ARES Letter for December 21, 2005
================= The ARES E-Letter December 21, 2005 ================= Rick Palm, K1CE, Editor =================================== ARES reports, other related contributions, editorial questions or comments: <k1ce@arrl.net>; =================================== SPECIAL HOLIDAY DOUBLE ISSUE! + Holiday Message from the Alabama Section Manager During our nation's unprecedented hurricane relief efforts, Amateur Radio and the ARRL stepped up and delivered a vital public service. For 37 days, more than 200 radio amateurs from 35 states and Canada deployed to the field through the American Red Cross processing center in Montgomery, Alabama. The storm surge damaged infrastructure, left people homeless, and knocked out power, sealing off communications. But as Katrina subsided, another massive surge took its place: the immense and sustained recovery activity of the Amateur Radio community to assist impacted people and relief agencies. Amateurs of all kinds voluntarily deployed to Mississippi counties, communities and towns to set up stations at kitchens, shelters and operations centers. They provided critical communications, passing hundreds of messages in and around the devastated region. Amateurs selflessly served in many capacities, working long hours, living in terrible conditions, contending with heat, bugs, ants, and worse. The Montgomery operation supplied amateurs to The Salvation Army, American Red Cross, church and religious organizations, emergency management agencies and emergency operations centers. My experiences affirmed that radio amateurs are much more than hobbyists. They created interoperable emergency communication systems where there were none and saved lives as a result. Moreover, they brought the love of a hobby, and a variety of communications, contesting, training, and public service skills. Most of all, they applied the amateur "can do" spirit. It was a pleasure meeting hundreds of these amateurs. My appreciation and admiration extends to all Amateur Radio operators who served in this massive effort. --73, Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, ARRL Alabama Section Manager + The View from Flagler County Our little county is purchasing a new $10 million 800 MHz trunking system for dispatching emergency personnel and maintaining communication with the state EOC in the event of a major disaster. I saw the news item, and immediately thought of the report we published in this newsletter a few months ago: "The 800 MHz and other trunked systems commonly used by local and state agencies were the first to go in the hard hit areas of Katrina. In many cases, we found police and fire units dispatching from a car or HT. Even after two weeks, we still had radio amateurs handling all of the EOC and public safety communications in a number of counties and parishes on the coast." It occurred to me that Flagler's new system may offer county ARES operators continued job security. _________________ A few e-mailers expressed concern over the absence of critical analysis of the Katrina response in ARRL pubs. They felt that QST and this newsletter "whitewashed" the problem areas, and presented only the most glowing accounts of the Amateur Radio response. The problem with publishing the "analysis" I saw was that it was destructive: it pinned problems on specific officials, agencies and radio amateurs who, in the critic's eyes, had failed. It was not offered in a positive way, and the only outcome of its publication would be the undermining of important relationships. The function of QST and this newsletter should be to recognize positive aspects and address problem areas constructively to promote morale of our ARES volunteers and foster relationships with served agencies. The best forum for a lot of the criticism I heard is behind closed doors with the specific individuals and agencies involved. A perfect example of that is the meeting held at the state EOC in Tallahassee recently (see report in this issue). It's in such a forum that specific successes and failures can be assessed and changes planned without risking the destruction of individuals' and organizational pride and morale, key components of motivation for all of us as human beings. In this issue, you will find opinions of the Katrina response, offered in a way that protects the integrity of the individuals and agencies involved. - K1CE ======================== In This Issue: + Holiday Message from the Alabama Section Manager + The View from Flagler County + Eastern Massachusetts ARES and SKYWARN Activates for Major Nor'easter + Northern Florida Reviews Hurricane Season Lessons + West Central Florida Section Meets To Promote Interoperability + Additional "Ham Aid" Reimbursements Available for Hurricane Volunteers + Katrina, Rita, and Wilma Photos Still Needed for Coffee Table ARES Book + Wilderness Protocol + Radio Amateur Wins Grant for Hospital and EMA Amateur Equipment + Opinions: Local ECs Should Trump Outside Officials + Feedback on "Break Tags" + Signs + Responses to