From n3sb at qis.net Mon Sep 1 15:46:18 2008 From: n3sb at qis.net (Steve Beckman) Date: Mon Sep 1 15:55:25 2008 Subject: [MDC-EC] Hurricane Gustav Bulletin Message-ID: Folks; Given the current status with Hurricane G (Hanna) expected to t weekend, please have your checklists (or prepare their lis The kinds of things that go into a pre-ac Filling water jugs Checking flashlights and spare batteries< Checking operation of battery powered rad Checking that gel-cells are charged Having candles and matches ready Have some extra cash on-hand Have extra pet food ready for your pets Have extra medications on-hand if you nee Make sure you have phone numbers to reach I keep a list like this in my PDA, and re to acti already. Also, please advise your ARES members tha request s www.arrl.org Here's the most recent posting:< ARES Volunteers that have the desire to travel into the impacted areas of Gustav should make their availability known to their Section Man directl Sections. < When a resource request is made by an impacted Section, this informati on this page. Details on the request and how Field Organization Leadership will re AT THIS TIME THERE ARE NO PERSONNEL REQUESTS FOR THE IMPACTED AREA K2DCD 73; Steve, N3SB SEC-MDC From n3sb at qis.net Mon Sep 1 16:10:59 2008 From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net) Date: Mon Sep 1 16:19:25 2008 Subject: [MDC-EC] Hurricane Gustav Bulletin Message-ID: <1220299859.48bc4c53c9738@webmail.qis.net> This time without the extra HTML formatting..... Folks; Given the current status with Hurricane Gustav hitting the Gulf Coast, and another hurricane (Hanna) expected to track up the East Coast and be in our area this weekend, please have your ARES members review their pre-activation checklists (or prepare their lists if they don't have them yet). The kinds of things that go into a pre-activation checklist are: Filling water jugs Checking flashlights and spare batteries Checking operation of battery powered radios Checking that gel-cells are charged Having candles and matches ready Have some extra cash on-hand Have some non-perishable foods ready Have extra pet food ready for your pets Have extra medications on-hand if you need them Make sure you have phone numbers to reach your family and friends I keep a list like this in my PDA, and refer to it when there's the possibility that ARES / RACES may have to activate. I hope that all of you have a list like this prepared already. Also, please advise your ARES members that they can obtain the latest information and volunteer resource request status directly from the ARRL website: www.arrl.org Here's the most recent posting: ARES Volunteers that have the desire to travel into the impacted areas of Gustav should make their availability known to their Section Manager and/or Section Emergency Coordinator. Individuals should not directly contact Field Organization Leadership in the impacted Sections. When a resource request is made by an impacted Section, this information will be transmitted to all SM/SEC's and will be posted on this page. Details on the request and how Field Organization Leadership will respond to the request will also be posted. AT THIS TIME THERE ARE NO PERSONNEL REQUESTS FOR THE IMPACTED AREA K2DCD 73; Steve, N3SB SEC-MDC _________________________________________________ From n3sb at qis.net Tue Sep 2 16:55:50 2008 From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net) Date: Tue Sep 2 17:04:24 2008 Subject: [MDC-EC] Gustav Volunteer Update from ARRL, 02-Sep-2008 1854 UTC Message-ID: <1220388950.48bda8568e23f@webmail.qis.net> Folks; Here's the latest bulletin from the ARRL Volunteer Information Webpage: Tuesday, September 2, 2008 1854 UTC AS OF THIS DATE AND TIME, THERE ARE NO UNMET PERSONNEL NEEDS FOR ARES IN THE GUSTAV IMPACT AREA ARES? Volunteers that have the ability to travel into the impacted areas of Gustav must make their availability known to their Section Manager and/or Section Emergency Coordinator. Individuals should not directly contact Field Organization Leadership in the impacted Sections with questions on their staffing needs. When a staffing request is made by an impacted Section, this information will be transmitted to all SM/SECs and will be posted on this page. SM/SECs will react to the request based upon the mission assignment and the availability of ARES volunteers. Specific details on the staffing request will be posted. No personnel will be accepted into the impact areas without being processed through this protocol. All ARES volunteers must be vetted through their Section Manager or Section Emergency Coordinator prior to all deployments. REMEMBER, DO NOT SELF DEPLOY! YOU WILL BE TURNED BACK! K2DCD 73; Steve, N3SB SEC-MDC From n3sb at qis.net Tue Sep 9 21:52:44 2008 From: n3sb at qis.net (Steve Beckman) Date: Tue Sep 9 21:59:11 2008 Subject: [MDC-EC] August Maryland-DC ARES Section Report Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.0.20080909214930.028f9080@127.0.0.1> Folks; The August MDC ARES Section report is attached below. Thank you all for your inputs! 