[ARRL-OK] After Action Review Columbia Recovery Mission

[Lloyd A Colston]

Below the signature box is an AAR from the Texas amateur radio operators
as relayed by Tim Lewallen, the Public Information Officer for the
American Radio Relay League.  This is forwarded from the Infragard elist
for amateur radio operators.  

Mr. Lewallen received his baptism by fire during the Columbia disaster. 
I have followed some of his releases during the disaster.  He should be
commended for his professionalism.

As you strive to understand amateur radio and how it plays into your
local jursidiction, please read the AAR.  While there is a certain amount
of technical verbiage which you may not understand, please know that
Logistics (one-fourth of the Incident Command Structure) is charged with
supplying communications.  Having a Logistics Officer who understand
communications will put YOU very far along the path to a successful
mission.  What amateur radio brings to the Logistics Officer is a FREE
resource (remember this when you see the miles driven and man-hours
totals).  This resource can be as robust as one operator with one radio
or, as in the case of the Columbia Recovery Mission, scores of operators
manning their own radios.  However, as is the case with most missions,
AARs speak to problems and solutions.  This one does as well.

Again, I am happy to share this with the Emergency Management community. 
If you have questions regarding amateur radio, please feel free to visit
http://www.arrl.org or email me.  I am sure Mr. Lewallen would be
appreciative of your communication as well.

Let me know how more I can help.


Lloyd Colston             Mayes County Emergency Management
Pryor, OK USA           http://www.geocities.com/mccem
        Don't let Yesterday take up too much of Today.

--------- Forwarded message ----------

Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 14:56:12 -0600
From: "Tim Lewallen" <lewallen@netdot.com>
To: ham-ops@infragard.us
Subject: [Ham-ops] Ham Radio and the Shuttle Recovery

All,

This is a summary of the Amateur Radio emergency communications provided
to
the agencies participating in the recovery operation of the Shuttle
Columbia.

It was compiled from a debriefing radio net held a couple weeks back on
several local radio repeaters in the Dallas area and here in Nacogdoches.
The author is Jim Lawyer (AA5QX), one of the Radio Amateur Civil
Emergency
Service coordinators in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

While it does not concern an Amateur Radio based "internet replacement"
it
does show that hams are ready, willing and able to answer the call to
service, are technically proficient, operate in a professional manner and
above all, are flexible and adapt to the needs and requirements presented
t=
o
them.

If you have any questions concerning this please let me know at the email
address below or post them to the list if you think the group would be
interested.

Best regards,

Tim Lewallen, KD5ING
Public Information Officer
Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club
kd5ing@arrl.net

-------------------



Many had asked me when there would be a report on the 2 hour and 15
minute long debriefing net from February 16 that was held on the
Dallas A.R.C. 146.88 repeater and linked via EchoLink. See below.

I will apologize now for any errors or omissions. I used both my hand
written notes and tapes of the net but  know that one or two made
comments that were lost during tape changes.  With those exceptions I
have tried to fairly present everyone's input.

Best regards,
Jim Lawyer
aa5qx


The following is a record of the information presented and discussed
during
the debriefing net on February 16, 2003. The net which was held on the
Dallas Amateur Radio Club repeater, W5FC, 146.880, lasted 2 hours and 15
minutes and included hams from the Dallas/Ft Worth metroplex and hams
linke=
d
via EchoLink software and the internet.


=93Net format and overview with guidelines regarding comments=94

AA5QX, Jim, Dallas  =96  Debriefing Net Control / Moderator

We will be discussing several topics related to the amateur radio
operation=
s
during the East Texas shuttle recovery. We are linking one or more of the
amateur radio leaders from Nacogdoches to this net via Echolink. I would
like to first allow some of those hams to provide us with some background
and behind the scenes information. For those with Echolink =96 look for
W5FC-=
R
and/or WX_TALK but please watch for instructions regarding use of the
link
so you don=92t inadvertently lock up the room or the Dallas net.. For
local
hams, please keep comments short and unkey frequently to prevent the
variou=
s
linked repeaters timing out.

