ARES Letter for March 21, 2007

The ARES E-Letter
March 21, 2007
================= 

Rick Palm, K1CE, Editor

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

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

+ THE VIEW FROM FLAGLER COUNTY

I was stunned to receive the following from Steve Marks, KE4FCW, of
Greensboro, North Carolina in response to last month's "View":

"I was curious if you have a weather alert radio at home. In reading
your comments, one might wonder if you rely on the EOC for alert and
notification as opposed to a NOAA Weather Alert Radio. I assume you
have several redundant systems in place as a ham active in emergency
communications. Your message, however, does not lead me to a definite
conclusion."

Steve, we have one all right, but it was never on, I am ashamed to
report. In fact, after I received your e-mail, it took me an hour of
digging through the house to find it, dust it off, and turn it on. 

Steve concluded his e-mail with: "Perhaps you can clarify the need
for everyone to have a weather alert radio at home to aid in
receiving potentially life saving information, especially in light of
the recent tragedies in Florida."

Steve, you win the Eagle Eye of the Month Award.

-----------
IN THIS ISSUE:
+ TORNADOES HIT THE HEARTLAND, ARES RESPONDS 
+ JOINT ARES-MARS EXERCISE "OPERATION DEEP FREEZE 2007" DEMONSTRATES
CAPABILITIES
+ ARES AND RACES SUPPORT RESPONSE TO CENTRAL NEW YORK TRAIN MISHAP
+ NEW ARMY MARS CHIEF UPDATES MISSION, WANTS ARES COOP
+ ARMY MARS AND WINLINK 2000 INSTALLATION AT DHS
+ ARRL RELEASES STATEMENT ON RED CROSS BACKGROUND CHECK POLICY
+ CHEMICAL STOCKPILE EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM 2007: AN ALABAMA
ARES/RACES EXERCISE
+ LETTERS: QRPers AN ASSET
+ RECRUITMENT TIPS NEEDED
+ WIKIPEDIA LISTS ARES GROUPS
+ ORANGE COUNTY (FL) HAS NEW COORDINATOR
+ DELTA HAM OF THE YEAR
+ FEEDBACK: THE TRAIN SYSTEM
+ THE NRCEV
+ K1CE FOR A FINAL
-----------

+ TORNADOES HIT THE HEARTLAND, ARES RESPONDS

Tornadoes and severe weather on March 1 prompted ARES and SKYWARN
activations in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri. Twenty people died in
the three states, including seven in Alabama. A tornado destroyed the
high school in Enterprise, and five students died when the roof
collapsed as they took cover inside. "It was a very busy day for
Alabama ARES," said SM Greg Sarratt, W4OZK. Amateurs stationed at NWS
offices, EOCs, and elsewhere used HF and VHF to relay critical
weather information to served agencies, he reported. "The Alabama
amateurs performed as professionals," Sarratt said. "Many hams took
off from work to staff stations."

At week's end, Enterprise/Coffee County Emergency Coordinator Jim
Garrison, KL0LN, and local amateurs were still at the Enterprise EOC
assisting the local emergency management agency and the city with
recovery efforts.

In Georgia, STM Charles Pennington, K4GK, said the Georgia ARES Net
activated during the afternoon of March 1 as a series of severe
weather watches and warnings were posted. "Several tornadoes were
reported, scattered mostly through central and southern Georgia," he
said.

"We had 82 stations reported on the statewide HF net. In addition,
SKYWARN nets were active from 1:45 PM until around midnight, with
extensive coverage in the affected areas." Pennington said several
VHF/UHF nets also were running during the event. At least two deaths
occurred after a tornado struck a hospital in Americus. Another
person died and four were injured when a tornado touched down in
Taylor County, near Albany.

