ARES Letter for October 1, 2005
================= The ARES E-Letter October 1, 2005 ================= Rick Palm, K1CE, Editor ================================================= ARES reports, other related contributions, editorial questions or comments: <k1ce@arrl.net>; ================================================= As this is being written, the League's Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B, is testifying in Washington, D. C. on behalf of the ARRL before The United States House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce, The Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. The name of the hearing is "Public Safety Communications From 9/11 to Katrina: Critical Public Policy Lessons." See <http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/09292005hearing1648/hearing.htm> Mr. Kramer is testifying on the successful efforts of Amateur Radio operators who provided communications during the Katrina event, "when all else failed." Kramer said "I am honored to be chosen to provide this testimony and I am proud of Amateur Radio's and our (ARRL) role in the Katrina relief effort." Good luck to our "ARES Man in Washington" today. ___________________ It seems that the Gulf Coast has drawn the majority of the ire of Mother Nature this hurricane season, as did the Florida peninsula last season. We here on the east central Florida coast breathe a collective sigh of relief when westward-heading storms pass to the south or north of us, then watch in horror and with sympathy as the devastation is visited on our neighbors up the eastern seaboard or Gulf. It is a tough time of year for us here in the southeast and south central parts of the country. The following Hurricane Rita summary was culled from e-mail reports and especially the proceedings of daily teleconferences sponsored by ARRL and conducted by HQ staffer Steve Ewald, WV1X, with affected section ARES officials - K1CE ========================== IN THIS ISSUE: + Hurricane Rita + VoIP Hurricane Net Activates For Hurricane Rita + ARES Counting Cars + Letters From Katrina: From DEC Tom Hammack, W4WLF + Katrina Relief Operators Still Needed In Mississippi + Thanks To Katrina Outsiders Coming In; Points To Ponder + FEMA Courses On Amateur Radio Resources; ICS/NIMS Training + IARU Region 2 Working Group On Emergency Communications Established + ARRL An NGO? + Feedback On Interoperability And MARS + Final Note: The Best Radio Service ========================= + HURRICANE RITA Texas South Texas SEC Jerry Reimer, KK5CA, reported that hurricane Rita decreased in intensity and moved eastward prior to landfall near Cameron, Louisiana. This greatly diminished storm effects in southeast Texas, with the exception of Orange County. Approximately 2.7 million people evacuated the area prior to the storm's arrival; included in the mandatory evacuation areas were five ARES Emergency Coordinators, one District Emergency Coordinator, and nearly all ARES registrants, which left some county EOCs without operators. In defiance of mandatory orders, some operators remained behind, and were heard on HF following passage of the storm. The storm effects in the greater Houston area resulted from 40-70 mph winds. Reimer said communication infrastructure was left largely intact. The Red Cross reported 86 shelters open, holding 15,000 people. Many ARES operators had been pre-positioned at critical facilities in the area, including police sub-stations and hospitals. ARES operators remained on duty at the state EOC in Austin, Harris County EOC, Houston Emergency Center, and state DEM regional headquarters Disaster District Committee (DDC). The West Gulf ARES HF emergency net continued in 24-hour operation. An Austin ARES operator who pulled his 30-foot travel trailer 150 miles, arriving around midnight Friday, September 23, met a last minute request for an additional HF station at the state's DDC. Not permitted inside the building, he operated his HF station with the screwdriver antenna on his pickup truck. On September 24, Harris County emergency management requested ARES provide reports of traffic volume on the major highways leading back into the county. The procedure to accomplish this was developed by District EC Ken Mitchell, KD2KW [see his story later in this issue], and sent via Winlink to the North and South Texas Section Managers for mass distribution to ARRL members via E-mail. Winlink proved highly useful at the Harris County EOC. NTX SEC Bill Swan, K5MWC, said that two North Texas ARES members went to Jasper, Texas, to assist the Salvation Army. Swan expected more radio amateurs would be needed when cities were opened for returning evacuees. STX SM Ray Taylor, N5NAV, emphasized that late September heat in Texas make things difficult and uncomfortable for everyone working in the relief operations. Operators willing to help should keep those hot conditions in mind before volunteering, Taylor said. Operators were also reminded that they should be self-sufficient with food, water, and camping gear for their travel to, and operation in, the affected areas. Nets handled much of the relief effort information and service: 3873 kHz (eves); 3935 kHz (eves); 7285 kHz (days); and 7290 kHz (days). Louisiana Louisiana SEC Gary Stratton, K5GLS, reported that following the passage of Hurricane Rita, DEC Alan Levine, WA5LQZ, in Lake Charles, assessed communication needs and regional assets before ARES