73; Steve, N3SB SEC-MDC Monthly Section Emergency Coordinator Report to ARRL Headquarters ______________________________________________________________________________________ ARRL Section: Maryland-DC Month: August Year: 2008 ______________________________________________________________________________________ AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE Total number of ARES members: 628 Change since last month: +3 (+, -, or same) # of DECs/ECs reporting this month: 14 # of ARES nets active: 50 # with NTS liaison: 11 Calls of DECs/ECs reporting: K3UEZ, N3SEO, AJ3X, N3QHC, KB3LJB, KB3FMJ, WB0EGR, WR3F, KB3ENU, K3CSX, KA8YPY, KB3FWW, KD3JK, N3SB. Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 25 Person hours 400.5 Number of public service events this month: 10 Person hours 489.5 Number of emergency operations this month: 2 Person hours 23 Total number of ARES operations this month: 37 Total Person hours 913 Comments: MDC Section: An MOU between the seven sections in the Atlantic Division is being developed to provide for improved sharing of ARES personnel and resources in the Division. A draft MOU has been developed by MDC Section Manager Jim Cross WI3N, and is being circulated for review and comments. Allegany County: Allegany County (Western Potomac) Chapter of American Red Cross deployed a Disaster Action Team to the hostage standoff operations at Hancock, MD on 8/22. Included on that team were two Allegany ARES members who maintained standby with Allegany County with a third at a fixed station for approximately six hours via KK3L repeater system. Anne Arundel County: Twelve ARES members (N3SEO, N3WOF, N3HKJ, K3TED, KA3RNW, WB3IGW, K3RUP, KA2JAI, N8MOY, KB3CWQ, KB3LDM, & W3NI) supported the Memorial Run. Twenty ARES members (N3WOF, KB3CJT, KA2JAI, WB3IGW, K3YLW, N3SEO, K8JW, K3TH, KB3PGY, KB3PGU, KR3LC, WA3TOY, N3HKJ, W3NI, KB3CWQ, KB3LDM, K3RUP, KB3DCA, AB3AC, & K3TED) supported the Annapolis Ten-Miler. Carroll County: Reviewing the after-action report from the County exercise on August 2. Top priority is developing startup procedures for the HF and VHF equipment at the Fire Training Center and the portable shelter kits. Cecil County: Twelve hams from Cecil County and surrounding areas provided communications and course spotter support for the bicycle portion of the North East Maryland Triathlon on August 17. Garrett County: Continuing planning for the SavageMan Triathlon. Last month they traced the race route and identified key sites requiring communication support. The Allegany county Mt. Top Radio group has agreed to help support the SavageMan Triathlon. They have a identified 14 volunteers as of 9/1/2008 from Garrett County ARES and Mt. Top Radio Club to support this effort. Harford County: Harford County ARES helped out Cecil County ARES with the North East Triathlon on August 17. Howard County: Activities this month included 3 weekly ARES nets, ARES support for activation of county RACES to back up OEM communications for charity event at Patapsco State Park, Comm support for third Iron Girl half scale triathlon, and Knights of Columbus 8K charity run/walk. Prince Georges County: Twenty-two members manned 14 community locations during National Night Out (NNO) on August 5, 2008. In addition to having a regular Tuesday night net, an informal net was run for NNO. Dignitaries that were heard on the net included the County Executive, Jack Johnson, several county council members and several city politicians as well. On Saturday August 16, Prince George's County ARES had a Go-kit day, with the idea being that there is no right or wrong ideas for a communications go kit, only what you have at the time. Many new ideas were traded and talked about amongst the several go-kits that were set up. The August 19 Net contained training and information on shelter operations, this will be followed with written material and a question and answer session at the September meeting. Five members helped to support the Larry Noel 15k run and 3k fun run on Sunday August 31 in Greenbelt, MD. Signature: Steve Beckman Call sign: N3SB Please send to ARRL HQ, 225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111 by 10th of the month FSD-96 (1-04) From n3sb at qis.net Sat Sep 13 11:53:00 2008 From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net) Date: Sat Sep 13 12:02:38 2008 Subject: [MDC-EC] Hurricane Ike Status Message-ID: <1221321180.48cbe1dc8145e@webmail.qis.net> Folks; The ARRL Website is the place to go for information on volunteer coordination for larger scale disasters. Below is the latest information from the ARRL on Hurricane Ike. Please get into the habit of checking there for any updates, and ask your ARES volunteers to do the same if they have questions. 