the practical experience and those willing to
learn; you can have all the ones that reply with the long lists of
titles and absolutely no idea how or where to implement what should
have come with those titles (and most likely didn't!)." -- Don Moore,
KM0R, Missouri SEC

[A few others felt similarly, but by and large, readers enjoyed
sending in their entries for a little fun. Here is a sampling of some
of my favorites, followed by the (drum roll please) 2006 ARES
E-Letter Titleist. - K1CE]

"My name is Dave Cline, KB9ZMF, and I currently have a Technician
license. Also I completed my [ARECC] Level 1 course last month. I
know that's not much, but I'm trying."

"Emergency Coordinator for Union Parish, Louisiana; Official
Emergency Station (OES); ARES Member; SKYWARN trained, all three
levels; Mentor, ARECC Courses; IS-700, IS-100, IS-0037; American Red
Cross certified in: Introduction to Disaster Services, Shelter
Operations, Shelter Simulations, Mass Care, Damage Assessment; and
Control Operator (and owner) of the Union Parish ARES repeater
145.230 MHz." - 73, Mack, KA5JNL <ka5jnl2@bayou.com>; 

"IS 001-Emergency Program Manager, IS 002-Emergency Preparedness,
USA, IS 003-Radiological Emergency Management, IS 005A-An
Introduction to Hazardous Materials, IS 007-A Citizen's Guide to
Disaster Assistance, IS 015-Special Events Contingency Planning, IS
022-Are You Ready?, IS 100-Introduction to the Incident Command
System, IS 120-An Orientation to Community Disaster Exercises, IS
139-Exercise Design, IS 195-Basic Incident Command System, IS 200-ICS
for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents, IS 208-State
Disaster Management, IS 230-Principles of Emergency Management, IS
244-Developing and Managing Volunteers, IS 275-Role of the Emergency
Operations Center, IS 288-Role of Voluntary Agencies in Emergency
Management, IS 292-Disaster Basics, IS 317-Introduction to Community
Emergency Response Team, IS 700-National Incident Management System,
IS 800-National Response Plan (NRP), an Introduction" -- 73, Jerry
Palmer, N3KRX <n3krx@aol.com>;

"IS-100, 200, and 700; Red Cross First Aid, BLS for Healthcare
including CPR/AED, First Responder; all ARRL ARECC Levels. And I have
been a Ham for over 45 years. - 73, Nick, K1NGJ

[Insert very long list of titles and accomplishments here. - ed.] "In
looking this over, I think I had better re-balance my life a bit
more." -- 73, Dick, N3DV

"You want titles.  Ok, here they come: Section Emergency Coordinator,
Northern Florida; Assistant Section Manager; Official Emergency
Station; DEC, Suwannee District (former); DEC, Crown District
(former); EC, Clay County (former); AEC, Clay County (former);
Section Traffic Manager, Northern Florida (former); and Affiliated
Club Coordinator, Northern Florida (former). Some day, I'll wear all
my different appointment badges to a hamfest!" - 73, Joe Bushel,
W2DWR

And now, the envelope please:

The Selection Panel (of one) has chosen co-winners this year: One is
Kentucky Section Manager John Meyers, NB4K, for not only his
considerable list, but for the fact that the job of Section Manager
is the most difficult in the Field Organization. The SM's role is
largely unheralded, thankless, and involves making important
decisions for what is best, which often are incompatible with
popularity and political expediency. Congratulations to John on being
named a 2006 ARES E-Letter Titleist, right up there with the prestige
of a Kentucky Colonel. Here is John's balanced and fine entry:

"Here is a list of my titles for which I have a certificate for each.
 
IS-001, IS-002, IS-003, IS-005, IS-007, IS-008, IS-010, IS -011,
IS-15, IS-022, IS-55, IS-100, IS-100PW, IS-100FW, IS-100LE, IS-111,
IS-120, IS-139, IS-195, IS-200, IS-200FW, IS-208, IS-230, IS-235,
IS-240, IS-242, IS-241, IS-244, IS-275, IS-288, IS-292, IS-301,
IS-302, IS-317, IS -331, IS-346, IS-362, IS-386, IS-393, IS-394,
IS-700, IS-800; Kentucky Division of Emergency Management (KDEM)
Basic Emergency Operations Center; Donations Management Public
Information Officer; Radiological Emergency Management; Assessment 1;
Heartsaver AED; ARRL-001, ARRL-002, ARRL-003; KY ARES 1, KY ARES 2,
KY ARES NC; FEMA Professional Development Series Certificate; Basic
and Advanced SKYWARN weather spotter; Red Cross Damage Assessment;
Emergency Management Assistance Training (EMAC)" -- 73, John D.
Meyers, NB4K, Kentucky Section Manager, Kentucky District 7 Amateur
Radio Emergency Team Chairman 

William Grimsbo, N0PNP, sent in the following fine entry, which to
the Selection Panel, represents a well-balanced portfolio of
emcomm-related titles. He is this year's co-winner! Congratulations,
William.

"* ARECC Level 1,2,3; ARECC Examiner; Community Emergency Response
Team (CERT) Coordinator for St. Charles County; CERT Instructor; FEMA
Professional Development Series IS-100, IS-200, IS-700, Is-800; Vice
President, Missouri Repeater Council; Assistant Emergency
Coordinator, St. Charles County ARES; former EC, St. Charles County
ARES; President, Emergency Communications Association (ECA) of St.
Charles County; Volunteer Manager for St. Charles County Division of
Emergency Management; Communications Specialist, St. Charles County
Search Rescue and Recovery; SKYWARN Advanced Weather Spotter. Plus, I
work full time as a Technical Lead Engineer for a major aerospace
company. Enough to keep me busy." -- William Grimsbo, N0PNP 

+ K1CE FOR A FINAL

I was struck by the discussion of the hardening of amateur repeater
and 800 MHz trunking (public safety) systems in hurricane and other
situations. I'm sure this isn't a novel idea, but it seems the
ultimate solution may simply be to eliminate hardware on the ground
and instead use hardware in the sky. Satellite systems have little or
no infrastructure on the ground to be taken out by storms. For $12.95
a month for satellite service, I get 150 channels of digital
programming beamed into my little ole pick-up truck with a tiny
receiver and a mag-mounted antenna the size of a half-dollar on the
roof. Admittedly, economies of scale are at play here, but something
is wrong with this picture. Shouldn't we as radio amateurs be looking
upwards at our own satellites as platforms for provision of
"hardened" emergency communication services to public safety?

See you next month!