[GCARC] SNJ ARES SET OVERVIEW

[kbfrank3 at verizon.net]

TO:  GC-ARES and GCARC

            I would like to get a preliminary headcount of the number of
ARES participants for this exercise.  Please let me know by Saturday
Evening.  Club members are welcome to visit and observe but I don't need a
response from you.  So far, I have heard from Bruce KD2LBU, Angela KE2DRJ
and Craig KE2GNU.  Participants are asked to bring a personal HT so that we
can all be in touch on the talkaround frequency of 147.540 MHz.

 

PURPOSE OF THE SIMULATED EMERGENCY TEST (SET):  To practice and test our
ability to provide Emergency Communications in SNJ.

 

OUTLINE:  The Simulated Disaster will be an Earthquake in Burlington County,
requiring the evacuation of large numbers of people to shelters in
neighboring counties.  Radio Amateurs will be asked to coordinate
communications regarding bus transportation, local hazards that may affect
travel, number of available shelter beds, etc.  (We will make up data as
needed to fit the scenario).

 

THE "BAT SIGNAL":  At Noon on Sunday, October 26 the SNJ ARES Section
Emergency Coordinator (SEC) Richard Kennard N2RPQ will announce the
activation of SNJ ARES over the SCERN Network of repeaters and we are to be
on the air from the GCARC Clubhouse by 1 PM.  We will operate up to 4 radio
stations:

 

1.	SCERN:  This will be the primary Command and Control channel so it
will be very busy.  I would like to assign Angela KE2DRJ and Craig KE2GNU to
this station, which will use a C4FM radio and OpenSpot (both provided by
me).  This station will receive instructions and requests for information
from our SEC and will log all traffic on form ICS-309 (Communications Log
Form, see URL at end of message).  We may want to assign Relief operators so
that Angela and Craig can take breaks.  And YES, there will be a backup
radio capable of reaching the Camden County SCREN repeater by RF in case the
OpenSpot fails.
2.	WINLINK:  Some of our responses will require use of Winlink and
probably ICS-213 forms.  I will provide a laptop computer and 220 MHz radio
that can work thru the W2MMD-4 Winlink RMS.  If anyone wants to bring their
own WinLink station as backup, that is OK.  Just remember that the W2MMD-3 2
Meter RMS will be offline during SET.
3.	VHF FM:  I will provide an analog FM transceiver connected to a
tower-mounted antenna that will allow us to communicate with ARES operators
in other counties via Simplex or Repeaters.  If anyone wants to bring their
own radio as backup, that would be OK.
4.	75 Meter NVIS:  This is a Stretch Goal.  The clubhouse has a 160
Meter wire loop antenna that may be suitable for NVIS operation.  With the
help of Chris AD2CS to load the loop, we will attempt to exchange signal
reports with other ARES groups on 3967 kHz +/- QRM using 100 watts from the
IC-7300
5.	I will be attempting to keep track of all of this on an ICS-214
Activity Log form that will be turned in to our SEC.
6.	  See ICS-309-Fillable-Form.pdf
<https://arrl-nfl.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/ICS-309-Fillable-Form.pdf> 

 

Karl Frank W2KBF

GC-ARES Assistant Emergency Coordinator

201 803-2567