Call for Input on ARRL's ARES Web page + WINLINK Page Added to ARRL Web site + Briefs: Emergency Communication Drills and Events + New Books for Emergency Communicators + K1CE for a Final ======================== + Eastern Massachusetts ARES and SKYWARN Activates for Major Nor'easter December 9, 2005--Eastern Massachusetts ARES and SKYWARN activated as a nor'easter rapidly intensified, causing heavier snowfall and blizzard conditions in Eastern Massachusetts and hurricane force winds on Cape Cod. Cape Cod ARES provided support for Red Cross shelters at the request of the Cape Cod Red Cross chapter. Portions of Eastern Massachusetts had snowfall rates in the 5-7" per hour range, resulting in up to 17" of snow in hardest hit areas. ARES SEC and SKYWARN coordinator Rob Macedo, KD1CY activated the Taunton National Weather Service SKYWARN operation. Reports from Cape Cod ARES-SKYWARN had numerous trees, power lines, power and telephone poles blown down. Damage to homes was also reported along with coastal flooding. Measured wind gusts reported by SKYWARN spotters on Cape Cod were as high as 96 MPH in Eastham, Massachusetts before the wind instrument was struck by a falling tree. At the peak of the storm, 150,000 people were without power. A dozen repeaters across Eastern Massachusetts were used in the operation including EchoLink and IRLP linked machines and stations in the New England Network. Cape Cod ARES was active with Red Cross assuring communication paths between the Cape Cod Red Cross Chapter Headquarters in Hyannis and shelters established throughout the Cape. Amateurs handled requests for the shelters including cots, blankets and food. The quick hitting nature of the storm tested the ability of Eastern Massachusetts ARES and SKYWARN to react quickly. The organizations came through by providing timely severe weather reporting to NWS Taunton for the protection of life and property and support for Cape Cod Red Cross in shelter operations. + Northern Florida Reviews Hurricane Season Lessons Tallahassee, Florida, December 5, 2005-Florida's state EOC was the setting for a meeting called by Northern Florida Section Manager Rudy Hubbard, WA4PUP, of senior ARRL section officials to discuss this year's hurricane season and cull lessons learned. Many experiences were new in the environment of the unprecedented catastrophe. The goal of the meeting was to learn from these experiences and improve operations for the future. Also unprecedented was the cooperation of Northern Florida ARES officials in working with their counterparts in the Alabama and Mississippi Sections in support of the Katrina response. Affected ARRL Section officials had participated in a daily telephone conference conducted by Steve Ewald, WV1X, of the HQ staff. Hubbard reported that this call served as an outstanding platform for coordination. One of the goals of the Florida EOC officials is to work with the amateur community through a single point of contact for efficiency, posing a challenge to the three ARRL Sections in the state. The concept of using the State Government Liaison (SGL) position for this purpose was floated, as the SGL worked with the three SECs during Hurricane Wilma. The concept still needs refinement and approval. The conferees concluded that the "tracker system" (discussed in the last issue) worked well. There is room for improvement, however: The Northern Florida SEC Joe Bushel, W2DWR, was tasked with developing a database of volunteers for selection and deployment. The process will involve education of each volunteer on expectations and reporting for duty. The process will also involve placing registered volunteers under the state's liability and workman's compensation insurance policies. In other issues, DECs and ECs were encouraged to take National Incident Management System (NIMS) emergency courses. [Developed by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security at the request of the President, NIMS integrates practices in emergency preparedness and response into a comprehensive national framework for Incident Command System (ICS) management]. SECs are to follow up on this item. The conferees concluded that the focus of disaster response should remain with the local EC. The choice of modes to be employed, including digital modes, is left to the EC's discretion and based partly on concerns that recruited outside volunteers may not be familiar with local practices. Florida's HF "Gateway System" is still available when needed, conducted by Capital District ARES officials to the rest of the state for providing a conduit for HF communications into the state EOC during drills and disasters. This has been a longstanding component of the state's ARES capabilities. A consensus was reached that all formal traffic messages should be sent in plain language as standard operating procedure. Another conclusion was that the EC, in order to be viable, must have a good working relationship with his/her local Emergency Manager. Each DEC and EC were also mandated to prepare district and local