In Missouri, STM Dale Huffington, AE0S, said "amateurs in over half
of Missouri's ARES districts reported activations due to the storms."
In Howell County, a tornado was blamed for the death of a
seven-year-old girl. An ARES net was activated there. In Boone
County, in central Missouri, ARES teams activated at the request of
the Joint Communications Information Center. Ten weather spotters -
among them Missouri SEC Don Moore, KM0R - provided real-time,
ground-level weather observations to supplement NWS radars in Kansas
City and St Louis. - ARRL Letter

+ JOINT ARES-MARS EXERCISE "OPERATION DEEP FREEZE 2007" DEMONSTRATES
CAPABILITIES

Not far from the area of New York State buried by 10 feet of snow,
MARS and Civil Air Patrol members set up a joint operations center
(JOC) at Hancock Air National Guard Base in Syracuse to manage a
disaster drill based on a catastrophic winter storm scenario. The
purpose of the February 10 "Deep Freeze '07 Exercise" was to evaluate
the capability of MARS, ARES and RACES operators to cooperate and
support a federal response to a major disaster. One of the specific
goals was to file with the JOC numerous Essential Elements of
Information (EEI) reports, which are important sources of information
for the federal disaster response planners and others.

Another goal was to test the effectiveness of obtaining "spot
reports" of conditions from the Amateur Radio community that could be
formatted into EEIs by the MARS operators. The exercise dovetailed
with disaster drills at eight up-state hospitals and included a
patient evacuation and tracking exercise run by the Central New York
Regional Resource Center, the Medical Reserve Corps, and the NY Air
National Guard.

According to Deep Freeze Coordinator James Edmonds, the exercise was
a complete success surpassing all expectations for participation and
messages successfully delivered. Observers from the Transportation
Security Administration and NY Division of Military and Naval Affairs
were impressed by the technical capabilities and operator skill
demonstrated by the volunteer radio operators. The technology
included HF and VHF voice nets on Amateur and MARS frequencies,
WinLink 2000, HF phone patches, and liaison with the SHARES net, an
HF component of the National Communications System.

Thomas Carrigan, NE1R, who served as net control on a busy 75 meter
net observed that the interaction between ARES operators and MARS
operators was "seamless." As MARS is redefined from its Viet Nam era
role as a communications service for deployed military to a more
current role providing auxiliary communications for homeland security
and disaster response, it appears likely that more drills including
ARES members will be planned. -- Tom Carrigan, NE1R
<tomc54@charter.net>; 

+ ARES AND RACES SUPPORT RESPONSE TO CENTRAL NEW YORK TRAIN MISHAP 
 
The city of Oneida in Madison County, New York, was the scene of an
explosion after a 78-car CSX freight train derailment Monday morning,
March 12. Approximately 28 of the cars derailed at about 7 AM with at
least five, including two filled with pressurized liquid propane,
catching fire, resulting in an explosion. A one mile voluntary
evacuation zone was declared and the local chapter of the American
Red Cross opened a shelter. Emergency personnel for both Madison and
Oneida Counties responded. 
 
Oneida-Madison Counties ARES responded to support the Red Cross with
backup communications at the New Beginnings Church shelter in
Wampsville. The shelter was manned by Dave Nojaim, KC2PCN, who is the
liaison between ARES and the Oneida Chapter of the ARC. He set up a
station and contacted Mike Little, KB2CCD, the AEC for Planning and
Administration. An informal resource net was conducted on the ARES
primary repeater and a handful of local hams were put on standby
status. About 120 people went to the ARC shelter during the
evacuation. 

A key to success for this response was pre-positioned radio and
antenna hardware at significant locations (i.e., the Red Cross
Headquarters), resulting in efficiency.
 
Oneida County RACES also played a key role, providing on scene
communications information to the Oneida County Office of Emergency
Services. 

ARES and RACES work as a common group and train as one group.
However, when responding to a call, operators grab the hat that
corresponds to the served agency that needs assistance. The goal is
to provide the best backup communication support to their served
agencies. -- Mike Little, KB2CCD, AEC Oneida-Madison Counties; and
Mike Carl, KB2AUJ, RO Oneida County
		
+ NEW ARMY MARS CHIEF UPDATES MISSION, WANTS ARES COOP

With updated command structure and a package of new objectives, the
Army Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) is putting the lessons it
learned from Hurricane Katrina to work.