members were sent from other areas of the state. Stratton had lost power and Internet service early Saturday morning, September 24, but he was aware that local ARES members were handling initial communication requests and needs. First responders entered Cameron Parish, and ARES was asked to accompany the sheriffs and Louisiana State Police to support them with communications. Later in the week, floodwaters were beginning to recede and most of the shelters were equipped with working telephone service, electricity, and running water, reported Al Oubre, K5DPG. Louisiana's 800 MHz trunking system managed to stay up through the hurricane also, Oubre said. As areas that were strongly hit by Rita opened up, chances for a call for outside mutual assistance increased. Radio amateurs who lived north of Interstate 10 were returning to their homes and getting on the air again to assist with the relief effort. + VOIP HURRICANE NET ACTIVATES FOR HURRICANE RITA [The following report comes from Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Net Manager for VoIP Hurricane Net Activations, the Eastern Massachusetts SEC, and SKYWARN Coordinator for the large National Weather Service (NWS) facility at Taunton, Massachusetts.] The VoIP Hurricane Net activated for Hurricane Rita on September 23 to coincide with the activation of WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Florida. The net's goal is to connect amateurs in the affected areas with EOCs, National Weather Service offices and the National Hurricane Center for passage of emergency traffic, weather reports and damage assessments. Net control stations came from a variety of ARRL sections including Eastern Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida sections, and Minnesota. International stations also participated, including operators from Australia's Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network, ARES' counterpart there. The use of international stations facilitated 24-hour operation of the net. Using radio systems and repeaters linked to the Internet, amateurs from eastern Texas and western Louisiana were able to pass important traffic. For example, amateurs in north Texas RACES had a request for amateurs to assist with shelter operations there as evacuees from the eastern Texas coastline were displaced as far north as the Dallas-Fort Worth area. An amateur from Cleobourne, Texas, responded to the call, and worked with the requesting amateur to supply more amateurs for those shelter operations. Emergency operation centers and National Weather Service Forecast Offices were active on the net, including the Nacogdoches (TX) EOC, through the efforts of Kevin Anderson, KD5WX. The National Weather Service station WX5FWD in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, was active, as was NWS station WR5GC in Houston, and station K5SHV in Shreveport, Louisiana. Southwest Louisiana was the first area to receive the worst conditions from Hurricane Rita on Friday evening, September 23. An amateur there, Heath Roberts, KE5FRF, of Denham Springs, provided information on significant tree and power line damage Friday night directly from the Lake Charles Police Department. Other damage reports and observed weather data came in steadily. Flo Garneau, WM6V, reported that the glass emergency room doors of the Livingston Memorial Hospital in Livingston, Texas, were blown out. She also reported that the Timber Creek School in Livingston lost part of its roof; the school was sheltering 280 people. Many similar ARES weather and damage reports were passed over the net for the benefit of public safety. The ability to connect EchoLink PC users, EchoLink and IRLP repeaters and links via the same system offers great flexibility in obtaining reports from amateurs in the affected areas. EchoLink and IRLP provide more "tools in the toolbox" for the ARES emergency communicator. ________________________ [Julio Ripoll, WD4R, a long-time veteran operator and manager of the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center added the following.] "Without the EchoLink and IRLP modes used on the VoIP Hurricane Net we would not have received some of these vital reports. Especially the reports sent in by Flo, WM6V, who was very resourceful in using a dual-band mobile radio on emergency power from the hospital. Flo not only gave us information of the status of her hospital, but also was able to monitor the local EOC traffic in her town of Livingston, Texas, on UHF and then relay information outside of her local area using IRLP. This information was posted at the NHC for the Hurricane Forecasters as well as the FEMA Office that is located inside the NHC bunker next to our radio room and monitors many of our reports." + ARES COUNTING CARS The Harris County (TX) EOC requested a traffic count from counties along the major routes leading back into the greater Houston area. The traffic routes of interest were U.S. Highway 59, Interstate Highway 45, U.S. Highway 290, and Interstate Highway 10. Radio clubs and ARES groups in each of these areas were asked to form teams of local operators to report Houston-bound traffic volumes by counting the number of cars on these routes for a six-minute period, once per hour. The count was to be reported by one individual in the identified area who had Internet access. The individual collected the information using local club repeaters and operators assigned