emergency plans and submit them to the SM and SEC for review. The meeting boasted excellent attendance of the section's ARES leadership as well as many staff members of the state EOC. + West Central Florida Section Meets To Promote Interoperability Sarasota County, Florida, December 17, 2005--The ARRL West Central Florida Section Fourth Quarter ARES Emergency Coordinators meeting was held at the Sarasota County Emergency Operations Center (EOC). All ARES ECs, AECs, and OESs were encouraged to attend. [We plan to have a complete meeting report in the next issue - ed.] The WCF Section leadership began a policy this year of holding rotating quarterly ARES EC meetings at the EOCs of the ten counties in the section. The objective is to promote interoperability among the ARES programs in the individual counties and closer ties with their respective emergency management agencies. Previous meetings this year have been held at the Pinellas County EOC, the Desoto County EOC, and the Polk County EOC. The rotation will continue next year and Hillsborough County ARES/RACES will be hosting an ARES EC meeting at the county EOC. -- Gary Sessums, KC5QCN, RACES Officer/ARES Emergency Coordinator, Hillsborough County, Florida + Additional "Ham Aid" Reimbursements Available for Hurricane Volunteers Newington, Connecticut, December 15, 2005--Limited "Ham Aid" reimbursement funds remain available to help cover out-of-pocket expenses both for prior and new applicants who provided emergency communication support in communities devastated by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. The Ham Aid funding is due to expire at year's end, and ARRL Chief Development Officer Mary Hobart, K1MMH, urges all eligible volunteers to request a reimbursement as soon as possible. "If you haven't applied at all previously or even if you've already applied for and received the maximum $100 reimbursement," Hobart said, "we urge you to take advantage of the generosity of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which is providing these Ham Aid funds." She notes that anyone filing an initial or additional application for the maximum $25 per day reimbursement still needs to follow the procedure found on the ARRL Web site. Reimbursement checks will go out as soon as possible. Hobart acknowledges that accepting a Ham Aid reimbursement is a personal decision. Even so, she encourages those who served in the wake of the three storms to put in for the reimbursement anyway--if for no other reason than to honor those who have volunteered before them throughout the history of Amateur Radio. "These volunteers should consider applying and then donate the reimbursement to their club or to another emergency communication-related project," she said. "I'd like to see this money support ARES and our emergency response capabilities in the field." Hobart called the CNCS grant "a tangible expression of the value that the federal government puts on Amateur Radio as an emergency communication asset." In addition, Hobart says, CNCS grant funds are still available to help replace Amateur Radio communication infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the three devastating storms earlier this year. "We have seven grant requests totaling approximately $20,000 so far to replace backbone equipment from the Gulf Coast to Florida," she said. "We'd like to have all applications by the end of the year." CNCS has provided the League with $170,000 in grants to support Ham Aid. Hobart says there's still adequate funding to support the hundreds of hams who traveled to the US Gulf Coast. The program will cover per-diem reimbursements incurred between September 1 and December 31, 2005. The CNCS grant is an extension of the ARRL's three-year Homeland Security training grant, which has provided certification in emergency communication protocols to nearly 5500 Amateur Radio volunteers over the past three years. + Katrina, Rita, and Wilma Photos Still Needed for Coffee Table ARES Book Some good photos have come in, but we're still looking for more--many more. The ARRL may commission a coffee-table book of color photographs of radio amateurs performing communication duty during this year's wild hurricane season. *You or your group could be featured in this book!* We are looking for good quality, good resolution photos of amateurs in action against these storms. Note: Please avoid sending the usual "grip and grin" photos of the subject holding a hand-held up in the air and grinning from ear to ear. We're seeking photos of amateurs working their radios in the harsh conditions of these storms and their aftermath. Photos showing the emotional and physical strain of the rugged radio amateurs are best; they tell the story. You get the idea. Send your high quality photos of ARES action during Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma to the editor, either by e-mail <k1ce@arrl.net>; or to: ARES Coffee Table Book Rick Palm, K1CE, Editor 31 Burning Ember Lane Palm Coast, FL 32137 + Wilderness Protocol Recently, I found a book