[ARRL-OK] Post Exercise Survey and Review - 2011 SET

Wed Oct 12 09:41:39 EDT 2011

To Section Manager, All ARES-OK Leaders (A-SEC, ZEC, DEC and EC), Section Traffic Manager, Net Control Stations, and ARES-OK OES,

Below my signature block is the  Post Exercise Survey and Review  for the 
2011 ARES-Oklahoma Simulated Emergency Test (SET)..

Please read through the survey and review then answer all the questions.  Your participation and input is vital and will be helpful to the planing of future training and exercises. 

E-mail your completed survey to n7xyo at arrl.net before October 31, 2011.

Thank you & 73s,

Mark Conklin, N7XYO
Oklahoma Section Emergency Coordinator
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
918.232.8346
n7xyo at arrl.net
Follow me on Twitter @N7XYO

www.ARESOK.org

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2011 ARES-Oklahoma Simulated Emergency Test (SET)  

Post Exercise Survey and Review 
Please read through the survey and review then answer the questions. 

Purpose: The purpose of the post exercise review is to allow ARES-OK leaders and volunteers the opportunity to discuss ways to improve emergency communications operations in their area as-well-as the state/section. Some challenges and problem areas identified through this review process may be handled at the local level while others may need to move to the District, Zone or Section level to be reviewed and resolved.

Who: All ARES-OK leaders and volunteers in each local group who participated in this year’s SET should participate in the post exercise discussion.

When: The discussion and review should take place within 7-10 days of the SET to in the hope issues are fresh in everyone’s mind. A one or two hour limit should be designated for these discussions.

Where: Gather you team, meet in person, at a local conference or meeting room or other suitable quite location

How: Following the questions in this document will provide a structure for the discussions. Any items identified in the discussion that can not be handled at the
local level should be forwarded to the next appropriate level. 

Documents: Logs, messages, notes or other documents
(spreadsheets, databases, etc.) used by the local ARES-OK leadership to record operations during the SET should be used to help supplement the review discussions.

Review of the exercise objectives

The ARES-Oklahoma conducted 2011 Simulated Emergency Test (SET) on 
Saturday October 1, 2011 between 0900L & 1200L.  

Purpose of SET

To find out the strengths and weaknesses of ARES, NTS, and other groups in providing emergency communications. 

To provide a public demonstration to served agencies such as the American Red Cross, the emergency management agency and through the news media of the value to the public that Amateur Radio provides, particularly in time of need. 

To help radio amateurs gain experience in communications using standard procedures and a variety of modes under simulated-emergency conditions. 

Focus

There is a saying that “all disasters or emergencies are LOCAL”. With that in mind the focus on the 2011 SET is the activities of each local County EC or District DEC.

Scenario for the 2011 SET

An ice storm has paralyzed your region (Zone) of Oklahoma. The ice accumulations is between 1/2 to 1 inch has causes many trees, branches and power lines to fail. Estimates are between 60 to 80 percent of homes in your region (Zone) are without power. Many roads are impassible. Communications infrastructure has also suffered. Downed wires, power outages, bent antennas, and failed back-ups have crippled normal communications. Amateur Radio operators have not gone undamaged. Repeaters that are not on back-up power are not functioning.  Many large antennas systems are down or damages. Local served agencies have requested communications support from ARES-OK.

What’s working in this scenario? 
VHF/UHF Simplex 
Limited Repeaters. (Repeater may be use at the discretion of the ECs and DECs.) 
Limited Internet. (Internet may be use at the discretion of the ECs and DECs.) 
HF with NVIS type antenna systems 
Our ingenuity 

Operations Guidelines and Goals

1. KEY GOAL: Send local tactical message traffic on behalf of EACH local served agency. (ECs and DECs to create their own mock messages).  
Not working with any served agency partners in your county?  Pick 2 or 3 locations and simulate your deployment response – the SET is meant to be good practice.

2. Simplex should be used wherever possible. 

3. Traffic can be passed between fixed and mobile stations if needed. 

4. All traffic MUST begin with “THIS IS A EXERCISE MESSAGE” 

5. On every participating SET net, Net Control Stations shall at the beginning, close and often during the net (at least every 15 minutes) announce the following phrase: “THIS IS THE 2011 ARES-OKLAHOMA SIMULATED EMERGENCY TEST - THIS IS ONLY A EXERCISE”.