to perform the count. -- District Emergency Coordinator Ken Mitchell, KD2KW, District 14 (Harris County), ARRL South Texas Section + LETTERS FROM KATRINA [I received this message from DEC Tom Hammack, W4WLF, of Gulfport, Mississippi. It speaks volumes, and stands by itself. We are proud of you and your service, Tom. - K1CE] "We are shutting down at night from about 10 PM to about 5 or 6 AM. Otherwise, club station W5SGL and operators are still going at it almost non-stop. Hopefully after Rita gets by us we can consider shutting down so I can go home and try to salvage what I can. I am lucky: only about three to four feet of salt water in the main part of the house and five to six feet in the lower room. My son's (Don Hammack, KA5OJQ) house was destroyed. Some things will be salvaged. Much gear lost. Right now I am living in the EOC bunk room." - ARES DEC Tom Hammack, W4WLF + KATRINA RELIEF OPERATORS STILL NEEDED IN MISSISSIPPI Alabama SM Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, situated at the Red Cross staging area in Montgomery, reported an increasing need for Amateur Radio operators to fill the communication requirements of Red Cross shelters and EOCs in southern Mississippi's Harrison, Hancock, and Jackson counties. SMs and SECs with volunteer radio amateurs should contact Sarratt at <DR871-06RTT-RCO3@usa.redcross.org>; Contact information, and the amount of time available for possible deployment, should be included for each volunteer. The radio amateurs will be asked to check in at the Red Cross volunteer staging center in Montgomery to get their assignments and receive orientation. Sarratt said that the Red Cross center monitors 7280 kHz (days) and 3965 kHz (evenings) to assist HF-equipped mobile operators on Red Cross/ARES assignment. + THANKS TO KATRINA OUTSIDERS COMING IN; POINTS TO PONDER [Northern Florida's SEC Joe Bushel, W2DWR, has been a key player in Katrina mutual assistance administration, performing an outstanding job. Here, he offers thanks and some good after-action points to ponder, in his own words. --K1CE] "Many of you in Florida and out of the state who came in to help showed the true spirit of Amateur Radio, once more. This was not a disaster at your front door, but that didn't matter. You were there when you were needed. Thank you. Your actions make me so proud to be involved with this "hobby" to which I have given much of my life for almost fifty years. "There were mistakes made during this deployment. Some were mine and I hope I learned from them. Many of you didn't get to go because you were not self-contained; I was told this was mandatory. However, as conditions improved, the self-sufficiency requirement was dropped. Word was not passed to us. We continued to follow the initial instruction, and volunteers that could have gone in were left out. In the future, I will get requirements and updates firsthand, through direct channels, more expeditiously. "To future volunteers: Follow the instructions of those who are responsible for your deployment. If you just go on your own, even though your intentions are good, you may turn out to be part of the problem. Secondly, before the next emergency, contact your EC and set up a jump team. This gives you the future benefit of working with people you already know. It is also easier on the person sending you if, when you are contacted, you can tell him/her the names and calls of others who will go with you. Finally, plan ahead. Set up your jump kits in advance of the need. A radio may be lost for one bad coax connector. That radio could have been a critical communications link. Don't forget tools such as a soldering pencil. It is almost a guarantee that if you wait until the last minute, you will forget something that will turn out to be especially needed. "I am establishing a database of potential future responders. If you are interested, please send me an email at <w2dwr@arrl.net>; and I will be back in contact." + FEMA COURSES ON AMATEUR RADIO RESOURCES; ICS/NIMS TRAINING Here is a solution to help public officials learn to interface with Amateur Radio assets: government-approved Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) training course "G250.6 - Workshop: Amateur Radio Resources." This three- to four-hour workshop is designed to provide state and local elected officials, emergency managers, and other public officials with an understanding of how Amateur Radio volunteer communication groups can help in supplementing telecommunication and warning systems. Please direct them to the FEMA Emergency Management Institute (EMI) at <http://www.training.fema.gov/emiweb/> to register for this course. - Carl Zelich, AA4MI, ARRL Southeastern Division Assistant Director, <aa4mi@arrl.net>; ____________ Neal Sacon, N7RX, adds: "The unavailability of local FEMA Incident Command System /National Incident Management System (ICS/NIMS) seminars should not deter anyone from undertaking these important training topics (IS-100, IS-200 and IS-700, as well as other emergency management courses), as they are available on-line. See <http://www.training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/crslist.asp > A completion certificate is issued by FEMA for the on-line courses." + IARU REGION 2 WORKING GROUP ON EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS ESTABLISHED IARU News: One of the action items to come out of the recent