Priorities and procedures have been reshuffled following an 18-month
analysis of MARS performance during the storm. Two areas receive
particular attention: retraining of all members and the building of
tighter bonds with the federal and state agencies that MARS is
designed to interconnect in an emergency. "The challenges we face are
new and more demanding than those we've prepared for in the past,"
the recently-installed head of Army MARS, Stuart S. Carter, told his
membership of volunteer radio amateurs.

"We need to know that all of our members are well-trained, ready,
capable and willing to meet those challenges," Chief Carter
continued. "We've also got to tell the nation that the 2,600 trained,
and dedicated members of Army MARS, along with our Air Force and
Navy-Marine Corps partners, bring a huge and agile readiness to the
front lines of emergency response.
 
MARS members were already prepared and on the job when 9/11 and then
Katrina put government's ability to respond to the ultimate test.
After the terrorist attacks, however, a new National Incident
Management System (NIMS) introduced government-wide emergency
response protocols for the first time. At Carter's direction, MARS
training requirements have been ratcheted up to include NIMS training
courses as well as doubling of the on-air drill requirement in state
and regional HF radio nets.

And because Katrina revealed numerous responder agencies to be
unaware of MARS resources, he has begun planning for an aggressive
informational campaign within the federal establishment.

Carter identified the ARRL among responder entities with which a
defined relationship will be sought. "The objective would be to
enhance the amateur community's overall emergency readiness while
minimizing duplication of effort," Carter said. "We need to know each
other better." 	

MARS sees its own long-distance HF capability as a natural fit with
the strong local and state operations of ARES. -- Army MARS press
release
	
+ ARMY MARS AND WINLINK 2000 INSTALLATION AT DHS

In a letter to its members, new Army MARS Chief Carter reports, "Our
efforts to make Army MARS 'Relevant to First Responders Today and
Tomorrow' are paying off with big results. The Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) has studied our efforts with Winlink 2000 and well
understand its utility when coupled with Army MARS HF capability. DHS
has completed installing and activating its own hardened Winlink
Message Server, called a Common Message Server (CMS), in its
Headquarters in Washington D.C. This is the fourth hardened CMS in
the Army MARS Winlink 2000 network. All four Army MARS Winlink 2000
CMSs mirror 100% of all Army MARS Winlink message traffic. This
redundancy will assure the unrestricted availability to all Winlink
message traffic during even the most catastrophic conditions to
support emergency relief efforts."

"DHS is the first federal agency to adopt the Army MARS Winlink
messaging strategy to maximize a low cost, readily available, and
highly reliable Army MARS HF/e-mail capability. Soon, other agencies
will leverage the capability and reliability that Army MARS and its
Winlink system provides." - Stuart S. Carter, AAA9A, Chief, Army MARS
(AAA9A)

+ ARRL RELEASES NEW STATEMENT ON RED CROSS BACKGROUND CHECK POLICY 

ARRL has released a position statement regarding the implementation
of a background check procedure by the American Red Cross:
<http://www.arrl.org/announce/ARRL-ARC-bg-check.html>
The statement was released to address ARRL members' concerns prior to
a March 31, 2007, compliance deadline set by the Red Cross. The
application of the background check policy to Amateur Radio operators
providing communication services to the Red Cross -- either as Red
Cross volunteers or as ARES members -- is the subject of continuing
discussions between the ARRL and the Red Cross. Therefore, the
position statement is subject to change. The ARRL will announce any
such revisions and updates on its Web site. -- ARRL

+ CHEMICAL STOCKPILE EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM 2007: AN ALABAMA
ARES/RACES EXERCISE
 
The Calhoun County (Alabama) ARES/RACES group was involved in a mock
Weapons Of Mass Destruction (WMD) Exercise on March 14. Calhoun
County EC and ADEC Randall Landers, KG4EUD, was in charge of ARES and
RACES operations from the county EMA. The exercise was held at the
Anniston Army Depot, which houses seven percent of the nation's
stockpile of chemical weapons that in 1986 Congress mandated be
destroyed. The destruction of chemical weapons is called the Chemical
Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP).

