[Ares-races] Portable Station help wanted

Tue, 13 Apr 2004 21:56:34 -0400

I too have enjoyed this forum.  Having worked a few emergencies, I have
learned that it is all about adapting to the situation at hand.  From
each emergency I have learned some better way to operate the next one.
I can tell you how I would work differently should I work another
Hurricane Hugo, but I can't tell you anything I did wrong to work it
last time.  

The author below is right about preparedness.  When I got to Charleston,
the first thing that happened was my power supply died almost before I
could hook it up.  A gentleman there fired up a butane soldering iron
and fixed it while I was still setting up the desk.  Every four hours
someone had to service the generator we were using.  I was off the air
during that time.  Telephone poles had fallen on dozens of cars in the
lot next door and several cars in the EMA parking area.  After returning
home, I discovered that I could have taken two of those car's batteries
and wired them in series, connected them to the filter capacitor on my
power supply and adjusted the voltage down to operate the rig.  

When I operated from Charleston, I had some experience with local
emergencies, but none with large area emergencies and little to no
experience with the NTS.  It took me only an hour to be running HW
messages smoothly and efficiently because of many hams on the air
briefing me and due to the aid of the three or four helpers there when I
arrived.  

While there has been some emergency preparedness amongst hams, it
probably wasn't as well coordinated as it is these days.  

One lesson I learned from Charleston that I wonder how well it is known
today is this:  When the disaster took it's toll in the large
surrounding area, it also took its toll on available local hams.  They
were tending to their own families and homes, etc.  It was not the
locals but the outsiders who packed up their bags and came into the area
to help that made it happen.   This is not a negative on the locals, I
have often wondered how to choose between my kids and my EMA in the
event of an area-wide emergency.  That is an answer I will only know
when the time comes.  

Today I am learning more about EmComm and what I am learning is
something called "standards".  During Hugo, we used nuts and bolts or
thumb screws.  Today I am learning about Anderson Power Poles.  More and
more I hear that Ham Radio is standard equipment at EMA centers.  

The disaster timing is also a variable that has to be dealt with.
Charleston had many days notice to evacuate people before the storm hit.
When it did, there were very few hams there and those that were there
had their antennas or shacks destroyed.  I came in three days later and
setup shop mostly with my own equipment.  But what if the exact same
damage were to occur in the exact same location by earthquake?  The
population would not have been evacuated.  More local hams would be in
the area and the disaster would be handled in a much different way.  

I have been away from Ham Radio for 10 years now.  I came back with an
old Swan radio with lots of tubes.  Not very friendly to use during a
power outage.  The warm-up time is about 12 hours so even if I rushed
into a disaster zone and setup I would have eaten two meals waiting on
the receiver to settle down to less than 6 QSOs at the time (3 on either
side of the center frequency.)

I now have a solid state rig on the way, a battery backup is in the
works, and, like the author below, I am preparing a fishing vest which
will be my "first responder" vest for emergency communications complete
with a few necessary tools and radios to use when needed.  At least two
of the radios will be FRS radios.  I could have used three or four of
them during Hugo.  We made do with 2 meters but today those radios are
useful too.

Hugo also introduced me to something else.  There was a new ham, I think
he was a novice at the time.  He took my 2 meter handy and was
everywhere I needed him to be.  He helped keep up with the Red Cross and
Salvation Army staffs, the local police dispatcher and the EMA director
so that when either they or I had questions or information, the other
got it in a timely manor.  Things went very smoothly, all things
considered, and largely because of a humble newcomer to the hobby.  

While we are all communicators, communications is not our only need.
There were several hams with me at Charleston, one in particular, I
don't recall he ever transmitted, but he was most valuable in keeping
things running.  When my power supply quit, he repaired it on the spot.
He setup baskets and organized the flow of HW messages within the
building and helped prioritize them so that critical messages were
followed up and handled properly.  He kept the generator operational and
maintained power to the rig.  He setup a tarp over the radio area so it
wouldn't get wet since the roof was stolen by Hugo.  He didn't do as
well on the tent that covered the make-shift bed he laid out for me, but
I didn't short out when I got wet.  He continued his role as maintenance
for not only me, but also the other services and operations in the
building.  

This is all a team effort.  Each of us has different abilities and each
emergency has different needs.  We adapt to them the best we can.  If we
can work as a team, we can work through the emergency.  

One other thing I learned while I was there, was the value of
familiarity with other hams.  I sort of want to say friendship, but
that's a bit too strong, even though it is going to be the case most of
the time.  Often I would hear or call on those I knew.  Gwinnett County
Hams from Atlanta GA area and those I talked to most often from Augusta:
I would often able to handle traffic or requests through them more
easily since I was familiar with working with them.  This same
familiarity (Someone tell me a good word for this) is learned in
emergency training exercises and in club or emergency training meetings.