=93Overview of East Texas involvement and some background information=94
KD5CCH, Kevin Anderson, Nacogdoches, was in charge of support operations
fo=
r
Nacogdoches

On Saturday morning it was:

8:15 a.m. Heard Explosion

8:16 a.m. Hams were on their radios talking about it

8:17 a.m. Found out that the Shuttle had Failed

8:20 a.m. A local net was fully operational

9:00 a.m. Nacogdoches had a net with 18 Operators were involved in the
initial assessment

All day Saturday was spent determining the extent of the debri in the
three
county area. Sunday was more reactionary with people calling in with
debri.
The Feds were rolling in and plans were being made as to how to proceed.
We
jumped in with the locals, we still had no idea as to the extent of the
services we were going to be asked to provide. As the Feds rolled in they
very quickly found out that they couldn=92t operate over the area they
had to
cover. Their communications were very limited. There were a lot of
differen=
t
jurisdictions involved and a lot of different agencies in here. The only
thing that was truly reliable was ham radio. We had someone shadowing all
o=
f
the main officials. Only a small portion of the traffic was on the
repeater
hooked to EchoLink. We passed a lot of the traffic, some was very
critical
traffic.

As we got into the beginning of the week we realized we were going to
have
lots of help. That=92s where the real problem started. How do you get
sufficient help without having too much help. The worst thing we could
envision was having a thousand hams in here that we couldn=92t use. That
is
one of the main things I plan on addressing in the future, managing large
numbers of hams in a situation like this. The needs were extreme and not
normal ham radio work. Heavy terrain and changes that occured hourly.

The best thing was that the ones who showed up absolutely showed up with
th=
e
best attitudes. We were working under a lot of duress. Most of us locals
that were trying to coordinate things running on very little sleep. Folks
came from all over the country from New York to British Columbia,
California, South Texas, Dallas, Houston, you name it. A lot of these
peopl=
e
didn=92t know one another, had never worked together and had never
trained
together and there was no standard SOP or mitigation plan laying on the
desk. We just reacted to what the needs were at that moment and  people
jus=
t
took their task and went with it, whatever it was. People were riding
with
DPS, FBI, NTSB, walking in the woods. As it went from a locating mode of
GPSin these things, we went back and forth from locating stuff and GPSing
i=
t
to picking it up and back to locating it again.

We used from 25 to 71 hams per day in Nacogdoches with the high being 71
on
Saturday. That=92s a lot of hams to be coordinated, assigned to teams,
assigned to net control. We had 188 unique hams come through Nacogdoches.
Our hams drove over 60,000 miles in their personal vehicles and logged
5,50=
0
manhours.

We got a lot of commendations from the Incident Commander and a lot of
agencies on the scene but the one word that was used the most was
=93professional=94. Every one conducted themselves in a very professional
manne=
r
and pitched in and did the best they could.


=93North Texas A.R.E.S. Involvement=94
K5MWC, Bill Swan, McKinney, North Texas A.R.E.S., Section Eemergency
Coordinator

I want to let everyone know that although my direct involvement was very
small compared to others, I did listen and try to understand what was
going
on. I did contact the local Emergency Coordinator in Nacogdoches. I think
that this was born out of tragedy, which unhappily is the way we get a
lot
of the recognition that we get. We certainly demonstrated the value of
amateur radio. Once again amateur radio came to the forefront. There were
many agencies involved, all of which have their own communication
equipment
but which cannot as a general rule inter-operate as they must in
situations
such as this.

There was a lot of interface with agencies and organizations that we
perhap=
s
don't normally have a chance to do. So once again the value of this is to
spread an awareness of amateur radio to agencies and organizations that
perhaps are not familiar with our performance in situations such as we
had.

My role primarily was to be a clearing house of information, to direct
people to those who were directing people into the area and providing
excellent information regarding what to expect when they arrive. And to
jus=
t
generally make certain that we were available if need be. There were a
lot
of people calling from out of the state asking how they could become
involved. As Kevin mentioned, one of the big things to be sure of when
you
do have a lot of people responding is that you do so in a way that is
organized and in a way that allows people to make use of their talents
and
their time in the most productive way.

It was also my opportunity to coordinate with the South Texas Section of
th=
e
ARES and to keep them advised of what was going on during the initial
part
of the operation. I know that they later participated, especially in San
Augustine County and also in Nacogdoches County.

The coordination with amateur radio in general is something else I would
like to emphasize. This was not an ARES organization only and was not a
RACES organization only, but it was amateur radio and that is what we are
all about. Providing a service to the general public and also to the
served
agencies that we are involved in. It was a good learning experience for
everyone no matter what your involvement was and those are the things
that
will be picked up in the net tonight.