by fellow Floridian Reid Tillery, KG4YFE. An avid hiker and camper, he has a section in his book about radio use for those traveling in wild areas. Part of it covered the "Wilderness Protocol for Amateur Radio." In February 1994 QST, William Alsup, N6XMW, put forth this idea: a set of VHF and UHF frequencies and a basic schedule for monitoring the frequencies for contact from Amateur Radio operators in wilderness areas. The primary frequency band proposed was two-meters with secondary frequencies on six-meters, 1.25-meters, 70-centimeters, and 23-centimeters. I expect by no coincidence, the simplex frequencies N6XMW suggested are also the National Simplex Calling frequencies or the Primary Simplex frequency for the bands in his proposal. The frequencies for the Wilderness Protocol are 52.525 MHz, 146.520 MHz, 223.500 MHz, 446.000 MHz and, 1294.500 MHz. The proposed schedule for monitoring the frequencies is every three hours on the hour starting at 7 AM local time until 7 PM local time. For those radio amateurs with more time or a scanner, monitoring more often is encouraged. The basic schedule gives someone who is out of cellular service range and not able to contact a repeater a specific time when someone should be listening to get word to the proper authorities in the event of an emergency situation. The base monitoring time is 5 minutes. I also found suggestions to start monitoring 5 minutes before the hour every other time so that minor differences on the clock of monitoring hams and hams in the woods would not cause them to miss each other. Making daily contact with a hiker to know an extended hike is going without incident, or to pass routine traffic to and from family was another suggested use for hams with opportunity to monitor the Wilderness Protocol frequencies regularly. It occurred to me that having hams following the Wilderness Protocol can be of use to more than hikers and campers. Throughout the country hams are on the road traveling for business and pleasure. While cellular phones have become a common belt-looped appliance, there are many locations where "no signal" is the only message they will display. Vehicle accidents, mechanical failures, and worse can happen along any stretch of road. So whether you are near a national forest, a large wooded park, or on the outer edge of suburbia, monitoring at least the primary two-meter frequency of the Amateur Radio Wilderness Protocol may provide needed assistance to someone in dire straits. I encourage all ARES groups to include the Wilderness Protocol in their local membership manuals and to recommend to their membership to monitor the associated frequencies as regularly as they want their membership to be monitoring their local ARES repeaters. -- Michael Potaczala, KC4NUS, Orange County ARES, Florida See also: <http://www.floridaadventuring.com/>; <http://www.tcoe.trinity.k12.ca.us/~tcarc/tcproto.html>; <http://www.arsqrp.com/ars/pages/cumlative_index/wilderness.html>; ARES Field Resources Manual (Appendix 10, page 87). + Radio Amateur Wins Grant for Hospital and EMA Amateur Equipment Columbus, Georgia, November 17, 2005-More than $28,000 has been allocated by the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) for Amateur Radio equipment to be placed in hospitals and emergency management agencies (EMA) within the MMRS six county, two state area surrounding Columbus. Mary Moore, WX4MM, chairperson of the MMRS Communications Committee, educated the MMRS organization on the value of Amateur Radio, documented specific requirements, solicited bids and wrote purchase orders. Grant funds will provide one VHF/UHF transceiver, power supply, base antenna, feed line and installation to hospitals and EMAs in the MMRS region, two suitcase portable VHF/UHF radios with power supplies, portable masts and antennas to each EMA, and an HF transceiver for two EMAs. Funding also covers costs of training materials and licensing for new radio amateurs to be recruited at the hospitals and EMAs. Moore served as Information Technology Manager for the West Central Georgia Health District headquartered in Columbus for 13 years. Her knowledge and expertise of computers, electronics and communications led to her appointment to leadership positions on several multi-organization committees including the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) and the Strategic National Stockpile system (SNS). She led the organization, funding, procurement and installation of commercial and Amateur Radio equipment at the Columbus Health Department Emergency Operation Center to support its expanding role of community support during natural and man-made disasters. [Moore is also Vice President of the Young Ladies Radio League (YLRL) and president elect for the 2006-2007 term. During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, she was instrumental in arranging the air evacuation of an injured child and her family from a shelter in southern Louisiana. Moore was Net Manager and NCS of the Alaska Pacific Net during the late 1970s, which