[FARC] Frederick ARES and SET

[Jeff Fishman]

The Frederick County ARES Simulated Emergency Test annual requirement will be fulfilled by our participation in next Saturday's Cystic Fibrosis Cycle for Life, for which we still have openings for operators. Please contact me if you're available.

However, Western PA has requested that we check into their SET tomorrow to test their adjoining state communications capabilities. If you would like to participate, the information is below.

73,

Jeff Fishman KB3FIO
FRED CO EC

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Western PA ARES 2011 SET Plan
5 Sept 2011

Harry Bloomberg W3YJ

Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator, WPA ARES



Goals and Overview
This year's SET for Western PA ARES will be held Saturday Oct 1, 2011 from 9AM-noon.

Western PA ARES has the following goals for this year's SET:

·         Test the ability of each county to react to a real-world scenario.

·         Verify that each county can interact with neighboring counties in Western PA.

·         Learn how to interact with ARES groups in Northeastern Ohio and Western New York.

·         Engage our Served Agencies to interact with ARES during the drill.

·         Use as many of our communications tools as possible.

·         See how we react to a potential disaster as the disaster escalates from a county, region (District) and  Section.

Scenario
Overall Sectional Scenario
A major cold front is approaching Western PA from the west.  NWS in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and State College issue storm warnings.  Hams in Eastern Ohio spot a tornado and alert hams in Northwestern PA and pass digital storm bulletins.  The storm spawns tornadoes which destroy local communications infrastructure and cause power outages.  Flash flooding requires evacuations and  opening of shelters.  As the storm moves east,and approaches  NW PA Skywarn Nets will activate to provide “on ground reports and alert hams inthe path of the storm.  Digital updates will be simulated by Skywarn.

County-by-County Scenario
Each EC shall produce their own local scenario that fits into the concept of the Overall Scenario.   Severe thunderstorms, tornados, and flash flooding, power outages, and communications disruptions are to be simulated.  Each county shall contact its neighboring county to request / offer mutual aid.  Red Cross and Salvation Army shall be involved in this drill including operating from simulated shelters and mobile canteens.  Bulletins, voice and digital shall be exchanged between counties.  Both repeaters and local standard simplex frequencies shall be used.  Each county  shall send one digital report or bulletin to the SEC and Section Manager using HF digital. Hams shall start the drill at their homes and shall be activated using their county's standard activation plan.

NBEMS is the standard digital emcomm tool for Western PA and shall be used for all digital communications between counties.  That is because it is our section-wide common digital language.  However, counties are encouraged to use any other digital tools they may have such as D-STAR, Winlink or Packet for communications within the county.

Regional Scenario #1
UPMC Horizon in Mercer County is overwhelmed with to mass casualties as are the other hospitals in Mercer County.   Due to the storm, their primary communications systems are inoperative and they must contact Pittsburgh for assistance using amateur radio.  This may be done using linked repeaters between New Castle and Pittsburgh or HF.  The ECs of Mercer and Allegheny County will plan this scenario with the assistance of the SEC's staff.

Regional Scenario #2
ARES groups in District 10 Ohio, Erie County, and Western NY will cooperate in tracking the storm, exchanging digital bulletins, and will offer mutual aid.  Repeaters, simplex, and HF may be used.  The EC of Erie County will take the lead in planning this Regional Scenario with assistance from District 10 Ohio and Western NY.

Regional Scenario #3
The operators of the W3WAN wide area repeater system that covers Central PA will develop their own scenario that fits into the concept of the Overall Scenario.   This scenario will be coordinated with local ECs.

Reporting
At the end of the drill, all groups will be required to submit reports to their ARES District Emergency Coordinator originating using NBEMS; messages may be relayed.  An Flmsg report template will be sent to each EC in advance.    Each county will use VHF/UHF frequencies to send these reports to the DECs who will then forward them  after the drill to the SEC and SM.  Each DEC will inform the ECs in their district of the VHF/UHF frequency to use for this reporting. 

IMPORTANT:  All ECs will submit their SET summaries to ARRL for inclusion in QST without exception.  The SEC and SM will be sent copies of these summaries as proof that they were submitted in time for QST publication.  All forms and instructions are available on the ARRL website at http://www.arrl.org/public-service-field-services-forms

HF Net Operations
Two HF nets will be operating during the drill.

An HF voice net will operate for overall regional coordination and to pass short messages best sent using voice.  All sections will be required to send one piece of traffic to this net.  This net will operate on our standard frequency of 3.983 MHz LSB (alternate 7.272 MHz LSB).

A digital HF net will operate for the drill on our standard frequency of 3.583 Mhz with an audio offset of 1000 Hz.  Modes may consist of 8/500 Olivia, 16/500 Olivia, MT63-500 and MT63-1000 at the discretion of the NCS based upon band conditions and the amount of data that must be passed.  Initially, only the NCS and a small number of relay stations will check in.  This is because checkins into a digital net takes a very long time.  Periodically the NCS will put out a call for stations needing to pass traffic.  Stations will check into the HF net only when they need to pass traffic.  The digital NCS will transmit bulletins at 1000, 1100, and 1200.  The 1000 and 1100 bulletins are to be retransmitted thought each county using NBEMS on a VHF/UHF repeater.

Drill Timeline
The drill will commence at 0900 and will end at 1200.  Each county may tweak the timeline as necessary to account for their geography and their local scenario.

0900 - NWS issues storm warning

0900 - Hams alerted using each county's standard call-out procedure and are dispatched to assigned locations.

0930 - Ohio ARES District 10 alerts Erie County PA of incoming severe weather.

0945 - Tornado touchdown

1000 - Hams make contact with Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other served agencies.  Traffic is passed on behalf of these agencies in accordance with the county EC's local scenario.

1000 - Bulletin transmitted by digital HF NCS.

1100 - Western NY is alerted of incoming severe weather.

1100 - Bulletin transmitted by digital HF NCS.

1130 - Counties send reports to DECs.

1200 - drill complete

1200 - Bulletin transmitted by digital NCS.

1300 - Party at Skyview???

Objectives for SEC Special Certificate
Hams love contests and certificates.  In an attempt to make the SET a bit more fun, any county that meets all the following minimum objectives will receive a special certificate from the SM and  SEC.  Exceptions will be granted should a neighboring county either not participate in the drill or does not have a particular capability.  In the unlikely event no county meets all these objectives, the county that meets the most will receive a certificate.

·         Activate hams using standard call-out procedure.

·         Deploy hams in accordance to plan.

·         Interface with each local Served Agency and pass simulated traffic on their behalf.

·         Send one digital message to each adjacent county.

·         Send one voice message to each adjacent county.

·         Send one voice message to the Section voice net.

·         Send one digital message to the Section digital net.

·         Relay the 1000 and 1100 HF digital bulletins over a local repeater using NBEMS.

·         Send drill summary to the county's DEC using NBEMS over a local repeater. 

·         Submit SET summary form to ARRL in time for publication in QST.

·         HAVE FUN!!!






-- 
Brian
KB3ORS


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