I am very, very proud of the amateur radio organization. We always come
through. We are a very responsive organization. We learn from these
experiences and this was a very important experience. One that has
demonstrated the value of amateur radio to many, many people and
certainly
helped the awareness to agencies that we do not normally get to work
with.
These things can work to our benefit.

As the Section Emergency Coordinator for North Texas I am very proud of
the
work that Jim, AA5QX and Johnny, K5JD did in helping to coordinate things
from this end. As many, many people,188 as I understood was the number
accounted for, we can all take pride and we can all learn from these
experiences. I know there were things that didn't go the way they were
expected but those are the things that we get out of these operations.

Once again, thanks to everyone. I'm very, very happy that we had the
chance
to respond as we did and it sounds like from what I understand from every
source, that overall the operation was certainly a great success.


KK5BE, K.J. Hughes, Nacogdoches =96 Net control in Nacogdoches, A.R.E.S.
Emergency Coordinator for Nacogdoches County

Thank you to everybody on the net. On my behalf as well as Jeff Clark,
K5NAC, another net controller we want to say thanks to everyone. We=92re
a
small club, we have 33 ARES members but thank goodness for the past
several
years that we have been in training, both simulated and actual. We handle
a
lot of evacuees from the gulf coast during hurricanes. I know that
we=92ll
continue our training. I also want to thank Bill Swan not only for his
support in this operation but for times past. Bill has been a great help
to
us. As Bill said earlier, we were under no one flag but just a lot of
good
hams. I also want to be sure to thank W5BJ, Bob Jones, K5HW, Bud Walton
and
N5TIM, John Galvin and the Garland Amateur Radio Club for their help in
getting the 146.660 repeater down here so quickly. It really saved the
day.


=93Summary of how and why Dallas became involved in recovery efforts=94
K5JD, Johnny Davis, Richardson - linked Dallas to Nacogdoches via
EchoLink

What happened, as those who are locally involved in RACES recall, we had
a
discussion after the net about getting people to volunteer to go to East
Texas to help. Jim, AA5QX and I started putting together the list of
names
of those who could go. Jim developed the system to keep up with the
volunteers and to publish updates and to send lists to Kevin daily or
even
more often to let him know who was coming and what days. Monday it
cranked
up and I was amazed and simply flabbergasted and pleased with the
response
we were getting from the hams in north Texas. It started off with most of
them we were getting were from Dallas and then Fort Worth and then
Oklahoma
and then as it was published on ARRL web page and then, first thing you
kne=
w
they were coming in a steady stream. I know that we were spending
anywhere
from 14 to 16 hours a day, mostly in front of a computer in a nice warm
roo=
m
as we were processing volunteers, sending over their information and
giving
them instructions !
as to what to take with them and how to prepare to go over to East Texas
to
work. I don't think a lot of them realized at first the conditions that
the=
y
were going to be confronted with, brambles, thorns, swamp, going through
woods so thick that not even a rabbit could get through.

That's what really started it. After about Monday or Tuesday it got into
a
routine. When someone volunteered, we sent back a message asking them
questions about their abilities: asking if they had a 12 channel GPS, if
they could walk through the woods for 4 hours, whether they could ride
horseback, what day could they start, and what day would be their last
day
in the field. There were several questions like that, that's how we got
the
volunteers lined up.

The hams that were coming to us get all the credit for the numbers. We
were
simply putting out the word and it was the response back that was just
fantastic. As a matter of fact, last weekend, the first weekend after the
shuttle disaster, we got to a point where Kevin sent a message
saying,=94cut
if off=94. There were about 70 in Nacogdoches, and about 30 or 40 in San
Augustine and that's not just from Dallas/Fort Worth, folks, that's from
al=
l
over the country. I think they had some guys drive in from California and
I
know they were getting messages out of New York City from hams up there
wanting to come down to help. I know that some of them did, I don't know
if
all of them got down before they shut it off. We tried to contact as many
a=
s
we could after we learned that it had been shut down.



AA5QX, Jim - First impressions were that there would not be any recovery
operation involvement by Dallas area hams other than linking a Dallas
repeater to the Nacogdoches repeater audio to permit Dallas hams to hear
what was going on there. When the Sunday afternoon Nacogdoches net
traffic
revealed that many Nacogdoches hams couldn=92t work through the week due
to
job obligations, a call was issued for outside volunteers about an hour
and
a half before the normally scheduled Dallas R.A.C.E.S. net was to begin.
An
email and text page was sent to all of the R.A.C.E.S. Radio Officers in
the
Dallas area prior to the net. The information regarding the need for
operators was shared during the training net and another non-R.A.C.E.S.
net
was conducted immediately afterward to permit other hams to ask questions
and to volunteer. It was decided that I would serve as a contact point
between Dallas area volunteers and East Texas ham management.
Unfortunately=
,
I had to make a trip out of t!
own Thursday through Saturday.  K5JD, Johnny and KC5MXN, Clay took over
handling the emails from volunteers and sending lists to Nacogdoches
until =
I
returned.