I am not "trained" in EmComm now.  I haven't taken the League's course
yet and I haven't met with the local emergency training clubs.  In an
emergency, though, if I were in the spot again, it would still work out
as we would all adapt.  However, if I were up-to-date on that training
and more familiar with the others, no doubt, things would also work out,
but also would work more smoothly.  

During an emergency, who will ultimately be in charge?  The man or woman
in the middle of it.  Whether it will be me, or some new comer that has
no experience, or you, who might have spent years training for just such
an event.  When it happens, we, who are not in the middle of it, will do
our best to make sure you get the needed resources and communications
that you need to get through it. If that person needs to tell me what to
do, so be it!  That is the time to dictate! 

This is the time to share and to help each other be better prepared to
handle being in the middle.  And I think it is a great place with great
people for just that.

<Buck steps down from the podium to realize he just put everyone to
sleep>

I guess I get a little long-winded sometimes.

Open for comments!

Buck

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Younker [mailto:[email protected]] 
> Sent: Friday, April 09, 2004 2:22 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [Ares-races] Portable Station help wanted
> 
> 
>  Interesting; during this thread I only recall persons 
> relating as to what they do,  making suggestions or simply 
> sharing thoughts. I just can't recall anyone telling others 
> what to do.--73 Doug, N0LKK  [email protected]
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Grant Hopper" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 5:32 PM
> Subject: Re: [Ares-races] Portable Station help wanted
> 
> 
> : This has been an interesting thread to watch over the last 
> day.  It's
> : obvious that a lot of people have a different take on what 
> is "right"
> : for themselves, the disagreement comes when they are trying to tell
> : someone else what to do.
> :
> : As the longtime training officer, and deputy operations 
> officer for a
> : large Department of Emergency Management associated RACES unit, my
> : experience has been that many people start out with grand ideas and
> : want to cover every situation.  That quickly changes as the 
> realities
> : of budget, and situation- ie. assignment and needs of the served
> : agency or agencies come into play.
> :
> : Experience will teach you what you do and don't need in EVERY
> : situation.  That's what you must have.  In our group, the basics are
> : a HT, personal items, forms, a notepad and pens.  Everything else is
> : optional.  In some cases our members need only bring their 
> operations
> : cheat sheet with frequencies and our preplan.  This is 
> because we are
> : sending people out to county, city and other organization EOCs and
> : everything they need is there.  In other cases they have to work out
> : of their car.   Mostly a small gymbag or daypack will carry
> : everything you need.
> :
> : Those may not be cool, but they get the job done and are easy to
> : carry where you need to be mobile.  Some of our members use items
> : like a handcart/handtruck to carry a storage box or milk crate with
> : radio hardware built in.  (On a handcart for moving the kit, I use a
> : milk crate with a power supply, dual bander, TNC and a metal plate
> : fastened to the top so I can attach a mag mount.  A 
> separate gel cell
> : gets hooked up where I can't get AC power.  It has velcro attachment
> : points for cables, a spare mic and everything I need to hook up a
> : packet or APRS station to my laptop or to a served agency's computer
> : -CD burned with all the software I might need.  I throw my 72 hour
> : kit, and radio jump kit on top and I'm ready to go.  I can strap the
> : thing down in my truck to get a second operating position.  I have a
> : similar setup for HF but have never needed to use that for an
> : operation since we always seem to have our needs met by VHF/UHF
> : operations.  The HF setup is GREAT for field day though.)
> :
> : The army used to have these great field desks that packed up into a
> : large chest.  It was a desk, file cabinet (one drawer), supplies,
> : etc.  Problem was that it was a lot to haul.  That might be fine for
> : a headquarters section or whatever, but wasn't practical when you
> : need to be more mobile.  Thus, one of your considerations for a
> : design is your mobility needs, and portability.
> :
> : One member insists that his travel trailer is his kit.  
> That is a bit
> : of an extreme but it illustrates my point.  Your kit should be what
> : you will use.  If you get called out once a year, or are trying to
> : get prepared for the "big one" have fun, but don't forget 
> that in the
> : mean time, you need to have something practical or you are going to
> : get left out when they need people who can integrate into their
> : operation (remember, you are there to help them...)  
> Needless to say,
> : travel trailer guy doesn't get called out much , if at all 
> because we
> : need people who can take their gear and ride with someone else up a
> : logging road to a search base, hop on a fire engine or 
> helicopter, or
> : set up at the city hall EOC next to the fire chief.  If you can't
> : meet the needs, there's no point in building the superkit 
> unless it's
> : really to show off or for field day.
> :
> : As for stations in tool boxes,  A lot of APRS stations are set up in
> : those.  If you look on the web, you should be able to find a number
> : of them.  The designs are easily adapted but it does 
> require a bit of
> : work on your part.  After all, we can't expect others to do our
> : thinking for us. We're supposed to do the thinking ( and
> : communicating) for others.
> :
> : GH
> 
> 
> 
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