6. The Scenario notes that roads may be impassable. Therefore, movement of mobile stations may be limited by the EC or DEC. It may be necessary to assign other than usual operators to locations such as county EOCs, or other served agencies. 

7. All stations are encouraged to use their emergency power source and set up emergency antennas if possible. If it’s something you’d expect to do during a real ice storm, no better time than now to test it out. 

8. Creative “thinking outside the box” is encouraged to circumvent the rules (provided it’s legal!) 

9. At the end of the day send each EC or DEC shall send a status report to the NCS on the Statewide HF Nets beginning at 1430L.  (See format for status report at end of the document.)   

10. EC or DEC shall e-mail your SET summaries to the ARES-Oklahoma SEC at n7xyo at arrl.net  and copy ARRL Headquarters via  sewald at arrl.org .   
PLEASE SEND YOUR REPORTS IN BEFORE October 15, 2011 - use the “Form A: EC Simulated Emergency Test Report” - download the form from: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/Form%20A%20SET%202011.doc

11. Don’t forget, let’s have some fun with this! 

Discussion Questions- The following questions will help guide the discussion of
the local ARES-OK group:

The first 6 of discussions questions are directed at local ARES-OK groups – however feedback is welcomed from any SET participant.

1. Were the Operations Guidelines and Goalsclearly communicated?

            a. Did you as a leader understand your role?

 b. Did your volunteers understand their role(s)?

            c. Pavement temperature and wind forecast accurate?

            d. Did the forecast discussion help in planning for this event?

            e. What weather information is missing that would have made the storm

2. Was the Scenario for the exercise plausible and realistic?

3. Did local ARES-OK leaders and volunteers respond to the simulated emergency in a timely matter?

4. Staffing (review sign in sheet, logs or other record)

a. Were enough volunteers available for the SET?

b. Did you keep a sign in sheet showing the sign in and sign out time for responding personnel?

c. Any improvements needed in your call-out system?

d. Were RRT members sent to Served Agencies?

e. Were volunteers released at the right time?

5. Did your group meet the KEY GOAL of the exercise? 

a. List your groups Served Agencies?

b. Did you use tactical call signs for each location?

c. Did you operate from the Service Agencies location(s)?

d. If you operated at a Served Agencies location – describe the operational location (meeting room, EOC, office, etc.) and station for each served agency?

f. Is there pre-installed Amateur Radio equipment at your Served Agencies locations?

g. List the type of equipment pre-installed?  (HF base, VHF mobile/base, what antennas, etc.)

6. Was Simplex used – (if not why not)?

a. Were you able to communicate between all your Served Agencies on Simplex?

b. What challenges did Simplex operations present?

7. What lessons were learned about operating on back-up/emergency power?

8. Did your group check into the Statewide HF nets @ 0930L and 1000L?

a. Which net did you check into?

b. Was it useful having a scheduled net times and pre-determined frequencies?

c. Did your group pass any traffic via the Statewide HF nets on behalf of any Served Agencies?

 9. Were you a Net Control Station (NCS) for any nets during the SET (local or statewide)?

a. Did you log all check ins?

b. Was a log of all tactical messages kept?

c. Did you use the ICS-213 for all formal written messages?

d. Did you use the ARRL RADIOGRAM for all formal written messages? 

8. Identify any equipment problems experienced during the event or any breakdowns
that occurred:

a. Radios

b. Antenna systems

c. Coax

d. Back-up/emergency power

e. Antenna tuners

9. Would any preventive maintenance measures have eliminated the equipment
problems?

10. What could we have done differently that might have allowed for smoother communication for our operations on behalf of our Served Agencies?

11. Did you coordinate operations well with neighboring communities, counties, Districts, or with in your Zone?

12. Did we communicate and coordinate well with our Served Agencies in the area?

13. If this were a real world activations - what could we do to improve our services to the public?

14. What were our successes in this event and why were they successful? (good luck
or good planning)
15. What was not successful in this event and why? (bad luck or bad planning?,
weather, equipment breakdown, etc.)

16. Knowing what we know now, what training would you like to have before the next exercise?

17. Did you have fun?

Comments

Any comments or observations you would like to share that are not addressed in the discussion questions – please provide that information here:

Before October 31, 2011 - Please e-mail your completed survey to:
ARES-Oklahoma Section Emergency Coordinatorat n7xyo at arrl.net