=93The shifting understanding of how amateurs were going to be
involved=94

KD5CCH, Kevin Anderson, Nacogdoches

Quite honestly, it is a blur. We had no idea that our involvement was
going
to be what it was. Our initial thing was to do the initial assessment. We
were actually operating net control from our homes and our office. We
actually thought we would be working it through the weekend and be
swarming
with Feds by Monday and that would be the end of it.

Sunday we were contacted to be the drivers and communication for the GPS
teams that were going out and we thought, "Oh man". We mobilized in a big
way Sunday, called out all the locals that we could get out. Then we
realized that instead of there being maybe hundreds of pieces that needed
t=
o
be located with GPS there were literally thousands and thousands of them.
There was absolutely no way that Sunday was even going to come close to
handling that.

We still thought that the Feds would come in and completely take over in
a
day or two. On Monday, we actually scrambled around and figured out that
we
needed our own command post and that we needed more hams. Many of the
local
hams took off on Monday and I think there were people showing up on their
own. We saw that we were very involved with the GPS teams and that we
were
going to need help.

Jim and Johnny up there in Dallas, everyone, were absolutely the reason
tha=
t
it was the success that it was. There were a lot of reasons, a lot of
peopl=
e
doing a lot of work but without the help down here, it just wouldn't have
worked.  On Tuesday when all the Feds came rolling in and all the DPS
units
came rolling in  (about 350 DPS units) they realized that they had no
communications whatsoever.  As they  spread out through the woods there
wasn't but one way they were going to talk back to the EOC and between
unit=
s
and that was with ham radio operators. DPS even showed up and their
car-to-car frequencies had different PL. West Texas DPS couldn't talk to
East Texas DPS car-to-car, much less through the repeaters in Lufkin. So
it
was interesting. We knew then that we had a huge task and that's when the
all-calls went out for help.

We wanted enough but not too much. It then came down to us assessing our
needs on a daily basis as to how many people we needed. Then as teams
were
being formed we realized we needed an operator for each team and then
they
didn't want to send a team in the field period, without an operator. It
jus=
t
went from there.



NE5AH, Alan Hayes, Lufkin

Our experience was a little different from Nacogdoches. There are only 4
listed hams and only 1 active ham in San Augustine County. There was no
infrastructure, no working repeater. WD5EFY, Mike and I were talking on
our
local repeater Saturday and the people in Tyler brought down a mobile
repeater and 5 operators to help us on Sunday. All the operators who came
down in our area were either acting as net control or going into the
bush.

The 146.66 repeater from Garland Amateur Radio Club was set up early on
Tuesday and that is what saved the day for us. From that day on we had
reliable communications. To echo what Kevin said, as far as
communications,
even on the last day we operated which was Wednesday, Ham radio was still
the only reliable communications. I went out twice on Wednesday with two
FEMA teams on dog searches and they weren't able to get back to their EOC
with their equipment but we were.

On mistakes that we made, obviously when we went down there on Saturday,
ou=
r
anticipation was that the Feds would be in there fully in force by Monday
and we would be pretty much out of the picture. We pretty well had
Saturday
and Sunday covered. We got some additional hams in on Monday and in our
early planning we pretty well thought that we would exit that operation
by
Monday night. After operating for a week and a half it was clear that
that
wasn't the case.

The second thing was that it turned out that the headquarters for the
overall operation did wind up being set up here in Lufkin and we never
had =
a
presence here so that was a mistake on our part. When we found out that
there was going to be the major headquarters here, someone either from
Nacogdoches or us, should have set up someone to be the liaison for the
total effort. I think that that might have helped us with planning
because
we were having to wait until we had our briefings in San Augustine at
6:30
or 7:30 at night to find out what the next day's activities were going to
b=
e
like, so that was a mistake.