The drill got started when a mock helicopter crashed into an igloo
that housed VX Nerve Agent, causing a plume of nerve gas to be
released. 

The ARES/RACES group responded to the EOC and other predetermined
locations. Once the EOC staff was in place, the group was handed
Emergency Alert System Messages that told which zones had to
evacuate, and which zones were to shelter in place. The RACES EOC
staff included Ken Yates, KI3N who was primary net control for the
exercise; Lee Green, KG4GQT, who provided operator relief and handled
computer grid zone mapping, and Randall Landers, KG4EUD.

Landers used a D-STAR radio and computer with D-CHAT software for
digital data to stay in touch with other agencies and free up the
voice frequencies.

Other amateurs providing communication support to the hospitals
included Jim Norton, KG4WFO and David Craig, KI4GLX.

Dave Dostie, AE9Q, was situated at the Anniston Army Depot. During
the exercise, radio amateurs used 80 meters for state and regional
communications, VHF D-STAR with D-CHAT Digital Data and VHF repeaters
to provide communication support for the Nextel two-way
communications and 800 MHz Digital Trunking systems.

The exercise was evaluated by Federal observers including FEMA Region
4 Director Phil May and FEMA CSEPP Project Manager Terry Madden,
K5ZFN. 

This annual exercise is one of the more prominent displays of Amateur
Radio's emergency communication capability. Congratulations to all of
the hams in Calhoun and surrounding counties who worked hard to pull
off this successful exercise. <http://www.calhounema.org/>

+ LETTERS: QRPers AN ASSET

QRPers are radio builders, technically oriented and great operators.
For the most part they are ready mobile or portable in a snap of the
fingers. They have stations that operate from 160 meters through 440
MHz that are totally battery or solar powered. Most have rigs that
run from less than a watt to over 100 watts so the equipment is more
than adequate for the job and they have ready to deploy antennas that
are always in the "go" bag.

Emcomm groups should look to QRPers as an excellent recruiting pool.
Emergency management agencies and ARES leaders need to consider the
often overlooked QRPers. -- Walter Dufrain, K5EST, Iowa QRP Club
Journal Editor

+ LETTERS: RECRUITMENT TIPS NEEDED

Greetings from New Hanover County, North Carolina, deemed by the NHC
to be the county with the ninth highest profile for a hurricane
strike. Our ARES team has a task force working to recruit new hams
into ARES. Despite having 500 hams listed in our county, less than 30
are active in ARES. We are looking for campaign strategies to recruit
new members, and seek guidance from other groups who have had
success. 

We have adopted some new strategies: We are encouraging served
agencies to get their own volunteers licensed. Our commitment is to
provide ICS/NIMS certified operators to the activated shelters and
EOC of New Hanover county, our "Tier 1" response. Tier 2 are the four
municipalities inside our county where we'll try to provide operators
if available, but we can't guarantee them. Tier 3 are served agencies
with whom we envision signing MOUs but it's up to those agencies to
provide their own operators. Examples of such agencies are the local
American Red Cross chapter, Salvation Army, NWS (using SKYWARN
operators rather than ARES only), and local hospitals. We will work
with those agencies to provide training to get their volunteers
licensed, and encourage each agency to designate a representative to
ARES.