73; Steve, N3SB SEC-MDC Saturday September 13, 2008 0100 GMT Anticipated staffing requests are expected to exceed resources in the Hurricane Ike recovery areas. ARRL will be coordinating these requests for our Field Organization. Staff and will look first to states close to the areas involved. These would be NM, KS, TN, AR, MO, MS and others out of the path but closer to Texas and Louisiana. The actual levels of need for resources will not be available until after the storm passes and assessments are made. Section Managers and SEC's in specific areas have been asked to begin collecting information on the availability of ARES volunteers now. The actual first movement of personnel is not expected to begin until after Sunday morning dependent on conditions in the area. Volunteers can make their availability known to their Section Manager, SEC or home section delegated contact. Be sure they have your name, call, when you can begin travel, for how long you could be deployed, and any important considerations you may have. Even if you are not in a Section near the impacted area, you can still make your availability known. Do NOT self deploy - you will be turned back When travel is authorized, you will be notified with the specific contact information (name and locations) and to whom to report. There is no reimbursement for volunteer expenses. If additional staffing is required, we will expand the call-up to Sections further away from the impacted areas. From n3sb at qis.net Thu Sep 25 20:56:19 2008 From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net) Date: Thu Sep 25 21:07:17 2008 Subject: [MDC-EC] Simulated Emergency Test Message-ID: <1222390579.48dc33331a5ed@webmail.qis.net> Folks; The Simulated Emergency Test is right around the corner. Most ARES groups will probably choose to conduct their SET on Saturday October 4, however you may pick any date that works well for your team. I know that several ARES groups have already made alternate plans for their SET, which is fine. I had been making plans for an SET that would emphasize voice and digital communications between counties. After hearing about what's been happening in Houston as a result of Hurricane Ike, a more appropriate goal for this years' SET has become clear. The SET for this year needs to focus on establishing communications in your respective counties without using any existing infrastructure ? no voice repeaters, packet BBS's, APRS Nodes, or local Winlink servers. Here's the scenario. Hurricane Murphy has just passed through the Maryland-DC area. Winds in excess of 90 MPH have knocked out power, and any antennas more than 20 feet above ground. Local repeaters are not operational. Your ARES team needs to establish communications with each other, and relay reports of local (exercise) damage using NTS format messages. Most of your ARES team members can participate in the SET right from their home, if they wish to do so. Depending on your local terrain and the distance between individual ARES members, they may have to set up temporary antennas in order to communicate. They may need to use HF to bridge some of the distance. Of course emergency power sources will be required. Does your team know what to do when your local repeater goes off the air? Some ARES teams may have already practiced simplex communications extensively, and have good backup plans in place when the repeaters go down. So if this exercise is too easy for your group, consider making it more complex by asking your team members to establish simplex digital communications as well (Packet, PSK-31, etc) or have them send some photos of the (exercise) damage where they are. No matter what you do, please conclude your exercise by sending me an NTS message indicating how many how many of your ARES members participated. 73; Steve, N3SB From n3sb at qis.net Mon Sep 29 21:09:36 2008 From: n3sb at qis.net (Steve Beckman) Date: Mon Sep 29 21:17:53 2008 Subject: [MDC-EC] Call for monthly FSD-212 EC Reports Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.0.20080929210458.027d8670@127.0.0.1> Hi Folks; It's that time again. Please try to get me your EC Reports by the end of this weekend. The FSD-212 monthly DEC/EC Report Form is available from http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/forms/ Thanks in advance for your timely inputs. Most everyone has been doing a great job with this! You may have noticed that our SM Jim WI3N has been including your inputs in his monthly newsletter, so be sure to use this opportunity to tell every ham in the Maryland-DC section about all the good things your ARES team has been doing. 73; Steve, N3SB SEC-MDC