In retrospect, we probably should have planned for longevity. While we
were
like Kevin in the Nacogdoches group, we were sensitive in trying not to
overstaff too much because we didn't want people coming down and getting
turned off by not having been utilized. We probably would have been
better
off in the long run to have gone ahead and planned on it being a
long-term
event and staffing for that. The first few days we thought that by Monday
w=
e
would be out of there. By Wednesday we were prepared for this to go on
for
three weeks. Then on this last Wednesday, Nacogdoches had a couple of
days
notice that they were going to stop but we only found out at 10 o'clock
Wednesday that we were going to cease operations here.



AA5QX, Jim -

There were unique situations because of the location, because of the pine
forest, because of the terrain, because of the lack of infrastructure ...
there were a lot of things working against communications in the East
Texas
area and that's really where we shine. We have to realize that just
because
people get paid to go and have fancy gear to go doesn't mean that when
they
get there they will be able to operate. Amateur radio has a unique
capability, the flexibility of people and equipment and frequencies to
operate when others can't and that was certainly demonstrated in East
Texas=
.

Another thing to realize is that there is never a way to know how long
you
are going to be involved at the get-go. Certainly the East Texas hams and
everyone who responded showed the flexibility to change with the daily
briefings and to change with the daily events. That's a credit to
everyone
but particularly those who were down there Saturday and Sunday and having
t=
o
handle all the strange operators and strangers from every agency under
the
sun, all the =93alphabet people=94 that showed up down there with their
own
agendas.


=93Comments from operators who were on site =93
=93Quality of information received before going compared to actual
experience=
=94

KD5PXM, Richard - We didn't know what we were going to do but we did know
where to go and what frequencies to use and that was very helpful

KD5PXM, Richard =96 We took our own maps and were able to navigate around
without needing to ask for directions and that proved to be very helpful

AD5KE, Doyle - Good information available prior to first shift included
fcy
to use, where to go

KD5IPJ, Tom =96 E-mail information received ahead of time really helped
with
making preparations

KD5IPJ, Tom - Handout with information was available in Nacogdoches
Tuesday
but not on others

KB5PYS, Brett - Flow of information to volunteers via email was good

WA5OEB, Brad - Took =93everything=94 to be prepared for =93anything=94
based on inf=
o
received early on


=93Support at site =96 lodging, meals, information =93

KC5HWX, Albert -  The Torino church did a wonderful job providing meals
for
the volunteers.

AA5QX, Jim - There were no other comments during debriefing.

E-mails during and after the event included:

Praise for the support operations such as the Texas Baptist Men=92s
Association, the Salvation Army, and the American Red Cross for providing
excellent meals that were hot, tasty, and nutritious.

The dorm sleeping arrangements in the Expo Center in Nacogdoches,
although
coed and Spartan were appreciated. Dorm lights stayed on all night.
=93Last
folks in=94 was around midnight, =93first folks up=94 was around 3:30
a.m. Those
who got showers early in the day or evening had hot water, later folks
didn=92t.

The warm hospitality of the local businesses and citizens in Nacogdoches,
San Augustine, and Lufkin was often mentioned in e-mails and
conversations.

=93Operations at site =96 individuals=92 preparation vs actual
operation=94

KD5OUG, Doug - =93Took about everything I had and am glad I did=94

KD5OUG, Doug - Many of the Red Cross vehicles have fiberglass bodies so
setting up an antenna was a challenge, I wound up using a metal door
frame
to mount my magnetic mount antenna.

KD5PXM, Richard - Was prepared to work in woods, Took own maps (self
sufficient)

KA5IVR, Stuart - prepared to work in the field, wound up working as net
control but had to have equipment brought in since the existing NCS
station
left with the operator

K5LTC, Gordon  - Information provided by email prior to going down was
excellent

K5LTC, Gordon  - People who bought or borrowed GPS equipment didn't know
ho=
w
to use it or program it before taking it into the field.

K5NLM, Nancy =96 I promise to never get in another DPS tropper=92s car
again
without my own map, regardless of what my assignment is. (Note: The local
supply of 100=92s of maps were quickly exhausted)

KD5PXM, Richard- land navigation skills were handy to have

WB5QLD, Mike - Availability meetings and nets were located separate from
both the operation fcy and location and allowed for much better support
to
the operators and a smoother running operation net

WB5QLD, Mike - It was tiring, uncomfortable but a very rewarding
experience

K5NLM, Nancy =96 I know that some of you were in the field and
experienced
things you aren=92t accustomed to. If you are experiencing any
difficulties o=
r
want to talk to someone who has =93been there=94 I would be happy to get
you th=
e
name of someone in your area who understands emergency stresss and its
aftermath. These are generally personnel in your local fire, police or
EMS
services who will be more than willing to visit with you. Send me an
email
at k5nlm@arrl.net

=93Lessons learned for response/operation in future events=94
KA5TYW, Paul  - Relay teams had two ops but third op to deal with people
wh=
o
walked up with questions would be ideal. Many times there were
simultaneous
calls from operators in the field and from net control. Having 2
operators
allowed those to be handled in a timely and efficient manner.