Also, New Hanover County EC David Williams, KF4CQS,
<davecw@ec.rr.com>; is chairman of the North Carolina Section ARES
Digital Communications Task Force, which is establishing standards
and recommendations for Winlink/TelPac and PacLink protocols in state
emcomm activations. -- Bill Morine, N2COP, AEC New Hanover County,
Area 5, Wilmington, North Carolina; Public Information Coordinator 

+ WIKIPEDIA LISTS ARES GROUPS

An updated listing of ARES groups can be found at:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amateur_radio_emergency_service_groups>

 
Also at Wikipedia is a list of regular amateur radio organizations
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amateur_radio_organizations> 
 
-- David Bruse, W4DTR <w4dtr@arrl.net>; 

+ ORANGE COUNTY (FL) HAS NEW COMMUNICATIONS/WARNING COORDINATOR
 
Congratulations to Keith Kotch, KF4BXT, AEC (former EC) Seminole
County, Florida ARES/RACES, who is the new Communications and Warning
Coordinator for Orange County Emergency Management. Orange county
includes the sprawling Orlando metroplex.

+ CONGRATULATIONS: DELTA HAM OF THE YEAR TOM HAMMACK, JR., W4WLF

ARRL Delta Division Director Henry Leggette, WD4Q, recently presented
the Delta Division Ham of the Year Award to Tom Hammack, Jr., W4WLF,
Gulf Coast District Emergency Coordinator, in recognition of his
sustained and unselfish efforts during and after Hurricane Katrina.
For a photo of Hammack receiving his award, see
<http://www.arrlmiss.org/> and for his Katrina photos and stories,
see <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hammack/katrina/>

+ FEEDBACK: THE TRAIN SYSTEM 

In re last month's item on the Kansas TRAIN training registry system,
as a long-time registered user of the TRAIN system, it is run by the
Public Health Foundation, 1300 L Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington,
DC 20005.

There is no need to log in via the Kansas site to create an account.
Anyone going to <http://www.train.org/> should first try their own
state version using the XX.train.org format where XX is the 2-letter
state abbreviation.

Their database only works well for the handful of courses for which
you can enroll via the TRAIN Web site. The method of entering
"non-TRAIN" courses is awkward at best. Hopefully, this will change
soon. -- Tom Currie, N4AOF <Tom.Currie@us.army.mil>; 

+ THE NATIONAL REGISTRY OF CERTIFIED EMCOMM VOLUNTEERS

The National Registry of Certified EmComm Volunteers (NRCEV), a
non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation in the State of Pennsylvania, has
established a comprehensive system to produce national certification
standards for emcomm volunteers, teams and organizations to be
measured against for training and skill competence. 

Other organizations have produced training materials that have
national reach and recognition; and local, section, state and
national organizations have developed or proposed training standards
for their members, but none of these are designed to be a nationwide
standard beyond their organization or program. This is the need the
NRCEV was established to meet. NRCEV certifications are intended to
be independent, to reach beyond political and organizational
boundaries and to be realistically achievable by the vast majority of
emcomm volunteers.

Those that achieve NRCEV certification are recognized as having met
the rigors of review by an independent organization. National
certification affords the individual, team or organization a
uniformity and portability of qualifications. This is important when
it comes to providing Mutual Aid across jurisdictional and
organizational boundaries.

The NRCEV is not a membership organization that you can join. The
NRCEV is a private certifying organization. Certification by the
NRCEV is a distinct process from licensure, and it serves the
important independent purpose of identifying for the public and
governmental or non-profit disaster relief agencies, those emergency
communication volunteers who have successfully completed the NRCEV's
training requirements and who have been assessed on their ability to
perform the skills and abilities associated with the role of an
EmComm volunteer. For more information visit <http://www.nrcev.org/>
-- Chris Snyder, NG3F, President, National Registry of Certified
EmComm Volunteers <chris.snyder@nrcev.org>; 1-866-446-7969 or
570-504-8738 [Snyder has an Associate Degree in Computer Science
Technology, and is a US Army Veteran - Morse Intercept; he is an
EMT-Paramedic, and has served as county RACES Officer, county ARES
EC, and as ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania SEC. Certified 3 Levels ARRL
Emergency Communications Courses, and numerous NIMS/ICS courses. He
was an emergency management professional for two years with the
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (in Training and Planning)].

+ K1CE FOR A FINAL

Get a NOAA Weather Alert Radio and keep it on!

See you next month! 73, Rick K1CE