International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2 Executive Committee meeting (held in Mexico City) is the establishment of a Working Group on Emergency Communications (WGEC). The committee has an open agenda, but one of the goals is a survey of emergency communication assets across Region 2 and consequent recommendations for the Executive Committee to assist Region 2 Member-Societies in improving their emergency communication response capabilities. Veteran international emergency communications planner Noel Donawa, 9Y4NED, of Trinidad and Tobago, will chair the committee. The Region 2 EMCOR and the Emergency Coordination Advisory Group members will make up the rest of the committee. Region 2 President Rod Stafford, W6ROD, serves as an ex officio member of the WGEC. + ARRL AN NGO? [The following is a response to John Wallack's, W6TLK, idea of promoting ARES as an "official" non-government organization (NGO) with the status of the American Red Cross, for example.] John, W6TLK, is right. ARES should become an NGO, with the emphasis on organization. In some parts of the country, ARES is a well-planned and well-trained machine. With dedicated volunteers equipped and prepared to respond at any time they are needed, they have introduced themselves to, and trained with, served agencies. They have become a useful part of agency emergency response plans. But in other parts of the country, ARES is only a concept. That is not enough. To be viable, a group must have a strong program of training, commitment requirements, and a real plan of action in order to function in reality. ARES needs national program enhancements as well. ARRL should issue official credentials for ARES members recognized by the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in all states, after passing FEMA's national incident management system training, ARRL's Level 1 ARECC (EC-001) course, and an FBI background check. Annual training on mustering and responding to an emergency should be required for credential renewal. ARES members should be issued a universally recognized uniform. Once we get it together along the lines suggested above, it will be easier for us to become a real NGO. -- Mark Conklin, N7XYO _____________ [More on ARRL as an NGO follows.] I have been involved in emergency situations here in New Mexico for most of my adult life. I got my ham ticket because it allowed me to communicate over a wide area while directing search operations. The best way to let agencies know about our capabilities is to work with them in quiet times. Then, when the emergency evolves, we are integrated into the official response. During the Cerro Grande fire in 2001, the only complete linkage among the agencies was via Amateur Radio. We mustered 117 people for ten days. The idea of casting ARES as an NGO should have been thought of a long time ago. Since so many agencies think of us as on the fringe, we need to promote our professionalism. - Bob Skaggs, KB5RX + FEEDBACK ON INTEROPERABILITY AND MARS [In the last issue, we published an item on interoperability and programming amateur hand-helds for use in other services. The following is a response from a Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) operator. We will publish a definitive answer in the next issue. - K1CE] MARS operators use standard Amateur Radio equipment that is modified to the manufacturer's specifications to open them up for all frequency operation. We, MARS operators, are professional enough to carefully stay within our frequency allocations and we do not wander around on adjacent frequencies. It's a shame that a service as old and as revered as MARS has to be degraded in peoples' eyes with implications such as this. We are perfectly capable of being radio amateurs and we are fully trained to be MARS operators. It is being considered to include MARS within the Homeland Security department to ensure that if/when another hurricane like Katrina comes to pass, there will be people capable of filling any communications need. Sure, hams are perfectly capable of doing this; they have proved themselves multiple times. But they have to use common frequencies that are subject to monitoring and interference, where the military frequencies assigned to MARS are not as well known. Also, we do not have 2-day hams operating on them. ARES is great. A large number of us, MARS operators, belong to and support ARES. A number of locations also have MOUs between the two organizations--the best of both worlds. Look into facts before printing information. - Les Warriner, WA7HAM/NNN0KTM + FINAL NOTE: THE BEST RADIO SERVICE One of the criticisms I hear occasionally is that Amateur Radio involves old technology and doesn't have much to contribute to the public safety telecommunication arena anymore. It seems to me that such criticism is wholly unjustified. Just look at Rob Macedo's report above in this issue on the Amateur Radio digital and Internet linking protocols employed during Hurricane Rita action. They worked fantastically and represent the state of the art. Coupled with our tried and true "old technology," I think that Amateur Radio is hard to beat as the premier radio service to be involved in any emergency response. We should start thinking more of ourselves in this regard, and not selling our service short to served agencies. We are the best radio service for disaster/public safety telecommunication need, period. End of story. - K1CE