KA5TYW, Paul  - Log all radio communications/messages. Many times the
ability to refer to logs ensured that information being passed was not a
duplicate of a previous message but new information.

KA5TYW, Paul  - Daily briefings were extremely useful for operating
frequencies, procedures, assignments. Operators need to follow the
instructions given in these briefings.

KD5ING, Tim  - Many people were receiving e-mails from people wanting to
volunteer. There was no one uniform way to volunteer nor one contact
point.

KD5ING, Tim - The ARRL Section Newsletter was used as one way to get out
th=
e
latest information.

KD5ING, Tim  - AB2M, Joe in Florida was developing a website for
volunteering but it came too late in the event for use this time. At
least
one ham is building an internet sign-up utility that can be standing by
for
use in future large scale events.

NE5AH, Alan - Dual in-band receiving capability (even if it is just 2
separate radios or a transceiver and a scanner) is a real plus to allow
operator to stay in touch with field and command operations.

NE5AH, Alan =96 Having an =93improved=94 antenna for fringe area
operations is an
asset when normal antenna isn=92t sufficient (push-up pole, j-pole, etc)

KD5OUG, Doug - Having a way to send information regarding needs and
information updates to clubs as well as individuals would have possibly
helped recruit resources.

KD5CCH, Kevin =96 Logging was extremely important. There were a number of
incidents when there were multiple sensitive items located about the same
time and the logged messages kept it all straight. Having information
logge=
d
builds confidence in our ability to operate at the level of other
professionals.

KD5CCH, Kevin =96 Most operators came well prepared but some didn=92t and
just
couldn=92t be used. It is imperative that operators find out what is
needed
and come prepared to work.

KD5CCH, Kevin =96 We had thousands of maps produced but there were
thousands
of volunteers and other workers who grabbed them up.

KD5CCH, Kevin - The scheduling of operators was particularly hindered by
th=
e
dynamic nature of the operations. Having enough operators was a problem
but
needs changed on an hourly basis and knowing what to expect was a real
problem for ham management.

KD5CCH, Kevin =96 The amount of issues to be handled when dealing with so
man=
y
different agencies and needs requires software to keep track of and
manage
resources. New software under development will include scheduling,
availability, and assignments for at least a 48 hour period.

KD5CCH, Kevin =96 A centralized website with needs, maps, operation
frequencies, how to sign up is really needed. We used the ARRL North
Texas
webpage and that will continue to be a good tool but we really need a
site
dedicated to keeping information updated for the specific incident.

KK5PB, Bill - The ability use high speed wireless internet technology
added
an enormous resource to the command operations by providing email,
weather,
and other information capabilities.

KK5PB, Bill - Handling the scheduling and screening of volunteers can
best
be performed from a single point outside the hot zone to free those
directl=
y
involved with operations

KA5IVR, Stuart - APRS was not utilized during this event, however, there
were some incidents where APRS communications were made and information
exchanged between San Augustine and Dallas without using the Internet. If
implemented, it could have provided significant support to command and
control of the operators.

KD5IPJ, Tom =96 Maybe the ARRL could provide some standardization of
software=
,
web access, and perhaps designation of someone outside of the affected
area
to handle the volunteer signup, etc.

KD5QXF, William - The Richardson Morning News carried a good story on all
that the hams were doing to help with the East Texas situation.

AA5QX, Jim - There were several news agencies that presented stories
regarding amateur radio=92s contribution to the recovery efforts,
however,
these were almost exclusively small town editions with a personal
interest
aspect to their reporting. Many of these stories were written as a direct
result of hams contacting the papers and letting them know about the
local
hams=92 participation.