was routinely involved in communication events from the Iditarod dog sled race to assisting in mountain rescues, to locating the Governor when he was out of communication range in the Alaska bush.] + Opinions: Local ECs Should Trump Outside Officials [The following are opinions from two key players in the Katrina response: Mississippi SM Malcolm Keown, W5XX, and Jim Leist, KB5W - ed.] In the wake of the Katrina response, the ARRL should clarify the Statement of Understanding (SOU) it has with the American Red Cross to ensure that necessary communication support is obtained and coordinated with the local ARES EC in the affected area. Volunteer radio amateurs who accompany visiting Red Cross workers should be prepared to work under the direction of the local EC. He or she is most familiar with the location, availability and capabilities of assets in the area. The local EC knows the area's geography better. The local EC has trained communicators who know how to function in a controlled net environment. The local EC has the "big picture" that can be of great assistance to any agency requiring support. It follows that when additional radio equipment is to be sent in to the disaster area, it should be coordinated through the local EC who is best able to match it with specific needs. ARES assets should not be summarily surrendered to the supported agencies. I believe we all need to take a hard look at how the Red Cross can be supported in the future. -- Jim Leist, KB5W, Chairman, Central Area Staff, National Traffic System _______________ [Leist's opinions evoked the following response from Mississippi Section Manager Malcolm Keown, W5XX - ed.] I support the recommendation with the proviso that the EC coordinates his/her efforts with his/her emergency management agency (EMA) director. The local Red Cross Chapters and Service Centers answer directly to National Headquarters. When there is a regional incident and National Red Cross assets are deployed, local Red Cross personnel are absorbed. Some Red Cross officials and incoming hams thought ARES would also be subjects of the Red Cross. This is not the intent of the ARRL/Red Cross SOU. In the "Purpose" section of the document the word "coordinate" is used-- not "commandeer." In most Mississippi counties the Board of Supervisors pays an individual to serve as the county EMA Director. In cooperation with the state emergency management agency (MEMA), the county Director coordinates emergency operations in his/her county. When communication support is needed, the Director will ideally contact the ARES/RACES EC with his/her requirements. The EC will then gather his/her resources and meet the requirements to the best of his/her ability. The Director should know the location and purpose of each relief organization operating in the jurisdiction, and have a roster of supporting volunteers. When an organization enters a county, the leader should immediately inform the Director. The Director should then receive regular reports to help him assess needs and to identify problems. Such reporting did not always happen during Katrina. The result was confusion and inefficiency. Mississippi certainly needed assistance during Katrina, but the Red Cross, Salvation Army, the Baptist Men's Kitchen, among others, should have coordinated their plans better with MEMA so that their resources could have been more efficiently employed. MEMA, in turn, should have better coordinated this information with the county EMAs. Disaster relief elements suddenly appeared in the county without prior coordination. The ARRL cannot tell MEMA how to do its job, but it can make the volunteer relief organizations aware that ARES assets are not available to them unless proper coordination has been effected. Another problem cropped up with some operators coming in with ballooning egos and a lack of prior emergency operations training. ARRL HQ should host a database of qualified volunteers credentialed through recommendations by SMs and SECs and who have completed at least the ARRL ECC-001 emergency communication training course. The ARRL needs to consider its own national emergency response plan in the wake of Katrina to deal with regional disaster areas that transcend section boundaries. - Malcolm Keown, W5XX + Feedback on "Break Tags" The use of "Break Tags" [see last issue] has met with resistance in Colorado because some ECs believe it is just one more thing that operators will need to be schooled in. I disagree that a small amount of additional training is a problem. I also suggest using break tags when a station initiates an exchange with the net. For example: "Aid3, Info" would tell NCS that the station at Aid3 had a call with information that multiple stations will find informative, yet can be held for a short time if there is more pressing traffic. Or "Aid3, priority" would indicate priority traffic from Aid3. A third example is "Aid3, traffic for Truck1." This clearly indicates what the calling station needs, in one short statement. This process also gently encourages