=93EchoLink=92s contribution to event from operator preparation
standpoint=94
K5JD, Johnny =96

EchoLink is a free software package that allows you to connect to other
repeaters and computers viat the internet. You must be a licensed amateur
radio operator to use it. If you want to try it out you can go to:
www.echolink.org and download the software. Once you load the software it
will ask you to register and the sysops will have to validate your
amateur
radio license before you are permitted to access the system. Validation
takes about 4 hours to a day. Once you are notified you can use the
system.
If you have any problems check the FAQ on the site first. Most issues are
addressed, particularly if you are behind a firewall.

Echolink provided direct contact between the affected area and the remote
support operations. Re-transmitting net audio in remote cities generated
awareness of the operation and the nature of the operation=92s needs.
Hearing
=93local=94 operators from the remote cities formed a tie to the event
and
stimulated additional volunteering of operators. Real time
re-transmitting
net audio gave the event immediacy and relevancy to those who listened
and
increased awareness of amateur radio=92s role in disasters. It also
encourage=
d
self-evaluation by listening hams of their own preparedness for such an
event.


Additional observations by AA5QX, Jim

AA5QX, Jim - At a time when many critics are claiming that amateur radio
is
archaic and irrelevant, operators using normal ham equipment as well as
Wireless Internet, Echolink, and APRS demonstrated that the technical
capabilities of amateur radio hobbyists remain uniquely capable of
meeting
real world communication needs in the 21st century.

AA5QX, Jim =96 Dallas County has an organization, the DALLAS County
R.A.C.E.S=
.
Council that is made up of all of the R.A.C.E.S. Radio Officers from the
various cities=92 R.A.C.E.S groups. This organization=92s role is to
ensure tha=
t
all of the groups are working together toward the common goal of
effective
emergency communications in large scale events.

4 Needs of any large scale response:

ON SITE OPERATORS - need equipment and skills before they arrive, how to
operate radio, gps, etc

ON SITE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Management Hams should interface with all
agencies but maintain control of their operators. i.e. Food, housing,
who's
on duty/off duty in field, who has returned.

RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT - communicating with the ham community regarding
needs
for operators and equipment

GOOD LINKS to various communication sites and control centers throughout
th=
e
area of operation are essential

3 General issues during any event:

Standard phonetics =96 when stations come on frequency and use
non-standard
phonetics it is difficult to understand the message. When under stress
you
revert to habits, make good operation habitual

Failure to respond equipped to meet needs - not just throwing radios/hams
a=
t
problem, but properly prepared for the operations, better to hold back if
physical or equipment limitations would hinder your ability to work. If
you
aren=92t able to be part of the solution then others must support you and
you
become a non-productive part of the overhead.

Time to prepare equipment and develop skills is before you go ... now =96
One
operator reported that everything that was needed in East Texas was
covered
in the three Emergency Communicator courses being offered by the ARRL.
The
time to put a portable repeater together is now, rather than waiting
until
the need arises. Having reliable portable repeaters available and put
into
operation for this event were extremely helpful.


Additional observations by K5JD, Johnny Davis
This was unique in that although it was a large event, power, phones,
showers, and radios worked.

Weather didn't limit ability to respond and there were no chemical agents
t=
o
protect against. Updates of the ever  changing situation were very
helpful.
APRS, if available, could have contributed greatly to the event. EchoLink
had 52 stations and repeaters monitoring and participating in this event.


Closing Comments by KD5CCH, Kevin Anderson

We=92ve gone through the critique process and we want to thank everyone
again=
,
those who brought down the repeater, those who helped with
administration,
we just want you to know how important it was to us. Especially those who
came down and helped out. You really sacrificed alot, you went out got
cut
up and bruised up, a lot of you. Everyone appreciates you, not just us,
the
Incident Commander, other agencies.

I want you to know that we are putting together =93CARE=94 packages for
everyone. It=92s going to take a little while. There are going to be
things
from NASA the Incident Commander, our local group and perhaps from other
federal agencies, expressing their gratitude. We are having some patches
made up. We have everyone=92s contact information. It may but we

We are also thinking of having a special gathering for folks perhaps in
Canton which seems to be a pretty central location for those who
participated, possibly sometime this Spring. So many came and left and we
didn=92t get an opportunity to visit with you. You rolled in that morning
and
got your assignments and then wham bam you were out there. When you came
in
in the evenings you were cold and wet and tired. We would like to visit
wit=
h
you. We also plan on doing a special event station annually in the future
a=
s
a commemoration of this event.

Thanks again to everyone. Let=92s hope it doesn=92t happen again but in
this
world today I wouldn=92t be surprised if it did. If you need our help,
just
holler and Nacogdoches will be there.