the stations on a net to make sure they have all necessary information for a given call before they key the microphone and have that information organized. I fully support the use of these "tags" as they are worthwhile. I hope that with the League behind such an effort we can get more people to accept the concept. - Pat Lambert, W0IPL, Colorado ARES Training Manager + Signs To support and publicize our activities, I would like to see ARRL make available 3' x 5' vinyl signs with the "When All Else Fails" and ARES logos along with a simple message such as "Amateur Radio Emergency Communication Services." Signs cost about $100 (one color) but could be made less expensive through mass production by the ARRL. I would expect served agencies to buy them if their agency names could be appended. When we operate public service events, served agency open houses or field day activities, the media that show up use these signs as background. I was the operator assigned to work with the National Guard for the two days of a recent event and rode in the back of their Humvee providing communications. It would have been great to have had an ARES sign to display. -- John Core, KX7YT, Washington County ARES, Oregon + Responses to Call for Input on ARRL's ARES Web page [Thoughtful, stimulating feedback came in from our call in the last issue for input to ARRL's ARES Web page.- ed.] Since shortly after 9/11, when I unsuccessfully tried to volunteer for duty in Manhattan, I have been lobbying the ARRL to take a national leadership role in ARES. One of the most simple, effective, and beneficial projects they could undertake would be to develop and host a national database of ARES member registration including contact information, skills, capabilities, training, equipment, and readiness--or at least names and call signs! The purpose would be to prevent the chaos after the WTC collapse or the Katrina-related flooding, for two examples. It is evident that local ARES units are not frequently overwhelmed, but when they are, there must be a national support mechanism in place. I am an experienced and qualified project manager and consultant who specializes in such projects. I would be happy to volunteer my services part-time to lead such an effort. Honestly, if there is time and inclination for the "Logbook of the World," there must be equal consideration given to a life-or-death proposition such as this. There should also be national oversight of credentialing and organizational integrity. -- Joe Ames, Jr., W3JY, OES/AEC ARES/RACES, Delaware County, Pennsylvania <www.delcoares.org> _____________ Put a big, red click-through at the top of the ARRL home page that reads "ARES - Emergency Communications." The ARES page could then be organized to route viewers to pages about ongoing operations, resources for ARES members, resources for field volunteers, signing up for ARES, general ARES information, and MOUs and working with local governments. -- Ward Silver, N0AX _____________ The biggest issue on my horizon is the integration of NIMS/ICS with ARES. There is no mention of NIMS/ICS in the ARRL ARES online documentation. As an ARES/RACES group, we are already employing NIMS/ICS forms, training, and terminology. The DHS Resource Typing designator for Amateur Radio is ARCT (Amateur Radio Communication Team). I would like to see immediate activity from ARRL on updating ARES with NIMS/ICS. -- Dennis Wells Sr., K1DRW, AEC, Chester County, Pennsylvania ARES/RACES _____________ Put an ARES Organizational Chart on the ARRL Web site. - Doug Johnson, KD4SQ, Miami, Florida + WINLINK Page Added to ARRL Web site ARRL Web site offers Winlink 2000 page: The ARRL now has a Web page <http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/winlink.html> devoted to Winlink 2000 <http://www.winlink.org/>, the software and hardware system that links Amateur Radio to the Internet and allows sending and receiving e-mail messages via Amateur Radio. The League's new Winlink 2000 resource page contains general information about Winlink 2000, including articles, reprints, links and other useful information. A worldwide radio digital messaging system, Winlink 2000 also offers position reporting, weather bulletins and graphics, and emergency communication capabilities. It's already being used extensively by radio amateurs in the sailing and cruising communities as well as by recreational vehicle travelers, missionaries, scientists and explorers. The ARRL Board of Directors in 2004 encouraged the deployment within the ARES of e-mail via Amateur Radio "as exemplified by Winlink 2000" to meet the needs of served agencies and others involved in providing disaster communications. Amateur Radio volunteers responding to help in the wake of Hurricane Katrina used Winlink 2000 with great success. + Briefs: Emergency Communication Drills and Events Towns County, Georgia--Workers continue construction of an Amateur Radio communications emergency system with the erection of a two-meter beam at Fire Station # 5 in the east end of the county. This activity resulted in a total of three operational fixed stations with two-meter capability spread throughout the county. Next, an antenna will be installed at the hospital, and both a mobile truck and emergency communications kit will be prepared. Red Cross volunteers have responded to the new system. Monthly drills (nets) will be held with radio amateurs assigned to either a Red Cross shelter or a fixed station. The Red Cross is also sponsoring a class (with the local EC as instructor) to prepare members to obtain their Technician license. -- Alton Higgins, W4VFZ, Towns County EC for Red Cross, RACES and ARES <manmtn@brmemc.net>; _____________ Madison County, Illinois, November 19, 2005--ARES participated in a combined airport/hospital/fire protection disaster drill. The scenario was the crash of a light aircraft into a hanger/warehouse with scattering of hazardous material and injuries. Agencies involved: Civic Memorial Regional Airport, Bethalto Fire Protection District, Bethalto Police Department, Madison County Haz-Mat Team, St. Anthony Hospital, Alton Memorial Hospital, Alton EMS, Madison County EMA, Alton Volunteer Emergency Corp, and Madison County ARES. Mock victims were transported to the hospitals after being triaged on site by EMS personnel. ARES operators informed the hospitals' Emergency Rooms of incoming victims. ARES also provided communications for airport officials and Fire, Police and EMS crews at the airport. The local ARES has participated in a number of drills involving Civic Memorial Airport over the past years. ARES is an integrated part of many community disaster plans. -- Harold Mathis, KD9SG ________________ Reynolds county, Missouri, December 14, 2005-- When water breached the wall of a mountaintop hydroelectric reservoir in this rural county, an ARES emergency net was quickly established on the Van Buren repeater. The deluge washed down the mountainside, sweeping away homes and vehicles and flooding the valley below. A dwelling occupied by a park superintendent, his wife and three children was among those washed away. The family was found a half-mile away. Lesterville was under a voluntary evacuation order. ARRL District G Emergency Coordinator Dave Hannigan, KN0D, said stations checked into the net from Poplar Bluff, Piedmont, Eminence, Elsinore, Van Buren, Redford and Koshkonong. The net also heard from mobile stations near Leper, Piedmont, Van Buren and Ironton. "KC0SEH checked in from radio station FM 91.3 in Van Buren and KC0SWU from radio 106.7 in Ellington," Hannigan said. HF and VHF stations activated at emergency operations centers in Shannon and Carter counties. "I was contacted by the Shannon County sheriffs dispatcher through the NPS [National Park Service] dispatch," Hannigan said. "The various net controllers kept me updated. No emergency traffic was passed but it was a good exercise, and I was really proud of the rapid wide-area VHF radio coverage." In all, 16 stations responded to the emergency call up.--Missouri SM Don Moore, KM0R + New Books for Emergency Communicators My new book "Two-Way Radios and Scanners for Dummies" is getting good reviews by the emcomm community. The book deals with common civilian radio services, how to set up and use scanners, and has a technical section on installation, and batteries. Yes, there's a chapter on Amateur Radio. The book is available from the ARRL bookstore - <http://www.arrl.org/catalog/> or call toll-free 888-277-5289 -- Ward Silver, N0AX ___________________ When all else fails, how will you power your communication equipment? The ARRL's new Emergency Power for Radio Communications by Michael Bryce, WB8VGE, can provide the answer, with information on emergency or back-up power, energy independence, portable power and more. Emergency Power for Radio Communications explores the various means of electric power generation and shows you how to plan ahead to stay on the air when weather or other circumstances knock out conventional power--short-term or longer. It also examines how to go "off the grid" by employing alternative power-generation methods such as solar, wind and water power. There's a selection of emergency power projects and information from the pages of QST too. Emergency Power for Radio Communications is $19.95 plus shipping and handling. Order from the ARRL on-line catalog <http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?category=&words=Emergency+9531> or call toll-free 888-277-5289. + K1CE for a Final Remember, served agencies are the platform for our public service. Without them, there is no basis for ARES. Don't diss them, especially in public forums. Are they perfect? No. Are we perfect? No. Work with them to overcome problem areas in a positive, constructive manner in a way that preserves their organizational pride, and ours, too. And finally, Happy Holidays from the entire family of staff employees here at the ARES E-Letter Editorial Headquarters Palm Plaza Office Complex in sunny Palm Coast, Florida! See you next year! - 73, Rick, K1CE, AEC, Flagler County ARES
